Leukemia

[USMC-Chick]

Hi All! I'm fairly new to EF... okay so I've been on here for about 20 mins. I figure this is the place I need to and want to be.

I'm a 26 year female. (recap) I ran CC, mini marithons, track, volleyball, and cheered for all of my jr and high school life. When I graduated at 17 I went directly to boot camp... did not pass go, did not collect $2oo. Three years and 5 months later, a month before my re-enlistment I was diagnosed with leukemia.

I'm 5'11" and maintined a perfect 145 for years... post baby- pre cancer I was 150 pounds. Durring my treatments I dropped to about 120 pounds... NOT GOOD. After a year of different treatments, I was released from the hospital and told I was in remission, but I needed to take it very easy for a while. I was told by military docs, the docs at the VA hospital and two civilian docs.... to worry about regaining weight... eat all the rice, pasta, bread and potatoes I wanted until they felt I had reached a good weight.

Well needless to say I went from skin and bones 120 to a monsterous 265 pounds in about 18-24 months. Thats over 100 pounds more then I weighed the day my son was born!!! The past 24 months have been hard- I wont lie, but I'm happy to say that for the last 2 months I've consistanly came in between 178- 182 pounds... and with much frusteration... I think I've hit one heck of a platue (sp?).

So now that I've let anyone who wants to read this- my life in a nut shell... I'm hoping that someone... anyone can help me! I plan to return to active duty in the next 3-5 months, and I ABSOLUTLY CAN NOT WEIGH more then 178 pounds... as a matter of fact the closer I can get to 145-155 (my ultimate goal) the better.

I have tried just about everything I can think of... herbal teas, pills, 105 different diets, 24 hour "cleaners", sauna suits for 12 hours a day, walking/ running up to 12 miles, 2-3 times a week, playing everything from frisbee to football... The area I live doesn't really have a gym within decent driving distance (Rockingham County, VA), so anything I try needs to be at or with my own body weight... or using as much resistance as a 45 pound 6 year old can offer me.

I'm willing to take any advice, and try any workout program (short of starvation) to get to this weight. Being a Marine was the most important thing in my life, of course until I had my son... now its second, but a VERY close second. Being a Marine was not a job... It was my life, my life style, my career, and what ran through the veins in my body. A 300 PFT can and will happen again... I just need HELP and maybe a little motivation...

Thanks in advance for any help...

[USMC-Chick]

Should also mention that its been 5 years and 2 months since my diagnosis, and 4 years 3 months since I was told that magic word - REMISSION, and that I am still in remission. All of my doctors have said I'm fine to work out, most of them wanted me to go on different pills for mood regulation, appitite suppression, and all kinds of stuff... my mood is fine, and I've re-trained myself to eat MUCH SMALLER meals, so I don't need appitite suppression... I just need someone who outside of a white coat, can help me...

[wil]

A few things first...
Welcome to EF.
Thank you for your service.
Congrats on the big R-word.

I suppose you should get back to the basics. After 3+ years in the Marines, you probably know plenty of PT routines by heart. Do all that stuff along with pushups, chinups (if you don't have access to a bar, you should be able to get one that can be attached to a door), and a lot of running. But you know that already so I'm not really giving you any new info.

You could always use your son as a barbell replacement for some 45-pound curls (he might even have some fun going for a ride).

There are a lot of great routines and tips in the sticky'd threads in the Weight Loss section here.

Good luck!

[JarheadRI]

And here is a good workout diet that ItalianAngel turned me onto a year ago. It WORKS! It is good for me to review too as I have to start it up again soon. Stick with the lean protein/lower fat/no white carbs and you should be good to go. Do weights weights weights.... being a former Marine I know you will be doing a lot of running in the near future so don't worry... you will get back into cardio shape in no time...

Here is the diet.... you may not want to tackle it 100% unless you are feeling up to it. Again it WORKS!!!

Fast Results Fat Loss Diet ~not for the weak of heart!

[Hans_Rachid]

Seems like you've been through hell and back! I hope you'll find the motivation and knowledge in here to reach your goals.

