Diet Teas - Helpful, or Givesyouconstantdiarrhea?

There are always new fads that come in and out of fashion when it comes to losing weight. Many of these come in tea form!

                                              

                                                                       Am I skinny yet?

Previously, the big one was Oolong tea, lately it's been a lovely fad called SkinnyMe tea. Just a quick google search will tell you that it was ripped of it's Instagram profile for being accused of being "pro-anorexia" saying that it was for "extreme dieting" and had a lot of unrealistic before and after photos. However, it has also had some people posting on various forums claiming that it has some good results. This could also be due to the fact that the site recommends a clean diet and exercise in addition to the tea.

Now before I get slammed for being "anti-detox" that is definitely not the message I'm sending home here. I am all for detoxes, sometimes your body needs them. In saying that, there are certain ways to do them healthily, which I will get to shortly. And if you want to use teas, that's fine. Just be careful what tea it is you are going to use for a detox.

You see the thing about SkinnyMe tea is that it's kinda shitty. Literally. The thing comes with a colon cleanse to be done as frequently as every two days and also contains Senna root which can be harmful in large doses. It will actually make you run the to toilet when you might not need to go and give you horrid cramps. It does recommend you take electrolytes such as hydrolyte or coconut water as you will get dehydrated, mostly from constantly evacuating your bowels.

It is also marketed as a mix of "natural health and weight loss nutrients". This is somewhat true in that it does contain all natural ingredients. This is not always a good thing. Lead is also all natural, but I don't really want to drink that either.

It also blatantly says that it will "naturally cleanse & detoxify system by removing built up toxins in the stomach and digestive tract".

Great! That's what you want right? Hmm, not quite. They go on to say that "elimination" (or as I like to call it, "project poopsville") is a key component of their detox as it helps to rid toxin build up which causes water retention. This is partially true, however what it is also doing is dragging out all your food with it, not giving your body the change to absorb the necessary nutrients, turning it all into waste.

The product is poorly marketed, as it definitely gets rid of a lot of water weight, leaving you very parched and dehydrated from all the shaking hands with your toilet. It doesn't actually get rid of any fat. Weight loss, sure. But not fat loss - which is ultimately what you want. This then means that as soon as you come off that tea, that weight will pile straight back on.

That's not to say all detox teas out there are bad. The purpose of a detox of course has it's benefits if it is only used as a detox - not as a permanent diet. Generally speaking, I wouldn't be using a detox for more than two weeks.

One tea I do recommend (that I am about to try myself) is a detox tea called "yourtea" which have a tiny teatox (props for the pun, guys). Yourtea does the complete opposite of SkinnyMe tea. Where SkinnyMe tea turns everything into waste and doesn't let your body absorb, well, anything, Yourtea removes the gunk and allows for your body to perform as it should by nourishing your digestive system, happily nomming up nutrients without clunky toxins getting in the way. There is zero laxative effect of the tea, especially as they seem to know what they're talking about in terms of how laxatives do nothing for you long term. It does help you go to the bathroom a little more, but more as a regulator than a laxative, similar to how fibre works.

It also has very little caffeine which gives you the option to add caffeine supplements as other aspects of your training. SkinnyMe tea is packed full of a variety of caffinated extracts such as green tea, which is a perfectly good detox and stimulant on it's own. Only thing is that you then lose the option to add other stimulants to your fitness/nutrition regime, unless heart attacks are your thing.

Yourtea also do other teas to help bulk and every day teas to help if you're feeling gluggy and sluggish.


Of course, other good detoxes include just drinking a lot of water and two days on a vegan, gluten-free, minimal acid (as in, little tomatoes) diet will also leave you feeling fresh and great.

Have you had any experiences with "diet" teas? Tell us in the comments!


-MM

Warrior Dash: Achievements and the overenthusiastic supporters

Given my outrageously neglectful attitude towards writing my blog (something I am working on rectifying) and being bogged down with a magnitude or research writing, I'm a little behind in my news.

I DID IT!

 I managed to successfully complete Warrior Dash, a 5km mud and obstacle event that only a year prior, I had said I would never, ever do.

Okay, so I might have walked the entire thing, bar about 200 metres at the start, but I still finished. I actually found it quite leisurely, walking with my partner while everyone else ran, then crawling, swimming, beating my way through obstacles. In saying that, I was outrageously sore the following week or so. I did it with a big group of friends which was great fun, although they are all far better at running, so I made sure I didn't hold them back and just kept at my own leisurely pace as they scooted off and kindly waited for me at obstacles. This was not aided by the death cold I had for a month which inhibited all training and carb loaded my already pudgy self.

