Monday, March 31, 2014

Monday

My goal for the weekend was to spend a large chunk of time outdoors, working in the garden. Sleep Friday night was awful, so I spent Saturday reading (and eating - ugh!), but Sunday, exhaustion from Saturday provided nice restful sleep and I got cracking. Got a lot done, actually, both days. Such as:
  • made salad dressings
  • started a new crock of sauerkraut (the original one succumbed to mold while we were in Phoenix)
  • cut out 2 skirts to be sewn this week during evenings, I think
  • rigged up my drip irrigation system for the garden boxes
  • cleaned out the rose garden, mostly (my back finally complained so bitterly that 2 roses remain unpruned)
  • restrung the back yard clotheslines which were cracking
  • finished a Victorian novel
That was the activity for the weekend; I certainly feel like I accomplished a lot. I'm also hugely sore - in weird places. Like my big toes and the tops of my feet and quadriceps muscles that don't normally hurt. I'm certain that inflammation is working hard just now. Also, 157.0 this morning - part bad food choices, part hormones, part muscle aches. Here's yesterday:
  • tea with cream
  • scrambled eggs
  • bacon
  • stupid chocolate blueberries (way too much)
  • cheese
  • strawberries
  • salad with blue cheese dressing
  • bean salad (White Fence Farm for dinner)
  • cottage cheese
  • one half of a small corn fritter
  • turkey breast
  • a forkful of dressing
  • minor amounts of cranberry sauce
  • walnuts
I do think I mostly did okay at dinner; they have a "low carb" option there which I ordered. The problem is, if everyone else at the table orders the regular meal, the fun salad options are still there and available. So I had about half a cup of the kidney bean salad, which I am paying for today a bit. It's very tasty.

As for the stupid chocolate blueberries, I have finished the container; there is another one, but I am not going to be the one to open it. Really, considering that we are nominally Paleo eaters, it's astonishing how much candy is in the pantry right now - the blueberries, dark chocolate bars with and without almonds, chocolate covered coconut chunks (these are actually rather nasty and I am going to get rid of them), chocolate coconut covered almonds, TJ's dark chocolate almonds, milk-chocolate covered macadamia nuts, pralines, liqueur filled chocolates. Insane. We also have an entire shelf filled with jelly - that's a leftover from when we ate bread, but since much of it was homemade (by me), I've kept it for sentimental reasons. Think it's time to get rid of it, as well. Guess I have a project for next weekend.

For what it's worth, I hit my NikePlus goal shortly after noon yesterday - gardening racks up the points, apparently. And I'm not done at all; that was just one area, partly cleaned up. More to come this coming weekend, and maybe some evenings, now that the weather is cooperating more.

Finally, I've adjusted the menopause meds - just using the progesterone cream right now, twice a day, to see if it will work alone, now that I've realized (via research) that it is the "bio-identical hormones" I once thought I would try. Unfortunately, I don't seem to be seeing results. I'm going to give it the week, and if it does nothing, will stop and switch to just the herbal capsules for a week. But I'm starting to think that the main ingredient in both seems to be snake oil. 

Friday, March 28, 2014

Friday

Better sleep last night, I'm happy to say. I went to some lengths to ensure that. I stayed away from the TV and took a bath with a paper book last night, with Epsom Salts mixed in. Also some Lavender oil. We also didn't watch HGTV until 10 pm; I'm sure that was part of the issue. And I closed the blinds over the head of the bed to take some light out of the room - not all of it, because we have a lot of windows and the world outside is not very dark around here. In any event, I fell asleep pretty easily - shortly after 9:30, I'd guess - and stayed that way until 3-something, when I got up, went to the bathroom, and fell back asleep, to wake up again around 5. So more than 7 hours, and I feel much more rested.

