February was rather a craptastic month for me. I felt so down, so depressed, worse than I’d ever felt in years, even though life really is pretty good.

The older I get, I’ve concluded, the more sensitive I am to seasonal affective disorder (SAD). Two weekends ago I was absolutely wretched. And despite being aware of SAD, I found myself unable to get a handle on my moods. At the beginning of last week I constantly had to battle mood swings and emotional outbursts.

By the end of the week I was feeling a little more in control. I had ordered an SAD lamp to be delivered this week and I started reading Gretchen Rubin’s The Happiness Project (another post in itself). This week, thanks to some of Gretchen’s ideas, the improved weather and having my SAD lamp on at my desk, I feel fantastic.

My doctor scoffs at the concept of SAD, so I think I shall get a new doctor because there’s something very Occam’s Razor about SAD and I think many people are misdiagnosed with depression and prescribed medication when all they need is a little more daylight.

Here’s a few articles on SAD:

The SAD Artist
It’s Time to Be SAD

A group of overweight hedgehogs are to be given a helping hand in losing their winter weight thanks to a special ‘fat club’.

The Scottish SPCA has put 10 hedgehogs in its care on strict calorie-controlled diets to help them shed fat they put on during the recent cold snap.

The hedgehogs started piling on the pounds because they spent longer than usual in the care of the Wildlife Rescue Centre in Fife.

More…

The fellow who fitted me with my CPAP machine was himself a sleep apnea sufferer. He said once he had started treating his sleep apnea, he only needed five hours sleep a night.

Last night I didn’t get to bed until midnight and yet this morning I woke up at 5:30 am; I was fully awake and very clear-headed. I thought about getting up but decided it was too early and went back to bed with the goal of sleeping until 7 am as planned.

Instead, I ended up hitting snooze a lot and not getting up until after 9 am. I was groggy and late for work.

There is a consistent stream of articles in mainstream media about the need for sleep and how many hours minimum the average person needs. Before I began treating my apnea, I did nothing but sleep without getting actual rest. Lately I’ve tried to consistently aim for 7-8 hours sleep a night but perhaps I am one of those people who doesn’t need that much. Maybe I need less than six hours a night.

I’m going to try it again tonight; it might help me get my gym schedule back to mornings, something I haven’t done so far this year – I’ve been going after work and fighting the crowds.

Monday morning is my weekly weigh-in; I try to stick to the same time every week on an empty stomach. The verdict: I’ve lost 4lbs in the month of January.

Just over a week ago, I was feeling rather frustrated, in particular because I felt tired and run down and my weight wasn’t dropping. However, things feel as though they are looking up.

I’m still looking for a good SAD lamp solution and price, but in the meantime, I’m taking more vitamin D. I hit my gym targets last week and this month I hope to expand my sessions from a half-hour to an hour.

This is what else I’ve been doing:

1. Getting enough protein. I only just discovered I wasn’t getting enough protein even if I sat on my butt all week, let alone working out four-five days a week.  Here’s a great protein calculator.

2. Getting enough protein after my workout so my muscles can rebuild. Again, I thought I was doing enough, but I wasn’t. I started taking Proteins+.

3. Taking fish oils with every meal. I alternate between salmon oil and Omega 3-6-9 to my body doesn’t develop a tolerance. This something my trainer recommended. I take six total a day.

4. Tracking my food intake and planning my week of meals. I started tracking my protein just this past week as well as calories.

5. Getting enough sleep.

6. Watching the sodium intake. I gained 5lbs over night after eating the Tim Hortons chili for lunch one day! Talk about water retention.

7. I weigh myself same time every week.

8. Stopped eating after 8 pm and very little carbs at dinner / evening.

I’m at the point where all of this is close to becoming habit. I think hitting three-week mark really helped. I still have one cheat day a week but for the most part I am following the above without feeling deprived.

The first episode of Star Trek to air 1966 was about a salt vampire that preyed on humans by leaching the salt from their bodies.

If the salt vampire was around on Earth, it wouldn’t have to feed off humans. It would just have to head over to Manchu Wok for a three item plate!

Until recently I never worried about sodium intake – I have enough issues to grapple with and my blood pressure is fine. But a couple of weeks ago after having Tim Horton’s chili for lunch on a Friday, I gained 7lbs in water weight!

Fridays, especially when it’s a pay day Friday, are my lunch time nemeses because I usually opt to go out for lunch. Today I indulged in Manchu Wok, which had the shortest line at the food court and probably says something about my food choice.

My lunch alone included nearly 3,000mg of sodium. I’m afraid to add up breakfast AND lunch!

Too much sodium causes other problems as well. One that I think has been plaguing me is morning headaches. By not watching my sodium intake and not drinking enough water I’ve woken up with a headache several times this week. One reason I felt good yesterday morning I think was that my sodium intake the day before was reasonable and I drank plenty of water.

I already pledged to have a small dinner tonight to counter the large lunch. If anyone needs me, I’ll be by the water cooler.

A recent report says the more time you spend on your couch watching TV, the shorter your life span.

I’m screwed.

I have tried cutting my TV hours. But the truth is, I like the medium. I love the medium. With the right creative team, a television show is just as compelling as a movie or a book.

That being said, I rarely watch TV just to have it on. I don’t even have cable. I receive eight channels over the air for free in HD and that’s enough to catch the few prime time shows I watch when they actually air.

I spend most of my time watching TV on DVD or stuff I’ve pulled off the Internet. When I watch something, it’s something specific I want to watch as opposed to just flicking through aimlessly.

Does the fact that I canceled my cable and put the money toward my monthly gym membership fee score me any points?

