I have stopped seeing my primary doc at the moment, to be honest, because I really think there's a strong conflict of interest on him pushing the hospital's weight loss diet thing on me so hard, including surgery options. I know I haven't lost weight at the rate he wants, but... I dunno. At the end of the day I know I need to do something, but something felt inherently wrong about the process he was proposing. I last saw him about 5-6 weeks ago.
Okay, that's your choice to make, but make sure you make your own meal plans then. And stick to them.
They don't have to be the best & most optimal plans in the world, or exclude everything you like to eat - the objective of a plan is just to get you to stop compulsively eating (which often involves reaching for junk food, because it's quick & tasty). Like do this tonight: write down what you are going to eat for breakfast, lunch and dinner tomorrow. Follow the plan. Pat yourself on the back if you succeed in following it. Do it again the next day. If you get bored with the food on the plan, adjust it.
Do this for a few weeks, and I swear you will see improvement, no matter what food you include in the plan simply because you'll have stopped yourself from compulsive eating. Once you have stopped that habit, then you can follow whatever research tickles your fancy about optimal ways to reach a low calorie diet and set your meals accordingly. Thinking about what category of fad diet you'd like to try is unlikely to be helpful when you're still essentially addicted to junk food.
Also, do not beat yourself up if you mess-up, fail to achieve a goal or fall off the wagon. Just acknowledge it and get back on the wagon, set a new goal and keep moving. Nobody's perfect.
Negging yourself out for failing will just discourage further improvement.
With Love and Courage
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AthenorBattle Hardened OptimistThe Skies of HiigaraRegistered Userregular
Well, we'll see how today goes. I know it's just a start, but I went to bed at 9:45 last night, fell asleep sometime after 10:37 (no electronics on save for a fan blowing on me, which may be part of the problem too), woke up at 5:25, and was yawning walking into work and such.
Might wanna try time released melatonin. It doesnt require a perscription and it helped me when i had to reset my sleep/wake schedule. Take it a half hour before you want to start sleeping.
If you try melatonin do it first on a weekend. I know people who it will knock out and keep out for much longer than expected. Which is great if you want some deep restful sleep, it is not great if you'd like to be at work on time.
Random, maybe or maybe not relevant, but another major factor in how well I sleep is temperature.
The colder the better, so long as I'm not in danger of losing any limbs out from beneath my blankets. You mentioned a fan blowing on you, so it occurred to me that you might be hot.
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silence1186Character shields down!As a wingmanRegistered Userregular
When I was having trouble sleeping, my doctor recommended taking half a Benadryl. It's a once in a while thing though, for when you really need to get 8-9 hours and don't think you'll be able to fall asleep because you're too wound up.
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GnomeTankWhat the what?Portland, OregonRegistered Userregular
edited July 2014
I see a lot of great suggestions in here, but some of them are incredibly drastic. You can't cold turkey life changes like that, they won't stick. Especially when, in your case, you have issues compounded on issues compounded on issues. You don't just have a sleep problem, you have a diet problem, a weight problem, a back problem, etc. You can't fix them all at once. I would focus almost exclusively on your diet and exercise, and let your sleep schedule be what it is for now. You're going to get the best returns on your time by fixing your diet right now, especially since back problems (due to weight) are a huge reason you can't sleep.
Focus on your diet, get a dietitian or a nutritionist to help you with a meal plan (this is not as expensive as it sounds), and stick to that meal plan. Even with that meal plan in place, don't try and fix your diet over night. If you've been existing on a high sugar, high fat diet, you can't just start eating kale for every meal. Your body will reject it. Start introducing healthy foods in to your diet one at a time, replacing a non health alternative in your diet today. As an example, when I was fixing my diet, I started doing really small things like introducing spinach in to my diet by getting spinach on a Subway for dinner. Now I eat the crap out of spinach in salads, sandwiches, etc.
All that aside, I would also considering putting money away and buying a better bed. Talk to your doctor and get their suggestions, but with your weight, you need a bed with a lot of support. Good beds are not cheap, but will help immensely until you can lose some of your weight.
e: One other thing: Be honest with any nutritionist about your likes and dislikes, a good one can work with you. I hate onions, of any variety, HATE them, so when I was getting diet advice, I made sure no one suggested things with a heavy onion presence. Obviously if your mindset is "I hate all vegetables", that's not workable, but if it's "I like most things, but I just can't do cucumbers and onions", then any good nutritionist can work with that.