Unlike my cohort, I was happy to just sit on my victory alone while they all eagerly signed up for Tough Mudder, a course that is four times as long with much tougher obstacles. Don't get me wrong, I greatly admire their enthusiasm, and striving for that next challenge is a fantastic way to keep someone motivated to adhere to their fitness goals. I also think it's very important to just sit back and admire the feat you have accomplished, take a moment to be really proud of what you have achieved. Sit on that glory for a while to really tell yourself "I did it". If you don't, you might find yourself chasing endless goals that don't actually give you any satisfaction or sense of accomplishment.

Here are a couple of images from the fun day (I'm in the pink shirt and tail/ears).

Turns out, not the right way to get across the car.

                                      

Actually the hardest obstacle for me - this gave me terrible vertigo and I nearly walked into a pole. True story.

 

Was quite good at these two, I thank my pole dancing arms for that. Although that second one was outrageously slippery.

 

Wringing out my tail, on the go.

 

The taste of sweet, sweet victory (which apparently, tastes like cheap beer).

 

 

So that was just some of the fun I got to have at Warrior Dash.

 

 

Here is what wasn't so fun.

The borderline patronising support from onlookers. Now wait, I can already hear you saying "But isn't it nice to get so much encouragement from people on the field who don't even know you but want you to succeed?" to which the normal answer is yes, yes I do. However, I'm a girl who carries a little extra weight and therefore, look like the little engine that could, trying extra hard to make it through the obstacle course. Inside people's heads, they think "oh wow, look at that bigger girl who's giving it a go, good for her!" which is great, fair, and accurate. I am great. Despite this being true, it also creates a lot of presumptions I didn't care for. Such as that I'm not fit, working harder or not as hard as aesthetically sculpted, fit human beings or that I need help getting through some obstacles. 

 

This is a great example of what's called positive discrimination. It falls under the same category as trying to help a disabled person or being extra nice to a black guy in your shop so you that you hope that he thinks, that you know, that he won't steal anything.

Don't get me wrong, to a degree, I really appreciated the encouragement and support from fellow racers and spectators. Although, when it gets to a point where they are actively targeting you and trying to make things easier for just you, it makes you feel much more like the special kid in the class rather than a racer, just trying to get through the course like everyone else.


All in all, I did definitely enjoy Warrior Dash and look forward to now focusing on my next target of the 7km Spartan Race - much harder obstacles, 2 more kilometres, 100 burpees if you can't do an obstacle.

Bring it.

2 weeks on - So far so good!

Afternoon!

2 weeks after Easter and my progression isn't too bad!

My exercise habits are yet to be picked up, but I'm trying my hand and just eating away the fat I stored. It took 2-3 weeks, but I finally shifted 1kg.

I ate cleanly for most of the week, having either half a banana or a small bowl of my gluten free quinoa muesli for breakfast, a protein shake at some point in the day, and a lot of cuppa-soups to keep up my blood pressure. I haven't been drinking nearly enough water to compensate for that yet, so that's part II of my challenge - raising up the water in-take.

I've tried my hand at some more vegetarian options in an attempt to cleanse myself a little and had some alright success!

I made a tofu and greens stirfry:

I made a portion size that was waaay too big - I really need to make sure I start using the medium sized plates (a great tip to watch portion size, for those of you playing at home!)

I also bought a huge pot to make a week's worth of veggie soup! I tried to make it fun by using purple carrots instead of your garden variety orange ones. (See what I did there?)
 

So not only was it fun to look at, it was packed full of nutrients like carrots, celery, onion, capsicum and parnsip! With a shit tonne of garlic of course.

For two weeks, I'm going to try doing a series of body weight exercises to get things moving a little, and try to do a bit more cardio on top of that at least 3 times a week.


Here's to good eating!

-MM

Easter tricks

I don't know about you guys, but I made a special request this Easter to receive no chocolate because I simply did not need it.

What I came home to, was this...

   Don't look in it's eyes!


So now I have to try to not eat any of this (am pretty determined to avoid that rollercoaster of binge eating). Fortunately, my new "break in case of emergency" saved the day today!

After reading that approximately once a week, a spoonful of Nutella can be consumed as a source of good fats, I developed an ingenious plan!

Whenever I get an insane craving for chocolate, I just have a small small of Nutella. Not only is it giving me a dose of good fats for the day, it seems to really ease my chocolate cravings and stops me flipping out and buying a block of chocolate in haste.

The only problem with this is holding the discipline to only have that one spoonful. I find if I just remind myself that it is a decadent blob of good fats, like avocado or nuts, then that helps keep me in the disciplined mode to consume just a small bit.


