Bad ideas

You know how yesterday I said that *since I had broken my diet anyway,* I was going to go out to eat?

BAD IDEA. 

Let me reiterate: it was a 

BAD BAD TERRIBLE NO-GOOD IDEA!

I spent yesterday night huddled in a fetal position, feeling as though I were about to die. So yeah....anyone who thinks that breaking the elimination diet is a good idea should probably think again. I had a headache, felt like throwing up, had gas, a stomachache, and  went to bed three hours earlier than normal. All because of a potato, some butter, and a slab of meat (okay, and some salad dressing and a piece of bread). 

Today I'm back to eating "safe foods," and have a chicken roasting in the oven as I type. I don't think I'll be repeating that mistake again. 

I did take the sodium/potassium bicarbonate mixture yesterday, and it did help get me back to a closer weight (111.8). Hopefully I'll weigh in at my normal weight tomorrow morning, and then can continue testing foods. 

Wish me luck....I'm headed to the gym.

Elimination Diet, Day 12 (or, the day I'm putting the ED on hold for 24 hrs)

Yesterday I consumed milk, and today I woke up weighing 0.2 pounds heavier than my weigh-in yesterday morning. That doesn't sound like a lot, but I weighed the same for three days in a row and therefore am taking it as a sign of a sensitivity to milk. Well, that and the fact that my stomach felt like the cauldron from the opening scene of the Scottish play. This evening, I weighed in at 112.6 (I'll confess that I broke and had two pizza rolls, but only after I decided to take today off.....reason next). Onto my rationale, I decided that since I'm going to have to take a day or so to recover from my food sensitivity, I was going to take the night off and go to dinner with my boyfriend, who happens to be in town.

We're not going anywhere crazy--just a local steakhouse. I chose this location because I figure the ingredients are pretty apparent--I'm getting a steak (beef + salt), a potato (butter + potato, lol), and a salad (iceburg + dressing). (I was also "bad" and ate two pizza rolls.) Then tonight/tomorrow, I'm going to take the mixture of potassium bicarbonate + baking soda, and wait for my system to normalize (and eat a whole lotta chicken and rice...YEYAH). I really can't even be sad, because I figured I had a sensitivity to dairy, and I've mostly been ignoring the possibility. However, after being off dairy for so long, I didn't realize how TIRED it made me, and how bad it made my stomach hurt. After I introduce soy into my diet, if I'm not sensitive to that, I'll probably start trying to get used to soy milk as a suitable replacement. (I'm going to guess that it's NOTHING like cow's milk, however.)

Didn't go to the gym yesterday due to some serious lactic acid buildup in the ole muscles, but went today and hit it hard! :)

I focused mainly on lower back, and some shoulders/delts. Other than that, today has been largely unproductive. I started my asthma medicines, and I'm hoping to note a difference in the next few days.

Elimination Diet, Day 11 + my trip to the allergist

This morning, I weighed in twice--once as soon as I got up, which was earlier than normal, then after I got moving and closer to the regular time I weigh myself (and after a BM). Those weights were 111.6/111.2. This evening, I weighed 111.8, which I think is in line with how I should ACTUALLY be weighing--more throughout the day and lose weight throughout the night. I guess we'll have to see. Last night I had black tea, and I don't think I'll be doing it again. I think I'm sensitive to it, because although there wasn't a HUGE weight gain, I had a lot of trouble sleeping, had terrible dreams, and generally felt bloated and unhappy with my stomach. It's crazy how some foods can affect you so much and others don't (especially when they're not even FOODS, but drinks).

On that note, tonight I introduced milk, and immediately felt like my stomach was curdling. I JUST KNOW I'm going to weigh more tomorrow morning. :( Not cool. I love milk, and haven't really considered finding a replacement for it. Even if my weight doesn't increase, I'd definitely say I have an intolerance to the milk, though it may manifest in ways other than weight gain. If my poor stomach has any say in the matter, it doesn't like digesting milk at all.