I find drinking a protein shake right as I walk in the door helps keep me awake. It's kind of a slow-release energy source that should keep until about lunchtime. I usually get tired again right before lunchtime, and then I'm good until 7:00 or so. My sleep pattern is about like yours, mostly due to my circadian rhythm getting so entirely buggered in my teenage years. I usually go to bed around 12:00 and wake up around 6:30, but I will fall asleep any time between 12:15 and 4:00.
If you don't want your boss to catch you napping, just put some googly eyes on your eyelids.
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AthenorBattle Hardened OptimistThe Skies of HiigaraRegistered Userregular
I'm trying to take all this to heart, I really am. Sadly another 7-8 PM day at work today kinda killed my exercise plans. No excuse, I know, but I'm still working on it..
Actually I stayed awake pretty well today, despite waking up at 4-5 AM after going to bed early. Of course the servers metaphorically on fire helped with that...
GnomeTankWhat the what?Portland, OregonRegistered Userregular
Try not to beat yourself up too much if you miss a workout. Take note of it, tell yourself to do better, and then move on. Lingering on it, or berating yourself over it, only adds to any hopelessness you feel.
One of the biggest things that helps me exercise is to just do it while I'm watching Netflix. I will throw on an episode of Buffy or something and stretch while I watch it. I used to beat myself up over not stretching enough and then complaining in the gym when I didn't have the hip flexibility I wanted. The time flies by if you are keeping yourself otherwise engaged.
Seriously, even just standing up or moving around for a bit while you watch tv will be helpful. If you want to get ambitious you can grab some free weights (I like kettlebells, but I wouldn't recommend them without first going to a class and getting help using them) and do that while you hang out.
One of the biggest things that helps me exercise is to just do it while I'm watching Netflix. I will throw on an episode of Buffy or something and stretch while I watch it. I used to beat myself up over not stretching enough and then complaining in the gym when I didn't have the hip flexibility I wanted. The time flies by if you are keeping yourself otherwise engaged.
Seriously, even just standing up or moving around for a bit while you watch tv will be helpful. If you want to get ambitious you can grab some free weights (I like kettlebells, but I wouldn't recommend them without first going to a class and getting help using them) and do that while you hang out.
This is the only way I ever found lifting bearable. When I was in college I had friends I could go lift with. Just having something to engage your mind other than the menial task at hand helps with any number of things.
Focus on your diet, get a dietitian or a nutritionist to help you with a meal plan (this is not as expensive as it sounds), and stick to that meal plan. Even with that meal plan in place, don't try and fix your diet over night. If you've been existing on a high sugar, high fat diet, you can't just start eating kale for every meal. Your body will reject it. Start introducing healthy foods in to your diet one at a time, replacing a non health alternative in your diet today. As an example, when I was fixing my diet, I started doing really small things like introducing spinach in to my diet by getting spinach on a Subway for dinner. Now I eat the crap out of spinach in salads, sandwiches, etc.
^ This (Mostly) ^
You don't necessarily need a nutritionist / dietitian, so long as you are able to create & maintain your meal schedule.
And seriously, you don't need to eat anything you don't want to eat or exclude foods you love. If you want your meal plan to be, "I will eat a Kit Kat Bar, cheeseburger and french fries for lunch," you can do that - and as long as you stick to the meal plan, you will lose weight. I guarantee this, because this is exactly what my sister did to start losing weight
Meal plans are first and foremost about controlling the quantity of food you eat, and get you out of the habit of compulsively eating junk food. To go back to my earlier example, it's much better to eat one Kit Kat Bar during lunch than 5 or so during the day at random intervals. You can adjust the quality of the food later, after you've stopped eating food all throughout the day - and if you don't want to, you really don't have to adjust the quality by much. You don't need the super duper high fiber / low carb / many veg diet in order to have a healthy body weight: you just need to consume a more reasonable amount in a day.
I've got to second the advice people have given about no electronics in bed, as well as the exercise encouragement.
I used to have absolutely terrible (I'm talking seriously godawful) problems with sleeping the entire night until I got rid of the electronics. That was hard, since I love listening to music as I'm falling (or trying to fall, as the case was) asleep. Exercise also really helps if you can do it, particularly if your job is fairly sedentary.
