better than the gym

My rheumotologist is always asking me if I exercise. The answer is no, I don't, if by "exercise" he means go to a gym (which is usually what people mean when they use that word, unless they mean "run", which HAHAHAHAHAHAHA *cough* *wheeze*).

Where was I? Oh yes, my doctor. So you know what, I have gone to gyms in the past. It doesn't do fuck-all for me, no matter how long I go or how hard I work out. At this point, my health is such that I don't need the added strain of dealing with a gym. Joining a gym means:

• spending money I either don't have or could better spend elsewhere
• feeling uncomfortable in the presence of yet more strangers or, what would be worse, people who know me
• having to either go at a time when nobody's around or competing/waiting around for a place on equipment I want to use
• feeling embarrassed if I don't know how to use something
• having to carry around gym clothes plus makeup if it's a morning session, plus at a minimum moisturizer/body lotion if I'm showering, oh and
• having to shower someplace that's not my home 

And before you ask, no, I don't swim. Never learned, although I've tried multiple times. So basically, the gym is completely lost on me, and I refuse to even discuss it anymore. However, I should be doing SOMETHING. Walking, every once in a while, if nothing else.

This last time I saw my doctor, in June, he suggested I get a Fitbit. Now, I have actually been tracking my steps on my phone. But I don't always want to bring my phone with me when I run to the bathroom or whatever (which DOES count, every little movement counts). I had been a little concerned since changing jobs, because I'm actually walking fewer steps per day now when I'm in the office (although I'm going to the office more often), and I really wanted to be walking more over time. My doctor said that people who get Fitbits tend to get a little "competitive" with them by walking more and so on.

Well, I'm not really competitive like that, and I apparently don't know a whole lot of other people who are currently using Fitbit (trust me to be late on the bandwagon), but it turned out that my company has a "wellness benefit" that reimburses employees for buying certain items, and a Fitbit is covered. So I bought one. 

Honestly? No, I'm not "competing" or whatever. But I've been wearing my little rubber bracelet religiously so I guess that's not bad. I'm not bothering to track my meals or water because, honestly, I hate doing that. I mean, I don't mind writing down what I ate, but I have zero interest in researching exactly how many calories are in something that I didn't get at a restaurant or whatever, which is what I would have to do. And I'm already very careful to drink between 3 quarts and a gallon of water a day, because if I don't, I get really horrible charley horses at night. So, really, I'm paying attention only to steps, and I am doing a bit better.

But you're going to laugh when you found out what's actually helped quite a lot more than buying a Fitbit. I downloaded Pokemon Go last week along with everyone else, and while I'm sure I'm already pretty much the furthest behind of everybody I know in the game, I've actually made excuses to go on short walks, despite the fact it's the middle of the summer and I HATE summer in DC. So it looks like Pokemon Go is going to do for me here what getting a large dog did for me in Juneau, and get me walking once more. No complaints there because I used to walk all the time, and I miss it.

So, looks like I'll be going to the gym after all...the Pokemon Gym. That's the only kind of workout I need, and it's free.

losing proposition

When I lived in Juneau AK, for the first nine months I was on my own in the sense that my family was still living back in Southeast Virginia. It was a hardship for all of us to be apart. One of the results for me was that I lost interest in eating, which ended up having a good effect: I lost 50 pounds, which was about half of the weight that I needed to lose to be within the "ideal" weight for my height (5'2.5"). When I realized that I was losing weight, I joined Weight Watchers for community, accountability, and a way to check my weight without obsessing about it (which is a problem I tend to have).

I was overjoyed when my family joined me in Alaska, but I did start gaining weight again. After moving back to DC, I regained about 30 of the pounds I'd lost, mostly due to stress and depression. I've dropped ten of those pounds, but I'm having trouble losing any more, probably because I continue to be pretty stressed out (which makes me a) feel ill and b) want to eat comfort food).

In the past, I've done well on a lower carb, low sugar, no HFC type of eating plan, and since I am pre-diabetic, I should probably go in that direction anyway. (There is also some indication that a lower carb diet may mitigate the chronic pain of fibromyalgia.) Unfortunately, I really enjoy making (and eating) desserts and breads. In addition to that, my husband does most of the cooking (since I work full time and am ill), and I don't feel that I can make him work harder or deal with a list of ingredient restrictions.

