Migraine

Eileen suggested yesterday (on the Breakfast Cookies thread) that those of us working on losing weight start a thread to share about it and support each other, so I'm starting off.

I started doing Weight Watchers on line on August 14th. I have lost 4.5 pounds. I have 31.5 to go to reach my goal.

My biggest challenges with this are:
- Eating for comfort when I am in a Migraine attack (pro-drome, head pain and post-drome are all times when I like to eat, except when I get nauseous, which is not common for me)
- getting busy and either not writing down what I eat, or not taking the time to think through what I should eat and just grabbing something
- resisting the temptations my husband and kids have around the house
- not getting exercise on a regular basis because of interruptions from Migraines and my other illnesses. Though I have become much more regular about this in the past 4 months.

Anyone else?

- Megs

I'm going to see if we can actually add a folder titled "Diet and Nutrition" or something like that. I'll talk to Teri about it when she is back and see what she thinks.

Anyway -
My biggest problem right now is - DH likes carbs and does not have any problem with them. I, on the other hand, look at bread and gain 5lbs!

When I did South Beach I did great. Now, that I am married and have the responsibility of shopping for two - its more difficult. If carbs are in the house - I'll eat them.

Also, I tend to buy things to make that are convienient instead of healthy and taking the time to actually cook.

I love to cook - heck I went to school for it! But I've found I've been lax in what I bring into our home. It's easier to heat up a pizza then it is to cook chicken and sides. I have to get better at making time to cook.

Currently, I'm working to get rid of the 20lbs I gained while on the Amitriptyline for 5 months.

I too am trying to lose weight and have been for some time now. I would love to support eachother in this!

After 4 babies in fairly rapid succession, I was left with about 60 pounds over what I started at before having babies. I've lost 45 in about the last 8 months or so. I'd really like to about 30 more, but will be thrilled when I've lost 15.

I'm doing 4-5 miles with the Leslie Sansone videos and I'm starting the Hallelujah diet, which is a vegan, mostly raw diet and juicing. Not too far off from what I'm already doing, just a little more intense.

My biggest challenges right now are
1. My husband. I think he must be trying to (not so) slowly kill himself with his diet, lack of exercise, and taking up smoking again. He is forever bringing home things that are horrible.
2. My kids. They are so daggone picky. And my 3 year old has feeding difficulties so can only eat certain things. I'm afraid if I get too healthy, I'll starve them. So I have stuff in the house like pretzels and mac$cheese and stuff I'd like to snack on but shouldn't.
3. Feeling bad when I can't exercise because of aura. I really need to just let it go and realize that I'm just not going to be able to do it every day and that's ok. I'm a perfectionist.

Okay, I'm not going to lie, I'm not actively trying to lose wieght right now. No motivation and constant ravenous hunger (thank you Neurontin)

My biggest problems:
1) I'm always hungry from the neurontin
2) I'm usually too tired to cook
3) When I'm migraining all I can eat is toast and cereal, and like Eileen I look at carbs and gain weight.
4) I'm either too tired or in too much pain to even think about exercise.
5) The neurontin has made me really depressed, and when I'm depressed I eat.

Excuses, excuses. But honestly I never feel well lately.

I'm about 12lbs heavier than normal, and 22 above "optimum". I feel like until I feel well at least most of the time I can't even think about trying to lose wieght again.

Megs; Weight watchers is AWESOME. I went from 210 to 150-160 on WW and kept it off until medications. If you stick with it, it works!

So I went to Trader Joes yesterday. If you all have one near you, and you have not been - get there!!

I picked up a bunch of great snacks - that are great for the whole family!

DH and I love fruit snacks - well Trader Joes has fruit leathers - no corn syrup - no nothing! Just the fruit! They are great and so much better for you - not to mention more satisfying and less calories!

Also - I got some yogurt and fruit and granola - much better then a granola bar filled with corn syrup. I don't think I've seen anything at Trader Joes with ingredients I could not pronounce, or find naturally.

And - I think in the last 3 days since trying to eat better and well, more! - I lost a pound! I know it's not a lot, but it's a start.

I'm not watching my weight, I'm helping DH watch his weight and since he has Type I Diabetes we're supposed to eat healthy anyway, but that doesn't always happen.

I find the biggest culprit (aside from not being able to cook with a migraine) are the starches in what I cook. I make sure we have a vegetable without the starch and we usually have a tossed salad but convenience cooking is what usually gets me.

I plan on going to the book store this weekend and getting a cookbook on healthy eating. I'll let you know what I find.

So, my biggest problems are:

Not being able to cook healthy meals when I'm sick;

Not being motivated to exercise - even though DH has physical training at work, I need to step it up at home regardless of whether or not I need to lose weight;

Resorting to easy cooking versus healthy cooking.

