A new beginning

If you have been following my blog or my facebook community Psoriasis and Psoriatic Arthritis in Australia you may be aware that over the many years I have tried numerous forms of exercise to maintain my health and support my joint mobility. Until now everything I have tried has failed after some time. I struggle with managing my fatigue and my lack of energy often lets me down.

What I mean is I have already spent my spoons on getting up, getting dressed, going to work, working, doing housework, looking after my pets and so on. Where am I going to find the energy for effective exercise? I questioned myself repeatedly and often gave up because to be honest life got in the way of exercise. There was always something more important. There was always another priority. My health always came last. Slowly over the last year that I haven’t been writing I gained some weight. About 8kg to be exact. This extra weight was seriously beginning to affect my self esteem, my mood was always low, my back was always having a flare and I was drowning in fatigue and self pity. I was emotionally eating because to be honest food was the only thing that was making me feel good. It is so easy to get into a never ending downward spiral.

I decided last year in November I really needed to get back to a exercise regime and get my life and health back on track. Eating healthy I always found easy once I focused my thoughts but exercise is where I have always struggled. I knew I needed help.

I had seen a couple of trainers who all gave me the one size fits all routine. This never suited me because of mobility issues not all exercise types help me. Some of them have even aggravated my PSA. I used to see a rehabilitation trainer at a gym I went to a few years ago and thought I would see if he could help me to kick start my exercise routine. I called him and I was surprised he remembered me and my issues with Psoriatic arthritis. I went in for a consult in November and haven’t looked back. I am learning many things about my body and myself and building a good relationship with exercise.

Stay tuned for more on my journey.

Kicking my own butt and getting myself healthy again

It’s fair to say the last 3 months or so my health and fitness have fallen off the bandwagon. I have been eating all those things I know I shouldn’t. I have been indulging. Ice cream, chocolates, cake, cheese, pizza, processed foods, even gluten. I normally have so much self control and just didn’t see where my eating habits were starting to take me. I also didn’t know why I was eating all of this. 

I was comfort eating

I have since March bought a new house, had drama through the land we were buying titling, organising a move and everything that went with it. Then the new house had a lot of drama that came with it, electricity and plumbing problems. Also, I have been having a lot of stress at work and my Psoriasis was flaring and I felt like I was drowning. I resorted to food for comfort. I can now understand that when everything seems to be going wrong how good food can make you feel and how it becomes a drug and you just want to keep eating those bad things. You keep going back for more, you tell yourself no more but you just keep going back, specially to sugar. It begins to take over your life and it’s and an endless cycle. 

You tell yourself you won’t eat this rubbish anymore, then you look at yourself and you don’t see that great body and you feel miserable. How do you feel better? By eating more of the fatty food that got you there in the first place. 

It’s a vicious cycle and something I didn’t want to continue or become a life long problem. I have always been slim and currently is the most I have weighed. Although it’s a 7kg weight gain over 3 months, it’s not something I want to look back at in 2 years and be a 50kg weight gain. I want to end the bad habits before they become part of who I am. 

I did some research and I found the Ashley Condon 21 day challenge. I’m starting that from today. I am making up my own diet but I am following her exercise plan with a couple of au situations. Here is he full 21 Day program. 

I will be blogging my journey along the way, I know it’s not going to be easy but I am determined to be a better me, physically and emotionally. 

Week 3 (with week 2 progress)

Week 2

Week 2 unfortunately was not a great week.  I was feeling very dizzy on Monday and Tuesday, and didn’t leave the house, it persisted the whole week and with doctors orders  I stayed home and rested.  I had an increased heart rate and to be honest I am uncertain why this happened, the doctor seems to think I may  have had some sort of virus in my system.  No gym at all for me on Week 2, I  tried to stick to  my  diet as best as I  could considering I couldn’t do any exercise, the only  thing I didn’t do was probably eat as often as I should because I just didn’t feel up to it.

I did feel really disheartened because I just started on this new plan and already I am not having such a smooth run, it made me think if it was really worth struggling so much just to try and get myself to  the gym, and then feeling lousy when I missed a  whole  week of it.  I don’t have an answer for myself as yet, I guess I just have to wait and  see  how the next few weeks go.  I’m not prepared to give up yet.

