Tuesday, April 12, 2016

I know...

Not blogging. I'm really rethinking things right now, and the urge to write about my weight is nearly gone. Not that my weight is - 160.4 this morning and I'm just pissy about it. But of late, I can't find anything I've done that's at all causative, and without something to build on, well, a) I can't control my weight, and b) that's not very compelling writing.

Stress may be involved. Hormones almost certainly are. Shit sleep is probably playing a role - although last night's sleep seemed to be pretty solid, for the first time in a while.

Anyway, I think I'm taking a hiatus from writing about it. Maybe I'll find the urge again, and maybe not. And I'll try to stop snacking between meals. About the only thing I can think to do that is a bona fide change of something that's not good.

Monday, April 4, 2016

Monday

It may be slightly apparent - just slightly - that my compulsion to write this blog has tapered off a bit recently. Guess I don't have anything compelling to say right now. I would like to lose at least 10 pounds. Instead, I seem to be gaining weight. I would like to get more exercise; I find myself at home in the evenings, mentally drained and unwilling to budge. I thought I'd found a way to get better sleep, and that's proved to be elusive as well.

It's very frustrating. And I don't do frustration very well.

In any event, we are trying again - at least, I am, and Lee's not unwilling to go along for the ride - to rein in the eating in the evenings, by having primal "big-ass salads" for dinner all week. I hope we will manage, and I hope that it will be the first of many weeks of eating better. That said, see above.

We shall see.

I did manage to get a lot of walking in over the weekend; we went to watch a professional golf tournament and put in about 6 miles doing so. Hit goal yesterday with a walk after dinner. Really great weather both days - and today, so I hope we will make a third day. Slept fairly well last night, the first in several days - we've been having dog issues, among other things. And yesterday's eating included an omelet, home fries, cashews, a big-ass salad, and ice cream - and, I think, nothing else. So not terrible. For this week, I'm leaving the walnuts at home - I went through a lot of them last week - maybe avoiding them will help. I have cheese and salami with me for today.

Wednesday, March 23, 2016

Wednesday

Wretched sleep last night - 2 days in a row that I woke up in the middle of the night and never really got back to sleep. Ugh. Lots of audio - on, but I napped through a good chunk of it. Also a leg cramp, I think. Might have dreamt that.

We figured out why. Lee had the heat on 2 days ago because it was cold out, and at night, it doesn't get cold enough for me to sleep at all well, unless we have the A/C on. So tonight, if it's not already, I turn the A/C on around 8. Talk about a 21st century problem...

158.2 this morning. Eating a bit more properly right now. Here's yesterday:
  • tea with cream
  • the usual supplements
  • bacon
  • cheese (3 pieces of cheddar)
  • walnuts (rather a lot)
  • chicken breast meat
  • green beans
  • a single serve Haagen-Dasz coconut pineapple ice cream
  • a coconut flour banana nut muffin with butter
I think that was it. The muffins are surprisingly good - just bananas to sweeten them, so not very sweet. Had one for breakfast with more bacon this morning. They rose nicely as well - I tried a trick in the recipe of setting the oven higher than baking temp to start with, then turning it down as soon as they went in - I'm guessing that bakes the outsides a bit more early on, or something. Anyway, they're a keeper.

No exercise this week; mentally tired, and with shit sleep, physically sleepy. Just trying to eat sanely.

Monday, March 21, 2016

Monday

A nice, productive weekend. In which I ate too much. 160.2 this morning, which is annoying. I had popcorn yesterday, so I shouldn't be surprised, though.

No real walking, but we did things like plant herbs, recover chairs, sew a little, run errands, and cook a lot. I made ham broth, chicken broth, arancello (started it anyway), and lemon and orange extracts. And we got the sous vide steak thing to work - perfect medium rare meat for dinner last night, with roast brussels sprouts. And I made lotion bars, and we went to a movie. And to our new Costco that doesn't take a trek to get to.

I'm feeling pretty chuffed at life this morning, in general. And it's a nice sunny day after a chilly sort of weekend (sunny, but windy and cool). The first week of getting used to the stupid time change is over, and Easter is next weekend. Oh, and I have Friday off from work, as a holiday. Weird.

Fasting today, mostly because I wasn't hungry at breakfast. I'm mildly hungry now, so I don't know how long it will last. I'd say I'm at 15 hours right now, so on the brink of autophagy.

Friday, March 18, 2016

Friday

I had a chicken caesar salad last night for dinner. And then chocolate almonds, cashews, and strawberry ice cream. Gained back the weight lost the night before. 159.4 this morning.

Sleep should have been good - woke briefly at 3 am, turned on audio, and didn't stir until 5:30 - but I don't feel rested. When the alarm went off I was awake-ish, but wanted desperately to go back to sleep. It's dark and foggy outside, and I'm very glad it's Friday.

My neck is sore. And my back and ribs and shoulders. I spent quality time last night laying on a golf ball trying to get my right shoulder calmed down, and I do think it worked - it no longer hurts to drive, anyway. 

No walking yesterday; unusual for me, but I was outright sleepy when I got home. We went out to dinner (hence the salad; that's going to be my default plan going forward), came home and ground up deli chickens for the dogs' food, and watched TV (and, for me at least, ate).

Weekend plans involve a trip to Costco (so exciting, I know, but one is finally opening near our house), a bit of gardening, and some woodwork refinishing. We were going to New Orleans for a party with some friends, but the highway there is closed due to flooding, and the dog's blood sugar is all over the place. I think that's a 21st Century sentence. And staying home means I'll be better rested on Monday; our plan was to get home around 11 Sunday night.

Thursday, March 17, 2016

Thursday

I'm not getting around to blogging this week. It's possible that this has served its purpose and is dying out - or I may just be at a low ebb right now. In any event, I wrote something Tuesday and am writing something today. Tomorrow? Who knows.

158.8 this morning; down from Tuesday, thank goodness. But probably not "weight loss", just more of the same wobbling around the upper 150s that I've been doing for months. Am I on a diet? I'm trying. But I feel like my mind isn't quite all there yet.

Here's yesterday:
  • tea with cream
  • cheddar cheese (4 pieces)
  • walnuts (probably 1/2 cup-ish)
  • an Angus beef patty - I'd bet 1/2 lb.
  • roasted root vegetables - carrots, beets, parsnips?? (frozen stuff from TJs)
  • a single-serve Haagen-Dasz strawberry
  • a handful of cashews
And the usual swig of Gatorade at bedtime with Magnesium, to try to fend off leg cramps. Which I had one episode of.

Sleep seemed pretty continuous, but not restful. I have a sore shoulder (my right one) from sleeping with Charlie two nights in a row, and while I took aspirin and did some trigger point stuff to it last night, both of which helped, I think it kept me from getting deep sleep. Tireder this morning than I have been all week.

We are getting walks in, though, before dinner. I like it - it lets me get work out of my system as well as providing some means of de-sludging my bloodstream a bit. I don't think I'd quite categorize it as "exercise", but it's better than sitting on the couch.

Tuesday, March 15, 2016

Tuesday

So I declared (to myself, mostly) that I was starting a diet yesterday. Makes sense, then, that I gained nearly a pound, right? Ugh.  160.4 this morning and not at all happy about it.

So what gives? Here's yesterday:
  • tea with cream
  • the usual supplements
  • scrambled eggs
  • bacon
  • walnuts - probably half a cup
  • a piece of cheese
  • about 5 chips with salsa
  • a chicken breast with queso and tomatoes and peppers
  • 2 chips with fajita meat and cheese on
  • a spoonful of black beans and a bit of rice
That was it. The last was Mexican restaurant food, if that's not glaringly obvious. Salty, for certain, but I did work to avoid heavy carbs.

The whole point of committing to "a diet" for real was to change my mental state. Did it? I think so; I worked hard at avoiding a lot of chips, and choosing something that seemed lower in carbs. I just need to avoid restaurants altogether, I think. But that's highly unlikely.

