Re: JENNIE G/EXERCISE AND WEATHER/ CINDI

[Guest guest]

Cindi,

I should do something more about diet than I do. Between a new job,

just moving, divorce (which is almost final thank goodness), and all

the stuff that goes with having a 4 year old, I haven't had time to

figure out much about what I should be eating. I try to eat

healthy, but eating healthy is new for me since getting RA, so

sometimes I find myself eating junk. I have a bad peanut M & M habit

that hits every day at 3pm. I usually take a salad for lunch, or

sometimes I make egg salad or tuna salad. I buy organic at the

store when I see it, and lately breakfast has been organic oatmeal.

I buy whole grain bread instead of enriched (that came from my mom

and step-dad, they do Sugar Busters diet).

Every three or four weeks I go to Whole Foods grocery store. Pretty

much everything there is organic and I figure if I shop there, I

don't have to spend time reading labels because they've already done

the work to put healthy stuff on the shelves. But it's kind of far

so I can't go every week. I think it was a that just posted

that article about fruits and vegetables, and while I thought I was

doing well, according to that article I am not eating nearly enough.

I had involuntary weight loss as my first RA symptom. It was very

strange. I lost about 2 lbs. a month no matter what I did. At first

it was fine, my daughter was about 2 and I still had some pregnancy

weight. But then I hit what I weighed in high school and kept

loosing and I started getting scared. I would eat 4 meals a day and

lots of snacks and still loose weight. I started looking sickly and

people made comments. It was around that time that we figured out I

had RA. The prednisone made no difference. At my lowest I hit 91

lbs and after I started working out I got back up to 95lbs. The

only thing that made me stop loosing was the working out. I am

guessing it's because I added muscle.

There have been times, like when I was job hunting or apartment

hunting or just dealing with so much, that I could not make it to

the gym for weeks. I could tell such a difference, I would feel a

lot more run down and have more pain. So I just try to do it

regularly. The thing about exercise is that if you are over weight

or under weight, exercising just makes you healthier and helps you

move to the weight you are supposed to be.

I think it's easy to get off track with diet, exercise and meds...

especially when things happen in our life that throw us off our

routine. The only thing we can do is realize we are off track and

do what we can to get back on track and toward feeling better. None

of this is easy, and I know you have had so much going on lately.

Stress makes such a difference in how we feel. Just take it one day

at a time and see if you can do a few little stretching exercises

today. Sometimes I'll be watching TV and I'll just tell myself that

when commercials come on I'm going to exercise. Even if it's just

lifting one leg at a time through each commercial, or a small weight

with my arms, at least it's something.

Jennie

> HI JENNIE G,

>

> THANKS SO MUCH FOR ANWERING MY MAIL. AND THANKS FOR ALL THE

DETAILS

> BECAUSE I REALLY DIDN'T KNOW HOW TO GET STARTED. I REALLY NEED TO

> LOSE AT LEAST 50 POUNDS. YOU DON'T MIND IF I ASK, DID YOU GAIN

WIGHT

> WHEN YOU WENT ON THE PREDNISONE, BECAUSE I SURE DID. I AM STILL ON

> IT AND I HAVE BEEN FLARING AND MY RHUEMY DOUBLED MY DOSE. WHAT

KIND

> OF DIET DO YOU FOLLOW, DOES IT INCORPORATE YOUR EXERCISING OR IS

> SPECIAL TO DO WITH YOUR RA. I KNOW I DO FEEL ALOT BETTER WHEN I

KEEP

> UP WITH MY CALCIUM AND MTV'S. WHICH I HAVE NOT BEEN DOING LATELY.

I

> REALLY HAVE HAD EVERYTHING MESSED UP FOR WEEKS. MY MEDS, MY

> EXERCISE-NONE, MY DIET, WHICH IS EAT IF I AM HUNGRY THE SIMPLEST

> THING I CAN FIND BECAUSE IT IS TOO HARD TO STAND IN THE KITCHEN

AND

> COOK. I SUPPOSE YOU WEIGH ABOUT 90 LBS. WITH ALL THAT EXERCISING!

DO

> YOU SPEND ALOT OF TIME ON HEALTH FOODS OR RAW FOODS AND WHAT ABOUT

> PROTEIN ? DO YOU FOLLOW ATKINS OR ANY OF THOSE ?

