Another Fast - Husband Edition?

 This comes as a bit of a shock to me, but I am doing this fast again.  Yep.  Again.  With my husband this time.  Mostly for his sake, as it is really hard going at it alone in a house full of people eating food around you.  Especially since I am making all the food for everyone.

Monday - Bone broth only for my husband today.  Although he also can have tea or coffee with nothing added to it.  Which is kind of nice for some different flavors.  I had some green tea and some chamomile tea.  Still took my 10K steps today.  Lots of walking and rebounding.  No strength training, however.  I asked my husband how he felt at the end of the day.  Hungry.  That's all he had to say.  I had moved up to about 149-150lbs after about a week of normal eating, and ate a bit over my maintenance level on Sunday (I make that my high calorie day) so I was at 151 lbs this morning.  I did eat some food at breakfast and lunch.  Just some eggs with my bone broth, and lunch I made a salad with feta, olive oil, and spices to have with my broth.  Especially since my one daughter had a sore throat and wanted broth, so I gave her most of mine.  Supper was just broth.  Easing into tomorrow.

Tuesday - Water fast for today.  It will total about 36+ hours (likely 38 considering when we usually have breakfast).  My kids have been commenting how many of them have dry nose and throat issues, likely due to the smoke in the air outside and the extremely high winds we've had for weeks now.  Spending a lot of time outside, but I've also been noticing a constricted feeling in my upper throat, up through to where my nasal passage connects.  It is a very odd feeling.  I've been having salt and lemon with my water each morning (supposed to be hydrating, and the lemon juice says it's zero calories so I'm using it as salt in water alone is disgusting).  Took a salt shot in the evening as when looking online, it is said the constriction might be dehydration.  Also took magnesium powder with my 10th cup of water before bed.  So much water.  So many bathroom breaks.  My husband says that he was not wanting to do this again as he found himself shaky at some point around 4pm.  We haven't taken any measurements for him yet.  Figure we'll do that at the end.  I can see less puffiness in his face, though!  I'm still rather bloated.  I was so happy how my bloat went down to almost nothing after last time... was hoping for that again, but alas, not yet.  Otherwise, I felt pretty normal all day.  I really wanted food.  I was thrilled that neither of us had headaches at all!

Wednesday - Coming off the fast today.  This one is not going to be as strict as my last one.  Broth with eggs and spinach in the morning (with a strawberry on the side), broth with veggies and added chicken for lunch (plain homemade Greek yogurt with blueberries for dessert), and supper was tuna, mayo, and cheese on homemade sourdough with carrots.  My husband is needing things to be closer to normal for Thursday, and I think it is so important to come off a fast properly.  He tells me that he is SO happy for food again!  I had to take my girls to clubs and women's night this evening.  My husband stayed home with the others.  I had some carrots and fruit at women's night.  So tempted by the chocolate croissants, but figured I should hold off until the weekend.

Thursday - Today.  Fast is done, we are eating normal again.  I find myself wanting to eat a lot!  My husband weighed in this morning and was down 9 lbs from his last weigh in (which was, admittedly, not Sunday or Monday... but a few weeks earlier.  He was just staying pretty much the same).  He also went down 1.5 inches across his belly button!  I didn't really see much change in myself at all.  My digestion was terrible the entire fast, and Wednesday night I was using hot packs on my back, doing massage on my belly Tuesday and Wednesday evening to try to get things going.  My kidneys really are doing a workout again.  I went back down to 147lbs.  I am completely bloated, and am pretty sure that is hormonal and probably also some inflammation.  My back is rather sore from my issues.  I need to keep away from sugar for the next week to see if my problem is going to continue now that I've done two bone broth/water fasts.  With the bloating I am currently experiencing, I'm not too hopeful.  I wish I could heal my gut.  I am still doing 10K steps daily, so that is good.  And my water is up from where I was before I began this whole journey this year.  Little steps!

I really need to incorporate more strength training into my week.  Not on a fast, though.  I feel like that is not the best time to start, haha.

In conclusion, I feel like this fast really helped my husband out.  I can visibly see a difference in his face, and I noticed his snoring is down and more of a heavy night breathing, which is a huge improvement.  I feel like I just need to eat more food.  I don't think doing two fasts this close together is going to be as effective for the amount of work it is.  I think it would be best if I keep doing exercises, trying to improve protein and decrease carbs, add in strength training 3x a week, and allow treats and eating a bit above maintenance on weekends to prevent my body from decreasing metabolism.  I don't really know, but I think that would work well enough for me.  