So, what should I have done differently last night? Half the chicken, and no appetizer (that's what the chips with fajita meat were)? Maybe. Or a salad instead. I did a lot of grilled chicken caesars back 6 years ago, I think. That might need to be my plan going forward.

Sleep was okay - got to sleep pretty quickly once the lights were out, and woke around 4:20 briefly, then closer to 5 for good. And I feel reasonably rested. Considering it's Daylight Saving week, that's actually amazing.

Friday, March 11, 2016

Friday

Better sleep last night. Certainly should have been; I took major precautions, including eating Mexican for dinner (chips, salsa), taking 2 Mag Citrates, a bath with Epsom Salts, and rubbing both legs with Magnesium Oil. First night with dreaming in quite a while, although they were some very weird dreams.

The Mexican was sort of a mistake in other ways, though. 158.8 this morning. Sigh. I decided on  the way to work that I need to decide whether or not I'm actually dieting, and if I am, to commit to it. And that would mean going to a Mexican restaurant only for Fajita meat and veg. Last night, I had chips and some chicken/cheese/jalapeno things wrapped in bacon. From the taste, the chicken may have been breaded. 

Here's yesterday:
  • tea with cream
  • the usual supplements
  • scrambled eggs
  • bacon
  • walnuts
  • 4 pieces of Kerrygold Dubliner
  • chips and salsa
  • queso
  • chicken/cheese/jalapeno things wrapped in bacon
  • a small amount of rice
  • a small amount of beans
  • a strawberry Haagen-Dasz
That doesn't even look healthy in a list. 

Weekend coming. Fish for dinner tonight, shrimp some time this weekend in some form. Hopefully some natural exercise while doing stuff. Hopefully some time outdoors. Depends on the weather.

Thursday, March 10, 2016

Thursday

An edict has been issued: No more good sleep. Somewhere, by someone. I don't know who. But last night, it was properly cool and dark, the dogs were in their kennels, and all should have been well. So I had leg cramps for hours, starting around 1 am, I think. And not easy calf cramps, either; these were shin and outer ankle cramps that twist the foot up into very unnatural positions. They subsided enough for me to get back to sleep periodically, but when I got up at 6, I still had them. 

I take potassium and magnesium. I drink Gatorade with the latter in the evening, to try to keep in electrolyte balance. And last night, before bed, I ate quite a large quantity of salty potato chips. Amongst all that, I SHOULD have been fine. I wasn't.

So I'm tired and achy again this morning. 157.4 - whether it was the salt in the chips, the chips themselves, or the fact that I had breakfast yesterday, I do not know. Not a big gain, maybe just a blip. We shall see. Here's yesterday:
  • tea with cream
  • the usual supplements (you don't suppose adding them in did all that, do you?)
  • scrambled eggs
  • sausage patties
  • walnuts
  • 3 pieces of Kerrygold Dubliner
  • about 1/2 pound of grassfed ground beef (in patties)
  • mushrooms and asparagus sauteed in butter and pan drippings
  • a handful of cashews
  • a mouthful of Gatorade
Kind of a long list, really. I think we're having something seafood tonight. Not sure what.

It's still raining. Good for the crops. Not great for walking outdoors. But I'm not really in the mood for that right now anyway.

Wednesday, March 9, 2016

Wednesday

And the lovely week of catch up sleep draws to a chaotic end. Charlie would not be appeased last night; now that Lee is home, he had to sleep with him. So he did. And Anneke wanted up several times, probably due to thunder outside. Which I think I would have slept through, left to my own devices. Oh well.

I'm really sleepy and achy this morning. And it's dark and stormy out, so no bright sunlight to wake me up, either.

Guess it could be a long day.

157.2 this morning, and I'm puffy still. Water leaving slowly, I guess. Here's yesterday:
  • tea with cream
  • walnuts
  • 3 pieces of Kerrygold Dubliner cheese
  • hot and sour soup
  • half an order of Mushu pork, no pancakes
  • a few fried noodles
  • a fortune cookie
I think that was it. Chinese usually puts me in a stall, so it's nice to see I lost a bit overnight.

Life can now return to normal. Well, home life, that is. Work is being a bit stressier than I would have liked. But there's not much I can do about it, except to try to find something less so. That's always a long slog, though. In the meantime, I'm trying to see the funny side of it all.

Tuesday, March 8, 2016

Tuesday

Well, at least I didn't gain. A bizarre thing to say after eating hardly anything, but that's my story and I'm sticking to it.

157.4 this morning, a slight loss.  Here's yesterday:
  • tea with cream
  • walnuts (really not many)
  • 3 pieces of Kerrygold Dubliner cheese
  • ground beef with salsa, tomatoes, sour cream, and cheese
  • a mixture of salted peanuts, dark chocolate chips, and dried cranberries
  • a swallow of Gatorade
I always forget that last thing - like I forget when I have hot chocolate at work because there is no decent tea upstairs. I have been taking a nightly magnesium citrate with a swig of Gatorade (for the other electrolytes) to ward off leg cramps. Whether it's been that, or whatever I've been eating (hardly any carbs), the leg cramps have been mostly not a problem.

Back to eating breakfast tomorrow, I think. Lee should be home tonight, and I'm grateful. The putter weekend alone was all right - got lots of small stuff done that I've had on my list - but handling work stress alone has not been at all nice this past week.

Sleep good again last night. I didn't even have audio to fall asleep - apparently passed out on the way to turn it on, because the speaker was in position, but the night's fall-asleep playlist had not even been selected. And I didn't use it in the morning, either. I've needed the sleep, for sure.

As for the weight - there is still water. My fingers are swollen. It will go away. And then we shall see what this period of not really eating much has done. And, I hope, be able to continue it, until my set point (I do tend to believe that exists) moves down a bit.

Monday, March 7, 2016

Monday

Good weekend. Productive, didn't eat much, de-stressing (which helped until I made it into the office, but you can't have everything). Got decent sleep, including last night, which was really good.

So, of course, I gained a pound. Water, I promise - I ache from head to toe this morning. I painted yesterday, which is why.

157.6. Here's yesterday (which is not unlike Saturday, really):
  • tea with cream
  • 3 pieces of Kerrygold Dubliner cheese
  • 2 handfuls of cashews
  • a burger patty - something between 1/3 and 1/2 pound, grassfed
  • zoodles (a whole zucchini) with butter, sour cream, parmesan
That was it. I meant to eat breakfast, but got busy. I meant to eat lunch, but got busy and grabbed a snack. I nearly didn't eat dinner, but thought maybe I should, so I cooked quickly and hoovered it up.

Saturday my first food was peanut M&Ms - a mistake, I should add. Add to that some cheese, cashews, and beef-vegetable soup, and you have the whole day. 

The only thing I probably should have got more of was sunlight. I didn't get outside much, and should have, because the weather was super nice. We need some furniture for the back patio.

Friday, March 4, 2016

Friday

This has been, on average, a no-good, very-bad week. Lots of work stress, nobody to blow off steam with except the dogs, and they've been needy, to say the least. 

That said, I lost a pound yesterday. 156.6 this morning. Which tells me that my success in weight loss 6 years ago had mostly to do with the long stretches when Lee was in Arizona. I'm trying to get ahead of the game while he's gone this time, and maybe get a few of the habits re-ingrained.

Fasted yesterday. Nothing except cream until dinner. Here's yesterday:
  • tea with cream
  • meatballs with spaghetti sauce and cheese
  • a swallow of Gatorade (cramp preventative)
That was it. Fortunately (I guess) work was very busy and I didn't have time to wonder if I was hungry or not.

Today won't be much different - not explicitly fasting, but not eating much - a bit of cheese as breakfast, carrots and dip for the day (and walnuts), and who knows what for dinner. Not chips, though.

Thursday, March 3, 2016

Thursday

Ah, hubris.

That whole sleep improvement thing? Completely blown away last night. I let the dog out. I knew I would regret it, and I did. He slept on the small of my back when I lay on my right side, and when I rolled over, my face was full of fur. He does not move. He transforms into lead at night. 