Now, it would help us if you could tell us what you typically eat in a day so that we can see where there's room for improvement. Also, if at all possible I would strongly recommend that you find a gym or enough equipment to perform full body workouts, because it's been proven on numerous occasions that those who train with weights, allong with cardio and adequate nutrition, have much better results than those who only do the cardio + diet.

[SAINT_X]

CONGRATS on the Remission!!!!!!!!

Seriously....listen to ItalianAngel. She really knows her stuff. If you follow her advice to the Tee...I predict you make your goal.

Welcome....and good luck!!!

[tooncesthecat]

Welcome to EF and congrats on the remission! I will just say that the advice given above is excellent and from excellent sources. Hope to see you around here in the future!

[wildstang]

we really need 2 see a clear picture of your diet in order to estimate your daily caloric consumption. next as we did in the corps run every morning before eating just like we had to 5 days a week. thats when the cardio is most benefical towards burning fat. the corps ran you in the morning for a purpose. it may also be possible your thyroid is out of wack from your fight with cancer. you should get some bloodworkup done to determine if your metabolism is withen normal ranges. post more info asked and im sure we can help.

[gYmgIrL]

Wow!

Welcome to EF I'm glad you're here!

Wow you are incredible! after all you've been through i think you'll find this weight loss bit easy once you find what works for you seeing as the hardest part is the mindset but you obviously have ample strength in that area!

You poor thing, I can imagine how you must be feeling. all that lying down while being sick plus massive delicious carb eating slowed your metabolism right down and its much harder to lose fat than it is to maintain a low body fat percentage.

So that we can work out exactly what you need we'd need to fgure out how many calories you burn a day resting and what you're eating at the moment and how much time you have to excercise etc. Cute that you can use your son for a weight

You said you've tried diets, but you will have to start thinking of it as 'how you eat' rather than a diet because you will need to eat like it forever if you want to keep the weight off.

Also, this will take a while! You should aim to lose 1lb a week absolute max so that you know you're losing it properly and safely as you slowly change the way you eat to the way you will need to eat to maintain your goal weight.

I'm sure you already know all this but just in case, drink lots of water and try to slowly cut down on calories via simple carbs and saturated fats!

This will be awesome we'll all help you reach your goal and its going to be so amazing to see you reach it and how happy you will be!!

I'm excited

xxxx

yay

[USMC-Chick]

Thanks for all the advice so far... as for my diet and such. I've been working in a factory for the last 18 months. I work 2 week rotations... 6p-6a, or 6a-6p. A rotation concists of work mon, tue... off wed, thur... work fri, sat & sun... off mon, tue... work wed, thur, and finally off fri, say, sun... adjust sleep schedule to next shift.

on my work Days... i'm up at 4 am, and either outside or on the treadmill... depending on weather and time of year (if bears are a current problem, etc) until about 5am, when i shower and leave for work. one cup of decaf tea and water until about 7:30 or 8:00- usually grainy cereal and skim milk or yogart and granola for breakfast. snack- usually a peice of fruit, or sugar free jell-o fruit cup. lunch is always VERY big salad... all greens... no meat no crutons, no seeds, etc... just V&O dressing or No fat italian. dont have time at work for an afternoon snack, and dinner is usually small... boneless skinless chicken breast, steamed veggies, wheat pasta.( I can honeslty say my 6 year old prob eats more then I do most days. ) My after work rutine concists of taking my son on a tandem bike ride (usually about 6 miles), walking to & from scouts (mile each way), or the grocery store (1.5 miles one way), or taking a "go nowhere" on the treadmill. nonstop for about 45 mins to an hour... varied inclines and speeds.

My off work days are... I consume about the same amount of food... and replace "work-work" for house work and personal errands and such...

