Inching closer to 31....

Turning 30 was fun! I did go buy new running shoes that day: my fourth pair of Brooks Addictions. I loved those shoes and they loved me back. They carried me through five months of training, through wet weather and warm, dragging feet and light feet, and across two finish lines. I ran my first half-marathon in those shoes and I PR'd the 101st annual Bay to Breakers. I am about ready to retire them as they have served me well. I can hardly believe that nine months have gone by since my birthday. I know I planned to write more frequently about my life, but actually sitting down to type always seems to fall at the bottom of my never-ending to-do list. Today, I feel the need to type. So much has happened since my birthday (besides my races) that writing it all down might make it all seem a bit more real to me. A little back-story: I've been overweight my entire adult life. I was a chubby kid and had a brief period in adolescence where I lost the "baby fat" and enjoyed a relatively healthy body. I say relatively because I was a teenager and we all know how the average teenager eats! I had cheerleading to keep me active and for a while, the dancing and jumping around helped mitigate the pizza, soda and other junk I ate. My weight started creeping up and by graduation I was 15lbs overweight. By the time I started college four months later, I was probably 50-60lbs overweight. I can't tell you for sure. I wouldn't step on a scale. I spent all of college worrying about what I ate, visiting the campus nutritionist, going to the gym when I got around to it and generally feeling out of place in my body. I did manage to lose a solid pants size by college graduation, so I had that going for me. I've hovered around 160lb in the 8 years since then, off and on Weight Watchers in between babies. The lowest I've been is 147lbs, the summer I got pregnant with Audrey, my second daughter. My darling baby is now two years old and I haven't seen the 140's since that summer. I was just about to throw in the towel on ever seeing my waist line again when God threw another curve ball at me. I woke up on the morning of July 2nd covered in hives. Awful, itchy, crazy-making hives all over my neck, upper back, chest, arms and legs. I was miserable! I took Benedryl with no relief whatsoever. I even had to call my hubby at work to have him take me to the ER. It was clearly a bad allergic reaction and I was worried that the respiratory problems would kick in sooner or later. The ER doc gave me some meds that helped a little and referred me to an allergist. Thankfully, we already have a great relationship with our allergist due to hubby and Kirsten having wicked seasonal allergies. I got the full workup- food and environmental allergy testing, and blood work to check for a possible auto-immune issue. Everything came back clear - no major allergies and no auto-immune issue. The doc told me I could finish up my course of medicine, then not worry because the hives may never come back. Now, you may be wondering what a bad case of random hives might have to do with my long-standing weight struggles. They are completely unrelated. Right? Not so fast. Enter Dr. Sam, the chiropractor I met while on my way to the allergist. Given that I was scratching like a crazy person and willing to try anything to stop the itch, I took his info and emailed him as soon as I got my first results back from the allergist. After our initial consultation and exam, Dr. Sam put me on an anti-inflammatory diet right away while I eased off the prednisone. That was a tough spot to be in- wanting to eat everything in sight due to the meds and knowing that most of what I was craving would make me feel worse. I stuck to the diet firmly for the first three weeks. If eating this way would keep me off prednisone, I'd do it. Prednisone is dreadful stuff: it's very effective at it's job, but the side effects, for me at least, were unbearable. So, I was very willing to do anything to never have to take those meds again! Funny thing happened while sticking to my anti-inflammatory diet: I lost 5lbs. Five pounds that had refused to come off no matter how far or how long I ran. Five pounds that wouldn't budge no matter how closely I followed my Weight Watcher plan. Five pounds that didn't leave even after becoming vegan. Five pounds that disappeared when I stopped measuring, stopped weighing, stopped counting my food. Five pounds that melted off while I was busy trying to be HEALTHY. Really healthy, not just thin. Hmm. It's taken a little longer, but we now have a longer term plan for getting me back to healthy. My lab work showed that I have signs of adrenal fatigue due to an intestinal issue. I'm still on the anti-inflammatory diet to help heal my gut and I'm on supplements to support my immune system and GI function. It's a big deal for me - vitamins three times a day, all while carefully avoiding any food that might cause a problem for my gut. I've lost another 2lbs, so I'm down to 158lbs now. I've left WW for now as my dietary restrictions are such that my meetings are more of a reminder of those foods I'm choosing not to eat right now and and of certain foods that I won't eat anymore. It's unfortunately just not going to work for me right now. I'm so focused on eating real, whole foods that trying to find a butter substitute that is zero points is not anywhere on my radar. I just want to be healthy again. The weight loss is really just what happens on my way to health. I'm on a mission now. I have two more months to cling to my anti-inflammatory diet with everything I've got and to follow my supplement schedule closely. I have exercises to do each day and I am finally allowed to run a few times each week. I'm hoping to put my shoes on Wednesday morning and give my legs a little room to run. We'll see what happens after that. Right now, I'm focused on one foot in front of the other, one meal after the next. Surviving one social outing at a time. Considering I just finished my third day on my first supplement protocol, I am just looking for a win at each meal. So far, so good. I'll keep weighing in on Wednesdays, like I did on WW. It's habit for me and I like the mid-week check-in on myself. I actually look forward to it because I've seen the pattern of success: if I really work at avoiding my trouble foods, I release weight. If I slip a few times, I gain. I can say that my jeans are fitting better and better each week and I am feeling better each passing day, so I have plenty of motivation to keep at it. The biggest lesson learned for me is truly that health is everything. Absolutely everything and each of us must strive daily to be our healthiest. Whew, that's a lot off my chest. Thanks for reading. Hopefully, it won't take me another nine months to check in here :)