So I thought that losing all this weight would help me deal with sudden transitions in PNW temperatures during the summer.
Fool.
Yesterday we had a rapid swap from cool and damp to sunny, humid and warm (80s Fahrenheit). I had plans, including taking in a yoga class at a new studio, working on the novel, and other things. I took DS to the doctor’s office to start up the new medication (Humira). We came home, I realized it was too late to get started at a new yoga place, so I ate lunch and began work on novel revisions. My office is in the back of the house, which gets hotter during the day than the front. Despite all of my preventatives, it got warmer.
I finished the rewrite section, then started walking around the neighborhood to do my errands. Halfway through, I started feeling sick. Ruh-roh. Came home, did chores, and then collapsed, feeling shaky and sick, my gut cramping and showing all the other symptoms of heat problems. Damn.
It doesn’t appear to have lasted very long. I did the smart thing, remained hydrated throughout, and simply faded onto the bed and read a book. Well, two books. Today, the lingering result is a little bit of fatigue and a little bit of gut spasm. Fairly typical.
But this is dang annoying. I’ve never been good at quick weather transition changes from cold to hot. In the past this difficulty might have been attributed to weight. But considering I’m pretty much at where someone of my age and height should be (by one calculation I’m probably at 7.1% body fat with a BMI of 20.9), that’s not a factor now. So the issues run deeper than that.
Part of the problem is that I am such a stereotypical Northern white girl in body type that it isn’t funny. Born strawberry blonde, now bottle redhead. Burn easily, stay pale compared even to other white folk. Much over an hour in direct sunlight early in a hot summer, and I start feeling shaky, upset gut, and light-headed. Even later in the summer I have to pace my exercise and seek the shade. Needless to say, I’ve never been a sun worshiper. For me the sun really is a bright hurty thing.
It doesn’t work that way in winter. I can caper all over the slopes on a bright sunny ski day in temperatures below freezing and, as long as I’m properly layered up, I do fine. As long as the temps stay below 50 degrees F I’m pretty good–heck, I’m good even up to the low 70s. But 80 degrees F and above?
Fergitaboutit.
Humidity is also a factor, as are allergies. I do better in hot and dry (though not in Las Vegas three digit temps, BTDT. No. Freaking. Way. Even with AC). Hiking in Tucson on a warm winter day brought on the beginnings of heat issues and humidity and allergies weren’t raging then.
Grr. It’s annoying. Clearly I’m a creature of the Pacific Northwest, especially the wet side. Looking at a temperature map of the past spring, what area’s been below normal for temps and above for wet? Yep.
Oh well. Eventually we’ll get past the see-saw temperatures and settle into a warm pattern. After a week or so my body will adapt and I can resume an active life without worry, as long as I wear a hat, take frequent breaks in the shade, and don’t sit out in direct sunlight. It’s just freaking annoying that I can’t use weight loss as a solution.
Of course it wouldn’t be this easy. Of course.
And, of course, I own a horse who loves this hot weather. Damn.
(And, please, I’m not really needing advice. This is a grumble, not a request for advice. I’ve tried a lot of things, and I still can’t get past the initial reaction to heat. We do have AC in this house, temperamental as the damn thing is. I stay hydrated. I’m careful with what I eat, though in retrospect I suspect I ate too much fatty food yesterday which contributed to my issues. Still, this is a regular pattern and trust me, I’ve tried a lot of stuff.)
