BIG Update: Health, Diet,and Fitness Changes

Okay health and fitness blog, this week of my life is more your spin than my other blog!

On Monday I went to the hospital.

It's my PCOS, we think. I began having alarming symptoms in my feminine regions. Symptoms started on April 9th, but I thought it was nothing at first. Then it went on for a while... then on Monday morning I had a gush of fluid that should not be coming from that area.

It turns out I have cervicitis and cervical erosion. We're not sure why. I have medicine which should clear it up in a week. This morning I had some blood tests done, and I'll have an ultrasound next week. Mainly it's just to see how bad the PCOS is, and also make sure that it hasn't caused anything worse to develop (PCOS puts you at risk of all sorts of bad stuff.)

On the plus side I was weighed for the first time since arriving in India: I've lost 13 pounds!

As far the C25K, I have only completed the first two workouts of week two. I was supposed to do the third yesterday, but overslept. Then today I didn't because I was having the bloodtest done early in the morning.

I also have decided to make a diet change. I really need to make several. But my mom was telling me about this program she saw on American PBS with this UK doctor, Michael Moseley. Actually she told me about two, The Truth About Exercise and Fast, Eat and Live Longer. I'm not sure why, but I could actually watch them on PBS's website, and the fasting diet they are talking about is called the 5:2.

Okay, it's Thursday, so half Workout Wednesday...

You should really check out the documentary because I know I'm not doing it justice, but basically there is a growth hormone that in adults leads often to diabetes and cancer if at high levels. And in at least most affluent people this is high because of over eating. Eating so much makes your cells be in "go-go-go" mode. But if you have periods where you don't eat much, it slows them down and the cells instead of multiplying will revert to repairing cells, and it makes everything wear down a lot slower, therefore helping with overall health. Dr. Moseley tried it for four weeks in the documentary and his growth hormone levels had cut in half, insulin was in normal levels (he was at risk for diabetes), and cholesterol and blood pressure were also at good levels.

It's called the 5:2 diet because five days of the week you eat a normal, healthy diet without worrying about it. Two non-consecutive days of the week you calorie restrict: 500 for women, 600 for men. Which isn't a lot of food, but I figure an egg for breakfast (about 80-90 calories), a yogurt for lunch (100 calories), a 100 calorie soup for dinner... plus lots of veggies. That doesn't sound so bad. (That's just a sample. I haven't figured out my diet yet.) That seems totally doable to me, for two days of the week.

and half Getting Fit Friday!

Actually part of the way I've already lost weight in India is just portion control, and I've been keeping track of my diet on Noom. Most days I still hit 2000 calories, but somedays I'm even at 1000 calories and I figure if I'm not hungry, why force it?

Aside from the C25K I've also been doing other workouts.  I have done at least two hours worth of
calisthetics this past week, and Ryan and I walked home from the hospital on Monday (probably about a twenty minute walk) which was good.

I'm also trying HIT (High Intensity Training) which was shared in the other Dr. Moseley documentary. Basically you get on an exercise bike and pedal as hard as you can for twenty seconds. Then you can rest two minutes. Then you do it again for 20 seconds. Then rest two minutes. Then one last burst of twenty seconds. You do that there times a week... which adds up to only three minutes a week. I did my first day yesterday.

If it's only three minutes a week, why bother? Well apparently by going as hard as you can you end up using 70% of the muscle versus 20-40% when pacing yourself in traditional exercise. By using all that muscle, the muscles sends out for glucose, reducing the amount you have. Within two weeks it's supposed to help your insulin levels.

And I figure... why not? It's only 3 minutes a week, and I'm not actually replacing any exercise with it, just doing it in addition to other exercise. Plus I figure it works in a similar principle as the interval training of the C25K, in that short bursts of intense exercise can do as good a job as long training, which I already know to work since I've completed the C25K before. Plus, and this is the biggest thing, what harm could it possibly do?