DrewsyVugs's Journal

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05 April 2023

LEGS BURNING…

I spent some time searching and concluded that the burning sensation in my legs was oxygen supply. Then I thought about my lymphedema in both my lower legs, which has never physically bothered me before. I don’t know why it is only showing up now, after I have already built up to 8miles a day? Now I can’t walk half a kilometre without stopping, and after that it is a constant struggle… what I looked up online was terrible news with no hope of recovery.

I thought I was done for, but…

I had (no choice) but to consider other options, as I had exhausted medical reasoning. For some reason I googled about walking step lengths and this is what I came up with… I have a very long, 80cm stride for my height. Apparently, that is very hard on your legs, heels, and feet. I always believed that the longer the stride, the better, but new evidence is saying that a shorter, quicker stride can be far more beneficial to health. I had to find out… off I go for another walk. I figure it is aggravating the oxygen supply problem, because when I start short stepping (70ish cm), and speeding up my cadence, then I can feel the muscle strain of the effort, but not the muscle burn. I also feel much more stable with the shorter step. I am stepping much more quickly, yet I am not burning out the way I had been. Just like that, I am back to walking non-stop for 1.2km. Breaking for 2 minutes, and walking non-stop back home. I had two successful 2.4km (1.5mile) walks this afternoon and evening. Still, I am not going to push the walking the way I have been doing. I think it was too much. I am staying around 10,000steps, or 7.5km (4.5miles). I will try to build on my cadence from this new technique. CONCLUSION: I can’t rule out age haha I am doing all this so that I can eat less! Who’s idea was this, anyway? :) DV

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05 April 2023

Weight:	Lost so far:	Still to go:	Diet followed:
94.3 kg	1.3 kg	17.2 kg	Reasonably Well

Add Comment Losing 0.6 kg a Week

04 April 2023

Dieting Mindsets on Cravings…. Hawkin’s Cheezies, etc…

I am reflecting on a quote that StomachMonkey’s posted today (included below). I have a lot of respect for the mindset he has towards what he eats, and how adaptive he has been to what he has learned! Everyone should tour his well documented food journals. I am kind of partial to mindsets, but many people don’t realize that they are the key to changing our undesirable behaviours.

This long article (sorry) applies as much to cigarettes, as it does to unhealthy eating habits. They are not dissimilar! It is my mindset to treat them with the same respect, because each of them causes no less long-term damage to our otherwise beautiful lives.. I am going to start off strong here, so, please don’t be discouraged by “my mindset”. It is not without experience. I don’t do anything half way! I am all in, or I am out until I figure out a better plan! I never quit.

I know a thing or two about addictions. They are inherent, and a constant struggle within ADHD. Unhealthy eating is very similar, if not identical to addictive behaviour. Don’t kid yourself. These habits can be as deep-seated as a drug. Your mind is not really in control of your actions anymore. The craving feeling rules out any latitude for making the right choices. You want it, and you want it as soon as possible. You know it’s a problem, and you do it anyways. Your “unhealthy mindset” tells you: “it’s just junk food!!!” I said that about every junk food, and a lot of drugs before it I lost control of them. I tell you it is not that different. In fact, it is so similar, it sends shivers through me! If you can accept that mindset, then you are already beat the odds!

If you feel that cravings are causing your diet a lot of problems, then to overcome them, you have to take them seriously. You can’t just say I will stop. Junk food in particular is textbook addictive behaviour. The big difference is, food cravings don’t hang on after you quit, like drugs do. Still, it takes a month to lay waste to a mental habit, and a year to prove it to yourself. With food, and some drugs, the mental habit is harder to break that the physical one. By mental, I mean those recurring cravings that keep telling you should cave, and that is where the new mindset gives you that fighting chance. I create such powerful mindsets that they repulse me from ever submitting to that craving again. It is the only thing that I know works for most people. So much so, that it is a primary behavioural tool in psychotherapy. Most of us don’t need therapy to quit habitual eating, but we do need a mental deterrent, and a healthy alternative that is always available.

