I was finally well enough to return to Weight Watchers last night at the Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church in Kingswinford. The meeting I go to is run by a lovely lady who understands the problems I face as a wheelchair user whose medical conditions result in extreme levels of fatigue and high levels of medication. Jane has given me some really useful suggestions over time and although she works for Weight Watchers, her focus has never solely been about losing weight. She has, for as long as I've been going there (quite a while), also focused on health, the benefits of eating healthily and exercising.
A few months back I switched medication and this has had the effect of making me feel even more fatigued than usual. By fatigue I don't mean tired; fatigue is something different and far more extreme than being tired is. For me fatigue is present in my muscles, making it difficult at times to so much as raise my arms a few inches. This often feels very similar to lactic acid, sort of burning and as though someone has sucked all the energy out. In addition, I get very mentally fatigued and can't think; this presents as the well-known by fibromites, brain-fog. You'll be lucky to get a word you recognise out of me at times!
Still, that doesn't mean that I can't eat healthily and do a little exercise, in my own way. Or does it? Well, yes and no. There are times when I struggle to swallow most types of food. At these times I can only manage small amounts of either soup or very soft foods, such as mashed potato. Although I often feel nauseous at these times, I rarely vomit. That does mean that at times I struggle to eat the right nutrients; given that I have fibromyalgia it is particularly important that I get those nutrients.
The lack of mobility, which includes that I am often bed-bound, does mean that exercise is difficult. It doesn't mean that it is impossible. Exercise takes all forms and can be tailored to suit just about everyone. For my brother, a bike-ride could be his exercise, for my husband - before he was injured - a long-distance training run, a couple of hundred sit-ups and the same in press-ups was not unheard of. In my case, there are days when - from my position lying down - raising my hands a few inches off the bed and repeating this a set number of times may be all I can manage for that day. Still, it is movement and movement is something that we should all be aiming for. I know that some people with mobility issues find that their caregiver worries about them exercising, so I would like to include a link to this article, as I think it makes some very good and useful points.
Of course, the lack of mobility does mean that I am perhaps more prone to weight gain than I was back in my able-bodied days. I can't deny that recently tic-tacs have formed a big part of my diet (appalling, I know); this has been because my medication leads to excessively dry-mouth and sucking a small sweet helps to relieve that. I do need to find an alternative that isn't quite so full of refined sugars. Eating the right foods is becoming more and more important as my health continues to deteriorate and I get older. I'm into my 40s now and I don't want to continue gaining weight. I want to be heading in the opposite direction and aiming for a healthier weight. Let's face it, if my backside gets much bigger I'm going to get wedged in my wheelchair!
At the moment one of my big inspirations is someone I grew up, who I knew from the age of two. She has lost four and a half stone, and is looking amazing. I am not going to put any pictures of her up, as I don't have her permission, but I am sending her the link to this to let her know that I am so proud of her and that she has inspired me. I wish her luck on the rest of her journey and will hopefully see her at Motley Crue's gig in Birmingham later this year.
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