Back on the Horse

Yo!

I am back in the Primal saddle. It's true. After starving myself on HCG for a month and losing 15+ lb, I looked great. It lasted 6 months, then I gained all the weight back plus a couple of pounds. Last weekend sometime, I became mad at myself for "letting go" and hoovering so much crap into my mouth. Cake, waffles, pancakes, cupcakes... About once a day I was eating some sort of bread and/or dairy product. This resulted in (TMI ALERT) nearly-instantaneous stomachaches and subsequent diarrhea. I know. Weird. Most people who have food issues may not get hit so quickly, but I have some sort of Instant Karma Alert.  Usually within about 20 minutes of me choosing to eat something 'bad', I'll start feeling it & start thinking about looking for a bathroom.

I knew the GE-sponsored Christmas party was coming up at the Museum of Flight this last week, and so I dug in. I started keeping a food diary with the goal of "Today, I will not get a stomachache", which really means: "Today, I will not eat bread or dairy".

The last straw came when I went to put on my Navy ball dress from April for the Christmas party, and ... it wouldn't zip at the top. UGH! I don't mind saying that I cried for a couple of minutes because I was so pissed at myself. But, crying never got anyone anything except red eyes and maybe a free taxi ride, so I got out of the dress and into my gym clothes and went to go lift with my friends.

And I probably had a much better time at the gym than I would have wobbling around in heels at the Museum, trying to avoid hors d'ouevres wrapped in crusty delicious evil bread.

So far, I've lost two pounds, probably mostly deflating from the bread inflammation. Last night, we had takeout Chinese food, so I think the inflammation is back for a bit.

The other day, I also discovered that dairy and/or coffee are stomach-triggers for me. I made a mocha with one shot of espresso, a cup of steamed half-and-half, a tablespoon of Dutch cocoa powder from Penzey's, and a tablespoon of sugar.  A timer could have gone off at 20 minutes - ding! Off to the loo.  I still have one possible ace in the hole, though - Teeccino + coconut milk.  Teeccino also has some fun holiday flavors - some are better than others. I love the Hazelnut and the Vanilla, but the Raspberry Chocolate and Pumpkin Spice flavors taste artificial and cloying to me.

As far as calorie analysis goes - for those who care - I seem to average about 2700-3000 calories a day, roughly 50% fat and the rest split between protein and carbs. Some days protein is higher than carbs, and some days it's the reverse.

I know there will be naysayers who will exclaim that You'll Never Lose Weight Like That.  But I believe that calories from cupcakes behave differently than calories from a ribeye and broccoli (which was my dinner after the gym on Anti-Party-Day), and that has seemed to serve me well.

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In Unrelated News:

- I bought a loom. A Schacht Cricket rigid heddle loom, to be exact. I got it from the Fiber Gallery in Seattle, and weirdly I had $20 in store credit there, so I went for it and basically got it for MSRP ($170) minus the $20 store credit. I warped it on Sunday morning, and have been weaving a scarf successfully!

- Daniel and I are leaving soon for our Christmas pilgrimage to the South. He'll be in Texas most of the time, and I in Louisiana. I'll be telecommuting this next week, and then taking two weeks off for glorious vacation in a place where cracklin's are for sale in a hut on the side of the road, and I can wear shorts most of the time (and "cold" is 68 degrees F)!

- My sister and brother-in-law bought a house in Baltimore and are slowly coming up to speed on what home improvement / repair projects require in terms of skill and equipment.  I am trying to counsel them over the phone and help assess what they feel they can do themselves and what they should contract out. As I told my sister, "You are qualified to put people to sleep for heart surgery, and wake them up again. I think you can drill some holes in your drywall and install window blinds."

- Our friend Jessie is going to pick up her new adopted daughter in Thailand today! Congrats to their whole family on the new addition!