So, I've been on a pill for my insomnia for years...never felt I really had any side effects. I wasn't ill from it, didn't feel bad, and it seemed to help a little bit.

Turns out, I was wrong about the side effects--way wrong.

This all came about after I had browsed our health library at work and looked up the med's side effects. I seemed to have a number of them without knowing or suspecting anything.

One side effect was weight gain and trouble losing weight. This I definitely had. I'd been going nuts trying to lose weight and nothing was working...including barely eating while increasing my exercise. It made no scientific sense at all, but I was actually gaining weight rapidly instead of losing...very discouraging.

Using this finding, I decided to cut down the sleep med and I dropped 20 pounds just by doing that. I dropped it rather quickly in truth.

I was shocked; I had no idea how much a little pill could affect.

I shouldn't have been surprised though; I had been given some Mirapex a couple of years back to see if I had restless legs. I was to start Mirapex on the lowest dosage (half a pin head in truth) and then ramp up to the proper dosage. That med messed me up in a major way. I was a zombie, totally F'd up by it. I took this half a pinhead dosage exactly twice and then said, there's no way I can do this, I'd lose my job and I couldn't function or think straight. That was actually a bit scary.

Then, in Dallas for the convention this last week, I decided to cut the sleeping pill out completely. It was a perfect time to do it. I was going to be up and very tired for the convention anyway. It worked out perfectly. Now, the other major life impacting side effect is diminishing as well.

This is awesome; I'm making progress. Lesson learned: always watch for side effects and know what they are. You might be doing everything right and it might be a pill standing in your way.

Live well, laugh often, love much!
Jason Henke

Well, so far, the changes to the diet have been unsuccessful. I have, in fact, had complete failure.

Despite changing the diet around (first to do Atkins, then to do Weight Watchers) in the last month, I have not had any success. In fact, despite being well below my Weight Watcher points (or even smack in the middle of the range), I have gained 10 pounds out of the blue last week.

That, frankly, sucked.

I eat well, haven't indulged, and yet I gained magically last week. I was a crushed and pissed off.

Will I quit? No.

I'll keep exercising and increasing my food intake to be in the proper range of points. I'll keep striving to make sure my body is properly fueled. I have not been doing this well and I've still been eating far too little. I think this one simple change to the diet will still be the answer I need.

In short, I still need to eat more. That seems to always be the answer for me. It's amazing that I still don't eat enough.

So, back to it! I'll get the weight loss to start.

Keep the faith,
Jason Henke

Did I mention this in an earlier post today?

I can't recall if I have, so I'll say it anyway: I've started an effort to eat more and up my caloric intake (from the 1,000 or so I'd been averaging to the proper 2,500's). According to my eating log in the last number of weeks, I really needed a lot more food. So, yesterday after work,  I bought a ton of Microwave meals to try this week and weekend.

I'm ballparking my Weight Watcher number range as a calorie intake gauge.

Eventually, I'll be switching over to the low carb thing for my triglycerides, but I need to get the engine going so I can start slimming up again. This is all a part of my focus on Health in all areas of my life.

This all ties back to an earlier post (this one I know I have said online before) about my not liking to eat much because of my decades of getting so ill within 20 minutes of eating. Because of that physical history, and the many specialist tests, I just have a psychological connection with eating now that makes it not exactly a thing to look forward to for me. I eat because I have too. If I could have the 3 Jettson's pills and proper nutrition, I'd do it!

I do have a decent control on my trigger foods (and fiber levels) that had caused me to get so violently ill after eating. I owe that knowledge to a very bad day in San Fransisco---pure Hell, but it brought the keys into focus.

Since I need more calories (and didn't want to buy weight gain powder just to start losing weight), I'm upping the meals I eat. Microwave dinners suck--really suck!--but, they're fast and I can make them through out the day at work. Let's see if this new attack works.

It should because science is real.

My best,
Jason Henke

Well, last night really sucked the hard one. I could not sleep. I was up until after 11 PM and I was awake by 2:30-3:00 AM. I finally looked at the clock--something I try very hard not to do--at 3:17 AM. I just got up, there was no point in suffering anymore.

I was hot, uncomfortable, and just wasn't sleeping. I got up, put some painter's tape on a wall, and got ready for the day.

I'll tell you this in a personal aside: I'm becoming convinced that this insomnia is going to kill me in the end. I don't feel healthy, I feel like my health is faltering. I've been working on nutrition and sleep for awhile now...I'm making progress, but this insomnia is making me feel like my time is limited. It was not a good night.

