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Hi I’m Kristi and I’m an adrenaline junkie. :-) Matt used that term in a response on another of my posts and I love it. I’ve exercised at least 5 days per week for most of the last 20+ years of my life and thought I loved it, but when I read about the catabolic state, I fit the description of someone surviving on stress hormones. I’ve been RRARFing for about a month now and I…AM…POOPED. No energy. All I want to do is sit around and read books (not only health books, either!). Even yoga feels hard and wipes me out. I’m doing my best to follow my body’s cues and just rest. What I’m wondering, though, is if some folks who’ve been there done that could tell me about your experience. I’m curious about how you knew when you were ready to re-introduce exercise…what were the bio-feedback cues that told you it was time? Wondering, also, if my extreme laziness is normal (I’m sleepy, lethargic, non-motivated), or if I need to tweak what I’m eating to up my energy (I do have boys ages 10, 8, and 6 to keep up with!). Thoughts??
My first break from exercise came at about age 27. I had just moved to Maui and had finally hit the point in my life where I decided that being hard on myself just wasn’t going to work anymore. So if I wanted to eat, I ate. If I wanted to be a lazy bum, I would just be one. I was really tired. Like half asleep it seemed. But it was a good tired. I would sleep in, lay around on the beach sunbathing. I didn’t lift weights or go jogging or do anything. I quit going to Bikram yoga and started going to an easier class about once a week. 6 months I just chilled. Was one of the most therapeutic phases of my life. I liked it a little too much and overcompensated a little bit too much in defiance of my over-exerexercising past. But over time I found a good balance.
It’s been almost a year for me, but I’ve been 15 months into ED recovery. I have to walk 3 miles per day, one downhill, one flat, one uphill and it exhausts me. This coming from someone who could easily run intervals for 5 miles and then follow up with kettle bells and bodyweight HIIT session. ugh. i was running off adrenaline too.
When I’ve done too much in a day (sometimes just the walk downhill is enough to do it to me) I feel spacey, foggy, used to get very dizzy, and insatiable. When I am well rested I think less about food and my focus is razor sharp. But it does stink that just the littlest bout of exercise without enough food in me can put me off for the rest of the day. I MUST eat before I do anything (even shower or do homework in the morning) and that tends to set me up for success, but I have to make sure I never go too hungry, or my adrenaline rises again and then I crash HARD when I eat.Thanks for sharing. It really blows my mind how addicted to adrenaline I was and didn’t even know it. I can remember MANY times during a workout that I’d be interrupted by my kids and SCREAM at them to just let me finish my @)(*$#(*&#% workout!!!!! Um…I think that should have been a sign. LOL I also recall a ton of times I didn’t want to exercise, but guilted myself into doing it anyway, didn’t enjoy it AT ALL, but then congratulated myself for the dogged determination to get it done, and posted my “success” on Facebook. Ha! It was all in the name of #1 vanity, and #2 crossing a finish line (one really far away from the starting line)! Vanity is H-A-R-D to overcome, but it’s necessary and healthy and I truly believe I will be better for it in the long run. I really do love exercise (there definitely have been times in my life I’ve exercised healthily and beneficially), and I look forward to getting back to it at some point. Right now, when I work out, my temp tends to tank and it takes me many days to recover (I did a 10-minute lower body resistance workout, only using body weight, a week ago and my legs were sore for about 5-6 days…blows my mind since I just completed 90 days of Tapout XT back in April). I guess I’ll know when the time is right, and for now I can enjoy slow walks, stretching, and/or light yoga…when I feel like it.
Topping this thread to talk about being an “adrenaline junkie” in terms of work/intellectual/creative productivity and procrastination.
Now that my health is better I’m taking on some more projects and deadlines. I need to work! Both for $ and fulfillment. And even for stress relief, as being idle and underemployed is sucky and stressful.
But now that I’m on deadline, my old ritualistic friend procrastination is here to set me up to deliver the drug of choice — adrenaline! Also known as “I work better under pressure.”
Before my “health hiatus” I had various ninja tricks to keep myself on task, but I’m a little out of practice.
Just putting it out there that my biggest challenge in staying healthy, and continuing to eat & sleep well, is gonna be finding a way to work productively, but STEADILY, and without using procrastination to work up a huge rush of adrenaline to get me through the boring/hard/anxious parts. Not only because the adrenaline rush itself leads to burn-out, but also because using this crutch for me has tended to go along with undereating or malnourishment, tons of caffeine, staying up late, missing social life, etc.
I bet at least somebody out there recognizes this pattern in themselves! Would love to find some solidarity.
