Hello,

I am a University of Alberta Alumnus here in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. I am an avid cyclist and I participate in the Ride to Conquer Cancer annually raising $2500 CDN each year. Please visit my Rider page at http://conquercancer.ca/goto/Haydns.ride, on that page you can pledge me toward my annual fundraising goal. If you can support me with a donation, I am very very thankful! Information about why I ride is found on that page.

I was diagnosed with Multiple ...

Hello,

I am a University of Alberta Alumnus here in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. I am an avid cyclist and I participate in the Ride to Conquer Cancer annually raising $2500 CDN each year. Please visit my Rider page at http://conquercancer.ca/goto/Haydns.ride, on that page you can pledge me toward my annual fundraising goal. If you can support me with a donation, I am very very thankful! Information about why I ride is found on that page.

I was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis or (M.S.) last year. What this means for me is that I am periodically on prescription steroids to halt the progression of my illness.

Steroids are a an unfortunate though necessary drug for me. Steroids give me a greatly increased appetite which leads to weight gain. While I'm on them my immune system is compromised so that working out and stressing my body in ways that are usually good become dangerous.

So all in all, when I am unable to exercise as usual I have started using Spark to control my food intake. It is very very difficult to say 'no' to my body when it is telling me that it wants to eat an eight course meal when I've already eaten my 3 square meals plus fruit and veggie snacks. I log on, see the calories I've eaten and fight my hunger with the truth, it doesn't work 100% of the time I admit, but it does help me most of the time!

The one tip I've learned to controlling unnecessary hunger is WATER. Water fills space in your stomach just as food does though when more food is not good, water is fantastic! The drawback is, of course, that you make more frequent trips to the washroom but we all fight the battles in front of us as best we can!

Keep on with what you're doing and don't give in to excuses!
Haydn