Wednesday, August 8, 2012

Failures, Triumphs, Loss, and a Gain

I have been really slacking lately. I don't really even have an excuse. I guess work has just been stressful enough that I have pretty much lost all want or need of anything. 

Last week I lost my appetite, which was crazy. I felt so numb. Literally, I was void of all feelings. Robotic. Close to comatose. It was scary. It was like I was in a little room with a window outside of my head. I could look at myself, but I couldn't talk to myself. I was screaming to wake up, feel something, but I couldn't hear it. I watched myself suffer; watched the worry lines of my husband's face as he consoled me the best he could. I'd eat, to satisfy those who were watching me, but I never felt any effect from it. I was not full, nor energized, nor was I even angry or upset. I was just kinda..... gone.

I am much better now, having regained my appetite on Saturday. It wasn't completely back, but I felt as if my body was nudging me towards food, and a reaction like that I was not going to pass up on. Even now, midweek, I'm not exactly hungry, but I do have a need for sustenance on a 5-7 hour basis.

I went to see my Orthopedic doctor yesterday, which was not really anything groundbreaking. He congratulated my 20 pound loss, and says with the exercises I've been doing (for my knee, the 20-degree lift and hold thing) that he sees there is some better motion happening. He gave me another strap because my first one was worn out. He said that I should try and cut back from the 2 Aleve twice a day and only try to take 1 twice a day because of the long-term effects of NSAID's. I told him that sometimes if I woke up feeling great I wouldn't take the morning dose, or at night if I felt good sometimes I'd skip that too. He said that I should take at least one in the morning and go from there. If I felt worse on days then take more, but never more than 4 in a day.
He recommended I start exercising in the morning, before I even eat. Now, as an Ortho doc, I know it has been many years since he's dealt with anything but bones, but I had a hard time swallowing what he was trying to sell me. I did some research online in the way of only checking .EDU or .ORG websites, such as the Mayo Clinic, etc. and there is some validation to what he's telling me. It seems that if I exercise before I break my fast of the day, then I will be burning FAT, not CARBS, and therefore boost my metabolism. This is turn can keep my body's fat absorption low throughout the day, and boost my energy level in the process. I have yet to give this a try, but I imagine my 12-minute mile would likely slow down, so maybe I'll do something small, like a single piece of toast with some peanut butter or something along those lines to not keep myself from keeling over.

Getting into the whole exercise thing, I may as well come clean. After 3 workouts of the Couch to 5K, I ended up giving up. Not because it was hard. Certainly not because I felt awesome after each workout. Certainly not because of any real valid reason to give up making yourself better, I just simply am a fat slob who is too self-conscious to run alongside busy roads in the twilight hours.
I don't need sympathy, or words of encouragement. I need a swift kick in the ass and someone yelling at me every morning at 5:30am to get out of bed and on that pavement!!

I need to stop lolly-gagging and get to steppin.... This being fat thing is so overrated nowadays. I mean, I can get a handicapped sticker just for being FAT!!?!?!!?? What has this world come to?!?!?

Anyway, I suppose I have no real ending for this, so I'll just let it drop off. I'm going to load a running mix to Mr. clippy tonight, and set out my running gear for the AM. I will be getting up at the asscrack of dawn to run. Maybe I'll even call out of work! Well.... probably not. But it's the thought that counts. I don't think they'll let me call in fat. :-)

G'Night!




Thursday, August 2, 2012

Hunger Pains

This week has been pretty bad on my new lifestyle. The company I work for thinks that because all of our business is on Fri, Sat, and Sun, that we should have very little coverage Mon through Thur just due to the trend of retail shopping.
What my company doesn't understand is that next Wednesday the kids go back to school, and we are a very large provider of school uniforms in the Ft Myers area. So, we actually ARE busy during the week. So much so that 3 cashiers during the day and 1 at night are NOT working. As a supervisor, most days I'm stuck on the register instead of actually being able to do my job, which includes interacting with the customers in line and making sure they're even in the right line!!

Tuesday and Wednesday were the worst so far, with me having to pull back-up cashiers from the sales floor and even my manager running a register!! (That NEVER happens!!) Something happened to me on Tuesday I think, because my body kind of went numb and shut down on me.

Not like stroke numb or anything... But I no longer really FELT anything. My emotions were in turmoil, I was star-crossed between pissed off and sobbing uncontrollably; I had been on my feet all day and up the stairs no less than 20 times, which my orthopedic doctor said I should NOT be doing. I realized when I got home that I just wasn't hungry. I was hungry at breakfast, with my boring cereal. At lunch I guess I had some hunger because I managed to finish John's steak I'd brought with me.

But on my way home, after thinking about it, I wasn't hungry anymore. I had lunch around..... 2:00pm on Tuesday, and by 6:30 when I got home, I should have been hungry... but I wasn't. My husband forced me to eat a grilled cheese sammich because he was afraid I will make myself sick or something if I don't eat. But how can I eat when I have no hunger?

Same thing happened yesterday. I actually didn't feel hungry for breakfast, so I managed a bagel at least, knowing that I should have a hunger and that if I don't keep the routine it's possible I might stress myself into anorexia. Let me tell you, Ana and Mia are no friends of mine (anorexia and bulimia).

Around lunch I forgot to pack one for myself, so I ran to the gas station to get gas and find something to eat, because I knew it was "that time" to eat. I managed to find the un-healthiest thing in there and had that, a Pepsi and some chocolaty chex mix! I know I recorded a cup of the mix, but I'm betting it was closer to a half-cup... because I had that and I felt as if I'd just tucked in for a large buffet! I was "stuffed"!

My friend Terry says my body is just sort of shutting down as it responds to the stress of my week. After all, this is the first real time I've been stressed the way I have been in the past, and come to think of it, my body responded the same way.

I know I should feel hungry, like when I wake up after 8 hours of sleep, or after working for 4 hours and burning off the breakfast calories.... but I'm just not hungry. And when I do eat, it's a struggle. This morning I lost probably about half of my cereal... I ate the bowl and again felt like I'd eaten my way through a buffet, and I got immediately sick.

If this continues on into next week I will make an appointment with my doctor. I can't NOT eat obviously, and I hate feeling like I'm void of emotions and hunger pains. I have felt pretty numb most of the time this week, save for the times with my husband. But I still have no hunger pains!

I can only hope today will be somewhat easier. We tend to be better staffed on Thursday, though not quite as high-staffed as on the weekends, but more staffed than the earlier part of the week. We'll see.

Today's lyrics are oddly fitting. My brain just started singing this song...


I don't mind stealing bread from the mouths of decadence
But I can't feed on the powerless when my cup's already overfilled
But it's on the table
The fire is cooking and they're farming babies, while the slaves are working
The blood is on the table and their mouths are chocking
But I'm growing hungry
-"Hunger Strike" Temple of the Dog