See if it works for you!


-MM

Easter strikes again

So Easter is done.

Who else has put on weight? I thought so.


 Before Easter, I made a deal with myself. I'll avoid chocolate, if I can knowingly eat as many hot cross buns as I can cram into my mouth until Easter Monday, then it's back to business. So cram my face I did. I have eaten probably a total of 25 hot cross buns in about 2.5 weeks.

Spread out of course, that's not so much. 1-2 a day? That, of course, is not how I consumed them. In fact, I'm quite sure there was one or two days where I would eat two mini hot cross buns for every meal throughout the day.

It was not my proudest moment. But who am I to resist the Easter bun?


Long story short, as expected, I've stacked on 2kg and approximately 2% body fat.


I have a rough plan of a bit of a vegetarian detox. However, I don't get paid until Friday, and the usual food in this house rarely comes in fresh and organic.

Dad's actual groceries.


Still, my metabolism has been sky high the last four days or so which is both a good and bad sign (great for metabolising fat etc, not so great given our bare cupboards void of actual food).

Today's diet thus far has been the last hot cross bun and a few mouthful's of yoghurt - my final goodbye to hot cross buns for another year. I was alright until about lunchtime when I decided I needed to eat everything. So I poured half a bag of frozen broccoli into the pan to fry up with some garlic and threw in a tomato for good measure.

The result was a delicious vegetarian mess.

For some reason, despite the protein high veggies I became absolutely ravenous afterwards. After half an hour I had another few spoonfuls of yoghurt.


I briefly did some weights too, but don't really feel like my heart was in it. I'll dig out my old exercise physiology notes tomorrow and go for a 15 minute run - if I can - based on very specific interval training to help burn off all this fat.

With my body, it's a miracle to hope for that I can shed 2kg/2% body fat in 2 weeks, but hey, let's give it a try.


-MM

Overhyped resolutions and nifty tips about the ole' "weights or cardio first" argument

So it's been a month since my last post, admittedly, like everyone, things get a little lost around the Christmas/holiday season but generally speaking, I've (from what I can gather) not put on any weight. Huzzah!

However, given it is of course, the new year, I have made some rather bland resolutions.

Get fit, stay fit. Feel fit.


Duh.


So far so good, no cravings of any type. Have been eating my eggs for breakfast, although I have cut down from two to one, one is all I really need that early in the morning, might start adding some baby spinach for that extra hit of sweet, sweet nutrients.

Today I had my one egg for breakfast and a turkey wrap for lunch complete with lettuce, tomato and cucumber. Have just indulged in a delicious snack of a corn thin (unflavoured of course!) with turkey, spicy avocado and tomato with black pepper.

Pictured: Delicious snack
Not pictured: Copious drool.

It's also a crisp, fresh tasting snack that I always find great for Summer.


In terms of training, that part isn't going as well. I did manage to get to the pools and do three whole laps, 2.5 more than I've ever done before. There was a huge gap between the first and second, I won't lie. I also did a lot of intermittent aqua-aerobics that I had half composed myself (thanks uni!). Good way to mix it up.

I really don't have long now until Warrior Dash and have admittedly left it quite late to really kick myself into gear, but nothing like time pressure to motivate you into getting on track. The current plan is to get up hells early for cardio - endurance training, so as long as I can go for, followed by either weights or returning later in the afternoon for weights training.


What came first, the cardio or the weights?

I get asked this one all the time, so here's a little simple rule to go by.
 If your goal is to lose weight, then cardio before weights/strength training is the way to go. Studies (Drummond, Vehrs, Schaalje & Parcell, 2005) say that the reason for this is because your Excess Post-Exercise Oxygen Consumption - or EPOC (the science way of saying how much you've burned during exercse) burns approximately 20% more than if you were to do weights and then cardio.

However, if you're not such a fatty and building up strength and muscle is your priority, weights training should be your first (or only) workout. The reason for this is that your body has zero exhaustion (as in, more energy) and you can utilize the calories you currently have to fuel  your weight...pushing..ness. There's also a whole bunch of energy systems stuff for this I won't get too much into, but basically you haven't burned through them all yet, whereas you go through all three with doing cardio first (ATP-PC, anaerobic and aerobic).


Here's hoping I have a bit more training to write about tomorrow (and lets face it, more delicious snack pictures).


- MM


Reference:
Drummond, Vehrs, Schaalje & Parcell, (2005). Aerobic and Resistance Exercise Sequence Affects Excess Postexercise Oxygen Consumption. Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research, Vol 19, (2). Accessed: http://journals.lww.com/nsca-jscr/Abstract/2005/05000/Aerobic_and_Resistance_Exercise_Sequence_Affects.16.aspx

On a roll!

