quick health update

It's been a long time since I've said anything about my health, but this is worth documenting, if for no other reason than so I can remember!

I've been gluten free since May 27, and in mid-December I started a diet called Trim Healthy Mama. I was off and on through the holiday season (but always still gluten free), and now I'm back on, for the most part. (Sometimes I will choose to eat something "off plan" like a potato when I'm out, but whenever I'm eating at home or at work, I follow the plan, which basically means separating carbs and fats, as well as not eating sugar.)

Since May, I have lost 15 pounds and at least one inch from everywhere I measured (waist, arm, hips, etc.) except my neck!

For someone who has Hashimoto's and PCOS, both conditions that make weight loss difficult, this is amazing!

I don't know just how much I've lost since starting THM because I stupidly didn't record weight or measurements, but I do know that in October, I was over 200 pounds (hence one of my October goals), and I was still over 200 when I saw the endocrinologist in early December (though just barely). As of this morning, I'm 190*, and my driver's license no longer lies about my weight! I can't wait until it's lying in the other direction :-) I can't really see a difference in how I look yet, but I do know that my clothes are fitting differently--still no drop in size, but things are getting looser!

As for how I feel, for the most part, I feel much better than I have in more than two years. (September 2012 is when things started going wonky for me.) Do I still have what I like to call "thyroid days"? Yes. But they're becoming fewer and farther between. Am I still tired all the time? You bet. But I'm not overwhelmingly exhausted anymore. (Well, speech season is kicking my butt, but I'm not as bone tired as I was during last year's speech season.)

Going gluten free and starting THM aren't the only things having an impact on my health--I'm now on an additional thyroid medicine that's making a huge impact, I'm exercising more (because I finally feel good enough to do some exercising), and I'm also getting better about setting limits for myself regarding activity and sleep. But I also have no doubt that the foods I eat and don't eat are playing a major role in how I feel!

The picture below of some of Nebraska Christian's staff went out to our alumni along with a Christmas gift. I'm on the far left. Seeing this picture is what made me realize I definitely needed to make some changes--I was a bit mortified to realize that all of my high school classmates would be seeing this photo (at least all of them that we have current addresses for). The day after I saw this picture, I started THM.

*I've joined this THM challenge to not step on a scale for a whole month, so this morning's weigh in will be my last for a while. If you've tried to lose weight, you probably know that the scale can be your worst enemy. I have a tendency to step on it each morning, and seeing the fluctuations does me no good. I'm hoping that this challenge, while extreme, will help rid me of the habit of compulsive weighing.