I also spent some time researching the different body  types and making sure my diet and exercise plans were suited to my  body type, which  evidently is a ‘mesomorph’.  Here is  a link from bodybuilding.com on different  Body types. A lot of  the information was things I already knew, but it really did help me focus again.

Week 3  plan

My  plans for week 3 have not been so ambitious when  it comes  to exercise.  The main reason for this is because this week I have had a fair few work commitments and early starts, as a result I haven’t planned in exercise and I am going to make a decision each day based on how my body  is feeling.  So far it is pretty  fatigued from the work schedule, so I might be able to fit in 2 sessions  over the weekend.

My  diet I am sticking to my previous plans, however as I am not exercising, I am not eating as often  as last.  I have  made sure I am keeping  my  water levels up (at around 3 liters a day).

I wish I had an easy solution, but in the past when I  have forced my body to exercise when it has been fatigued has led me to having months off to recover, and I would rather not end up in the same position again.

The plan is to re evaluate this week if what I am doing is going to work for me long term?

Week 2 (with week 1 progress)

Week 1 Progress

Diet

The week went well, I used Sunday to prepare all of my meals in advance.  As posed on my Week 1 post  https://myautoimmunity.wordpress.com/week-1/ I planned the same diet for the whole week, in the past I hadn’t been able to do that because I get bored of eating the same food and feel sometimes my body craves different things depending on my  energy and body needs.  Last week  was no different.  I followed the diet exactly for the first two days, I found the lentils were aggravating  my stomach a lot, I guess I haven’t consumed such a large amount of lentils for a long time.  I decided from Wednesday this wasn’t going  to work for me.  I had the same breakfast, snacks, and dinner the first half of the week, I incorporated eggs into my lunch Wednesday, and roast chicken for the remainder of the week for lunch.  Wednesday and  Thursday I also had lamb steak for dinner as this is the craving I had, which meant my body  was craving more iron and higher protein source.  Over the long weekend, I also had sushi, and made a chicken stir fry  with vegetables, and gluten free spaghetti.  I had one treat on Sunday as it a hot weekend, I had gelato as my treat.

When it comes to diet, it has to be things that work for you and your lifestyle, it is important to try and make as many meals as you can as you know exactly what goes into each meal.  I do struggle with having to eat the same thing, specially  for lunch and dinner, and also because I like to listen to what my body is telling me it needs to run better and what it needs to recover.

Exercise

I went to the gym Monday as per my Week 1 plan and found this really drained me, I had to really recover from this, I also unfortunately did something to aggravate my  back, so I needed to let my body recover from this.  Thursday  I went back to gym and did back and chest, and I went back again and did legs on Saturday.  Overall I managed 3 out of 4 exercise sessions.  Normally I would be disappointed, but from my past  experience, I learned to let my body recover and listened to what it was able to do and as a result I feel pretty good.

Measurements

It has only been one week, so there have been no changes in any of my measurements from last week, I would be in shock if it did change.

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Week 2 diet

Week 2, I will stick with the same breakfast and snacks as last week.  Lunch  and  dinners will be different depending on what my body needs, but this is what I am proposing for this week.

Breakfast

• Chia pudding

Mid morning

• 1 cup raw carrots
• 10 almonds

Lunch

• Chicken stir-fry with basmati rice, substituting with;
• Roast chicken with steamed vegetables

Afternoon

• Yoghurt with maple syrup

Pre and post workout

• BCAA, and protein shake

Dinner

• Tuna salad, substituting with;
• Lamb and salad

(will make changes based on body requirements)

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Week 2 exercise (all exercise is alternating/done in pairs as last week )

Monday – Rest

Tuesday – Back and Shoulders

Lat pulls – 4 sets, alternating with;

Shoulder  press – 4 sets

Seated row – 4 sets, alternating with;

Lat raises – 4  sets

Face pulls – 4 sets, alternating with;

Face down shoulder raises – 4 sets

Wednesday- Legs

Squats – 4 sets,

Deadlifts – 4 sets

Kettlebell squats – 4 sets

Glute raises – 4 sets

Leg press – 4 sets

Calve raises – 4 sets

Thursday – rest

Friday – Chest and arms

Dumbbell chest press – 4 sets

Pull downs with bar – 4 sets

Dumbbell flys – 4 sets

Pull downs with rope – 4 sets

Saturday – Legs, same as Wednesday

Sunday – rest

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