I Did A Thing - My Fasting Journey

I've been on a journey.  A health journey.  It's been... weird.  Let me tell you all about the last two weeks!

I've had some health issues since having my 8th baby that I was hoping would resolve on their own, but it looks like I need to do something to help them.  However, I don't even know what the problem is.  I talked to the doctor and they figure my issue is in the 'realm of normal', but it is NOT normal for me and it is NOT normal according to anyone unlucky enough to hear about it, so there's that.  Last week it looked like things might return to normal after having had 6 weeks of no sugar (3 of which had very little to no processed food), and then 2 weeks after that with only sugar on weekends.  Well... it didn't.  I very much had issues again, just later than expected.

So, I ended up eating a lot more chocolate than I should have... not more than I usually did before I started this journey, but still more than my body was used to.  I experienced what felt like a panic feeling in my chest Saturday evening.  It felt horrible.  I hoped to sleep it off, but alas, I woke with that feeling still there.  That did it for me... I was starting the bone broth fast I had been looking to do right that very day.

Day 1 - Sunday

I had a bunch of chicken bone broth we had made from the roosters we raised over summer, so that was perfect.  It actually tastes really good, and still had a nice amount of fat on it.  I had a cup (mixed with water) at breakfast.  I did really want eggs, though.  

Lunch was more tricky, as my husband picked up pizza for him and the kids (we still haven't gotten the oven we bought as ours blew on Good Friday right after we finished making supper).  It smelled so good!  But no!  I didn't have any!  And supper... ugh.  Broth by itself with added salt.  It was good, but not as good as all the smells of all the food the rest of my family got to eat!  I was actually surprised I didn't feel super hungry, to be honest.  I would have thought my stomach would be ravenous!  Drank a lot of water, though.  

Day 2 - Monday

I woke up feeling a bit under the weather.  Took some measurements and found I lost 1.5lb (started at about 151 or 152).  Didn't go for my walk outside (it looked very cold, and I didn't feel great).  I started making breakfast for everyone along with my bone broth.  I felt a bit weak for only a bit, but after having lemon water (yes, I allowed myself to mix a bit of lemon juice in water) I felt better.  The hardest thing in the day was having to make everyone's food without being able to eat any of it myself!  I did have a slight headache and took ibuprofen for it.  My stomach was growling a LOT!  I did some more research to hopefully feel better about this whole thing.  Found out about autophagy (when the body does a 'deep clean' and uses damaged cells to make new ones, which is what I want to hopefully fix my issues with my gut), and that the bone broth was likely stopping that from happening.  Decided that next day would be water only (with salt if needed).  Had a few moments where I just needed to sit and rest.  I did still make sure I got my 5000+ steps that I've been working toward (I actually hit 6500), but I mostly used my rebounder and went for a walk later on.  It was cold outside.  Also... I feel like my kidneys are working overtime!

Day 3 - Tuesday

Twas a busy day!  I had to get the kids breakfast and be out of the house by 10am, and I needed to make the sourdough bread before that, too.  I slept in of course, and so I didn't do my walk outside again.  Bounced on the rebounder while they ate since I was only drinking water.  No lemon, either.  Just water.  I think I had 10 or 11 cups through the day (it helps if I carry my cup with me everywhere).  The girls were baking for a bake sale the next day with my aunt at her place.  They had a great time (and all the food smelled soooo good).  I visited with my parents.  I got home a bit later than expected and got my bread baked at S&J's house down the driveway from us.  They offered to let me use their oven until we got our new one for making my bread, and I am so very thankful!  I rebounded most of my 8200 steps that day, but I found it odd that my lower back was hurting a lot!  I wasn't as hungry as I expected to be.  My legs felt strange though, kind of heavy, almost like a nerve was being pinched.  I had a hot pack on my back and did a belly massage to try to get things to move if that was the issue.  I honestly have no idea.  I did have a few times where I felt rather weak, but I sat for a bit and it went away.  Also, I had a very slight consistent headache.  My back was the worst, though.  My kidneys are really pushing things today!