Which is funny, because today I went to the allergist and got tested for all kinds of allergens, including 13 common food allergies. Here is a picture of me being tested for all of them:

The screening checked to see if I had any allergies to wheat, eggs (whole), milk, peanuts, soybeans, pecans, walnuts, chocolate, shrimp, crab, salmon, trout, and tuna. And what am I allergic to? Peanuts. I could have already told you that, as anytime I eat them, the roof of my mouth starts tingling/goes numb. It hasn't stopped me from eating them, of course, but now it gives me pause. Though I'm not *technically* allergic to the other foods I've listed, that doesn't mean I don't have a slight sensitivity to it, which means I'm going to continue my diet (particularly since this test didn't include corn, sugar, and yeast as potential allergens and particularly given my response to milk today). I'm also allergic to goldenrod, marsh elder, English plantain, cockroach dust, dust mites, mice, and privets. I'm not allergic to any grasses, and I have no reactions to any types of mold.

I also got an official diagnosis for asthma, which is shocking, because I've only had two asthma attacks in my whole life and thought my mother was majorly blowing the possibility out of proportion (she has asthma, too). My doctor informed me that my lung function was significantly impaired, however, and that my lungs were 3x more inflamed than that of a person with regular lung function. I got a bag of pharmaceutical samples (because my allergist is the bomb.com) and am going back at the beginning of March for a checkup. I've also been given the task of charting my lung function each day, which may be something I incorporate into my blogs.

So yeah, more chicken and rice today, more bananas, more apples, a glass of milk, a handful of grapes, and BOOM...sensitivities. I think we'll see the full scope tomorrow morning, and I'll keep y'all posted.

Elimination Diet, Day 10

This morning after weighing, I breathed a HUGE sigh of relief. I'm not sensitive to brown rice! (Cue the angels singing and the Hallelujah Chorus.) Actually, I'm not quite sure I'm not sensitive or not. Since I'm not getting as many calories as I need, I'm not sure whether or not I should be gaining weight overnight, but my morning weights have stayed relatively the same, while my evening weights are LESS than my morning weights. I don't get it......I'm wondering if it's because I'm hitting the gym in the afternoon or because most of my eating is done at night, which would shift the two weights around, but the point is that I'm steadily losing weight, so I'm not sure if I am sensitive or not (but since I've been eating the foods that I'd normally be sensitive to during the day and losing weight, I'm going to water I'm not.) I haven't noticed any stomach bloat, and I've not noticed any headaches, drowsiness, or the like.

As predicted last night, my hammies hurt this morning. :) No wonder, either, after my workout yesterday. Today, I gave my legs a break and worked my biceps and abs, with a little bit of pecs thrown in. I really had a LOT of energy today, which was wonderful, and my stat are as follows:

I've been burning about 700 calories in the gym every day, and I am starting to really enjoy my workouts. It's my time to zone out and just focus on myself. I would have done more cardio, but I had to get back home to prepare for my boyfriend coming in. And he definitely did, and came bearing gifts of apology:

This my first time meeting Aldo, and I have to say he's just as adorable as this picture depicts him to be. :)

Tomorrow I have an appointment with an allergist who's going to be testing me, so I'm not sure how that's going to affect my diet or my progress, but I'll let y'all know how that goes. Have a great day!

Elimination Diet, Day 9

So today I did it. I ate tons of dehydrated bananas. TONS. I dehydrated three of them, and I got better at dehydrating the more I did it. :) (I only ate them in the morning though, until I could gauge whether I'm sensitive to them or not.) And the verdict is in...I'M NOT. I'm also not sensitive to chicken, which I ate the heck out of yesterday.

As for my weight--today I weighed 111.8 (morning) and 111.0 (evening). I'm thinking the decrease in weight over the day is probably because I hit the gym so hard this afternoon. :) It was a legs day, which means I worked my pahookus off and burned some serious calories. I think today's workout  was a lot easier, since I had some protein in my belly (I ate some chicken before I went) and since I had the promise of brown rice for dinner tonight. I'm reeealllly hoping I'm not sensitive to rice, because I lurve it. It would be a sad day if I could no longer eat it.

Here is my chart from the gym today:

Today also kinda sucked, even though I was in food bliss. I had a falling out with my boyfriend, and it made me feel horrible. Here's to hoping tomorrow is a better day! I figure my butt is gonna throb like a sore tooth in the morning, which means I'm going to have to give my arms a great workout to go with it.

