hello friends I wasn't sure where to put this so if it belongs elsewhere lemme know and I'll ping a mod to have it moved I guess so uh lately I've noticed I'm gaining weight. I'm very, very sure this is because of my sedentary life style combined with actually, like, eating food, of late. there is one problem preventing me from just 'getting out and exercising': I have chronic fatigue disorder. I can barely manage a twenty-minute walk without getting a major case of two-day exhaustion and a headache. but I hate the idea of gaining weight. I don't want to. I refuse to. so of course, my brain's immediate suggestion is to cut back on my eating, but I'm finally eating healthily and normally--I don't want to go back to being anorexic or bulimic. I've been both. it's not fun. so I guess I wanted to know if anyone's got any ideas of ways to lose weight with not a crapton of exercise and without restricting my eating insanely?
maybe something that doesn't require you move from your house? there's always stretches and what have you. probably not ideal, but still better than nothing. you might not /lose/ weight but you'd gain more muscle. if that makes sense?
My mom has chronic back pain which makes it hard for her to exercise much, but exercise is only responsible for 30% of weight loss iirc? When she was trying to lose weight, she went through all the stuff she ate in a day, picked out the stuff with the most calories (Little Debbie cakes were a big one!) and replaced it with low-calorie, more filling alternatives (like granola bars or fruit). It took a long time, and the change was gradual, but after a few months she was snacking on fruit and baked chips and all that good stuff. So rather than daily calorie-counting and cutting back on food, maybe try gradually switching some foods around? A couple of things my mom did were: trail mix instead of candy, low-fat popcorn instead of chips, and fruit rather than cookies. She was still eating plenty, it's just that the things she ate weren't adding up nearly as quickly, and were filling her up more! Of course, I don't know your diet or anything, so this might be a bit useless ahaha.
Can you do light exercise like going on walks? I know walking had a pretty amazing impact on my weight.
that's really helpful, actually!! I definitely can do short walks, and have been trying to. so that's something!
Is there anywhere accessible and affordable you could swim? That's a pretty good low-impact all-over workout.
Cardio is good for weight loss (and YMMV but I've noticed that without some sort of cardio - at least walks - I won't lose an ounce even if I'm eating a Perfect Diet). I've been liking the workouts on HASFit - they have a number of low-impact, short cardio workouts (some as short as five minutes) that don't take much floorspace or any equipment, and are good for people with health issues. The higher intensity workouts the dude is all RAH RAH PUSH IT DON'T STOP FOR ANYTHING but for the lighter stuff he's much more gentle and encourages resting if you need it. Recently one of my mutuals has been talking about a thing called NEAT - non-exercise activity like pacing around or moving from room to room that nonetheless contributes to good health and weight loss. If you're like me and don't move around much in your day to day activities (me because I hyperfocus and forget I even have a body, and I live in a very small place where most anything I need to get to is only a few steps away), factoring more fidgety movement in could be a good way to get more movement without wearing yourself out a bunch on focused exercise. (For example: when I last visited my mom, I lost weight even though we didn't do anything active... but she lives in a place that's at least three times the size of mine, and just going to the bathroom was a bit of a trek.)
I have the world's biggest sweet tooth and I've found that fruit smoothies help. At least for me it's been a good way to get my daily fruit serving in without it being a chore. I have a neat little smoothie maker where the cup attaches straight to the machine so you just make enough for 1 smoothie each time. Get a bunch of bananas, peel, break them in thirds and freeze them when they're ripe, then use them in combo w a bag of frozen fruit of your choice + fill the rest with milk or fruit juice (mango lemonade is excellent) and blend. If you don't have a smoothie maker/blender, some fruits (pineapple chunks, grapes) can be cut up and frozen and eaten as a snack. esp good when it's too damn hot out in the summer. Seconding swimming, its a good way to get exercise while reducing strain on your body.
I live pretty far from anything at all, and unfortunately swimming's kind of out because I have pretty bad dysphoria so I can't do with normal swimsuits, but my parents won't let me buy a binder swimsuit, so... I'll check out HASFit! it sounds like my kind of thing, definitely. I LOVE FRUIT SMOOTHIES I've never tried frozen fruit though!! I should, it sounds good, especially now because it is summer and it is. too damn hot.
it's okay!!! I do really love swimming, and I'm definitely hoping to save up enough money to buy myself a swimsuit I like with my own money, so maybe in the future I can do the swimmy thing!!
So, a thought - You say you've been anorexic/bulimic before. What's your BMI now? (Don't need to tell us, just consider.) One of the main characteristics of chronic fatigue syndrome is that it's not related to exertion. Especially since you mention a very sedentary lifestyle, I have a strong suspicion that your issues with basic exercise are being caused by insufficient muscle mass. Spoiler: More context for why I think this My mother has a medical condition that caused potassium deficiency, which makes it progressively harder to use your muscles. Her activity level dropped super low, and then she was hospitalized. After they fixed the potassium thing, she spent a long time getting back the basic muscle mass you need to get around, and her symptoms were very similar to what you describe! So, weight training might actually be a good idea: it's relatively low-impact, but it makes it possible to do a wider range of cardio. Also, larger muscles, while weighing much more per volume than fat, burn calories just by existing. Basically a win/win proposition for you. You don't necessarily need gym access right away, either - soup cans etc. really do work for beginners. To help with the headaches, and maybe the fatigue: Water is good. Diet Gatoraid is better. One of the major causes of "limp vegetable" type exhaustion (and accompanying headache) is dehydration, but messed-up salt balance is more likely. A good measure is whether standing up fast makes things even worse. If yes, your blood pressure is probably too low. Blood pressure dips make you feel like absolute shit. If you're eating 'healthier' you're probably eating less salt, but that's not actually good for everyone! (That bit's personal experience)
aaaaaaaaa I'm sorry I didn't answer you sooner I kept remembering at times when I didn't have a computer/internet but anyway! thank you for the information! I hadn't considered this. I'll definitely try weight training! we have some small weights that I bought online--and I've got a proper bathing suit now, and I'm going to join a gym for swimming, so I could maybe try and ask them about weight training. standing up fast always makes things worse, but no one has ever told me that I could have a messed-up salt balance. hmmm. I will try and get some diet Gatorade! how else would I get more salt/get my blood pressure higher? I tried telling my mom this earlier and she just went "no no having low blood pressure is good!" so. yeah. sighs.
Weight training is really good and so often overlooked because people's brains go straight to more bodybuilding-type stuff, but Ben is right - simply increasing your muscle mass will raise your metabolism, and it is actually quite easy! In periods where I've been very sedentary (due to MI and/or idiopathic hypersomnia), if I start doing a particular thing every day, even if it's very small, I do start noticing muscle strengthening quite quickly. For example, the physical therapy exercises I do for my feet only take a few minutes each day, but they still started building up my quads noticeably. (Not necessarily noticeably to other people, but noticeably to me.) Apart from that, I don't know what else to say, except to offer major solidarity for your situation, having been in a very similar place before. <3
Uh, no. Low blood pressure can really be a drag. Ideally, you don't really want to be lower than 100/65 mmHg, and that's only if you're really tiny! (by which I mean short and slim). Low blood pressure can be really annoying and cause annoying symptoms. And for younger people lower blood pressures are more acceptable than for older people (you don't want older people who have balance problems already becoming dizzy every time they stand up!). You can tell your mother from me that she's wrong. Or, you can just revel in the knowledge that you're right if you don't want to tell her she's wrong :P
