This is a journal to help me learn LC tactics and to record LC success as 2007 draws to an end and 2008 looms large and hopeful ahead of me.

Wish me luck! Luck?

Ah, luck is the residue of design.

Found that in a fortune cookie, ages ago.

Fits into the LC mantra about how failing to plan is planning to fail. So my plans start out each day with a hot slosh of WPP+cocoa+espresso+VCO so that I start off feeling like a LC success. Yay, me!

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LC - what's it all about?

Posted 12-20-2007 at 08:28 AM by Zer
Updated 12-20-2007 at 08:35 AM by Zer

What a ditz! I just posted a comment on the comments on my prior post! Now I see that I can post to my blog (as I'm now doing) - sigh, what a steep learning curve I have!

LC - what's it all about??? Oh, I came to LC to lose weight. First read Atkins just about the time I decided to try WLSurgery in mid 1970s. Bad idea for me, personally, and it was reversed just in time to keep me from vanishing altogether. I got back all of the weight I'd lost (200# in 10mos) and will never regain some of the function I lost through malnutrition. I starved for 10mos, was not able to sustain any digestive function. Bad news for muscles and nerves deprived of nutrition. I am now living with a residual neuropathy from the death of nerves that did not grow back after I was reconnected. Got back almost all of my small intestine. Now I can digest food again.

Now I am learning about nutritional values in various foods and am struggling to figure out how to manage to ingest 135g of protein daily. That's about 21oz of fish/flesh/eggs a day. Urk. Thank goodness (and ALGittleman) for WPP (whey protein powder) that delivers my first 20g of protein daily. Kickstarts my LC life!

Came back to Atkins in 2003 or so and found great support online. Found nutrition info as well. I'm gathering courage to weigh and measure me, so I can begin my journal here with data that I intend to change as I move from 400# (top measured weight was 508#) down the scale (don't own any...yet) to 199# (my primary goal). At that point, I buy scales and become a daily weigher and a monthly measurer. Until then, I'm focusing on better BEHAVIORS around food. I figure that will show up in diminishing size. Makes sense to me.

What I most like about LC today is how I am learning to change BEHAVIORS and how I think about food as fuel for functional cells that carry on all sorts of work in my body. Wow!

That is some exciting stuff to learn at 63!

That's my good news for Dec.20, 2007.

I'm getting myself geared up for a successful LC year in 2008, as I turn 64 and start my 65th year on this planet. Wrong planet? Oh, don't get me started on that Asperger's theme <g> as I am still celebrating my late-life dx at 60. What a RELIEF to find out that my traits are all part of Asperger's. Major RELIEF! Whew!

I thought I was slipping into Alzheimer's, I did! Scary thought, having seen an aunt and uncle outlive their sharp brain function. Scary! So I am glad to find out that my brain is wired a little different, that I am Aspie, and that I have a processing challenge. That's what it boils down to. Aspies process info a little differently. We miss social cues. I ask you to be direct and blunt with me, if and when I tread too hard on feelings. Perseveration is an Aspie trait. We persist. We delve into areas of interest. It can be a drag for a Normal person. Be direct with me. I appreciate that. I need that. Thanks!

Have yourself a great LC day, unless you've made Other Planz...it's a joke, sort of... but we all know that FAILING TO PLAN IS PLANNING TO FAIL. What's in YOUR fridge? Got plenty of LC food set up and ready to nosh? Uh-huh.

Comments 17

Total Comments 17

Comments

	I don't have plenty of lc food available. I need to plan and cook. I do well when I plan and cook. I'll be able to cook this weekend. It's a long weekend.
	Posted 12-20-2007 at 11:41 AM by Zuleikaa

	Ah, Zule, your housewarming continues with more family time in your new abode? Plenty of cooking involved in that sort of thing. By the new year, your home should be fully 'warmed' and full of all sorts of memories. Do get pix, please!
	Posted 12-20-2007 at 03:05 PM by Zer

	Hey Zer Looks like you're starting to move forward with your protein goals. Good for you!!!
	Posted 12-23-2007 at 05:21 AM by LynnScarlet

	You're great, Zer! Love your attitude. You are going to have a fantastic 2008!
	Posted 12-23-2007 at 06:13 AM by tokenyanke

Just found and consumed some canned Atkins shakes that I bought and stashed a while back. Only 15g protein in 11oz mixture that claims to be 30% of a day's protein needs? At 45g, that's not nearly the 148g that I've computed my need for cell nourishment at 400# (pounds x 0.37g); but so what?

