Gallbladder trouble and friendly goals

Last year we were eating really healthy for a while - no coffee, no sugar, lots of greens etc. Until one night children asked me to bake and I did. I also got a bit excited about those yummy pies and ate a few too many. Night comes and I was having really bad stomach pain on right side, under the ribs. I thought it must have been a really bad indigestion and would go soon. It got worse, like someone was stabbing me through my body, could hardly get out of the bed or walk. Still I didn't think it was worth while going to the emergency. Waited till morning when it was a tiny bit better and they thought it must've had gallbladder stone. Kept me in for a few hours, x-ray, painkillers and sent back home. So the pain stopped eventually and could go on with my life.

For the past 4-5 days I've been starting to experience mild pain in same spot, right side of stomach, from belly button level up to under the ribs. Doctor wasn't really sure what it was and sent me back home to see if it gets worse or goes away by itself. Well, I was a bit surprised to have such an outcome so decided to do some googling when got home.

My main question was that why do I get "gallbladder" like pain when I am actually eating more healthy, less fatty, no spicy food and my weight loss has been very slow (0.5 kg per week) so why?

The National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases website says that 

• Obesity. People who are obese, especially women, have increased risk of developing gallstones. Obesity increases the amount of cholesterol in bile, which can cause stone formation.
• Rapid weight loss. As the body breaks down fat during prolonged fasting and rapid weight loss, the liver secretes extra cholesterol into bile. Rapid weight loss can also prevent the gallbladder from emptying properly. Low-calorie diets and bariatric surgery—surgery that limits the amount of food a person can eat or digest—lead to rapid weight loss and increased risk of gallstones.

So I am guessing that even though I am not losing weight rapidly but having had gallbladder problems previously maybe makes me more prone to flare ups. I also found quite a lot of home remedy suggestions to reduce the pain. I chose the one which sounded safe enough - drinking warm water with a tbl apple cider vinegar in it first thing in the morning. Maybe it is working as my stomach pain has been reduced a bit. I really want to keep going with my weight loss, I would have done it slowly anyway. I even set some friendly goals until our NZ trip, let's see if I can achieve those:

2016

08/08 Weight: About 85kg

Starting with food diary and exercise 30 mins/day, not counting calories and not snacking a lot 

31/08 Goal: 84.5kg ACHIEVED - 84kg  Lost 4 cm in total

Calorie counting + exercise at least 30 mins/day

MyFittnessPal has calculated 1540kcal per day for me, that seemed reasonable enough

NOT ACHIEVED GOALS

30/09 GOAL: 82kg

31/10 GOAL: 80kg

26/11 GOAL: 78kg

2 weeks trip = focus on maintaining, not realistic to lose weight while not able to cook all the time

3 weeks in, 1 week MyFittnessPal - starting to feel good

They say it takes 21 days to form a habit. I'm thinking it probably takes even longer if the new habit will bring you benefit in the future and not right there right then. It is definitely easier for me to create a habit of eating chocolate/biscuits with my morning coffee or any other coffee during a day. Or instead of exercising isn't it much easier to sit on your bum watching TV, snacking away...

4 years ago I lost lot of weight. Some good habits were created along the way so that my body craved fresh salads and daily exercise. Once I got to a comfortable spot, my attention got shifted, as did those habits. Here I am again. There's a good lesson in all of it - after creating healthy lifestyle and living it for a while you still need to make sure that your exercise and food choices are planned ahead. It is too easy to assume that you don't have to spend any time on planning, that it all comes naturally from now on but instead slip back into old habits (back to the feeling of losing control).

I wanted to write a blog post today in case I needed to get motivated in the future and describe what a huge difference those short 3 weeks have created for me:

• I was tired all the time - for about 1.5 weeks I haven't felt so completely tired.
  
• I didn't even want to go for a walk, even the thought of any kind of exercise felt exhausting, could be bothered with it. Even when forced myself out walking, I didn't enjoy it at all.
  After exercising at least 30 mins every day for the past 2.5 weeks I'm starting to look forward to my little session, even when I am not feeling 100% I still want to move.
  Also, exercise is a priority now which means I will find time for it.
  
• I was really reluctant to count my calories again even though I know this really worked for me last time. So for the first 2 weeks I only kept a food diary, without weighing everything which already drew my attention to some bad habits around food AND SLEEP (not enough!!).
  Then I guess I got quite motivated reading a book 150 Pound Gone Forever, took my measurements and decided to "just do it". Unfortunately my kitchen scales battery is low and I keep forgetting to buy a new one so again, the measurements had to be tbl, tsp, cups etc and sometimes just by eye. Not being able to measure everything to the dot doesn't matter that much to me at the moment, I just wanted to start with it! So for the past week I've been logging food and exercise in MyFitnessPal.
  
• It probably took me about 5-7kgs of weight loss last time when my family started to see the difference which I remember surprised me at the time because I wanted them to see (and I guess get the praise) much sooner. After all I was measuring myself often and saw the numbers getting smaller pretty quickly! This time I must say I am much calmer about my appearance. Sure, I am not happy when I see myself in mirror but mainly I was annoyed of how tired I was all the time and how unfit I have become. I have started to worry about my health as I grow older and keep putting on weight, keep not exercising, keep eating rubbish.
  So, I am not expecting my family to notice any changes in my appearance yet, it will come. But I am giving praise to myself, I am so proud of myself for taking responsibility for my health once again. It has been only 3 short weeks, I am not so tired anymore, my body is feeling stronger when I exercise and my clothes are not squeezing like they used to! We haven't sat at the TV since Olympic Games was finished which means no snacking at night time after 8pm and going to bed early enough to have a good rest! I am incredibly proud of what has been achieved with only 3 short weeks! 