The last few days have been pretty good! Thanks blog followers!!

Yesterday my diet was pretty good, admittedly pretty fruity. I had half a banana for breakfast, a few nuts for a snack, chicken wrap (lettuce, tomato, chicken - admitedly a touch of sauce) and an amazing dinner!! Dinner was a salad with a lemony cajun, baby spinach, crushed walnuts, sliced mango and shredded coconut.

Delicious!

 It was the perfect thing to satisfy a sweet craving too! There was nothing this meal didn't have - flavour explosion, slightly sweet, good fats, proteins, greens, it was amazing. I was a little naughty and had a huge bowl of watermelon, which is where a bit too much fruit came into the equation.

I also drank a good two litres of water, finally!

Sadly, I didn't get around to exericse as I had expectations of doing more room rennovations which did not quite happen.


As for today, also so far so good! Had the other half of that banana for breakfast and was a tad naughty and bought an iced moccha whilst out this morning.

I was early to my friend's house and had to wait for her to have a shower. Her exercise gear is easily accessible so to entertain myself, I squished in a quick workout!

I managed to do three sets of sit ups (10 regular, 10 side, 10 leg lowers/raises), attempted 8 pull ups and did two sets of weighted squats which really got me sweating!


It's a fine example of how to utilise spare minutes to get a bit of a sweat going. It's also applicable for incidental exercises. See a set of stairs? Run up them and enjoy that burn!

Had a turkey, ham and (naughty) salami wrap with avacado for lunch and am antipating more mango salad for dinner.

Hypoxi and a New Attitude

So, since we last left off two fairly big changes have been made to my life.

1. I started hypoxi.

2. I broke up with my boyfriend.


So in other words, I was able to drop some dead weight. And then I started hypoxi (boomtish!).


I'm going to begin with the break up first. It was June, I was sluggish, fat, unmotivated and stuck in god awful rut of a relationship that was fueled by food and bad habits of every kind. I had more or less given up dancing, was inactive and generally quite depressed, bitter and resentful of my partner for making me this way.

So I changed it.

Ending a relationship that's toxic can be a lot like starting a new one. In fact it is a new one, it's a reconnection with the self. And that is exactly what I started to experience.

Immediately I began to feel a little revitalised, I no longer felt trapped and I felt like I was able to happy and free with no set backs or burdens. Within the month, I had multiple people compliment me on my vibrance - whatever I was doing was obviously working quite well for me!

I didn't start a new exercise regime straight away, I didn't need to just yet. I was just happy rediscovering who I was on my own. I found myself deliberately doing some tid bits of incidental cardio just for the brief thrill (jogging up stairs and loving that burn, anyone?).
What it did do, was set me up for a new, fresh mindset that was accepting and ready to make a positive change.

Hypoxi

Whilst training was supposed to start in August for Warrior Dash, I caught a bit of a nasty virus with a lingering, deep cough that limited more or less anything I tried to do workout wise. Around mid-September, it had disappeared enough for me to try something I have been wanting to try for years - hypoxi.

Hypoxi is amazing. For those that don't know, the general idea of it is to pedal consistantly on a bike, keeping your heart rate in the fat burning zone (varies slightly depending on size, but average around 130-140 bpm). This is no ordinary bike, no sir. The bike part of the machine sits in an air tight chamber, with a vacuum that happens every so often. The idea of this is that it draws the blood to your colder areas of your body - your fat areas. It's meant to be for targetted weight loss in those stubborn areas such as stomach, hips and thighs.

 No one laughs this much during hypoxi.

The results I got were amazing. Obviously, you also need to eat well. This is no miracle cure where you can eat fat all day long and still get skinny (aren't those things always skeptical?) Given I (generally) eat a moderately clean diet, this part was quite easy to maintain. The best way to get results is to do this in a set of 12 sessions over a month which equates to roughly every second day. At face value, you're at least doing 30 minutes of cardio every second day - good stuff, right?

 

After week two of this, I also returned to the gym where I have loyally been doing one personal training session with my old trainer a week, so that was the only other exercise I was doing. After two weeks, I was already getting complimented on how much "weight" I had lost and how great I was looking. An added benefit of hypoxi is that it's also great for your skin and reducing cellulite. This machine is all kinds of amazing.

 

There are other things you can add to your "package" to enhance results such as using the hypoxi body suit thing which is basically a lymphatic drainage suit or you can use the vibraplate for 10 minutes before hand to stimulate blood flow, so I did that as well.

