Discussion Board

Yes I did notice your weren't posting as frequently. Glad to know there's a good reason and you are not just discouraged.
I have a question for you though. What do you do on days when the weather is bad and you can't get out and walk? I have lived here in Ohio for 10 years and this has been the rainiest year since I've lived here--maybe ther rainiest year on record. It rained all spring for over 2 months almost everyday. It was a little better in the summer, but the fall is proving to be a lot like last spring with a lot of rain. I need to exercise badly, but don't want to walk in the rain and besides it's also colder now.

Yay, indeed! That's a loooooong walk!

Norm you are rockin the exercise! Bunso isn't the only one who's inspired!

" Some of you have noticed that my every day updates haven't been every day lately. Don't think for a minute that this means I've lost or am losing interest in the changes my life and diet have taken. On the contrary, I'm as committed to them as much as ever. I'm just spending more time away from my computer, which is a good thing."

Norm, I never thought that at all. I was concerned that something was wrong because you do usually post at least once a day & had been complaining about not feeling well. So glad to see that you are doing better.

Since you have not just gone cold turkey & now are I dont know, 99%?, maybe you are having some de-toxing going on. Just a thought but I know when I have started McDougalling & especially if I have been eating bad for a while, there is always a period that I go thru, sometimes it isn't that bad, other times it is really bad. Usually it seems my head hurts, my legs hurt, sometimes my feet hurt. Just a thought. Yesterday I had a splitting headache all day but maybe that was just the bad air in the Lounge spilling over.

How did you lower adjustment work for you? My prescribed pressure was 9 cm whatevers, the wife mentioned that I still snored, so I thought nothing of it, cause we know that snoring does not equal apnea.

Some friend came to visit for labor day and the husband had just gotten a CPAP machine, his pressure was 16 cm, and it stopped him from snoring (he always snored worse than me). I adjusted mine up to 12 cm and it seems to be working better. I have not thought about adjusting down yet. But like you I can't wait to be rid of it.

I usually just end up wet. I got pretty soaked yesterday. But I also didn't walk at all on Sunday because of the weather. I know that with winter fast approaching I'll not be able to walk every day. I've already adjusted my routine to eliminate walking in the evening after dinner. I know I won't be able or want to walk every day during the winter, but I'm determined to walk as much as I can.
I have wondered the same thing. I have also wondered if I have a lot of toxins stored in my fat that is being released into my body as I lose weight. I have read conflicting information along those lines and don't know if that is a possibility. I am curious to find out.
I slept 6.5 hours (over an hour and a half less than my average over the past week) and I woke up with extreme bloating. My CPAP report my AHI (apnea/hypopnea index) and AI (apnea index) to be the same as it's been lately, so I don't think the adjustment is to blame for my poor nights sleep. I think the position I lay in has as much to do with air getting into my stomach causing bloating as anything. That said, I have fewer of these nights the lower my pressure goes. We'll learn more over the next week.
9 to 12 is a 33% increase in pressure! That is a HUGE change in setting, one I want to caution you about. When I make adjustments in my pressure they are small. Further, every morning I check my machine for that night's AHI and AI reading and compare it to the week, month, 6 month, and year average. It is true that the best indicator is how you feel about the sleep you're getting, but that's not the only indicator. There are risks involved with having your setting higher than needed. Fortunately for you, the lower your settings the lower the risks and from where I'm at, 9 and 12 are still fairly low settings. My setting is currently 15.6, down slowly and incrementally from my prescribed 21.

-Norm

Today's Update:

Anyone who's followed my journal and my original posts in the newbies section knows I have spent most of the last 5-6 years unable to stand on my feet for more than a few minutes without being in excruciating pain, and that as such I walked very little.
You know how proud I was the first time I hobbled 1/4 mile around my block using two canes, and you know how I've worked at it steadily since then and improved my distance and stamina. You know that almost a miraculous transformation has taken place with the arthritis in my spine and that for the first time in many years standing and walking were no longer excruciatingly painful.

These are changes in my life for which I am grateful for. I can do things I haven't been able to do for so long. And I have been a lot of them! I've been very busy! I have a mountain of things to do around here that have been neglected for far too long, and I'm trying to get to them all. But the realization is sinking in that I'm doing too much. I'm not feeling as well as I did just a few weeks ago. I hurt more. My knees, my hips, my elbows, my shoulders... I think I just have to slow down. I walked 3 miles today and I have decided it will be the last day of it for a good while. For the next month or so I will limit myself to no more than 1 or 2 miles a day with 1 or two days a week of no walking at all. This shouldn't be a big deal, but it saddens me very much.
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On a lighter note... I remember back to the first time I cooked up quinoa. I remember how scared I was. I have always been a meat and potatoes kind of guy and I have never strayed too far from food I knew. I never liked trying new and weird dishes. I was actually physically stressed sitting down to eat it for the first time!! Hah! I am reminded of this because tonight I cooked up some millet for the first time. I had bought it a while ago and never got around to cooking it up till tonight. It wasn't any big deal. I cooked it. I tried it. I ate it. No stress. No grief. How life changes.
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Shoes do NOT belong on the bed. This is just common sense, is it not? It's a little thing, but it's one of the many little things I've noticed on my journey home. When the most comfortable place to put your shoes on is while sitting on the edge of the bed, and when bending over is so hard to do, you put your shoes next to you on the bed when you sit down, even though you know you better get them on your feet before your wife comes along and sees them on the bed! No more! I still sit on the bed to put my shoes on, but my shoes stay on the floor and I pick them up one at a time and put them on my feet. No more shoes on my bed, thank you very much!! Now if I could just teach the dog to stay off it...