Facing the reality and setting goals

Looks like finally I have got to the point where I am ready to accept the reality - looking after your health including weight management is a lifetime goal. I used to feel that life is unfair - why did I have to be born with the body type gaining weight easily when there are plenty of thin people who don't have to pay attention to their food nor do exercise to stay thin. Well, at the end of the day, even those naturally thin people should be eating healthy and exercise because being thin does not automatically mean being healthy and fit. So how to stay motivated?

One great piece of advise I got from Organize Yourself Skinny blog was to make weight loss (or looking after your health) your new hobby. Absolutely brilliant! Don't we all want to spend our spare minutes with our hobbies - doing it, reading about it, learning and researching about it, getting better at it, checking in with other like-minded people. It becomes priority to find time for it. When before, I was feeling guilty of "wasting time" doing anything related to my weight loss, guilty of not spending that time with my family or working more. I felt bad for all those wasted hours reading success stories of other people and never mentioned it to others. Now I understand that I needed that daily boost to keep motivated, nothing wrong with that!

In her book 150 Pounds Gone Forever Diane Carbon says that one thing she regrets is not taking her before photos and more measurements than just hips and waist at the beginning of her weight loss so I decided to start from there. It was not pleasant but it is done now

REALITY:

Weight: 85 kg

Chest: 113 cm

Waist at the thinnest point: 95 cm

Waist at navel level: 107 cm

Hips: 115 cm

Left arm: 38 cm

Left thigh 71 cm

L calf: 42 cm

LONG TERM GOALS:

• Weight down into healthy range for my height around 62 kg
• Fitness levels improved
• Energy levels improved
• Healthy eating habits developed and maintaining
• Bad habits eliminated and maintaining

I have been keeping diary for 2 weeks now and can see clearly 2 problematic situations:

1. Wanting to snack when drinking wine even when not hungry - even though we drink wine only once a week usually then until I have learned to detach the need of snacking while drinking we should not drink.
2. Sitting down to watch something on TV with hubby and going to bed too late - need to prioritize my health, nothing can be as important coming from TV. Next day I feel much better for it.

We are going on a trip in 12 weeks time, during those weeks I will commit on creating more healthy habits so that my fitness and energy levels would be improved and weight decreased.

Starting with baby steps

Going in full swing seemed way overwhelming  this time around so I decided to start with some easy changes and give myself time to adjust with each step.

Since 8th August goals set:

• Go to bed early to get enough sleep (I'm a night owl and enjoy staying up very late which seems a horrible idea in the morning)
  
• Take every day 5-10 mins at the start of the day to plan where to fit in exercise and food prep for a day and if possible for next day
  
• Drink at least 8 glasses of water a day
  
• Keep food and activity diary
  
• Find time for exercise for at least 30 mins a day
  
• Try avoid eating sweet, wait for 5-10 mins before giving in

 That's it for the start. Plan - Sleep - Water - Exercise - Try avoid sweet cravings - write it all down.  And if the day is not going by the plan exactly then accept and try again next day.

After 10 days I must say I actually enjoy sitting down with my coffee after breakfast and plan out the day!

Cheers to New Beginnings

I have been here before. Clothes are squeezing uncomfortably, fat rolls on my back, nothing nice to wear and walking uphill or up the stairs takes my breath away.

In 2012, being heaviest I'd ever been (85 kgs), I got sick and tired of being so unfit, unhappy and feeling crappy about myself. With lots of hard work - calorie counting in MyFitnessPal and training for half marathon I got down to 67.5kgs. My goal weight was about 5kg less but to be honest, I felt good where I was so stopped there.

For a while I maintained around 68-72kg mark and that felt comfortable as well. After my half-marathon my body took a bit longer to recover than I thought so I decided not to run as much and took up swimming instead. Eventually winter came, it got too cold to swim outside... and life happened... Losing my main income pushed me to start my own business which was pretty scary and required million hours for learning, reading, planning etc. Lots of time went into it alongside with spending time with children and home duties of course needed to be done too. After a while of not exercising motivation was gone and with emotional eating kilos started to pile.

Now, 4 years later I'm in the same spot again - back to my 85kgs, unfit and lazy. Kids are older and can look after themselves more, business has been worked to a more stable position, marriage survived and seems to be in a good place. It is time to put myself higher at the list again, take care of my health so that I could keep taking care of others.

I had been struggling to find the motivation to start it once and again. I know I can lose weight and find time for exercise but I also know how much work it is to write down every bite, to make the changes into your life, to put your sneakers on and get out of the house instead of sitting on your bum and watching TV, eating anything you feel like whenever it comes to mind. I was thinking I have already been here, done that and wasn't able to maintain it so how could I motivate myself to go through it again but this time maintain my success as well.

After googling blogs of other people who have managed to maintain their healthy lifestyle I found a blog post of 15 habits of people who have been able to maintain their healthy weigh in Organize Yourself Skinny blog (http://www.organizeyourselfskinny.com/2014/03/25/15-habits-of-people-who-have-effectively-lost-over-20-30lbs-and-kept-it-off)

• Take your time to create good habits
• Prioritize your health by finding time to exercise and plan/cook healthy meals 
• Keep doing it. For the rest of your life.

PLANNING is the big word. If you take time for planning, you will be successful. This is the phase I fail at most often. If I learn to take time for planning, I will start seeing consistent results.