When I went to a no carb diet, I was lower energy in the beginning until I took a multivitamin. Made a big difference. But, no carbs is a tough diet to keep in the long run.
Instead of no carbs, after the Passover Seders, I put myself on a diet that is very simple: No starch (not no carbs but no potatoes, bread, rice, pasta, corn, starch-heavy beans, etc.) and not added sugar which means no desserts except for fruit or fruit and cheese and avoiding sauces that probably have significant added sugar. With this diet, I don’t have a loss of energy. And, if I get it basically right, it seems to work. I have lost more than 10 pounds slowly but steadily. I find this diet really easy to do because the rules are so simple.
I don’t have the same discipline I had as a young man for exercise (I was on sports teams and then in grad school, was able to work out to exhaustion weightlifting, playing squash, or sculling). I can’t do that any more. So now, I have hired a personal trainer who is a physical therapist to come in once to three times a week. Plus yoga class once a week. [All when not traveling]. So, much less discipline required. I never wanted to pay someone to get me to exercise, but for a decade, I wasn’t executing and now I am. Then, we can throw in optional stuff like bike rides or going to the gym when I am traveling.
missypie, get your thyroid checked and have a CBC (complete blood count) to check iron and glucose levels. Thyroid can get wonky as we age. Unusual levels of fatigue should be evaluated carefully. BTDT.
OTOH, you are certainly entitled to relaxation at the end of the day, esp. as you are doing different things at work lately which are probably giving you more of a mental workout that your usual caseload. DH works crazy hours in a very stressful environment, and he crashes every night and takes all day Saturday to sleep and recharge for the next round. It takes him longer to bounce back than it used to.
I find that yoga helps a lot. I sleep better after an evening class so that helps my energy level. I try to balance weekends with getting something done, doing something social, some sort of physical activity and relaxing which for me is reading (I rarely watch TV). All of that helps but I still don’t have the energy I did several years ago.
I haven’t really done the no carb thing – just lowering them. Trying to eat better overall. I probably need more water though as NM suggested. I’ll need to try to figure out how to do that. I go to the gym and recently am trying to eat better but still no weight loss. I think my body just LIKES being fat! Just won’t give up the pounds. I am doing online weight watchers, haven’t cheated, and STILL haven’t lost any weight. I don’t even put in my exercise as I have a fitbit so there is NO way to cheat on that and I have it linked to my weightwatchers account. Oh well maybe one day I’ll just wake up and be 20 lbs or more lighter (yeah right! )
ShawWife used to have a (scarily) prodigious amount of energy. There has been a decline, which I think has to do with her endocrinal shifts, thyroid included. Worth checking out.
Because of her (although I like it too), we do have more than our share of social engagements. Last night, we went out to dinner with a couple who had gone away for 6+ months to get a liver transplant – it worked and he is great. Tonight, we go out with a couple we met through others who live here but just bought a house in Sausalito. The husband is an exceedingly successful VC and the wife is an aspiring artist. Could be interesting. Then tomorrow, we go to NJ to help my 91 year old mother interview real estate agents (and then she’ll probably complain to me about me; ah well).
I read somewhere (so it must be true) that dehydration is the single greatest cause of afternoon fatigue. Since then I’ve been trying to drink a lot more, especially in the afternoons, and even when I don’t feel thirsty (that’s the hard part). I think it does make a difference – during the afternoon at least. But last night I was still pretty tired by 8 or so – I think horseback riding (which takes a lot of physical and mental exertion for me) in the late afternoon heat played a role in that. Probably should have drunk even more than I tried to!
We essentially adhere to the “no flour/no sugar” diet, so it’s lots of vegies, fruits, grains, proteins, etc. Because we both exercise a fair amount, we try to make sure we get enough protein. I agree: it’s a very simple way to keep eating healthily and lose weight, too.
I think we all get to cut ourselves some slack for doing what we do at “our age.”