When I'm on night shift, its a different story... I become sleep deprived and eat much less, but continue to exert a lot of energy. I'm up at 3 pm when my son gets home from school... get his things done, and get myself off to work. when i get home at 7, i get him up for school, and on the bus at 8:15... by i get a shower in and get things taken care of... feed dog, do dishes, laundry started etc, by the time i get to sleep its going on 10 am... if i fall asleep quickly i'm luck to get 4.5 hours. I generally dont eat much when i'm on nights... my son eats breakfast at school and i never eat within 4 hours of bed time. but while i'm at work, i'm to busy to eat right, even my breaks (which are 10 mins apeice) only allow me enough time to refill water bottle, go to restroom, and get back to my station.

on my off nights, i keep moving, but notice i still dont eat a lot... lots of tuna... no bread, no cheese, no mayo, nada... just plain tuna (packed in water), no sugar added apple sause, fresh and steamed broccolli (no butter or dressing), water and coffee black, but strong. I take a muilti vit daily...

all of the above has gotten me to drop about 80 pounds... but like i've said... i've stopped loosing. which is frusterating. My mom bought me those "Alli" pills and they did nothing to me compared to what they did to her! (McD's diet and no exercise at all)!!! my sister got me all sorts of "extreme energy" drinks, thinking to help increse caffine... and make me unable to sleep... and a woman from work got me an herbal tea... told me not to change anything, but drink this stuff twice a day... it would help flush toxins. all that happened was my urine was darker... not dark- just darker then normal.

I think I'm getting upset with myself because I've never had to worry about loosing weight before, and I really dont know the "proper" way to do it... I've just been winging it. And for as much as I always have and still do love working up a good sweat, and pushing myself... its just not (not being a sissy) safe to run in the counrty, alone, when its not full day light... even more so since, theres no cell reception and houses are up to 2 miles apart and set back off the roads...

I hope this helps you guys (and gals) to get a better picture of whats going on, on my end...

Thanks again!

[USMC-Chick]

When I use my son... he gets leg pressed- the air plane... piggy backed for a distance... helps me to think "man... i've lost nearly twice this much weight! this is what i carried around everyday!" I flip him up side down and lift him by his anckles... he likes to count the reps. I get him to curl up into a ball and curl him. anything i can think of, that i know wont hurt him...

[ckn]

Firstly, welcome to EF and congratulations on winning your battles, keep the same mentality and you'll keep winning the war.

Disclaimer: This post is assuming you're physically in good enough shape to do this level of exercise. CHECK IT WITH A QUALIFIED PHYSICIAN FIRST WHO KNOWS YOUR HISTORY AND GET HIM/HER TO AGREE IT IS SUITABLE FOR YOU. Really... do it. Go on.... Don't start until you get it checked... This is an internet forum, we don't know your health profile and I'm not a health professional, you MUST get it signed off by your doctor before starting this plan.

Lots of assumptions here:
- By going back to the USMC, I assume you've had a complete sign-off by both your own doctor and the USMC that you're physically sound enough to take the strain of military training and duty. If you've not had those sign-offs, don't do this... Please.
- Do you have any temporary impairments, such as the cold or a minor injury? If so, wait until they’ve gone before starting, you should be at your current best to start.
- Do you understand your own body’s limits? If you’ve undergone USMC training, you KNOW what your body can take and when you must stop. DO NOT overdo it, if an exercise below is too strenuous for you at this time, go back a week or cut the speed/distance. It’s much better to add a month of training and do it properly than to overdo it and never get there.

Onto the weight gain and loss issue and returning to active duty. Ideally, I'd do this as a two stage process:

1. Lose some weight
2. Regain fitness

Regardless of what some people say, you CAN do both effectively at once but you'll never build any decent muscle mass; I assume though that core fitness is your primary concern rather than a good build.

On point 1. Before you start intensive fitness gaining exercise, you need to lose fat bulk. You need to raise your metabolism to a point where it does much of the work for you. A good solid diet followed by an intensive cardio-only exercise regime will help there. Follow the link in the posts above to ItalianAngel's diet thread, very, very good advice there! Rather than trying to drug or con your way slimmer, the core weight-loss plan is: EAT LESS, DO MORE. (Note: that is a trade-marked 100% guaranteed weight loss plan of mine )

Keep a diet and exercise journal. Include EVERYTHING. The physical act of doing this journaling alone will get your mind going in the right direction. Make sure you have sufficient good quality food to keep you going though and ensure you have breakfast within 30 min or so after you wake up, any later is not going to kick-start your metabolism, leaving it 3hrs as you suggest is effectively wasting the weight-loss benefits of breakfast.

