Insomniac's exercise

L

laraqua

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As an insomniac and a person with dysthimia (a longer-lasting, less-intense depression), I find it really hard to get motivated to do most things for very long, particularly when I can often wake up exhausted after a hard night's work-out at sleeping through the night!

My main three issues to watch in this order: Exercise! (hoping for 4 times a week at the gym and some natural exercise for the rest). Sleeping before 12! (I'm going to mention the times I tried to get to sleep and when I actually slept - I should be attempting to sleep at about 10:30 no doubt, that way I can get up earlier and make dinner for breakfast when I need the food the most). Nutrition! (I'm going to focus more on eating a balanced set of meals than calories for the time being - weight loss isn't a big thing for me).

I weigh 75 kilograms, am 5'6", and I used to be Breasts 38, Waits 32, Hips 40, but I've probably added an inch to each since then. Don't have a measuring tape right now.

On the weekend, I spent twenty minutes on the exercise bike (86 calories burned) on Saturday and ten minutes on Sunday (about 42 calories burned). I felt that all-too-familiar tightness in my calves on Sunday and didn't think a massive calf cramp would be useful so I stopped early and tried to walk it off.
 
Congrats on making a plan and making it happen to overcome your obstacles. Great work!
 
Thanks for the support. I won't bother with careful portion size control, per se, as that should technically get cut down if I move onto the 6-8 foods per day. I am trying to make dinner earlier - at around 5-6ish instead of 9ish.

No real exercise today - my left leg calf is very tight and tender, though not technically sore, and I don't want to strain it. I'd do arm exercises buuuut I need to find out how to stretches before working the machines (I have three personal trainer sessions I've yet to schedule and I'll learn about free weights then - stretches I should be able to read up on but homework must be a priority today). So I'm gonna take it fairly easy, do some dishes, etc. and think on what to do tomorrow at Fitness First.

So far I've eaten four meal/snacks - medium-filled bowl of Cocoa pops, a snack-size Milky Way (that I shoulda saved to include in home-made biscuits anyhow), a large carrot and a delicious wholemeal pite bread (a half of those large circles folded over, so about 600kjs) with a chopped up carrot, tomato, slices of ham deli meat and a smattering of mixed lettuce. Yum! Probably have another one later tonight. Dinner will be schnitzel (twice the size of what would be recommended but it was reduced!), gravy, steamed brocolli, carrot, peas and corn, with a big dollop of mashed potato.

True, the gravy (about 75kjs per serve) and the mash are unnecessary kilojoules but surprisingly - powdered gravy really isn't all that fattening (or at least the homebrand version isn't) and I'm usually willing to forego sweets if I can get gravy.

But yeah, hopefully nutritional though certainly at around my usual caloric dose so not gonna help my hips shrink. To be honest, I'm not used to having breakfast and it's got me starving. How's eating breakfast s'posed to make you lose weight? Boy am I ravenous! These aren't 'food cravings' these are verging on hunger pains! So yeah, I guess when my body gets used to having my tummy activated before lunch, I'll be able to cut portions further.

Oh yeah, and does anyone know how to cook schnitzel without shallow frying it and while keeping it moist? Thanks in advance!
 
Try moving to free weights as soon as you can - you'll see a lot more results using them than you ever will with using machines.

You can use a site like to help you track your calories and plan your meals.

Not sure about the schnitzel since I've never made it before - could it be put in the oven?
 
Left calf is still tender - glad I worked out what stretches to do so next time it hopefully won't be like this - so I didn't do the Pilates I was going to do. As an absolute beginner, I don't want to ruin myself like that. I could walk to my friend's card game night instead of catching a lift - but it'll be dark and I prefer not to walk to the city streets alone. My friend, who I could con into going for a walk with me, tends to get sweat rash between the legs. Don't suppose anyone has an easy cure for that?
 
Couldn't do a walkie today. *sigh*

Today, I had 1 1/2 of those giant 7 inch diamter wholemeal pite breads (at about 1200kJs a large piece), with a carrot and a half, about a hundred grams more-or-less of sliced deli meat ham, three tomatoes and a fistful of lettuce, a few squirts of light mayonaise. So that's about 3,500kJs, I think.

I had a bag of Toobs out of a vending machine and a mini-Milky Way coz it was all I could afford cash-wise and because I was both hungry and knew I'd need to up my kilojoules for the day with very little time (700kJs for Toobs and probably about 500kJs for the chocolate bar).