1961 for me. H 1960. I did the graduate college, get married, have a kid and have another kid on the fast track. Graduated college in 1983, married in 1984 and my first was born in 1988 with the second one in 1991. Still married to the same crazy guy that I met in college.
Good morning!
My energy levels seem to relate directly to copious amounts of coffee I think without it, there’s a chance I don’t even perambulate…
I think I told you guys my favorite “joke” (but true) about the leader of a meditation class I used to attend consulting Deepak Chopra about me during a training session, right? She texted me from the session to tell me Deepak said I am falling asleep during meditation because I am not sleeping enough It was kinda hilarious. No mystique there…
But seriously, coffee aside, a short morning workout, in my case, trudging a mie up the hill and/or 20-30 minutes of aquajogging seems to give me more energy. That said, I will catnap still while reading a book in the evening, then revive a little and stay up a tad too late all over again
I love summer, because I love night swimming, which is actually night floating in my case. Had a great float and discussion last night with the juniors who were discussing their disgust at rampant political apathy and social injustice that seems pervasive to them. I explained that people over time just get emotionally exhausted and disillusioned so they “kill off” people and issues they don’t know what to do about. Made me realize just how complacent I myself have become compared to these ferocious young ideologues
The irony of the hot topics discussed was there I was in my very first-world, big carbon footprint pool heated to 90 degrees, having paid a guy to send my mosquitos to mosquito heaven (while praying idiotically that I haven’t hurt the honeybees that come to visit) floating on my neoprene chemically formed floatie that likely contributed to a chemical blob at the bottom of a lake or river somewhere, that I purchased at a big box store that uses “dark store tax strategy” to reduce its local property taxes so that the city can’t even afford the resources it uses to control crime in the parking lot…
And yet there I am, floating away, happy as a clam, knowing that comfort can kill passion and nonetheless immensely enjoying the heated discussion and the nearness to all this young fire about the world.
Its kind of surreal to remember yourself sometimes
LOL, I skipped my double espresso this morning at the fake Starbucks here at work and am trying to get by on water. I can’t imagine that will go well.
I am positive that I don’t get enough (1) exercise, (2) quality sleep or (3) protein. (My thyroid is great, however…I see my endro. twice a year and watch my levels closely.) I also think I have become lazy…or at least the new empty nester’s version of it. I love to come home and think that there is nothing that absolutely has to be done. No school activities to attend, no school related meetings to attend, no homework to monitor, no cupcakes to be brought to school. After 24 for years of every evening being full of “have to’s” , it’s great to have no musts. But I am very aware that I need to find some 'want to’s" that are strong enough to keep me off the couch after work.
Alas, yoga. It is very difficult to find a class that meets late enough at night. My studio used to have a 7:30 pm class that I really enjoyed, but it was discontinued. I need to make a renewed effort to find one.
Z, if I had gone horseback riding, I would feel so righteous that I would feel entitled to be tired by 8 pm.
I think my main problem in riding at the moment is memory. My (youthful, energetic) instructor gives me a pattern to ride (down center line, track left, circle at B, etc.etc.) – and I seem to promptly forget what I’m supposed to do. I think she’s both somewhat annoyed and amused; I try not to be too terribly embarrassed!
kmc, I do worry about my thoughts/beliefs being inconsistent with my actions/lifestyle. Last week we visited the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis. What really struck me was the level of organization of the civil rights movement of the 50s/60s. I was so impressed with a brochure they displayed about integrating restaurants in a certain area. It gave step by step instructions for trying to be served, but it told when to bow out if you weren’t willing to be arrested. I thought that was so realistic and respectful…it told people how to fight for their cause, at various levels of involvement.
Same sex marriage is now legal in the US. I admit that I was one whose views “evolved.” It took a bit of time to get used to the idea, as do many ideas that are different from what one is used to. I am acquainted with one of the named plaintiffs in the Texas case (that was part of the bundle of cases the SCOTUS decided.) (He worked in a client’s legal department.) I am happy for him. Also a friend from college who has been with his partner longer than H and I have been married and is planning to marry soon.
