Kalli's Leptin Reset Experiment page 11

[kalli889]

OMG - I used to be able to eat a box of gluten-free cookies. Hooray for no sugar!

Gluten Free Is Not Enough | Paleo Plan

[kalli889]

Other positive benefits of PB/LR:

*Better sleep, even if I get less of it.
*No more pitting edema in my legs. (I used to have 2-3 Diet Cokes with Lime flavoring a day -- and my legs would swell to an immense size. No bueno.)
*Even moods.
*When I get hungry, I don't feel angry or crazy, and I don't feel like I MUST EAT NOW.
*I'm warmer. Although now it's 90 degrees outside, all the time, so until I buy an air conditioner, I won't be cold unless I'm at work. And one of the women I work with complains of being freezing all the time, while I'm fairly toasty. :-)
*Better skin. My skin is glowing. When/if I cheat, I see it immediately.
*Better sense of smell.
*Fewer allergic reactions to dander, metals, pollen, etc.
*Freedom (for the most part) from cravings.

I have to remind myself of what it used to be like for me, how I'd be STARVING every 3-4 hours. I could become highly emotional if my blood sugar got low. I'd get weepy and/or angry if something prevented me from eating. (Boss asked me to stay late? Hysterical meltdown. Held quietly, in the bathroom.) My weight kept spiraling upwards. I'd be too tired to exercise, and I watched my once slender and muscular arms balloon up and become soft and mottled with cellulite. (UGH.) I'd be slightly angry/resentful all day for no reason.

This is all so much better.

[kalli889]

Chronic Cardio.

I have run one, single marathon in my entire life. I had started dating someone who LOVED to take me out to fancy restaurants, and I was WORRIED about my waistline. I signed up for a marathon. I ran four days a week, and my longest training run was 20 miles. My blood sugar was so low after my longest run that I couldn't hold a conversation with my boyfriend. We got pizza, and after the first slice I perked up like a flower given water.

I was 166 lbs when I started. At the end I weighed 162. Whaaaa? FOUR pounds? After MONTHS of training? Granted, because I was running so much, I gave myself license to eat whatever I wanted. Pizza, pasta, whatever. You had to carbo load, right?

After the marathon, my legs were swollen up like balloons, soft and stretched with edema. I wanted to run one again. I had ITB, and could barely walk.

I signed up for a sprint triathlon. I was hungry every three hours. My brain could go dead mid-conversation, and I could be revived with sandwiches. I carried food with me all the time everywhere. I biked to work in the hot sun, and I swam and ran when I wasn't biking. I started having panic attacks.

The only time chronic cardio ever helped me lose weight was when it was simply walking for an hour in the morning on the treadmill in my dorm, so, by Mark's definition, that's Long Slow Distances, and NOT chronic cardio. I think I might start doing that at work. It's too hot outside.

[jenn26point2]

I love the FlyLady! I need to start implementing her plans again. I do it for a while, then get lazy and put it off, then the place gets out of control again, and I have to start all over with being overwhelmed and out of control. I definitely suffer from CHAOS at home. But my deck looks nice!

[kalli889]

You know how they say a vice becomes an addiction when it begins to have negative effects on your life? Helloooo coffee. I was up til 1 am last night. I woke up this morning when I was supposed to ARRIVE at work. I went to bed at 9pm and stared at the ceiling for an hour. Then I hung out with my roommate. Then I watched some Arrested Development, Twilight Zones, and X-Files episodes. It doesn't help that the super-genius who painted our apartment before we moved in painted over the outlets by my window, so I couldn't use the extra A/C that my roommate has. I took a cold bath (yay, cold thermogenesis!) and was comfortable for about 15 minutes. My brain hurts in the heat. I hate it. I hate the heat. Hate hate hate hate. Someone asked me how I liked New York. I love New York, but it has taught me to hate winter and summer. And spring lasted about a month this year. Argh.

End Rant.

So I'm puffy again from no sleep. The sleep lines on my face lasted all the way to work. I was worried last night that I would have effed up dreams from watching The X-Files before bed, but instead I dreamed of a charmingly dysfunctional newly broke family. Ha ha.

Mark and Robb Wolff both say weight loss won't happen if you a) don't get sleep, and b) have a lot of stress. My lack of sleep adds to my stress. Oy vey. But at least, in general, the sleep I do get is very restful. Even though I didn't get to sleep until 1 am, I actually feel quite good right now, instead of a total space cadet. (It's noon now.)