Drinking a few of these kept me from browsing/grazing in a kitchen fraught with carby peril. Dreadful to admit it, but I owe my LC virtue to a dreadful concoction that is not nearly so tasty as my hot slosh (WPP+cocoa). Now that I see the expiration date on these cans, I shall finish up my supply and be done with canned shakes. Two in fridge, so I shall gain some active storage space when they're gone.

Stocking up and keeping things in active use is a part of LC living that is a challenge for me. I think I need a list of what's on hand, what is fresh and what is getting old. My supplements now fill a drawer. I need that drawer for other things. I just don't remember what all the pills are for, which is anti-inflammatory and which is whatever it is that impelled me to buy fish oil and krill oil and stuff that now awaits my remembering to dole out the pills daily.

Tracking what I eat is a habit now.
Tracking supplements can be a habit too.
I'm building a new me, one step at a time.

So I'm starting up again with stuff I have stuffed into my top drawer, with an eye to benefiting from taking pills to bolster my autoimmune system and...whatEVER! Yay, me!

Posted 01-06-2008 at 11:44 PM by Zer Zer is online now

My circuitous Aspie processing is bringing me - at last - to a few LC conclusions that are radical changes for me in how I think about things like scales - not evil messengers of doom but more like friendly tools that can help me get accurate data that I can use to improve the quality of my life.

Aspie? That's short for Asperger's, a diagnosis I came to on my own at 60 and sought official confirmation of from a social worker who knows me well for a long time and from an associate of hers, a psychologist who told me I am not the oldest person to come to him with a discovery of a dx that resolves a lifetime of confusion. I'm Aspie!

Here are a couple of posts I wrote as someone asked me about Asperger's and I explain how it is possible to live a lifetime without knowing why life is so difficult for Aspies:

Quote:

On Asperger's as a processing difference (not a disorder)
Quote: Originally Posted by cleochatra at "300+ Support"
Zer-- do you have Asperger's? I'm asking because I saw your blog's title, and I have a few high-functioning autism kids.
Yep, I'm an Aspie. Did not find my dx until I was 60 and had lived a life full of catastrophic collisions with NTs (NeuroTypicals) in the workplace and various social networks that found me implausible and impossible. Tossed me, ostracized me, generally gave up on me as worthwhile. An online contact with an autistic adolescent son cued me to read up on autistic lists and I found a novel by Eliz.Moon: "Speed of Dark" - and read it as fast as my eyes could go, then called a social worker who is available to me for free. Convinced her to read up on Asperger's as we talked on phone and she thumbed through DSM (aka Damn Silly Manual) to discover what I told her was a MUCH better fit for me than the "depression" I'd been labeled with for some 35yrs by various dull MDs who could not add up a classic list of Aspie traits. Duh! Social worker set up an hour's visit with a psychologist who concluded I was, indeed, Aspie - and who said my HMO has no program or treatment to offer adult Aspies. They do some work with young Aspies to help get them through school and through life, but no help is offered to adult Aspies who fell through the net. He did tell me I am not the oldest person he's seen and dx'd.

Anyway, at 60 I discovered that I have a processing speed that differs from many people I meet in life. I am clueless to social signals. I am also gifted in ways peculiar to Aspies, which is what probably made my publishing work so rewarding. The work/task is one that rewards intense concentration. Communicating with co-workers was always a problem, but accomplishing impossible tasks often compensates for my shortcoming in interpersonal communication. Not always. Even online, I have had catastrophic collisions that result in being ostracized - to my utter dismay and confusion. This happened on a LC list in Dec.2007. Awful mess!

As often happens in life, serendipty functions and I came to this LCFriends list in hopes of finding acceptance here. Lucky me, being tossed off an intolerant list, eh? Else I'd still be caught up in situations that did not bode well for my growth as a LC4Lifer. I've learned a lot in the short time I've been reading and writing at LCFriends.