Had my colonoscopy yesterday – much easier prep than a decade ago, and very glad to have it done. Whew.
Ran into an old acquaintance in the waiting room, and we ended up in adjacent pre-procedure rooms, so we just pulled aside the intervening curtain and had a nice chat. It startled each of the nurses/doc who came by, but soon we got hauled off. Nice for H to have someone to chat with while their respective spouses were being scoped.
Enjoying a few moments of quiet. Dropped H off at his aunt’s house earlier - they are driving to his family reunion. I am busy at work as is D and S is still overseas so H is having to represent us all.
D’s bridal shower was yesterday and went very well. Four of her friends from NYC were able to come down and 3 are staying at my house right now. Fun having them here, they are great girls.We are going to the bridal store this AM to pick up bridesmaid dresses. Three have already been picked up and there were fitting issues with two of them. I am a little concerned.
I’ll be attending a grad party this afternoon and then hope to get to yoga. I am home alone (except for the dog) for eleven days.
Heading up the coast tomorrow for a “reunion”: my mom’s four sisters (there were five daughters, no sons in the family), and all their daughters (i.e, my 9 female cousins). My brother says this sounds like no fun at all (party pooper).
I’ve been doing some research on our grandfather, who was a CO during WWI: he was court martialed, sentenced to 28 years in prison, and sent to the federal penitentiary at Ft. Leavenworth. He only served 6 months, so far as we can tell, and was released when a number of others were too (some were “furloughed” to other kinds of service). Swarthmore (Quaker by background) keeps all kinds of records/archives of the historic “peace churches.” Most of the COs were actually Mennonite. Our family is neither, but does have a similar background in a different church. I found my grandfather’s name, and account of his psychological review (“fanatic, seems sincere”). I can piece together what life could have been like for him from the accounts we have from others; but we’ve got no letters or anything from him. My mother says he never talked about it. I can see why.
That is fascinating arabrab. I found a lot of my family on my paternal grandfather’s side were Quakers, but no CO’s (that I know of). They were very progressive abolishonists.
Researching family history – I’ve probably mentioned I got caught up in that during the many, many snowstorms we had this past winter. I’m totally fascinated by this stuff. My father and I are doing a “road trip” in August to hunt for his paternal grandmother’s grave. (It’s only about an hour from my hometown.)
Over the last several days we’ve had some much needed rain. Better weather this week, but still quite cool. Makes us wonder if we’ll end up having a real summer.
Agreed, shaw. As I said, I’m pretty sure H is mostly bothered by what this means in the larger scheme of life – that his little girl really is grown up. While I know H also wants any future grandchildren to be raised Catholic (his religion, not mine), he also knows that’s not his decision to make. I’m sure D and her BF will have those discussions if living together progresses to marriage, just as H and I did. If D and her BF marry and choose not to go to church every Sunday, that’s their decision. I know in my heart they would still raise children who are “good” people in every sense of the word – and that’s what important.
So good to hear that boysx3 is doing so well. Please report in about lunch, CountingDown.
Agree with the others who are totally coffee-dependent! On the mornings I play 18 holes of golf (walking), it’s always a tough decision about whether I have a 2nd cup. If I do, I’ll definitely need a pit stop part way through, but that can be a problem since it may hold up the group behind us. I do get quite a bit of exercise, though – which is why I’m apt to fall asleep while watching TV or a movie. H gets annoyed by it, but since he doesn’t exercise at all, I figure mine is the lesser offense.
Just won’t give up the pounds. I am doing online weight watchers, haven’t cheated, and STILL haven’t lost any weight. I don’t even put in my exercise as I have a fitbit so there is NO way to cheat on that and I have it linked to my weightwatchers account. 
I think without it, there’s a chance I don’t even perambulate…