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

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

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

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

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

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

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.