Weight Loss and Exercise #7

Now that I am back on Lybalvi, I do not need naps and can get enough sleep at night (albeit fragmented). It feels amazing! For the first time since August 2022, I can plan my time and count on being energetic for an entire day. So, I went to the gym in the morning, before my doctor's appointment. I did 22 minutes on the upright stationary bike, my first time on that ergometer since July 2024 (later, I could only do the easier recumbent bike). Then, I did 12 minutes on the rowing machine. I wore the Orangetheory fitness wrist heart rate monitor during both fitness sessions, and the Orangetheory app showed a mixture of Blue and Green minutes. Max HR = 128 during both sessions.

Later in the day, I walked in my neighborhood, wearing a weighted backpack. I forgot to put on the HR wrist monitor.

So far, almost 8 miles covered today, but I might still go for a short walk before bedtime.

Tomorrow, I will go to Orangetheory at 10:45 AM.

In recent months, there have been a couple of occasions when I booked that 10:45 AM Sunday class but forfeited the class due to sleeping all morning after not being able to sleep at night, or sleeping some at night, but not getting enough sleep. Such simple pleasures as the ability to go to the class I booked feel like gifts and blessings after more than 2 years of hypersomnia.

Do any of you all use any fitness tracking apps or devices to motivate you? I find tracking my steps with my smart watch helps motivate me but more so the Pokemon Go app because it requires going out and walking outside to get rewards and catch pokemon and whatnot and the more you walk the more rewards etc you get and it tracks like the actual gps location from your phone to tell how much you’ve walked /where. I used to use Fitbit and I found the badges motivating but I don’t have a Fitbit anymore.

I know there’s another app called Pikmin Bloom which also is a walking gaming app

@Blue_Bird It's not much, but I use MapMyFitness on my phone. They have a challenge for the year you can joing, I think to walk or run 1000 km and give you badges every 200 km or so. It's not much, but it's something. You can run it in conjunction with apps like Spotify, couch 2 5K, etc.

@Tart Cherry Jam - It's fantastic that you have energy again! You are doing great with exercise. Are you seeing results?

As for me, I did a gentle pilates video, but I'm not quite ready for it yet, wrist-wise. Switching positions (like from seeing cross legged to extending legs mat distance apart while sitting) really got to my wrist as did one of the exercises in the video. I guess it's back to walking, but I may have to take a rest day tomorrow as I have an early pdoc appt. and I like to have time to get cleaned up beforehand.

I've eaten today but it was more inutive. I ate breakfast but I skipped lunch and I had some matcha ice cream for a snack around 1 and then I just grazed a bit on some lentil chips and seaweed things for dinner. I had a good amount of fruits though.

The weight initially went down but then went up a little again. I think it within normal fluctuations. With more time on Lybalvi+Naltrexone, we shall see.

Today:

Upright elliptical

Treadmill

Sauna-cold shower-steam-cold shower

A lot of walking incidetnal to taking public transit.

All in all, 11.7 miles covered today.

My weight was weirdly low today. With all this sleeping, amd coughing I've been doing, I'm worried theres something going on.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tart Cherry Jam The weight initially went down but then went up a little again. I think it within normal fluctuations. With more time on Lybalvi+Naltrexone, we shall see. Today: Upright elliptical Treadmill Sauna-cold shower-steam-cold shower A lot of walking incidetnal to taking public transit. All in all, 11.7 miles covered today.

@Tart Cherry Jam That is a lot of walking in 1 day! You need to be careful about it. I really got myself in trouble with overexercise. I'd say if exercise is 1.5 hr+ daily it is way too much. Probably closer to 1 hr. is ideal. Overdoing it can also lead to injuries/re-injuries. But I'm not one to talk with my long power walks; however, I eat a lot of calories in a day, probably 2500+.

Was able to get in a 5 mi power walk this morning and a couple forearm plank practices before my pdoc appt.

True; my feet were sore when I was lying in bed last night, but I was too lazy to get up, get Voltaren gel and apply it. I decided to apply it in the morning if I woke up with soreness. Luckily I did not - the soreness was gone overnigh

I won't walk today except what is minimally necessary.

My GI wants me to ask my pdoc about some med that she said combined with topamax you can lose like 60 pounds. She just randomly brought up my weight today. I googled it and I'm not sure my pdoc would agree to it just because its a stimulant and may cause some issues with my Geodon. I'll have my mom on this call with me though.

Both my GI and endocronolgist want me to lose like 40-60 pounds and I've lost 6. Lol.