Tomorrow, I've got to go to the grocery store, since my dad forgot to get my dogs their food, and I also need to pick up some apples (I've been eating them frequently), some more nuts, and some more bananas. I reckon I'll dehydrate TONS just to keep around for when I need something crunchy. One good thing I can say about this diet is it is teaching me how to do new things in the kitchen--first roasting a chicken, then using the oven as a dehydrator! I don't know what's next, but I don't think I'll mind a bit. :)

Elimination Diet, Day 8

This morning, I weighed in at 111.6. This evening (after--TMI ALERT--having diarrhea), I weighed in 0.2 pounds less--111.4. This could be because I have virtually starved myself in ANTICIPATION today. (Okay, I didn't totally starve myself--I had spinach covered with a lentil/red pepper/walnut puree for breakfast today, two apples, and a bag of pineapple.) Since I was hungry and a little weak, I forwent the gym today. BUT TOMORROW, I SHALL IT IT WITH A FURY.....

See, today is when I got to reintroduce chicken into my diet. I love chicken. I can season it with salt and be okay. Tonight for dinner, I threw a little roasting chicken into a baking pan (it's actually homegrown--my dad slaughtered it himself!), then greased it up with olive oil and course sea salt. Then I added some chicken stock (I pre-made this a few weeks ago from another one of our little roasting chickens); threw in some green beans, red peppers, and spinach leaves; and covered it. I roasted it in the oven for about 1.5 hours at 350, and it.came.out.MARVELOUSLY.

I'm serious. I probably just ate about eight ounces of chicken in one sitting. I've not been this full for days, since I've been starving and counting down the days til I got to eat stuff I reallllly like.

I've also got bananas dehydrating in the oven in anticipation for tomorrow morning. :) Plus I get to add rice to my chicken tomorrow evening. 'Tis a glorious time in my life. (I can't even talk about a week and a half from now, where I'll presumably be able to eat butter and eggs too, because then I'm making the LARGEST vat of fried rice imaginable and ROLLING IN IT.)

Today has been a trial. I hate feeling weak, and I hate not having complex carbs. It makes it difficult for me to enjoy the gym, and I don't feel like I've been getting the protein I've needed. This all changed when I added chicken back, and will change even more since I CAN have rice tomorrow. It will be the perfect pre-workout meal, as far as I'm concerned. Tons of protein, some carbs, some fats, and bliss!

Elimination Diet: Week One Review

When I decided to start the elimination diet, it was because I was working my ass off in the gym and not seeing results on the scale. Although I know we all like to repeat the mantra that muscle weighs more than fat, the fact remained that I spent eight weeks working out and restricting my calories only for my weight to go UP rather than down.

I had already begun to suspect that I was sensitive to some food I was consuming on a regular basis. Then the week before I started the diet, I went to a Mexican restaurant with my boyfriend, and experienced fatigue, headaches, and severe stomach issues for several days (not one day, mind you). I have always dealt with stomach problems, namely those related to GERD and something akin to IBS. Whenever I ate, I would run to the toilet. Whenever I got stressed, I would run to the toilet. It seemed like I was running to the toilet all the time.

After I read the initial article about Dr. Mansfield's diet, I was skeptical. There weren't many book reviews because this book was only recently released (I think maybe in October?). I also couldn't get immediate hold of it because it was mainly released overseas. However, I found a blogger, Blissful Mama, who was trying out the diet. She wasn't being paid, and her opinions were all her own. And she is really the one who solidified this idea that I should try it as well. So I bought the book.

I'm not going to kid you and say this week has been a cakewalk. The first day was miserable, running to the toilet every 15 minutes as a result of the Epsom salts. Then the food hankerings started. I wanted eggs. And milk. And bread, for God's sake! And I quickly tired of lentils, and pineapple, and lentils. And cod. (If I never have to see cod for as long as I live, I will be a happy girl.) Being from Louisiana, I craved garlic and onion powder. I wanted to douse everything in pepper. I wanted whip out my trusty container of Tony's and sprinkle it on EVERYTHING.

But I didn't. Because I wanted this diet to work. And so far? IT HAS. Below are my statistics regarding my weight throughout the week.

I've lost FIVE pounds. IN SEVEN DAYS. It's a post-Christmas miracle! But the work isn't done. The next couple of weeks marks the second phase of the diet, in which I slowly reintroduce foods. As I said in my previous post, I got to eat broccoli tonight, and you've NEVER seen someone so happy to eat her broccoli.