I'm blessed, in that serendipity plays a huge part in my life - hence my online handle: ZerendipT! Zer for short!

I hope your kids are receiving coaching, which helps. Just knowing I'm Aspie has helped me to understand why folks are often so upset with me. I cannot fix that, but I can now comprehend how difficult it is to deal with an Aspie.

And a 2d post from same day, same thread:

Quote:

On late-life Asperger's dx (at 60 - and what a RELIEF!!!)
Quote: Originally Posted by Need2LoseNow:
wow! thats the longest ive ever heard of a person going without a diagnosis! that mustve been difficult for you. and this is precisely my problem with MDs doling out psychological diagnoses!
Not just MDs. I've seen a series of therapists since I first started talking about stuff at the age of 26 or so. Social workers have been best for me, but I've made it a point to meet with ANY therapist who I heard of in a way that sounded to me as if I might find answers that I lacked.

Current social worker will not admit to a wrong dx. She says my 'depression' is in remission. I suppose that is a professional way of dodging the truth, that I've paid masses of money to my HMO for group therapy sessions and sat with others who may indeed have been authentically depressed. I saw nice people try to figure out why I was able to work, to get up and out of bed daily, when it was more than they could manage. My take on that is just a simple one - I was never truly depressed in a clinical sense.

I was often sad and bummed out about being out of step with co-workers, employers, family and friends - and being obese is no picnic either - but I habitually wake up happy to see a new day. That's my Aspie habit. That is one of the things that sometimes drives folks absolutely mad. Rabid. I'm perpetually on the lookout for a pony, as I dig my way out of heaps of poop in the belief that there just MUST be a pony if there is so much manure!

So my current social worker (and her predecessor), both lovely people, are not able to admit that I've been badly dx'd for all of my life, by a series of schoolteachers who saw me for brief periods (we moved every 3yrs or so) and by therapists I paid for professional guidance since 1970 or so. Even as I talked with current social worker and she thumbed through her DSM, I had to sell her as she read various other dx to me that lie near Asperger's on a spectrum of some sort. But she DID set up a session to confirm MY own dx, and that psychologist and she conferred and I now have a letter in my file - and in my hot little hands - in case I can locate anyone who cares or who can help Aspie adults. So far, I've been turned away by agencies that register kids with Asperger's; they want to see diagnostic stuff from gradeschool to certify that I have a lifetime dx. But there is noplace for me to look for what does not - far as I know - exist. If anyone at any school saw this in me, it was not made known to me. I think I was just considered dim and dull, until a statewide testing in Ohio brought me to the attention of teachers who had ignored me for several years. They moved me from the back of the class to the front row - and told me I was an underachiever. Some reward, huh, for scoring off the scale on their dang tests! Probably standard for any Aspie, to be blamed for traits that are part of my hardwiring, for how I see the world.

Posted 02-24-2008 at 11:09 AM by Zer Zer is online now

Yet another person speaks of suspected Asperger's at home, to which I respond thus:

Quote:

For me, finding my Asperger's dx was SUCH A RELIEF - even at 60, so late in life - and it freed up acres of braincells from fretting about the obstacles I find that interfere with making a living and with forming a support network. Now I know. I'm not broken - a word that I heard from my own lips as I talked with a long-time social worker who helped me cinch my dx. I'd not said that BEFORE, but it's the word that I heard as I rattled on my IMMENSE RELIEF after my dx.

Broken. I had decided that I was broken. Ruined. Eff'd up. A total loss.

Anyway, all of that was laid to rest when I discovered Asperger's. My own dx. Finally a dx that fit me like a glove. Believe me, it's an IMMENSE RELIEF.

No cure? So what? I've got acres of braincells that are now free to do things that are a LOT more interesting than trying to work out life issues that are WAY beyond my capability to resolve. I'm just fine. I'm not broken. What a RELIEF!

I can only hope that anyone who's lived a life of confusion, as I have, will find a similar relief in discovering that being Aspie is not a Bad Place to be. Processing data at a different speed is mostly what hangs me up, so I tell folks that I'm Aspie and that I am not good at responding on the wing. I need time to absorb, consider, decide - then second-guess myself. I wear myself out trying to select one of several similar items at a grocery store. Typical. My shopping list is practically carved in stone, with a dozen or so items that serve me well. When I can, I get someone to pick up my staple items. It's simply exhausting to deal with the confusion of shopping on my own.

