Friday

I am still fighting something that is leaving me exhausted right now - I have no idea what, but it's certainly unhelpful when my night's sleep breaks itself up, waking me at weird intervals 3-4 times for no reason other than my mind thinks it's time to wake up.  So I'm a rag this morning.  Here's yesterday's eating:

• fasted breakfast, just supplements and tea with cream
• cheese snacks (broke the fast at 17 hours)
• potato chips
• a scotch
• chips and guacamole and salsa (not very many)
• burger with bacon, swiss, and avocado on it
• cottage cheese
• pickle spear
• 4 chocolate cherries

I think that's everything.  146.0 this morning.  I have olives and sauerkraut with me for snacking purposes, or lunch, whichever fits better.  Probably doing a movie tonight, for which I'll bring coconut flakes and nuts with me, and avoid the popcorn.  And try not to fall asleep.

I think I'll plan on a fairly rest-centric weekend.  And maybe whatever it is will go away.

Thursday

If this week goes by much slower, it will be in reverse.  I cannot recall the last time we had one that took this long to get to the end!  It doesn't help that the mornings are dark and populated for the past two weeks by a charity fund drive on the radio in the slot normally occupied by an interesting current events talk show; 10 minutes a day begging us to support homeless kids' needs for backpacks or some such thing.  We donate elsewhere, thank you so much, now please shut up and return to our regular programming.  Makes it hard to get going.

146.6 again this morning.  No surprise, considering I seem to be fighting carb cravings at the moment - that, and I'm in a bad mood.  I thought I was done with that sort of thing, dammit; why else did I bother turning 50?  Here's what I can recall of yesterday's eating:

• scrambled eggs
• bacon
• the usual supplements - double fish oil
• tea with cream
• cheese snacks
• M&Ms
• hazel nuts
• giant salad with turkey and blue cheese dressing
• walnuts
• chocolate cherry (only one, I think)
• chocolate mint godiva thing
• cashews out the wazoo
• sauerkraut

Yikes!  This morning, I'm fasting, because we didn't have any bacon defrosted and it was just easier.  I've had my tea and cream, and my usual supplements.  The double fish-oil did seem to work, finally; I'm not as achy as I was yesterday - even including the flu shot, which made my left arm very annoyed.  Another night spent sleeping solidly - woke up for the first time around 4:30, which really isn't all that bad, given that we generally are out cold well before 10 pm.  And I drift in and out for that last hour or so.

I have cheese snacks with me, but I've put them away so I can't see them.  If I can fast all day, I'll eat them on the way home, as a prelude to dinner, which will probably be out somewhere.  I'm looking forward to the weekend - I need some time to get things organized again, and a road trip, however enjoyable, really interferes with the mechanics of life.

Wednesday

The weekend's weight is not disappearing as I would have hoped.  I'm back down to 146.2 this morning, which is better than yesterday, but not much.  I brought cheese snacks today; hope that they will sort things out on the snacking front, at least.

I'm less achy than yesterday - I should be; I took 4 fish oils throughout the day.  But I didn't have a comfortable night's sleep, so I think there's still some inflammation there somewhere.  Here's yesterday's eating:

• scrambled eggs
• bacon
• tea with cream
• the usual supplements; extra fish oil
  
• trail mix (peanuts, almonds, cashews, m&ms, raisins)
• bratwurst
• Boar's Head sauerkraut (I don't know for sure if it is a fermented product, but it's sold cold)
• smoked turkey with a mustard BBQ sauce (definitely had corn syrup in it; not sure what else)
• cole slaw
• cashews (very small handful)
• more fish oil
  
• walnuts

I think that was everything.  The trail mix was definitely boredom eating, and I hope it was better than the potato chips; neither was a good choice, really.

I was tired yesterday evening in a way I haven't been for a very long time - just foot-draggingly weary.  And a bit stupid, to boot - I was struggling to recall words like sauerkraut.  Food helped, and I fell asleep later than Lee did, but it was still remarkably easy to get to sleep, so I think I'm still tired.  The only thing I can come up with as a reason is that I was mildly sick last week; maybe it's lingering after-effects.

Well, onward.  Not entirely sure I'm over being tired yet, but I will see if there are other things I should do to clean up my eating a bit.  Maybe that will help.

Tuesday

I am inflamed.  No other way to describe it; I hurt from head to toe, just a little.  Fingers are swollen, my back aches.  I'm stiff.  No idea why.  I took double fish oil this morning in hopes that it will fix what ails me, but not sure it will. 

I was still really tired yesterday; Lee got back from a meeting at 8:30 last night and opted to watch TV in bed.  I joined him, and read for maybe 10 minutes before I succumbed - lights out, and I remember nothing until 4:25 this morning when the dog decided she needed to be outside.  And after letting her out and a few minutes to relax again, I fell back asleep, until the alarm went, and once again after that, I think.  I can't quite believe the trip to Seattle took that much out of me; maybe it's just Fall.  It's pitch-dark in the mornings again, dammit, for one thing.  I hate that.

