Love-Hate-Live Relationship

I hate to exercise. I'd rather knit. Or read. Or sleep. Or eat (although that's what got me in this mess to begin with). I know that when I do exercise, I feel better. And it's easier to lose weight. But I am not one of those people who obsesses about leg day at the gym. I don't train for half marathons or sign up for century bike rides or get up at 5 a.m. several days a week for spin class (I did do that long ago and enjoyed it. I guess.).

The Fitbit activity tracker helps. I'm still not one to go for a walk around the block at 11 p.m. to get my last minutes in. I do, weirdly, enjoy the watch's little vibration and accompanying fireworks graphics when I hit a certain number of exercise minutes for the week or 10,000 steps in a day (which does not happen as often as it should).

A new study just out, though, shows that exercise is as important as weight loss to getting that fat gone from my liver. Maybe even more important.

Exercise training can lead to a significant reduction in liver fat for patients with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, a leading cause of liver disease worldwide, according to a new study published in the American Journal of Gastroenterology.
People in the study needed about 150 minutes per week of moderate-intensity exercise, such as brisk walking, or 75 minutes per week of vigorous-intensity exercise, such as jogging or cycling.

Since I started this health journey about 6 weeks ago, I've been averaging 3.5 hours of exercise a week. That's 210 minutes a week. Bye bye blubber.

I have been hitting the gym for elliptical, treadmill, and strength training sessions. I have a spin bike at home. And I walk the dog most days when the weather is decent. I started rewatching Grey's Anatomy from the beginning while at the gym to help with the boredom. There are certainly enough episodes to last a long while. I also listen to podcasts and, occasionally, watch YouTube workout videos to help with motivation.

I still don't think I'd say I enjoy it. It's like visiting the doc for an annual checkup or taking meds or getting vaccinated. It's just what has to be done. This study helps reassure me of that.

Image by catalyststuff on Freepik

Comments

The Numbers Game

My family doc and my gyn surgeon both sent consult requests to the GI folks after perusing my CT scan and my bloodwork. My liver enzymes (proteins that speed up chemical reactions in the body) are higher than they've ever been, which can signal liver injury of some kind. Cholesterol's higher than ever too. 78 AST [standard range 0-32] 86 ALT [standard range 0-33] 287 Cholesterol [desirable less than 200; high more than 240] 196 LDL Cholesterol [desirable less than 100; very high more than 190] And now we wait to hear from the GI folks. Maybe it's a good sign they haven't called yet. Maybe they looked at my numbers and didn't think I was on my deathbed. If that's truly the case, a note in my online chart would be helpful. In the meantime, what do I do to keep my liver from getting fattier and to possibly reverse the effects? Lose Weight I know. Broken record. But it's more than just seeing the pounds drop on the digital scale. It's pretty much a whole ne...

Big Words in the CT Scan Report

I was in the ER (for 12+ hours, but that's a story for another time) on January 2, trying to figure out why one month post-hysterectomy and three antibiotics later I was still in pain and showing signs of infection. Doctors tossed around words like "possible abscess" and "get extra tubes (of blood) in case we need them (to prep) for surgery to drain" said abscess. I drank oral contrast and they shot me up with IV contrast that made me feel like my whole body was being microwaved and like I was peeing my pants. Which, given all my recent UTI issues, wasn't entirely outside the realm of possibility. Turns out, there was no post-op infection (other than perhaps a particularly nasty, drug-resistant bacterial UTI, courtesy the catheter inserted during the four-hour surgery). There wasn't much remarkable about anything on the abdominal scan, according to the report I read in my patient chart online the next day. Except three words written in the findings summ...

Sorry. Not Sorry.

I might have gotten someone in trouble. A month ago, both my primary care provider (PCP) and my gynecology surgeon sent referrals to the hospital's gastroenterology department so I could get specialized care for NAFLD (and to see how much the disease has progressed and whether my liver has permanent damage). A few days after the referrals, I sent a message via my online medical chart to gastro asking whether I needed to call to make an appointment or they'd call me. I received a snippy response saying they weren't doing anything until "the referral is accepted by the liver nurse." And then nothing. My reaction was to assume that I was not being accepted. That for whatever reason, they rejected me and my fatsolivero. The only thing worse than hearing "Lose weight. Exercise" is hearing absolutely nothing. Crickets. Dead silence. Last Thursday, I saw my PCP for an annual physical. When I told her the gastro office hadn't contacted me, she looked sh...

Livin' the Liver Life?

Search This Blog