I have to head to a card game soon but when I get back I'll probably have some Sultana bran and milk for an extra 1000kJs.

Only drunk 600mL of extra water but I've never been much for drinking a lot. It woulda been more, but I left my water bottle at home when I went to uni.
 
Well, I went for that walk after all - there and back for about half an hour at a time at a fairly brick pace. The way there involved a fair few fair to moderate inclines but was mostly flat. The way back, obviously involved a few declines but was mostly flat.

Unfortunately, I ate three rollos (individual chocolate and caramel pieces - not whole sticks of them), four home-made chocolate biscuits and two of those small packets of crisps - Twisties and then Plain Chips. The card game kinda had the crisps as a reward for winning - nothing like being rewarded with bad foot items to turn your head. The biscuits and the four rollos could easily have been dealt with as I technically had a calorie defecit but the extra food? No. So I'm over my energy budget.

Next time I'll bring some yummy snack along to eat instead of crisps.

Oh yeah, and my friend complained the whole time there and back. First about the journey itself, then on the way back about how she kept losing at the card games. *sigh* Still, regardless of her, I enjoyed the walk and it seems to actually have helped my stiff calf.
 
Didn't do training. I'd just convinced myself to do homework, got up to go to the gym and realised just how messy the place was and how people were gonna come over in an hour... So I cleaned up instead.

Also, only ate three meals. One roll with a rice pack (about 3000kJs, more or less). One medium sized bowl of Sultanna Bran with skim milk (about 1500kJs, probably). Three mini-hotdog-rolls with a Chevachaya (sic) in them that had been fried (3000kJs) because that's what others were eating and I hadn't the time to make myself anything - though I didn't eat as many as I wanted and paced myself admirably. So yeah, I think I only ate as much as I need to maintain weight, so at least it shouldn't be enough to cause any gain, but still ... not getting fitter or healthier and sure didn't get enough nutrition.

Ah well, tomorrow'll be a new day... I just gotta make a list of all the fun things I can do with my sister over the holiday week.
 
From one Dysthimic to another, I commend your effort to get healthier. IT's not always easy for us, is it??

And you said that tomorrow is another day. YOU ARE CORRECT!!! DON'T let anyone tell you differently. Tomorrow IS another day and it's NOT an excuse! You do the very best you can and then if you fall, you get right back up. NO WORRIES!!! I can't tell you how often I have heard (on other boards) that "tomorrow is another day is NOT acceptable and is ONLY an excuse". Unfortunately, I do not agree with that. You fall then you get back up. NO ONE is perfect.

*steps off soapbox*

Sorry about that....once I got started, I couldn't stop. LOL At any rate, GOOD FOR YOU!!! Keep it up!!! :)
 
Thanks Beth for being so understanding!

Okay, so no fitness tonight. I had a Critical Assessment due today that I left till the last minute and a four hour car ride to the Riverland. I've eaten a double serving of sultana bran for breakfast and bought a chicken and avocado wrap from the cafe at uni (lots of chicken breast, lettuce, tomato and lined in avocado - but its way better than the burgers I used to buy and it's the same price!).

So the sultana bran in skim milk is about 1500kJs and the chicken and avocado wrap? I'll assume it's about 2000kJs. Leaving me with about 2,500-3000kJs to play around with for dinner. Oh wait, and I had a small hot chocolate from a vending machine - 1000kJs? So about 1,500-2,000kJs. Not good. No idea what I could eat for that to keep me full...
 
Good job for choosing the wrap!!! :) Keep it up!

Oh, and I apologize for hijacking your thread yesterday with my little speech. I'm just tired of people saying that it's not ok. Grrr...:mad:
 
That's cool. Highjack away! It makes doing this all the more interesting.

Okay, so yesterday I had the cocoa pops and the wrap. I resisted the impulse of McDonalds twice as the driver of the car (ended up going with a friend and not by bus) wanted to get two Maccas rolls. It did help that I had no change and we were going through the drive-through! Drank about 900mLs too. For dinner I had a whopping 2,600kJs on a stirfry (1800kJs on the noodles alone, just a little soy sauce, heaps of broccoli, carrots, some beans and some beef strips) so I went over the budget and even felt over-stuffed. Still, considering mum's house is stocked full of Choc chip biscuits, golden gay times, packets of crisp, various other icecreams, chokkie biscuits, etc., I felt it safer to stuff myself till I couldn't eat anymore on nutritious foods then risk all that temptation. Though I did eat 300kJs on a biscuit and a small packet of sour lollies...