So, I hope anyone with Asperger's finds comfort in a dx. Beats not knowing!

There are coaching tips for Aspies, even online coaches who work by phone, so a person who wants to work at improving social skills CAN acquire some coping skills. It's not a cure, but it helps.

Posted 02-24-2008 at 09:12 PM by Zer Zer is online now

As I consider my shift in outlook on the value of scales and weighing, I'm sure it's one of the delayed processing aspects of Asperger's that brings me to this point at 64 - after I for so long dreaded scales and weighing. Now it seems to me that scales are useful tools for determining accurate data. Knowing what I truly weigh beats guessing and dreading an eventual weigh-in at the doctor's office. This is just one of the many gifts my association with LC support lists has brought into my life. Wow!

Asperger's has some interesting aspects as well as odd aspects. This article sheds light on Aspie positives:

Quote:

Einstein, Newton displayed autistic traits

Albert Einstein and Isaac Newton displayed symptoms of psychiatric disorders that may have been a key to their genius, a Dublin psychiatrist said. Michael Fitzgerald, Professor of Psychiatry at Trinity College, Dublin, said characteristics linked to autism spectrum disorders such as Asperger's syndrome are the same as those associated with creative genius, The Daily Telegraph said.

Fitzgerald, author of the book, "Genius Genes: How Asperger Talents Changed the World," said Enoch Powell and Charles de Gaulle both appear to have had Asperger's syndrome. Speaking at a meeting of the Royal College of Psychiatrists' Academic Psychiatry, Fitzgerald said De Gaulle's Asperger's syndrome was critical to his success. He was aloof, had a massive memory, lacked empathy with other people, and was extremely controlling and dominating.

Isaac Newton was known to work non-stop for days and Einstein worked in a patent office because he was too disruptive to get a university job, the newspaper said.

"Psychiatry tends to focus almost exclusively on the negative side of different forms of mental illness," Fitzgerald said in statement. "I want to show that psychiatric disorders can also have positive dimensions."

Source: http://www.physorg.com/news123084642.html

So anyone with Asperger's might hope to find a niche in which Aspie traits are an asset. That, for me, is the chief benefit of finding an Aspie dx at 60. It freed up my weary braincells from trying to understand why I so often am frustrated in trying to mesh with social situations or work situations that demand more skill than I - or any Aspie - have at my fingertips. Now I know why I am sometimes dismaying to those who fit into the herd.

Posted 02-27-2008 at 11:02 PM by Zer Zer is online now

Updated 02-27-2008 at 11:04 PM by Zer

What is LC about? Part of being part of a LC forum is writing. Reading and lurking is not nearly so rewarding as is writing out what is eating at me (not so much what I'm eating) and how I am coping with some barriers to successful LC living.

Just wrote the following on a thread encouraging lurkers to write - not just read in lurkdom - and to share their LC journey so that we writers may see who else is here at LCFriends. So many lurkers. So few writers, actually.

In writing out my problems about dealing with food - an addiction to milk in particular - I have found my own solutions and have discovered that risking writing my foolishness out for a world of LC'ers to read is not the Worst Possible Thing I Can Do.

Sure, I feel silly at times. However, I have seen changes in how I think about things like scales and weighing myself. Someday I hope to be unmoved by how sweet milk calls my name, promises me satisfaction, lies to me about lies I was taught in grade school: MILK IS NATURE'S MOST NEARLY PERFECT FOOD!

So help me, that was what I was taught in grade school and that is something imprinted on my soul. Why else do I crave milk as I do? I actually dream about milk, about the joy of chugging cold sweet milk. Crazy dreams! Crazy how I crave milk. Just sheer lunacy!

Cow juice is probably responsible for more than half my excess weight, as I drank close to a gallon a day for decades. Yes, I did.

I'm switching over to eggs as nature's most nearly perfect food!

Fact is, I worship eggs - the incredible edible egg is the ultimate cell, with a golden nucleus floating in a pure white body. Easter is about eggs as symbols of rebirth, fertility. Spring is about fertility rites and is a good time to consider the incredible edible egg that serves LC plans so well.

