Health Updates & Why I Disappeared

I know I've gone and disappeared right in the middle of the cookie diet.  I'm still eating lots and lots of Lenny & Larry's, and have actually become an ambassador for the brand, but I've had a few health issues come up that have taken me away from regular exercise.

Starting the beginning of June, I noticed my left knee was hurting pretty terribly.  I chalked it up to stress from running and decided to let it rest for a bit.  Unfortunately, I found in the coming weeks that not only was my knee not getting better, but the pain and stiffness spread to my other knee, then down into my ankles, and started to travel up into my right hip and my lower back.  I immediately made an appointment with a nurse practicioner that I absolutely adore now, and got some rather alarming news.

That, coupled with additional symptoms and past diagnoses, led her to connect some dots together for me.  She thinks I have some sort of chronic inflammation and pain disease, whether it be Lupus, Fibromyalgia or even Rhuemetoid Arthritis; I have long suspected as much.  I'm not one to cry woe is me or panic, so I've been working with her for pain management, as well as symptom management.  Overall, my pain is better, though if I sit too long in one position, it's very painful when I start using my limbs again.  Overall, I'm finding I'm better off if I keep moving.  Now that I have the pain mostly managed, I am feeling confident that exercise is going to be okay again.  I also have an inhaler now to help with the shortness of breath I was working through when running.

Am I going to start running again?  I don't think so.  I just don't think my knees can handle it.  I'm going to follow up with her in a few weeks and ask her what she suggests I do about that, actually.  Overall, I'm avoiding long term damage right now, and without knowing if it'll be a bad idea, I'm refraining from doing it.  This means my primary means of cardio is gone.  I don't have access to an elliptical or a pool, which would both be low impact cardio workouts.  I don't have weight machines, I just do body weight exercise.  I feel a little frustrated right now, but I'm going to push forward.  My pain is much better now, so it's silly to spend any time feeling sorry for myself or demotivating myself.  I still work on my feet in a fast paced retail environment and walk to and from work each day.  I think I'm going to start taking dog on our nice long walks again.  The only drawback to those is the amount of bugs at night time, and the heat during the day.

I am only posting this here because I wanted to explain why I dropped off the face of the cookie earth after hyping up this cookie diet.  It's not my style to quit in the middle of something, but it's not fair to judge my progress in a diet based off of a TDEE that doesn't currently apply since I've becoming a little more sedantary.  I haven't really gained any additional weight (steroid side effect; if only I hadn't been in too much pain to weight train, haha), but I am sitting at my start weight, and I think I'm retaining a lot of water for some reason.  All things to talk to my doctor about, I know.

Let's shift focus.

This blog got abandoned because I hate counting calories.  In fact, I hate it so much, I have an app for it on my phone.  As such, I will no longer be posting the caloric information of my daily foods.  If you're interested in this, I will link out to that in the sidebar.

Moving on.

Today I had no time to get ready because I slept in because I'm a loser.

Breakfast:
Starbuck Venti Iced Chai Latte with Vanilla, Soymilk and two shots of espresso

Lunch:
Trader Joe's Peach Soy Yogurt
Coke Zero

Dinner:
Trader Joe's Power to the Greens Mix
Trader Joe's Hummus Salad Dressing
Trader Joe's Whole Wheat Couscous
Trader Joe's Punjab Choley

Snacks:
Trader Joe's Roasted Seaweed Snacks
Trader Joe's 12 Grain Mini Snack Crackers

You guys are going to start seeing a lot of probiotic and soluble fiber foods in my diet as I attempt to deal with my Crohn's Disease.  I've come to a head with my digestive issues, and I don't care what my family doctor says, one test ten years ago can't determine if I have Crohn's disease or not.  I have had lifelong chronic digestive issues, and you will not wave it off as "stress related IBS".  I have fantastic coping mechanisms, it is NOT due to stress.  I wasn't stressed out in the second grade and I'm not stressed out now.

As such, there will be a new part to this blog.  I won't get into graphic details with it, because no one wants to hear all of that and frankly I don't want to tell you, but I will be adding:
Symptoms:  Abdominal cramping in the morning, subsided by late afternoon.  Level zero*.

*As far as other, ahem, symptoms, I will refer to those as a level issue and it will be based on a scale known only to me.  That's not really something I feel like sharing with you guys.