Information is Key

I'm realizing that if I understand the "why," it is much more likely to resonate and stick with me.

I had a great teacher at the clinic the other day, a nurse, sit down and explain to me about insulin and carbohydrates. I'll try to summarize my learning...

When we eat carbohydrates, complex or simple, the body produces insulin to help regulate the sugar in our blood. It carries sugar to the cells, and the muscles (if you are exercising)... and they only will take a certain, fixed amount that they need. Then the door is shut. The reserve area, for any leftover sugar, gets taken to the fat cells. Fat cells have no limit. They just get bigger and bigger. And bigger.

Insulin spikes and lowers- the length and amount depend on the quantity and type of the carb. Complex carbohydrates like whole grains, for example, are lower on they glycemic index and the insulin leaves the body more quickly.

Insulin is also a hunger hormone, It's a stimulant that tells your brain that it's hungry.

The hormone that uses up fat and gets rid of it is called Glucagon.

So here's the kicker...

Glucagon doesn't work in the presence of insulin.

Raw Honesty

Photo Evidence 

Ok- time for some serious humbling. This is me at my heaviest. (The one on the left). 255. That's my thin, 6' mom beside me and then my dad beside her in the yellow.  Wonder if genetics play a part? Which parent's body shape did I get?

This was last summer. After a year of going to gym and thinking I was really "doing it." This pic makes me cringe but it's me, through and through. 245.

Okay, so the newer pictures are coming in some future posts. But I wanted to save it for a bit later.
But keep in mind I don't do drastic. I do slow and steady for the long haul.

(On a side note, damn I wish I could do drastic sometimes. I cannot. This is me doing the very best I can. )

A long journey

So it's been a while since I've sat down to write here. But what is a year or two in this never-ending, life-long journey? That's what it has become for me- not a thing I'm trying, but little changes every day that are becoming permanent routines in my life.
I hit a point about 5 or 6 months ago, where I got completely, utterly discouraged. I was going to the exercise clinic 2 times a week, putting in what I felt was my best effort, and I had gained back all the weight I had lost the year prior (10 lbs?). It has been a really big deal for me to cut that time out of my life- away from my family- to drive half an hour each way to go exercise. I was very frustrated. I looked up lapband surgery again. I was back where I started.
(It's interesting that the absence of any blogging coincided with my seeming failure at this whole 'healthier' thing. We don't tend to reflect on and discuss our failures until much time has passed.)

The exercise clinic that I belong to takes a multi-disciplinary approach to health. It is unique because it is one of the only medically supervised clinics that also focuses on the preventative side of medicine. You must be referred by a doctor, and it reaches all walks of life- focusing on treatment and prevention of obesity, heart disease, diabetes, and other health concerns such as cancer and depression.
Exercise IS the medicine. 
I have seen many health benefits over the last year and a half. My energy and mobility have increased, and my joints and pains are much better than they used to be. I have cut my antidepressant medicine by 75% and feel amazing!

The problem is that the weight is still there. And so is my constant, crippling pain in my foot (plantar faciitis), which forces me to limp most days. Lose the weight if you want it to go away, the doctor says.

It was time to see the clinic's medical director, Dr. Ali Zentner, to go deeper into this journey. She has rocked my world in so many ways. She, herself, lost 175 lbs and is an internal medicine specialist- focusing on obesity - she knows what she's talking about. But she's not easy on me in any stretch of the imagination. My next blog posts will focus on my journey with Ali and all the things I'm learning.

Til next time!

Misconceptions

I'm learning little golden nuggets of information that are helping me along my journey. I had some serious misconceptions (and still do...) about  healthy eating and exercising.

I was on the treadmill the other day and I was trying to get my heart rate up as high as possible. Because of course, that's the best way to get results, right? Again, it's me trying to do 150% for a short burst, and the main thing that I am burning is... burning out. It was explained to me that when doing so, I am burning carbohydrates (energy) first, and then fat. If I don't sustain activity, I will miss the burning fat stage altogether.

Something else that never occurred to me is that you burn the same amount of calories running a mile or walking a mile. WHAT? That is so hard for me get my head around. So better to walk 5 miles, than run 1 and stop.

And if this is my idea of what exercise should feel like, no wonder it is not something I enjoy.

A little bit at a time

I've tried pretty much everything. It began with Weight Watchers and a gym membership when I was 16... up to the crazy hCG fad diet I tried recently. I've gone to a nutritionist, naturopath and a life coach (who Ryan calls "the food shrink"), all to help me with my journey. I've joined gyms, and taken stroller-fit classes and bootcamps. I've tried low carb, no carb... I've even thought about the lap band- a quick fix it seems. All of these (with the exception of the last) were things I tried, for a while, but never kept it up. My weight has continued to climb and climb, and two kids later I am unhealthily obese. It hurts a bit to say it  that way (especially because I'm not sure that's grammatically correct)... but it's good to face the truth.

A friend pointed out the other day that when I try these things I tend to go all out- putting in 150% and then I fizzle out pretty quickly. My goal is to make changes slowly and realistically, so I can achieve and maintain them so they are part of my life.

Here is my journey, chronicled in plain view for others to see. My desire to have a healthier, more active, more energetic, pain-free life. A little less weight on the bod would be nice too.

I struggled a lot with a name for my new blog. The title, "Kristin Gets Healthy" was suggested to me. This struck a sensitive chord deep within me, because it implied that I'm not. It was hard for me to admit, but after some thinking, I've re-evaluated my definition of healthy, and it is one which I do not seem to fit in. I guess I haven't been healthy. Well, unless you are describing, you know, that "healthy-looking" girl.

So what is healthy? From a doctor's point of view- all your numbers and levels are within the appropriate range. From a personal trainer's point of view, you work out 3-5 times a week for over an hour, and your BMI says you are in the healthy range or not . In a dietician's eyes, it means you only eat whole grains, vegetables and lots of flax. A quick google images search shows vegetables with muscular arms, people running, and plates of salmon. It's hard to draw the imaginary line in the sand and decide what is healthy and what isn't. I'm still not entirely sure what healthy is, but I know what healthier can be.

So here goes...



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