An egg is nature's sign of a new life, a promise that I too can be reborn as a healthy LC person with a slim body if I embrace the incredible edible egg in its many forms.

Just a simple boiled egg is a thing of beauty, with its rich fatty yellow yolk and a barely firm eggwhite so filled with protein! Scrambled to a soft custardy golden firmness, an egg satisfies hunger perfectly. Add a bit of butter to melt atop a scrambly egg, add a bit of fresh-grated Asiago. Ah, heaven! Have you had your egg today? If not, why not?

Posted 03-25-2008 at 10:51 AM by Zer Zer is online now

Taking the Fear Out of Eating Fat

http://www.lowcarbfriends.com/bbs/ma...l#post10229878 leads to a Weston Price site and an article about "Taking the Fear Out of Eating Fat" that resonates with me. I still have a struggle picking up cream at the market and using it before it goes bad in my fridge. Cream cheese too seems sinful to me. Using it to make creamy sauces or just to melt atop a heap of golden scrambly eggs makes me wonder if I am fooling myself about it being completely LC/Atkins legal. http://www.westonaprice.org/transition/fatfear.html

Posted 04-24-2008 at 05:19 AM by Zer Zer is online now

LC guidelines to avoid GM foods

One of the benefits of eating LC may be that we avoid the new disease that is linked to eating GM (genetically modified) food. By seeking out UNprocessed food and organic food, LC'ers are likely to be among the folks who avoid horrific symptoms that are described in an article by Dr.Mercola at Dr.Mercola on Monsanto, GM food, Morgellon’s Disease

Quote:

Here are four simple steps to decrease your consumption of GM foods as much as possible:

Reduce or eliminate processed foods in your diet. The fact that 75 percent of processed foods contain GM ingredients is only one of the many reasons to stick to a whole foods diet.

Read produce and food labels. Conventionally raised soybeans and corn make up the largest portion of genetically modified crops. Ingredients made from these foods include high fructose corn syrup (HFCS), corn flour and meal, dextrin, starch, soy sauce, margarine, and tofu.

Buy organic produce. By definition, food that is certified organic must be free from all GM organisms, produced without artificial pesticides and fertilizers and from an animal reared without the routine use of antibiotics, growth promoters or other drugs. Additionally, grass-fed beef will not have been fed GM corn feed.

Look at produce stickers. The PLU code on stickers for conventionally grown fruit consists of four numbers, organically grown fruit has five numbers prefaced by the number nine, and GM fruit has five numbers prefaced by the number eight.

Chilling, the idea that the world is being crippled by companies that require farmers to buy GM seed rather than to save seed from a good crop to plant in another year. What sense does this make?

Posted 05-02-2008 at 02:13 AM by Zer Zer is online now

Updated 05-02-2008 at 02:21 AM by Zer

Responding to a LCFriend who is concerned how best to help a suspected Aspie g'son whose parents are not open to thinking that their 5yr-old might benefit from an assessment, I found myself writing of my own discoveries as I embraced my late-life dx at 60. Figure I'll put it here, as I've already put in some stuff about Asperger's and what it means to me to fit in with Aspies, a subculture of its own.

Quote:

As you accept your g'son and do not press him to interact, I think he will hear you as you explore ideas that come to mind. I'd think you might talk about how YOU manage making choices (a really difficult thing for me to do) and how YOU do things that seem to be challenging for him (as I find it helps me to have a script when I meet new people, new situations). Best to talk while not looking at, possibly while working with clay or gardening or anything that has busy hands and does not require eye contact. It is easier for an Aspie to hear when not pressed to make eye contact. Find quiet things to do side by side, if you can.

You will just have to read up on Aspie stuff, then see if you can catch ways in which to present helpful scripts or novel approaches to learning things that do not come clear. Learning from books is difficult for me. Handling stuff helps me to learn. As your g'son is learning basic math, he might benefit from all sorts of hands-on counting or learning methods. Learning styles, that's what it's called. Pictures in the mind is how some Aspies describe their learning process. Might be you can get some communication going if you set up a fingerpainting activity. I think there are recipes online for edible fingerpaints and washable fingerpaints. I recall enjoying the mess of fingerpainting and it might reveal something as you and your g'son play at this together. Art is a way of expressing feelings, things that might not articulate. Good luck!