Anyway, I gave up trying to sleep around 3:30, I think. Listened to old radio shows (Information Please is often soothing enough to get me right back to sleep, and entertaining enough if it doesn't work) for about an hour by themselves, then another hour with an overlay of play fighting growling, and then I just turned the light on and read until the alarm went off. Got up, fed them, and got the day started. I don't feel too awful, but it's early.

Fasting today - had a goodly dollop of cream in my tea this morning and will try to make it through to dinner. I think a spot of autophagy is in order; clean up all the dreck from that cold and the stress of the past week. 

157.6 this morning; water, I suspect. I had chips and dip for dinner, which is not exactly salt-free, and certainly not nutritious. I wasn't in the mood to cook. Here's the entire day:
  • tea with cream
  • sliced deli chicken
  • walnuts
  • 5 pieces of Kerrygold cheese (getting my vitamin K, anyway)
  • chips and ranch dip
  • a large handful of cashews
  • a limoncello
That last was just in the fridge from our bottling activities and after hearing that it tastes right from folks who would know, I figured I'd try it again. Not sure I get the point, but it wasn't bad.

Not doing much this week at home. Reading, letting the dogs through the back doors. That's pretty much it. Thinking a lot, about life and work and that sort of stuff, trying to figure out the best way to spend my time here (on earth). Deep, I know, but that's what alone time is for. No solutions, yet.

Wednesday, March 2, 2016

Wednesday

Yeah, I know. Bad week. In terms of time, anyway. I'm on my own for a week and a half, and on top of that, work has been nothing but aggravation. One of those times when I wish I were a hunter-gatherer more than usual.

That said, I've lost weight this week, I think. 157.2 this morning. Mostly because I haven't had time or willpower to snack. Okay, maybe no energy to snack; I hardly think willpower has been involved.

And I've been getting some good sleep. Ignoring the dog's pleas to sleep on the bed with me, and not dealing with anyone in the room coughing or having to get up in the middle of the night for any reason. As an example, I woke briefly this morning at 4:33, thought I was awake enough to need audio to get back to sleep or pass the time, turned it on, and my next conscious thought was that it wasn't working. An hour later, when it had stopped because it was a 1-hour playlist. Now that's what I call sleep. I'm feeling much more rested than I have in a while, and I have about 7 more nights of it, so I will try to take full advantage.

Eating - breakfast is light, to say the least. No time to cook. Sliced chicken the past 2 days. No real lunch either - an apple and cheese yesterday, just cheese today. And a light dinner, at a point in my day when I'm not all that hungry anymore (no fooling, because I'm hungry now, in the morning). 

I am taking potassium at night. No other supplements just now, because of not being organized enough on my own behalf to get them laid out - all my organization at home goes to getting the dogs fed quickly.

Evenings are spent reading in a room with just one light on, for the most part - iPad initially, but I try to put it down when it gets dark outside, and shift to paper. No TV. And I've been running the AC at night as well - the temp is set at 65, and it's quite cool.

Could I do this if I were not alone? Maybe the eating. Definitely not the quiet evenings. Don't know about the temperature. But the combination is working for me so far, and I'll take it as long as I can.

Thursday, February 25, 2016

Thursday

Rough sleep last night - 2 leg cramps launched me out of bed, which was not fun. Other than that, I didn't really wake up for any length of time, and I fell asleep pretty quickly, but I don't feel much rested. Trying to keep an eye on that - see if I can spot any correlations with much of anything. FWIW, I read on my iPad until 9 last night - maybe that was part of it.

158.8 this morning, so the leg cramps weren't for naught, I guess. Here's yesterday:
  • tea with cream
  • the usual supplements
  • scrambled eggs
  • sausage patties
  • walnuts (only a few)
  • an apple
  • cheese - 6 slices of cheddar (nasty flavor)
  • 1/2 lb "hamburger steak" at Cracker Barrel
  • green beans
  • sweet potato with butter
  • a handful of salted dark chocolate almonds
That was it. Pretty balanced for me - fruit, veg, meat, nuts, dairy.

Still no exercise. Lee's still coughing from his version of the cold. And I've been drained the past few days. Better than last week, but not terrific. If we can continue to get the food dialed in, I'm hoping it provides enough energy to get started on something.

Still driving without sunglasses. I think it's helping with the sleep; even last night, I stayed "asleep" rather than having extended awake periods of thrashing, and that seems like an improvement.

Wednesday, February 24, 2016

Wednesday

Another decent night's sleep - this one, despite a dog. Anneke refused to kennel at bedtime last night, and Charlie went with the "whine and drive them nuts" route well past 10 pm, so we gave in. He was good, though - didn't lean on me more than I could bear. So I feel pretty good this morning. Melatonin only last night - and honestly, I don't think it worked much, because I didn't fall asleep until after 10 myself, and that's been unusual lately.

159.8 this morning; we ate Mexican last night. Lee had wanted it the night before and we'd already prepped stuff; I don't know if the need (stuffiness) was as urgent as it was yesterday, but whatever. Here's yesterday:
  • tea with cream
  • the usual supplements
  • eggs scrambled with ham and cheese
  • walnuts
  • carrots with ranch dip (sour cream)
  • chips and salsa (not an overwhelming number)
  • Enchiladas Suiza (chicken with a tomatillo salsa and cheese) - 3 of them
  • a bit of beans and rice
  • a sip of limoncello
  • small handful of cashews
That was it. The limoncello was to taste what I'd been concocting since before Christmas as I bottled it up so Lee can take some on the road with him next week (as gifts) - I have no idea what it's supposed to taste like, but it tastes a good bit like lemon cough syrup at the moment. We're chilling it now, to see if that improves things. It's not bad, just kind of odd. And it is supposed to mellow for at least another week before drinking, so maybe that's part of it. Or it's just odd. I'll wait for the verdict of connoisseurs once Lee's handed it over.

Not much else, really. I'm feeling more rested every day, but not full of vim, yet. I would like to feel like that again. I'm sure it's coming - sure hope so, anyway.

Tuesday, February 23, 2016

Tuesday

I should feel rested. I don't. Bother. Sleep was solid last night, I thought. But I'm just a bit draggy right now. Feel like doing a header onto my desk, truly. It's rainy and dark out, and that might be why.

159.6 this morning. Here's yesterday:
  • tea with cream
  • the usual supplements
  • scrambled eggs
  • bacon
  • carrots with ranch dip (sour cream)
  • walnuts
  • chef's salad (ham, chicken, cheese) with blue cheese dressing
  • peanut-cranberry-chocolate chip trail mix
That was it. A short list. More veg than usual. Today will probably be similar, except I think we're going for Mexican for dinner, which means chips and PUFA. Maybe I'll feel like being good. We shall see.

No walk yesterday - grubby weather and a long drive and we weren't in the mood. I made liquid hand soap instead. Possibly scented, although when I was putting it in bottles, it was smelling more like soap base than anything. If nothing else, it kept me occupied for part of the evening.

Monday, February 22, 2016

Monday

I think I'm recovered from the cold. Finally. What was it - 2 weeks? That was one nasty disease. But I feel normal today, not exhausted, not wheezy, and I have a voice. So I think I've achieved health.

At 160 pounds. Bother. I gained about 0.2 pounds every stinking day last week. Not eating anything bad for me, either. So annoying. Here's yesterday:
  • tea with cream
  • a glass of fresh-squeezed orange juice (from our tree)
  • the usual supplements
  • scrambled eggs
  • bacon
  • cashews
  • swiss cheese (about 5 thin slices, I think)
  • 1/2 pound hamburger (grass-fed)
  • a bunch of roasted asparagus with avocado oil, salt & pepper
I think that was it. I feel like there was more, but I can't think of anything. The orange juice was an experiment - and pretty darn tasty. Obviously, juice isn't as good for us as the whole fruit, but it tasted good as fruit, and I figured the juice was worth a shot.

