First, the one pound gain sucks. I think it may have been the extra nuts I ate yesterday, or it could be my PMS hormones working their lovely magic. We went to see X-Men: First Class yesterday afternoon*. I took a bag of nuts we had just bought at The Fresh Market as my snack, so I wouldn't be tempted by milk duds and popcorn. I didn't measure, I just ate a couple handsful (or maybe, three). It was more than I needed, and I snacked out of habit.
I didn't have too much food yesterday other than the nuts, and my "carb" intake was low. I didn't eat any oatmeal in the morning (we were out), and I didn't eat anything else in the starch category all day. I didn't intend to not eat them; I just ran out of food, didn't go to the store until right before the movie, and then for dinner I didn't have time to eat anything but a burger (no bun) and broccoli before we left for fireworks.
Anyway.... it's just a pound. Who knows what it means, if anything, other than it ticked me off. My waist is getting visibly (to me) smaller and my collar bones are peaking out more. As of yesterday's weight I had lost 10 pounds from my highest weight in April.
So, the topic of today's blog: supplements. As I was divvying out my vitamins this morning into my Old People XL Pill Boxes (I have two), I thought I'd write about what I take every day.
Morning:
Calcium--600 mg
Fish Oil--3 capsules (increased from 1, two weeks ago)
Multi Vitamin
Magnesium
Vitamin B Complex
Chromium (don't always take this; added it this morning)
Osteo Biflex (glucosamine for joints)
Rx med (lamotrigine, currently titrating up slowly)
Evening:
Calcium--600 mg
Fish Oil--3 capsules (increased from 1, two weeks ago)
Osteo Biflex (glucosamine for joints)
.25 mg xanax (for sleep)
5 mg melatonin (for sleep)
It's a lot to swallow. In the mornings I usually take them in stages, after breakfast, as I'm getting ready. I drink 1/2 liter water to get it all down.
The calcium I may consider modifying, since I'm eating a lot more in my food now (although I don't know what the mg's are in 1 cup yogurt; will have to research). I started taking that dosage on the suggestion of my psychiatrist 2 years ago, to help combat seasonal affective disorder.
I increased the fish oil based on research I read about how it can alleviate depression. Magnesium & Vit B are supplements to my multivitamin, on suggestion from the website where I buy my vitamins (vitacost.com).
Chromium is to help process carbs; I'm intending to eat more healthy carbs than I have been the past week, so adding this in for a while to see what happens.
Osteo Biflex I get at Walmart or Sam's; it makes a huge difference with my knees. I can tell within two or three days if I run out and don't take it; my knees hurt and crack a LOT when I'm not taking it.
I have been been wishy washy in the past with supplements, but I guess in 2007 when I started losing weight, and definitely in 2009 when I started seeing the psychiatrist and she put me on calcium, I have taken supplements like they are medicine.
Because they ARE medicine.
If I ate a perfectly balanced diet all the time, and if the earth where the food was grown is properly full of minerals (which it is probably not, from what I've randomly read in the past), and if the foods I eat don't lose too many vitamins in the cooking process, then I guess I wouldn't need all this stuff. I'm guessing my food will never be ideal to what I need in my body. At least, that's my opinion.
Honestly, if it weren't for the "mental health" aspect of all these pills, I doubt that I would be as focused on them as I am. Most supplements are to prevent future bad things from happening--take calcium so you aren't stooped over at age 80. Yeah, who thinks of that in your 30s? (I know I'm 41...but I guess I AM thinking of that now that I'm in middle age, but I wasn't thinking of it 2 years ago)
But if I can take calcium and fish oil to keep me stable, and if I can take vitamin B to keep from getting sick and so my nails and hair grow strong & shiny, and if I can take glucosamine so my knees don't crackle and pop, and if I can take melatonin so I sleep through the night instead of waking up at 2 am--those things are IMMEDIATE and therefore I am motivated to swallow eleven pills every morning and seven pills every night.