Building blocks might interest him. Things that have gears might intrigue a kid. Trains and tracks are fun to play with. Dinosaurs fascinate kids, so a kit to put together a dinosaur skeleton might be worth hunting up. Puzzles? Things that go together, that fit together, that can be lined up. It's all good!

What I found myself blurting out to explain my RELIEF at discovering what a good fit Asperger's is for me surprised me. I told my long-time counselor, a social worker who mostly listens to me, that I WASN'T BROKEN, I WAS ASPIE!

Shocked me, but it sums up well what I thought about being out of step so often - I thought I was broken, defective. Not until I learned about Asperger's did I realize I was part of a vast community of people who did not fit into their cultures and who made their way as best they could - not fitting in.

If you can suggest to your g'son that the world is changed by people who think outside the box - he may find that he is content to be out of step. I'd start reading him stories that talk about inventors and explorers and astonishing people who made discoveries and who were different from others. This might give him a sense of community. It does that for me. I enjoy thinking of the people who pressed forward to discover things that no one else considered worth doing.

Posted 05-17-2008 at 11:42 PM by Zer Zer is online now

Asperger's? Processing-speed. Easy-overload. Aghhh!

Was asked to describe Asperger's - and thought it might be a good idea to add that post to my growing BLOG, so here goes:

Quote:

With a late-life dx at 60, I am still learning about a life-long condition that involves processing speed that is often slower, occcasionally faster, than many NTs - NeuroTypicals, the average normal person, most of whom are impatient with Aspies who have "executive dysfunction" and who have a tough time making decisions fast enough for the average person who moves swiftly through daily decisions that put me into a stall much like when my colorful screen cursor simply spins and spins.... There are other traits, mostly involving security in doing things the same way day after day. One Australian has listed Aspie traits as positives, a way of seeing talents that are found in explorers and inventors (and social outcasts, martyrs) through history - and I like to read Tony Attwood's view of Aspie traits as I struggle to make the best of my own Aspie hardwiring. Attwood's list is a good one to draw from as an Aspie is writing a resume or a personal profile.

Some of the Aspie stuff works well for me as a LC'er who can easily eat the same menu day after day with no problem in finding the HB eggs a delight each time I gaze at an incredible edible egg and admire its beauty and all the nutrition contained in one "cell" with a golden nucleus and a pure white body encircling that precious nutritious yolk!
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Stats: 5'10"; 64; 508.7/394.8/199
WOE: Atkins+ALG; BMR:2423cals; 182gProtein; 128ozWater
432.4(2/8) 413.2(4/8) 402.2(6/8) 394.8(7/8)

Posted 07-12-2008 at 07:27 AM by Zer Zer is online now

Updated 07-12-2008 at 07:32 AM by Zer

Asperger's: the IT industry's dark secret hits the nail on the head. Wish I'd gone into tech work instead of drifting into publishing and editing (a totally subjective field that calls for a LOT of interpersonal skills that I do not own).

Quote:

Originally Posted by andra1955

...you might find this [Aspie] article interesting: "Asperger's: the IT industry's dark secret".

Andra, so right - that Aspies tick off a LOT of folks.

Quote:

Dr Tony Attwood, a world-renowned Asperger's clinician and author in Brisbane, Australia, defines Asperger's in a more human context:

Quote:

The [Asperger's] person usually has a strong desire to seek knowledge, truth and perfection with a different set of priorities. ... The overriding priority may be to solve a problem rather than satisfy the social or emotional needs of others.

Problems over people? Hmm, sounds like a techie.

Thanks for being a friend to the Aspies in your life. Trust me, they appreciate your patience! As do I.
-----
Stats: 5'10"; 64; 508.7/394.8/199
WOE: Atkins+ALG; BMR:2423cals; 182gProtein; 128ozWater
432.4(2/8) 413.2(4/8) 402.2(6/8) 394.8(7/8)

Posted 07-14-2008 at 06:05 AM by Zer Zer is online now

Just asking...who is this person in my bed?
Who is this person in my skin?

I'm possessed.