Day 4 - Wednesday

I am coming out of the fast.  I weighed myself and was within 2 lbs of my target!  147lbs!  I know this likely won't last, but I'm still excited!  I haven't been down here in a good number of years.  My waist is down to 30 inches as well (but my belly size is still a long way from where I want it).  I had lemon water with salt first thing, and went for my walk.  I managed to get 7300 steps over the day.  I made breakfast for everyone, but since I'm coming off a fast, I had broth.  Again.  It is so boring I could cry.  I felt really yucky after drinking it, too, which I found rather strange.  But I did have energy, and got the girls to the bake sale that morning which was thankfully only 2 hours long.  I drank a lot of water again today.  Lunch I had broth again, but this time I added some cooked veggies from the fridge and a frozen spinach cube.  It was nice to have something a bit more.  Supper was broth once more, but I added broccoli, and when it was boiling I very slowly whisked in a beaten egg.  It was almost like noodles!  I enjoyed that!  I am wondering if my gut is going to be feeling better after all of this is done.  I do think my kidneys are loving all this water!  Sheesh!  

Day 5 - Today

I weighed in at 146 lbs, and my waist was at 29 inches first thing, with my belly button down to 34!  I'm super happy, although I do realize that things will likely shift up as I eat more and my colon refills.  I just finally feel like I don't look 5 months pregnant!  I'm continuing to slowly add to my meals.  Breakfast was 3 eggs scrambled with a spinach cube and a couple tablespoons of frozen avocado.  I also ate a couple of frozen strawberries and 1/3 cup homemade Greek yogurt.  Lunch was broth... again.  I cried when I realized I had little else I could eat.  I really wanted bread and peanut butter.  My oldest is gluten intolerant, so I made the last of my broth into soup with veggies and an egg again, adding rice to her portion only, while getting the glutenous leftovers to the kiddos.  I added a quarter of an apple chopped up with a tablespoon of natural peanut butter as a dessert for myself.  Supper I made grilled tuna cheese sandwiches on my sourdough bread.  I had one half of one, and then tuna wrapped in lettuce.  I want to see if the bread will make me bloat or not.  I ended up eating my baby's half as well, as she didn't want it, and I was NOT about to waste it!  So I got more bread than intended.  Ah well.  I also had chopped carrots.  My legs still feel funny, and I am very tight in my shoulders.  I really want a massage.  I think I'll be sleeping with the hot pack on my back again tonight.  I am wondering if the bread made me bloat as my waist and belly were each up one inch at the end of the day.  I managed to hit 10,000 steps!  I'm still drinking lots of water, at least 8-10 cups, but my kidneys seem to have returned a little closer to normal.  I am trying to track my food with the Lose It app again.  I am hoping to stay low carb.

As for my health, I think I may need to talk to my doctor about some of these issues I'm having again.  I'm afraid I may have fibroids.  It would explain my distended abdomen, my one major health issue, and the fact that I seem to have organs not in the places they are supposed to be.  I'm still working on my ab separation.  It hasn't really improved much since the last time I mentioned it.  I do think I need to do these exercises daily, likely for the rest of my life.  

Anyway, I am not quite there yet, but these are the 101 list items that I am ALMOST hitting!

50.  Waist (standing) down to 32" around belly button (30" natural waist) (I got under 30 for my waist, but a ways from the 32 belly)

51.  Hit 145 lbs (SOOOO close!)

I did get these two, though!  Yay!

OLD list items 

11. Get back to pre-pregnancy weight (under 150lbs)

12. Bring down waist to under 30 inches

That's all from me for now.  I do hope to post a 101 update soon, but this month has been crazy (it doesn't help not having an oven.  Been getting creative with the cooking tools and stovetop all month).

Edit to add:  Today is now Saturday.  I ate as much like normal (except still omitting processed food and desserts/sugar) Friday (although my caloric intake was lower than usual).  I weighed myself today and am still at 146 lbs.  My waist went up a little bit, likely because I'm digesting grains again.  I had a piece of my regular pizza yesterday to see if I get bloating or digestive issues from it as I didn't notice anything from the sourdough, and it seems to be fine.  The cheese was fine.  Butter is fine.  I need to try milk next.  My stomach still doesn't like raw bell peppers, though.  I think this is a great way for me to figure out if there are any foods that have been causing issues.  

Finished 42 Days No Sugar

Here is my latest update on our no sugar challenge!  Honestly, there is not much new to tell... and yet I will ramble as usual, haha.

We have had little to no change at all in the last two weeks... neither me nor my husband.  He is down 2 inches and 4lbs total, and I am going up and down in both inches and weight (but it seems to average about 2inches and 4lbs loss since 6 weeks ago).  It is actually really disappointing to say the least.  We did stop over this last weekend and I gained 2 lbs according to that alone.  Sigh.  I didn't even eat terribly much sweets, although the one gathering was Chinese takeout, so that might have done it for me.  My stomach was not happy at all today.  I also had digestive upset through the weekend after eating at the gathering, so that's too bad.  My husband can fit into a pair of pants that he hasn't been able to button for a very long time now, though!  That was interesting to find out!