156.4 this morning. I didn't test ketones last night, so I don't know where I stand with that, but I had a high fat day and am hoping it's starting to build a bit. Here's yesterday:
  • tea with cream
  • the usual supplements
  • strawberries with clotted cream
  • salami (7 slices)
  • macadamia nuts
  • cheese
  • steak
  • green beans with bacon
  • peanuts
  • cashews
  • 1 row of squares from a TJ's dark chocolate bar
  • 1 tsp honey
The last items are all out of order; I got home, we went to the BFF steakhouse (don't know if I've mentioned it before, but they have great steaks, and really annoying training for their seaters, who are required to make chit chat with everyone they seat), I ate about 10 shelled peanuts while waiting for my food. Once we got home, I was still hungryish, so I had some cheese, a row of the TJ's dark chocolate bar, and some cashews (the last, to have something to put rhythmically into my mouth that crunched). Looking at the list, I got dairy fat, macadamia nut fat and fiber, salami fat and protein, strawberry and green bean plant matter, dark chocolate carbs and fat, and whatever is in peanuts and cashews. And the honey to aid in sleep.

No exercise at all yesterday; I even sat the whole day instead of standing any. I guess I climbed the stairs in the morning, but nothing after that. I was tired.

Still not a lot of benefit from the menopause stuff that I can see; I'm trying to give it time. I realized after a bit of searching yesterday, that the progesterone cream is what is referred to by the term "bio-identical hormones", which is interesting. That being the case, it may also help with fat loss. Maybe. I know if I can get into strong ketosis, I can lose weight, and I think that's what I need to rely on right now. With the hormones there to keep me from sweating at inconvenient times.

I have plans for this weekend that include a lot of outdoor time. I sure hope I am rested and energetic tomorrow and Sunday, so I can carry them out.

Thursday, March 27, 2014

Thursday

Sleep was, not exactly elusive, but sub-par, last night. Elusive might also describe it in part; it took me an hour (starting at 10, worse yet) to get to sleep, and I woke up shortly after 4, after a night spent dealing with being the wrong temperature. So yeah, the menopause stuff is working just spiffy.

And I'm consequently brain-dead this morning. I think I ordered a pair of shoes just now, but didn't get a confirmation email yet and can't figure out if I did the final confirmation step or not. If not, I apparently became a zombie just after entering my credit card number. I'm probably going to have to check my bank account to see if it hit or not as the only way to figure it out.

Gonna be a long day.

On the weight and nutrition side of the world, I'm at 156.6 this morning, and definitely noticing that I've gained waist and hip weight lately - my pants are getting shorter as the waistband rises over a wider butt. Not what I want to have happen, obviously. However, I did have a good day for some exercise yesterday - didn't quite hit goal on the Nike fuel band, but came within 200 points, and got 20 squats in. I also took the stairs (up) twice, and walked around the building a couple of times at lunch.

Here's yesterday:
  • tea with cream
  • strawberries
  • the usual supplements
  • salad with ham and a vinaigrette dressing
  • cheese (shredded at lunch, chunks - at max 2 - later)
  • taco salad with ground beef, sour cream, cheese, and salsa
  • 1 row of a TJ's dark chocolate bar - maybe 73%?
  • 1 tsp honey
The honey did not do its job at all last night, and I would really love to know what was different between the weekend, when we could hardly stay awake past 8, and the week, when I'm still wide awake at 11 wondering what's going on. More outside time? A darker room in general? Both true, but we weren't necessarily in the room before getting crazy sleepy. And we watched TV in bed, so there was blue light there - and in the LED reading lamp I used to read a bit before passing out.

Phew - just got the shoe order email. I did order them. That was going to be an interesting hunt otherwise.

I supplemented my strawberries at breakfast today with a spoonful of clotted cream - figured that was a good way to add cultured dairy fat to the day. Tasty. I have salami and macadamias for the day - I'm working my way back into ketosis, with the intent of getting and staying at a "Heavy" level for a while, then letting it slide back to "Moderate" or "Small" as the usual level. Swearing off sugar, except for the honey, yet again. I hope, if nothing else, the menopause stuff helps level off any carb cravings. 

Wednesday, March 26, 2014

Wednesday

I ate pretty clean yesterday, and shed a pound of water - 156.8 this morning. Still not good enough; I will be continuing to work on it. I think I've really slipped a lot from how I ate originally, and I need to get things under control again - in addition to the weight gain, I've had a lot of aches and pains lately, which says "inflammation" to me, certainly. I know I don't watch for Omega-6 consumption at all these days - I eat a lot of commercially created "vegetable oil" in restaurants and other dishes, which certainly doesn't help. 