 

Whilst it left a $800 hole in my wallet, I really have to say it was money well spent. The fact that it does cost so much was actually an added incentive. If I wanted to eat something bad, I'd just think "I really do not want to waste that eight hundred bucks. I should probably not eat this." My results are as follows:


 

Before Hypoxi (8.10.12):                                         After Hypoxi (6.11.12):           

                           

Weight: 70.9kg                                                             Weight: 69.2kg

Waist: 79.5cm                                                               Waist: 72.5cm

Stomach: 96.5cm                                                           Stomach: 90cm

Hips: 100.7cm                                                                Hips: 97.4cm
Bottom: 107.4cm                                                           Bottom: 103.4cm

Legs: 92cm                                                                     Legs: 87.1cm

Relaxed Leg: 56cm                                                        Relaxed Leg: 53.4cm

Contracted Leg: 57.5cm                                                 Contracted Leg: 55.2cm

Knee: 36.8cm                                                                 Knee: 35.5cm

 

                                                 TOTAL CM LOSS: 31.9cm

                                                 TOTAL KG LOSS: 0.8kg

 

DAFUQ.

 

So given how stubborn my body is, evidently I was hella pleased with these results. I really wish I had taken before and after photos, the waist and leg difference is incredible. As always, my hips were stubborn, but I was pretty damn happy with this. I will most definitely be doing more once I can gather up the monies.
My weight had barely changed, but the measurements speak for itself. At the end of the day, that's what you're counting anyways.

Can only go onward and upwards from here!


-MM

Relapse and Many New Things

Guh I haven't posted since June.

Which basically sums up a whole relapse that obviously happened. Just goes to show just how much keeping a blog can help you stay on track.

I have decided to take on Warrior Dash in February (even in the heat - I know. Believe me, I know.) and was meant to start training in August.


So that didn't happen.

Or in September.

October I did some things.


So in 3 days, serious training begins, and you are going to hear it all. I'm going to do a bit of a mass blog today, I have some things to catch y'all up on. (Yes, I said y'all.)

-MM

Crap, its been a while. More fat and the Endo

Crap indeed.

As predicted, when I don't blog I eat worse and who knew, I've put on about 5kg. Stupid body.

Not that I can blame my body too much. I did eat quite a bit of crap for a week or so. I was highly strung and stressed out beyond belief for about two weeks where I was barely eating. I managed to lose 2kg which was fantastic (albeit, not healthy)! However, when I started to eat properly again I put on 5kg in one week. That's when you know your body just ain't right.

I also finally got around to visiting the endocrinologist. After some reviewing of my test results and some poking and prodding at my jiggly bits, she (happily) decided that she didn't need to give me the lifestyle lecture most of her patients receive and that I was seemingly doing the right thing.

I have a few more pre-diabetic tests to go through, but so far she seems to think that I might have a mild case of Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (or PCOS) which is what my suspicions also were. Basically what this means is that my hormones suck and make losing weight extremely difficult. It can also explain why I don't "bulk up" when I do lots of gym work so it's comforting to know that I'm not a pathetic moron and that there is a genuine cause for these issues.

Next on the to do list is a resting metabolic rate test which can be done at RPA in Sydney. Basically all that involves is sitting in a bubble and watching tv whilst some doctors stare at some screens (presumably not the same ones) and examine how fast my resting metabolism is. This is supposed to reflect my dietary habits so I'm worried that if I have an additional metabolic issue that they'll say the usual "well there must be something you're not eating right" and refer me to a dietician. And the circle starts again. But here's hoping it doesn't come to that and they can work out what is going on in there.

After this, I am possibly a candidate for surgery. I was taken through some of the options and the two most favourable ones are gastric band/lap band surgery or cutting up my stomach if it has been stretched from adolescence. Even though my portions are under control, apparently the banding still works. Somehow.

 I am a little concerned to get it done as it has a bit of a stigma attached to it (mostly a self inflicted one from myself). As soon as you say "I've had gastric band surgery" people imagine you as some fatty who eats everything in the house and then starts to eat the house itself, in an uncontrollable food rage. People flee the streets from the ever growing blob until FINALLY a skilled surgeon takes it down with nothing but a band, popping it back into a normal citizen!!!

But whatever helps, helps right?

I'm hoping something is found, surgery scares me. I don't really want people all up in my business, slicin' and dicin' my organs Jamie Oliver style, but if that's what it takes, that's what it takes.


-MM

Easter - Jesus dies so we can get fat

So Easter sucks.

To give you the best way on how to handle Easter, I have made a nice "to do" and "not to do" list.