During this point LEAVE THE SCALES ALONE apart from a once a week check-up. Get a tape measure and measure your key fat deposit areas, waist, hips, upper thighs and upper arms. Use this as your rough and ready guide to whether you're losing any size.

If you can afford it, get a good heart rate monitor and tailor your exercises to keep you in the 75-85% max heart rate band. This is the most effective band for weight loss. I use a Suunto T6 but there are plenty of others that are equally as good.

Once your weight is going the right way, you can move onto fitness. As an ex-army fitness freak myself, I hope I can help here. I think you may be being over ambitious aiming for 3-5 months unless you're going right back to basic boot camp. I'd ideally recommend the following core plan for regaining military fitness:

First up, if you have a friendly doctor who knows your situation, ask him or her to supervise you medically during this plan and get regular check-ups. Tell them everything significant. Ideally, no more than 2-3 weeks between check-ups.


Each week:
- 3 normal runs (If you can’t get out on the road that easily, a treadmill will do as a fall-back plan but isn’t ideal)
- 1 weighted run per week moving to boots later in the plan. A well fitted sport backpack is ideal for carrying the weight.
- 2 anaerobic cardio workouts (85%+ max heart rate)
- Two consecutive days per week of doing no formal exercise. Ideally the weekend! Don't skip this part ever as your body won't forgive you.
- Lots and lots of good quality stretching. Get those limbs supple! Consider a yoga DVD for home use.
- As many sit-ups, push-ups and other core body exercises as you can at home (I accept you can’t get to a gym) You know what you’re doing here I assume so I won’t mention it again.

Now, here's how you build on them:

Week 0: Benchmarking week
- First normal run, go as far and as fast as you can in 30 minutes. Don't worry about the distance but try to get over 8 minute mile pace.
- First weighted run, same again, as far as you can in 30 minutes but try to get over 10 minute mile pace with 20lbs on your back or waist. Should be fairly easy but don’t over-do it.
- First anaerobic cardio. Do circuits at maximum intensity or something like the bleep test until you physically fail. Record your time to fail.

These are your benchmarks... you will beat them!

Week 1.
- Road: 3 runs for 35, 40 and 40 minutes at the same pace as your benchmark.
- Weighted: 1 run for 40 minutes at the same pace as your benchmark.
- Beat your cardio score or last longer.

Week 2-5
- Road: Increase the previous week's runs by 5 minutes per run until week 5 where you should be doing 55, 60 and 60 minute runs. Do not try to go faster at this stage, we’re trying to build endurance.
- Weighed: Increase by 5 minutes per week to week 5 where you're at 60 minute runs
- Keep beating your cardio scores or lasting longer

Week 6-8
- Road: Start going faster for 60 minutes. Aim to get to 7 minute miles. You should do 8 miles comfortably in 60 minutes by week 8.
- Weighted: Go faster in that 60 minutes. You should be aiming at 9 minute miles in week 8. (over 6½ miles in 60 minutes)
- Keep the cardio going!

Week 9
WEEK OFF! Yep, that's right. Give your body a complete break for a week. Nothing more strenuous than a quick walk to the shop. Do not skip this, your body will need the break. Make sure you REALLY mentally appreciate the change in your body over the last two months. A medical check-up is essential during this week.

By now, you know what you're capable of doing and if your body can take the pressures of returning to USMC rigours. Don't lie to yourself, either you can take it or you can't. Review the findings with your doctor and be 100% honest with him/her.

Moving on:

Change your weekly pattern to:
- 1 normal road run where you try to improve your 60 minute distance. Keep the time the same, improve the distance.
- 1 cross country (if you can do it during daylight hours, if not, improvise )
- 1 20 minute road run where you aim to get as far as possible in that 20 minutes. You might surprise yourself how far you get on your first run! Run away from home, walk back at a good speed, you should get home in twice the running time. If on a treadmill, 4mph for 40 minutes.
- Change the weighted run to runs in military boots, still carrying the weight pack. Start the entire thing again with the same weight and time as in week 1. I'm sure the USMC will give you a set to get back in training, if you ask nicely
- Change the cardio to dedicated sprint training. Use your same weighted backpack and sprint using that, consider upping the weight to 30-40lbs. (once you finally take the weight out and sprint, it'll be a LOT easier )
- You mentioned that you can't get to a gym but you need to start doing weight bearing exercises at this time. I'm not the best person to discuss how you can do that, maybe one kind person here will help you with a strength plan for home exercising. You really need to start adding muscle at this point.