I'm a little worried, because Lee has started doing the dinner prep, since he's been home a lot lately, and while he's theoretically all in for Paleo, he truly sees nothing wrong with "Dinner in a Box" and a larger reliance on things that aren't ingredients, which increases commercially manufactured food-like substances in our eating. Not to mention that I rather like to cook, and won't be able to, much, for a while. I think I will have to resort to ostentatious ingredient-list reading in his presence as a subtle hint.

Here's yesterday:
  • tea with cream
  • the usual supplements (plus the new menopause one)
  • salami - 8 slices
  • macadamias - 1 handful
  • two ground beef patties (I'm assuming not grassfed)
  • zucchini noodles with sour cream, butter, parmesan
  • 4 chocolate blueberries
  • 1 tsp honey
A much better day's eating than Monday, for sure. Today I've had strawberries and tea so far, and will be having a salad with stuff in it for lunch.

I didn't get much exercise yesterday, although I did get the snap peas into the garden, finally. Tonight I need to fix the drip hose with the big hole in it, and maybe go ahead and hook it up with a timer, to start watering them. I'm debating on that, because it could still freeze and burst things, which I don't want, but without water, they probably won't germinate. Guess I could start just watering them by hand - and that would provide a bit of fresh air each evening.

Sleep was reasonably good - I think I woke up at 2:30 for a short period but went right back to sleep. I was sleepy this morning, though - probably the combo of a 3-day stint at Mountain Standard Time in Arizona and the alarm hitting at the wrong phase in my sleep cycle.

Hot flashes have not stopped yet. My sister said that she took 3 days or so for things to start improving; the bottle of capsules indicates it could be 4 weeks. I'm not that patient, and don't feel much like paying money and taking pills for nothing to happen, so I will probably give it something closer to 2 weeks to show a sign of working, and if it doesn't, I will go back to suffering without its help.

Tuesday, March 25, 2014

Tuesday

We had a good vacation - very restful, got some sun, and it was warm. And I ate a lot of things I shouldn't have. 157.8 this morning, and it's on my hips. I'm wearing a skirt that fit nicely a few months ago, and it's tight now. Not good.

I slept pretty well last night, and have started with some menopause supplements in pill (phyto-estrogens) and cream (progesterone) form; I am really hoping they help, because I'm fairly sure that some of my bad eating is stress-driven, and these temperature fluctuations are very stressful. On vacation, I had some hot flashes, but the thing that was killing me was that I'd start being cold at my core around 5 am, and I could not get warm. It was awful. Anyway, the supplements were waiting for me at home yesterday, and I started both yesterday. Crossing my fingers that these do something.

Here's yesterday's eating:
  • tea with cream
  • omelet with ham, cheese, tomatoes
  • bacon
  • pork rinds
  • pulled pork with BBQ sauce (not terribly sweet)
  • cole slaw
  • a giant York peppermint patty
  • chicken breast meat
  • a small serving of potato salad
  • chocolate blueberries (about 10)
  • cheese (2 pieces)
  • cashews (ad libitum, which I shouldn't have even started)
  • 1 tsp honey
Back to being good starting today - I have salami and macadamias with me. And I'm going to propose walking to the gym and back with a bit of lifting in the middle. And I'm back to taking the stairs and trying to walk mid-day. I hope some of it will work.

Wednesday, March 19, 2014

Wednesday

Learn something new every day. It turns out that Melatonin impedes blood clotting. I learned this online after donating blood yesterday, because it took forever to get the puncture wound to stop bleeding actively. I went home with a pressure bandage on it, and when I took it off, 3 hours after the donation completed, it threatened to start bleeding again. Google being my friend, I did a quick search on supplements that impede blood clotting, and Melatonin was one of the first hits. And I had taken 10 mg the night before. Q. E. D.

