A little chat about my weight…

TW: talking about weight and some numbers and losing weight.

Hey pals,

It’s pretty unusual for me to post more than once a week but I’d started talking about this on twitter and just felt like I couldn’t go deep enough into what I’m feeling in a thread so here I am! This isn’t going to be a super put together post and is going to be a lot of how I’m feeling in myself due to a lot of things that have gone on recently.

So, to start, I used to go weekly to a bounce class with my mum and that was really fab and worked well for me. Absolutely kills me and we leave soaked in sweat, but because we are on trampolines I don’t have the impact on my joint that most exercises do, so it’s perfect for my hyper-mobility. A health professional did ask (with worry in his tone) if my joints were stable enough to do it, and I understand what he means entirely, but I’ve lived with this my whole life and I know where the line is between pushing myself and injury. He seemed satisfied with that, and the more I go, the more stable my joints are!

We had to stop going due to a family member becoming unwell. I’ve been trying to face my fear of going places on my own, but I still can’t motivate myself to go to an exercise class or gym by myself. So, we haven’t been for a good 4 weeks and you’d be surprised at how quickly your health deteriorates.

This class we go to helped me and my mum lose inches and pounds, and I was feeling pretty good about it and about myself. I’d lost a bit over 2 inches in my waist and roughly 5-7lbs on the scale. I say 5-7 because my weight fluctuates a lot up and down two to five pounds, and I’ve gotten used to that. However, I’d had a bit of a health dip myself during this time. One was IBD related that got me put on a high dose of steroids, and you can’t just come off steroids, you have to lower it pill by pill until you’re done (which is really annoying) but I’m now only 3 days away from finally being off them! The biggest issues that come with taking steroids are insomnia (which really hit me for the first couple of weeks on them) and weight gain/increased appetite, and oh my God, I couldn’t stop eating in the first two weeks. It eventually peetered off but I was still eating a LOT (and was horribly constipated sorry TMI but it’s all part of it!) and having cravings for bad food. I’ve been keeping a food diary since going onto the steroids, and it’s been really helpful being able to look at what I’m doing in my day and adjust it when I come off them. Part of the issue was that I couldn’t take steroids on an empty stomach and I was recommended to take them first thing in the morning (because of the insomnia), so I’ve HAD to have breakfast even when I didn’t want anything/wasn’t hungry.

I feel like coming off the steroids I’ll be a lot freer with when I eat, and I’m interested in trying intermittent fasting because I haven’t been super hungry first thing in the morning for a while. And the only restriction with it is the timeframe for eating, so that works for me. As you’re only supposed to eat two meals with this and some snacks, I think it’ll help restrict how much I eat coz I love having proper sized meals not little ones often through the day.

And I can’t forget I popped my rib on 10.06 at the Halsey gig, I’m still recovering from that one! It’s super debilitating because you can’t move, twist, sit up, lay down, lift things, bend down, etc. without dreadful pain! You just kinda gotta wait and try to do little things. Luckily I’m seeing my chiropractor on Thursday this week and he can help with anything left going on with it.

The weight gain may not seem like much to most people, and it’s not, and I’m pleased to say it doesn’t make me feel as bad as it would have in my past. But I know I’d like to try and find a new baseline weight and try to shed some fat from my body. Even if I end up staying around the same weight but have better muscle and be slimmer, I’d be fine with that. My brain has learned to grasp that weight doesn’t always equal fat mass or size. I want to try and gain some muscle to be stronger and maybe help my chronic health and pain conditions. If we are talking weight alone, I’d like to shed maybe 20lbs to get to a healthier weight, and I’d like to do it safely! Part of my issue is that I am really restricted on what I can eat because of my stomach issues, but I want to try and start eating more fruit and veg, even if I’m forcing myself. I’m just not a huge veggie fan. (says the vegetarian…)

I have exercises my chiropractor has given me and I’ve not been able to do due to being busy or in pain, so I want to try and fit this in everyday as my morning wake up! And we have a stationary bike at home (currently in storage whilst we have decorators in) and I want to try and do 30 minutes on that 5 days a week. It all sounds great and makes sense when I say or write it, but with chronic conditions, it’s not always possible to get up and do these things due to fatigue or pain. So, I forgive myself preemptively for not being able to do these things every day. But I do have hope that I’ll be able to start making these changes to give my health a bit of a boost.

I’ve also been recommended to try and walk more by the podiatrist. So I try to fit in walking around appointments like the chiropractor, I’ll go walk round town for half an hour after seeing him. And I’ve been travelling to London a lot recently for events and fun opportunities, and that tends to involve a reasonable amount of walking.

Anyway, there was no real point in this post, just wanted to verbalise things I’ve been thinking a lot about.

If you have any tips or ideas for me to try, I’d love to hear them so leave me a comment down below, or if you wanna have a chat you can DM me on my instagram. I might not see it right away but I’ll get back to you!

Now I have to go and die at this exercise class now!!

~ Artie