I'm not going to lie. I'm TERRIFIED at the thought of having a reaction to dairy. Or eggs. Or wheat. Or yeast. But I'm also not exactly welcoming of the thought that I'm slowly poisoning my body with things it reacts violently to. I've got an allergy test scheduled for next week, which means I might have to wait a few days to rid myself of the subsequent allergic reactions that are sure to ensue following those tests before introducing any new foods. That's not the most exciting prospect either. :-/

Regardless, the first week of this diet has proven to me that SOMETHING in my diet is causing my inability to lose weight and my gastric distress. I've already committed this much time and trouble, so I'm going to stick with it and see how the next month and a half goes.

Elimination Diet: Day 7 (AND BROCCOLI)

Today, I weighed in at 112.8 in the morning (although I reweighed after a BM, which I had been doing, and it was down a pound at 111.8). My evening weight was 113.8.

I've already discussed yesterday, which was much like the day before, and almost exactly like today. 

Did that make any sense? (I'm guessing not.)

Anyways, what that means is that I'm pseudo-starving myself, not because I am not hungry or want to lose weight, but because I am SO SICK OF THE FOODS. Fortunately, tonight I was able to introduce broccoli back into my palate, and ate an entire crown of the stuff. This followed an ENTIRE BAG of pistachios, which amounted to about 800 calories and about which I don't feel guilty at all.

On the other hand, today's workout went surprisingly well. I was able to hit cardio hard, and I also got in a good delts/lats/biceps workout, as evidenced by my Sparkpeople's record: 

Tomorrow is going to be even better, because I'm roasting a chicken. :)

Elimination Diet, Days 5 & 6

I'm combining days 5 and 6 for the sake of not having that much to report. Let's just say that day 5 sucked a big one. I weighed in at 113.4 in the morning following a big BM (TMI, I know) and weighed in at 115.2 during my evening weigh-in. For my Day 6 weigh-in, I tallied 113.0 pounds in the morning (because I starved the day before) and 114.4 pounds in the evening.

Why did day 5 suck so much? I'm starting to get tired of the foods. All of them. I hate lentils. And pineapples. And apples. And spinach. And especially cod (the worst food in the world, I'm convinced). I've tried all food combinations, and I'm not really able to do much with them. I was so tired of them yesterday that I really didn't eat much at all. This didn't impact my weight in the scales too much today, but I think it did impact it SOME. It was so pathetic that I'm not even bothering posting my food tracking from yesterday.

As far as the gym: today (day 6), I took a free day to let my muscles repair. Day 5 gym time was good, though. I almost went 5 miles combined with all my cardio machines (upright, stairmaster, and AMT), mostly because I did them before and after my weight routine. I worked triceps, abs, and worked on my form with squats yesterday.

So yeah, that's pretty much it. I'm stupidly excited about the prospect of adding broccoli to my diet tomorrow. And the next day, I get to add chicken (YAHOOOOO!!) and peppers (not black pepper, unfortunately). I'm SOOOOO glad.

Elimination Diet, Day 4/My Day at the Gym

Yesterday was more of the same diet foods. My morning weigh-in was at 113.8 and my evening weigh-in was 115.2. So far, my chart looks like this:

	Morning Weight	Evening Weight
Night before	---	118.8
Day 1	117.8	114.4
Day 2	114.4	115.4
Day 3	114.4	115.8 (after din)
Day 4	113.8	115.2

My weight is holding pretty steady, and I managed to drink 8 glasses of water yesterday. The corners of my mouth are healing nicely, and I hope that in a couple of days, the cracking will be a distant nightmare. 

So, I alluded to a horrible incident in the gym yesterday. Let me explain....

I already knew it was going to be a shitty day. My littlest brother was running late for school (I drop him off in the morning to ensure that I get up and get my pahookis to the gym), I forgot my breakfast (sliced pineapple) on my way out of the door, and I was starving come gym time. 

Then I get on the only open treadmill to start my fitness test and the woman on the one beside it had the worst imaginable breath ever. I'm talking....rank. It made me want to throw up, except, well, I didn't have anything in my darn stomach to heave! 

I managed to get through my upright bike, my AMT, and my running cardio (my fitness test was better than the last time, so that's a plus!); then I headed to the weight room. Since I had done pecs and lower back the day before, I figured I could do some triceps and abs to balance it out and focus on legs during the latter part of the week. So I grab my bosu ball and I'm heading to set up my station when I hear a guy kinda yell/grunt really loudly by the leg press machine. I figure he smushed his finger between two plates (haven't we all?) and I didn't give it much thought....until he did it again, much louder, and remained hunched by the machine. 

