So it's been quite awhile since I last posted which is mainly due to my dull life. Things have been quite uneventful lately mostly because I've been too tired to go out and do anything. My hypothyroid symptoms have just gotten worse. Some days I will go to bed early, get a full 9 hours sleep and wake up feeling as if I haven't slept at all. People constantly tell me how tired I always look and this is all really beginning to get to me. I don't have the energy to wake up for bootcamp in the morning and I'm three days into uni and already falling asleep in classes. I'm sure m y family and friends must be sick of hearing 'I'm so tired!'
Although I am exercising (when I manage to make it) and I've been eating well I'm continuing to gain wait. I've basically gained all that I spent the last year losing. This is pretty devastating as I worked so hard at it and it's all been undone in a few months.
Given how bad things have gotten I saw my doctor yesterday. In two weeks time I'll be getting a blood test to check my thyroid in through hopes that the levels will be low enough to begin medicating me with thyroxin. It's going to be a tough wait until then.
I shall keep you posted!
Tuesday, 19 February 2013
Exhaustion
Wednesday, 30 January 2013
The importance of shoes.
My bootcamp started again, yay! Given the condition of my toes, I haven't been able to attend all the sessions I should be but on Tuesday night I did manage to make it. For each 12 week challenge, there are 4 different mini challenges which we repeat a total of three times. This means there is a challenge a week! This Tuesday it was "Death By Cardio" and it involves completing as many different running levels as possible. They are set out so that level 1 = 1km, level 2 = 2km etc. You must complete level 1 and level 2 and then you can continue onto which ever level you please. This must be completed within 50 minutes!
I was really nervous about my toes and my deceased fitness level but I just ran. I ran with a lovely bunch of girls who recently joined our big group and it was nice to help them along (they helped me lots as well!) I managed to complete level 1, level 2 and then level 2 again within 43 minutes which is a total of 5kms. This is way slower than usual for me but I had to stop and walk quite a bit due to my sore feet. In the rush to get there in time I couldn't find my runners so I just wore a pair of sneakers which are not intended for exercise. BIG MISTAKE!! I've really injured my ankles and still can't walk properly. I've learnt my lesson but I've also regained some excitement to exercise! Hopefully I'll be there at 6am on Friday ready to go!
In the last few days I've also begun planning a month long trip to Cambodia in December. In January 2012, I went to Cambodia for a week and helped to build a house in a village. It was really hard work and that was the moment that I realised how unfit I was. When I came back home from that trip, I began exercise and I'm so glad that I found it. I hope that from now until my next trip, I can really build up my fitness levels. I'm sure I'll be able to tell the difference when I arrive in December!
I was really nervous about my toes and my deceased fitness level but I just ran. I ran with a lovely bunch of girls who recently joined our big group and it was nice to help them along (they helped me lots as well!) I managed to complete level 1, level 2 and then level 2 again within 43 minutes which is a total of 5kms. This is way slower than usual for me but I had to stop and walk quite a bit due to my sore feet. In the rush to get there in time I couldn't find my runners so I just wore a pair of sneakers which are not intended for exercise. BIG MISTAKE!! I've really injured my ankles and still can't walk properly. I've learnt my lesson but I've also regained some excitement to exercise! Hopefully I'll be there at 6am on Friday ready to go!
In the last few days I've also begun planning a month long trip to Cambodia in December. In January 2012, I went to Cambodia for a week and helped to build a house in a village. It was really hard work and that was the moment that I realised how unfit I was. When I came back home from that trip, I began exercise and I'm so glad that I found it. I hope that from now until my next trip, I can really build up my fitness levels. I'm sure I'll be able to tell the difference when I arrive in December!
Wednesday, 23 January 2013
An explanation
I'm sure you've noticed that I've been absent from this blog for the last week or so. Even though I had only blogged for 12 consecutive days it started to become a chore for me. I found it difficult to think of things to post everyday especially if I had been at work for 10 hours and literally had nothing to report. After about 4 days of not posting I decided I was going to give up. This morning Mum told me that Klara had been missing my blog posts and I thought about the others that had told me they had been following my journey. Today I decided to start it again, although slightly different. I don't want blogging my journey to becoming healthy another negative, I want it to be something that I enjoy doing and sharing. I will no longer be posting everyday but instead whenever I have something new to report or share. I'm hoping to keep the blogs coming fairly consistently, around once a week or so.
I'll share a little of what went on in my life while I was on my little break! On Monday the 14th of Jan I had a minor surgery on my toes which ended up being a pretty bad experience! In June last year I had permanent surgery to fix ingrown toenails which had been bothering me for years. It's a pretty minor procedure where I get two local anaesthetic needles in each toe (this hurt SO much it's ridiculous!) and then a portion of the nail on either side is removed. A chemical is then applied so the nail doesn't regrow and you end up with a 97% success rate and fairly normal looking toes. Theoretically the toes should heal within 2 weeks max but 2 months later the right side of my left toe was still causing me pain and discomfort so I had the procedure re-done on that part of my toe. Unfortunately the anaesthetic decided not to work so I ended up with around 8-10 needles being used to numb my poor little toe. The healing was much better that time round and for a while I was happy. Not too long ago though I started getting ingrown toenails on the inner side of both toes so I had to have it all redone again!! This time the anaesthetic REALLY didn't work and I ended up with 6 needles in my left toe and 8 needles in my right with a total of 14 rather than 4. I hate needles so this totally sucked. All the trauma from the needles left me extremely sore and unable to work both my jobs for a week. I went back to the podiatrist on Monday and although I'm still sore, I'm healing incredibly well so I'm really happy with the result.
