She-Groks Only.......... cuz it works different for us page 88

[Judg]

Great ideas Judg. Thanks for sharing. One issue of giving up pasta and yes the great breads is I only get tummy issues. I lived with it so long, it's become normal, so convincing myself no more is really hard. I'm trying, just got to find work arounds. Now if someone has a substitute for a nice crusty Italian bread..........

Then my husband will bless that someone with all his heart...

[Pedidoc]

Sometimes it's just hard to find the same texture!!

[sharoninboulder]

Finally, I find my people! That is the 50ish female crowd. Took me a while to read through all the past posts, but I've finally caught up and I'm gonna introduce myself.

51 yo, 5' 3", 148 lbs and probably in the neighborhood of 26% BF. Living in beautiful Colorado. Married, with a 19 yo daughter in college. Trained as a chef so I know a thing or two about food, at least the cooking side of things.

As a kid, I was pretty active, a tomboy really, riding my bike around, playing tennis with my dad, playing baseball then softball. Ate whatever I wanted, was always pretty slim. Went to college, discovered beer. Ceased to be quite so slim. Still active dancing at parties, running, skiing, hiking, cycling. I love to be outdoors. In the 80's, subsisting on a diet that included WAY too much junk food, I started feeling like crap. CW was low-fat, so that's where I went. I also ditched a lot of the crap (though I could still drink my hubby under the table). I felt so much better! Had a baby in my 30's, went back to the low-fat and the exercise, which put me back close to pre-baby. All's great...until my 40's when I develop high blood pressure. My dad has it - he had a quadruple bypass when he was 68. He's now 75 and still kickin'. Eventually start on meds. Religiously take the meds, exercise like always, eat just what they say. And lo and behold, 5 years later, my pressure is up again. More meds. 4 years later, same story. OK, this isn't funny! The trend is bad, yet I'm doing what they say to do. Where will I be in 5 years? On meaner, more powerful meds. That's just swell.

A bit over a year ago, I read Gary Taubes's article in the NY Times "Is Sugar Toxic?" where he writes about the link between hi-carb diets and hypertension. Ding! My diet ranged from 45-60% carbs. Training for long multi-day bike rides and centuries meant ingesting a lot of sugar. First time I ever saw anything at all about the link between fructose specifically, and carbs generally, to hypertension. What do I have to lose? I have no risk factors for heart disease besides the high blood pressure (though my doctor gives me *that* look because my LDL is up from the year before). If I can crack that, I'll be much happier. Eventually, I found my way to Primal and I learned lots of great things. I'm thrilled to find this group of lovely women. I feel like I've been spying on you all since I read through all the old posts!

Right now, I want to do whatever it takes to get off the meds. In the last year, I've cut my meds in 1/2, so I'm back to 5 years ago. Would love, love, love to ditch them entirely. Just not sure what that something is. Would be happy to lose a couple of BF %points, but not a big deal if I don't. Last fall I was down to 143 and leaner when I was training for a 1/2 marathon, which is the first and last time I'll ever run 13 miles in one go!

Looking forward to the journey with all of you!

[tomi]

Welcome, Sharoninboulder! A few of us are younger, but I would say the majority hanging out here are mid-lifers. We're all trying to get it figured out.

Your current weight is my near goal weight! Looking forward to hearing more from you!

[NDF]

Speaking of cycles, until I got my IUD, I showed no signs of ovulation or PMS. There was no change in mucous, nor increased sex drive; not even increased hunger. After the IUD, I learned what pms cramps felt like, and today saw a change in mucous consistency.

I find it interesting that it took a piece of copper to "wake" my reproductive system up. I wonder why though.

That is interesting! Did you get the IUI before or after you started making your dietary and lifestyle changes? It might be possible that the weight loss and diet and lifestyle changes also contributed to the hormone changes.

