The most intractable of my hypothyroidism symptoms is lack of energy. I actually was unaware of this until very recently!
Weird, but explainable. I thought i had a willpower or motivational problem, or a tendency to laziness, and so did most people around me -- i could tell, though they were too kind or tactful to actually accuse me. Truth is, i always COULD pry myself from the couch if i HAD to, or wanted to badly enough, and when i'm in action ... i trust i'm not being immodest in saying that i'm GOOD. I'm just not good OFTEN ENOUGH to be a big success in the world.
But the close observation that i've given my health over the past year has opened my eyes to a few things. Wooo's discussion of her childhood was a big help, too. People with "normal" metabolisms have a well-spring of energy that isn't available to all of us, and the seed seems to have been sown in our prenatal environment, or at least in early childhood.
My best friend, M, is only about four months younger than i am, so the age factor is immaterial -- we met in our seventh-grade music class and have been dear to each other ever since; she's the person i've known longest, outside my family. Our natures harmonize together though we're outwardly different in many ways, especially in appearance. I'm short and stocky, and she's leggy and lean. I tease her about being an overachiever, but she's actually just an EXCELLENT achiever of whom i'm jealous because of her abounding energy (and other qualities which are not relevant here). K is another dear friend of us both, and she's very like M -- the amount of work she can accomplish in a short time is phenomenal. My husband J is another one of these workers.
When i'm out and about in the world with any one of them, trying to keep up, i go home at the end of the outing absolutely EXHAUSTED. If J gets me up early to go out for breakfast and run errands all morning, that's it -- i'm done for the day! We return home, i take a beverage to my chair, sit down with a book or my computer, and spend the ensuing hours marshaling my vitality so that the next call on my exertions will actually find me able to answer. In other words -- a moderate amount of energy expenditure is immoderately draining to me ... and probably to a lot of other people, also.
Fitness enthusiasts, professional or otherwise, try to urge us to ignore our instincts and just get up and go for a walk or a run. In some respects, this is good for us as we know that getting some kinds of exercise helps us to create new mitochondria. What they don't understand is that exhausting ourselves in what to "normal" people is nominal exertion, we are draining our scanty resources to the point that OTHER activities (like making a living or taking care of our families) has to pay the price for our exercised-diminished vitality. More mitochondria are GOOD -- but buying them may be too expensive for some of us.
THAT is why i'm on such an obsessive quest to improve vitality through diet, supplementation and lifestyle. Once i improve my baseline energy available for all my everyday uses, i'll have more to spare for the optional ones, which have a potential for enriching my life ... like more exercise.
The energy thing falls into the category of things people without a disordered metabolism just don't understand. Vacations involving constant travel and movement every day were agony for me for years. As someone married to a hyperactive, slender person, they were a challenge. Work-outs with a trainer for 8 months put me into near comas for several hours a day. However, after a year on LCHF, I was actually able to do a short overseas trip on an insane time schedule with 12-hours a day of activity and feel OK. This gives me room for some optimism. To me, increased energy is reason number 2 (just behind avoiding T2DM complications) to change diet.
ReplyDeleteit makes a huge difference to me, running on FAs rather than on glucose! i think one of the reasons the hills in Seattle tired me out so was that my muscles were "surprised" by the different kind of work they were expected to do.
Deletestanding for any period of time wears me out significantly, compared to walking at a brisk rate -- somebody mentioned recently WHY that is, but i don't recall it. i suspect that it's similar to why conventional chairs fatigue me, too -- i'd much rather sit on the ground (i.e., feet on level with my butt) than in a chair.
bad phrasing -- i meant to imply by "hills in Seattle tired me out so was that my muscles were 'surprised' by the different kind of work they were expected to do" that there was some different fuel usage going on! of course, i was eating more starch on that trip, too.
DeleteFor the hill-walking issue, I wonder if you don't quickly get into mild anaerobic activity and need some glycogen replacement thereafter (more protein?)? Good question about standing/flat walking -- that is something I don't understand.
ReplyDelete:-) so much to research and so little time!
DeleteI noticed all the gals on [redacted]people who lost lots of weight and started exercising heavily. Then came the fractures that wouldn't heal, all these other injuries that would usually be categorized as over-use, but were probably from starvation. I think if you go below what your body thinks is wise (for whatever reason), you just get your bones sucked out.
ReplyDeleteyou just can't starve yourself for years, eating 800 calories worth of antinutrients and expect to have robust health! i sometimes think of a few people i used to know 15 or 20 years ago, and wonder if they're even still alive....
DeleteThere is a sweet spot when doing some exercise increases energy. I can't explain it well, the amount is individual. Too much exercise wears you down, too much sitting feels wrong, but there is something in-between.
ReplyDelete