All is well now, although I do have a band-aid on the spot, just in case it changes it's mind about healing. But that wasn't all I learned from donating blood. My blood pressure yesterday was 96/58, which is quite low. Low-Normal, I believe; certainly I'm not having syncope upon standing abruptly or anything like that. Reminds me of my first physical after going Paleo, when we had to do it twice because reading 1 was ridiculously low. And my pulse was 72 - this, a few minutes after wandering around the building to find the donation truck and filling out paperwork and what-not, so I wouldn't quite call it a resting pulse - I know mine has been in the mid-60s generally. Finally, my hemoglobin level was at 14.9, which is high-normal for women (upper limit per a quick search is 15.1). So I'm not anemic - quite the opposite. Which is the main reason I wanted to donate; to shed some iron. I hope it worked.

As usual, I wasn't particularly affected by donating - not dizzy or lightheaded or anything. I don't know if that's to do with a fat-based metabolism (but is mine these days???) or what. And I was able to climb the stairs to work this morning without feeling any less capable than usual and not at all winded.

156.6 this morning (if a pint's a pound, shouldn't I have lost one?); here's yesterday:
  • tea with cream
  • strawberries
  • salad with ham and cheese and blue cheese dressing
  • macadamia nuts
  • chips and salsa
  • 3-stack enchiladas montada (cheese) with green chile
  • 8-10 chocolate blueberries
  • 1 tsp honey
My stomach has been upset in a mild way for the past few days; I figure I'll just let it sort itself out for now without getting all weird about weight.

Sleep was pretty ucky, but to do with the dogs, not me. They were up a total of 4 times last night, of which I recall 3, after having raw bones yesterday. I'm quite tired this morning, which could be blood loss or sleep loss. What was interesting was that I had fewer hot flashes last night (writes she as one starts happening now). I thought maybe it was to do with the donation, but more likely they're rearranging their schedule. The meds should arrive Monday with the rest of the mail; looking forward to improvements with fingers crossed.

Short vacation (or long weekend) starts after work today. Desperately needed by all of us. I plan to get my vitamin D naturally for a few days, at a minimum.

Tuesday, March 18, 2014

Tuesday

Sleep continues elusive; I ordered the menopause stuff with the soy in it. Giving up? Maybe. All I know is that sleep is important, and maybe adding soy will help. I did a bunch of things to try to improve it last night: more sweets in the evening (a real hardship, that), added magnesium at bedtime, put magnesium oil all over my legs, which had been cramping up all evening, and took a 10 mg melatonin on top of the honey. I did get to sleep, but not very easily; the magnesium oil got into a couple of small cuts on my legs and created quite the distracting sting. Once asleep, though, I did sleep until 3:10 am, and then spent from then until 5:30 in a fitful state with a lot of iPod stuff and blanket shuffling. I think sleep happened, but it wasn't restful.

156.8 this morning; here's yesterday:
  • tea with cream
  • the usual supplements
  • strawberries
  • salad with chicken, cheese, and blue cheese dressing
  • a vending bag of M&Ms (not in an effort to aid sleep; I was bored)
  • shepherd's pie, very heavy on the potatoes (and very tasty)
  • two handfuls of chocolate blueberries (I'd guess a total of 16-20)
  • 1 tsp honey
I am attempting to do a set of squats using a chair each day, to improve strength in my legs. Did 10 over the weekend (maybe Saturday), and again yesterday, and will repeat today at some point.

I don't think the additional carbs helped my sleep at all, so I will be striving to avoid them today. I brought some macadamias to work to avoid the machines (I'm also protected by a lack of small change today, I think). I'm also donating blood, which may help by shedding any excess iron.

No idea why my legs went into spasms last night, given that I always associated that with a VLC eating pattern, and yesterday was not that, in spades.

Monday, March 17, 2014

Monday

156.6 this morning; here's yesterday:
  • scrambled eggs
  • bacon
  • tea with cream
  • a few bites of hash browns
  • possibly nothing more until dinner???
  • summer sausage with nasty sweet mustard
  • olives
  • pork roast
  • fruit salad
  • baked potato with butter, sour cream, cheese, green onions
  • asparagus
  • peach cobbler with a non-flour topping involving sugar
  • ice cream (so called - blue bunny or blue bell, which is mostly foodlike substances)
  • two glasses of Riesling
  • 1 tsp honey
I spent much of the day sewing, hence the lack of snacks. I need to pay attention to this correlation and work harder to keep my hands busy during the evening. I know snacking is a boredom thing with me, so some other occupation would block it out.

