This morning Tanita said:
209.5 lb (new low this round)
26% body fat
Tanita will read a higher body fat when you are dehydrated. I haven't been drinking water lately. I have no doubt that is why my weight is so low, I'm simply dehydrated. Nonetheless, I should be thankful that I have not gained weight the past two weeks. I am contemplating doing another round of Rapid Fat Loss starting tomorrow. However, I am very hesitant because I have been having serious problems with my bipolar disorder. My moods are all over the place and I have crashed very hard several times in the past week or two. I'm not really sure what started it. My wife and counselor believe my RFL diet may have triggered it. So they are completely against me doing another round. However, I believe I felt really good the last week of the RFL diet and I didn't start to feel bad again until I reintroduced carbs and also started running.
My wife and I are doing really good lately so I couldn't be happier about that. She found a few things online last night that were very interesting. I was telling her about how bad I crash (emotionally) after I run. She found this:
The Runner's High and Your Bipolar Symptoms
by Summer Cavalier-Banks
'According to a research study completed by a British team in 2001, the infamous "runner's high" may be associated with natural PEA or Phenethylamine levels in the brain. As the runner exercises, Phenethylamine levels rise causing a euphoric effect. This effect becomes addictive and the runner wants / needs to run again the next day to feel the same "high".
People who suffer from depression tend to have lower than normal Phenethylamine levels, which is enough reason to promote exercise as a healthy treatment for mild depression, but the bipolar brain does not work the same way a depressive brain works. In most people, exercise causes a natural rise in Phenethylamine levels causing elevated mood and relief from depression. As Phenethylamine levels return to normal, mood falls, but it does not crash. For the bipolar, sometimes the fall is not worth the rise...For bipolars, the depressive side of the disorder may mean lower PEA levels to start with, but the nature of the disorder could also mean a heavy crash at the end of that "runner's high".'
The article also talked about supplements that try to raise PEA levels, including those containing caffeine. I was aware that caffeine and ephedrine were potentially dangerous for people with bipolar disorder but until last night I had no idea why I was crashing so bad after running or other high intensity cardio workouts. My wife also found books about diets for people with bipolar disorder. The one I read about most was nearly identical to the diet I just did a couple weeks ago except, of course, it recommended "good" carbs and also fruit in moderation.
The only things that make me feel at peace right now are driving in my car, going to church on Sunday mornings, exercising at the gym, sleeping or being somewhere quiet like my dad's farm, as long as he is not out there too. I haven't been out there all that much lately because my dad has now decided that "managing" should be defined by paper, pen, checkbooks, computer, phone and email, all the things I tried to get away from three years ago. All of which became hopelessly unorganized over the past three years. Now I'm expected to clean up and organize a mess that he is mostly responsible for. That's the worst thing you can do to an adult who has ADD, give them more organizational responsibilities. I'm not trying to use it as a crutch but he knows me well enough to know better. He would have been better off lowering my salary and hiring an administrative assistant to handle that stuff. Despite a strong effort the first couple weeks, I have now fallen way behind and don't even care about catching up. At this point, I "might" catch up. I'd give it a 50/50 chance at best.
As for my weight loss journey, as I mentioned, I am wanting to start another round of RFL tomorrow. I believe I can go from 210 to 200 in three weeks. That would put me only 11 or 12 pounds away from my goal weight. I'm just not sure if I should try to convince my wife to let me or if I should just try to pretend I'm eating carbs too. That might not be as tricky as you'd think. She is no dummy but with two kids in the house she gets distracted enough to where I might be able to pull if off.
Of course, I could always just try the diet AND actually eat carbs. In small amounts (less than 100 grams/ day). All joking aside, I am just not convinced the diet is solely responsible for my current bipolar struggles. Once again, I just can't seem to be both mentally and physically healthy for the long term. Bipolar disorder always manages to mess everything up. I'm still fighting though. Just not sure how long I can last.
Derrick
Hang in there. I know how that goes...