By Christina Routon
Moving into week two of our January Lifestyle Challenge, I'm feeling the rush of energy described in the Whole 30 timeline. I've been following along with others in the forums there, and we're almost all experiencing the same thing, although I haven't had any food dreams yet.
The second week was easier in that I wasn't as hungry as I'd been the first week, although I'm still missing my gluten-free pancakes. I really wanted a quick and easy dinner on Friday night and that would have been wonderful. Instead I raided the fridge for some vegetables, mixed up another batch of homemade mayo from Nom Nom Paleo's recipe, and made some chicken salad. The prep work has been easier as well since I've started sticking to basic recipes and asked my husband to help with the chopping, browning meat, and the clean up.
My favorite foods so far come from Melissa Joulwan's cookbook Well Fed. They are Jicama home fries and chocolate chili. I'm making the jicama again this week, I can't seem to get enough.
I added two more things last week - get eight hours of sleep and exercise three times a week. So far, I haven't been consistent with either, although going to bed by 10:30 is difficult, especially when my husband gets home from work after nine. It's difficult to stop a conversation and go to bed, but I know it's important for my health.
I've been reading some interesting information about Omega 3 & Omega 6 fats and I'll be sharing that later in the month. I haven't found anything yet that pertains specifically to lipedema, but we do know Omega 6 fats are inflammatory, and I'll be sharing what I discover regarding a balance of these fats.
Showing posts with label exercise. Show all posts
Showing posts with label exercise. Show all posts
Tuesday, January 15, 2013
Tuesday, December 18, 2012
Acceptance and Freedom
By Christina Routon
Lose Weight Now! Lose Weight Fast! Lose Weight in Minutes a Day!
It's that time of year again, when the infomercials are in full force and most of us are setting resolutions to lose weight and exercise. Before you buy the next gadget you see on TV, look around your house for a second. Look at the Gazelle or the treadmill you bought. Instead of exercise equipment, it's new function is most likely a clothes hanger. I bet you're still paying the monthly fee for the auto-shipment of vitamins that came with whatever doodad you bought last year, aren't you?
We've all bought products that sound so outrageous (Shake Weight? Butt Toning Sneakers?) just hoping they will be our answer, the absolutely last product we'll ever buy ever again, and we'll have the beautiful, firm, shapely legs and body we've always wanted. But mostly the legs. Please, God, let this doodad give me great legs!
Yes, I've prayed that prayer too, and I've bought several products, diet plans, cookbooks. I've lost weight, but as those of us with lipedema know, we end up with the same legs with little to no changes. It's upsetting, aggravating, frustrating. It make me angry. This leads to giving up, putting the weight back on, then in January we start all over again. This product will work! I know it will! And we're going around in circles once again.
When I learned I had lipedema this past summer, it was hard. It crushed me. It crushed my hope. Before, I had hope. I hoped in the doodads, in the cookbooks, in the gurus. I was trusting in the things of earth and had been shot down. But now, six months down the road, I have something better than hope for beautiful legs and hot body.
I have freedom.
I know the doodad, gizmo, gadget, whatever won't help my legs. I won't end up with shapely dancer's legs in 8 weeks or 12 weeks just by using whatever. I know this because if two years of going to the gym, taking Zumba classes, squats with the Oly bar, leg presses and walking lunges didn't do it, along with clean* eating and calorie tracking (1500 calories, 100 grams protein, low carb) didn't do it, how on earth is this new doodad going to do it?
Back then, when I was doing all of the above, I didn't know I had lipedema. Now I do. Now I know, and I've accepted that no amount of diet / weight loss / exercise / gizmo is going to affect the lipedema fat.
Again, no amount of diet / weight loss / exercise / new gizmo is going to affect the lipedema fat.
I have railed against that statement. I argued, I denied, I refused to believe it. It had to be wrong. I fought against it because it went against everything I thought I knew and everything I'd come to believe. If I was "good enough", if I didn't cheat on the diet, if I followed that exercise plan or this exercise plan, if I drank that shake or took that shot or bought the latest gizmo THEN I would be okay.
