Progress - Week 3...

Apologies, I'm a little bit late writing the update for this week. I've had a rather busy day and am just now finding time to sit down and write!

I've been a baaaaad dieter...

Just being honest, this week was not the best for me and my AIP diet. The weekdays were fine, I stuck with the 'approved foods' list really well! The weekend, however, was not quite the same. My husband and I were out running errands Saturday and ended up still being out and about at lunch time...and, of course, I didn't have salad or sweet potatoes with me. We debated a few different food options and ended up going to Panera. I got a half salad and soup combo...not terrible, but definitely not AIP approved. The rest of Saturday, I tried to make up for my lunch transgressions...I did a good job! Well, up until the evening....then my husband revealed that he'd brought home some banana pudding from work on Friday. Sooo, I had to have some. I mean, it's inhumane to subject a person to banana pudding temptations!

Sunday, I had a totally non-AIP breakfast. I didn't even try to stay compliant. And I felt pretty lousy about it for the rest of the day. The rest of the day was 100% AIP though!

Now, today was another 100% AIP day. Perhaps even more than before! I finally bit the bullet and cut out all diet sodas! [I practically thrive on Diet Coke and Diet Pepsi...I'm not constantly guzzling them, but I do typically have at least one a day, mostly for the caffeine] So! Now I'm back to eating 'clean' and drinking only water....hooray.

I'm hoping that a renewed gusto for sticking to the AIP plan will help with HS symptoms. My flares this week definitely reflect that I've been haphazard with my diet.

I totally felt like Lurch, I couldn't
turn my head!

- HS symptoms: This week started off pretty 'okay' but quickly spiraled into 'much worse' as I started deviating from the diet plan. I had a super painful knot pop up at the base of my skull and stay there for several days. You never realize just how much you move your head around until it's excruciating to do so! Virtually all of my flares that appeared to be healing got worse this week, most of them started bleeding and draining. And I think I counted 2 or 3 new ones. Oh, it was a super fun week. [sarcasm]

- Mood: I feel like my mood had improved this week. I would say that I feel like I'm craving certain foods less, but I guess that's hard to gauge, seeing as I didn't exactly have a strict week. It's still frustrating to not be able to eat 'normally' and to have to plan and eat at home all of the time. I miss the convenience of 'quick' foods probably more than anything else! It doesn't make it any easier that my husband and kiddo aren't doing AIP with me...I guess they're trying to make things easy for me...?? I don't know. I've just about given up even thinking of ways to say how I'm feeling about it to them. It's not worth the conflict.

- Weight: This week was a total bust when it comes to weight. The scale is not my friend! This week resulted in 1 lb gained back. However! I'd like to attribute that partly to my wonderful, monthly female cycle. I know that it being 'that time of the month' can cause us ladies to hold a bit more water weight....so that could be part of the problem, right? Right?! **sigh** I'm going to be super good about my diet this week and I'll do my best to come back with better numbers next week.

- Overall thoughts: I feel really lousy for not having the willpower to stick with this diet. I feel 10000% confident that it's a tough diet. It's so strict and has almost no room for error, whatsoever! However, I fancy myself to be a strong-willed, fierce gal....and yet, I can't seem to stick with it for more than 2 weeks. I feel as if this past week more or less undoes all of my progress so far and I'm back starting at square one. It's a horrible feeling, and I know that I've brought it upon myself. I will get my butt in gear and get better about it though!

Anticipate some sort of mid-week updates in a few days. Hopefully I'll find some motivation to write a few posts about non-AIP topics soon, too!

So Maybe It's Working...

Okay, so I feel like I need to be completely honest about how the whole AIP diet is going...including if and when I mess up...so here goes!

Totally me right now...

Over the long weekend, I decided to give myself an 'allowance day.' On Monday, I was feeling particularly frustrated with the diet, it's restrictions, and my lack of perceived progress. The day started with sneaking a bit of biscuit with my breakfast and ended up with me allowing myself to have a 'cheat' dinner. [Pretty sure I stuck to the AIP books for lunch that day, though!] And then I had a small portion of rice with Tuesday night's dinner.

Now, if this were an ordinary, calorie reduction diet, a cheat day is not a horrible idea! In fact, I remember having them more or less built into certain diet plans that I've done before...I think it was the grapefruit diet, maybe?

So, what effects, if any, did straying from the AIP diet at this point have?

Well, coincidence or not, my HS symptoms actually got worse. Not, like, tragically worse [thank goodness], but it's definitely noticeable. One of my trouble spots that has been dormant for a good while [4-6 weeks] has decided to give me some problems as of yesterday. Kind of a bummer, but I can't say that it wasn't expected. In a weird way, though, it kind of gives me a bit of affirmation that the AIP diet is probably helping me more than I realized.

Now, because I did cheat with more than one food and at a couple different times, it's nearly impossible for me to pinpoint which food is the cause of the trouble....or if the food is really the cause at all!

But! For the time being, I've decided to go back to being strictly on the AIP diet and I hope that my HS symptoms will continue to improve!

Full updates on this week's AIP progress on Monday, check back then!

Progress - Week 2...

