Apparently 2015 is the year where I get all the challenges in the world thrown at me! But somehow I'm still managing to roll with the punches, and come out on top as best as anyone possibly could in my situation.
Last week my arthritis was playing up and I was in excruciating pain, but I've been slowly recovering and the pain has lessened to a point where I can bend over to pick things up now, so that's good!
In a previous blog entry, I mentioned wanting to cease taking my antidepressants, since my mood has stabilised during the time I've been on them, and the weight gain I've experienced is now overshadowing any positive effects of the medication. So at the end of last week, my doctor agreed that I should see how I go without them, and I haven't taken them since. We had already reduced the dose by half for a few weeks before that, to see if I'd have any ill effects, and it went perfectly fine, so I didn't expect anything bad to happen aside from maybe some mood swings. My GP also didn't warn me about any potential withdrawal symptoms that I should look out for...
Oh boy, what happened in the following week knocked me flat! Contrary to what I had expected, I experienced absolutely no negative effects on mood, but I became dizzy. All the time. Sometimes even while sitting down, the room would be spinning. I need to lean on a wall (or a person) for stability when I need to move from my bed to anywhere else in the house, and when I've needed to run errands, I've had to either lean on my partner or use my grandma's walking stick or walking frame. It's ridiculous! (And extremely frustrating, and sometimes very scary.)
I swear, if my body doesn't give me a break soon so I can exercise, I may throw a hissy fit. If nothing else, not being too dizzy to lift weights would be great. I miss feeling strong after a workout, and the endorphin rush that comes with a great lifting session. However, as much as I miss it, I'm not willing to risk dropping a 5kg or 10kg dumbbell on my foot (or worse, my head during overhead extensions).
Apparently these withdrawal symptoms can last anywhere from 2 weeks to 3 months, please cross your fingers and other extremities that my experience with it will end up on the shorter side of that timeframe!
These setbacks are certainly testing my mental strength, since I've kept to a workout schedule for 3 months without missing a single workout barring Christmas day last year due to family commitments, and missing two weeks in a row is driving me mad!
A positive that's come from this is that I can see that I miss exercise, that I still have the motivation to do it, and that I can definitely stick to what I set my mind to. My body isn't letting me do it at the moment, but my mind hasn't given up, and I've got to count that as a positive.
As for diet, I haven't skipped a beat, since that doesn't require me to be physically active. I've been eating the same calories I ate on my rest days, since obviously without being able to exercise I don't need to cycle calories in the same manner as before.
Aside from all the roadblocks I've been facing, I still managed to lose a whopping 2kg this week! That's a massive amount for barely being able to do anything! I think the reason this week's loss was so large was because of the absence of the antidepressants and their effect on leptin levels, and probably the extra stress experienced due to the unexpected withdrawal symptoms.
Because of this awesome loss, I've reached my first mini-goal! Hooray!! 10kg down! Just gotta keep chugging along for the next couple of months and lose the rest (18.7kg) until I reach my goal!
Now that I've ranted a whole lot about this week, here's the numbers:
Starting Weight (18 January 2015): 103.8kg
Last Week's Weight (15 February 2015): 95.7kg
Current Weight (22 February 2015): 93.7kg
Total Weight Lost: 10.1kg
Weight Lost This Week: 2kg
That's it from me this week, I hope you all have a wonderful week, and I hope your days are far less stressful and complicated than mine have been, haha.
Last week my arthritis was playing up and I was in excruciating pain, but I've been slowly recovering and the pain has lessened to a point where I can bend over to pick things up now, so that's good!
In a previous blog entry, I mentioned wanting to cease taking my antidepressants, since my mood has stabilised during the time I've been on them, and the weight gain I've experienced is now overshadowing any positive effects of the medication. So at the end of last week, my doctor agreed that I should see how I go without them, and I haven't taken them since. We had already reduced the dose by half for a few weeks before that, to see if I'd have any ill effects, and it went perfectly fine, so I didn't expect anything bad to happen aside from maybe some mood swings. My GP also didn't warn me about any potential withdrawal symptoms that I should look out for...
Oh boy, what happened in the following week knocked me flat! Contrary to what I had expected, I experienced absolutely no negative effects on mood, but I became dizzy. All the time. Sometimes even while sitting down, the room would be spinning. I need to lean on a wall (or a person) for stability when I need to move from my bed to anywhere else in the house, and when I've needed to run errands, I've had to either lean on my partner or use my grandma's walking stick or walking frame. It's ridiculous! (And extremely frustrating, and sometimes very scary.)
I swear, if my body doesn't give me a break soon so I can exercise, I may throw a hissy fit. If nothing else, not being too dizzy to lift weights would be great. I miss feeling strong after a workout, and the endorphin rush that comes with a great lifting session. However, as much as I miss it, I'm not willing to risk dropping a 5kg or 10kg dumbbell on my foot (or worse, my head during overhead extensions).
Apparently these withdrawal symptoms can last anywhere from 2 weeks to 3 months, please cross your fingers and other extremities that my experience with it will end up on the shorter side of that timeframe!
These setbacks are certainly testing my mental strength, since I've kept to a workout schedule for 3 months without missing a single workout barring Christmas day last year due to family commitments, and missing two weeks in a row is driving me mad!
A positive that's come from this is that I can see that I miss exercise, that I still have the motivation to do it, and that I can definitely stick to what I set my mind to. My body isn't letting me do it at the moment, but my mind hasn't given up, and I've got to count that as a positive.
As for diet, I haven't skipped a beat, since that doesn't require me to be physically active. I've been eating the same calories I ate on my rest days, since obviously without being able to exercise I don't need to cycle calories in the same manner as before.
Aside from all the roadblocks I've been facing, I still managed to lose a whopping 2kg this week! That's a massive amount for barely being able to do anything! I think the reason this week's loss was so large was because of the absence of the antidepressants and their effect on leptin levels, and probably the extra stress experienced due to the unexpected withdrawal symptoms.
Because of this awesome loss, I've reached my first mini-goal! Hooray!! 10kg down! Just gotta keep chugging along for the next couple of months and lose the rest (18.7kg) until I reach my goal!
Now that I've ranted a whole lot about this week, here's the numbers:
Starting Weight (18 January 2015): 103.8kg
Last Week's Weight (15 February 2015): 95.7kg
Current Weight (22 February 2015): 93.7kg
Total Weight Lost: 10.1kg
Weight Lost This Week: 2kg
That's it from me this week, I hope you all have a wonderful week, and I hope your days are far less stressful and complicated than mine have been, haha.