Hi @Mo[untainDewed I found this article in healthline very useful in keeping weight off. It involved me changing some of my habits. 11 Foods to Avoid When Trying to Lose Weight

CANDC

[If you want me to see your reply to this post please include @CANDC in your message - not in requoting my message and not the first word of your message]

@CANDC do you know anything about this weight loss med my GI is talking about? It starts with a P. I think the generic starts with an A. I don't know if my pdoc is gonna freak out when I suggest it but if its another doctor asking about it and not my idea maybe he will stay calm.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tart Cherry Jam True; my feet were sore when I was lying in bed last night, but I was too lazy to get up, get Voltaren gel and apply it. I decided to apply it in the morning if I woke up with soreness. Luckily I did not - the soreness was gone overnigh I won't walk today except what is minimally necessary.

I know you are well-rounded with your exercise, so definitely take off a day from the walking and do another form of exercise or take the day off.

I really need to learn to not feel guilty for taking rest days; it's just so hard for me.
I've gotten back to my pre-Zyprexa weight, and it really is not in my best interests to lose more weight, and probably the easiest way to do it would be taking a couple of rest days each week. It will be nice when I can rotate pilates back into my exercise routine as that burns fewer calories than walking.

No @Mountaindewed I do not know about drugs to reduce weight but they all seem to have side effects.

I have had success modifying diet and sticking to it. There are a lot of hidden sources of sugar. For example you mentioned blueberries. I pint of blueberries contains 40 grams of sugar according to here

4 grams of sugar in a teaspoon (I assume they mean a measuring teaspoon) so those blueberries had 10 teaspoons of sugar.

That is just one example that I discovered of where I got hidden sources of sugar. I was reading that the liver stores excess carbs as fat deposits for future use. This can be a source of gaining weight.

It is not easy maintaining my weight but a diet that is very disciplined helps me.

Getting back to pre-Zyprexa weight is a tremendous achievement.

Went to Orangetheory today. We did exercises with heavy weights today. It felt awesome.

@Tart Cherry Jam - Thanks, getting back to my pre-Zyprexa weight expanded my wardrobe again quite a bit since about 1/3 of it was clothes that no longer fit. It took me about a year as I don't really count calories and diet. I know most women would have been fine at the Zyprexa weight as I weighed around 130 lb. and it was still in the healthy range, but that was getting up near the weight I weighed at the end of my 3rd trimester of pregnancy, and I really was not okay with it, especially if I were to just keep steadily gaining (as I seemed to be doing on Zyprexa). At that point, I had gained over 15 lb., and I'd had enough. I told my pdoc if he prescribed me Zyprexa, he could be sure I wouldn't take it, and I asked to go back on Seroquel. For me, Seroquel is weight neutral as I have energy and generally motivation enough to exercise on it which I didn't have with Zyprexa.

This morning, I did my usual power walk, and the sunrise was gorgeous. It's always nice when you see a beautiful sunrise I've done some forearm planks as well.

I've kinda just grazed today. But I did eat a can of chicken for lunch. Going down on my prestiq has made me not very hungry. I'm hoping things continue especially if I keep putting in the work.

I bought a tread mill and try to use it every day. Rowing machine too. I Ve been feeling frantic since insurance refused to pay for Wegovy.

You find Seroquel weight neutral? I was afraid I'd gain weight on it.

Do you happen to have sleep apnea? If you do, this might help you get your insurance to pay for Zepbound.

It depends. Seroquel definitely is one of those medications with a propensity to cause weight gain, but individual results vary. And in Blueberrybook's case, Seroquel provides motivation and energy for exercising.

55 minutes of personal training today. Th first time in I do not remember how long I didn't feel dizzy at all during the session.

Followed by 30 minutes on the recumbent elliptical with chest press added.

Gentle 6k to start the day, felt good, we’re getting summer weather even though it’s only April so it was warm but soft breeze here by the sea.

I had reported to the council the broken pavement I tripped upon last month, they have an online form whereby you can enter the coordinates. I got an email from an employee who confirmed it had been inspected and when I looked I had given the wrong coordinates as the spray paint marking it was further along. I emailed back the photo of the area I did fall on and this morning that’s been sprayed too, the first incorrect one has been replaced already which is good because it’s also poor. So at least something good came for it, it’s the approach road to the local blind centre so quite important it’s as safe as possible.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Calla lily12 You find Seroquel weight neutral? I was afraid I'd gain weight on it.

For me it is because even though I'm exhausted on it, I'm still less exhausted and less hungry than I was on Zyprexa. I do find the motivation to exercise on it, but it's still not easy. It takes a lot of willpower to get started exercising and usually once I start going I can persuade myself, just 0.5 mi more and if I make it to 1.5 mi then I think, 0.5 mi more will be 2 mi and a good 30 min. exercising if I stop right there but usually by then, I've gotten more into the rhythm of walking.