All told, not an awful eating day for me - better than Friday or Saturday, during both of which I consumed peanuts mindlessly. The baked potato and fruit and dessert were not great, but they're all identifiable real food, more or less.

I have a salad with me for lunch - trying to eat my way through a bunch of lettuce before we leave for Phoenix on Wednesday, and we will have something real for dinner - including more salad.

The sauerkraut I'm making seems to be working - it's starting to produce the proper scent, and I don't see any weird mold on the surface and nothing has turned brown this time. 

Sleep is crap right now - hot flashes. My sister has pointed me toward a supplement that she swears by. That contains soy. I am thinking it over, because I tend to think maybe sleep is more important than avoiding plant-based phytoestrogens right now. Maybe. It's not like I'm thinking clearly at the moment, either.

Got a walk in on Friday; it snowed Saturday, and I spent yesterday sewing, although we did hit the mall briefly, leading to 1 "won" hour. 

Friday, March 14, 2014

Friday

Worked late (until 11 pm) last night, so my sleep suffered. I took both honey and a quick-dissolve 10 mg Melatonin to get to sleep, and I would say that they worked within a half-hour, so things went as well as could be expected. I mostly stayed asleep, but truly, the night sweats are really messing with that aspect of things. Anyway, I'm pretty darn tired this morning.

155.4. Here's yesterday:
  • tea with cream
  • the usual supplements
  • 3 pieces of cheese
  • double Quarter Pounder with cheese, no bun
  • wedge salad with blue cheese dressing bacon and tomato
  • sliced up steak
  • 6-8 chocolate blueberries
  • walnuts (out of the bag)
  • 1 tsp honey
I feel like there was more, especially late at night, but I can't recall what it might have been. Didn't get much exercise yesterday, although I did walk around the front yard a bit to try to "win the hour" - and failed - not even 5 minutes' movement. Oh, well.

I also found a YouTube video showing proper squat form (no weights, just squatting), and am going to try hard to do that a couple times a day. If I can master that, I may move on to deadlifts - if I can figure out how to assemble a barbell at the gym, that is. 

Gardening this weekend, so a lot of movement. I hope the weather is supportive.

Thursday, March 13, 2014

Thursday

154.8 this morning, a rather nice surprise. I did walk yesterday, both once round the building at lunch and then something over a mile at the gym. Usually, exercise swells me up, but not last night, apparently.

Here's yesterday:
  • scrambled eggs with ham and cheese
  • tea with cream
  • the usual supplements
  • cheese (3 pieces)
  • a small can of V8
  • macadamias - one handful
  • chips and salsa (but we left chips in the bowl)
  • steak with green chile
  • about 2 forkfuls of refried beans
  • about 2 forkfuls of rice
  • 1/4 cup (ish) of guacamole
  • about 8 chocolate blueberries
  • handful of cashews
  • 1 tsp honey
I think that was it. We ate out at a mexican place for dinner, so the longish list is an attempt to describe their carne asada dinner - thin steak, fajita style with the usual extras and green chile. I got solid sleep last night - didn't wake up until 5, which is pretty awesome. Yesterday, after the Advil-PM, it took until around 2:30-3ish before I woke up enough to be functional - and that was in the middle of some meetings I was actually running. Not so great.

I set up a session on the NikePlus thing to track the first mile of walking, as usual. What I notice is that over time, the same distance is earning fewer points - because it's taking less time. And yet, I'm doing it with my racewalk playlist, which has graduated pace increases from song to song, and if I'm walking in rhythm, you'd think the times would be nearly identical - or at least oscillating over some average time. But they're not. Maybe I'm increasing stride length or something. After I stopped the session (12 laps), I did another 3-4 laps, some at the playlist pace, and some at a warm-down pace. Felt pretty good, even the fast bits.