-Norm

Count me in as one of the followers since you came on board here.

I have loved watching as you take charge of your own life & in your own way.

Sorry to hear that you are hurting, yeah, you probably are overdoing. Hope that you are feeling better soon!!

Norm, I feel you on that having to slow down thing. My walking was so enjoyable in the summertime, but now my foot starts hurting VERY BAD whenever I walk more than about 20 minutes, so I don't walk anymore unless I have to.

But you're smart to slow it down. Even a super-fit, buffed athlete will give his body a rest once a week. You've done so amazingly with your progress, and it'll come back to you as you lose even more and gain in health and wholeness.

Keep on going, dude.

I also love to read of your progress Norm. but I have to disagree with you about one thing In our household, our dogs really do belong on the bed! They have slept on our bed so long that they would be in shock if we changed the rules! Have a great weekend!

Welcome to day 2 of no walking at all! Mother nature has decided to help me do less. We've had snow and slick roads and that is plenty to motivate me to not walk.
I feel better. I want to thank everyone for all the support I've received, both here and in PM. It helps to know that so many of you care about my journey and my well being.
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Pizza Sunday!! I'm eating plenty of good food today so that I can eat a much smaller pizza tonight and still be satisfied.
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We stand for a good period of time at the church I attend and I have always taken my walking stick to have something to lean on. Standing still is still uncomfortable for me. It's okay if I am walking or moving about, but just standing still is uncomfortable. Well, today is the first Sunday I went to church without my stick! I managed just fine.
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Blood Pressure. I took my blood pressure this morning before church, at the pharmacy. I always take it twice. The first time right after sitting down in the booth, immediately after being up on my feet and walking, then again a few minutes later after having had a chance to rest. The readings were:
149/86 with a pulse rate of 54, and
133/79 five minutes later with a pulse rate of 49.

That's lower than 20 years ago! And with no meds!

-Norm

Fantastic report, Norm. Keep on keeping on. I hope you are able to get out to walk again soon.

Just read through your entire journal. Wow! You are making some amazing progress. Hope your foot improves soon.

Fulenn

Wow!!

That's a lot to read through!! I returned the favor and read through your journal and got up to speed on where you are!

My foot will be on the mend soon since I'm walking less. I'm sure of it!!

-Norm

There has been so much drama on the forum lately. I am so glad I've exiled myself to my own journal and not gotten tangled up in it. But I do have some comments to make on it all.
I've seen a Star McDougaller being drug through the mud and accused of character assassination over a post he had written. The spirit of his post, was, I believe, to comfort those who don't respond well to the blunt, in-your-face approach that works so well for others. In fact, they not only don't respond well to this approach... it actually hurts them. I can relate to this. In the big picture of my life I have caught onto this way of eating fairly quickly, having gone from a fanatical carnivore with a "HELL NO" attitude towards vegetarian eating to where I am today, which is 100% McDougall compliant on most days, and 95-99% compliant on most of the other days. But in the smaller picture of my journey here in the past six months... it was a big struggle and I could not have done it all at once. I insisted on baby steps. I took an incremental approach and it has worked for me, in spite of the huge amount of grief it has gotten me from some here on the forum.
So I relate to people who are struggling with this. I relate to people who don't respond to bluntness, or the in-your-face "Just do it" approach. I relate to the spirit of that Star McDougaller's post. In that post he drew attention to that approach that doesn't work for some of us. And he referenced someone who I believe is a fictional personification of the attitudes people like me have towards that "in-your-face" approach. Yes, I can see the attitude he's talking about and I can pick out a few people on the forums who I believe use that approach... but it doesn't reference any particular person because the description doesn't fully apply to anyone I'm aware of. This is what leads me to believe that he was referencing differences of opinion on approach to this program, not specific people. It seems to me he went to great lengths to not make it about individual people, but rather to help those who don't respond well to the approach of some people.
He was trying to help people. He did help people. He has helped me. His story has had as much impact on me as anyone's. But someone decided that he was referring to them specifically, even though the specifics he mentioned don't fit, and has accused him of character assassination and all sorts of other crimes against humanity.
I can refrain from diving into the drama threads, but I cannot refrain from speaking my peace. People should realize that their approach simply can't work for everyone. You people who have succeeded with the blunt, in-your-face approach.. more power to you!! By all means, seek out those who can benefit from your approach and help them!! But don't crap on those who don't respond to your approach, and for God's sake, stop dragging people through the mud who ARE capable of helping those you can't.

-Norm