I probably would have agreed before 2010 that vitamins in general were just "expensive pee" as I had always commented to my mom who always insisted on taking a "multi-vitamin." I feel the same way about the flu shot. I've had it a few years but have seen & regardless of what they say people who get sick from it directly in relation to having it done. Apparently, mom was truly, possibly on to something. Ha... I'm good as she doesn't read this yet.
I was a size 0 prom dress for Jr & Sr. HS prom... yes that was typed in correctly as a ZERO. I'd always been active with CC, track, running, hockey both as a goalie & skater for years. I still skate & ref but haven't found much decent time to play hockey in La Crosse being female. Most of the ice time will put me to bed after it's all said & done sometime around midnight or even later if I went. Just getting too late for me.
I was on anti-depressants & such thru about 2003 & then finally started feeling "normal" again & went off of them slowly. Looking back I feel that it might have just been a lack in proper metabolic balance.
I was on them before that, sometime in 2000 (106lbs.) from what I recall. I had a real rough time thru college having female roommates. I was doing far too much sleeping (I think I averaged some days about 15 hours) amongst other reasons. My life was pretty much (sleeping, working, sleeping, school, sleeping, hockey & oh yeah sleeping.)
Most of 2004 was pretty good still sleeping more than usual (117lbs). Then in 2005 I started feeling tired again, it wasn't a horrible tired at the beginning but got progressively worse. It was like 10 hours just wasn't enough. Napping when possible was totally on my to-do list. I had started doing Zumba in Nov. 2008 (166lbs.) as hockey just wasn't as easy to do in the area. I was still active but not the workout hockey person I was in 2003-2004 I was putting in almost 20 hours a week on the ice.
Going back a few months, I did go to the doctor in 2008 as I was tired of wanting to take naps all the time & tired of being tired. Pun intended. They found nothing wrong with my blood count that wasn't out of the ordinary for having extra weight on. I also went in as I put on 30lbs. in 3 months... yeah you read that correctly...putting me up to 166lbs. my diet at the time didn't change much for me to have any reason to believe that this was caused by anything other than a thyroid or some medical disease or something to put on this much weight in this short period of time. They said it was dietary changes & that was what was possibly causing me to be tired... I'm like for 4 years really? I wasn't happy when I mentioned I was tired people kept asking me if I was pregnant or something. I'm like doubt it, as it would have been a 4 year pregnancy. I said possibly tape worm or some parasite or something is sucking me dry.
Nothing was found as a reason as to why I was feeling tired most of the time. The doctor found nothing out of the ordinary other than elevated blood pressure but still within normal ranges which they said would go down if I lost weight. No advice on how to fix anything other than "regular sleep schedule"
When starting Zumba I was doing it at least 3-6 times a week paired with casual jogging & walks most mornings or afternoons. Exercise has never been my problem for me to do.
It wasn't until this past spring that I started taking a multi (I like the adult gummies) & then early summer taking a B-complex (bio-spec ad focus) that I started feeling like I had the energy to not feel dragged out & nappy all the time. I always said Oh perhaps more water would help... or more exercise... or dietary changes. I've kept testing the theory that I wasn't the "expensive pee" over the past months that was truly helping my energy levels.
I have come to the conclusion that the doctors are right when it comes to 3 things regarding dieting:
#1 that water is very important
#2 that exercise is very important
#3 that a proper reasonably balanced diet is needed.. ok it's very important.
All 3 are needed to obtain losing or holding your "happy weight" constant.
#3 is my biggest nemesis, my relationship with food is about as good as my current relationship with exercise which is not where it should have been. Gaining 10lbs. in a week on a 24/7 AUCE buffet was just a horrible idea for a honeymoon in early 2010. It was an a awesome week & I loved every bite of it but I had to work like heck to get those horrible pounds off. I did make a lot of good choices of food just a lot of choices is the key words there.
By Halloween 2010 (right when I was getting certified as a Zumba instructor) I weighed myself (which I had been avoiding most of the year) at 178lbs. I'm like that's it this has gone far enough. None of my clothes fit. But it was seeing on a forum post that "your best marketing & advertisement is your body" that truly pushed me over the edge. I mean really, if I can't sell the idea that Zumba does help you lose weight.. really I'm not doing much of proving that with my weight... that keeps going up & not down. I decided that I really needed to stop my stress work eating & just eating (as much) in general. I had my energy back (as I had started taking my vitamins again in spring 2010 on a regular basis) but even with excessive exercise #3 was still kicking my butt. So it was time to get #3 under control.