Well, I'm watching my weight in the sense that I don't want to gain back the 40-45 pounds I've lost earlier this year. More of my challenge is keeping my incredibly strict diet.

For Migraine/probable IBS reasons, I've eliminated the following from my diet: gluten (protein found in wheat, barley and rye), dairy (cow, but sheep and goat seem to be ok), MSG, preservatives, artificial sweeteners, corn syrup, caffeine. I've also severely limited the following: alcohol, salt, natural sugar. I've found that I feel best when I avoid processed foods as much as possible.

I am *very* fortunate that DBF does the lion's share of cooking and is willing to help me keep my diet. Without him, there's no way I would be able to do this, since this diet requires a lot of cooking.

My challenges:
1. Resisting temptation to cheat on my diet or ignore it when we go out to eat or are on vacation
2. Resisting temptation to cheat with bad foods that DBF buys for himself
3. Resisting M&Ms/chocolate. Chocolate itself is ok, but I really shouldn't be eating any chocolate with milk or corn syrup/artificial sweeteners in it. Organic dark chocolate is ok.
4. Our food budget is rather expensive, especially with eating organic meat and a lot of specialty foods.
5. Exercise. Other than my walk to work (1 block) I hardly exercise any more. It's been very difficult with my complete lack of energy and feeling sick constantly. I would like to start swimming or doing tai chi/yoga again.

When we eat at home, I usually stay pretty close to my diet. We eat out very rarely because inevitably I get frustrated with trying to find something I can eat (plus, all the other Migraine triggers - lights, noise, smells). This is one of the big reasons for stress when we have family or friends staying with us.

I didn't start this diet with the intention of losing weight, but now I worry about gaining it back with medication or when my chronic nausea (daily) is resolved. I am at a much healthier weight now. My father has Diabetes, so I definitely do not want to gain any extra weight again.

I get the award for needing to lose the most. I easily need to lose 80 pounds. I know every overweight persons says this but, it amazes me that I'm overweight to begin with. I really eat very little. Several years ago I was going to a doctor for supervised weight loss. I had to write down everything I ate. I was very careful and did not cheat. The doctor thought I was lying. I only eat about 1500 calories a day. My GYN thinks it's the partially the thyroid.

Anyway, Pepsi is my downfall. I drink about 2-3 a day. I can't drink diet sodas because the aspartame/splenda gives me migraines. I do drink a lot of water too. I don't drink coffee so my Pepsi is my substitute.

The other problem is my DH. He LOVES to eat out. Part of that is my lack of interest in cooking. I HATE to cook. With him traveling half the month, we go out a lot when he's home. It's a big part of our dating ritual. I usually only eat half my meal when I'm out but restaurant food is so much more fattening. When I suggest we stay home, he's disappointed. Plus I stay home all the time when he's gone so I look forward to our dinners out when he returns. However, when he's gone I eat very little. I usually only eat a "meal" type meal if one of my DS cooks something.

Exercise is another issue. There is a very fine line for me. If I do too much, my fibro pain goes nuts. I can do the 1 and 2 miles Leslie Sansone walks but the 3 miles flares up my fibro pain. I walk on the treadmill but I can only walk at a leisurely stroll. That doesn't make exercise impossible, just difficult.

I would love a support group. Reading everyone's posts is motivating and I would love to help us get and stay excited.

I'm in!

I myself am amazed at how quickly weight can get out of control. An unfortunate combination of amitriptyline and prednisone granted me 40 extra pounds in two months! If only I'd been paying more attention to the fact that I was eating pretty much all the time.

The topamax was a big help in some reversal but I can't take it anymore and I've still got a ways to go yet. Too bad I can't lose it as fast as I can gain.

Hoopsky - it could very well be thyroid related. My granny eats practically nothing (and no sugars and stuff because of her diabetes) and gets exercise by babysitting a toddler all week long, but still has a lot of weight issues because her thyroid was removed. Silly gland.

I have to say though that my DH has been very helpful in this area lately. He could stand to lose some weight too so we have none of the really bad snacks in the house. (If they're there I can't help but eat them!) And right now we are in the middle of the Barnes and Noble challenge. We get to buy ourselves something (movie, book, cd, etc) from the store when we either lose 10 pounds or an inch in circumference. The first inch wasn't too hard but I haven't made progress in weeks.

My doctor recommended a book called Volumetrics and I am not doing to bad with eating the right things. But he also told me that most of the time women can't lose weight just by dieting, they have to exercise too. I just can't seem to get myself to exercise!

My worst problems are my silly head and my knees. Due to some volleyball injuries in HS my kneecaps do not stay on track. Doing anything with any kind of impact (running, jumping, walking on hard surfaces) makes this worse. I also keep telling myself that if I didn't have a migraine almost everyday I would be more interested in exercise. Not sure if this is really true or not, but when the head is hurting there's no chance to find out.

