Vlog: Trying To Lose Weight When You Have Chronic Health Issues

To lose weight, you need to take in fewer calories than you burn off.  That's it.  The healthy weight loss rate is one to two pounds per week.  Yes, that may seem minuscule, but it really isn't.  There are 3500 calories in each pound of fat.  In a year, you could lose, if needed, 52-104 pounds!  Those measly couple pounds don't seem too shabby now, do they?  To lose weight more efficiently, do the following in concert with each other: 


EXERCISE

• First of all, contact your doctor or medical team to see if you can exercise, what exercises you can and can't do, any limitations or contraindications and so on.  Everyone is different, so you need to ask.  And, you need to start exercising s
• Then, pick the exercises that are fun for you.  If they're enjoyable, you may have an easier time sticking to your workouts.  You may include strength, endurance, flexibility, stabilization, body weight, and balance exercises in your workout program.  The type, duration, intensity, number of days per week done, sets, and repetitions are dependent upon your specific health condition.
•  From those exercises that are fun, choose exercises you can do physically. 
• Get exercise equipment to use at home.  Look for sales at sporting goods stores and discount stores locally and online.  Buy what is right for you:  dumbbells, exercise bands, a treadmill, an arm/hand cardio machine, steppers, weighted balls, etc.
• Join a gym/fitness center.  Exercise classes and equipment can also be found at senior centers.
• Another option is to work with a certified personal trainer in their own studio, at a gym, or at a fitness center.
• Exercise with friends or family for the fun and accountability of it.

NUTRITION

Nutrition has a huge part in weight loss.  Calories in<Calories out=Weight loss.  Exercise is also important for flexibility, endurance, and generally good physical health, but you can't out-exercise a bad diet.

Here are some tips to help you get your food intake in gear:

• Eat lean protein, complex carbs, healthy fats, veggies and fruits, healthy snacks
• Drink plenty of water  (this goes for when you're exercising too.  Stay hydrated!)
• Check with your doctor or medical team regarding any foods you shouldn't eat.  Anything that would increase your symptoms or your problems with the chronic health issues.
• Consult ad register dietitian for advice on meal plans and how to eat for your chronic health issues and weight loss.
• Eat smaller portions.
• Eat slowly and mindfully.
• When cravings come along, don't act on them right away.  Wait a bit and distract yourself with a walk/wheel, a phone call to a friend, anything to get your mind off the craving long enough for it to disappear.
• Eat when you're hungry and leave the table when you are satisfied, not super full.
• Take time for healthy meals:  planning them, buying for them, cooking them, serving them, and eating them.  Make it a celebration!

Stress relief is also an important part of weight loss.  If you're nervous and stressed, you may go for sugary comfort foods more often thanks to increases in the stress hormone, cortisol.  Relieve stress with strategies such as increased communication with friends and loved ones, meditation, talking with your doctor about things that are troubling you, going to a counselor, and practicing time management.

Also, get plenty of sleep.  Everyone's different but go for 7 to 9 hours each night.  Sleeping too much or too little can affect appetite-stimulating hormones ghrelin and leptin.

For more information check out these links:

Mayo Clinic:  Is Too Little Sleep A Cause of Weight Gain? 

WebMD:  Can Stress Cause Weight Gain?

Sleep Foundation:  https://sleepfoundation.org  

NCHPAD.org:  Physical Activity Guidelines for Adults with Disabilities

How to Work With Cients Who Have Chronic Conditions.(This is geared toward personal trainers, but has a lot of information on exercise guidelines for various health issues, so I thought it might be helpful)

Nutrition.gov  www.nutrition.gov/nutrtion-and-health-issues

Vlog: Super Bowl Aftermath

Happy Monday!  Did you watch the Super Bowl yesterday?  Did you have or go to a watch party?  I did.  This video is about how we balance our health needs and socializing.  Something I didn't mention in the video is getting enough sleep prior to the event.  Sleep is so important if we're going to socialize and have fun.  It keeps up healthy, energized, and better able to enjoy the festivities.  Also, pace yourself.  Don't try to go go go through the week right up to the party.  Give yourself rest breaks, chill time.  And prep everything ahead of time that you need to bring, whether it's food or a bag of medical maintenance supplies.  Anything you'll need for the time you'll be out.  

Any other suggestions?  Comment below or email me at amy@acnlifecoach.com.  Catch you back here on Wednesday.  Take care.

Are You an Early Bird or Night Owl?

Are you a morning or night person?  I'm both, which can get interesting.  I just don't want to miss a thing, I guess!  Ha!  I suppose if I had to pick one, I'd say I'm a night person.  I love the quiet of nighttime.  I can concentrate better, relax, think.  I know I write better at night.  There are no interruptions.

But I do love mornings, too, though.  The coolness in summer, birdsong, brilliant sunrises, refreshing walks.  I can start my day slowly if I wake up early, as opposed to rushing around if I'm running late because I stayed up way past my bedtime writing, or reading a totally engrossing book.  But I can't seem to get used to getting up early in the morning with Jim.  I think one reason is my medication schedule.  To fit in the medications, I have to stay up later than Jim, so I naturally end up sleeping later than he does, which makes my medication schedule later, and bedtime later, and---.  Ah, the vicious cycle!