I cautiously approached him from the other side, asking if he was okay (because I thought maybe he had somehow gotten caught under the machine--I had no idea how I was going to help, but I HAD to offer). That's when I notice his hands were curled into claws and that he was seizing. 

At that moment, he fell down and began to convulse. I've seen someone have a seizure before, and luckily there was someone else in the weight room at that time who ran to help assist me. We rolled him over, and then realized this was no normal seizure. He was bleeding from his mouth and his eyes. His eyes actually looked black around the edges because of the blood vessels, and I saw blood coming from them. It wasn't just broken blood vessels, but ACTUAL blood. Now, had it just been coming from his mouth, I would have figured he had bitten his tongue. As it was, we knew something was very VERY wrong. 

I told the guy who was holding him to stay with him, then SPRINTED to the main desk to tell the person to call 911; that a man was having a seizure. Being as she was from another country, I guess she didn't understand me or why I was shouting. I shouted to the rest of the gym that if a medical professional was there, that they needed to come fast, because he needed a doctor or a nurse. By that time, I had already grabbed my phone and started dialing 911. They answered immediately, and after I calmed down, I explained where I was, what was happening, and to send help. A few minutes later, the managers of the facility also came downstairs and attempted to help. There was nothing I could do, and he was having large muscle contractions by this time, and lapsing in and out of consciousness. The police chief arrived, and about ten minutes after making the call, the paramedics (FINALLY) showed up. 

It turns out that this guy (who couldn't have been older than 21 or 22) had a preexisting condition; he wasn't wearing a medical bracelet indicating his propensity for seizures (which I know can be difficult and burdensome to wear in a gym). The medics got him in the bus and started an IV, and he suffered a gash to the head as well when he seized. I gave the police a report, and then went cut my workout short and went home. 

The rest of the day was pretty much wasted. I didn't feel better until I called the hospital, explained who I was (to three separate people), and just asked if he was okay. They told me they couldn't give me a report (which I was okay with and understood, due to HIIPA), but that he was being released (it was noon at that time).

However, it got me thinking....the emergency procedures in this gym were sorely lacking. No one covered this guy to keep him from going into shock (and the weight room was cold). The people behind the front desk were not equipped to handle such an emergency. They didn't even call the ambulance, but instead opted to phone the police, which could have wasted PRECIOUS minutes had this been something worse (not that this wasn't God-awful) and had I not called 911 instead. No one brought a defib in case this guy's heart stopped, and I'm not sure they even had one. It seems to me that every single gym should have an emergency plan in place, particularly at a university. No alarm was raised, no intercom system was used, and no one seemed to be in much of a hurry. 

It also made me think about how fragile life is, how unpredictable your day may be, and how much I hold on to trivial details when I should be thinking about the larger picture. 

Just food for thought....

Elimination Diet, Day 3

On day 3 of the elimination diet, my morning weight was 114.4 and my evening weight (which I stupidly recorded AFTER DINNER) was 115.8. I honestly thought I was having a wee bit of a reaction to the sweet potatoes I had for dinner, because I had gas and felt bloated after eating them. However, I was shocked when I got on the scales today (day 4) and actually measured less than I anticipated.

As far as diet, I had more of the same: pineapples, cod, lentils, walnuts, and apples. I added some sweet potatoes, as I've mentioned previously, and which I do not plan on adding for the rest of the seven days. I also managed to drink eight glasses of water yesterday (which I never do!) largely due to the fact that the corners of my mouth have started to crack and look absolutely horrible. This condition also made me run to Walgreens for an antifungal (thankfully found the athlete's feet section before I had to resort to buying Monostat and smearing it on the corners of my mouth) and a B-complex vitamin. They're already starting to look better, thank the little baby lord Jesus.

Here are my stats from yesterday, a la Sparkpeople:

Yesterday was a pectoral and lower back workout, and I went light on the weights. I'm really looking forward to being able to add some more carbs back to my diet after these seven days, because I don't have nearly as much energy in the gym as I do when I can eat grains and a really hearty breakfast.

In other news, I encountered the scariest gym incident (or possibly incident ever) today, and I'll be writing about that tomorrow, with day 4 of the elimination diet update.

Body Shots - 1/21/2013 - Gauging where I'm at

I looked high and low for a swimsuit, but they're all packed up. Thus, I picked some boyshorts and a matching top to take these pictures in (which are actually probably more covering than a swimsuit!).