I spent yesterday doing stuff. Painted the upper half of the foyer, sewed shorts for Lee (altered them), washed sweaters, and went for a walk. Don't know if we'll get another one in tonight, because it's pouring outside, but it's a start. Saturday was draining - we ran errands from 7 am until around 2 and then collapsed. And I slept that night with Benadryl.

So now that we are feeling better (I think Lee's still a week behind me, honestly, but that's a huge improvement for him as well), back to working on our eating. Meat-and-leaves is the plan, and we have a list of things planned for dinner this week that are mostly paleo and/or low-carb.

Friday, February 19, 2016

Friday

Last night's sleep was successful. I feel rested this morning - miles better than yesterday. I have more voice than yesterday as well. Recovering, I think. Finally!

Here's what I did yesterday that was intended to influence sleep:
  • Drove without sunglasses, to and from work. I know that one is supposed to get bright sunlight outdoors without glass in the way, for at least 30 minutes, preferably early in the morning. I can't really do that with my schedule and the solar options available right now, so I opted to get as bright sunlight as I could on my commutes. Including the sunroof - not open, but without the shade on.
  • Took gelatin before bedtime, after dinner. It's supposed to help.
  • Wore shorts in the evening, to get my body temp down.
  • Took melatonin at bedtime.
The last thing works reliably for me. It might be too high of a dose (5 mg), and if I can find 3 mg or less quick-dissolve ones next time, I will. But if I take it around 9, by 9:30 I'm drooling, and by 9:45 I'm usually comatose. That hasn't been the problem much. It's the 3 am wakening that kills me. These days, it's almost always from a hot flash (body temp rise), and sometimes I can go right back to sleep after it, and other times I can't. Last night, if it happened, I didn't know it. I do remember a leg cramp, that also didn't wake me much.

159.2 this morning. Right now, I'm a bit more focused on getting health and energy back than I am on weight loss, and once I feel 100%, we'll get back on working at the whole ketosis and low PUFA thing. I need to design something that isn't quite so cheese-based, though, because honestly, I'm getting super tired of cheese. Here's yesterday:
  • tea with cream
  • the usual supplements
  • scrambled eggs
  • bacon
  • 3 pieces of cheddar
  • walnuts
  • 3-tortilla cheese enchiladas with 505 mild sauce
  • peanuts/dried cranberries/dark chocolate chips (a sort of trail mix) - about 1/2 cup
  • lemon gelatin water
Light on the veg yesterday, but not terribly mucky otherwise. I'd give it a 7.

Still no exercise. Hopefully this weekend. If the upswing continues, anyway.

Thursday, February 18, 2016

Thursday

I feel like such crap.

No, I'm not sick still - or again. I'm just so effing tired. And I can't get enough sleep, even being exhausted. Woke last night before midnight and again around 3. Dog-related in at least part - Charlie ended up on the bed with us, as he does periodically. So I also have a backache, which could be part of what I'm interpreting as exhaustion - for whatever reason, I always feel exhausted with a backache.

Anyway, plodding along. I'm sure much of the exhaustion is still hanging on after the cold. I'm really hoping that we can get ahead of things this weekend. Hoping, not counting on it. Sigh. Maybe reverting to every other night Benadryl would be a crutch that would help. I really don't know.

159.0 this morning. So much for weight loss from being sick. Here's yesterday:
  • tea with cream
  • the usual supplements
  • scrambled eggs with ham and cheese
  • walnuts
  • 2 pieces of cheddar
  • an apple
  • bratwurst (2) with Dijon mustard
  • sauerkraut (live)
  • about 5 salted dark chocolate almonds
  • a handful of cashews
That was it. That's pretty darn Paleo. It could be better, but really, not bad. PUFA from the nuts, obviously. Sugar in the apple and the almonds. 

I think I'll keep the sauerkraut coming for a while - see if maybe I'm gut flora deficient after all this fun.

Wednesday, February 17, 2016

Wednesday

I am over this cold. I have not yet recovered from it. I'm extremely tired right now. Getting decent sleep, but not enough - whether not enough quantity, or not enough quality, I'm not sure, and maybe it doesn't matter. I just know I'm tired.

It will pass. Lee's much worse, because he had it 2 weeks longer and harder than I did. I guess I should be grateful that I made it through quickly and relatively lightly, and if I felt more energetic, maybe I would be. Not so much right now.

158.0 this morning; here's yesterday:
  • tea with cream
  • the usual supplements
  • scrambled eggs
  • bacon
  • an apple
  • 2 pieces of cheddar
  • a few walnuts
  • 3 Taco Bell tacos supreme
  • about 10 salted dark chocolate almonds
  • lemon gelatin water
I think that was it. The tacos were so tasty - unimaginably good, last night. Not something I'd do frequently, but in our somewhat trashed state, they hit every spot we could think of. Nice, really, because we were neither of us interested in eating much else.

Sleep was okay last night - a goodish amount of deep sleep, which is what I think I need for healing. And without Benadryl, even better. No exercise, obviously.

I'm still taking Mucinex, but have stopped the Sudafed again. I am mostly done with coughing, but want to keep things flowing until it's all gone.

Tuesday, February 16, 2016

Tuesday

The coughing is subsiding, thank goodness. I am feeling like I'm recovering - not recovered, mind you, and I'm a little nauseated (probably from swallowing a lot of stuff) and limp this morning. But I don't feel like I have the active cold that I did last week, and that's definitely an improvement.

Sleep last night was mixed. I felt like I slept well until around 2, and then I had a hard time sleeping for any length - I used old radio shows to get back to sleep, and they worked fine (within probably 5 minutes each), but sleep would last at most a little over the hour that they were playing, and I'd be back awake again. I didn't cough much at all - and I'm eternally grateful that I didn't have to have a cough drop - but I did wake up with a very dry and itchy throat. So, blecch.

158.8 this morning. Here's yesterday:
  • tea with cream
  • the usual supplements
  • scrambled eggs
  • bacon
  • 2 pieces of cheddar
  • leftover chili from Saturday
  • mongolian bbq at Genghis Grill
  • a handful of cashews
  • a smallish praline
  • lemon gelatin water
I think I had the nausea last night as well - I really didn't want anything to eat that was paleo; I wanted sugar. So I had the praline. Whatever.

Sleep last night was with the aid of gelatin/collagen and melatonin only. I'm really trying to get away from the Benadryl.

I may try my shoulder exercises again tonight. We shall see. Not doing very well at making them a routine. And I'd really like to get feeling well enough to walk again. I suspect we will have to start with very short walks - unless I stop being so limp, that is. This has been one nasty cold.

Monday, February 15, 2016

Monday

Two days of rest. As complete as we could make them. We had breakfast out yesterday, but stayed home the rest of the day. Saturday, I went for a few groceries, but otherwise stayed home. And apart from chasing Charlie around to prevent him from tracking mud all over the house last night (complete fail, by the way), I spent most of the weekend in a recliner or on the couch. Lee took a few naps.

Do we feel better? Yes. Are we fully well? Not quite - but on the mend, definitely. And my cold didn't turn into an infection of any sort. So far, anyway. I'm still a bit congested; my ears are stuffed up and my sinuses nasty. But nothing is green at the moment.

158.2 - my weight has been all over the map the past 2 weeks. So I'm good with that. I ate enough carbs with a gluten-free pizza Friday night to stop the leg cramps, and I had a few corn tortillas in the course of breakfast yesterday, along with a lot of cashews and cough drops (nasty things, those!), which has kept them from coming back.

I got decent sleep for the first time in about 2 weeks last night - without Benadryl. I've had to take a full dose a couple of times just to get to sleep at all, and even that was starting to fail. 

No exercise, obviously. Saving that for when I'm over this mess completely.

Friday, February 12, 2016

Friday

Got sleep last night. Per my wearable, over 5 hours of it deep sleep. It took 2 Benadryl to get it, but I got it. I feel more rested, and at the same time, wobbly and weak. Drained. This is one NASTY cold.