If you're a night owl, working nights may work out well for you.  Getting used to working that schedule on an ongoing basis rather than just hanging out with friends or reading or surfing the Net until the wee hours can be tough, though.  Jim use to work nights.  I stayed on the opposite schedule at first, but I just couldn't deal with being quiet all morning while he slept, and sleeping alone at night while he was at work.  I get creeped out when I'm alone in bed at night.  So, it worked out better when I made the switch.  I was working at home on the Internet at the time and didn't have very many local customers, so getting up early to accommodate them with in-person appointments didn't happen often.  My night owl tendency came in handy.  The biggest thing I've found that's inconvenient about being a night owl is dealing with early rising neighbors.  When we slept days, we had a neighbor who started mowing his lawn, hammering, and doing any number of noisy projects outside starting at about 6 AM sometimes.  Ouch!  If this happens to you, remember that most people sleep nights and are up in the daytime.  Explain your situation in a calm and reasonable manner and discuss possible solutions rather than storming over there ready for a fight.

How does being a day or night person affect your life?  Does it suit your well?  Do you work night?  How does that affect your life and sleep? Would you rather switch to a day work schedule?  If so, what would you have to do to make that happen?  Let's talk about this!  Give me a shout here in the comments or shoot me an email at amy@acnlifecoach.com.  Take care!

When Those Little Things Add Up

If some little thing happens you're not apt to think much of it, right?  But what if one little thing after another little thing, after another, and another happens?  Do you tend to freak out a bit?  You're not alone.  At one point I had the following going on in my life:

• A blister on my foot
• An ornery knee
• An altered exercise routine
• A cat with allergies
• A husband with allergies
• Trouble sleeping
• Pesky cravings 

None were that challenging to deal with individually, but add them up and, yep, not happy.

 But, like it or not, life happens.  Sometimes those little things just build up and up and up and you just have to take a breath and back away a bit. You're okay.  These frustrating things will pass. LIfe will improve. 

So, what did I do to defuse the situation?  .

Blister:  I went to the doctor--a few times.  This wasn't just a tiny bit of skin knocked off the side of my foot.  It was a big black blister courtesy of some new shoes.  I always wear Band-aids on areas of my feet that are susceptible to blistering for awhile when I'm breaking in new shoes.  This time that apparently wasn't enough.  The shoes I'd gotten where slightly narrower than my usual pickings, and I paid for it big time.  The wound wasn't infected--yet.  That developed a bit later, but it began to heal, slowly.

Knee:  I used ice and heat on it, plus massage.  That worked out well.  The pain was pretty much gone by the time I saw the doctor.  I'd had knee issues for years, so I wanted to make sure everything was okay.  In the past I'd hyperextended it while walking down a steep hill on vacation in Gibraltar.  It didn't respond well to physical therapy or surgery, but within a month of starting to workout with a trainer in 2007 (6 years after the injury), I had no pain.    I was sold on exercise after that, let me tell ya.  

Exercise:  At first I backed off from exercise to give my blister time to heal, even though the doctor hadn't suggested limiting my activity.  The bandage was a bit thick to start with, so my shoes (the old, ratty ones I had attempted to replace with the narrow ones) felt kind of tight.  I didn't want to make things worse.  After a little break, I began exercising at home to DVDs.  I didn't feel comfortable enough to walk outside.  I didn't want to get a few blocks away and have my foot start hurting.  Anyway, I'd just gotten to the point where I was walking more freely, when I started having spasms in m knee that traveled down into my lower leg.  Lovely.  Couched again.  I was still able to do upper body exercises, though.

Allergies:  We brought the cat to the vet, who put her on children's allergy medication.  We have an enclosed outdoor yard for the cats so they can run around in the grass in safety, and the vet said she could go outside UNLESS she got worse by doing so.  Well, guess what:  She got worse.  So she looked at us in misery as if to say, "What did I do wrong?"  Poor girl.  The allergies are still bothering her.  Back to the vet we go.  As for Jim, my hubby, he got the worse case of seasonal allergies he's ever gotten this year, and a chest cold on top of that.  Over-the-counter medication, a lot of coughing and sneezing, and reminders from me to drink plenty of fluids and get enough sleep--it went on for weeks, but he finally kicked it. 

Sleeping:  I've been having sleep issues for quite some time due to menopause.  It could also be hereditary.  I was doing well if I had six hours sleep, that's how bad it was.  Some nights I didn't sleep at all--literally.  But I finally found the answer--reading.  I read from 30 minutes to 2 hours a night--depending on how interesting the book is.  The more boring the topic, the faster I go to sleep.  Problem solved!  

Cravings:  I love chocolate.  If it's in the house, I hunt it down and eat it.  Since hitting menopause, my craving for chocolate has increased 10-fold, I kid you not.  It's crazy!  I'm a personal trainer, I live a healthy lifestyle, and I enjoy eating healthfully.  But with menopause, all bets are off.  Luckily this has improved over the last few years.  It does get better.  In the meantime, I keep healthy snacks available, give myself a bit of chocolate, don't punish myself if I have more chocolate than I should, and use exercise to keep my stress level down.  

Do your best to find solutions to those little nuisances that get on your nerves.  Some problems might take longer to resolve than others, but work on them bit by bit.  It's better than letting them fester unchecked.  Good luck!

Do you have an experience of little things adding up that you'd like to share?  What did you do to remedy the situation?  I'd love to hear from you.  Email me at amy@acnlifecoach.com.  Thanks!