I have bitten the bullet and started a diet. The combination of the Lupus medicines and my leg being broken for over a year have left me feeling a little plump. Now that I am able to walk again, I can get my body moving. The main goal of the diet is not to reach a certain number on the scale, but to reach a point where I feel comfortable in my skin again.
I am using Weight Watchers Online as my tool. To date, I have lost 8 pounds in 4 weeks. The WW tools are easy to use and help me keep track of what I am eating. Man, there are hidden calories everywhere.
My morning routine consists of coffee and low-fat bran muffins. The coffee is a freebie on the diet, but I have to count the milk that I add. The low-fat bran muffins are my problem. I justify eating them because they are low fat and full of bran. But I consume so many calories in the morning that I have to cut back during the rest of the day. Why can’t I just eat one less muffin? I justify eating them by saying to myself, “It helps with Lupus morning tummy.” For those who aren’t familiar with that term, morning lupus tummy is the nausea that most lupus patients feel when they awake. Then comes the morning medicine and without some carbs to line your stomach, the nausea only worsens. Surely, I can eat one less muffin. They are small, after all. That’s it, I am doing it. One less muffin in the morning and now that my commitment is out in the universe, I have to stick to it.
Dieting is hard, but I am up for the challenge. If I can fight this disease every day, shedding a few pounds can’t hold me down. I am learning I can alter my “new normal,” if it helps me live better. Less weight and more health is definitely better.
Mission Accomplished: Taking Control of my Health and Improving my “New Normal”
I can 100% relate to this blog. In the last two and a half years I've had a spinal tap which resulted in needing a blood patch a week later, a broken 5th metatarsal in my left foot which resulted in a cast from the knee down for 6 weeks, an elbow infection called osteomyelitis that caused 9 days in the hospital followed by 6 weeks with a PICC line at home giving myself IV antibiotics twice a day, then surgery on the left foot that was still broken when the cast came off, then I broke the right foot the same spot as the left foot and had surgery immediately to put a screw in the broken bone just like the left foot, then I had necrotizing fasciitis in my right leg (flesh eating bacterial infection) which almost lost my leg and also almost killed me, spent 16 days in the hospital then wore a wound vacuum for three months, re-broke my left foot and bent the screw while I was in the hospital with my leg (bc the nurse aid that was sent in to help me get up to the bathroom was 67 years old and 5" shorter than me and I lost my balance and rolled my foot and it rebroke) then after the 3 months of wearing the wound vacuum I had a skin graft which put me in the hospital for another week, that healed, I tripped on my bed and rebroke my RIGHT foot and bent that screw also, so first I had surgery on my left foot to replace the bent screw, that healed and I had the same surgery on my right foot to replace THAT bent screw...and that's been the last 2 & 1/2 years.
On top of that I was taking 20 mg/day of prednisone, so that combined with being immobile due to my injuries and infections, I had gained a lot of weight. I also lost my 94 year old grandmother who I was close with my entire life so I had a lot of emotional stress going on.
I am 5'8" tall, so I'm not a small girl, but my healthy weight is 145-165 lbs and I was up to 196 lbs with full moon face to boot. My rheumatologist put me on Rituxan (a drug that is FDA approved for RA, not lupus, but they're finding it works on a lot of lupus patients) and since then my prednisone dose is down from 20 to only 8 mg/day!
I also take a natural supplement called OPC-3 which I really think has made the difference. There are many kinds of OPC-3 and I recommend them to everyone with a chronic illness. I am the first to admit, I thought it was a crock of $HIT. I only started taking it bc a friend wanted me to, and I was AMAZED. It helps with both the pain and the fatigue.
Moral of the story I spent a long time basically immobile and gained a lot of weight. Once my peed dose dropped and I was able to start doing more, I've lost 40 POUNDS! I am currently 156 pounds, and I haven't been under 170 in over 6 years. I am ecstatic.
So I understand the frustration of being where you are at right now, I've been there. Just hang in there, you'll get to where you want to be! I quit drinking soda at home, and I was drinking about 2 liters of Coke a day, and now I drink zero calorie Crystal Light, so that alone cut literally like 3,000 calories and a lot of sugar out of my diet. Plus all that sugar.
So you do whatever you can, and have faith that you'll get there! I have faith you'll get there. And while you're getting there, you are blogging and touching the lives of SO MANY people going through the same thing.
Everything happens for a reason. God knows what he's doing. If God beings you to it, He will get you through it. Remember that. :-)
Love ya Lola!
Jenny
Posted by: Jenny Wonders | 07/07/2011 at 09:47 PM