If we are not evolving healthy dieting mindsets to replace the bad ones, then we are not working in our own best interests to reach our goals. I think it is the main reason we struggle with old habits. Not all of us, but most of us are here because of unhealthy eating habits - it is all relative. If they are not unhealthy, then maybe unbalanced. If you realized that every one of those eating habits are fostered by unhealthy mindsets, then all you would have to do is replace the unhealthy mindset with a healthy one. I will get to that…

The simplest examples are junk food. Why do we eat it? We know it is not good for us, but we cave to the salt, the sugar, and the intense artificial flavour fix. Fast foods are synonymous with junk food. If we are honest with our recorded daily foods, FatSecret seems to animate that understanding by showing us where our calories and nutrients are coming from, leaving us feeling both good and bad at the same time. This shows us both the deterrent and the alternative the same time. How good is that, if you are up to the challenge that brought you here?

Calorie counting in FatSecret is a real eye opener for me. I made some uninformed changes to my diet before I started out here, but I didn’t change a lot of things because I did not know what they were. I thought I was starting off strong, but where I am is, at the beginning! FatSecret, in the very first week, itemizes and displays your weak areas and sticks them in your face, where only those of us in denial could ignore the simple truth. I know we are all different, but if you are here counting calories, the nutrition numbers are where those calories are coming from, and the meals we are eating are linked to every one of those calories. The beauty of the program is in its simplicity — “Watch your foods”!

So, how do you change a behaviour like the coveted 80gram bag of Hawkin’s Cheezies with 430 calories, 26grams of fat, and 700mg sodium!!! What was I thinking? What a mindless bag of those things will do to my days numbers is a real travesty. And if I have two of those bags in a week, it drives those numbers, to the number one position of that week’s calorie chart for a single food product. That’s where I am starting — I thought I liked them - it was just a snack, right? But now when I see them in perspective of their real value, I am repulsed. Still, they taste pretty damned good! What am I going to do when I get a craving? I can’t just say that “I won’t”, and think that is good enough. I had to take some time. I create new mindsets through writing, but do whatever it takes, you need a new healthy mindset to replace the old one.

Well, I already figured out the deterrent, and I have a fridge & cupboard full of healthy snacks and drinks that will take the edge off of anything. Some are higher in calories and nutrients than others, but none of them a bad for me. It is not going to give me the same instant gratification, but that craving feeling is never going to last. I have successfully turned my back on a lot of addictions. I know that feeling!

So, what’s left of my argument? Meh! That’s my only argument and the new mindset —> deterrent, healthy alternative, pat yourself on the back. I will waffle for a while, because that is what addictive behaviours do. After a week or two it will not be as distracting. In a month, the feeling is all but gone. You’re not done, but your on the home stretch. The rest is establishing the new habit.

I think that FatSecret is a pretty darned good program if you don’t mind crunching the numbers that mean the most to you. I love being able to see what I did well and what I could have done better last week. That is the source of your new mindsets. Explore the program. Find out what works for you. Soon, I will be able to anticipate changes, in next weeks menus. StomachMonkey’s has it right! Do your exercises, keep it simple and focus on the foods and food behaviours. Don’t worry about how many calories the app says you are burning. If you are in control of your food, and your not making progress, drop your calorie intake or exercise more. If you choose the former, don’t worry about feeling hungry all the time, your stomach will shrink…

It’s all in our heads - success I mean… attitude & MindSets — be well

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04 April 2023

Weight:	Lost so far:	Still to go:	Diet followed:
94.4 kg	1.2 kg	17.3 kg	Reasonably Well

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03 April 2023

DRAT!
So, I’m hitting a wall with my walking. I don’t want to admit it, but I’m doing too much! I worked my walks up to 2.5 to 3km (1.5 to 1.75mi) in a very short period of time, and was comfortably doing that 4 times a day (about 7miles) for 2 weeks with no evidence of any negatives.

The last few days, my legs have been burning out way to early into the walk. I pushed through it a couple of days. I’ve had no pain afterwards, but even less progress each day, to the point that today was a disappointment. I am slower, stopping more often, and for longer. I still get days that I am unstoppable, but they are becoming less and less in the last few days.

If I was younger, I would say I was going to beat this, but I don’t think I am going to this time. It doesn’t mean I won’t be back here someday, but, it does mean I am not going about it the right way. It means that I am going to have to, not slow down, but walk less often for shorter distances. If I had to slow down, I would enjoy it less, so I am going to fight for this. I don’t care about the calories. I wan’t to walk. It completes me. I write better stories. I am more mindful. It is a kind of long-distance meditation. How many people say that they can effectively meditate for 2hours and 20minutes everyday?

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