That said, if I were to stop eating some of the convenience food that we use - commercial bread, frozen pizza (my homemade pizza dough is much better anyway), ice cream, and so on - I would probably feel better and find it easier to lose weight, plus I'd be cutting out most of the HFC I'm ingesting. I will probably never go truly "low carb" (as in almost no carbs) again, but I could go back to using Splenda instead of sugar in a lot of my baking. (And it's not as if I bake constantly, anyway.) My husband does enjoy making and eating salads and meals that contain vegetables and healthy items, and even when our eating is less healthy, it's rarely "junk" and we don't eat out very often. It's just the convenience stuff that's an issue.

One thing that I have been doing more of is walking. I almost never actually hit 10,000 steps (in fact, I've done it exactly once when I was tracking), but my current goal is 5500 on days when I'm in the office, and I usually make that. What I'd like to do is get to the point where I'm doing 7000 steps or more without really thinking too much about it, i.e. building walking into my daily activities to a much greater degree than I already do. Walking has always been a favorite activity of mine. I'm not into working out and I'm done with joining gyms and then never using the membership, but I love to walk and I used to walk all over DC when I was younger. Even as recently as ten years ago I was able to do quite a bit of walking, but since moving back here, the pain has been too much. So that's something I'd like to get back to. When Chris and I went to Brookside Gardens recently, we walked from the Glenmont Metro to the park, all the way through it end to end, and back. I made it almost the whole way back to the Metro before giving out, and all in all it was over 11,000 steps. I doubt I could do that every day or even every weekend, but the more the better.

So I have some thoughts on the issue, and those thoughts are turning into plans and goals. I'm very happy to already be in what people think of as "normal" sizes (i.e., non plus sizes), but I'm right at the top of that scale and I'd be more comfortable if I weighed less (I have a very small frame). So this is something that I'll be working on in the next few months, and I hope I have some good results. I'll keep you posted!

oops

I've been forgetting to post in this blog for, uh...the last two years. Le Whoops.

The main reason I haven't been posting, actually, is that, despite the fact that this is supposed to be a "health and beauty" blog, I have been feeling very ill in the past two years. Just before I created the blog, my family and I moved from Juneau, AK to the Washington DC area (having previous moved from VA to AK the year or so before), and it was just too much for my fibromyalgia. My health declined all through 2014 and much of 2015. When I finally started feeling better, in mid/late 2015, I changed positions, overdid things physically as a result, and subsequently felt ill again.

So, finally, about six months later, I'm emerging from all that, and realizing that I have a poor neglected H&B blog here that could really use some love. And since I have certainly been thinking about the subject, even while feeling sick, I certainly have things to say. I'll try to be updating at least weekly from now on.

My first entry had focused on the "no poo" method of hair/scalp cleansing, and I'd like to talk a little more about that. It's been working really well for me, and except for when I color my hair (still using LUSH henna), which is every four to six weeks, I never use shampoo any more at all. My normal routine is to no-poo on Monday mornings, using a tablespoon of baking soda, a squirt or two of honey, a drop of rosemary oil, and a cup of warm water. On Fridays I usually do a rinse consisting of a couple of tablespoons of apple cider vinegar, a squirt or two of honey, a drop of rosemary oil, and a drop of tea tree oil, mixed with 16-20 oz of warm water. The final rinses for both of these preparations is cold water for as long as I can stand (usually a few seconds). I might vary the days depending on what I'm doing; since currently I telework on Mondays and Fridays, those are the most convenient days for me, but if that changes I might do the washing/rinsing the night before instead.

As I mentioned, I haven't felt at all well most of the last two years. However, I have been seeing a really good doctor, who has put me on the one medication that actually works to help with the pain of FM, Tramadol. A lot of doctors, and particularly the ones in AK, have been against using Tramadol because it's a synthetic opioid. They think that makes it the same as an opiate and that it is therefore addictive, but they are wrong and it isn't (I did a lot of research before I ever asked for it). I take very little of it - usually about half the allowed dosage per day - and while I am not exactly pain free I have received quite lot of relief from it, which is not true of any of the other medications I had taken (all of which, by the way, were physically addicting, and had awful side effects, but were approved by my doctors in AK).

During 2014, I gained some weight, but then lost it in 2015. I'm still a bit higher than the weight I got down to in 2012, though, and I probably need to lose at least another 50 at that, so I need to start moving around more. Currently I'm eating a bit less and walking more, and I'm hoping to work myself up to being a bit more fit in 2016.

So that's where things stand. I hope to start posting at least once a week in this and my other blogs. See you then!