Interesting bit was day 40.  We had a membership meeting and we fast as a church membership for the day leading up to the meeting and then break the fast as a body afterwards.  I had a lot of cooking and baking to do throughout the day and forgot to drink water as regularly as I should have (although I still did get 8 cups by the end of the day).  At some point around making supper for the kids, I recognized that I was going to be in for a world of hurt if I didn't get something in soon, so I cooked a cup of broth for myself.  I ended up feeling so sick by the time we had that meeting that I could not eat.  My husband brought me some fruit which I did get down, but my head was pounding and I felt so nauseous that I couldn't get up to get anything else.  I'm not sure why this was this way, but some think it may have been a further detox that was occurring.  I may need to rethink how I do the fasting in the future.  I did wake up feeling much better!  

This weekend, being Easter, we had sugar.  My daughter and I baked a lemon sour cream cake for my husband's family gathering and I had a tiny slice which was SOO good.  I love lemon!  I had lemon delight at my family gathering.  I also had my first bit of chocolate in 6 weeks on Saturday.  Surprisingly, it wasn't as good as I remembered.  It also wasn't the 'good' dark chocolate I usually like, it was a part of a dark chocolate 'orange' that my husband got me for Valentine's day that we opened for the kids later on in March.  I don't have cravings lately, and I'm not terribly hungry.  Oh, we had some ice cream cake my husband wanted to save from my daughter's birthday party in March as well.  I actually regretted that.  The ice cream felt like it was bubbling in my stomach and I was burping all night.  I don't think it was worth it.

I started back up with no sugar again today, and I aim to continue with my husband over the week to cut sugar and processed foods for a while, giving ourselves space on weekends to have those things.  Not sure I will, though.  Today I felt very yucky and I do not like that one bit.

Anyone heard of the bone broth 72 hour fast?  I will admit, after the issues I had Tuesday, I am contemplating something like this to see if I can detox fully NOT in public at all.  There are digestive issues in my family, and I dealt with a lot of them as a teenager, so perhaps this is something that could help me.  Not sure.  Right now I just need to appreciate that I've been eating healthier for a while now, and there will be benefits to that which I cannot currently see.  And that's ok.  Even if it makes me sad that I'm not seeing any change and I still can't have chocolate and I open the cabinet for no reason whatsoever just to close it and grab some water instead.  Sigh.

Am I seriously getting another sugar withdrawal after only having some sugar 2 days?

The One Week Detox

 Hello again!  I am happy to report that we finished our one week 'ramped up' detox plan as of yesterday!  I am still continuing with no sugar, and there are a number of things we started last week I will continue to do (like the workouts, the lemon water, and the organic peanut butter), but now at least I can have corn again, and noodles.  I'm making chicken noodle soup tonight using the broth from the roosters we butchered last fall.  They make REALLY good soup... but there has to be noodles!

Anyway, I took my measurements and I am actually down another 2lbs (4lbs total)!  I still have about 6lbs until my goal weight, but I'm very happy about that!  I measured my diastasis and it's about 2 fingers wide now!  After only 1 week!  YAY!  As for my waist, it is down to 30 inches at the narrowest standing up, but my natural waist is at 31.5 inches (and I'd like for that measurement to hit 30).  My husband is down another 1.5 inches (so 2 inches total) and 2lbs as of about 4 days ago (he was happy because it was just after eating that he weighed himself, so he didn't expect to see any difference).  

One of the major health issues I was having seems to be resolved!  I will give it a few more days to be certain, and I won't go into too many details here, but I am very pleased with how the last two days has been for me and I expect that I will continue in this health journey for some time, if only for that one benefit alone!  That said, I have been dealing with headaches and cravings again yesterday and today.  The cravings might be related in part to the magnesium.  I don't have cravings for chocolate if I remembered to take Mg the night before.  I need to try to remember to take the magnesium tonight.  (note added March 27 - The issue is not totally resolved, but it is definitely improved, so that's good).

I asked my husband if he noticed any health differences in himself lately, and he has said he only noticed the weight.  I am hoping to see him fall asleep less in random areas, as that will prove his sleep has improved at night.  That is one of the biggest things I hope to see.  I'm not sure I will be able to see a measured improvement in his liver health myself, but it seems that weight, liver health, and sleep apnea all kind of feed off each other.  That said, we will continue to monitor the things that we can in the next two weeks as we continue in this journey towards our better health.