"Baby," I said. "I'm a genius but nobody knows it but me."
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Okay, that's your choice to make, but make sure you make your own meal plans then. And stick to them.
They don't have to be the best & most optimal plans in the world, or exclude everything you like to eat - the objective of a plan is just to get you to stop compulsively eating (which often involves reaching for junk food, because it's quick & tasty). Like do this tonight: write down what you are going to eat for breakfast, lunch and dinner tomorrow. Follow the plan. Pat yourself on the back if you succeed in following it. Do it again the next day. If you get bored with the food on the plan, adjust it.
Do this for a few weeks, and I swear you will see improvement, no matter what food you include in the plan simply because you'll have stopped yourself from compulsive eating. Once you have stopped that habit, then you can follow whatever research tickles your fancy about optimal ways to reach a low calorie diet and set your meals accordingly. Thinking about what category of fad diet you'd like to try is unlikely to be helpful when you're still essentially addicted to junk food.
Negging yourself out for failing will just discourage further improvement.
The colder the better, so long as I'm not in danger of losing any limbs out from beneath my blankets. You mentioned a fan blowing on you, so it occurred to me that you might be hot.
Focus on your diet, get a dietitian or a nutritionist to help you with a meal plan (this is not as expensive as it sounds), and stick to that meal plan. Even with that meal plan in place, don't try and fix your diet over night. If you've been existing on a high sugar, high fat diet, you can't just start eating kale for every meal. Your body will reject it. Start introducing healthy foods in to your diet one at a time, replacing a non health alternative in your diet today. As an example, when I was fixing my diet, I started doing really small things like introducing spinach in to my diet by getting spinach on a Subway for dinner. Now I eat the crap out of spinach in salads, sandwiches, etc.
All that aside, I would also considering putting money away and buying a better bed. Talk to your doctor and get their suggestions, but with your weight, you need a bed with a lot of support. Good beds are not cheap, but will help immensely until you can lose some of your weight.
e: One other thing: Be honest with any nutritionist about your likes and dislikes, a good one can work with you. I hate onions, of any variety, HATE them, so when I was getting diet advice, I made sure no one suggested things with a heavy onion presence. Obviously if your mindset is "I hate all vegetables", that's not workable, but if it's "I like most things, but I just can't do cucumbers and onions", then any good nutritionist can work with that.
If you don't want your boss to catch you napping, just put some googly eyes on your eyelids.
Actually I stayed awake pretty well today, despite waking up at 4-5 AM after going to bed early. Of course the servers metaphorically on fire helped with that...
Seriously, even just standing up or moving around for a bit while you watch tv will be helpful. If you want to get ambitious you can grab some free weights (I like kettlebells, but I wouldn't recommend them without first going to a class and getting help using them) and do that while you hang out.
This is the only way I ever found lifting bearable. When I was in college I had friends I could go lift with. Just having something to engage your mind other than the menial task at hand helps with any number of things.
^ This (Mostly) ^
You don't necessarily need a nutritionist / dietitian, so long as you are able to create & maintain your meal schedule.
And seriously, you don't need to eat anything you don't want to eat or exclude foods you love. If you want your meal plan to be, "I will eat a Kit Kat Bar, cheeseburger and french fries for lunch," you can do that - and as long as you stick to the meal plan, you will lose weight. I guarantee this, because this is exactly what my sister did to start losing weight
Meal plans are first and foremost about controlling the quantity of food you eat, and get you out of the habit of compulsively eating junk food. To go back to my earlier example, it's much better to eat one Kit Kat Bar during lunch than 5 or so during the day at random intervals. You can adjust the quality of the food later, after you've stopped eating food all throughout the day - and if you don't want to, you really don't have to adjust the quality by much. You don't need the super duper high fiber / low carb / many veg diet in order to have a healthy body weight: you just need to consume a more reasonable amount in a day.
I used to have absolutely terrible (I'm talking seriously godawful) problems with sleeping the entire night until I got rid of the electronics. That was hard, since I love listening to music as I'm falling (or trying to fall, as the case was) asleep. Exercise also really helps if you can do it, particularly if your job is fairly sedentary.