I had to accept it. I had data for two years - weight charts, lifting stats, diet record - and at that moment I knew I HAD done everything "right" according to conventional weight loss guidelines. I had done my best, and if my best hadn't helped me lose more than 30 pounds in 2 years, nothing would.
Because I am not a conventional person who can follow conventional weight loss guidelines.
I have lipedema, and conventional weight loss guidelines don't apply to me.
Accepting this reality has led me to greater freedom than I could ever have imagined. I now train to build strength and endurance. I train to keep my joints lubricated, my lymph flowing, my muscles strong. I eat food to fuel my daily life. My goals aren't tied to a scale and I don't care what anyone thinks about my legs, because my legs aren't me.
And I laugh at the infomercials.
*Clean as I knew it then. Now I eat wheat-free / sugar-free to help reduce inflammation.
Lose Weight Now! Lose Weight Fast! Lose Weight in Minutes a Day!
It's that time of year again, when the infomercials are in full force and most of us are setting resolutions to lose weight and exercise. Before you buy the next gadget you see on TV, look around your house for a second. Look at the Gazelle or the treadmill you bought. Instead of exercise equipment, it's new function is most likely a clothes hanger. I bet you're still paying the monthly fee for the auto-shipment of vitamins that came with whatever doodad you bought last year, aren't you?
We've all bought products that sound so outrageous (Shake Weight? Butt Toning Sneakers?) just hoping they will be our answer, the absolutely last product we'll ever buy ever again, and we'll have the beautiful, firm, shapely legs and body we've always wanted. But mostly the legs. Please, God, let this doodad give me great legs!
Yes, I've prayed that prayer too, and I've bought several products, diet plans, cookbooks. I've lost weight, but as those of us with lipedema know, we end up with the same legs with little to no changes. It's upsetting, aggravating, frustrating. It make me angry. This leads to giving up, putting the weight back on, then in January we start all over again. This product will work! I know it will! And we're going around in circles once again.
When I learned I had lipedema this past summer, it was hard. It crushed me. It crushed my hope. Before, I had hope. I hoped in the doodads, in the cookbooks, in the gurus. I was trusting in the things of earth and had been shot down. But now, six months down the road, I have something better than hope for beautiful legs and hot body.
I have freedom.
I know the doodad, gizmo, gadget, whatever won't help my legs. I won't end up with shapely dancer's legs in 8 weeks or 12 weeks just by using whatever. I know this because if two years of going to the gym, taking Zumba classes, squats with the Oly bar, leg presses and walking lunges didn't do it, along with clean* eating and calorie tracking (1500 calories, 100 grams protein, low carb) didn't do it, how on earth is this new doodad going to do it?
Back then, when I was doing all of the above, I didn't know I had lipedema. Now I do. Now I know, and I've accepted that no amount of diet / weight loss / exercise / gizmo is going to affect the lipedema fat.
Again, no amount of diet / weight loss / exercise / new gizmo is going to affect the lipedema fat.
I have railed against that statement. I argued, I denied, I refused to believe it. It had to be wrong. I fought against it because it went against everything I thought I knew and everything I'd come to believe. If I was "good enough", if I didn't cheat on the diet, if I followed that exercise plan or this exercise plan, if I drank that shake or took that shot or bought the latest gizmo THEN I would be okay.
I had to accept it. I had data for two years - weight charts, lifting stats, diet record - and at that moment I knew I HAD done everything "right" according to conventional weight loss guidelines. I had done my best, and if my best hadn't helped me lose more than 30 pounds in 2 years, nothing would.
Because I am not a conventional person who can follow conventional weight loss guidelines.
I have lipedema, and conventional weight loss guidelines don't apply to me.
Accepting this reality has led me to greater freedom than I could ever have imagined. I now train to build strength and endurance. I train to keep my joints lubricated, my lymph flowing, my muscles strong. I eat food to fuel my daily life. My goals aren't tied to a scale and I don't care what anyone thinks about my legs, because my legs aren't me.
And I laugh at the infomercials.
*Clean as I knew it then. Now I eat wheat-free / sugar-free to help reduce inflammation.
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