I think I was running a mild fever on the drive home yesterday - my eyes started burning, I was clobbered with a headache, and started freezing in the car - actually, I couldn't get temperature stable. Also nausea. Seriously lovely time. I made it home, crawled into sweats and under a blanket on the couch, where I pretty much stayed put. By the way, that's the bulk of my weekend plans.

Lee says he lost 9 pounds in the past week or so with this thing. Well, I'm having the same thing - down to 155.8 this morning. More leg cramps last night, despite eating pizza for dinner, with a carby but gluten-free crust.

Here's yesterday:
  • tea with cream
  • the usual supplements
  • sausage patties
  • cheese (6 pieces of cheddar, I think)
  • half a gluten-free pizza with pepperoni, bell peppers, mushrooms
  • a Gatorade
  • a handful of cashews
I think that was it. It's always hard to recall accurately, and worse when your mind is mushy from being sick.

I'm happy to report that I managed sauerkraut this morning for breakfast. It tasted pretty darn good, and I drank the juice as well. I don't imagine it will be a cure, but it did settle my stomach pretty well. 

Anyway, if I can get through today's workday, I have a fighting chance of getting over this thing. I will certainly be fighting my hardest over the weekend.

Thursday, February 11, 2016

Thursday

I'm quite grateful that this week is going fast, because it's been relatively unpleasant. Sleep last night was horrid - well, the attempt to get some was horrid, and what I got was short. Maybe 3-4 hours if I was lucky.

The cold or whatever it is has taken my appetite much as it took Lee's. I'm hungry, but things don't taste good, and eating is an effort, so I don't much. 157.4 this morning, and leg cramps beyond belief last night, as a result. Here's yesterday:
  • tea with cream
  • the usual supplements, with added Vitamin D
  • an egg custard thing (eggs, cheese, bacon, heavy cream/milk)
  • 6 pieces of cheddar
  • half a ham steak
  • a baked sweet potato with butter and sour cream
  • a Lindt truffle
  • a handful of cashews
Spent quality time in a bath of Epsom salts last night before bed, and basically did nothing else. I got home from work late, cold, and very tired. The bath helped with the cold, but nothing helped with the tired. I've stopped taking Sudafed as of this morning, because it probably kept me awake, and because I don't have anything to dry out - my head is fairly clear. The cold is on my larynx, and a little bit below it. So I took Mucinex this morning to keep things fluid so I can cough it all out. I'm also watching for the need to take extra anti-inflammatories, to keep my bronchial tubes from excess irritation. Don't know what else I can do. This is at least half caused by the stress from moving and everything else, and we may just have to get through it.

I keep meaning to eat live sauerkraut, and I keep not getting around to it. I need to do that. And maybe get half a cabbage and start a small jar full, to get a better mix of bacillus.

Wednesday, February 10, 2016

Wednesday

Back to 158.8 this morning; super tired, and the Benadryl is, as usual, not working every night. I slept until around 3, I think - and not all that well. My cold isn't doing much, I have laryngitis, but nothing else. Mucinex is not budging it, though. Still, could be worse; Lee has bronchitis with bacterial things going on, and is on all sorts of meds. He didn't sleep last night until about 5:30 am, and then got up to feed the dogs at 6, which was kind of him, but unnecessary.

Anyway, we were to have gone to a do in San Antonio this weekend. That's off. 

Yesterday went like this:
  • tea with cream
  • 25000 IU of Vitamin D
  • cheese
  • carrots and cherry tomatoes and blue cheese dressing
  • a cup of vegetable soup
  • chef's salad with blue cheese dressing, including another piece of cheese
  • a couple of dark chocolate salted almonds
I think that was it. We went to Cracker Barrel for dinner, and I couldn't finish the salad - too much work. Not a good sign.

No exercise yesterday. If I can get this stupid thing to vamoose, I will restart walking at night - even if by myself. But until then, I'm conserving energy.

I made egg custard things last night to have for breakfast. They were supposed to be quiche lorraine flavored - and they might be - but mine tasted rather nasty this morning. That's been Lee's complaint all week, that food didn't taste good. He's lost 9 pounds since we got back. And while I wouldn't mind losing 9 pounds myself, I don't think I really want to do it that way.

Tuesday, February 9, 2016

Tuesday

I think I forgot yesterday. 

So, 160.0 today, down from yesterday, which was up a goodish bit after a weekend full of eating chips (carbs AND polyunsaturates).

Lee caught a cold on the heels of Mardi Gras, failed to keep on top of it, and probably now has pneumonia. He's been threatening to go to a doctor for about 3 days, but didn't do it yesterday, and I'm mad about that. Not that it's in my control or anything, but he didn't have to get this sick.

I have the beginnings of the same damn thing, unfortunately. But I'm back on Sudafed and Mucinex, and anticipate keeping it from moving into my chest. I could be wrong - the virus will do what the virus wants to do - but it's worked before.

All that said, this whole getting sick repeatedly is pure shit. And needs to stop. We have been sliding away from eating for nutrition a lot lately, and the added stress of moving should have made it more imperative that we stay on track. Noted. It may take a while to dig back out of it, but I do mean that we shall.

Here's yesterday:
  • tea with cream
  • 25000 IU of Vitamin D
  • an apple
  • 6 pieces of cheddar
  • walnuts
  • meatballs and spaghetti sauce
  • salad with blue cheese dressing
  • a handful of cashews
I think that was it. The walnuts and cashews would have had PUFA in them, albeit in a more natural form than corn chips do, so I'd imagine that the impact on insulin sensitivity would be less. Today I have veggies and more blue cheese dressing, and more cheese, for breakfast and lunch. No idea what for dinner, but I may only be feeding myself. There's a ham steak in the freezer; may have Lee get that out to thaw.

I did manage my shoulder exercises last night (on the right side only). I'd love to do some walking, but I feel a little under the weather and think I won't risk making it worse right now. One of us has to stay upright - and I have no PTO, so I can't stay home sick.

Sleep was okay - drugged, but I feel rested this morning. Better than yesterday.

Friday, February 5, 2016

Friday

I read a super interesting blog post from Dr. Michael Eades yesterday (no link; got it in email), about the effect polyunsaturated oils may have on insulin sensitivity and weight gain. If his information is correct, all polyunsaturated fatty acid chains make tissues more insulin sensitive, so that they store fat from glucose as well as the fat itself. Which makes less energy available in the blood, which makes us eat more, besides making us fat from the storage. Not much different from straight sugar, and maybe worse.

What that tells me is that our eating more from restaurants and less from home is very much contributing to my problems maintaining the weight loss I did. Not that we didn't eat at restaurants during the year I lost the weight, but Lee and Elizabeth were gone much of that year, and my reaction was to eat burgers on the grill at home. And I stopped eating lunch at restaurants, by and large. So in addition to going VLC/ZC for months on end, I drastically reduced eating seed oils.  I still ate nuts, which are a natural source of PUFA - and I still do. And I notice that a) they're bloody addictive, and b) anytime I eat them, I tend to stall out on weight loss. That fits nicely with the information he provided. And, from a natural sense, completely convincing - nuts ripen in the fall, and are used by various animals to store energy for winter - either as body fat, or to be eaten to replenish body fat.

Now that I have this information, while I don't imagine that we will stop eating out completely, I can at least watch carefully what I do eat. Steak is okay. Hamburger is okay. Fries are not okay. Salad dressing is not okay. Green beans are okay. Baked sweet potato is okay if the butter is real. And so on. And if I ever find somewhere that still fries in tallow, I can have fried stuff there.

As for nuts, I can look out for macadamias again, since they're fully saturated. And with knowledge, I can make sure I'm fairly restrained in eating the PUFA nuts that are already in my house. Maybe even make them a seasonal thing, once we've finished off what we have.

All that said, I am at 157.8 this morning. Here's yesterday:
  • tea with cream
  • walnuts
  • cheese (3 pieces)
  • an apple
  • steak
  • salad with blue cheese dressing
  • a handful of salted dark chocolate almonds
  • a handful of cashews
That was it. Today will be similar, because Lee is feeling fairly awful, and I told him to stay in bed.