I woke up feeling fairly decent today. Not early enough to go to the gym, but early enough to make breakfast, brew coffee and make a lunch.

I have no idea why. I felt lousy the night before. I had a headache and didn’t go to bed until after midnight. I ate more than I should and I didn’t go to the gym (Wednesdays is not a gym day, although I did walk halfway home).

I still feel pretty good as I write this. I’m sure part of the reason is that I’m getting lots of sunshine through my office window (which I’ll miss when my company relocates next month). It makes wonder if I should invest in an SAD lamp.

It’s also possible that after a week of making sure I’m getting enough protein, I’m starting to feel that benefits. I’ve also upped my vitamin D intake.

Regardless, it’s important for me to find out why I feel good just as much as I feel bad. Today is a gym day, so I’ll be going after work. I wonder how I’ll feel tomorrow.

Andrea the Gastronaut has a great round up of food related news items. The second is particularly interesting: “Why Michelle Obama’s Initiative to Reduce Childhood Obesity Will Fail” [Fooducate] The reason? “It is far more profitable for America to ‘fix’ obesity related ailments than to prevent them.”

via Morning reading: In food news.

I’m officially in week four of my diet and exercise regime. My goal was to stick to my meal plans and get to the gym five times a week.

I had a total of three cheat days diet-wise and I only hit the gym four times a week with some additional walking home from work, but I would say I was successful and for once I can actually proclaim I’ve hit week four.

Despite this success, I feel lousy. Halfway through the three-week window I was feeling really run-down, as if I wasn’t treating my sleep apnea, except that my hunger was under control. (Before treating my sleep apnea, I was hungry all of the time for carbs and junk food).

My doctor could offer no explanation since a nutrient screen showed no deficiencies and my thyroid is fine. She suggested it was possibly mood-related and that seeing a nutritionist might help, even though she reviewed my eating habits and agreed I was on course.

In the meantime, I’ve consulted friends who work out, taught boot camps, as well as a colleague who is studying natural medicine part-time and got differing viewpoints on the issue. About half say it’s natural to feel poorly when you ramp your exercise routine. The other half say I should feel good because I am active.

At my last session with my trainer, he created a list of recommendations. One was a reminder to get lots of protein. I always assumed I was getting enough protein because I eat a lot of meat. But with no other explanation apparent as to the cause of my lethargy, I decided to double check.

Turns out I need a lot of protein. At my age with my weight level and build I need about 100g a day if I’m sedentary and about 125g a day if I’m really active, and I would say going to the gym five times a week makes me officially very active. And based on a review of my diet, I was lucky to hit half my required protein intake.

Since Friday I have been trying to up my protein intake. I have protein shakes and bars – without them, I wouldn’t be able to hit my target, even with a protein-rich menu. I am hoping this is the missing piece to the puzzle. Already today I’ve got half of my daily protein requirement thanks to a breakfast sandwich, a tuna sandwich and two protein bars. I’ll make a protein shake after my workout tonight and hopefully hit my mark with my dinner.

I really hope this is the answer.

I’ve often heard that three weeks is an important milestone when developing a new habit; I probably remember this so well because I often fall off the wagon before I hit the three-week mark.

But I’ve come to realize that Day Three is just as significant. It was always the day I started smoking again after quitting numerous times and if it falls on a Wednesday, it’s also the day where I succumb to food cravings.

Today is Wednesday, Day 3 of my new eating regime and so far so good. New Year’s Eve was my last session with my personal trainer (I simply couldn’t afford to continue right now). The last half hour of the session my trainer sat down with me and made some recommendations on how often to exercise, what my focus should be on each day, as well as some eating guidelines.

Changing my eating habits has always been a challenge for me. It’s not just the calorie reduction that’s difficult, it’s eating the right food. More importantly, real food and not simple carbs and refined sugars. However, the suggestions my trainer gave me coupled with the fact that I’m actually sleeping properly has got me thinking that eating better is more achievable than ever.

In a nutshell, I am limiting my carb intake to two servings per day – ideally for breakfast and post workout. That doesn’t include vegetables of course, which I’m doing my best to eat more of, as well as fruits recommended by my trainer.

Here is a breakdown of his recommendations:

• Learn about insulin resistance
• More protein
• More water
• Work towards 2 servings of carbs a day. One for breakfast, one after workout. Try removing carbs completely for a week every 3 months.More Veggies from the  Brassica family (any leafy green, cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, turnip, rapeseed, mustard, radish, horseradish, cress and watercress)
• More fish oils
• Get a nutrient screen
• Fruits that are free: cucumber, tomatoes, apples, berries, any squash, melons, any citrus
• Fruits to eat sparingly: Bananas, mangoes, pineapple, avocado, grapes, cherries.
• All veggies are free foods!
• Good ideas for snacks: Cottage cheese, Small amounts of dark chocolate, veggie sticks, nuts, hard boiled eggs, hummus with veggies.
• Try to cut out all soy products to lower estrogen in the body
• CUT DOWN ON THE BOOZE!!!! This is self-explanatory.

For the most part, this strikes me as doable, aside from the last one. So far, planning meals ahead and trying slow-cooker recipes are helping quite a bit.

As for today, I am doing pretty good, even with two meals from Tim Hortons (I got a gift card for Christmas): Coffee and a breakfast sandwich (600 calories) and chili with a bun (600 calories). I am eating some fresh cut berries as I write this (50 calories) and some carrots with hummus as a snack to hold me over until dinner later this afternoon (100 calories).

Dinner will be a plowman’s lunch plate of sorts, with some lean deli meat, a little bit of cheese and lots of cheese veggies.

As for exercise, today is an off day from the gym, but I went for a walk over lunch and plan to walk home (so I can stop at the comic book store).