So ... Whassup?

Hey, everyone!

I've had fun scrolling down and checking out the progress updates - it's inspiring to me, and helpful to know I'm not alone in this battle. On days when things aren't going so hot over here, it's awesome to have people to look toward for motivation to keep going.

A couple of updates: when last I posted, I was doing my son's allergy diet with him. That went all right for a couple of days, but then he was restricted even further, and I lost my willpower.

This last Monday saw a huge change in my life. I had my own appointment with Joseph's doctor ... and let's just say, the kid comes by his health problems naturally. I not only am allergic to just about everything, but my organs (especially my adrenals) aren't functioning. So the doctor officially put me on a restricted diet, and he has given me a pile of pills to take to help kick-start the nutrition going. The pills are all condensed vegetable matter, and they look sort of like tiny little cow droppings - you know, dried up grass - but they aren't too hard to swallow.

The difficulty I'm having is just how very limited my allergies make me. I'm going to be having all kinds of treatments for them, so they shouldn't always be this bad, but it's going to take me a little while to figure out a routine that is best for me.

However, there is this - I started this all on Tuesday morning. I should have started Monday night, but we didn't get home until late. Anyway, I started on Tuesday, and when I got on the scale this morning (two days later) it showed a loss of 4 pounds, and I feel like it's a healthy loss, not an "I'm starving to death because I can't eat anything" loss. As my organs get the food they need and start perking up, I should have all kinds of energy and be able to stay better on top of things.

Perhaps what's helping me out the most right now is that the doctor has put me on adrenal support supplements, which is what I need to get me off the Coke. I haven't been able to get off it by myself because I couldn't function without it. Now I have something to help me function, and the doctor didn't take away the Coke entirely. We're weaning me off it slowly, which I think is awesome. As my adrenals wake up, we'll reduce the Coke even further until I'm off it entirely.

So - the upshot is this. I'm doing a very limited diet, taking lots of supplements, drinking three quarts of water a day, and I'm on doctor's orders to rest more and get more sleep. I'll keep you updated as we go along - right now I'm still in, "let's figure out what to eat" phase, but I can tell progress is already being made, and that's very heartening.

Biggest Loser, So Far

Well, I haven't been kicked off yet. I didn't have any weight change last week, which was lucky for me since I'd baked a batch of cookies and had soda. But so far I've lost 5.5 lbs. Normally I wouldn't be too excited about it, but because I crossed a difficult marker in the weight loss (getting myself under 140) I'm pretty stoked. Unfortunately the weight loss hasn't equaled a drop in pants size yet, but whatever. Hopefully I'll be able to keep going and eventually drop a shirt size as well as pants size. I had to buy shorts today (it's been in the 90s all week until today--in the 60s. I hate Cleveland.) and so I was bummed to still be in the same size, but it will all work out in the end.

Almost there!

The title of this post may be a little deceiving. I am still 25 pounds away from my goal, but I am only 1 pound away from my half way mark. My second month of primal went well, but there were a few more hang ups than the first month. Mainly a series of birthday parties with designer cakes that just kept begging to be tested until the last party when I finally gave in and went for it. I'll admit, it was tasty. But after the taste factor went away, eating a whole piece of chocolate cake after 2 months no sugar took its toll on my stomach. I think remembering that gut wrenching feeling will be helpful in the future to refraining from at least so much indulgence. So the big weigh in for the month put me at another five pounds gone away! 24 pounds in 4 months. If I can keep this rate up I will hit my goal by October.
I've found a lot of fun recipes for being primal. The family favorite is Macadamia Crusted Mahi Mahi, which thanks to Costco we can get the wild caught stuff. If you want to try it, just soak your Mahi Mahi in a dish of milk (if you are non dairy use coconut milk) then dip it in fine ground macadamia nuts (I ground mine in my 10$ Black and Decker coffee grinder that I bought at Target to grind my flax seed. Hint...Hazelnuts are too hard to do in this, but macadamia nuts are just fine.) Salt and Pepper and bake at 450 for 10-12 minutes. So easy and so good.
I am still in summer school and just got a part time job, so my grand plans for a workout routine that involves more than walking up and down the stairs at school is still in the idea process, but hopefully by next month that will be a reality. Until then, I'm still feeling great. For the most part being primal has been the easiest and most fulfilling "diet" ever. I can see this being a lifestyle change for good.