Weeks 10-16
- Road runs. Keep improving until you're 100% sure you can't do better in 60 minutes.
- Cross country. Start by doing 3 miles as quickly as you can and then increase the distance at the same speed. By week 16, try to be doing 6 miles at your week 10 3 mile speed. Time is effectively irrelevant in this test, it’s all about your best effort.
- Fast road runs. Go on... get those legs pumping! Same time (20 minute run), longer distance!
- Weighted runs. Keep the same time and distance platform as weeks 1-8. If it gets easy, add an extra 10lbs of weight. You're the only judge of whether it is easy or not.
- Sprints. 30 minutes of sprint training twice per week. Get your heart rate up! Faster! Faster!
- Core body work. By Week 16, you MUST be able to do an absolute minimum of 50 consecutive sit-ups and 50 push-ups by this time. Absolute minimum, no excuses.
- Be aware… by this time, your body may be needing over 4-5000 calories per day to keep up! If your body needs it, give your body the nutrition it wants.

By week 16, you’ll be fitter than most standard Army grunts and probably fitter than some USMC people! You’ll certainly breeze through any fitness tests.

Important note: You’ll see here that I don’t mention any additives, drugs, roids or any other dietary intake that you can’t get from normal food and drink. YOU DON’T NEED IT. If you do, you’re pushing your strained body too hard. All you’ll do with the weight-loss stuff, fitness enhancers or roids is confuse your body’s system and encourage it to become dependent on them for future gains. You’re not in it to win a body-building competition or impress others, you’re in it for the long term to get back to your full fitness.

Finally, journal your progress on this site, you’ll get external support from us. Also, make sure you have some personal support, friends and family who will keep you honest and stop you doing something stupid!

Very last point... are you sure you've OK'ed this with your doctor? Do they know how hard you're going to push yourself? Really? Do not do this until you've got it signed off...

(sorry for the long post, I got a bit carried away )

[lizzyb]

I just wanted to to say hi and welcome!!
You have come to a very friendly and knowledgeable place, but as ckn advised.....DO get o.k'd by your MD first.
Congrats on your remission. What a battle you must have already fought, what strength and courage you must have gained from that experience as well. I truly look forward to following you along in your journey.

As Saint-X said as well, Italianangel is a wealth of info......I've been doing her programs for months now and have had great successes.....feel free to browse my journal too, it's in the women's section.....

Once again.......welcome!

[USMC-Chick]

Thanks you guys for sharing your knowledge with me... yes I have been cleared by my oncologist at Bethesda NMC, the oncologist at the VA hospital, my oncologist at my local hospital, and my family dr. for the first year out of tx, I was seen by at least one oncologist per month, the 2nd year was once every 4 months, the 3rd year was every 6 months and this year... i've been seen by at all of them at least once.... August was a very busy month, with lots of traveling... bone marrow biopsies, cultures, full body scans, mri's, ct scans, an Lp, and stress test...

I have been cleared by all of my drs and my PEB came back saying that I can return to active duty...

like i said... thanks for all the advice and well wishes... its been a long and rough journey, but i've learned a lot, and met some really good people. before the USMC i was in GREAT physical condition. While in the MC, I stayed in constant montion... running every day, gym every day that was spent in garrison, sometimes twice a day... and more running...

HAVE A HAPPY TURKEY DAY!!!

[IMFREAKZILLA]

Hello,dang I am sorry I missed your posts,I was scanning over the old threads
and yours caught my eye,especially with your fight with leukemia and your
strong will,I know its been about 10 months since your visit,I am going to send
you a pm even though it might be moot also I just wanted to say welcome neighbor
you see I only live 20/25 miles from you,like I said I will send you a pm and try to
get you back to EF,God speed and may your quest for health stay strong.