Do:
- Enjoy yourself at Easter, have an egg, live a little!
- Find some kind of exercise to do - just because the gym is closed, doesn't mean you don't have legs to walk/run or heavy things to lift.
- Check the calories per chocolate. It will help give you some perspective in order to stay in control.
- Remember to eat lots of real eggs, keep up those protein stores!
- Try to ensure your meals are very clean and lean today - you don't want to build up more calories on top of the chocolate treats.

Don't:
- Overindulge. You can definitely "treat" yourself, but don't eat all of the chocolate you receive at once using the "but it's Easter!" excuse. Your stomach will hate you, your fat cells will love you and your mind is going to punch "past you" in the face.
- Trick yourself into thinking you can go to the gym the following day and just burn off everything you just ate. Chances are, you don't have the stamina or the stomach for doing the five hours straight of cardio it would take to theoretically burn off the 1400 calories you consumed in chocolate alone.
- Think that because you're eating chocolate, all of your other meals should be rubbish because you've "ruined the day's diet".


Hopefully these little tricks will help keep your head (and guts!) clear this Easter long weekend. Hope you're all having a great holiday off work!


-MM

Parents ruin food

Parents ruin food, they really do.

Today's original eating plan was:

2 x scrambled eggs for  breakfast
1 x small handful of unsalted nuts (mmm, almonds!)
1 x beef mince and bean wrap with tomato salsa
Something and something.



Dad decided to take a day off today and as such, I ended up being involved in many of his errands. I got awoken early being told that I had a McDonalds breakfast muffin waiting for me which I wasn't going to deny being half asleep. Already, I had a bad start. I was hauled around a few shops and I was positively dying from thirst as I'd usually have a litre of water by this time. The weather being pretty warm did not do me any favours. After much nagging, I finally got two small bottles of water, huzzah!

Of course, a dodgy lunch was wanted. I refused to have McDonalds for lunch, although I did succumb to a 30c cone after staring at some teenagers eating them. Let this be yet another strike for the lesson of "never look at something tempting - walk away". I ended up being able to hold off until home where I did manage to get my awesome wrap.

For dinner, I had enough left over for another wrap and thought I'd make something similar with some spinnich thrown in. But alas, Dad had other plans. It was two for one schnitzel night at the pub on Mondays, so we trotted off to that because he couldn't be bothered cooking after a long day. I had it as healthy as I could, no cheese and with baked veggies and mash that I ate about a quarter of. So not a terribly bad dinner.

A few lessons were learned or reminded of today.

1. If you're going to be running around a lot, you know you won't be bothered cooking - always prepare meals the night or even weekend before.
2. Parents don't really care what you want to do or eat, "they know best".
3. Always carry water and nuts/celery/carrots if you're going out, no excuses!
4. Holding your ground is hard when surrounded by people eating bad things. See lesson no.3.


-MM

Off the wagon, crawling back on it

Well!

It turns out I was right, keeping a blog about health does help keep you on track!

The fact that there has been an absence of my blog entries and my current diet is no coincidence.

Also, Easter sucks.


I have discovered that at Easter, its the hot cross buns that'll kill me, not the chocolate. Weird, right? But at least I know what it is. It also all started (as it always does) with me being sick the last 5-6 weeks. My body does the opposite of most people and decides to get fat as hell when I have a virus, so I put on a few kilos just from that alone. I also tend to binge on carbs and salty soups (chicken noodle cup-a-soup mostly) which obviously, does not help the situation.

I am still sick which is a massive pain in the arse. I also haven't been able to afford this pole term so I have had zero exercise this last month or so which is all kinds of not good. I did enjoy a belly dance session with Mel on Wednesday which was fun to mix it up a bit as well. Am pondering returning to silks, but that all depends on how I go financially.

As far as my horrid diet goes, it is more or less hopeless to try to give up until next weekend when I can no longer be tempted by hot cross buns. That also buys me another week for my flu of death to try to go away.

I'm also going to ensure that I'm back on the blog for your enjoyment and my own motivation!
To get things rolling, today I had bacon for breakfast and am having Hooters for lunch.

... Off to a great start?

-MM

Midnight snacks

So here I am, consuming two, margerined hot cross buns.

*hangs head in shame*

I think if I fix my sleeping patterns to not be awake passed, say, midnight at least, I won't have stupid cravings of food that I just refuse to say no to. I'm going to try to work on that this week!

Have also discovered that not having sugar for a long time and then having two lemonades, a piece of cake and two ice creams in one day is a hell of a sugar overload causing not just a headache, but severe lack of sleep.

