The Top10 Things You Should Do If You Test Positive For Alpha1

  • Have A List Of Questions When You See a Doctor About Your Alpha1(If you try to remember the questions you want to ask you may forget half of them)
  • Learn To Breathe Effectively
  • Limit Or Eliminate Your Alcohol Consumption
  • Don't Be Afraid To Be Proactive About Your Alpha1
  • Get Plenty Of Rest(You will likely have a higher oxygenation level)
  • Avoid Sick People(You have a lower immune system than most people)
  • Drink Plenty Of Water
  • Eat Healthy/Avoid Processed Food(Carbonated beverages)
  • Start A Careful Exercise Program/Pulmonary Rehabilitation Program(Your muscles will become more efficient so they won't use as much oxygen and if you have surgery you will likely recover quicker as well)
  • Stop Smoking

Wednesday, September 12, 2007

I need my head examined or is it...what I like best about my fitday?

Because having a public diet and exercise journal BITES!! People get to see the real me...warts and all! All joking aside, I'm really glad I have my very public fitday for two reasons. For one it motivates me more to walk the talk than talk the talk. Secondly, it lets those of you out there that are struggling with your alpha1 and what you know you should do realize you aren't alone in struggling to change your ways!

What I like best about it is that I used to count my every calorie burned while working out, mentally keep track of it and then I would check my weight before and after I worked out. I used to just absolutely drive myself nuts trying to lose weight so I could breathe better and so when I went on augmentation therapy it would be cheaper. I have this friend "Miss Confidence" who I have been friends with since what seems like dirt(8th grade track) who is just skinny as a rail and very serious about her diet. She works out at the same exact time pretty near every day! She fell off the wagon for a while. She's back on track w/ a workout partner. All n'all she's pretty dedicated. I actually think she is as skinny as she was in high school. I don't think many of us nearly 20 -25 years after high school graduation can say that! I hope someday I am as dedicated as her. I met up with a friend uptown tonight and he commented he thought I had lost weight in the face...I told him it was probably from the 2 mugs of coffee I had today. I don't think 2lbs is going to be that obvious!

I went to Wal-Mart tonight and bought myself a new thermos so, I could bring coffee to work to get that caffeine fix! I also bought creamers so I new the exact calories. I think the fitday version isn't very accurate. I still plan to take water bottles to work as well as coffee. I want to try to drink half my weight in ounces of water. I also bought wally world cereal bars for 3 reasons: higher in protein, lower in calories and lower in prices. I also bought the unthinkable....I bought grape jelly for P & J sandwiches for my evening meal. I swear the economy jars in college were larger!!.

I've decided I'd try to do things the way my great grandparents on my Dads side used to do it. Years ago the older people that knew them up here used to tell me they had there big meal at noon and their small meal in the evening. It's only an experiment but, I think it will be interesting to see how it plays out as my great grandparents never looked overweight in most of the old pictures I've seen of them.

Yeah!! I have the right kind of release slip so, I can go back to work tomorrow!

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