Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Support Group
Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS) describes a sense of exhaustion and post-exertion malaise, even when you have gotten enough rest and sleep. The disease is characterized by six months of incapacitating fatigue experienced as profound exhaustion and extremely poor stamina, and problems with concentration and short-term memory. The cause is unknown, but it is a...
I was put on plaquenil late last year which caused me to lose 10 lbs. Then my body rebelled and I packed on about 25lbs in just a few weeks. Grown out of another dress size..its diet and exercise time.
Am petrified. We know the post-exertional-malaise story. Need to psyche up to try walking 30 mins 3 times per week.
Not sure what to do re diet. I don't cook much at the best of times. When sick its comfort food all the way..lots of take-out. I do poorly on standard diets, low carbing is what works for me. Tried that a few months back and crashed after just a few days. Afraid to stress my body out again.
Really uncertain what to do .. anyone out there trying to lose weight? What is your approach?
Am petrified. We know the post-exertional-malaise story. Need to psyche up to try walking 30 mins 3 times per week.
Not sure what to do re diet. I don't cook much at the best of times. When sick its comfort food all the way..lots of take-out. I do poorly on standard diets, low carbing is what works for me. Tried that a few months back and crashed after just a few days. Afraid to stress my body out again.
Really uncertain what to do .. anyone out there trying to lose weight? What is your approach?
It's put together in a simple way. So when you are all tired and burned out it is quick to look stuff up. If I didn't no better I'd say it was made for us.
To make it really easy, it's separated first into breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks and desserts. Everything in these sections already has the proper nutriton and calories. So there is no adding stuff up or trying to figure out if you had enough vegetables today. At the begining of each of these sections it will tell you why this works. Like protein with breakfast is important.
Next every meal is divided into 3 sections. The page is color coded on the edge so you can find it fast. These sections are restaraunts, grocery store (think boxes, cans, frozen section, deli), and 3 is recipies.
Here is the beautiful thing. With this plan you can eat all restaraunt, or cook all the time, or just do the easy make stuff....or any combination of the 3. They explain a lot of diets fail because people usually can't do it all the same all the time. What that means for us is there are "I'm too tired" meals to look up.
Snacks are required. It is explained that if you don't have snacks within so much time of your last meal then you will want to overeat.
Dessert is required too. Because without it you will feel deprived and won't be able to keep it up.
One thing I love about this is that it isn't a "diet". This is what you should be eating....and if you are overweight you will lose weight. If you are underweight, you will gain. And when you are just right you will stay just right.
At the end of the book it has a chapter on exercise. It tells which kinds are more effective. No guarantees you will be up to doing them.
As for the walking, a word of caution. A few months ago I went for a very slow 20-30 minute walk 4 days in a row. I hadn't been doing exercise at all before this. I could not do this again on the 5th day. I had 3 weeks of significantly worse fatigue.
Instead of doing what I did, I recomend begining very gradually. Instead of starting with 30, maybe 5 minutes. And when you are not all worn out afterward, increase by 5 minutes....or maybe even 1 minute.
In fact, the first week or 2 just going to the grocery store and making food will be more than enough exercise.
Oh how I can relate. I have never had to diet in my whole life, have always been one of those " eat what I like and never put on an ounce " type of people. Since becoming ill I have put on about 3 stone (over 4 years). I was coming up to having to go up yet another clothes size again and just thought ENOUGH !
So for the last month I have been addressing the issue, not by exercising as I feel this is the last thing my body needs or is capable of doing. I have just reduced my plate size, a smaller plate means you put a smaller portion on to it. No cutting out food groups or changing what I eat at all as what I cook and eat is already quite healthy. I have however ditched all the snacks, cakes and biscuits and crisps ( chips in US) instead I go for fruit or even cherry tomatoes or carrot sticks. I am allowing myself to have the occasional square of chocolate but just the one to relieve the sweet craving. I haven't felt like I am starving myself at all, this is why I think most diets fail.
Best of luck
Jen
I try to work hard to fill my meals with the lower-calorie vegetables and fruits. Up until relatively recently I didn't eat berries, almonds, mushrooms, onions, tomatoes, or even SALAD. Obviously that had to change. I also try to replace sugar with Stevia whenever possible, since it has no calories but it's plant-based and appears to be safer than aspartame.
Still struggling, but I'm at least not GAINING weight for the most part. Always open to new suggestions if anyone has them!