Anyway, I think it's a good idea. Support is really important when trying to lose weight. It's hard to stay motivated by yourself.

Hey I'm glad so many of you are jumping in here.

I have had an up and down couple of days with the diet - doing pretty well for meals but have had some really nasty Migraine evenings - then I just want chocolate. I need to shop for some more lo-fat, lo-cal chocolate things - I don't seem to be triggered by artificial sweeteners. But most of the lo-cal chocolate things seem to be either really lousy chocolate, or they have malitol which I can't take at all (worst diarrhea of my life!).

What I'm trying to do is just keep getting back "on the wagon" - not to say, oh I really blew it so I might as well keep on blowing it. That includes some self-indulgence on the WW plan. Technically, if I go over on points I should not have extras the rest of the week until I start out with a new set of points for the next week. But I need to be more flexible - I'm not going to deny myself my sugar-free pudding today because I ate chocolate chips yesterday! so I guess that will slow the weight loss down, but I can live with that.

On exercise, I get out and walk whenever I can. I used to do DDR in the house on rainy days but the jarring seems too much for my head now. We do have an elliptical machine and I can use that with a book to read. If I'm Migraining I try to just sneak in being a little more active - stand up and fold laundry, for instance, just do what I can without setting the head off.

Hang in there, everyone.

- Megs

My biggest thing the last couple of days is letting myself get too hungry and then wanting to grab and eat anything that isnt bolted down! I'm supposed to be eating fruits and vegetables, which almost always need cleaned, cut, etc. and Ive been waiting too long to prepare them and then hating that I've got to spend 15-20 minutes preparing this gargantuan salad when it would be so easy to just grab a handful of this or that, or graze from the kids snacks.

On a positive note, I took my measurements today and I've lost an inch from my waist, 1 from each thigh, 1 from my ribcage, and (OF COURSE) 1 from my bustline just this week.

Yay!

Good for all of you trying your best. I think its great we can be here to cheer each other on in this thing. Megan, I totally understand where you're coming from with the chocolate... I'm having a hard time with that too. Although I've noticed it's not been quite as bad since I started taking more magnesium.

I think you're having the right perpective when it comes to exercise. You just do what you can and be positive with yourself about it. I started out wanting to do my walk vids every single day, but it's ended up being more like every other day or 3-4 times per week. Not ideal, but a definite improvement from just sitting on my butt all the time!

Okay . . . I've gave the 3 mile "Walk Away the Pounds" a try today. I tried last week and had a major fibro pain flare up. I've been doing either the 1 mile or the 2 miles every day for the last week so maybe I'm stronger now and will be okay. Time will tell. Cross your fingers for me.

Yay for Hoopsky!!!

I'll join in! When I came off Nardil mid-2000, I weighed 245 pounds. I lost weight on Topamax, but it slowly came back. I did Weight Watchers for a year and lost 17 pounds. I thought that was great, but my leaders got a little snippy and I got my feelings hurt. I started Diet Center 18 months ago. I've gone from 207 to 167. From size 20 to size 16. I'm shopping in the Misses department again!

I've got to go fall clothes shopping. The only things I can wear from last year are underpants and socks.

Enough bragging.

My big problem -- not eating during the day, then being ravenously hungry at suppertime. I'll pick and taste while I'm cooking, and end up having a plate and a half of food. I'm doing better about keeping healthy food in the house: chicken breasts, pork loin chops, fish. But I'm often too tired to cook. DH doesn't leave the office until 7pm. This started out short-term, but it's become permanent. Which means, with martini time, we don't eat until 8 or 8:30. I've got to figure out a good 5pm snack, I guess. When my stupid foot gets well, I'll have Molly's afternoon walk to curb my appetite. Any suggestions for the 5:00 snack?

With Molly needing walking, my exercise is pretty well taken care of. If she doesn't get her walks in, she leaves presents in the house.

I've hit a wall at 170 and the high 160s. Any suggestions on how to break through the wall?

Gretchen

My favorite is celery and hummus. Something with a little bit of protein in it is key for me, or I graze until we eat dinner at 7:30-8.

quote:

Any suggestions for the 5:00 snack?

I've had a tough couple of weeks, between family visiting, trips out of town, medication reactions and stress at work. This all means I've been on the couch when I'm not at work. I know I need to rest and recuperate, but I get very restless and antsy.

Yet, I can't motivate myself to start exercising again. I have two great tai chi DVDs that are very low impact, but I just can't force myself to get off the couch and do one of them.

I know that regular exercise will help me to feel better (mentally and physically), but getting over the hurdle of starting again has been difficult for me, especially with my head in such a precarious state lately.

Any tips?