SO WIRED.


Sugar is bad.

Not sleeping is bad.



The End.

-MM

Bad diet, bad!

Woow this week has been awful, diet wise.

I should have been doing this day by day, but lets see if I can remember...

Monday I think I had pasta for dinner as my cheat meal and a mars bar. Tuesday being valentines day, I had pizza (romantic, yes?), soft drink (diet, but still..) and god knows what else. Wednesday I ended up in Newtown and caved to the Italian bowl which meant yes, pasta again. Thursday I had.. Burritos! Not so terrible, although I could've done without the carbs and ate a bit too much. I also made a cake for my partner, in which some of the mix mysteriously ended up in my belly. >.>

Friday morning I had bacon and eggs for breakfast (although I am cutting down on the amount I have - just one egg on toast rather than two for two) and something else fairly horrid for dinner I can't recall. Saturday I had bacon and eggs brunch again and stupidly had a dinner that was another wrap meal, but the chicken was really oily and gross so I had to paper towel the crap out of it. And I had three hot cross buns.

*hangs head in shame*

My water intake has also been abysmal with maybe only 2-3 days having my full two litres. I definitely haven't lost any weight and may have even set myself back 1-2kg.

My weight loss has drastically slowed since being off of the Duromine, which sucks. It's making being on the shakes almost unnecessary. Going to really try to muster up the motivation to go to the gym this week and even try to take my pup for a walk this afternoon, just to get me moving.

Wish me luck!


-MM

Off the Duromine

My water intake has dropped, dammit.

I'm guessing this is because I'm now off the Duromine until after the competition (I still want to lose weight, need it out of my system well before the comp!) and so I don't have as much of a cotton mouth, therefore making me constantly thirsty.

I had almost forgotten what a struggle it is to try to keep up my water intake on my own. I've had only just over a litre for the passed few days now, so that is definitely something I need to work on.

I have also forgotten how tired I usually am. Even on the Duromine I would stop and think "I'm quite tired" but it's nothing compared to what I am feeling now. I have had to cancel things and stay home just because I am far too tired to walk out the door. I am due for a B12 shot very soon, but even they don't seem to pick me up much.

Can definitely see why people want to be on amphetamines all the time.

-MM

The Multivitamins!

I have been a little quiet over the last few days, but I've been running an experiment. As you may recall, I was having some issues with the doubled up hormones creating some undesirable side effects. It seems that it was not the doubled up hormones but in fact the multivitamins I had started taking again!

Whether my body's reaction to them has changed or just the clash with the hormones or Duromine, it seems that the Swisse Women's Multivitamins were giving me the mood swings, aggression and added giddiness.


Today's lesson is short and sweet.

Just because something is off the shelf at your chemist or even supermarket, does not mean it won't have bad effects on your body, especially if you are on any kind of medication. An interesting lesson I also learned whilst taking sleeping tablets and St John's Wort (the lesson there is don't do it, ever). Just because something is herbal or natural, doesn't mean it can't be dangerous.

-MM

Bit of a funny about quick fixes

Hilarious, but oh so true.

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Oh Cracked. Is there anything you don't know?

-MM

Hormones - Feeling Double

Hey everyone!

For four days now I have been on "the pill" on top of my Implanon in an attempt to halt the irregular bleeding I was getting as a result of (potentially) Duromine. The good news is that it seems to have worked!

The bad news is that after four days, I'm starting to really feel the effects of doubling up on my hormones (œstrogen and Progesterone) despite being told I "probably" wouldn't have any side effects. But hey, hormones are tricky things that affect different bodies in different ways.

I only really noticed today that I am feeling quite nauseated and am getting some headaches, despite my large water intake. I'm also not just irritable, but feeling quite abnormally aggressive and almost impulsive (which is always a great mix). I'm feeling a bit disconnected from a lot of people and feeling very oddly paranoid about irrational things I know are silly.

I am hoping that this just lasts for a day or so, perhaps as part of an adjustment period. I'm going to carefully monitor my emotions and weight throughout the week (I was also told it was "unlikely" I'd put on weight but with my body, who knows) and make a judgement as to whether to continue or not. There is no other real solution to stop irregular bleeding, so I might have to put up with it until the competition is over.

Am hoping it doesn't come to that.

-MM

What quick fixes can do to you (Duromine)

I know I seem to go on a lot about quick fixes, but this is what the majority of people are trying to use to lose weight, be it fad diets, amphetamine based pills, "carb blocker" pills (yeah, sure), laxatives or a plethora of detoxes that kill fat for good!

