What I Eat In A Day – Your Questions Answered

Thank you for the love you gave to the What I Eat In A Day post last week. 

Over 5,000 people have read it and the comments, messages and emails so many of you took the time to write are just so beautiful.  Thank you. 

I’ve also had a lot of questions asked about various aspects of my diet and IIH diagnosis. I’m going to answer them here, over the next couple of weeks. That way we can all share the info together. Let’s get started with the most popular question – exercise.

What I eat in a day – your questions answered

Do you mind if I ask what exercise you did/do?

No, I don’t mind at all. The short answer is not very much.  

The long answer goes a little something like this:

When I had my first appointment at the endocrinologist, he sent me for a scan of my abdomen. That was to determine if I was carrying excess visceral fat (on the inside of my body) or subcutaneous fat (on the outside of my body).  

I jokingly told him we probably didn’t need to worry about the scan as it was fairly obvious just by looking at me what the answer was. 

The results from the scan indicated I was subcutaneous all the way and that’s where things became interesting. The Endo told me I was very lean on the inside and I suggested that was of no help to me whatsoever. I mean who wants to be thin on the inside, where nobody can see it?!  

The Endo then went onto explain that the best way for people with my body type/shape to lose weight is with a low-calorie diet. That loads of high intensity exercise was not the way to go. I told him that as a dedicated exercise avoider, this was possibly the greatest day of my life!

I was instructed to walk 3-4 times a week and incorporate water walking at my local 25m pool wherever possible.

However, for the first 6-8 months after being diagnosed with IIH I was really unwell. Unfortunately I was one of the unlucky ones who suffered from all of the side effects that diamox and topamax brings to the party.  I spent most of my days on the couch, desperately wanting to get up and participate in life, but physically not being able to.  

So there was definitely no exercise happening for the first 6-8 months of losing weight. 

Now I aim to walk 3 times a week for 30 minutes. Some weeks I nail it, other weeks I fail. Exercise is not my strong point and I’ve never understood that whole “but you’ll feel so good after you’ve done it” concept. I’m fairly sure I’m missing that endorphin gene thing because the only thing that feels good after exercise is taking my sneakers off and flinging them under the couch as I collapse on it!

But I do enjoy being outside on my own for half an hour. It’s great thinking time and when it’s not too hot, it’s not an awful way to start the day.

In Summary:

Walking and/or water walking 3 times a week for 30 minutes is my current exercise regime. 

Join me next Monday, where I’ll be answering the question, what do you eat when dining out.  If you have a question you would like answered, don’t hesitate to ask it. 

On a scale of 1 – I’d rather poke my eyes out with a burning stick than do cardio, how do you feel about exercise?