Welcome to Gaia! ::

Hopefully having some kind of a "diary" will help me stick to it wink

I've actually been quite active most of my life, and for many years I danced and did gymnastics. But after a while my knees decided they'd had enough, and I had to quit. I started an exercise program (quite similar to pilates) that I actually did on a regular basis, and I ate pretty healthy. But then suddenly my life decided to fall completely apart, I became very depressed and *poof* magically gained 20lbs. It took me four years to get out of the deepest, darkest part of the depression, and as I started to climb back up to "feeling normal" I also got the urge to get back into shape. I got one of those glider-thingies, which I think I used about 3 times before I gave up and tossed it into the basement. Next up was the exercise bike, which I actually stuck with for a while, but that got boring too... The came the pilates DVD, and here we are today biggrin I have to say so far I love pilates, and I really like the fact that it's only a 20 minute work-out (instead of an hour on the bike rolleyes ). I've only done pilates about 5-6 times so far, but I really can feel the results. I can reach my toes now! lol

I think my biggest problem is going to be eating healthy... I've discovered that I really, really love food, and especially the unhealthy kind wink I love pizza, pasta, white bread and all that gooood stuff, and I can't function properly without a latte in the morning...

This has been a slow, relaxing day for me. I wanted to get some house work done, but I just couldn't find the energy.... Hopefully tomorrow 3nodding

Over the winter I REALLY got into drinking Chai or Swiss White Chocolate Coffee once or twice a day to warm me up, AND I've found a comfort food in Hershey's Symphony Bars. confused When I feel bad about drinking too many of those drinks, I switch to red antioxidant green tea, but I can't do that for long.

But actually, being at home and on the computer at least makes me eat quick short meals, and I don't overeat like I do when we dine out. I've never really carefully watched what I eat, which could be a bad habit. And I almost never get fruits.. (watch, now all the wickeds are going to throw stuff at me.)

I think I did pretty good this weekend, apart from a couple of glasses of wine on Saturday. I got a bit of house work done, which really is good exercise 3nodding I wanted to do my pilates today, but my back isn't felling that good so I should probably wait a day or two.

One of my goals is to start drinking more water. I used to drink lots of water before, but now it's mostly diet coke or chocoloate milk(!). It really shows on my skin as well, it doesn't look as clean and healthy as it used to sad

Ebil did you ever find out what your causing your headaches and so on?

What are the symptoms of hypersomnia, and what can you tell us about it? Best of luck to you with that. I'd always be willing to participate in a study like that. Doing something for it is usually better than doing nothing, at least it being an experiment, they're always willing to really listen to how it's affecting you, and try to make changes accordinly so it helps everybody else.

I know what one tends to drink can have an impact on health. Growing up, I only drank milk. And NEVER water. Then once I got pregnant and was breastfeeding, I began to drink a lot of water. It made me feel healthier, energywise, and skinwise. Lately I drink a lot of Propel fitness water. I almost never drink sodas. The carbonation burn in my throat is too much. And now my chai/swiss white chocolate coffee habit might not be a good thing, caffeine/sugar wise.

And for your sister, anorexia can be a scary thing, and I know what it's like to have those messed up thoughts of ALWAYS seeing too much fat, no matter how skinny you are, or being SO repulsed by the thought that I just ate chips and salsa, that it was like the most horrible fatty thing I could have eaten (see? messed up thinking right there!) that I HAD to gag myself and make myself throw it up. It's some sort of weird mental disease, and I don't know what they do out there to fix it, but I got past it and made myself stop (this was in college.) I've heard of women who were so skinny that the only time they were satisfied with their body shape was a few days after giving birth! It can do good things for some bodies! But if she's unhappy with the changes, there are ways to change it, working out and such. So the pilates video is a great idea. Just as long as she's not starving herself, vomiting food, or other things that could wind her up in the hospital..

it's hard to cope with a situation like that, i know i'd get frustrated with her, these eating disorders often hide other psychological problems though don't they?
You're right about her metabolism though, it will be running at snail's pace if she starves herself all day, so if she ever does start eating normally again, until her rate has speeded up again(2/3 weeks i think) she's likely to pile on the pounds neutral

hugs to you and good luck!