As I've said several times, this just won't work in the long term. What you might not realise is that a lot of these things can also cause some damage to your body, both short term and long term. Some are more obvious than others, not eating causes, well, death (as well as building up your fat stores anyway - it's the muscle that you lose), purging has a similar effect as well with the bonus of teeth erosion from stomach acid and laxatives cause malnutrition from lack of absorption, fishers (tears/cuts in the anal passage) and potentially bowel problems in the future. Some detoxes can do this also as well as take away a lot of your good bacterias.

What about ones you don't know?


I'm going to cover a few more of these quick fixes that you might not know about, but first I'd like to share a very recent experience with you all. As a warning for the guys out there, I am about to talk about periods! So if you're one of those dudes that can't hear about "that girl thing", I suggest you skim passed the next paragraph. I'll signal you or something when it's safe.

So for those that don't know, I am on Implanon, a contraceptive that is a rod inserted into the arm protecting you from pregnancy for three years (or as I like to call it, god's greatest gift to women since vibrators). As a quick overview, Implanon works by artificially producing and regulating hormones and stopping ovulation. As a result, some people can get either irregular bleeding or their periods can just stop altogether for some amount of time. As for me, I am quite lucky and my periods stopped altogether.

With my first Implanon, I would only bleed every eight months or so, my second I hadn't bled at all for two years, until two weeks ago. I was extremely surprised to find that I had gotten my period out of the blue, although that's how it tends to happen with Implanon. I had no pain which was odd, that usually accompanies them, given the large build up over time (sorry for getting a little graphic). So that annoyingly lasted for four or five days. At first I attributed it to just a build up, but then found that it was odd that the discrepancies of time (period on my first Implanon vs the time took on my second Implanon). Irregular bleeding on Implanon typically tends happen the first few months or the last few months before it has to get taken out. Given that I'm just about dead on two years, it definitely didn't fit into either of those categories. I then started to ponder if it was the Duromine causing this to happen.
As you may or may not know, high levels of stress on the body can lead to irregular bleeding, be it mental stress or physical stress from lots of exercise. Given that Duromine works by putting the body into a bit of a flight phase in order to pump up your metabolism and other functions to burn fat, resulting in higher blood pressure, dizziness, alertness to name a few. Not ruling out the potential of a regular old build up, I just waited it out.

Exactly one week after the period had finished, it started again! I decided that this was definitely not good news. Googling didn't really give me much (and it's not the best place to go for medical advice, let's face it) so I made an appointment with the doctor the following day.

I went to the sexual health clinic because I just don't trust general practitioners with anything sexual health related as the majority of them are well out of date with their information (a little fact I learned whilst studying sexual health myself). The doctor I saw checked a few resources and Duromine is not a listed drug that effects Implanon or vice versa. After discussing a few potential causes, we agreed that what could be "unofficially" (as in, not medically recorded anywhere from studies) happening in my body is that my liver is into overdrive and metabolising my hormones from Implanon. Bad bad news. Ovulation wise I'm still protected, but by metabolising the hormones, it is creating me to have a period when I shouldn't need to. I needed to control this as I had a big competition coming up and didn't want to be worrying about such things getting in and out of costumes (not to mention also the fact that it is kind of destroying my body). So for the short term, I am on the regular "irregular bleeding" treatment of additionally taking the pill to try to control it. Obviously this also isn't something you should do in the long term as it's doubling up on hormones (which I'm praying doesn't cause more problems), but it will hopefully allow me to regain control.
Alternatively, the other obvious answer would be to get the hell off the Duromine (which I am a little surprised wasn't mentioned to me), however I still have a bit more fat to try to lose. Stupidest response ever, I know.



Long story short, Duromine can cause your body to go into so much overdrive it actually causes your body to do a variety of stress related responses, including unnecessary periods.

(Welcome back boys!)

There are obviously many other risks and harmful things Duromine can do to your body, but this was just my most recent experience. I have also had to get up quickly out of bed in a bit of a panic (pup was trying to throw up and had to try to get her out of my room, running to the door to sign for a parcel) which has caused me dizziness to the point where I have to immediately lie down afterwards because I'm about to blackout.

Other listed medical issues are rise in blood pressure, body temperature, anxiety, aggression and of course, the good old risk of cardiac infarction, especially with long term use, better known as a heart attack.

This is why eating well and exercising is crucial to taking Duromine in order to try to keep your blood pressure down, not build it up further. Exercise needs to be light so you don't pass out like I nearly do when I just get out of bed.


I was going to cover a few more "what quick fixes can do to you" but I'll have to make that another entry, this has been long enough!

Stay tuned!


-MM