Anyway, I am not feeling good today, but I can tell you that I'm very glad that I'd made a commitment to getting better health in all areas of my life: body, spirit, mind, finances, home, personal life, leisure time, and in my relationships.

Live well, laugh often, love much!
Jason Henke

I have made no progress since going hardcore on the changes.

This was pretty discouraging to see yesterday morning...I mean, to not even see a pound lost--despite all the changes--sunk my morale. I was not going to quit, but some down vibes did take root. Frankly, this lack of result didn't' make sense. It didn't seem possible.

After this brief sinking feeling, I showered up; in the heat of the water hitting my muscles, I meditated upon "it all" and let the gentle steam roll over me. This was good. It was needed. Sometimes a hot shower does wonders.

I decided to attack the problem again with facts and science. I went over my meals for the week. I counted calories. I'm way short. Crap!!! I'm still way short--I could not believe it. My old nemesis still bites my ass. I need to eat more. In fact, I need to add about 1,500 calories. Can you believe that? Good Lord. It's not that I'm short, I'm not even close.

Today has been a morning of learnings that I've been through in the past (see the jasonhenke.blogspot.com posting for today 8-21-8).

My best,
Jason Henke

Does this sound like an infomercial to you:

It does to me too.

One thing though, this is the absolute truth.

Because of Atkins, I went from being off the charts for Triglycerides (read: the 1% death group) to being in the normal range in 5 months by making only one change: I started Atkins. Oh, I also lost a ton of weight on top of the great blood work changes. Atkins kicked ass for me.

Weight Watchers, I'm not bashing. It worked great for me for 6-8 months, it's a great program, but then--for some reason--it just stopped cold. I was following it religiously (seriously, if you know me--if I have instructions on doing something, that's what I do). I was working out, I was eating in the midpoint of my range (even using the points I got back from working out times)...and nothing would get it kick started again. Everything just stopped cold. I was throwing cash out the window going to sessions and paying membership dues...I had faith that even if I couldn't get it started up again, then my working out would do something.

I kept at Weight Watchers for 6-8 more months and then a fateful session happened. It was during the weigh in and support group time, a lady broke down in tears. She had joined Weight Watchers to not only lose weight, but to change her cholesterol numbers. She'd just gotten the results back from the doctor: no change in the cholesterol. She was crushed. I felt horrible for her. It made me wonder about my own numbers.

Why did I wonder? I was in the death group, the 1% as they're called, and I had been doing all of this just for me. Working out, eating right, dropping pounds, all for me. A side benefit might be the dropping of triglycerides, but now...where was I in the plan? Had I affected anything on Weight Watchers aside from some good initial weight loss?

I went in, got stabbed and needle sucked, and waited....no change in my numbers either. The Triglycerides were still pegging the charts so hard that my other cholesterol numbers could not be evaluated. The doc and I set up time with a nutritionist. I went. She said something amazing in the review...the information she gave me about diet help was all low carb. I mentioned the Atkins diet and she said, "Yes basically. We can't endorse any commercial diet of course."

You should know that this was a huge turn around in advice from what the previous nutritionist had given me: low protien, high carb, low fat. This was a 180.

I went for it.

Four months later, I was down 60 pounds. I had my first shoulder injury and couldn't even lift weights during that 4 months. I had gotten even less exercise...I felt good with the weight gone, but I thought there was no way it changed my blood work numbers. The doc was coming into the room with the results. He was just starting to curse himself for not running the liver test in preparations for the medicine he was going to assign me (he told me this) and he paused as he stepped in the room. He was staring at the results in his hand. It was a curious moment.

He looked up and asked, "what did you do?"

I said, "Why?"

"This is the most amazing turn around I've ever seen," and he showed me the results as he sat down, "what did you do?"

"Nothing. Sat on my ass and ate chicken."

He laughed, "did you work out?"

"I couldn't, I had my shoulder injury. Honestly, that's all from Atkins and sitting on my butt."

The numbers were dramatic. Startling so. Amazingly so.

Thank God! Hot Damn! Wooooo-hoooo!!!

Then, for some reason, I stopped after my shoulder injury reoccurred. It was the want of a cold beer and pizza that did me in over a summer. Money got tight, I had to start eating soups, noodles, rice, etc. I ballooned up again. I've been so miserable about it.

I went back to physical therapy to rebuild the shoulder--trying to avoid surgery--and I'm able to start exercising lightly again. So, today, I restart the diet that saved me previously. I go hardcore. I won't stop.

You have to know me, but I will do this again.