So the fourteen days of my self-imposed planned eating are over, how do I feel? Like a yoyo!
In what sense you say? Simple, although my eating was well planned out, I could not have taken into account my emotions and feelings. I know that when I am down I reach for the carbs, it is my comfort zone and where I like to be but knowing that that was not part of the plan was very difficult to deal with.
Now for the reason behind all this, I wanted to see if what I ate and what exercise I did would affect the menopausal symptoms I am experiencing. Simple and obvious you might think but I wanted to try to find a balance that I could be happy with and to pinpoint where my weak spots would appear. I sat down with GymGuyMark and we worked out what foods were good and which to try to avoid. It was not a clean eating programme by any means, more a balanced meal plan that would fit with my lifestyle. Mark’s knowledge of nutrition and the fact that he knows me, really helped. We worked out that 14 days would be the best period of time to try this for as it meant I would have to try to survive that all important second week and over two weekends. Having a comprehensive list of foods really helped and I guess it just proves yet again that working with a good PT, who really knows their stuff is very important.
Did it work? Yes it did! After the fourteen days I allowed myself a couple of carbfests and I felt crap. The hot flushes got worse, the emotional highs and lows felt more extreme and I was constantly tired. I kept a journal the whole time and it proved the blinking obvious that the balanced approach was far easier to deal with than the emotional eating!
So what is the next plan Stan? Well my friends, I am going back to THE plan. Writing out my meals for the week, shopping will done by the list and not by the Oooh I fancy that, I will be factoring in the nights out and lunches but I also need to look seriously at the exercise routines. I have discovered that the hot flushes definitely decrease when I exercise regularly and keep myself hydrated. Even after a night out on the Prosecco the hot flushes were not that bad because I kept drinking water and went for a power walk to clear my head, so another chat with GymGuyMark is in order to work something out that again fits in with my life.
The fourteen day experiment worked and is turning into a good plan for dealing with the menopause and life. I am fine tuning the excel spreadsheets that GGM and I used to plan this out as I think they might help anyone who is thinking of trying something similar. The Bridget Gym’s Diaries will now be once a week in a summary form, mainly to keep me on track and to share my experiences.
Finally thank you so much for all your support and kind emails. This is still a long journey to go as I deal with this stage of my life.
Balance is the key!