'Tis amazing that I carry so much weight for my level of activity.
[If I may say so myself: that's my imponderable. ]
How about them genes, eh? I've never been located at a happy BMI.
The irony is that I'm very fit. Despite my chronic illness my capacity to do stuff, to exert myself -- at least when I'm 'well' -- is very good for someone my age. But that extra weight is hard to lose.
This conundrum is explained by the fact that exercise is not in itself a good way to lose weight. It is very good for you because of this or that reason, but the body compensates for all your exertions to stay at steady state bulk.
Only by dieting can you begin to shift the kilograms -- but exercise , however, will help you keep them, like some bad smell, away.
But dieting can feed the problem and yo-yo dieting doesn't work. If you are gonna diet you need to diet for life.
So I figured that if you have to go without food big time for ever and ever just so you can slim down I'm not signing up to that option.
I like my tucker.
But after I started a low carbohydrate diet I lost weight. It was effortless and impressive that in a very short space of time I lost 10 kgm.
Then the weight loss stopped.
This is not an unusual occurrence on low carb diets. Plateauing will often kick in.
But since shifting from a generic 'low carbohydrate' format to a Low Carbohydrate High Fat approach I'm back shrinking.
I'm losing it...
I'm in no hurry and I love the food.
I'd like to lose another 10 kgm if I could. I don't want any hassles or dramas. I want the old bod to shed the grams quietly as I go about my daily business of living.
The irony is that because of my current exercise regime and the concurrent loss of adipose tissue, I'm discovering musculature I didn't know existed. While I'm still fat, underneath all that bulk is Adonis.
I can feel him. He wants to do the Full Monty.
And just think: each kilogram you lose is less weight you have to carry around every day.
I have a series of kettlebells that I lift skyward and I appreciate how much they weigh. 8 kgm. 12kgm. 20kgm.
They are all heavy. But that's the sort of extra weight I've been dragging through life--since the mid eighties, when I first fell ill.
I have put on 10 kilograms each decade since.
That's a normal ageing process, that's genetics...It was illness and medication for illness. It was bouts of inactivity. A vicious cycle.
So if we go back ten years, say, there's Dave walking with a cane and having to go to bed every day during the day so he can make the 24 hours duty roster.
When I took up scootering -- the kickbike -- I was imagining it as a substitute for one of those electric mobility scooters.
That's true: I was becoming an invalid rather than someone who was just chronically ill.
But when I started to consciously work on my exercising I began to roll back the debilitating symptoms of Fibromyalgia and the toll it had taken on my body.
Of course the art is -- and it is an art -- to challenge yourself without exerting yourself such that you enter relapse. Stress does that and exercise is designed as stress.
The other knack is to pursue a routine of exercise despite your intermittent ill health which will often undermine your capacity to even walk.
Rule of thumb: Know thyself moment to moment and be opportunistic.
I didn't say 'optimistic'. I said 'opportunistic'.
That's the rub. Work hard when you get a window.
Anyway, I'm hoping that by continuing with this LCHF regime I can lift more of the heavy burden offa me. I don't have to be religious about it. LCHF is tasty dining.
I can't be sure what will happen -- that I will continue to lose weight or not -- but every little bit shedded is gonna be a thrill.
YONI FREEDHOFF (a beriatric physician) contemplates some novel criteria for judging any weight loss program. I'm with Yoni. My score estimate for LCHF out of 10 for each item is in brackets.
Hunger [10]
Cravings [8]
Feelings of fullness/satisfaction [10]
Need to cook special meals for other family members [8]
Ability to still eat out with friends and family [9]
Energy levels and feelings of general well-being [7]
Complexity of dietary requirements [7]
Dietary flexibility vs. monotony [8]
Rigidity of dietary requirements (ie forbidden foods/food groups and impact on quality of life) [8]
Expense/cost of dietary requirements (ie expensive foods, supplements, etc.)[7]
That's 83 points out of 100