I started the Diet Recovery 2 program 2&1/2 weeks ago and I’ve never been so tired in my whole life. But it’s a good relaxed kind of tired. I had been on low carb and overtraining with bodybuilding for the past 5 years. Didn’t make any physique enhancements overall during that time, apparently because I had burnt out my adrenals. I have no energy for working out right now and I’m not headed back to the gym until I feel great. I read that Ronnie Coleman after each annual Mr. Olympia contest used to take 3 months off so he wouldn’t beat up his body and could keep improving. If such a genetically gifted individual needed a break the rest of us definitely need time off too! 4 years ago I developed terrible IBS bloating that no doctor has been able figure out the cause of. After ruling out many possible causes I’m hoping that restoring my metabolism and adrenals will fix this digestive problem because it’s totally destroyed my social life. When I do go back to the gym I plan on taking a week off every month and following a medium intensity program.
@mighty m, I hadn’t ever thought of procrastination, working under pressure of the deadline because you’ve waited til the last minute, as having to do with adrenaline…but, you’re right! I’m the same way. Always have been. And, honestly, I DO my best work under pressure. I wonder if that’s just how I’m wired and it’s not because of the after-effective rush I get when I complete the work/project/assignment. Who knows?
@Calamari, When I originally posted the above, I was still early in the refeeding and recovery. My own question was answered when, all of a sudden one day I woke up with energy to burn! For a while, I didn’t have the energy to get through my daily tasks (thank goodness it was summer, my kids were out of school, and I don’t work outside of my home!). I wondered if I’d ever have the energy to exercise again. I’m over 3 months in now and I’m able to happily (and moderately) exercise a few times per week without crashing. I can definitely tell when I’ve overdone it (like this morning), because I feel tired/lazy the rest of the day. But, for the most part, I’ve been able to enjoy it again. I also readjusted my thinking about exercise along the way. Even though I’ve always enjoyed exercise, I did get too deep into training for events, making myself exercise when I didn’t feel like it because I “needed” to, and I ended up both injured and metabolically sunk. During my exercise hiatus, I reframed my thinking about exercise. I mean, WHY should we exercise? To improve our health, right? And, I was abusing my health before. I hope I can continue to rest when I need to rest, exercise when I feel like exercising, and make sure I fuel myself well when I do! I wish you the best in your recovery!@Kristi, That’s great that you are making progress so quickly! Very inspiring for me. I fell into the same trap of thinking I was doing the right things for my health and totally having it backfire. Do you feel it was the resting or the refeeding that was the biggest help? Also how many calories were you eating on the refeed?
@Kristi — Thank you for the progress report! It is great to hear about improvements, and the overall mood in your post seems so much more free and confident, as well! Great work!
@Calamari, I have no idea how many calories I’ve been eating! Counting calories makes me extremely ornery, so i just don’t do it. I’ve used biofeedback to determine when and what I need to eat, but that in itself has been a learning process. At first, I felt hungry all the time, even though I was eating a ton more than I had been. And, when I was hungry, I ate. I took my temps earlier on in the process pretty regularly, and if I measured low or had cold feet/hands, I ate (these days, I pay more attention to coldness rather than actually stick a thermometer in my mouth). I don’t know whether the rest or eating the food has helped the most. I FEEL like what’s helped me the most is reframing my mind, to be honest. Like, eating what I WANT to eat, rather than what I THINK I SHOULD eat. I have rarely done that in my life, except during my pregnancies. I’ve also conciously stopped myself whenever I think negative thoughts about my body, about what I’m eating, or when I start to call myself “fat” or “lazy” or those kind of things. I stop, remind myself how many years I’ve been depriving myself and/or over-exercising, and remind myself I’ve only been at this recovery for a few months. I am not happy with how I look right now. I am a petite 5’3″ (meaning, I wear a size 5 ring, store-bought bracelets and watches fall off of me, my bra is a 32 because stores don’t make smaller bands than that…so, my 15-17 lb gain is significant) and I do feel over-fat for my build. But, I tell myself daily that this, too, shall pass…that when my body is in a healthier, higher metabolic state, it will likely release the excess fat. I am struggling right now with not overdoing it because I DO feel better. For instance, I went for a walk yesterday (with a little jogging thrown in…I still have knee pain following surgery I had last November) after having lifted weights on Monday, and rather than walk for half an hour, I went for a full hour. I found out a couple hours later when I had no more energy left that I did too much too soon. I also ate a roll yesterday, and that was the first time I’ve conciously eaten gluten since March of 2011. I didn’t have any digestive distress at all, but I got a headache yesterday afternoon and still have it today. I dunno if it was the gluten or over-exercising or a combination or maybe has nothing to do with either of those things. Who knows!! But, I’m taking it easy today. I’m thankful to be able to do that.