How else can I explain snacking on the most gorgeous sweet peppers ever grown in Holland and gnawed by whoEVER has taken over my body, my mind?

Written in my food diary...it says "1am, sweet pepper (orange)" and "1:30am, yellow pepper" and I feel really satisfied. Well, I see "p'kin seeds" but that's just a Tbs or two, for fiber and to balance the sweet peppers with salty-spice. Balance is important, right?

Anyone ever wonder WHO IS THIS PERSON IN MY SKIN?

Just wondering.....
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Stats: 5'10"; 64; 508.7/394.8/199
WOE: Atkins+ALG; BMR:2423cals; 182gProtein; 128ozWater
432.4(2/8) 413.2(4/8) 402.2(6/8) 394.8(7/8)

Posted 07-18-2008 at 02:48 AM by Zer Zer is online now

Explaining how my Asperger's dx at 60 is a massive RELIEF, I wrote some stuff that strikes me as worth tucking into my BLOG, so here goes!

How I found a great RELIEF at 60, with a late-life Asperger's dx that I discovered online and had affirmed by health-care professionals at my HMO. Got myself a certificate too.

Having a dx lifted a burden from my brain, as I no longer spend hours a day trying to figure out why I'm on the wrong foot and what is 'broken' and how I can 'fix' that which is 'broken'. All of that came to a halt with my dx, after 60yrs of distraction and confusion as relationships and jobs started off well and fell apart no matter how I made concessions and hoped for acceptance.

I am fully functional, for an Aspie!

My brain is now free to contemplate all sorts of things that I had no time for, being forever caught up in damage control and salving hurt feelings (mine) with bags of carbs in crinkly wrappers, a lonely existence for someone who so often feels what Aspies call Wrong-Planet Syndrome.

That is the benefit of having an Asperger's dx. The word 'broken' is one that surfaced as I discussed my RELIEF at discovering that I'm not 'broken' (a word I did not use before my Aspie dx) at all. Harsh to regard one's self as damaged goods, as 'broken', so you can imagine my RELIEF at giving a HUGE SIGH at being Aspie.

That's why I think anyone might welcome an Asperger's dx. The condition is a lifelong one, so a dx offers only RELIEF to anyone who has struggled to overcome Aspie traits without a clue that Asperger's has gifts as well as social obstacles.

I can recommend two books for anyone who might like knowing why his brain works outside the box (a lonely place, sometimes, as one is ostracized by herd creatures and NTs - NeuroTypicals - who dislike free-thinking Aspies): "Speed of Dark" by Eliz.Moon is my discovery book for Asperger's; "Look Me in the Eye" by Robison is even better!
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Stats: 5'10"; 64; 508.7/394.2/199
WOE: Atkins: <5%Carb; BMR:2423cals; 182gProt; 128ozH2O
432.4(2/8) 413.2(4/8) 402.2(6/8) 8/8/08:388.8+5.6
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Posted 08-09-2008 at 08:55 AM by Zer Zer is online now

Updated 08-09-2008 at 08:59 AM by Zer

Target 182gProtein daily? I'm pushing a LOT of protein lately - like a pound of fish a day, over a few hours of forking it into me. Protein is hard for me, hard to find space or appetite for much of it at once, as if it fills me up fast, so I work at getting it into me, a few bites at a time. Eating a pound of fish a day is a big shift for me, from eating a few meals off a can of fish (6-7oz) over a few days - with mayo in abundance - to setting up a pound of fish in olive oil with chopt onion. So Mediterranean, with olive oil in place of mayo. Easier to get into me. I do not get to my 182g target for protein grams, but I aim high and am happy when I get close by managing my protein in a way that just HAS to be fueling my muscles to get stronger.

Just found this info at Kasilof Seafoods:

Quote:

One ½ lb. fillet of Coho Salmon has 289 calories, 42.8 grams of protein, 11.7 grams of fat, 2.4 grams of saturated fat and 91 milligrams of sodium.

So 1# of salmon has 85.6gProtein, 23.4gFat, 578cals - and I am not even halfway to my target 182gProtein as I eat a pound of fish a day. Agh! I'm adding 6 HB eggs daily at 6-7gProtein each. It all adds up - slowly.

Posted 08-29-2008 at 07:35 AM by Zer Zer is online now

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