Apropos the sleep, I opted to read last night over watching TV, although the TV was on in the room. I was reading on iBooks, which I have set to display pages in pale sepia - I don't know if that's enough to kill the blue light or not. It did take me a little while to get to sleep, but nothing really out of the ordinary. Thought I'd make a note of it, because we watched TV the night before, when even the Advil PM failed to get me rested overnight.

Wednesday, March 12, 2014

Wednesday

155.6 this morning and quite glad, considering. Here's yesterday:
  • tea with cream
  • the usual supplements
  • macadamias - more than 2 handfuls
  • potato chips
  • a vending bag of M&Ms
  • cheese
  • meatloaf with bacon (2 pieces)
  • mashed cheesy cauliflower - 2 helpings
  • chocolate coconut almonds
  • jalapeno-flavored potato chips
  • 1 tsp honey
Too cold and snowy to go out for lunch, so I hit the machines - and not terribly well. That "lunch" made me hungry, so I had cheese before dinner, and seconds. And then more sugar and starch. I am having a horrible time controlling cravings again, and the hot flashes/night sweats certainly indicate that my hormones are all over the map, which would explain it. 

No exercise yesterday, due to weather and exhaustion. I took Advil PM last night, and while it allowed me not to be awake, I can sure tell the difference between whatever it does do and actual good sleep. I don't feel rested this morning at all.

I will try to go to the gym tonight if I can. Long day ahead of me with a lot of meetings.

Tuesday, March 11, 2014

Tuesday

Over the course of the past 3 years, I've read a lot about exercise - particularly, when to work out relative to eating. Fasted workouts supposedly provoke increases in HGH, and allow one to eat a carb bolus afterwards to promote recovery. And then last week, I saw this, on the Calories Proper blog, which certainly seems to indicate that exercise after eating suppresses insulin secretion and improves our use of nutrients. 

Anyway, last night being the first work night of daylight saving time, I wanted to get a walk in. With all that useful information blowing round my brain, I was thinking eat first, then walk. In the end, I walked both before and after eating - we walked to a nearby BBQ place, had dinner, and then I walked home - Lee is still fighting his after-cold coughing spasms and didn't want to overexert. 

Got more than 7000 steps in yesterday - the trip to the restaurant is about a mile each way, and the walking itself felt good. However, walking at sunset may have blown the whole sleep thing out of the water; I got to sleep okay, and woke at 12:30, nearly permanently. I fell asleep again around 4. So, maybe 5 hours' sleep last night, or a little less. I am not feeling wonderfully energetic this morning.

155.4; here's yesterday:
  • tea with cream
  • the usual supplements
  • Jimmy John's unwich with turkey and bacon and cheese (light mayo, lettuce, tomato)
  • macadamias - multiple handfuls - probably more than 2
  • 1/2 pound pulled pork with a sweet sauce
  • a serving and a bit of cole slaw - maybe 3/4 cup
  • a small handful (6-8) dark chocolate blueberries
  • a handful of cashews
  • 1 tsp honey
Near as I can tell, the wakefulness had a lot to do with aches and pains. I could not get comfortable once I woke up. I should have gone and had an Advil or two, but it was cold, and I was periodically sweaty and, just, ugh. Bad night. I hope tonight will be better. In the meantime, I'm working at a seat today, remoting into my standing desk computer from my sitting desk computer. Some days are just like that.

Monday, March 10, 2014

Monday

I'm not entirely sure how, but I managed to get a decent night's sleep last night and woke up feeling rested. A stupid hour earlier than this time last week, dammit. I hate the time change weeks. It seriously does not matter which direction the clock moves, they make me feel miserable. However, I spent much of yesterday trying to do things to smooth it out, and maybe it worked! I did yardwork outside, and read in the evening, all but about 15 minutes without a TV. Granted, the TV time was at the end of the evening, just before going to bed, which might have been problematic, but I got to sleep pretty quickly and slept solidly until 3:30 this morning, which would be about 6.5 hours straight, roughly. Not bad. And I got back to sleep quickly after the 3:30 waking, too. 

Honey. It's what's for bedtime. I guess.