It's Day 28 of No Sugar...

 Hello, everyone!  Welcome to my craziness, where I decided in the last month to make my life more crazy of my own free will!  

As you can tell by the title, it is day 28 of no sugar.  Yes, I voluntarily decided to undergo an experiment on myself by removing all processed sugar from my diet, and mostly have done so for 28 days.  I did break a bit on day 3 as my mom made homemade pudding that I just did NOT want to say no to.  But considering the amount of sugar I had daily before I started, I still count it a win!

Why would I decide to remove sugar from my diet when sugar was giving me so much happiness in the hectic and crazy house that I live in?  Well... because it was the one thing I was reaching for before anything else, and that isn't good.  Also, I was noticing some not-so-good effects in my body aside from the normal expectations that eating an abundance of sugar might give.  My health was on the decline, and all the things I was looking at was suggesting my liver might just need some help.  What was the biggest thing I could change that would benefit my liver?  Cutting out sugar.  I also realized it was the day after the start of Lent, which is a time where one would traditionally cut something out of one's life to focus on preparing for the death and resurrection of Christ.  I don't usually observe Lent as I'm not Catholic, but I like the idea of preparing for one of the biggest events in human history, and so I decided to take the plunge.

So what does 28 days with no sugar look like?  Right now, it's actually not so bad!  I will admit I really miss dark chocolate.  I see it every time I open the cabinet to get something for the kids.  I also just quit snacking altogether as it is a lot more work to make all the food for myself from scratch, and I just can't bring myself to do it.  I have been avoiding a lot more this last week as well (white flour, tortilla chips, noodles, basically anything with flour that isn't my homemade sourdough, corn), starting day 25, so that has made things a bit more difficult, but cravings are practically gone, and I have noticed many other positives that I don't even mind!  However, it wasn't always this way.

Day 3 - I caved.  That pudding just looked and smelled so good, so I had a little bit.  And then I took a little bit more.  And then I stopped, because I figured even though I'm cheating, I shouldn't cheat THAT much.

Day 4 - Why does the chocolate smell SO GOOD?!  The kids asking for cookies and not being able to have any myself was torture!

Day 5 - The muscle aches and headaches started.  I couldn't figure out what was going on.  Why was I so sore?  I hadn't exercised at all, and going for walks in the morning never bothered me.  Why was my head hurting?  I was taking ibuprofen to deal with it because I couldn't sleep.

Day 7 - Still had headaches, but after looking things up I recognized what was happening as sugar withdrawal!  I knew that was a thing, but I didn't have that the last time I cut sugar as far as I could remember... then again, I'm also cutting out sweeteners like honey and maple syrup, which I did NOT do last time, so that might be it.  I do still eat fruit!  Also, M (who is practically an adult already) found a recipe for chia seed pudding that she made me (it uses half a banana, a cup of milk, 2 tsp cocoa powder, and 3 tbsp chia seeds and lasts me a couple of days).  It really helped with my chocolate cravings!

Day 9 - No more headaches and body aches today!  That's nice!  

Day 10 - Potluck at church.  I got some desserts for my little kids, but avoided them myself.  I did NOT want to undo everything by eating treats now that I was over that hump!

Day 11 - Measured and weighed myself and found I lost 2 lbs and 1 inch (from about a month ago, but still)!  I was SO excited, I started bugging my husband to join me.  He didn't seem enthused.

Day 14 - I finally convinced my husband to join me!  Yay!  We're in this together!  Took his measurements before hand (he's starting on my day 15) so we can track his progress properly, as I just jumped in myself without doing that.  Oops.  He's not thrilled, but since he was actually diagnosed with having fatty liver, I am desperately hoping he will see some improvements from this.  We are going to do this until Easter.  Seeing that end date helped him to say yes, because he does love Easter goodies.  Who am I kidding, so do I.

Day 17 - I'm not struggling with this much anymore at all!  I'm finding that I have an easier time getting up in the morning, and my motivation is improving!  It's fantastic!  My husband is happy to find out that coffee is still ok for him, and actually even considered good for the liver if it is a good quality and not filled with sugar.  He cut out the hot chocolate powder he always added to it and is having his daily 2 cups with milk only.  Honestly, it smells so good!  I wish I liked coffee.