Week 2 of implementing the AIP diet is officially over, here's the weekly progress update!

I don't know if it's typical or not, but I still find myself missing a lot of the foods that aren't approved on the diet. It's not a constant thing, but it's definitely still there. It's worst while I'm watching TV in the evenings with my family....there are so many commercials for food! I'd say the Olive Garden commercials are the one that make me the most sad about the AIP diet. I guess it's a good thing I usually watch Netflix rather than TV!

Another week of AIP food...

The hardest thing about the AIP diet, aside from TV commercials, is the lack of convenience. I really dislike the fact that I can no longer just come home and have 'whatever' for dinner...running late from the kiddo's Tae Kwon Do class? No stopping and picking something up! I have to go home and see what meat, veggies, and starchy veggies I have pre-made in the fridge. Don't have anything pre-made and ready to heat up? Then I guess I'm cooking! It's really a drag. And it keeps me in the kitchen sooooo much more than I was before I started AIP.

I'm also finding that it's quite expensive! Probably because I can't fill my plate with inexpensive grains or breads anymore. Now that 3/4 of my plate at every meal is some sort of veggie, I'm having to buy a ton of vegetables with every trip to the grocery store. Yes, yes, I know that "you shop for what's on sale." But, can you honestly say that buying 5 lbs of vegetables is going to cost the same as buying a bag of rice or loaf of bread? No. No it's not. And there are 2, 3, sometimes 4 trips to the grocery store a week because we run out of my 'diet approved foods.' Everything adds up!

Alrighty. I could complain about AIP stuff all day long, so I'm just going to cut to this past week's results:

- HS symptoms: This week was much worse than the week prior. I've had 4 flares that have required bandaging for most of the week due to draining/bleeding. 4 of my 6 typical trouble spots are currently bothersome, which is no better than last week, but no worse. I had two new flares develop, one is still giving me trouble and one has already drained. Overall, not enough improvement for me to say that the AIP diet is helping.

#mood

- Mood: I'm still periodically irritable. I find myself getting frustrated when I feel like my husband and other family members aren't being understanding of all the AIP diet changes...but I'm thinking that it'll get better as everyone gets used to what I can and cannot have.

- Weight: this morning, I'm down 6.4 lbs since I started on AIP. [That's down .6 lb from last week] I've got to be honest, I'm extremely frustrated. I don't know why the number moved so much the first week and hardly any the second. I know that my diet has improved significantly and that my portion sizes are much smaller than pre-AIP. I'm almost not snacking at all, but when I do, it's fruits or carrots! I don't know...I guess I was expecting some miraculous, scale-melting numbers, but it's just so... slow!! I know that 6 lbs in 2 weeks is probably great, especially without adding any exercise into the mix...but I was hoping for more!

- Goals: I'd decided to set my first goal/reward at 15 lbs. I think I'm going to allow myself to [temporarily] dye my hair some fun, funky color. After the first week's stellar weight progress, I thought it was going to be a super easy and quick goal to reach. Now? Maybe not so much. Keep your eyes peeled for a post with a photo of my with blue hair...it'll be here, eventually!

- Overall thoughts: I'm starting to wonder if the AIP diet is going to be helpful enough for my hidradenitis to be worth it. If in another week or two, I don't see some positive changes in my HS symptoms, I'm going to consider 'downgrading' my diet to something more 'normal.'

More updates soon, check back in a day or two!

It's Tough...

Today is an exceptionally hard day for me, so far.

I'll be honest, I feel rather silly posting this only 10 days into adopting the AIP diet...but it's true! The urge to stray from the list of 'approved foods' is strong today.

I think it's because there's been a massive uptick of stress in the last 24 hours...maybe?

Me, internally

Or maybe it's because this diet sucks. It's frankly not fair to have to sacrifice so many different foods and seasonings just because my body is dysfunctional. I'm not typically one to whine about things that are out of my control, but if I don't vent, I feel like I'll burst!

I'm also frustrated because my HS symptoms are currently much worse than day 1 of this diet. Much worse. Controlling my HS flares is the whole reason for going on the very strict AIP elimination diet. If I were only wanting to lose weight, I'd do a much more lenient 'normal' diet! I did some reading on how AIP diets can improve HS symptoms yesterday....the article said that it can take weeks or months before you start seeing real results. Months!!! Sorry, I am not a patient lady and I don't know if I can stick it out for months before this diet plan is worth all of the trouble.

***Sigh***

I came thiiiiiiiis close to stopping and getting a doughnut this morning. Like, infinitesimally close.

But...

I resisted. And now I'm sitting at my desk, at work, pouting and internally warring with myself while trying to find a position to comfortably sit and not aggravate my bleeding flares.

Guys, this is horrible. Hidradenitis is, I mean.

Send me positive vibes, please! I'm definitely on the struggle bus today. 

Progress - Week 1...

Alright! It's been a full week since I've started my AIP diet....how did it go?

I feel like it's been a pretty tough transition! It's hard to go from eating pretty much anything you want to having what feels like an ultra-restricted diet. I haven't had any bread, rice, or pasta for a week. That's a record for me! [I did 'protein diets' like the grapefruit diet when I was a teenager, but even for that diet, we could have pretty much normal dinners!] Couple my personal carb-withdrawal problems with the fact that the rest of my household isn't on the AIP train...that's where I'm at right now.

