Primal Journal ~ Merryish page 4

[Pebbles67]

OMG girl! You do look like a different person! You lost at least ten years too. I am so excited for you. BTW I am now stalking
(err following) your journal.

[crunchyleaves]

Hi! Just read your whole journal, really enjoyed reading

Huge congratulations to you!!! And you look great, so happy for you. And this is going way back in your posts, but I too love commuting. I love listening to the radio and to music, I find it really relaxing.

Anyway, congrats again and good luck!

[Siobhan]

Wow, what an inspiration you are! GO GIRL!

[valmason01]

Just started reading your journal. You are officially my hero. Our stories are similar and I love your honesty and joy in a renewed life. Keep it up. I am looking for more

[RaeVynn]

Checking in as another journal-follower. You are doing very well! I get discouraged sometimes, but then I try to remind myself that this is for the long haul, and that my health is getting better. It's nice to see you focus on the health side, too.

[merryish]

Hi! A lot of people checked in while I wasn't looking - It's good to see people popping up.

@RaeVynn - Thanks! I get discouraged, too, sometimes, especially when I'm not making the best choices. The holidays have been rough - I've stuck to my "no gluten" rule but sometimes that's the only one I've kept. The cool thing though, for me, is knowing that I know what to do to fix it. I think the worst part of all the years before I found paleo/primal was not understanding what was happening to me - why was I eating all the crap I was eating, why couldn't I *stop* doing it, when I could see clearly that it was destroying my body and my mood? Why was I eating this stuff even when I was sick of the taste of it or when it made me feel bad? Now, I don't have to wonder. It's perfectly clear to me that I'm a sugar/starch addict. When I fall off the wagon, there's one clear way to fix it - cold-turkey for a few days, just meat and vegetables and maybe a little dairy, nothing else. Once the sugar is out of my system, I can get back into my primal groove. Sometimes those are a white-knuckled few days, but it works, and just knowing there's something that works makes me feel tons better about myself and my life.

@Val - That's so sweet! Now I have something to live up to. =D "Joy in a renewed life" is exactly what I have - I sort of feel like I'm coming back to life after years and years of being basically in a coma. It's a great feeling - though I worry sometimes if you can really start your life over at 40. So many of the choices I made in my 20's and 30's were a result of being overweight and feeling hopeless; it's weird to try and pick up the threads of my life again and try to move forward. But I figure, I probably have as many years ahead of me as I have behind me - and I'm way smarter now than I was when I started! =D Surely that has to count, right?!

[valmason01]

I am 46. At 40 I graduated w/ my AA after 20 years of hear and there classes. AT 41 I quit my full time job and went back to school full time to be a speech language pathologists. At 45 I got a job working in the public schools as an SLP with my bachelors while I finished up my last semester of my Masters, moved away from my parents, sister and son for the first itme in my entire life, and graduated w/ my Masters. This was last December. I have been overweight my entire life as well. At 40 I also had a hysterectomy (and my son graduated high school, it was an eventful year!). I came out of that w/ mono and fibromyalgia and my weight went up from around 190 to 230ish at one point. Last January I quit eating processed foods, in April quit eating grains and went primal via wheat belly. Lost 40 lbs in 2012. So the short answer is yes you can start your life again at 40 and it will be better than anything you have ever had. You are already doing it!

Hi! A lot of people checked in while I wasn't looking - It's good to see people popping up.

@RaeVynn - Thanks! I get discouraged, too, sometimes, especially when I'm not making the best choices. The holidays have been rough - I've stuck to my "no gluten" rule but sometimes that's the only one I've kept. The cool thing though, for me, is knowing that I know what to do to fix it. I think the worst part of all the years before I found paleo/primal was not understanding what was happening to me - why was I eating all the crap I was eating, why couldn't I *stop* doing it, when I could see clearly that it was destroying my body and my mood? Why was I eating this stuff even when I was sick of the taste of it or when it made me feel bad? Now, I don't have to wonder. It's perfectly clear to me that I'm a sugar/starch addict. When I fall off the wagon, there's one clear way to fix it - cold-turkey for a few days, just meat and vegetables and maybe a little dairy, nothing else. Once the sugar is out of my system, I can get back into my primal groove. Sometimes those are a white-knuckled few days, but it works, and just knowing there's something that works makes me feel tons better about myself and my life.

@Val - That's so sweet! Now I have something to live up to. =D "Joy in a renewed life" is exactly what I have - I sort of feel like I'm coming back to life after years and years of being basically in a coma. It's a great feeling - though I worry sometimes if you can really start your life over at 40. So many of the choices I made in my 20's and 30's were a result of being overweight and feeling hopeless; it's weird to try and pick up the threads of my life again and try to move forward. But I figure, I probably have as many years ahead of me as I have behind me - and I'm way smarter now than I was when I started! =D Surely that has to count, right?!

[merryish]

I'm back on track in the new year. Ok, I had a bit of wobbling last night on 1/1, and then again last night - both involving chocolate. But neither was enough to throw me off completely, and today is a new day.

I biked in to the train station - so far I'm 2 for 2 for work days in January! Pretty impressive (to me, anyway!) considering it was -5F with wind chill this morning, and almost as cold yesterday. It's not a long bike trip, just a mile and a half, but it's a mile and a half I'm not sitting on the bus in a puffy coat with a billion other people in puffy coats. Plus, everybody at work sees my bike helmet hanging off my backpack and thinks I'm completely badass.

I tried to have an avocado for breakfast this morning and failed - the avocado had gone off. So I'm intermittently fasting instead! Until lunch, when I have leftover mushroom soup made with this amazing recipe. I had some leftover mushrooms from a pot roast I made last week, and after making two mushroom and spinach omelettes already this week I thought the rest would just go bad in the fridge. But I came across this recipe on reddit yesterday, and I thought: Hey, I have mushrooms. And my roomie has an onion. And there's allllllways beef broth and coconut milk. I'm set! I thought it would be good - I didn't realize it would be fabulous. I think I could live off this stuff for a month and not get tired of it. The coconut milk lends this soup a very very tiny, faint hint of Thai-ness, not exactly sweet but the possibility of sweetness, which is set off perfectly by the earthy mushrooms and a little salt. This is winter food I can no longer live without.

Val - thanks for sharing your story! That is completely inspirational, and has me checking out schools nearby. I'm so impressed by you!
I've got a new coat coming today - an LL Bean Winter-Warmer coat in royal purple that I can't wait to try out. I've had to resign myself to the idea that it's a one-year coat; I initially got a size smaller, and it was JUST the tiniest bit too snug to keep. So next winter, it'll be waaaaaay too big (she said, thinking positively!) Still, it's kind of adorable; I can live with it.

[merryish]

Just a quick check-in to stay honest!

My personal January Biking Challenge is going pretty well. I've biked through gorgeous clear days, rainy days, one snowy day, and one day with a -5 Fahrenheit wind chill (yesterday!) Today has been high 20's/low 30's, and it feels like a spring vacation. I've biked to work every day that I've gone to work this month.

In ongoing efforts to get myself back on the Primal straight-and-narrow, today has been a fasting day. I had a handful of cashews last night at midnight; today, nothing but coffee and tea (though I did add cream). It won't be a full 24 hour fast because I intend to eat dinner, but I'm counting it as close enough for government work.

Heading home now to my big Squash Experiment. See you guys on the flip side...

[valmason01]

You biked in -5F weather? Honey you are beyond badass. This southern girl would not leave the house in that kinda weather. The soup looks amazing. Can't wait to try it!