I did manage my shoulder exercises yesterday. I'm at 5 lb for 2 of them, and need to go to 10 lb on the third. I don't necessarily think that I gained strength prior to Mardi Gras by using the 3 lb weights, more that they were too light. And my shoulder is already feeling better. But with the new weights, I probably need to start back doing both arms again - I was just doing the messed up one to start with.

No walking yesterday. Probably not tonight, either. Maybe tomorrow morning.

Thursday, February 4, 2016

Thursday

Starting to think the no-Benadryl plan was not so great. Lee has a cold with a cough, and when he's not feeling well, thrashes around at night a good bit. I would really like some good sleep - I got sleep last night, but it was choppy, since every thrash tossed the bed around and nearly woke me up. If I'm still struggling tonight, I may succumb.

158.8 again today (sigh). Here's yesterday:
  • tea with cream
  • the usual supplements
  • lemon gelatin water
  • scrambled eggs
  • sausage patties
  • 3 pieces of cheese
  • carrots and cherry tomatoes with blue cheese dressing as a dip
  • a stuffed pepper - no rice, just beef and tomatoes
  • a handful of salted dark chocolate almonds
  • about a cup of cashews (I was hungry at bedtime)
All in all, a good eating day, really. If I'd stopped after the first half-cup of cashews, it would have been darn near perfect. Even so, everything was real food. No breakfast today - not formally, anyway, because Lee was so done in this morning that I told him not to worry about it. I had an apple and cheese planned for "lunch", and added a bag of walnuts to flesh it out a bit - I've had some of the cheese and walnuts already.

We did not walk much last night - made it to the end of the block and came back. The wind was blowing something fierce, and Lee already didn't feel well, so we went home. So no goal-making yesterday, and doubtful today. I took a long bath after dinner, and pretty much went to bed (if not to sleep - we watched a movie) after that.

Back at it today. If nothing else, I'll aim to do my shoulder exercises tonight, since I didn't get them done either.

Wednesday, February 3, 2016

Wednesday

Water. Like I said. Some of it's gone today - 158.8. Always nice to lose a couple of pounds overnight, right?

We managed meat-and-leaves yesterday, and I think stuffed peppers are on today's menu. Hopefully not much rice. But still clean eating, and that's all good. And I have veg and dip and cheese with me for eating during the day.

Here's yesterday:
  • tea with cream
  • the usual supplements
  • scrambled eggs
  • sausage patties
  • an apple
  • walnuts
  • steak
  • salad with blue cheese dressing
  • several handfuls of salted dark chocolate almonds
I think that was it. I can tell I've been off the wagon for a while now, with bodyaches (joints, especially) and the return of keratosis pilaris on my legs, so it's time to get things straight in those areas.

Sleep was okay - I was watching a video on my iPad until around 10 pm, which is not sleep-inducing at all, so I suspect I got less than usual (for being at home, anyway). 

We got another walk in last night - turns out that the route we're taking is 1.33 miles, not 1.75. In any event, I got my stride length calibrated so my Vivofit now agrees with the GPS on the Nike Running app. And I hit goal again last night.

Shoulder exercises tonight. I moved to 5-lb weights on Monday and will stick there; I think that the 3-lb ones were a bit light for that.

Tuesday, February 2, 2016

Tuesday

The plan for yesterday was to eat meat and salad. We ended up, due to a propane deficiency, with Chinese. 161.0 this morning. I still think a lot of it is water.

Here's yesterday:
  • tea with cream
  • the usual supplements
  • scrambled eggs
  • bacon
  • cashews and trail mix
  • hot and sour soup
  • 2 fried noodles
  • mushu chicken, no pancakes
  • a fortune cookie
That was it. Not great, but not awful. I have an apple and walnuts with me to eat today if I get hungry.

We managed a walk last night. Per Nike Running App, it was a mile and 3/4. Per Vivofit (which doesn't use GPS), it was 1.18 miles. I think I need to adjust my stride length or something. That's okay, though. We got a walk in after work! And I did my shoulder exercises. I put a stake in the ground for normal life again, one that I hope is legit.

Sleep last night was maybe better than it could have been, given that Charlie was on the bed. Not a lot of deep sleep, and I was more or less awake from 4:30 on. I'm hoping - but not holding my breath - that he'll be kenneled tonight, and stay there. Now that we're through Mardi Gras, I'm stepping away from the Benadryl except in a dire emergency, and working on getting my sleep naturally.

Monday, February 1, 2016

Monday (a week later)

Back from our Mardi Gras week, and slightly exhausted. Not terribly fat, though - I think I ate pretty well all week. Until yesterday, that is, when I had a donut to be polite. Also some chips and a York peppermint patty. One day. Not a huge deal.

Still working on the best way to get through that week without hitting a lot of pot-holes. Bad sleep, meals completely out of my control, alcohol, all mark the way we do the celebration. I avoided bread thoroughly until yesterday, drank very lightly, and did the best I could with sleep (mostly it worked). So I think I'm in better shape than I could be - but I really would like to do better than we normally do, even so.  Oh, well, I have a year to think about it.

I did get in a LOT of walking. 12K steps yesterday - on a day when we spent 6 hours in a car driving home (and the Vivofit doesn't count driving as steps like the Nike did). I think the sunlight is sufficient in the evenings now to get back outside after work, so we are going to start walking after I get home again. I hope that helps.

Anyway. 160.4 this morning, with puffy fingers and ankles, and sore joints. So I know what at least some of it is. Lee says he lost 2 pounds over the week. Noted without comment...

Friday, January 22, 2016

Friday

I'm so tired, I'm pretty much speechless. And yet, I slept last night - solid blocks of non-rem sleep, it appears, too. And dreams that I remembered, both having them, and the substance of them.

Partly medicine head - Lee insisted that I take a night-time cold medicine last night - and partly a roaring backache. Charlie wasn't going gently into last good night, I'll just say, and ended up on the bed, firmly planted on the small of my back. The dogs know something is up, because we packed. I think it best to avoid comment on all of this, except to say that it needn't have been the case.

157.8 this morning; here's yesterday:
  • tea with cream
  • the usual supplements
  • scrambled eggs with ham and cheese
  • an apple
  • 2 pieces of cheddar
  • 2 brats
  • sauerkraut (live)
  • 2 slices of tomato
  • a small quantity of potato chips
  • a handful of salted dark chocolate almonds
  • half a bowl of ice cream (strawberry Haagen-Dasz)
I have looked at my weight track on the new fitness band site (I do really like what Garmin is doing with this stuff), and I'm damn stable around 158. Like, setpoint stable.

I think it will be interesting to see walking and sleeping data this coming week. Like what a night's sleep in Chuck and Anna's very dark guest room will register. And how many steps we get with a hotel that is outside the quarter. Stuff like that. As I said yesterday, I will be avoiding bread as completely as I can, and staying as much on track as possible in a whirlwind of restaurant meals and being a polite guest. And we'll see how things go.

Thursday, January 21, 2016

Thursday

This week is dragging. I know, next week is vacation and all that, but I don't think it's that this time. I've been fighting a cold (winning, now), sleep's been disturbed (putting it mildly), we've been busy at night all week, and have had very little time to just sit and collect my thoughts. Although, reading that, you'd think I'd have started it out saying that the week has just been flying by. I don't know. 

158.2 this morning. To prove that it's out of my control, here's yesterday:
  • tea with cream
  • the usual supplements
  • scrambled eggs with ham and cheese
  • an apple
  • 4 pieces of cheddar
  • Olive Garden salad
  • Chicken Piccata (covered in capers, tomatoes, and lemon butter sauce, not bad)
  • 2 chocolate mints
  • 2 small handfuls of cashews
  • an indeterminate number of nasty cough drops
Oh, well that's why - all those damn cough drops. Except the day before, when I LOST like 2 pounds I'd eaten even more of them.