Since my last blog post I've been eating pretty poorly and know that I haven't been properly active since my bootcamp finished mid December but I was absolutely shocked when I discovered that since then I've gained a total of 7kgs. This means that to get to my goal weight of 55kgs this year I'll need to lose more like 15 kgs - bummer! This massive gain didn't make sense to me, how could I possibly gain so much. I knew my eating wasn't perfect but it wasn't terrible either so I decided to do some research on how my thyroid antibodies actually affect my metabolism. When I was diagnosed with this, my doctor told me that although I have these antibodies, nothing needs to be done until my TSH levels go outside the normal levels and they are currently normal. My research painted a very different picture. It turns out that several scientific studies show that the presence of these antibodies can cause the exact same symptoms as hypothyroidism (an under active thyroid) The symptoms of these which I have been experiencing are: sensitivity to cold, weight gain, fatigue, dry skin. I went to see the naturopath yesterday and I spoke to her about this. She told me that the doctors are very rigid in their diagnosis of hypothyroidism and that my TSH levels actually showed I was what she called 'subclinical hypothyroidism'. She explained that I can't lose weight because my metabolism had begun to slow and that given I was lacking in the thyroid hormone, my body was reluctant to let go of any of it's energy stores (also known as fat tissue!). To combat this along with my fatigue and constantly feeling cold randomly (even on 40 degree days) I'm now taking a herbal and vitamin supplement aimed at supporting the things which make the thyroid hormone. Hopefully once this starts working, I will begin losing weight and feeling more energised.
So if you're the praying type, I ask that you pray for me in a few different ways. First, that my toes heal up quickly and that this problem is resolved for good. Secondly, that this thyroid medication begins to work, and lastly, that I keep blogging!!
Hope that there are some people out there still reading this!
I'll share a little of what went on in my life while I was on my little break! On Monday the 14th of Jan I had a minor surgery on my toes which ended up being a pretty bad experience! In June last year I had permanent surgery to fix ingrown toenails which had been bothering me for years. It's a pretty minor procedure where I get two local anaesthetic needles in each toe (this hurt SO much it's ridiculous!) and then a portion of the nail on either side is removed. A chemical is then applied so the nail doesn't regrow and you end up with a 97% success rate and fairly normal looking toes. Theoretically the toes should heal within 2 weeks max but 2 months later the right side of my left toe was still causing me pain and discomfort so I had the procedure re-done on that part of my toe. Unfortunately the anaesthetic decided not to work so I ended up with around 8-10 needles being used to numb my poor little toe. The healing was much better that time round and for a while I was happy. Not too long ago though I started getting ingrown toenails on the inner side of both toes so I had to have it all redone again!! This time the anaesthetic REALLY didn't work and I ended up with 6 needles in my left toe and 8 needles in my right with a total of 14 rather than 4. I hate needles so this totally sucked. All the trauma from the needles left me extremely sore and unable to work both my jobs for a week. I went back to the podiatrist on Monday and although I'm still sore, I'm healing incredibly well so I'm really happy with the result.
Since my last blog post I've been eating pretty poorly and know that I haven't been properly active since my bootcamp finished mid December but I was absolutely shocked when I discovered that since then I've gained a total of 7kgs. This means that to get to my goal weight of 55kgs this year I'll need to lose more like 15 kgs - bummer! This massive gain didn't make sense to me, how could I possibly gain so much. I knew my eating wasn't perfect but it wasn't terrible either so I decided to do some research on how my thyroid antibodies actually affect my metabolism. When I was diagnosed with this, my doctor told me that although I have these antibodies, nothing needs to be done until my TSH levels go outside the normal levels and they are currently normal. My research painted a very different picture. It turns out that several scientific studies show that the presence of these antibodies can cause the exact same symptoms as hypothyroidism (an under active thyroid) The symptoms of these which I have been experiencing are: sensitivity to cold, weight gain, fatigue, dry skin. I went to see the naturopath yesterday and I spoke to her about this. She told me that the doctors are very rigid in their diagnosis of hypothyroidism and that my TSH levels actually showed I was what she called 'subclinical hypothyroidism'. She explained that I can't lose weight because my metabolism had begun to slow and that given I was lacking in the thyroid hormone, my body was reluctant to let go of any of it's energy stores (also known as fat tissue!). To combat this along with my fatigue and constantly feeling cold randomly (even on 40 degree days) I'm now taking a herbal and vitamin supplement aimed at supporting the things which make the thyroid hormone. Hopefully once this starts working, I will begin losing weight and feeling more energised.
So if you're the praying type, I ask that you pray for me in a few different ways. First, that my toes heal up quickly and that this problem is resolved for good. Secondly, that this thyroid medication begins to work, and lastly, that I keep blogging!!
