Emotionality and Weight Loss
"So how are you handling everything?"
Dude the answer is not as well as I would like. I am not one of those women who blames everything on hormones- in fact I like most women- find that excuse outdated and quite sexist. I'm not a slave to the chemicals in my body but they do play an important part of your over all health.
I have been on birth control since I was somewhere are 16 or 17 years old- not just to prevent pregnancy but also to help me with horrible, crippling migraines. I'm talking like four days of hell- pain, nausea, light and sound sensitivity and more. One of the best things to come out of my weight loss has been an improvement in the length and the intensity of my head aches. This year I have only had about 2 or 3 really bad ones when I used to be able to count on at least 12 per year.
So that has been a significant change for the better- something that has gotten worse- or rather something I have started to notice a problem with have been mood swings. I was, of course, concerned. So, after speaking with my doctor we both have come to the conclusion that the change in my body weight has also impacted my hormonal range- in a basic sense I am getting too many hormones in my system because the part of my body that produces those hormones still thinks I weigh closer to 230 than 150. Think of it like the effects of alcohol. Someone with a higher body mass can consume and process more than someone who is smaller/slighter.
I also find myself having to deal with these mood swings- or in some cases a regular amount of emotion- for the first time in my life. It isn't that I didn't feel these same feelings before, but now that I am not coping with these feelings using food, I am having to learn new tools and strategies. Sometimes that can leave me feeling like a child- having to learn things for the first time, things that other people had to learn how to do a long time ago. I'm almost 30 for goodness sake!
My therapist and I have been working on other ways of coping with stress, sadness, anger, and all kinds of other emotions. I just have to remember that these feelings are temporary and that I actually need to just go ahead and FEEL them, experience them. It is like a whole new world out there folks.
It also occurs to me as I am writing that people only get to see the results and never really get to see or feel the shear amount of STRUGGLE that I go through. The results are great and I am feeling great- most days. But I am shocked at how fast I can go from feeling tip top to being in a pit...is this what it is like for you all? No one wonder people are exhausted. Lately I have been exploring alternative ways of dealing with the toll all of this puts on my body. The training, the dieting, the work load, the stress- it not only weighs on me emotionally but also physically. So I tried acupuncture for the first time this week.
It was weird. I mean very strange. I really think it could benefit me and my body but I was not prepared for the sensations and the effects it had on my mind and my body. Once I had been stuck enough times to count as a pin cushion I started to get very anxious. I'm not normally an anxious person but it welled up from out of no where but I was able to breath through it. In the end I walked out feeling better than I did when I walked in- we will see if I keep it up.
I say all of this- I feel like this was a bit rambly- to say that the journey isn't only a physical one, but a mental and emotional one too. Be prepared if you start your journey- you never know- you might become the person you always wanted to be- and it might just surprise you.
I have been on birth control since I was somewhere are 16 or 17 years old- not just to prevent pregnancy but also to help me with horrible, crippling migraines. I'm talking like four days of hell- pain, nausea, light and sound sensitivity and more. One of the best things to come out of my weight loss has been an improvement in the length and the intensity of my head aches. This year I have only had about 2 or 3 really bad ones when I used to be able to count on at least 12 per year.
So that has been a significant change for the better- something that has gotten worse- or rather something I have started to notice a problem with have been mood swings. I was, of course, concerned. So, after speaking with my doctor we both have come to the conclusion that the change in my body weight has also impacted my hormonal range- in a basic sense I am getting too many hormones in my system because the part of my body that produces those hormones still thinks I weigh closer to 230 than 150. Think of it like the effects of alcohol. Someone with a higher body mass can consume and process more than someone who is smaller/slighter.
I also find myself having to deal with these mood swings- or in some cases a regular amount of emotion- for the first time in my life. It isn't that I didn't feel these same feelings before, but now that I am not coping with these feelings using food, I am having to learn new tools and strategies. Sometimes that can leave me feeling like a child- having to learn things for the first time, things that other people had to learn how to do a long time ago. I'm almost 30 for goodness sake!
My therapist and I have been working on other ways of coping with stress, sadness, anger, and all kinds of other emotions. I just have to remember that these feelings are temporary and that I actually need to just go ahead and FEEL them, experience them. It is like a whole new world out there folks.
It also occurs to me as I am writing that people only get to see the results and never really get to see or feel the shear amount of STRUGGLE that I go through. The results are great and I am feeling great- most days. But I am shocked at how fast I can go from feeling tip top to being in a pit...is this what it is like for you all? No one wonder people are exhausted. Lately I have been exploring alternative ways of dealing with the toll all of this puts on my body. The training, the dieting, the work load, the stress- it not only weighs on me emotionally but also physically. So I tried acupuncture for the first time this week.
It was weird. I mean very strange. I really think it could benefit me and my body but I was not prepared for the sensations and the effects it had on my mind and my body. Once I had been stuck enough times to count as a pin cushion I started to get very anxious. I'm not normally an anxious person but it welled up from out of no where but I was able to breath through it. In the end I walked out feeling better than I did when I walked in- we will see if I keep it up.
I say all of this- I feel like this was a bit rambly- to say that the journey isn't only a physical one, but a mental and emotional one too. Be prepared if you start your journey- you never know- you might become the person you always wanted to be- and it might just surprise you.
You can do the thing!
ReplyDeleteThank you! I know I can- just gotta keep going and making healthy choices!
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