> THANKS, CINDI

[Guest guest]

Cindi,

I should do something more about diet than I do. Between a new job,

just moving, divorce (which is almost final thank goodness), and all

the stuff that goes with having a 4 year old, I haven't had time to

figure out much about what I should be eating. I try to eat

healthy, but eating healthy is new for me since getting RA, so

sometimes I find myself eating junk. I have a bad peanut M & M habit

that hits every day at 3pm. I usually take a salad for lunch, or

sometimes I make egg salad or tuna salad. I buy organic at the

store when I see it, and lately breakfast has been organic oatmeal.

I buy whole grain bread instead of enriched (that came from my mom

and step-dad, they do Sugar Busters diet).

Every three or four weeks I go to Whole Foods grocery store. Pretty

much everything there is organic and I figure if I shop there, I

don't have to spend time reading labels because they've already done

the work to put healthy stuff on the shelves. But it's kind of far

so I can't go every week. I think it was a that just posted

that article about fruits and vegetables, and while I thought I was

doing well, according to that article I am not eating nearly enough.

I had involuntary weight loss as my first RA symptom. It was very

strange. I lost about 2 lbs. a month no matter what I did. At first

it was fine, my daughter was about 2 and I still had some pregnancy

weight. But then I hit what I weighed in high school and kept

loosing and I started getting scared. I would eat 4 meals a day and

lots of snacks and still loose weight. I started looking sickly and

people made comments. It was around that time that we figured out I

had RA. The prednisone made no difference. At my lowest I hit 91

lbs and after I started working out I got back up to 95lbs. The

only thing that made me stop loosing was the working out. I am

guessing it's because I added muscle.

There have been times, like when I was job hunting or apartment

hunting or just dealing with so much, that I could not make it to

the gym for weeks. I could tell such a difference, I would feel a

lot more run down and have more pain. So I just try to do it

regularly. The thing about exercise is that if you are over weight

or under weight, exercising just makes you healthier and helps you

move to the weight you are supposed to be.

I think it's easy to get off track with diet, exercise and meds...

especially when things happen in our life that throw us off our

routine. The only thing we can do is realize we are off track and

do what we can to get back on track and toward feeling better. None

of this is easy, and I know you have had so much going on lately.

Stress makes such a difference in how we feel. Just take it one day

at a time and see if you can do a few little stretching exercises

today. Sometimes I'll be watching TV and I'll just tell myself that

when commercials come on I'm going to exercise. Even if it's just

lifting one leg at a time through each commercial, or a small weight

with my arms, at least it's something.

Jennie

> HI JENNIE G,

>

> THANKS SO MUCH FOR ANWERING MY MAIL. AND THANKS FOR ALL THE

DETAILS

> BECAUSE I REALLY DIDN'T KNOW HOW TO GET STARTED. I REALLY NEED TO

> LOSE AT LEAST 50 POUNDS. YOU DON'T MIND IF I ASK, DID YOU GAIN

WIGHT

> WHEN YOU WENT ON THE PREDNISONE, BECAUSE I SURE DID. I AM STILL ON

> IT AND I HAVE BEEN FLARING AND MY RHUEMY DOUBLED MY DOSE. WHAT

KIND

> OF DIET DO YOU FOLLOW, DOES IT INCORPORATE YOUR EXERCISING OR IS

> SPECIAL TO DO WITH YOUR RA. I KNOW I DO FEEL ALOT BETTER WHEN I

KEEP

> UP WITH MY CALCIUM AND MTV'S. WHICH I HAVE NOT BEEN DOING LATELY.

I

> REALLY HAVE HAD EVERYTHING MESSED UP FOR WEEKS. MY MEDS, MY

> EXERCISE-NONE, MY DIET, WHICH IS EAT IF I AM HUNGRY THE SIMPLEST

> THING I CAN FIND BECAUSE IT IS TOO HARD TO STAND IN THE KITCHEN

AND

> COOK. I SUPPOSE YOU WEIGH ABOUT 90 LBS. WITH ALL THAT EXERCISING!

DO

> YOU SPEND ALOT OF TIME ON HEALTH FOODS OR RAW FOODS AND WHAT ABOUT

> PROTEIN ? DO YOU FOLLOW ATKINS OR ANY OF THOSE ?

> THANKS, CINDI