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’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).

Last Tuesday I finally got a CPAP machine to treat my sleep apnea. I actually got one quicker than expected and started using it immediately, even though I was traveling on holidays.

Whose bright idea it was to have people where a mask over your nose while sleeping, I have no idea, but getting adjusted to it as been a job of work.

Tuesday night was my first night wearing it, in the Best Western in Bancroft, no less. I woke up a lot throughout the night and ended up taking it off early in the morning.

Wednesday through Friday I was at a cottage staying with an aunt and uncle and found myself going to bed at a reasonable hour every night (no later than 11 p.m.) and took an hour to fall asleep each night, wondering if I would ever get used to wearing an uncomfortable piece of plastic on my face. It was extremely irritating to my upper lip, for one thing.

On the plus side, my aunt, who is a light sleeper, says she did not hear me snore throughout the night, except during the times I admitted to waking up early in the morning and taking it off.

Saturday it occurred that shaving my face might reduce irritation and provide a better fit for the mask, and I think it has helped, especially with reducing the irritation of my upper lip.

I was back in my own bed Saturday, and I think that helped, but it still takes longer to fall asleep and I am waking up more frequently throughout the night.

However, I did get up at 6 a.m. this morning, before my alarm, and I am enjoying a cup of coffee and watching CBC news while posting this entry. I’d like to think that I’m up because I got more sleep, not just because the discomfort of the mask woke me up again.

One day at a time.

I knew this five weeks ago because the technician at the sleep clinic told me. But today the specialist confirmed that  I have sleep apnea; rather severe sleep apnea in fact.

Fortunately, the specialist didn’t hesitate to write me a prescription for a CPAP machine and I have an appointment with a provider first thing Tuesday morning, as well as the necessary follow-up appointments booked. This means I should be pretty much “cured” by late September (cured in that I will have a correctly-configured CPAP machine and hence be reaping the benefits).

Meanwhile,  those of you who require little sleep are mutants.

OK, not really, but Psychology Today has a few articles on sleep which don’t do me a darn bit a good but might be helpful for those who have ruled out sleep apnea.

Can Insomnia Be Fatal?

How to Get Great Sleep

Losing More Than Just Sleep

Even before being diagnosed with sleep apnea, I always believed good sleep habits were essential to good physical and mental health.

Two weeks ago I finally had my sleep test. As a result, there’s good news and bad news.

The good news is I know I have sleep apnea. The bad news is I have to wait another three weeks to meet with a specialist about the exact results and start treatment. And according to research, it could take a few months before I even get a CPAP machine!

In the meantime, there is nothing I can do about my poor sleep. The only thing that will help is a CPAP machine. Sedatives are a no no and sleeping longer will not help either.

This reality is frustrating and depressing and one of the reasons I haven’t written on this blog in a while. My energy levels are so low I can barely focus on watching television.

My intense workouts have been for nought the past few months because the more I worked out, the more my sleep deprived body felt threatened and held on to calories. Of course if I hadn’t joined a gym and been disappointed with my results (as was my trainer), I would never have gone to a sleep clinc.

Looking back, I probably should have gone to sleep clinic 10 years ago. I always assumed I felt tired, run down and mentally unfocused due to poor eating habits and lifestyle choices.

I’m trying to look the bright side: A solution is coming even if I have to wait, but in the meantime I really need a nap….

I did my weekly weigh-in with my trainer – it had actually been two weeks since I got on a scale – and I’ve regained all of the weight I lost from that nasty chest cold.

This means I’ve only lost 7 lbs. in roughly seven months of Weight Watchers and working out intensely three days a week. To say that I’m frustrated doesn’t begin to cover it. I’ve made a lot of sacrifices financially to pay for training which I know is good for me and I’ve given up things I enjoy in the process of developing a healthier lifestyle.

I am finally booked at a sleep clinic Friday night and I hope something is wrong because right now I don’t know why I can’t lose weight and why I have no energy – my annual physical found no anomalies.

Mondays suck as it is, but I’m starting off the week in a bad place, which I hate doing. I’m thinking of cancelling Weight Watchers and just tracking what I eat for a while and upping the exercise quotient. Otherwise, I’m at a loss of what to do.

I finally have an appointment for the sleep clinic – next Friday. I hope it reveals a problem because right now I am frustrated: I sleep eight hours and don’t feel rested.

Getting to the bottom of this issue is key I think to all my other conditions, both physical and mental. In that vein, here’s 11 Reasons Why You Absolutely Need More Sleep (via Dumb Little Man):

