Accountability - Fitness part 3...

In the beginning I managed to lose what I felt was a whopping 2 stone, and felt much better, whilst still knowing I had much more to lose. However, nothing like a spanner in the works is there! I started to develop migraines, not just one or two, but daily, from one extreme to the other. Then came the allergies and asthma rearing their ugly heads and making me retreat to the depths of my house. Living in the countryside can have its drawbacks when you have a wheat allergy and you are surrounded by wheat fields during pollination in June and harvest late July / August!

In light of this, I finally gave up eating wheat entirely. Instead of giving up between February and October. It did help in terms of allergies and asthma, but did nothing for my health. Feeling gutted and deeply sorry for myself I started eating the wrong foods. It is so difficult finding food that tastes nice when you can't eat wheat, and I have quite a bland choice anyway as I am rather fussy. The migraines though, they really dug their heels in and posed a great problem for me. I reached a point I could barely move off the sofa, so it was very handy being in the midst of the first lockdown - we were not allowed to go anywhere anyway. I tried to fight them myself, not knowing what they were and eventually we worked out with the docs it was migraines induced by the stress I had been under for so many years plus several other events at the same time.

In order to help me I was prescribed Pizotifen 1.5mg. As an asthmatic I can only have certain types apparently, so this is what I was given, and as the doctor said, it took a good 6 months to finally start allowing me to be more like me and begin to function again. It hasn't cured them and I often still have minor daily attacks that I monitor. A twinge in my head means I need to cease what I am doing, stop, rest and try again later. My eye has been hideous and again I have returned to the optician, but this again all seems clear, so it has to be ocular migraines as I suspected. This is where most of my migraines begin... my right eye. I had a change in my eyesight, so once again new glasses are in order, however I was advised to make sure I had bigger lenses, it appears that I look through the gap on the right and underneath the lens rather than through it which may be impacting my eye and a blue filter may help as I use the computer a lot.

Back to accountability, In the past 2 years, I have not only put on the two stone I lost, but an extra one too. I am now a hideous 13 stone. I believe I have been bigger, but I feel absolutely awful - I should be 7.5 st (7 - 9 st is healthy for me as I am only 5'1"). My knee doesn't want to work again with the extra weight on it and my asthma is often triggered. I have to shift this extra load. The problem now is the medication. Pizotifen makes you gain weight and is often used with a different name in countries were malnutrition is sadly rife.

I feel I am learning more about my migraines everyday and am concerned about this weight gain, not to mention the sleeping, either barely with tossing and turning all night, or sleeping so heavily a truck could drive through my house I likely wouldn't notice. I do not like these feelings, so I have decided that I will try to come off this medication and hope my migraines are manageable without them. So after first liaising with my doctor I will be reducing my meds down over the next four weeks and will hopefully mange the migraines without and lose some of the weight I put on. If I cannot cope without the meds, then sadly I will have to return and really try harder with exercise and healthy eating.

In the meantime, any type of exercise either messes up my knee, triggers my asthma, or as normal, triggers another migraine. So it has been a real challenge, not to mention the nausea and if I don't eat I feel very poorly. I started in mid July technically, but am using August 2021 as my date for starting. I only lost 1lb towards the end of July so not much to be worried about but it was a step in the right direction.

My challenge will be to try and walk 4000 steps every day in August. It doesn't seem much, but to me at the moment is still very difficult for me to do. I have taken several short walks outside my house today and all ended in asthma issues or migraine twinges. I have chosen a challenge that should challenge and push me enough, but not cause me any distress. (hopefully).

So here it is my accountability post.

Starting weight just under 13 stone Mid July.

July weight loss, 1lb

steps walked so far;

01 08 21 - 2920 - technically I started on the 2nd

02 08 21 - 3921 - didn't quite make it

03 08 21 - 5168 - super proud of myself!!

04 08 21 - 2085 - I had a migraine and moving was too difficult

05 08 21 - 4167 - only just scraped through - still feeling the effects from the night before migraine.

06 08 21 - 6372 - I really pushed myself today - well over my target but overall, still very low in steps.

07 08 21 - 5688 - I have taken an extra walk this morning, I really wanted to go, in fact, I desperately want to jog again, but know I can't just yet, I will keep focusing on walking for now. - This is a current step qty at 20:40 still a few more to get in, maybe 6000?? Who knows.

My weight is 81.3kg currently which is 12 st and 8 lb in a language I understand.

I am only going to weigh myself once a month, but might write a weekly blog. Not too sure yet as I as always have hundreds of jobs to do. One day I might start using a timetable, but that doesn't work in our lives at the moment. Also, I don't want to bore you.

Thanks for listening and hopefully I can do this. I have to, for my children.