I was officially diagnosed with HA(hypothalamic amenorrhea) in June 2011 but had been struggling it since June 2008. I got my first period back in September 2011 but it's been very irregular since then. All those nay-sayers who think that primal can cure all, I'm telling you that even eating primal didn't "cure" my HA. I had to count calories and eat tons of calories(mostly from fats and starches) in order to get my period(and I was not underweight). And it's not been a smooth ride since. Any slip in calories (ie if I don't eat enough) and my body doesn't ovulate.

Anyway I bring that up because after 3 years without a period, I'm just starting to relearn what cylce changes feel like and how they effect my body. I find I get super hunger the two weeks after ovulation. I don't necessarily crave any one particular food (not that I've noticed anyway). Cramps. Oh dear god. The few times I've had my cycle, it's knocked me off my feet!

[NDF]

Do you chart? Or anyone else for that matter?

I use FAM (fertility awareness method) to chart, but don't do my temp (since I'm not in a relationship at the moment) . . . I never liked the hormones involved with the pills, screwed up my emotions too much, so I plan to continue using FAM when I'm in another committed relationship. I really like how charting helps me learn more about my body and will, I hope, help me to get pregnant as well, when the time comes . . .

I chart! I used fertiliyfriend.com to track my temps. I just use a regular digital thermometer. Sometimes it's been helpful (ie low temps show me that my metabolism is tanking and I need to eat up) and sometimes it's frustrating - temp shifts and CM that are interpreted as ovulation shifts but nothing really has happened.

I just went on a higher-dose pill (Marvelon - 30 mcg estrogen). I was on Alesse before, which is 20 mcg, and I found that I was still getting my periods irrespective of whether I was taking the active pill or the sugar pill, and I couldn't skip my periods on it. I'm hoping the higher dose will allow me to skip my periods. I haven't finished the first cycle yet, but hopefully it doesn't result in a ton of weight gain or other side effects - I didn't have any problems with Alesse.

I never gained extra weight when I was on the pill. I didn't understand why some girls swore it was the reason for their weight gain.

I know it sounds great no to menstruate, but just be careful with that - and with using the bcp. If you plan on having children in the future, you might not want to be messing around with your hormones like that. You run the risk of having problems conceiving later.

[Leida]

I was strongly impacted by bcp. I was on Marvelon and switched to Alesse, and could not handle it. i would just sit and weep, weep and weep for no reason. Went back to Marvelon. When I changed from Marvelon to Seasonale, I was inhaling food, I was hungry and gaining huge amounts of weight. I had to drop all workouts, and concentrate on limiting my food intake. It took 3 months for my body patterns to return too normal.

I also experienced inexplained infertility, it took us 2+ year ttc, with some crazy things going on in my body, including completely whacky periods, thermometer was useless, missed miscarriage, lost period, prometrium and clomid... I am gald that we only wanted one child, no way I can take it again!

[sbhikes]

Welcome Sharon. If I didn't live in Santa Barbara I might give Colorado a try. Everybody there is so outdoorsy. This guy Mags moved there from Rhode Island after hiking the Appalachian Trail and he always says how Colorado changed his life. He has so much fun all year long in the outdoors and makes everybody jealous with his pictures. I'm not sure I'd like the cold and snow. I have to endure cold summers in SB but the rest of the year is nice and I can hike all year.

[sharoninboulder]

Welcome Sharon. If I didn't live in Santa Barbara I might give Colorado a try. Everybody there is so outdoorsy. This guy Mags moved there from Rhode Island after hiking the Appalachian Trail and he always says how Colorado changed his life. He has so much fun all year long in the outdoors and makes everybody jealous with his pictures. I'm not sure I'd like the cold and snow. I have to endure cold summers in SB but the rest of the year is nice and I can hike all year.

It is unbelievably beautiful. I moved from NJ, so quite a change! And, I moved for the snow since I'm a skier. Life intervened so I don't ski quite as much but I've been getting out more now that the kid has gone off to college. Santa Barbara is pretty darn nice too but I would miss the winter (yes, really).

[Judg]

Hi Sharon! I was headed toward danger territory with my blood pressure, despite the chronic fatigue, which causes low blood pressure. I guess the obesity was winning there. Losing weight helped, but I was still above optimal. I got my first optimal reading last week.