146.6 this morning.  Ugh.  Still water, much of it, I think.  But I ate crap yesterday, which couldn't have helped much.  Something like this:

• scrambled eggs
• sausage (the last of the Jimmy Dean natural stuff - which was very good)
• tea with cream
• the usual supplements for Monday
• potato chips (bad salt craving)
• hazel nuts (boredom)
• stuffed green peppers with meat and rice and cheese and tomato sauce
• salad with ham
• nasty commercial greek salad dressing
• chocolate cherries (only 2 of them)
• cashews (small, controlled portion)
• cheddar snacks
• gouda snacks
• walnuts

I was craving salt badly yesterday - no idea why, especially when I'm already retaining water like crazy.  I need to resist the chips today, especially since they are cooked in seed oils and I'm having inflammation - I don't need to add n-6 to my diet right now.  Meant to bring cheese with me, but I forgot it, so it will be a Day Of Willpower, I guess.

Monday

Interesting weekend.  My GPS likes ferry rides, apparently, as she kept trying to get me to use them, regardless of the schedule.  I got to sleep Friday night at around 2 am Saturday, and was back up and busy by about 8:00, I think.  A can of coconut milk kept me alive, although without strawberries mixed in, I wasn't truly keen on the taste.  Taste-schmaste, though; I wanted my MCTs.

Overall, I ate okay.  I'm carrying a goodish bit of water today - I can tell because the tips of my toes feel swollen.  Plane flights tend to make me swell up.  146.2 this morning; could be worse.

Here's what I ate yesterday, as I recall it:

• tea with cream
• "taco" omelet - with taco meat, cheese, tomatoes, and onions
• bacon
• more tea, but with "creamer" - no ingredients listed on the container, but it did warn that it contained milk
• fermented pickles (I'm pretty sure)
• bison burger with cheese, mushrooms, onions, bell peppers
• fries and ketchup (and I ate every last one of them)
• iced tea
• a small handful of chocolate blueberries (which I will stop eating again starting now)

I think that was it.  The omelet and bacon were still holding me fine some 7-8 hours later, and I almost didn't want dinner (note that not wanting it did not stop me from practically licking the plate).  Saturday's food included commercial meatballs in BBQ sauce and grape jelly, olives, deli meat, cheese, veggies and dip, ice cream, steak, shrimp, and a baked potato, roughly.

I think I got close to 8 hours' sleep on Saturday night, and last night, I don't think I moved more than once all night.  Taking a 3-hour flight each way for a one-day visit does take it out of you, but it was fun.

Friday

143.2 this morning - possibly due to the bowl of strawberries I ate last night since I am gone this weekend and they would spoil.  Not concerned about the rise.  I'm more concerned about the upcoming weekend - travel is always tricky.  I can probably fast a bit here or there, though, since it's just me.  Here's yesterday's eating:

• scrambled eggs
• bacon
• sausage
• tea with cream
• the usual supplements
• cheese snacks
• hazel nuts
• meatballs with spaghetti sauce and cheese
• salad with meat
• commercial greek dressing (nobody told me when we ran out of homemade!)
• iced tea
• strawberries
• walnuts

I think that was it - it may not have been; I wasn't paying much attention when eating.  Interestingly enough, I had lots of leg cramps last night - haven't had those in quite a while.  At least one episode of rocketing out of bed - didn't wake me up permanently, but it was abrupt.  There might have been one other, but if there was, it didn't wake me up at all.  So I guess I would continue to say I sleep well, although I'm a bit tired this morning.  Bad timing on that, I should add, since I'm flying west, and should hit my hotel around 1:30-2:00 am my body time.  Ugh.  Not looking forward to that - I should feel just wonderful tomorrow.  So I'm taking a Mag Citrate with me, with the intention of taking it once I get close to the hotel.  I haven't used it as a sleep aid before, but it's supposed to be good, so I have my fingers crossed.

Thursday

I have been really cold this week, and a little of last week, having to drink tea and sit on my hands to get warm enough to function at times.  This, while wearing wool, too.  My illogical conclusion as to the cause is that I wasn't getting enough fat in the diet, and that I needed the cream in my tea.  Yeah, maybe.  I added it this morning, and Lee added sausage to our eggs-and-bacon to see if that would help.  And maybe it will.

142.6, I think, this morning, so no big change from yesterday.  Here's what I ate:

• scrambled eggs
• bacon
• tea without cream
• the usual supplements
• potato chips (salty-taste craving and the thought that a few carbs might start the heater.  they didn't)
• hazel nuts
• QDoba naked burrito with very light rice, no beans, double shredded beef, guacamole, green salsa, cheese, and sour cream
• iced tea
• cheese snack
• small portion of cashews

So, overall, not a fabulous day, but not wholly bad.  In addition to the cream at breakfast today, I brought cheese with me, in case the salt urge hits again.

I'm continuing to listen to the Robb Wolf podcast with Dr. Kurt Harris (it's a marathon - over 90 minutes).  Really a classic, I think - they cover a lot of ground, very sensibly, and arrive at a reasonable conclusion out of all of the churn in the Paleo world right now - there are probably more whole foods that "do no harm" than were originally thought, and humans have a lot of options for what they can eat to be healthy and fit.  They also are making a strong case for the food reward argument as a weight loss tool - I haven't heard the absolute end of the podcast, so I don't have the whole thing yet, but what they're saying really makes sense to me.

That, and over the course of what I've heard so far, I think they've just opened up the option to have twice-baked potatoes in the near future.  Yeah - I love those!