Metabolic Diet Review - Part Two
There are many forms of COPD.
COPD is a blanket term used to cover a broad list of respiratory illnesses. Cystic Fibrosis technically is in a class by itself. In fact, some doctors will tell you that CF is not a classic COPD at all.
For one thing, COPD is rarely genetic (which CF is). In addition, COPD’s often indicate forms of medical intervention that differ greatly from the forms of medical treatments recommended for people with CF.
That said, CF does effect the respiratory system. I know. I deal with it every day. I know all about obstructed airways, hence I tend to think of myself as having a variant of COPD. For this reason, when I created this site I wanted to offer encouragement to anyone having a chronic lung condition that had the potential to really limit life’s choices. I wanted people who were impacted by COPD in its many forms to see my progress.
If people can glean wisdom and encouragement from this web site, then they can begin to incorporate exercise into their daily lives. They can then begin to experience the many health benefits I have had over the years as a result of strength training. I believe the strategies I am employing are helping me in this journey with my medical challenge. I want to pass those strategies on to people who are similarly affected. Naturally, my site is for people who are basically healthy as well. In reality, TPO is for everyone, with a special focus on people with COPD. With me so far?
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Over the years I have developed strategies to combat the many curve balls my condition throws at me. One of those curve balls has come in the form of a difficulty in gaining weight. In fact, this seems to be a common challenge faced by most people with CF due to the fact that our digestive systems are inefficient. Absorption of nutrients is limited, so malnourishment is a huge risk factor for people with CF.
This complication, coupled with varying degrees of respiratory ailments present in people with CF, can force our bodies to expend significant amounts of calories. As a result, we end up burning the candle at both ends, so to speak. As you can imagine, this poses some real problems for people with CF.
As a general rule, it is very difficult for anyone to fight COPD without healthy, muscular, body mass. The more muscle a person with COPD has, the more strength they have, the better their immune systems, and the better their chances for weathering the storm of COPD in whatever form it presents itself. Agreed?
As a kid with CF, lifting weights and eating lots of food was the best way of dealing with the predicament of weight gain, or lack thereof.
My father was instrumental in helping me eat and eat. He really motivated me. I love him for that and I am forever in his debt. Still, the challenge of gaining weight proved to be virtually insurmountable as my weight tended to slowly move upward, or not at all. Eventually, I turned to high calorie supplements to assist me in my endeavors and pretty soon I was making good progress.
By my teens I was weighing in at around 143 pounds of lean muscle. By the time I was in my 20’s and 30’s I had beefed up to a whopping 150 lbs. The most I ever weighed was 155 pounds. True, I was lean, but by this time breaking through the 155 pound barrier seemed about as likely as exceeding the speed of light. It just didn’t seem like it would ever happen. Moreover, I tended to dip below 155 and stay around 151 pounds. 155 pounds seemed to be my critical mass. It was my body’s final answer.
Over the years I spent thousands of dollars on various products in an effort to move beyond 155. Each year, some new product would come out, promising this and that. I would try it and get no discernible changes in size or weight. I tried every form of protein, every flavor of creatine, every iteration of carbohydrates and still the scales screamed in defiance: “151 pounds! GIVE IT UP, ALREADY!” I was undaunted. My quest for the holy grail of 155 plus pounds would continue unabated for years and years.
Fast forward to present day.
As you may know (if you have visited this site with any degree of regularity) I added Metabolic Diet to my nutritional bag of tricks one month ago. I had never used MD+ before, so I had no idea what to expect. When I began the program, I weighed roughly 151 pounds with cloths on. The idea was to train steadily, eat healthily and recover from each workout for one solid month, measuring tangible results such as strength gains and body weight along the way.
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Today I had my first checkup in three years (naughty me) at the University of Virginia Pulmonary Clinic in Ye Old Charlottesville VA. I was not sure what to expect. I was a bit worried actually. Anxious is more like it. Three years is a long time to go without a regular checkup when you have CF. Oh, I saw doctors from time to time, but usually it was a country doctor with no real specialized training in my particular field of challenge. So, when I went to the Pulmonary Clinic at UVa, I feared the worst. Hell, I always fear the worst when I go to the doctor. Is it just me?
Well, ladies and gentlemen, the news is good. Very good indeed. Not only did my breathing studies indicate improvement from my last test three years ago, but, incredibly, my weight had gone from 151 pounds to a whopping….are you ready this? 165 Pounds!
You read that right. I now weigh 165 pounds! We are talking a 14 pound weight gain in one month! We are talking about someone who never in his life saw more than a four pound gain in a month and that happened only once. Now, I know enough about creatine to know that some of this weight is water weight. But, I have used many forms of creatine in the past and never got these type of results.
My vocabulary does not permit me to properly convey the significance of this. This is unheard of. I am a natural athlete. I have CF. I am 44 years of age. This should not be possible. If I did not know better….well…let’s just say that for a natural athlete, let alone a natural athlete with CF, to make these sorts of gains….is nothing short of mind boggling.
My doctor was taken aback. He scratched his head and said, “Well, I am skeptical, of course, but I want to see how you do in three months time. Then, let’s take it from there.” My doctor is very, very conservative and not likely to jump on the bandwagon. But, I could tell he was very interested in the fact that my breathing studies improved and that my weight was more than healthy.
I took the liberty of pitching the idea of getting MD+ into his practice in a manner of speaking. He went so far as to agree to recommend the products to his other CF patients, but wanted to wait a couple more months before he did that. He is a scientist and he wants more data.
As for me, I will use the MD+ for another month, of course. I expect to make even more gains. I will be focusing on legs, sprinting, and upper back and, shoulders and biceps.
Check out my Traditional Strength Training Sessions to see what sorts of diets I am eating. Check out Metabolic Diet Review to see other changes in my health.
Then consider giving MD+ a try.