*We went with the kids; we are a big movie family. I don't let the kids watch R rated movies--of course--or blood/gore/evil-themed/sex-focused movies. Some PG-13 movies are OK, esp. the action ones like X-Men, Spiderman, Transformers, Chronicles of Narnia. Since the violence is "comic book" and there is no blood/gore, the biggest issue with PG-13 is the language, IMO. But, we talk about language and what's appropriate and what's not. Neither kiddo has ever had an issue with a potty mouth. Anyway, that's my rationalization & drawn out explanation of why my 10 and 5 1/2 year olds were at a PG-13 movie.
6 comments:
"I'm intending to eat more carbs." As in, healthy starches listed on Kay Shepperd's website. I have only been eating oatmeal and not eating starches routinely with other meals. I bought sweet potatoes yesterday. I may try some Ezekial/sprouted grain bread, too. I was having "starch" cravings yesterday. I think it was my body's way of saying, yes, fruit and veggies and dairy are great, but you need some healthy starch in your body to balance them out.
I'm OK with adding a starch to lunch and dinner, and seeing how my body reacts. If my weight loss stalls, then I can take the one at dinner away. As it has been, I've been relying on fruit and yogurt at night for my "sweet" after dinner (and counting it as my snack when I've had three meals during the day). I think I may be better off to eat 1/2 a sweet potato with cinnamon, instead. We'll see.
my 13 year old has probably been at pg13 movies since she was born. so I totally understand. I have an 8 year span between oldest and youngest. And I also totally understand about the type of movie being a factor.
kids do have to hear the words (in my opinion) to know they are bad words. I am not talking about using them at home.
at our house, I also explain, in detail, what they mean. I also explain inuendos starting in about 4th grade.
I have a 6th grade boy in my car pool who will ocassionally tell a joke or laugh at something and I will ask what he thinks that actually means. If he knows, he will tell me, if he doesn't know, he will tell me he doesn't know. I do not explain to him, but will say - before you use that word or phrase again, I think you want to know what it actually means, because I think you will be very embarrassed by it - go ask your parents or one of your sibs.
the girls (in the carpool) I have explained a zillion things to over the years. Not so much iffy things, but concepts and words and how to do things (college, high school, common sense). When they get out of the car, youngest will will say - I can't believe they didn't know that. Often my guess is their older sibs and maybe even their parents don't know either.
I do not parentify my kids. but I think it is always helpful to have the information.
and becaue I do this - my kids tell me all kinds of stuff.
this has been obvious in talking to middle on skype. her host sister has been embarrassed by things middle has told me (not about that girl, but in general). And each time middle says to her - that is just my mom - you can tell her anything.
when they tell stuff - it is then very easy to discuss it.
it has also been obvious in things my girls explain to ME with no embarrassment. good practice for being a mom.
I think that is good way to raise kids.
was glad to see your note that you knew you needed to up your carbs.
Laura - the goal is not to strip the pounds off as quickly as possible.
the goal is actually to eat whole foods, portions, meal time, balanced at as high of a calorie level as possible - in my opinion.
because you are now at the high end and you don't know what you might have to do to get off the very last pounds at the other end of the scale.
If you have your calories too low, you will have little 'play room' at the other end. and you are practicing how you will eat for the rest of your life.
when you eat too little - it is short term, d-i-e-t thinking.
my opinion is that if you are loosing more than 2 pounds a week - your calories are probably too low.
I was very frustrated to only loose 1/2 - 1 pound a week for much of my process. But in retrospect I think that has a lot to do with my maintenance success.
and - there will be bloggers who will sort of disappear or not know what to say to you now. they might continue reading but not comment.
My guess is I have a very large number of readers, but always have few commenters. the type of posts which have the most meaning for us, are things that others don't want to even think about, let alone deal, in my opinion.
and I think the inside has to match the outside on what we write on our blog. what we write represents what we think and do. so the blog readers that like to enable/codependent have a hard time when we aren't doing that any more.