The 1st 2 weeks were the absolute worst of it. I'm fairly certain they are long gone & I never want to see them ever again. I never would have had the energy to do my current schedule had I not started putting essential vitamins back into my system. I don't usually take my B-complex on the weekends unless I know I won't get a nap in, sometimes I just take 1/2 & just to prove it to myself when I don't take it at all even with a good amount of sleep both weekend nights by 2pm I'm ready for nap time like clockwork if I go without.
That brings us into 2011. With #1, 2 & 3 getting into a balance I've lost 18lbs. already. However, I know I couldn't have done it without #4 which was what they didn't tell me. Not a chance. I would be sleeping already tonight & sleeping in as late as absolutely possible in the morning without it. 1 thing I've noticed with Spark already, besides only needing Spark (which has the B in it) or the B-complex I don't have the slight drag butt the following morning like I do when I just take a B. Which is weird as I usually am a 10 min. snooze person still but do make it out of bed. I also know I'll need to go off of Spark & on to the caffeine free version (which I wish they had in other flavors than just orange) but not quite yet. At least I've not had a single urge to drink the artificial junk which has been quite a vice on me for the last decade called Dt. Mt. Dew. I thought I had kicked it over & over again... yet wasn't drinking it anymore for the caffeine actually the flavor... which is almost more vile & disgusting... darn garbage being free to drink at work. It has been proven with the sugar & i'm sure all the other stuff I can't pronounce in it fake colors & flavors that it makes you make bad food choices. They have free water too, but I've never liked the lack of flavor, I just can't do it all the time w/o some flavored beverage. Thought about going the tea route & do drink it on occasion but another person I know proved that kidney stones were the result of too much tea & not enough water. The herbal and extract qualities of it are good to have on occasion. Milk well that's just not great to have after 25 which is why a lot of people get lactose intolerant with age. We weren't meant to drink that after being weaned off of it. If people are doing it just for the calcium in it there are other foods & drinks that have calcium in them & vitamins too. That however isn't absorbed as much as you get older either.
It's all about what the human body absorbs & retains in the system. Lots of things like iron, B, C, etc. don't stay in the system for a long time they are kicked out what isn't absorbed or needed. Which is what your kidneys & liver do. Get rid of the unneeded or toxic crap. However, if there isn't enough of something... your body does let you know in it's own way. as it can't obtain or say what it needs clearly. That's our job to figure it out. Or reading studies trying different things. Lets see if #4 is more rounded out will make a difference... Oh forgot to mention I also take cranberry vitamins for bladder (which has helped tremendously over the past few years) & this summer Omega-3 fish oils.. this I haven't had a direct proven visible result from yet, not sure what I could look for as a viable result... so might be taking an "expensive pee" on this one. MIL insists that it's good for us so we'll keep it for now.
Anyways, got to get to bed or I will be tired & it won't be a good thing.
What is a "metabolic balance". If it has anything to do with slow metabolism, I've got that problem. However, I must admit that my slow metabolism is due to years of yo-yo dieting, starvation at some points... bulimia at others, and little to no exercise. I'm working at fixing all of my fitness/dietary issues. You have helped me tremendously, as I think you know already. Good luck in your journey. I plan to take it with you.
ReplyDeleteI think "metabolic balance' was a poor choice of words... I'm not really sure what would be a good choice though It's referring to "#4" or a combination of the correct vitamins, minerals & probiotics. Overall wellness lack of multi vitamins to assist with the food decrease. If your not eating as much food your not getting as much #4 as you possibly need to keep your body healthy.
ReplyDeleteI think the best way to bump your metabolism to keep it running higher if it's running low is to split up your 30 mins. exercise to 2 times a day. That bumps it up & when it starts to come back down if you exercise for another 30 min. night too. Not too late though as you need time to come back down before bed time. That's just what I've heard regarding it. I know it naturally slows by itself as you get older too doing exercise or not. Thanks for coming along with me on the trip. Starving yourself only makes the metabolism slow down & save everything it's got regardless. I could have had a little bit more to eat today, but didn't really go hungry at any point... or I did eat something as you see. I just know that have a tendency to overeat in general.