We leave for NOLA tomorrow. I will eat as well as I can - I will ABSOLUTELY avoid bread, after the last trip there - and when we get back, there should be enough light in the evening to get a walk in. I hope. And all of the list-making and other cat-herding, organization and planning stuff will be done, and we can settle down and start eating right and getting some mild exercise.

Wednesday, January 20, 2016

Wednesday

The cold continues apace. Coughed so much yesterday that I ache in all my interstitial ribcage muscles, my diaphram, and my pecs. I hope today is better, because another day like yesterday and I'm afraid I'll pull something or break a rib.

157.4 today. No rhyme nor reason for it. It appears at the moment that I have no control whatsoever of my weight. Because we ate Mexican for dinner last night, and while it wasn't the chips-fest that our last outing was, I had chips, and enchiladas on top of them. Sigh. Veg and dip and cheese at lunchtime, eggs with ham and cheese at breakfast. Oh, and ice cream.

No exercise, sleep was probably better than the night before, but only because I took myself off to the guest room and took a Benadryl. I know I woke up coughing once, and with a sore hip one other time - and then coughed a bit. 

I do so hate being sick.

Tuesday, January 19, 2016

Tuesday

I feel like stale, fermented shit. Shit that's turning into compost. I had really hoped to keep this cold at bay, limit it to a nose thing. Unfortunately, I had a coughing, well, throat-sneezing, fit on the drive home yesterday (pushing into danger territory), another at 1 am, one walking across the living room on the way to breakfast, and another at work.

I am now eating cough drops. I hate them. And they're tiny sugar bombs, which is worse.

Eating yesterday included eggs and sausage, an apple and cheese, shrimp on salad, and a chocolate. Maybe some cashews. As a result of this very short list, I lost a whopping 0.4 pounds. 158.8 this morning.

Thinking back, I was uber-exhausted 3-4 days driving home, prior to getting sick. I think it's possible that, once we got through the luncheon, I collapsed a bit. I really hope that there's not another collapse coming once we get through next week. I really really wish we were leaving earlier on Sunday, maybe only doing the Captain's coffee. That would at least give me a tiny bit of down time before having to go to bed. But I don't think it's going to happen. In fact, there's a very real possibility that we'll still be in NOLA at 7 pm. Which sucks.

Monday, January 18, 2016

Monday

I spent the weekend with a vicious cold. Saturday, I went to bed around 5:30, I think. Felt a lot better yesterday, and got a good night's sleep last night, so I'm not as exhausted today as I was either day of the weekend.

159.0 this morning; probably water. In my head. I was at 157.8 yesterday morning.

I am so very grateful, though, to have had this happen when it did. One week later, and I'd be doing the "having a cold" thing in other people's guest rooms and at a hotel, and trying to make it through Mardi Gras in a weakened condition. As it is, it hit big on a Saturday, when I was able to stay lying down most of the day, and two days complete rest have left me feeling pretty functional, even if stuffed up and a bit hoarse.

Obviously, even though the weather was pretty decent, I did no walking at all over the weekend. Such is life. I did get a 2-hour massage on Saturday, which was challenging, to say the least. I went through a lot of Kleenex.

Sudafed and Mucinex are my constant companions until this clears up for good, though - I DO NOT want it to hit my chest.

Friday, January 15, 2016

Friday

And thank Goodness it is. Bad, bad night last night. I slept fine until around 2 am, and then was awake until slightly after 5. Fasciculating legs, threatening to cramp if I so much as bent them slightly. A stuffed up head and rough throat (I don't think it's a cold, but am not sure what it is) and that hopeless feeling of just being awake. Which sucks. I took a mucinex for my sinuses, and they stopped bothering me, but my legs are still at it. I guess I need to drink some bouillon.

157.2 today; here's yesterday:
  • tea with cream
  • the usual supplements
  • lemon gelatin water
  • scrambled eggs
  • bacon
  • veg and dip
  • 2 pieces of cheese
  • mahi with crab meat and lemon butter sauce
  • green beans
  • a couple of spoonfuls of cheesy grits with andouille
  • a handful of cashews
  • a handful of salted dark-chocolate almonds
You know, that last item SHOULD have taken care of any cramping, right? Carbs, salt, etc. Nope. I haven't taken magnesium this week; maybe that's it.

In any event, I'm super tired today, and achy. Once I got up, I took aspirin as well. And I have a 2-hour deep tissue massage tomorrow, which should help with some of it. I haven't looked at the weather, but if it's decent, I mean to get a couple of on-purpose walks in. And spend quality time getting organized for our Mardi Gras trip, since that's in a week (how on earth did it come so fast???).

Onward.

Thursday, January 14, 2016

Thursday

Mexican food for dinner last night. 158.2 this morning. I really need to lay off the chips.

Here's yesterday:
  • tea with cream
  • the usual supplements
  • lemon gelatin water
  • scrambled eggs
  • bacon
  • veg and dip (carrots, zucchini, tomatoes, HVR in sour cream)
  • 2 pieces of cheese
  • chips and salsa and green sauce
  • chicken with pico and cheese and avocado
  • about a tablespoon of black beans (they were nasty)
  • a small handful of cashews
I think that was it. Hungry by dinner time, but I think the veg-and-dip helped overall, so I'm doing it again today. Not that it helped with the chips, but you do what you can. We finished the basket of chips, pretty much. Sigh.

I came pretty close to my step goal yesterday, by running errands after dinner again. It's still darkish in the evenings, and pitch dark in the mornings (not that we really want to get up early in any event). Evenings may be getting close, though - I think we were in the car en route to dinner when the sun officially set.

Sleep was okay - not great, and we haven't managed to get Charlie to sleep in his crate since we got back. Sigh. We're figuring it'll have to wait until the weekend to work on that. I feel rested this morning, and alert. That's a good thing.

Oh, and I wasn't sleepy on the way home last night. Still not sure what that was about.

Wednesday, January 13, 2016

Wednesday

So this is weird. Two days in a row, I've driven home slapping myself in the face to stay awake. I come out of work just freezing, turn on the seat heater and car heater to warm up, and the instant I'm no longer freezing, I get amazingly sleepy. I put on extra base layers today, to see if that will ward it off, but it's bizarre - especially as I haven't been able to take a nap for the past 3-4 years or longer, and don't usually get sleepy in the afternoon.

I suppose it could be low-carb flu, as I get back to normal eating after last weekend. Maybe.

157.8 this morning. Here's yesterday:
  • tea with cream
  • the usual supplements
  • scrambled eggs
  • bacon
  • 4 pieces of cheese
  • about 1/2 pound of grassfed ground beef (patties)
  • mustard and ketchup
  • green beans
  • a Lindt truffle
  • about 2 handfuls of roasted peanuts
I think that was it. I was quite hungry in the afternoon, too - maybe related to the sleepiness. And I got a good night's sleep the night before, so it really didn't make sense.

Walking adequate, because we went grocery shopping after dinner. I also did my shoulder exercises, and am starting to think I need to raise the weight level from 3 lb to 5. Maybe.

I brought veggies and dip and cheese to work to eat today - hope that is enough. Turned a carton of sour cream into dip with Hidden Valley Ranch - not paleo, but ultimately, a minor part of the overall food, so I hope it won't cause issues.

Sleep seemed okay last night - although we haven't got Charlie into his own bed yet. So I wake up with him pushing against my back, and it's a bit painful. But I felt rested, and didn't wake much in the night.

Tuesday, January 12, 2016

Tuesday

About mid-morning yesterday it occurred to me that I'd been retaining water. Apparently so! 157.6 this morning.

Here's yesterday:
  • tea with cream
  • an apple
  • 4 pieces of cheese
  • a few peanuts
  • steak
  • Southern-style green beans
  • a single-serve Haagen-Dasz strawberry
  • a Lindt truffle
I didn't eat breakfast, because my stomach was still upset. Once I was ready to eat, though I was pretty hungry - so I inhaled dinner. I was so tired yesterday that I had to fight off sleep on the drive home, something that hasn't happened before. I hope it doesn't happen again.

