August 2004. I guess I started noticing extreme fatigue again a few weeks ago. It usually hits on Wednesday evening, and since my schedule has gotten so crazy, and I've built in some more workouts, I just assumed that by that time of the week my 110% effort had caught up with me. Today is Friday, July 30th and my fatigue hit again Wednesday night. And, as usual, Thursday morning was rough -- even with what should have been sufficient rest over night. I remember telling someone that I went to bed a "whipped puppy" and then woke up a "whipped puppy." I had pool session after pool session all morning, then a one hour office session that was a furious pace, and then a fibromyalgia client who concerns me greatly, and as I was driving home, again completely exhausted, I felt like crying. We had company there and I wondered how in the world I was going to entertain and since my usual sleeping habit was going to be interrupted, wondered how I was going to function today. In short-I was spent and had fallen over the edge (again).

This fatigue used to be a constant in my life. Those of you who have been with me for a while remember all of the communcation about The Metabolic Typing Diet and how it gave me and then so many of you the energy we had been missing for so long. That information had been integrated into my life and my energy had remained, for the most part, high over the course of the last many months. Since my schedule has been so crazy lately and my energy was high on most days, I didn't make a connection that perhaps my diet was causing this fatigue again (even though I tell most everyone who says they are experiencing fatigue that it is most likely because of their diet) -- sometimes it is hard to see the forest for the trees.

So I prayed for strength on my way home and as I arrived, there was freshly ground peanut butter in the kitchen, which we never have because I can't keep out of it and it's loaded with calories. But there it was and as usual I decided to have my fill. I loaded about 3 tablespoons onto a WASA Crisp Bread and do you know what happened? Within 10 minutes my fatigue vanished. Then I ate another cracker with another 3 tablespoons (I know..the calories), and I started to feel energetic! Then I took what is my usual 1 high-fat meal, my favorite meatloaf recipe from previous letters and some of my food e-books, and ate it, too, and do you know what? I had so much energy that I tossed and turned in bed most of the night, unable to sleep! BUT I woke up with so much energy that my one usual morning tea bag of Almond Vanilla tea sent me through the roof with its relatively little caffeine.

I was retaught my lesson and want to remind you in case you are experiencing too much fatigue (again). My body needs fat. Fat provides my body with energy -- always. One of the first things I did a year ago when I learned the lesson of my metabolic type was to get some fully-fatted yogurt -- you know the kind with the thick cream on the top? And after eating just a bit, I felt so good that I wanted to go shopping in the afternoon vs shutting the blinds and turning off the phones and lying down because I was so exhausted. Remember that? If not, consider this a friendly reminder. If you haven't yet gotten your copy of the book, consider ordering it and reading it asap, okay?

Also, one of the things I've been doing differently this summer is offering pool programs. I never have before, and this summer someone asked me if I could work with her in her pool. After doing some research on-line and purchasing a copy of The Complete Waterpower Workout Book, I put together a program that she loved. She loved it so much that she asked if we could do it all the time. I thought that would be good for her because it burns oodles of calories along with strengthening and sculpting -- PLUS there is the mind-body/water-sky connection. And since she loved it so much, I started offering it to others. Before I knew it, 50-75% of my schedule was filled with pool sessions.

And I LOVE the pool. I'm a water baby. My father was a naval officer and we lived in many ports of call and I remember living in my bathing suit as a small child, and then living in the lakes of Minnesota as a teenager, and then trying to find bodies of water to live by as I've gotten older. At this point in my life, however, I don't have one. I would work with one person after another and be mesmerized with how their bodies flowed in the cool aqua water while the beautiful fluffy clouds billowed over head and children and mothers squeeled and laughed over by the stairs and I LONGED to be in the pool. Agh! It was so hard to be at pool after pool and not be able to use it, BUT being by the pool in itself was a great pleasure.

So, today as two clients canceled, I grabbed my pool bag and headed to a local public pool and paid my $2.75 to enter. Much to my surprise, at 11:30am on a beautiful sunny day, there was NO ONE in the pool! I had the water to myself! And that water just sparkled. I was so excited I could barely contain it. I was going swimming!! But more than that, I was going to experience what so many others had expressed so much joy with -- MY OWN POOL PROGRAM! I did it and it was tough, but refreshing at the same time. The water was so blue and cool and the air so warm and the sky so blue and the clouds so billowy that the level of effort was lost on me as the mind-body experience was so pleasurable. I worked so hard that I was breathless most of the time and when that happened I put one pool dumb bell under my head and one under my feet and just floated, listening to the sound of my breathing to my submerged ears and watching the clouds take different shape overhead while flocks of birds sailed round and round. I haven't felt that much peace and tranquility in a while, and I uttered small prayers of thanksgiving for the time to take care of myself and experience the beauty of creation.

So, if you have access to a pool, and you get a beautiful day, I can definitely recommend going and getting your workout in the water! All you have to do is swim one lap of any stroke, then walk a lap, then run in place, then swim another lap, then run a lap, then do jumping jacks in neck-deep water, then swim another lap, then move your arms forward, and then back, and then up and then down to a count of four, then walk another lap, etc. Just keep mixing it up, and when you become breathless, simply float on your back and remember to give thanks for your health and peace and the beauty of the day!

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