156.4 this morning - I think that's what I was on Friday as well, although it dipped down over the weekend. My lower back is stiff and sore, so it may be water. Not that I ate particularly well yesterday:
  • tea with cream
  • ham, cheese, and tomato omelet
  • a few fried potatoes
  • chocolate covered blueberries
  • cashews (controlled quantity, but more than a handful)
  • chocolate covered coconut chunks
  • salami
  • steak with lemon herb butter
  • salad with blue cheese dressing
  • 1 tsp honey
I think that was it. I need to acquire some strawberries, I think. I'm feeling like they would be tasty.

In addition to strenuous gardening (tote that barge, lift that bale of peat moss, trim those raspberry canes, etc), I made sauerkraut in my new 2 gallon crock. One head of cabbage looks rather lost in there - and after reading all the Amazon reviews that said I'd get the wrong size weights, which caused me to order the bigger crock, I got the 1 gallon weights. Go figure. They look a bit lost too - but they seem to be doing the job of keeping the mass of cabbage well under water, so fine. I will be making larger batches of things later on, after this first batch of sauerkraut finishes its fermenting.

Now that we've been forced to have more light in the evening (at least it's a few months before it's light almost all the way to bedtime), I plan to use it to get a walk in most evenings, if possible. Starting tonight. I've been reading stuff online that argues for the before-dinner exercise pattern and the after-dinner exercise pattern, but I suspect our best bet is the whatever-damn-well-works exercise pattern, which is probably before eating. However it works out, I'm also going to continue getting out at lunch for a bit of a stroll and some fresh air - hoping that will also help with strength and flexibility and general well-being - and kick start a productive afternoon at work.

Friday, March 7, 2014

Friday

Reporting the good, the bad, and the ugly. 156.6 this morning. Our vow to eat nothing but meat and leaves on getting back from New Orleans went bust, obviously. So steak and salad for dinner tonight. Here's yesterday:
  • tea with cream
  • scrambled eggs
  • bacon
  • the usual supplements (fish oil, C, D3, K, Potassium, Magnesium, Biotin)
  • macadamia nuts
  • ham
  • twice baked potato with extra butter
  • chocolate blueberries (8-10)
  • 1 tsp honey
  • cheese, I think - actually, rather a lot
I was hungry when I got home yesterday, so had cheese before dinner and after. I look at a list like this one and think that it's not all that bad compared with the SAD, but it's not working properly for me. Read a blog yesterday with articles from a for-real carnivore - good health on nothing but fatty cuts of meat for 4 years. I don't think I can do that. And I know my family won't. But for me, the starch and sugar need to go, and I need to ratchet down the cheese consumption - maybe set a max of 2 pieces per day (call it 2 oz).

I got another walk in at lunch yesterday - 3 laps of the building. It's not much, but it's movement, and I'm trying hard to take the stairs again.

Reasonably decent sleep from 9:something to 3:30 last night - not perfect, but I realized this morning that my window was closed tight on a not-very-cold night and the space heater was on to boot. No wonder I'm getting overheated.


Thursday, March 6, 2014

Thursday

155.4 this morning. Mexican for dinner last night - need I say more? Here's yesterday:
  • tea with cream
  • the usual supplements
  • Kefir
  • chips and salsa
  • 3 stacked cheese enchiladas with green chile
  • chocolate blueberries - about 8-10, I think
  • 1 tsp honey
A little low on protein, looks like. I just read J Stanton's AHS 2012 Presentation, which goes into detail about why it might be that we gorge ourselves on nutritionally bereft crap, and the gist is that our bodies are seeking to ensure that we have the nutrients we need to function and will be "hungry" in search of them until we provide the necessary. I believe he cites a study in which mice fed a human-equivalent diet with and without nutritional supplements were then offered sugar water, and the mice without the supplementation consumed significantly more of the sugar water.  The argument really appeals to my commonsense side. 

Anyway, I think I might be low on protein in my general eating, and will be working to get a bit more. Also being more fervent about taking my basic vitamins.

Sleep was adequate last night but in order to get to that point, I had to do 2 Advil PMs. Not ideal, but it worked. I'm still fighting residual grogginess, though. Lee's coughing is starting to settle down a bit, too, which undoubtedly helped. I haven't done Sleep Cycle lately, so I can't say how this might have compared with true "good sleep" - should have done it, I guess.