Didn't do much yesterday - work, dinner, a stop at PetSmart, and then home. Snuggled with the dogs, who were all happy to be home. I should have done my shoulder exercises, but didn't. Need to do them tonight.

Sleep was good - but then, I took a benadryl, so it was helped along. I'm still a bit groggy.

Monday, January 11, 2016

Monday

Survived the weekend; it actually went quite well. Although Lee wasn't happy with me in general - and I know why. I was pretty surly last week, and I need not to do that.

Anyway, I ate bread on Saturday. Part of a croissant at breakfast (mine are better). Bread pudding at lunch. A small piece of King Cake after dinner. And beer. And my stomach rebelled. I'm still getting through it. 

So I guess I'm really truly done with wheat. Can't eat it anymore. It makes me sick.

That should simplify things in a few weeks. 

Anyway, stress source is over and done with, and I do hope I can relax now. Even with Mardi Gras itself still to come - for that, I'm fairly sure that all we have to do is go where people tell us, and spend a bit more money. A pittance, in comparison with what's been done up to now. Hair, makeup, second-line beads. I think that's it. A few meals, probably.

159.6 this morning, although really I would have thought I'd lost several pounds yesterday. Maybe I did... Here's yesterday:
  • tea with half-and-half
  • an omelet with ham, cheese, and tomatoes
  • grits with butter
  • pulled pork BBQ and cole slaw
  • homemade potato chips 
  • half a Domino's gluten-free pizza, extra pepperoni
  • salad with vinaigrette
Not the best day's eating by any means, but far better than Saturday.

We did get a lot of walking in. Beat goal 3 days in a row, including Friday. That will probably stop abruptly today. Yet it took so little to do it - we walked a few blocks to breakfast yesterday, and that was nearly enough by itself. My goal's up to 5600ish this morning as a result. Sigh.

Friday, January 8, 2016

Friday

The "raveled sleave of care" is knit back up. One Benadryl last night, and I had a 2-hour stint where, according to Vivofit, I pretty much didn't move. So needed. I'm much less likely to kill people and break things today. And I've been up since 5. So there.

158.8 again today. I ate sugar at work (more of the blasted Cashew Crunch), and at home (several truffles). Also an apple, which is what I brought with me. And potato chips and cashews, that I bought because the apple wasn't enough. So not a great day for eating.

I have cheese and another apple with me today; have had tea with cream so far (and one of the pieces of cheese). Probably nothing good for dinner; flying to NOLA directly from work (plus-or-minus commute time). Possibly nothing at all for dinner, which is why I made sure to have cheese. I'm not in condition to fast extensively right now.

No significant walking yesterday. But up from the day before, which is something, I guess. Since I got up early today, I did my shoulder exercises this morning. I have a knot under my left angel wing, and the exercises didn't kill it, but they seem to have calmed it down a bit.

My plan for the weekend is to attempt to stay sane. I do hope I can manage it.

Thursday, January 7, 2016

Thursday

Well, I weigh less today. 158.8.  Managed not to eat candy while at work. Tried harder to walk in response to the red bar of doom on my Vivofit, and that sort of helped. My step count went up from the day before, anyway.

I seem to be operating on the minimum possible brainpower right now. Autonomic nervous system functions and the ability to drive a car may be all I'm capable of. I guess I hope that more will surface after this weekend, but I guess I won't be super surprised if it doesn't.

Sleep was utter shit last night - our phone was out, and the alarm system beeped approximately 2800 times while I was supposed to be asleep. I dreamt about it. I managed to fall asleep with it going, but every time I surfaced even a little bit, I heard it again. Finally, at 5, I just got up and mucked with the cable modem (again) to see if it would stop, but it turned out to be the cable company's issue, and nothing I could fix. I think it finally subsided around 6:30. 

The sleep tracker indicates that I slept a total of less than 7 hours, with just over 3 in deep sleep. That feels about right. Well, wrong, but accurate. Benadryl tonight, I think, possibly 2 of them, taken around 8:30.

Didn't do my shoulder or back stuff last night, either. Because of needing to pack and to talk with my folks, who got here yesterday to go to Lee's luncheon - I'm on my own - even dog-free - until I get to New Orleans on Friday night. 

Wednesday, January 6, 2016

Wednesday

Just a bad week. More sugar yesterday - cashew crunch, this time, and very stale it was. I walked marginally more yesterday than Monday, but other than that, did nothing. Not even stretches. I was in a putrid mood, stressed out by last minute Mardi Gras stuff. I really hate to think that I'm going to be enduring it this year, but that seems to be the trend at the moment. Not good. Something I just need to work on in myself, I think.

159.6 this morning. No real surprise there. suffice it to say that eating was just out of control.

I slept with Benadryl - and apparently needed it. I feel a bit better this morning, more rested. I'll probably repeat that tomorrow night, when I will, for about 15 hours, have the joint to myself entirely - no dogs or anything. Shoot, I may fall asleep as soon as I walk in the door.

Guess that's enough for today. Will try to improve over yesterday.

Tuesday, January 5, 2016

Tuesday

Yesterday, I had bad cravings for chocolate, and ate all sorts of crap. We'd sent old Halloween candy and Hershey's nuggets to work last week, and by this week, were down to stale Nestle's Crunch bars and Butterfinger things - both single-bite sized. 

Thank Goodness for that, at least. Because I ate probably 6 or 7 of the Crunch bars, a couple of Nuggets, and 2 Butterfingers.

Also pecans. For good measure. I had a nasty headache on the way home, that subsided after eating dinner.

159.2 this morning. Not surprised, I guess. Here's yesterday:
  • tea with cream
  • lemon gelatin water
  • the usual supplements
  • scrambled eggs
  • sausage patties
  • chocolate as described above
  • 1/4 cup of butter-roasted pecans
  • 2 brats
  • about 1/2 cup of live sauerkraut
  • some potato chips
  • a Lindt truffle ball of some sort
  • a few walnuts
I think that was it. Very weird, altogether.

No walking - I didn't even respond to my Vivofit going all red during the day. I did get my shoulder PT exercises done - and I can feel that this morning!

Monday, January 4, 2016

Monday

Wow. Let's see how the weekend went.

Thursday night we went to bed around 9 and went to sleep sometime well after midnight, surrounded by freaked-out dogs. Always delightful, fireworks.

Friday night, I went to bed and to sleep (to start with) before 8 pm, but spent from 11:30 to after 2 am up with horrible leg cramps. I finally got up and went out to the garage for a Gatorade, drank the whole thing, and that allowed me to sleep.

Saturday and Sunday nights, I got pretty good sleep, with nothing but melatonin. 

The weather mostly didn't permit a walk, until yesterday, when we got out, but to hit the mall. Epic fail there. We need to acquire a treadmill. Also to use it once acquired, obviously.

Wednesday night I had a really hard time finishing my shoulder exercises, and did nothing since then. I will resume tonight. The thinking is that I got my 3 sets in on Saturday/Monday/Wednesday for last week and am getting started on the right schedule today.

Eating - not so great. I was so annoyed by the utter failure of the fat fast that I pretty much reverted to SAD for the weekend. However, we ate meat and salad last night and have plans to repeat that process until my parents get here on Wednesday. After that, outlook is dim, at best, since we are going to New Orleans with eating as at least part of the point of the trip. I'll do my best to behave.

159.0 this morning. Full of water - all my joints ache, and my fingers are stiff. Full of other things too - rebound reaction from being ill a week ago? Not sure. I would like not to be full.

I did manage to hit my step goal on the Vivofit yesterday - a combination of a morning spent matting and framing things and an afternoon trip to the mall. Of course, that means that today's goal is higher than yesterday's. We will arrive at equilibrium eventually.

I restarted lemon gelatin water in the morning today - partly to start working through our lemon crop. We have a lot of lemons in the house. And a lot of lemon juice saved from making limoncello (which is starting to look possible - the vodka is brilliantly yellow and the zest is starting to look somewhat washed out).

All right, then. Here's to a good week!