Saturday 300814

So it's been just under 4 weeks since I started and I am 5.5kg down! The figure has been steadily going down and I couldn't be happier :-)

I realised that pretty much the last 2 1/2 years, I have been slowly putting the weight back on. The kg's have not gone down at all in this time, but have basically climbed up .... never down. Actually it was since I injured my shoulder that it started. No matter how hard I have tried. That was the hard part.

But since I have understood the dairy free importance, no doubt in conjunction with the no gluten, I seem to have found my way and I couldn't be happier. I am so positive that I look in the mirror, I wonder why I haven't lost all of the weight as, in my head, I feel that I have. But now, I think/hope it's just a matter of time and I will.

It's amazing how in such a short time, one can turn their life around. I so deserve this because I have tried so hard but with dairy and gluten against me, what chance did I have?

Additionally, I have been having counselling which is helping me to help me and therefore my stress level is going down. It's all big one puzzle that I feel that I am slowly putting together to make myself complete again :-)

Monday 110814

So the start of the second week. It appears that I have lost approx 3kg since last week. Ordinarily that would seem extreme but I have noticed a loss of fluid. And I feel great! I had scrambled eggs made on almond milk and 2 slices of gluten free toast on the weekend - now that and the cauliflower soup that I made both contained rice flour. I am trying to avoid rice flour as per the Paleo do's and don'ts. But I figure that if I steer clear of the dairy altogether without breaking that, that might be the key.

Mum did some veggie juicing too and we have had that for the last three days. Very filling and I was so full after that on Saturday night that I couldn't fit in any dinner.

I have worked away at decluttering and tidying up the back room on the weekend. Although I still have more to do, I am proud of what I have achieved so far. I think that this is a vital part of the puzzle: Uncluttering my house = uncluttering my stress level = helping to unclutter my life :-)

Still had a few glasses of vino over the weekend, but as long as I keep it to the weekend, all should work out well. I have a counselling appointment on Thursday morning so will see how that goes :-)

Anyway, here's to a great week!

Menu 080814

Pureed apple + handfull of cashews
3 cups instant coffee with almond milk
2 stuffed chook wings (gluten free)
1 dairy/gluten free omlette with veges
Good handful of cashews & pureed apple for dinner
Red wine

Where have all the chins gone?????

Last Friday/Saturday night.....

And one week later...... Friday 8/8/14 no looking up at the camera. What the hell!?!?

Here we go again..... 080814

Forever, this time. I've been struggling a lot in the last couple of years. Since I lost all the weight in 2009 (got to a loss of 30kg in total) I have been unable to find the key again and have slowly put all of the weight back on. Self loathing. Defeat. Confusion. No understanding. Why did it work so efficiently last time? I cut out all of the bad carbs (white anything, but mostly bread, pasta, potato) and it fell off me without exercise. I had it down to a fine weight loss art!

So what was different this time? No matter what I tried to do - eat like a machine using a heavy protein diet I thought it'd be a cinch. Not this time. Even not eating anything or eating like a bird helped me only to sustain my weight or even creep a tiny bit on. Then - frustration and despair so I'd think 'bugger it' and enjoy a couple of weeks of Maccas and Pizza or not even that, just enjoying what I was eating and I'd find 4-5kg in an instant.

To be fair, it's been the toughest couple of years of my life. The stress has been insurmountable. With work and the financial burden that I have been allocated but not having any support whatsoever from the kids' father in the last 12 months, my stress levels have been through the roof.

Until now.

A few months ago, I saw a page on Facebook that I joined called 'Conquer PCOS'. Just because. I have it. It has affected my life and I thought, 'why not...' Nothing life altering has been happening but I have definitely been interested in the regular posts. Until Sunday night. I saw a link that was called something like 'how reduce even eliminate pcos in 5 easy steps' and it had me intrigued enough to email the link to myself at work.

Additionally, I had seen a couple of posts on the same fb page that suggested PCOS sufferers should avoid dairy. Now one big thing that I had been a part of my diet was dairy. I love love love love milk, cheese and everything that is dairy. Even way back in 2009 I kept eating and drinking dairy. I always wondered why I had not been able to lose more weight that I did, incidentally, as I was training 3 days a week, in addition to playing basketball and I was an on-track eating machine. Nothing could sway me.

So I started to investigate the Paleo diet aka the caveman diet as it went back to eating things before all of the processing started.

When I was away with the girls in Leura last weekend, one of Alli's friend's, Nina (Neens lol), followed a very strict Paleo diet as well so I was able to talk with her a lot about it. So Sunday was my day to say goodbye to dairy, gluten and anything that wasn't low GI.

Then came Monday. Nice and early, I placed my Woolies home delivery grocery order that contained almond milk, gluten free flour, coconut oil, olive oil nuttelex, gluten free bread and some other basics. I didn't eat a lot Monday as I didn't have a great lot around me that I could have but apart from the splash of normal milk in my tea, I abstained from dairy and ate some cashews, had a chicken and salad from lunch. I also pureed/stewed some apples in my thermomix for Kasey. I decided that this would be my daily breakfast.

Additionally, I discovered an online link to someone that was supposedly a PCOS expert. And I was floored by what she was saying!

All of a sudden it was like the clouds blew away. I have not been giving my PCOS any credit for my body or my weight. None at all. And then I read all of her first module of info relating to thyroid (I have nodules) and hormones and inflammation in the body. 12 months ago I had my yearly blood tests and it indicated a very high level of inflammation. OH MY GOODNESS. IT'S THE PCOS.

I don't know what it is that's telling me, but this time, I think I have it sorted. I think (hope and pray like I've never done before) I might have finally found out the key that is me.

THIS IS EARTH SHATTERING FOR ME.

Today is Friday and I already feel amazing. I started feeling it a couple of days ago. Emotionally I feel like the queen of the world like I've discovered gold. Physically, I started noticing things yesterday. Just a little bit more room in my shirt when I put it on for work yesterday morning. When I was drying myself this morning after getting out of the shower, the little puffs of swelling around my ankles are gone. This was a major thing as I wear socks to bed every night because it's so cold and every morning I wake up with a little dent 'band' in the fluid that is around my ankles. It is gone. And so have a couple of kg's since I got on the scale the other morning. I am only going to (try) and weigh myself once a week.

So no dairy or gluten all week and only have a couple of glasses of wine a couple of nights over the weekend (preferably).

Gee I feel great today!!!!!!