I always feel better when I get to work WHICH IS A GREAT AND MAGICAL THING, DON'T YOU THINK! Considering how many people hate being at work? I mean, the bonuses in favor of being at work are: a) air conditioning, b) bright lighting, c) proximity to windows, and d) free coffee and espresso. Wait. D) got me into this mess.

I found some black photography backdrops for $50, with about $10 for clamps that I can use instead of blackout curtains. I can double them up and clamp them on top of my curtains. I think I'll have to invest in some DreamWater for the days I have class and the day after. Goo. I'll have to get an A/C and an extension cord tomorrow.

One incredible thing that is happening is that I'm only eating 2 meals now! Sometimes I only pick at my lunch, or have a snack. Eating breakfast and lunch and no dinner really helps with the quality of my sleep. (When I don't over-caffeinate myself!) It also helps with the food bill! Yesterday I did menus for the entire month of June, so I'm all planned out. I think I'm going to spring for some J. Robb egg protein powder, Green Vibrance, and MCT Oil for my BAB so I can be quick in the AM! This way I might actually be able to do my morning pages again. (Oh, morning pages, how I miss you.) I have variety for my lunches, but also stability -- I know what to buy, and in what amount. I've got bacon wrapped chicken, and tacos with guacamole in lettuce wraps, and salmon over watercress. VERY excited.

I'm learning that I like greens about once or twice a week, and no more. This weekend I had brussels sprouts with bacon ends, and they were so good! I actually had one of those feelings like I was hungry for a very specific something, so they were quite satisfying. It was quite a new feeling after getting the heebie jeebies just by looking at green vegetables for a while. I'll be getting greens in my shakes via Green Vibrance next month, and I've scheduled two servings of greens a week. If I need to go more or less, I'll adjust. That way I won't have bags of kale rotting in my fridge. (Sad!)

So, what will make me a better, happier, healthier person?

*Blackout curtains (better sleep, which means less stress)
*An air conditioner (better sleep, which means less stress)
*Pharmaceutical Grade Omega-3s (less crazy, ease depression and ADD)
*Climbing (stronger, happier, ease depression, social time)
*Not having to think about meals (Lessen decision fatigue, always fed nutritious primal food)

[jenn26point2]

I like your plan for June. I miss sleeping to the sound of a window A/C unit. Can you take a utility knife and (carefully) cut through the paint? Or if you have access to the breaker box, shut off electricity to that outlet and clean it up? Then you won't have to worry about tripping over the extension cord.

I hope the backdrops aren't too heavy for your curtain rods... that would suck!

And when you say pharmaceutical grade vitamins, what brand are you talking about?

[kalli889]

I like your plan for June. I miss sleeping to the sound of a window A/C unit. Can you take a utility knife and (carefully) cut through the paint? Or if you have access to the breaker box, shut off electricity to that outlet and clean it up? Then you won't have to worry about tripping over the extension cord.

I hope the backdrops aren't too heavy for your curtain rods... that would suck!

And when you say pharmaceutical grade vitamins, what brand are you talking about?

I suppose I should make the landlord fix it, because it's happened all over the apartment, not just in my room. I do have electrician friends who could do this, and I suppose I could pay them and subtract it from the rent.

The backdrops aren't heavy at all -- they're muslin. They use black muslin in the film industry to block outside light. :-)

I'm thinking of getting the OmegaBrite Omega-3s. :-D

[kalli889]

OMG. My birthday is coming up and my roommate keeps saying, "Don't you want a cake? Let's make you a cake." No. I don't want a cake. I don't want a cake because I am forty pounds overweight and my mom and stepdad are diabetic and my dad died of diabetes. So no. I don't want fat and diabetes AND DEATH for my birthday.

(I am *cranky* today.)

UPDATE: I ate a whole avocado and now I feel better.

[jenn26point2]

Glad you feel better! My dad's a photographer with all sorts of backdrops, but I've never felt their weight. They just looked heavy.

I don't blame you about the birthday cake thing. Even the fake stuff would be unsuitable - in my case it would trigger a binge for the real thing. Stand your ground and ask them to make you breakfast instead - eggs, bacon, pork chops, etc.

[kalli889]

I found the culprit! I'm not supposed to take my second dose of fancy vitamins too late -- the B vitamins keep you up! And it's 1:30 and I'm wide awake! No more fancy vitamins after noon either.