I have kept a weight log for the past several weeks due to my edema and have noticed a constant slow gain in weight which I’ve experienced over this past few weeks. It helps that at the same time I am also testing an app that connects to different manufacturers wireless health devices such as wi-fi scales, corded and wireless blood pressure monitors, with more items being added in the apps upcoming releases. The reason for the weight log is my edema which “Bing.com/dictionary, 3/4/14, 6:54 pm pst” defines as, “excess fluid: a buildup of excess serous fluid between tissue cells.” Which also leads to more pressure in my legs and feet and as an end result more pain in my low back and from there if it gets to serious it can place pressure on your lungs, reducing air volume which can cause breathing problems as well as issues with your heart. Now I have to get rid of the extra fluid quick, which is hard for me because of my injury, which does not allow me to get to an aerobic level for the required 20 minutes 3 times a week, it takes me a lot more exercise in shorter periods with a large reduction in my food consumption. So to help and try to get some of this excess fluid off I’ve reduced my fluids to 1.5 liters per day, with the majority of that before 6 pm (suppose to be best time for it), increased my walking, decreased my food portions, it doesn’t help either that a Panera Bread just opened less than 1/2 mile away. Lets see walk to Panera Bread have a sugar encrusted Pecan Braid or a Shortbread Cookie (or two) then walk home, wonder if that would work?
I’m not really religious (won’t go further) but with tomorrow being the start of LENT, I figured I am going to give up fast food and sweets for the six weeks, still keep my water intake between 1 and 1-1/2 liters per day, then after LENT keep the amounts consumed down to maybe once a week on either of the two. A lot of the elderly people in my family have suffered from edema, mom now has it as bad if not worse than me, my grandfather and an aunt both dealt with it also. It’s a tough issue to get right because your kidneys want fluids and your heart doesn’t. So you are either feeding one or starving the other or vise versa. Awhile back I did a blog, “Edema, It put’s a lot of weight on one’s shoulders” which goes into a lot more detail about the vast number of problems both physical and health related that edema can cause, so instead of repeating it I’m supplying the web address for you here, (https://pickyourpaindotorg.wordpress.com/wp-admin/post.php?post=4335&action=edit). The issues are if I can remove some of the extra water weight, OK and my weight and get down to around 180 lbs. from my current 207 lbs. that would be 27 lbs of weight I no longer am carrying on me. Just think of it this way, take three, one gallon (8 lbs. ea.) milk containers and a 1/2 gallon (4 lbs. ea.) container and you would have 28 lbs., now carry that around for lets say a week. Now your ready to get rid of it, right? The doctor is estimating that I’m carrying just about 10-15 lbs. of excess fluid and the other 12-17 lbs. is all mine and I will admit to that, I do enjoy a good cake, brownie, shortbread or even a wiggle jiggle flan. Yet on the sour, salty side give me a really good sour dill pickle, or pickled asparagus, pickled veggies, sauerkraut, oh the mouths is starting to water. Both of these vices add up to a world of trouble for someone with edema, sweets put on weight and salty makes you retain water, water and weight not a good combination.
If you would like to follow my progress, I will be posting right here on PickYourPain.org every other day or so with updates as well as my normal posts. I will let you know how its going, if I fall off the life
raft if so I’m getting right back on and starting over. I not only “NEED” to do this for me, but I also “NEED” to do this for my family who have also been dealing with my back injury and the edema since they first happened. Tomorrow I’ll be posting my program details (miles to walk, how often, etc. Check me out, let me know your weight loss secrets and if you’ve thought about starting a program yourself, I could use some backing and accountability and I would be happy to help anyone else through their program, just let me know. Thank you for taking the time to read my blog posts, remember “It begins with the first step.”
– Kreisler
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