1. Studies have shown that staying up all night long (being awake for 17 or more hours) can leave you with a reaction response comparable to that of an intoxicated person with a blood alcohol reading of greater than 0.5. This makes you a definite danger to yourself and to others. Of course this lack of physical and mental control does not simply ‘happen’ at minus 8 hours. For every hour you stay awake you decrease your ability to focus and perform throughout the coming days.
2. Insufficient sleep results in an incomplete hormonal cycle. This means your body cannot produce daytime hormones such as cortisol and adrenaline when it needs them first thing. As a result, you depend on stimulants to keep you going, and set yourself up for another poor night’s sleep. You can’t escape the always tired but always wired cycle you’ve set up for yourself.
3. A classic symptom of this ‘tired but wired’ cycle is not feeling hungry in the morning, or feeling nauseous when you do eat breakfast. Never imagine that this is a convenient way to save on time and calories – the food that you eat first thing stimulates your metabolism and aids in detoxification. Without a good breakfast to line your belly you set yourself up for low energy and poor eating patterns the rest of the day.
4. A poor sleep cycle causes your body to create patterns that will enable you to handle the ongoing sleep of your go-go-go lifestyle. One of these patterns is an excessive release of stress hormones such as cortisol – particularly in the evening. Stress hormones allow you to keep going, but they’re also the ones that keep you up at night, and what’s more – they signal your body to store fat. And that’s regardless of how you’re eating or exercising.
5. Physical patterns such as the release of stress hormones are just one part of the equation. The other thing you need to consider is the compensation patterns that you yourself end up creating. An extra coffee here, a few pieces of candy there, the decision to have that mid-afternoon muffin. When you’re tired your defenses are down and it’s easy to think that these little things don’t count. But they could be the one thing stopping you from losing weight and improving your health.
6. Speaking of sugar, those mid-afternoon cravings are not just in your head. When you don’t have enough sleep your brain continually sends out urgent messages for quick energy. This is a survival instinct – it’s all about keeping you as alert and focused as possible. Will power alone can’t override these cravings – not when you’re fighting your own physiology. This just makes it harder to stick to your healthy eating goals, and the sugar slump doesn’t do you any favors either. The really scary part is that these daily indulgences can mean the hormone named insulin is constantly elevated and you’re setting yourself up for possible diabetes.
7. In fact, it’s not just the mid-afternoon cravings that’ll get you when you’re tired. The truth is that you’ll find yourself eating far more on a daily basis, and that you’ll tend to do it all day long. Breakfast aside, no doubt. You’ll also tend to make poorer choices – more processed foods, more sugary sodas, more starchy carbohydrates or fried foods. And it’s pretty tough to escape this cycle when your eyes are stinging and your motivation is at an all-time low. Leading sleep researchers T.S. Wiley and Bent Formby, Ph.D, in their book ‘Lights Out: Sleep, Sugar, And Survival’ show a close connection between a lack of sleep and the increasing existence of obesity in our society.
8. One of the most unfair symptoms of sleep debt is that inability to wind down come evening time. Of course it shouldn’t really be much of a surprise – not when you’ve spent the better part of the day jacked up on caffeine and sugar. And even if you haven’t, your nervous system is in overdrive which keeps you buzzing all night long but leaves you groggy and useless in the morning. There’s only one way out of this mess, and it’s not more coffee.
9. Back ache, neck ache, tummy ache, headache … when you’re tired it sometimes just seems as though everything hurts. According to Paul Chek, H.H.P, as stated in his book “How To Eat, Move And Be Healthy”, physical repair takes place while you’re sleeping, and it happens in the first half of the night – around 10pm-2am. If you skip those vital first few hours and hit the sack post-midnight with the alarm set for 6 or 7am, your body simply cannot rejuvenate your muscle cells, or indeed any of your cells. This leaves you physically weaker and with constant ailments.
10. Of course you could try going to bed on time and getting up super-early if you still can’t afford yourself a full 8 hours, but according to Paul you’d then you’d be skipping out on crucial psychological repair. This takes place approximately between 2am and 6am, and is directly linked to your mental focus, your moods, and your ability to maintain a positive mindset. Imagine the effects of a lack of sleep over time – small wonder so many people find themselves heading down the dark road of depression or anxiety.
11. It’s pretty hard to climb off the wheel of life when you barely have the energy to get through the day. Missing out on sleep could be costing you a lot more than you realize if it means you’re stuck in the rut of your day-to-day life and simply can’t even begin to contemplate what it would take to make some changes. Whether it’s testing the waters for a new career or a promotion, ending or beginning a relationship, or even just trying out that hobby you’ve been shelving for so long, chances are it’s not going to happen when you’re frazzled and burnt out.

As I mentioned earlier this week, I scheduled a doctor’s appointment this morning to start the investigation into why I’m so tired and lethargic despite an improved diet and exercise regime.

I had a physical just over two months ago, and the good news is my doctor was thorough with the tests she ordered. Not only is my thyroid fine, but she defined some of my results as “gorgeous.” My cholesterol is within reason now, and that is definitely thanks to the exercise.

Since there’s nothing there to indicate a cause for my malaise, we’re going to investigate my sleep habits. I mentioned that even when I get to bed at a reasonable hour and sleep through the night for eight hours I still feel lousy – not just as I adjust to being awake but for the whole day.  So I’ll be heading off to a sleep clinic in the near future.

In the meantime, I’m going to consult my trainer at tomorrow morning’s session to further explore a food plan and whether I might need more calories rather than less.

“There are a million things in this universe you can have and a million things you can’t have. It’s no fun facing that, but that’s the way things are.”

Say what you will about William Shatner’s acting style, Captain Kirk has a great point in the episode “Charlie X.” In yesterday’s rant, er post, I alluded to the sacrifices I’ve made as part of my fitness and diet regime. I’ve had to give things up and some days I resent it, but that’s life.

The fact is, if you really want to change your life, you often have to give things up. This is especially true with dieting. Plenty of diet plans advertised on TV insist you can eat anything you want and you won’t have to give up your favorite foods, but it’s a load of crap. You will not lose weight by having a pint or two at the pub after work several days a week. You won’t lose weight if you inhale a medium pizza and wings on a Friday night and wash it down with a 2L bottle of Coke. And you won’t lose weight if you eat a Tim Horton’s muffin for breakfast every morning.

Some things are just not good for you and some things can’t even be eaten in moderation. An occasional treat, yes, but pizza and chicken wings will blow your calorie count out of the water even in small portions – it’s just their nature. Guinness, while great for keeping your iron up, is unfortunately empty calories.

For many years, I enjoyed beer after work, pizza and wings on Friday nights and sitting on the couch as much as possible – when I wasn’t sitting on a bar stool. I really enjoyed the ride, but now it’s time to pay the piper. If you start making exceptions to the rules of the diet or fitness regime you’ve chosen, you’re not going to reach your goals. And if you’re not ready to make sacrifices for something you really want, you’re going to fail.

How bad do you want it?