I did get out and walk around the building a couple of times mid-day. Felt pretty good. I think I will do it again today - maybe shoot for 3 or 4 circuits. I need to do something, I know that. Winter is just difficult.

Wednesday, March 5, 2014

Wednesday

I may be baffled. 154.8 this morning; here's yesterday:
  • tea with cream
  • strawberry kefir
  • macadamias throughout the day
  • low-carb pepperoni pizza - leftovers
  • cheese
  • a bag of jalapeno Zapps chips
  • chocolate almonds
  • chocolate blueberries
  • 1 tsp honey
I think that was it - maybe I just didn't eat that much. I certainly didn't have the weird snacking craving last night for once. No idea why I might be losing weight.

Fasting until dinner today, for Ash Wednesday. I am going to try fasting on Fridays as well; don't know if that will be as successful, since I'm at home with the food on Fridays.

Sleep continues to elude me. Last night I volunteered to take the couch and let Lee sleep in the bed - and I stuck it out until around 2, but didn't sleep at all well - it's rather narrow and in order to stay warm enough, I had about 10 lb of blankets on, and my legs cramped up, and, and, and... Anyway, I went back to the proper bed at 2, and promptly failed to sleep for most of the remaining available sleep time - I dozed on and off, but kept waking up with night sweats and sore hips and knees and shins and stuff. I am not as zombified as yesterday morning for some reason, and I'm grateful, but it is tough.

When daylight savings hits next week, I've proposed that we start walking after work and before dinner - just to get out in the air. I hope we can get started and then keep it up; I feel horridly out of shape right now.

Tuesday, March 4, 2014

(Fat) Tuesday

And that title is not a commentary on my weight, which miraculously declined yesterday - I really don't know why; what I do know is that we really don't understand human metabolism. 155.2 this morning. Here's yesterday:
  • tea with cream
  • the usual supplements
  • strawberry kefir
  • cheese (TJ's raw milk cheddar)
  • macadamia nuts
  • more cheese (regular cheddar and swiss)
  • grassfed beef patty
  • sauerkraut
  • chocolate blueberries
  • chocolate almonds
  • cashews (not many)
  • 1 tsp honey
I think that was it - I'm having cravings for small crunchy objects that I can pop rhythmically in my mouth - popcorn would be ideal, and I may try it, because hitting up the chocolate can't be good - starch mildly better than sugar, I think.

Monday, March 3, 2014

Monday

Weird weekend.  Grotty weather, so we did pretty much nothing - my accomplishments are that I cleaned out the medicine cupboard of old expired stuff, and reorganized a couple of shelves in my closet, donating clothes I haven't worn in a while.  Bleah. Ate crap, mostly. So 156.4 is mildly mysterious - I was expecting worse - but more or less in line with my behavior.

Here's yesterday, best I can recall:
  • tea with cream
  • bacon
  • cheese (lots of it throughout the day)
  • chocolate blueberries
  • chocolate almonds (lots of both)
  • peanuts
  • meatloaf
  • cauliflower "mock and cheese" (I just made that up!)
Probably other crap, but I don't remember what
It was a very carby day, and I know why - hot flashes returning means my hormones are scrogged, and that seems to be where I turn in that scenario. I have read enough about the dangers of L-Tryptophan and 5-HTP supplements to be wary of taking any more, so that's out.

I bought some blueberry kefir for Lee, hoping the L. Plantarum would help his chest cold/flu, and he likes it and has been drinking it, but not to any obvious effect. I have a bottle of strawberry kefir at work that I'll finish, but it's extremely carby (25g per cup), so I probably will go back to sauerkraut for my gut bugs once it's done.

Sleep continues to be a bit of a joke - Lee's still coughing a bunch, and I can get to sleep in order to wake up about the time he decides to go out into the living room for the rest of the night, upon which I proceed to spend the rest of my sleeping hours being alternatively too hot and too cold. I took an Advil PM last night hoping it would help - and I guess it did, sort of - but I didn't get Advil-PM-quality sleep out of it. 

Doldrums, I'd call it. We just have to slog on and try not to kill each other.