I had the same trepidation about eating wheat again as I had also gone Paleo 2 years ago. I found that I felt no worse eating wheat though, so it’s nice to enjoy pizza again! Somehow most of my weight gain was in the first week, 6 pounds) and I’ve only gained 2 more pounds in the next two weeks. I’m eating almost twice as much as I had been and I think the metabolism is already catching up to the calorie increase. I wish I could exercise. Took a nap yesterday for an hour just because I went food shopping!
Yeah, definitely tell those negative voices in your head to quiet down because it sounds like you’re doing all the right things!
I booked a consult with Matt to talk about optimizing my situation as I still have horrible bloating. On the plus side the high carb diet has really helped my mood. My family commented that I’m a lot more mellow.
@Kristi You were right, 5 weeks into the refeed my energy is coming back. All my other nagging ailments are improving as well. I’m able to work out a little. Temp hit 98.3 yesterday morning. How goes your progress?
@Calamari, I’m so glad to hear that you’re making progress! 5 weeks is still such a short amount of time, so keep noticing the improvements and being patient. How did your consult with Matt go? Did he share any nuggets of helpful info with you?
My progress is still going! I’ve eaten wheat many more times over the last few weeks and have done totally fine with it. Yay! Now, I’m craving all the foods I haven’t eaten since March of 2011…ha! I’ve been able to exercise 4-5 days per week. I’ve kept my focus on yoga and lifting weights, with a little walking and bike riding thrown in. I’ve been waking up hot in the mornings, so I think my hormones are still trying to figure out what’s going on. I haven’t taken my temperature when I wake up hot (I have 3 kids I have to get out the door to school!), but I want to do that out of curiosity. Yesterday, I was so warm in the morning that my typical breakfast (oats made with milk with maple syrup, raisins, cinnamon, and an egg yolk) made me sweat! I’ve also noticed I’ve been more thirsty and have been able to drink even water without it crashing my metabolism. I think I’ve lost a little bit of the fat I gained, but I still have plenty I hope will fall off. I haven’t gotten on the scale, because I’m not quite in the right mindframe to see the number! My face has started to clear. I’ve had acne for as long as I can remember, some times worse than others, even though I took Accutane in my early twenties and I’ve tried all kinds of different topical things (like Proactive, etc). My face, chest, and back broke out pretty badly a few weeks ago, but it seems to be clearing. Still a work in progress, but at least I’m still seeing progress! Keep me updated on your progress! It’s always inspiring and reassuring to check in with others going through the same thing you are!
I’m just chiming in as I am soooo relating to the content of this thread.
I also recall a ton of times I didn’t want to exercise, but guilted myself into doing it anyway, didn’t enjoy it AT ALL, but then congratulated myself for the dogged determination to get it done, and posted my ‘success? on Facebook. Ha! It was all in the name of #1 vanity, and #2 crossing a finish line (one really far away from the starting line)!
^^I LOVE this insight. I know it’s from early in this thread but man it hits home. Damn Facebook too, it just perpetuates this mindset so much.
This is a great thread. I am really, really struggling with this concept right now and I appreciate the participants sharing how this is going.
@Kristi, I woke up this morning to a beautiful sight – 98.6! 36 days into the refeed and it worked! The consult with Matt last week went great! I sent him a bunch of recent medical tests, told my history and current problems. He’s optimistic I have a good chance of getting my issues straightened out. Despite my fatigue he gave me the go ahead to do some moderate exercise so I don’t get out of shape. But I have to monitor my temp and biofeedback to make sure not to overdo. My muscles are actually blowing up on these light workouts. Also I was relieved to hear I could reduce my protein from 200 to closer to 100 grams a day. The massive carb quantities are anabolic enough to make up for the protein reduction. After years of high protein I am so sick of meat.
Matt is the first health care person I’ve consulted with who understands the connection between all my hormonal imbalances and gut issues so we had a lot to talk about. My situation is very much like what he describes in “How to Eat Better Than a Caveman” Incredible book. Apparently the gut problems I have are quite common side effects of the paleo diet. Basically metabolism drops – gastric emptying slows – digestion slows – food ferments causing bloating. At first when I added carbs back in the bloating got worse but now that my digestion has sped up the bloating is decreasing weekly. Who knew Ramen noodles, cookies and potato chips were such amazing health food!
Congrats on adding wheat back in! It is amazing to give in to those food cravings and have your body thank you for it. I’ve also been waking up hot. I used to sleep with 2 quilts and now a single sheet is sometimes too much.
I’ve also experienced an increase in acne since the diet started. Something I’ve used successfully in the past is 5gms of sprilina powder 3x day. Tastes terrible but my pores clear up within a few days on this stuff.
@Tennosea, Yes, I’ve done the same thing, patting myself on the back for my willpower to workout when I felt like crap. But then I wondered why my muscle gaining progress was so slow!
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