As the caption says, I've been working out for about eight weeks--I started on November 27 (after gorging myself on EVERYTHING). I hope to have a lot more definition by the time summer rolls around, and I'd LOVE to have some cuts in my legs.

Compared to where I was 8 weeks ago, I look TONS better. :) I wish I had some proper before pictures to display.

Elimination Diet, Day 2

I started day 2 by weighing in as soon as I woke up. The scale still read 114.4 from the night before. I figured that today my weight would go back up as I started to rehydrate, but by the evening, I only weighed one more pound than I started (115.4).

I hit the gym hard, focusing mostly on legs and lower back. I started with a mile and a half on upright bike (doing for alternating resistance, hill style), which took eight minutes. I normally do cardio first, but I wanted to really hit the weights hard since I had slacked off recently. After weights, I went for 20 minutes on the AMT, which is one of my favorite machines in the gym--it's like an elliptical on steroids. My workout routine consisted of the following (I nickname my own free weight exercises, and estimate the time for each one--I actually did weights for 38 minutes yesterday, but I try to account for rests):

If you're not familiar with www.sparkpeople.com, I suggest you take a look. It's what I use to track my exercises and calories daily, and I absolutely love it. I also take progress of how many miles I go during the week (running, cycling, on the Stairmaster and AMT, etc). I'll also do a post soon about my gadgets that I use in the gym and my undying love/adoration for them.

Following is a screen shot of the calories I consumed yesterday. I just threw everything together, so the 3 cups of lentils for lunch were actually spread out through the day, etc.

As you can see, even though my diet is incredibly limited, I'm still getting the proper amount of carbs, fat, and protein, which is probably better than I did before (I was getting either far too many calories or far too few), but I don't have the refined sugars and proteins that I'm used to. I won't lie--my little brother got pizza yesterday and I side-eyed it so hard. I can't wait for day 7, when I get to introduce broccoli, and especially day 8, which is CHICKEN!!! :)

Elimination Diet, Day 1

Yesterday (1/20/2013) I started the elimination diet. This consisted of me taking two tablespoons of Epsom salts and only eating foods off the recommended 40 list. The Epsom salts function as a laxative to "eliminate" everything else bad you've had up until the time you started the diet, and BOY HOWDY, DOES IT. I was miserable all day yesterday, sprinting to the toilet, and my workout *really* suffered because I was so dehydrated. At one point, my legs felt weak because I had literally just expelled all the water from my body. Even though I tried to rehydrate, there simply isn't enough water in the world to counteract the disgusting way Epsom salts work on your body.

The night before I began the ED, I weighed in at 118.8. I'm not gonna lie. Those numbers broke my heart. It's really what galvanized my ass into action, when I am being completely honest. The next day, I measured myself in the morning and weighed in just above 117 (I guess that's my "resting weight") and by yesterday evening, I was down to 115.6. I lost 3.2 pounds of water weight in one day. That's a LOT of effing water.

So what did I eat yesterday? I had an apple for breakfast, then I soaked and simmered lentils for lunch. The great thing about the first seven days of this "diet" is that you can have AS MUCH OF THE FOODS ON THE LIST AS YOU WANT. The difficult thing is the only thing you can season with is pure sea salt and olive oil. Luckily, lentils taste awesome with salt on them, and I had two bowls. Following this, I went to the gym, then to the grocery store to stock up on some more food that was on the "good" list. I came back home with a lamb chop, a bag of cod, a fresh pineapple, some fresh apples, some pistachios, and some walnuts. For dinner I had the lamb, which sucked. I am no master chef, and salt is NOT enough for lamb. I followed it up with some pineapple.

At the end of the night, as I said before, I weighed 115.6. This morning, on day two of the diet, I weighed 114.4. Weird.

Overall and honestly, as far as my reflections for the first day go: it was miserable. My body was hungry, I took a nap because I was so tired, my stomach hurt due to the Epsom salts, and I was irritable for all the above reasons. However, my stomach never actually felt hungry (I just knew my body was). The foods aren't all too bad, and after I figure out how to cook everything, I'm sure it will be better. I'd love to find some raw cashews, because I can cook with those easily!

