Okay, here's the deal...

For the time being (say until the end of February) I'm strictly going to concern myself with making sure that I eat a gluten-free diet. I will get my Healthy Guidelines (milk, protein, fruits/veggies, water, etc), but I'm not going to worry about counting Points for the time being. Once I'm back to being GF, I'll get back to counting Points later. Or, I may switch to the non-counting approach called Simply Filling (old Core). We'll see how it goes. But that's the news that's fit to print today.

Accountability & Apostrophes

Well, the steroid shot I was given to help ease the inflammation of my bronchial passages made me want to eat the house. Since I wasn't feeling well already, I had minimal willpower to prevent me from eating said house. Thusly, I'm no longer in the 260s. I hope I'll have myself under control soon. If nothing else, I'm getting plenty of fruits & veggies this weekend so that, if I do feel the need to eat something, I can have something that won't so completely de-rail my efforts.

I've also been a bit concerned... okay, more than a bit... about the frequency of the respiratory infections, both upper (sinus) and lower (bronchitis) that I've been getting recently. So I went to my quiet place and tried to figure out what might be causing them. Then it hit me. I've been allowing more and more gluten back into my diet. So, I went forth and did some research and it turns out that respiratory symptoms can be caused by gluten intolerance. I almost wish I had full-blown Celiac Disease because I'd know immediately that I'd been "glutened" and I would have a more regular and obvious reason to not eat it. Instead, I have Non-Celiac Gluten Sensitivity, which allows me to eat and eat and eat gluten and then, all of a sudden, I have a really intense flare of Fibromyalgia or a case of Bronchitis that I need a steriod shot and an antibiotic that they give to slow the progression of Anthrax to fix.

So, my goal is to come up with GF meals that are also Points-friendly so that I can have my (gluten free) cake & eat it too, as it were. I have nearly 130 pounds to remove from my person. I weigh 2X what I should. Double. That's just not right. I also know that I'm not ever going to budge from where I am if I don't cut the gluten back out of my diet. Thankfully, I love fruits and veggies and they are all naturally gluten free. :-) I have a book checked out from the library called 1000 Gluten Free Recipes. If I find a bunch I like, I may see if I can buy it for home. We'll see. I'm not sure if the nutrition information is included or not. I guess they figure that most people who would be using the book are Celiacs, who are typically diagnosed after losing a lot of weight and don't mind how many kCal is in something. *shrug* What are you gonna do?

So, as soon as I am able, I'm going to the supermarket and I'm going to start bringing my lunches again, and I will go back to being GF. Darn it. I vaguely remember how fabulous I felt when I was GF and really working WW. I want that again. Darn it.

Ugh

I finally finished my antibiotic. I am hoping that the nausea it induced will pass soon. Because of the nausea, I've only been able to eat certain things. Unfortunately, because of the steroid shot, I've wanted to eat the house. *sigh* I'm almost 100% sure that my WI on Monday will be back up in the 270s. I hope it's not, but I'm prepared for it to be. I don't feel quite the urge to snack that I did have, so I'm hoping that the steroid is working its way out of my system. DH & I are going to the supermarket on Sunday, and I plan on stocking up on things that I can eat loads of without really derailing me.

That's pretty much all the news that's fit to print.

Woot!

I finally broke into the 260s - with a vengence. :-) I'm down to 265.2, which is 5# less than last week. Yes, I know that is a lot for one week, but I was retaining water from TOM, so there. I'm also going to enjoy the fact that I'm losing big right now because, if my body stays true to form, my releases will get down to fractions of a pound soon enough. For those who are still sitting there saying "Whoa! That's too darn fast, missy", I'll have you know that I'm not starving myself, I'm not taking laxatives, I'm not making myself throw up, I'm not cutting out a type of food, and I'm not compulsively exercising. I'm following WW and I'm making sure I eat all of my Points everyday and making sure I follow my healthy guidelines wherein I'm getting plenty of fruits and veggies, 2-3 servings of milk, lean protein, whole grains, etc. Right now, this is the rate at which my body is losing, which I'm happy about.

Anyway. /Justification. :-)

Since I'm actually feeling better today, I'm going to do some work in the Room of Doom^tm. I promised the hubby I wouldn't over do it, so I won't. I just want to start getting that room de-cluttered. I am really praying that I'll feel up to starting back @ the gym next week. If I'm paying for it, I really wanna use it, darn it. :-)

Blargh, Hack, Patooey!

I finally broke down & went to the clinic on Tuesday. I'd called my doctor's office Monday in hopes that I could convince him to simply call me in an antibiotic. Unfortunately, their practice has seen too many cases of pneumonia this year for him to feel entirely comfortable doing that without someone listening to my lungs and taking a chest x-ray if necessary. Because it had been 3 weeks of near-constant misery, I relented and went to the clinic. The PA listened to my lungs and told me they sounded congested but clear (i.e. no pneumonia), but he prescribed an antibiotic that would treat both bacterial infection due to bronchitis (the official dx) AND pneumonia. Of course, this particular antibiotic will probably kill everything except cockroaches, so I should be as good as new soon... assuming, of course, that the antibiotic doesn't kill me. :-) In addition to the antibiotic, I received a steroid injection. That's supposed to help me get my voice back and help shrink any inflammation of my bronchial tubes. Dunno what it's doing to my bronchial tubes, but my voice is still squeaky. It -is- better than it was, so I'll graciously accept my blessings where I can find them.

I'm doing well sticking to WW - even though the steroid has made me very munchy. I hope to see a good loss on Monday, but I'll be happy with any loss - especially if it gets me back into the 260s. :-) Since I was at 269.4 this AM & 268-ish yesterday, I think I may just see the 260s again. I'm okay with that. I'll probably still not be able to exercise next week, so I'm really going to try to get in and de-clutter the office/guestroom like I'd been planning to do before I got sick. That will earn me some activity points but hopefully not be too stressful on my healing lungs the way actual cardio activity would be.

It's supposed to be in the 60s the next few days. I'm hoping that will further facilitate my getting better. Of course, it only will if we don't then suddenly have another cold spell. *sigh* When I go in for my yearly "please renew my prescriptions, thanks" appointment with my doctor, I may see if he'll either examine my lungs/respiratory system to see why the heck I keep getting all these respiratory infections, or refer me to a pulmonologist and let -them- do it. I'm tired of being felled by every respiratory bug that comes by. I've missed entirely too much work over them and I want it to stop. Darn it.