Hope that there are some people out there still reading this!
Saturday, 12 January 2013
Day 11 - House sitting
Over the university break I've been house sitting a lot and I just started again. It's a cool job but it's difficult eating well because I really need to plan everything ahead. So far, not so well! Hopefully things will go better tomorrow. Look like today is another short post -sorry!
Friday, 11 January 2013
Day 10 - nothing
So today I worked 10.00am-12.30 at job no.1 and then 2.00pm-9.30pm at job no.2 so unfortunately that didn't really leave time for much else. I did however have a lovely smoothie for breakfast and an awesome black eyed pea salad for lunch!
Sorry guys, that's all to report for today!
Wednesday, 9 January 2013
Day 9 - Green Tea
I enjoy green tea and the many varieties it comes in. I know it's good that I drink green tea because everyone always tells me this but today I wondered what it is exactly which makes green tea so good for us. So off I went and did a whole lot of research and now I can tell you why you should also be drinking green tea!
An article written by a research team at Harvard University in 2004 says that the benefits of green tea come largely from the high amounts of flavonoids found in green tea. For those of you who aren't scientists, flavonoids are plant derived antioxidants. Antioxidants are another thing that I know is good for you but I wasn't entirely sure why, so I looked that up as well. Antioxidants are basically exactly what the name says - they inhibit the oxidation of other molecules. This might mean nothing to you so I'll break it down a little bit more. In a cell, when a molecule or compound is oxidised, it produces things called 'free radicals'. These free radicals then cause a chain reaction, this then can cause cell damage and death. Antioxidants have been researched for uses in cancer treatment, heart disease and many more things. So basically - antioxidants are definitely good for us! Additional benefits of green tea is the presence of catechins which have been know to reduce disease and risk of many cancers.
All this information was great but I wanted to know how it supposedly helped in weight loss so I found an article in the Obesity Research journal. In the study they placed 76 obese to moderately overweight people on either a placebo or a green tea mixture. They were placed on a 4 week diet and then 3 months of weight maintenance. The results showed that those who had high levels of caffeine in their green tea mixture showed good weight loss results. In moderate doses, caffeine has been proven to increase a persons metabolism and green tea does contain some amount of caffeine. This tells me that any drink which contains caffeine will assist in weight loss and it is not a property specific to green tea.
Overall my research has showed me that whilst green tea is really good in helping prevent disease and cancer whilst providing a necessary store of antioxidants, it's not necessary for weight loss and any type of caffeinated tea would do the same thing. I will continue to drink green tea regularly though!
Hope this blog didn't end up too science-y for you all!
An article written by a research team at Harvard University in 2004 says that the benefits of green tea come largely from the high amounts of flavonoids found in green tea. For those of you who aren't scientists, flavonoids are plant derived antioxidants. Antioxidants are another thing that I know is good for you but I wasn't entirely sure why, so I looked that up as well. Antioxidants are basically exactly what the name says - they inhibit the oxidation of other molecules. This might mean nothing to you so I'll break it down a little bit more. In a cell, when a molecule or compound is oxidised, it produces things called 'free radicals'. These free radicals then cause a chain reaction, this then can cause cell damage and death. Antioxidants have been researched for uses in cancer treatment, heart disease and many more things. So basically - antioxidants are definitely good for us! Additional benefits of green tea is the presence of catechins which have been know to reduce disease and risk of many cancers.
All this information was great but I wanted to know how it supposedly helped in weight loss so I found an article in the Obesity Research journal. In the study they placed 76 obese to moderately overweight people on either a placebo or a green tea mixture. They were placed on a 4 week diet and then 3 months of weight maintenance. The results showed that those who had high levels of caffeine in their green tea mixture showed good weight loss results. In moderate doses, caffeine has been proven to increase a persons metabolism and green tea does contain some amount of caffeine. This tells me that any drink which contains caffeine will assist in weight loss and it is not a property specific to green tea.
Overall my research has showed me that whilst green tea is really good in helping prevent disease and cancer whilst providing a necessary store of antioxidants, it's not necessary for weight loss and any type of caffeinated tea would do the same thing. I will continue to drink green tea regularly though!
Hope this blog didn't end up too science-y for you all!
Day 8 - What is on my face!
Disclaimer: this post is about makeup, so if you're a guy you don't have to read on!
I believe that health isn't only what we put into our bodies but also what we put onto our bodies. As I said a few days ago, going gluten free has given me pretty terrible skin. This only makes me want to cover it up with makeup but using cheap, chemical filled stuff will only make my skin even worse. For Christmas, Mum got me makeup from Bella Pierre. Their products use natural ingredients and the list is only 4 ingredients long! They never test on animals which is a huge plus for me as well. The foundation is a mineral powder which you use for base, concealer and foundation - its awesome! I've been really enjoying using it, it covers my blemishes without making it look like I'm wearing a ton of makeup or feeling like I have a liquid on. I highly recommend it or any other loose mineral style foundation. I'm pretty sure you'll enjoy the way it looks, how quick it is to apply and the fact that you only need one product to do the job of three. Hoorah!
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