The Elimination Diet Experiment, An Overview

I'm officially a lawyer by profession, having passed one bar examination (in the great state of Arkansas) and I've somehow decided that to take a second bar examination, because (a) I'm crazy; (b) I'm a masochist; (c) I have nothing better to do while basking in funemployment.

Anyone who has ever taken a bar exam can tell you it sucks. It wreaks havoc on your diet, your body, your mind, your psyche, your everything. (No lie: I looked like a friggin meth addict, I was picking my face out of anxiety so much.)

Ahem. Since beginning to study for this last bar examination, I've been feeling those same pangs in my stomach. The pangs in my head. The need for a nap at 11 in the morning. I'm exercising at least five days a week, and I don't mean the pansy workout where you get on an elliptical for 20 minutes and call it a morning. I lift shit. I move my ass. And I've not lost a single pound.

So what's a girl to do? Well, a week ago, I read an article (I have no idea what the link is, because I followed that article up with about seventy billion more articles on the same subject) regarding elimination diets. One of the premiere doctors in the field is Dr. John Mansfield, who is an allergist and who has penned two books on the subject--one concerning food sensitivities and how they exacerbate osteoarthritis and another merely on how food sensitivities can affect your weight loss. I honed in on the latter book, entitled "The Six Secrets of Successful Weight Loss."

I was intrigued, but the only way to really know what was really in the book was to buy it. I thought about purchasing it off Amazon, but since this book is primarily released in the UK, I didn't know how long it would take me to receive it. So I downloaded Kindle for my PC, then I bought the book for ten buckaroos.

The basic premise is the six secrets, which I'll touch upon later. MY main focus in this book was that we all have food sensitivities that are preventing us from reaching our goal weights because our body is constantly having to readjust for these foods that we aren't supposed to be eating. Although I hated human physiology in college, I did somehow manage to receive my degree in Toxicology, and I knew all about the cortisol reaction--you introduce a stressor (e.g.: in this case, a food you have a sensitivity to) into your system, your body freaks out, your body releases cortisol, and cortisol (necessary and magical thing in its own right) tries to put everything to rights. However, time and time again, studies have shown that when cortisol is constantly relied upon to fix all of your troubles, it eventually leads to problems with your pituitary glands, your thyroid function, and your subsequent fat distribution.

After downloading this book, I was highly impressed at how Dr. Mansfield breaks everything down. I decided to embark upon this elimination diet to see if it could help me. I certainly wouldn't mind knowing all the foods I'm sensitive to, and I think it would help me in the long run with regards to my overall health and progress in the gym.

Because what's the point of busting your ass in the gym if you're not going to see results????

A little about me + goals/measurements

Although I've blogged before, I've been strictly anonymous and like to write about my rants and raves. I've been wanting to write more about my progress to getting back into shape, but my other blog is not the venue in which others may appreciate it. Therefore, I created this blog to foster a sense of accountability in my workouts, to track my achievements and failures, and also to possibly help others as they try to achieve their own goals.

I'm a lawyer by trade, although since I've graduated from law school and passed the bar, I've been woefully unemployed. I'm from the great state of Louisiana, where the general attitude is that people live to eat, rather than eat to live. I'm unashamedly of the former group, and will not lie--I lerrrrve food. I'm not in terrible shape, and I'm not overweight or anything more than average. But I'm tired of being average. I want to look great. I want to feel great. And I want to do so in such a manner than is SUSTAINABLE, not just something that happens once a year after I cut out ALL THE THINGS that I want to eat. 

I will admit that I've gained about five pounds since I graduated from law school, and I don't like it. I'm five foot two, and five pounds shows up. This was the main motivator to get back into the gym, but now I think I really need to kick it into high gear. I'll be posting some pictures of me in a swimsuit in the next few days so as to watch my progress, and my weight/measurements/goals are listed below.

Goals:

(1) Eliminate overly-processed foods from my diet 6 days out of the week. 

(2) Cook at home more often. 

(3) Lose about ten pounds.

(4) Eventually see lower ab definition.

(5) Identify food sensitivities and work to avoid them.

(6) Experiment with diverse foods.

(7) Get to less than 20% body fat. 

Body Part Measured	01/19/2013
Weight	118
Chest	33
Waist	25.25
Hips	37
Bicep (unflexed)	L: 10         R: 10
Bicep (flexed)	L: 10.75    R: 10.75
Calf	13
Thigh (top)	L: 21.5      R: 22
Thigh (above knee)	15
BMI	21.6