Day 21 - I felt rather depressed today.  I took my measurements again and found that nothing has changed.  Poo.  Hubby lost 1/2 inch, so that's good!  Forgot to scale him, though.  I've been learning the differences in visceral and subcutaneous fat.  Weirdly, I've been measuring myself in 2 ways due to my diastasis (it makes it difficult to get a proper measurement standing as all my organs push everything forward).  

Day 24 - I figured I wanted to ramp up our detoxing of the liver, so for the next week, starting day 25, I wanted to do MORE (it kinda helps that I have a 1 week detox on my 101 in 1001 list to do with my husband, so why not turn this into something).  Using my research, I wanted us to do the following: drink 16 oz of water first thing in the morning with 2 Tbsp lemon juice at least 30 minutes before eating anything (also trying to drink more water during the day than I have been); cut out all white flour, corn, and peanut butter (unless the peanut butter was organic, which my husband promptly went to purchase when in town the next day); decrease the highly sugary fruit; NO fried or prepackaged foods (which meant no more tortilla chips); and we were going to do 20 minute walks plus 10 minutes of strength training daily.  I think I just like challenges or something.

Day 25 - We started our more rigorous plan.  I measured my diastasis at 4 fingers wide, and found a 10 minute daily workout that is meant to help fix it in about 3 weeks.  We'll see.  I started doing it along with walking 10 minutes each morning right after my lemon water, and 10 minutes at some other time of day.  Also, weirdly, I'm getting rather itchy legs in the evening.  I haven't had this in years.  

Day 26 - I am a grumpy pants.  Really grumpy.  I've not been having the chia pudding as I was trying to eliminate bananas for myself due to their higher sugar content (and it takes a couple of hours before you can eat it), but I am REALLY grumpy.  I started taking my magnesium powder in the evenings so I don't really crave the chocolate anymore, but still.  After supper I felt so gross.  I still don't understand why.  I think it's because I'm not getting much for quick carbs anymore.  I ended up eating a single date as a kind of 'dessert' with a bit of peanut butter on top.  That helped immediately, but dates have a high sugar content, so I don't want to make this into a habit!  Oh, and my itchy legs got even worse.  I have been using lotion, but during the night I had to resort to putting a cold pack on them to help relieve the itch.  Oh, and it seems I have a bit of swelling in my ankles, too.  Why?!

Day 27 - I took my measurements again.  My standing waist measurement didn't change.  Not a bit.  My weight decreased by maybe 1/2 lb, which isn't really much so I didn't think much of it.  Now the kicker for me was my laying down measurement... it was 2 inches lower than day 11!  That is a substantial difference!  I looked up why I would have such a strange difference in my waist numbers, and it turns out that my diastasis is definitely affecting things when I stand up, so fixing it should really help, but also it is likely that the 2 inches I lost is in visceral fat.  Subcutaneous fat tends to move about and settle depending on if laying down or standing up, so my 1 inch lost initially might have been there, but the visceral fat is pretty settled in among the organs and feels pretty solid.  To me, this is kind of a big deal!  After all, that is the unhealthy fat I wanted to get rid of!  I'm also thinking the itchy legs might be a detox effect.  I scratched my legs a bit much this evening and made them bleed.  Oops.  Really trying to ramp up my water to help that.

And so that brings me to today!  I have chia pudding in the fridge for later (because I'll likely need some kind of pick-me-up this evening).  Today is 4H for M, so my husband takes her and they are gone all evening until 9:30.  This week has been a struggle due to so many evenings where someone needs to be somewhere by 7, which is our normal supper time, so I've been trying to get supper ready for 5:30 three days of the week which is really odd.  And tomorrow I'll need to make the sourdough pizza crust again so all three of us can eat it (M is gluten free, except she can eat whole wheat sourdough which I've been making for years now, so that's nice).  I've been really struggling in the evenings alone with all the younger kids.  My patience is low, I'm irritable, and the noise level is reaching deafening levels some days.  It's a lot.

Anyway, that has been my 4 week experience with no sugar so far!  I've got 2 weeks to go!  I'll need to see how this diastasis workout does, and how well things work for my husband as well.  Honestly, if you can get past the first week, it's not nearly as hard after that.  And my motivation is much improved!  As an example, my 'to do' list usually has at least half a dozen overdue items on it that I just don't want to be bothered with, and I am down to one item as of yesterday!  Yay!

We'll see if I continue after Easter... my plan is to do so on weekdays, but allow myself freedoms on the weekends.

Ta Ta For Now!