Today, it's 2:55pm and I've eaten a handful of grapes (300kJs?) and a golden gaytime (980kJs). I'll be splurging on the super-sweet choc and nut biscuits and blueberry muffins I'm baking with my sister for most of the kilojoules, so for tea I'm gonna have just a salad with cooked chicken - probably cool it down first - and possibly a banana.

Thinking of taking the dogs for a nice, leisurely stroll, too. Can't really walk too fast - the dogs are little and can't keep up. Hmm... Had a thought. Tomorrow's Saturday here in Australia so if I save plenty of them muffins and biscuits, I can take them and some fruit salad and ordinary chicken salad (no dressing) on a picnic walk with my little sister. Must remember to do that... Couldn't take the dogs, though. One would be fine, the other would just run off unless we held on and I don't feel like holding two leashes and keeping dogs near me while I eat.

Anyway, now to see if I can find low-joule blueberry muffins...
 
Oh, the veggies and meat dominated in that stirfry. Out of a kilo, over half were veggies, a bit was meat and the rest was the noodles. It's just hat noodles are soooo much more calorific. But you're still right. I like my carbs -- you gotta admit, they're what we use to tie foods together. Spaghetti, pasty, stirfry, rolls, cereal, etc. It's so hard to not eat them!

So far today, that golden gaytime, those grapes, two and a half large choc chip cookies I baked (1000kJs) for a total of 2,500kJs around about. So I've got a whole lot more to eat ... yet I'm totally sugared out and have no more desire for sweetness for the next few days. So yeah, I was gonna just have a chicken salad (no dressing) but I might have some lavash bread (680kJs each) to plump up the calories on healthy stuff! Though I will be having a vodka screwdriver or two with my mum...

On the plus side, gonna buy a whole bunch of cheap fruit and veg before heading to the city again.

Also, went for an hour and ten minute brisk walk (slow enough to talk, fast enough that it weren't easy) with my little sister and the dogs and did twenty sit ups (with five second pauses on the way up and the way down so it was a sit-up/abdomina crunch); ten lunges per leg and twenty squats with terrible form; 5 push-ups.
 
Actually it's the carb-protein combination that helps to keep you filled as far as I understand it. Just having carbs leads to an overabundance of calorie intake. Still, a move toward whole natural unprocessed foods (i.e. nothing out of a vending machine, or a brightly colored box or bag) would help you see results quicker.
 
I never used to be able to do a push-up. I gave it a go at the Fitness First gym and actually managed to do three perfect ones - each with a break in between! Though boy did I tremble. These last couple times, though, my knees bent a little as I came up, so I was using muscles other than my arm muscles (I'm not sure if that's wrong, I just assumed it was all in the arms and back and not the legs).

The squats were bad, I think, because I felt it pretty much only in my knees. I kept my back pretty straight, tightened my abdominals, but my knees felt bad. I just don't think anything that puts stress on the knees could be done well.

And don't worry about my protein levels, when I was watching nutrition (and not just calories) I realised that I eat about twice as much protein as necessary on the usual day! If anything, I should cut back on my meat portion sizes.

I am trying to steer clear of rolls and breads, preferring wraps and the like, because that could be a stepping stone to just having a salad/meat combination.
 
I agree with Stingo, however, please DO NOT STRESS over it. That has been my problem. I love my carbs, but once I started hearing that I needed to do this and this and this and what I was doing wasn't "right" I would stress and that would cause me to binge - out of frustration. Which of course led to gaining weight and even more poor self-esteem. *sigh*

Anyway, on a good note, you got some excercise, so that's great!!! :) Just be careful on the strength training (i.e. lunges, etc) that you do use proper form. You can hurt yourself without it.
 
Beth_G said:
I agree with Stingo, however, please DO NOT STRESS over it. That has been my problem. I love my carbs, but once I started hearing that I needed to do this and this and this and what I was doing wasn't "right" I would stress and that would cause me to binge - out of frustration. Which of course led to gaining weight and even more poor self-esteem. *sigh*

Anyway, on a good note, you got some excercise, so that's great!!! :) Just be careful on the strength training (i.e. lunges, etc) that you do use proper form. You can hurt yourself without it.
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I agree - there is such a thing as paralysis by analysis. Just take each day as it comes, and make it a little better than the last.
 
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