Thank you for the comment about your kids. I love how you ask if they know what it means, and they better find out before they use it again.
We talk to our kids about everything, too. Very logical and matter of fact, and when they ask, we either answer right then, or if we don't know how to answer, we tell them we will think about it and figure out the right way to answer, and then we'll talk again (mostly, this has been sex questions from Sophie). My husband is wonderfully common sense, and is a great dad in that he is available to both kids to talk to. I know a lot of dad's who aren't.
THANK YOU for the comment about this isn't how quick can I get the weight off. I want the weight off NOW. I want to be 155 pounds again NOW. I am SO impatient, with many many things in my life. I guess it's time I learn patience as part of my process, eh?
I hadn't even thought about my calorie intake now influencing my calorie intake later. Duh. Of course. The first week of food change is always a big loss. The second week levels out. The third week should be telling. I will stick with what I am eating for one more week; if I lose more than 1.5 pounds, I will add more food in week 4. Does that make sense to you?
You are right about too little food/too much food being different sides of same coin. It is very tempting to keep restricting food until I lose faster & faster. Tempting, but I'm not doing it. That's a big reason it helps to write down what I eat. I can see right away if I'm not eating enough. I don't get to play games when the food is in black & white--it is what it is.
I am, thankfully, enjoying and recognizing non-scale success along the way--feeling more stable, not getting headaches, sleeping better, enjoying breakfast, not having constant obsessive food thoughts. The obsessive food thoughts going away is incredible. I don't know how much is this way of eating, or how much is the new med I've been on for not quite two weeks. Maybe both. Whatever it is, I love it. It feels like freedom. PMS brought it back somewhat, but it was short lived.
My comments have gone way down. I thought that was probably the case. I understand. When I was feeling down and hopeless, I didn't want to read about someone else's success. It's why I barely blogged for almost a year. I am writing as much as I can now to help me work through stuff, to get your feedback, and to have a record of my progress for Future Me.
It's like I said earlier this year--the more I blog, the better I do. It's a chicken or egg thing.
If it makes you feel any better, I take WAY more supplements than you. Of course, I'm an old lady. ;-)
I think the 'want the weight off now' feeling means you do not consider yourself a fat person.
I think those feelings signal you feel like you have foreign objects stuck all over your body.
that your body, under there, in your mind, is your REAL body.
This will help you in maintenance.
And I indentify 100% with that feeling. I felt like I was in a fat suit and wanted someone to just unzip me immediately. A lot of this feeling, for me, came from the fact that the fat was IN THE WAY of positions in yoga. And this past year, at my second goal for a while now, it has encouraged me in exercise as I still see changes and like the tone/strength/lines. Exactly what you said about the actress working on her 'back lines' many years ago. Those things provide forward momentum and are helpful.
I think most of us are various levels of damaged.
The ones who only identify with having the fat ON, have a very tough time in maintenance. Their real self, to them, is the self with the fat ON. The body that is under the fat is foreign to them.
No matter which way the perception, doing the inner work, not having d-i-e-t mentality, focusing on nutrition is key. But those ladies have a very tough time (much more work) in maintenance.
And as I have written before - dealing with the comments/compliments, in real life, is boundary issues. How you handle them (the first time) determines how that person will be the next time you see them, and the next and the next. Work with your therapist on this NOW, so you are prepared in advance.
This is true of conversations in general. If you have person A talking to person B and they happen to have a 'complaining about the world' conversation, the next time they run into each other, they are likely to have a repeat/extension of the same conversation. If they are both happy with this - then they are probably in this loop forever. If one is not happy, she might avoid the other person. We set our own boundaries and limits.
Tremendous blog post, loads of beneficial information. I am about to show my buddies and ask them what they think.
Not getting enough protein in the diet is rare in the developed world, but if you're concerned about it, you can take protein canadian supplements. These are often powders for making shakes, or high-protein energy bars, and are usually made from soy, eggs, or dairy.
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