The weekend was much more difficult for me than the work week. I think because my husband and I have so many weekend routines that were based around food [kind of sad now that I'm typing it out]. Typically, we'd either go out to one of our favorite breakfast spots or we'd fix breakfast at home. Breakfast always had some combination of eggs, hash browns, some sort of bread, and usually grits, for my husband. Sunday mornings, if we go to church with my parents, we always stopped at the Huddle House that's on the way. But not this weekend! Nope! Because of my choice to start the AIP diet for my HS, I can't participate in our sacred little breakfast routines anymore.

Honestly, it makes me quite sad. Maybe even more than it should...

But you all should be proud of me! As badly as I wanted to grab the habitual breakfast with my husband, I did not! I stuck with my new diet plan and my sad-looking bowl of sweet potatoes and turkey sausage! It's the small, personal victories that I have to hold onto...otherwise, this whole transition is just too tough!

Now let's look at what, if any, changes the first week of the AIP diet has brought to me...let's look at some results:

- HS symptoms: to be honest, on Wednesday, my HS symptoms had dropped to almost none! I was so elated, I was ready to declare the AIP diet a miracle...but! By Thursday, some of my flares had returned to remind me that they're still around and don't plan on going anywhere anytime soon. Overall, I'd say there's probably been about a 20% decrease in the amount of pain and swelling in my flares....4 of my 6 typical trouble-spots are currently acting up, which is about the same as last Monday. I currently have 4 individual flares that require bandaging, and 2 that are bandaged just in case they decide to act up. This is actually more bandaging than last Monday, but I'd say that most of the flares are actually a little bit better than they were.

- Mood: I find myself being periodically irritable, a little more than usual. I don't know if it's due to all of the foods that I cut out on the AIP diet or not, but I feel like it has to be playing a part in it.

Tiny Victories ^_^ 

- Weight: as of this morning, I'm down 5.8 lbs down from last Monday. Almost 6 lbs! Now, I know weight fluctuates everyday, but I'm really enjoying seeing that number go down! Granted, I know it's likely 'water weight,' but it's still encouraging. I know that this trend should continue as long as I stick to my AIP diet...especially if I remember to be mindful of the amounts of and calories in what I'm eating. But, I feel like my eating habits for the week are 200% better than they were before. I just have to stick with it...and find time to exercise!

So far, the new diet/lifestyle seems to have been a positive change...check back in a few days for more updates!

So Far...

I'm officially halfway through my first week on AIP diet! Time for a few updates...

Sticking to this diet is hard. Not going to sugarcoat it in the slightest, at all! I vastly underestimated

Me, trying to summon my willpower...

the amount of prep-cooking that needs to be done, and I've also underestimated the quantities of food that should be made!

So many veggies!

It's the fourth day of this diet, and I've already had to make 2 more batches of the turkey sausage! In all fairness, it's partly because my husband and kiddo have taken a liking to it and have been helping me deplete my sausage stash....but mostly because I didn't realize how far 1 pound of meat doesn't stretch. Luckily, my local Sprouts grocery store has had a weekly special on ground turkey [3 lbs for $6], so I've been able to make more as the sausage has been running out.

I severely underestimated meats for dinner, as well! I made beef patties on the first day...however, I made my normal-sized batch for my family, and didn't have enough for any leftover. [There was 1 patty leftover, but I used that for one of my kiddo's dinners!] This left me having to choose between my breakfast turkey sausage and my lunch/salad chicken for dinner proteins for two nights this week [hence, running out of sausage]. In the future, I will need to make sure that I 1) prepare and make enough different kind of proteins so that my family and I don't get bored with the week's menu and 2) make large enough batches of whatever I decide to cook so that there is plenty for the week!

If I don't adjust my cooking and planning habits, I can foresee having more weeks like this one....and my sanity won't make it! I've done more trips to the grocery store, 'batch' cooking, and dishes in the last few days than in the last few weeks combined! I will re-evaluate the variety and amounts of food needed at the end of the week and do a better job of preparing for next week!

Sticking to not having certain foods has been pretty tough...I find myself missing breads and carbs the most! Yesterday, I was jokingly telling my family that I would do anything for a breadstick! But! I managed to tough it out and did not cave to my carb craving! **Woo-hoo!!**

As far as results:

I'm really not expecting anything at this point, it simply hasn't been long enough! However! I will tell you that the scale has been doing a bit of downward trending, which makes me ecstatic! I'm going to post weight numbers 1x a week...I feel like that's the most objective way to gauge progress, since weight tends to fluctuate daily. Check back soon, I'll keep updating with my progress!

New Beginnings...

Yesterday, I started my AIP diet!

I'd say that, overall, yesterday went pretty 'okay.' Having no carbs wasn't horrible and I didn't even realize that I didn't have any dairy at all. However, I do realize that it was only the first day and that the real test of willpower is yet to come. Hooray?

Food Prep!

For this week's starch replacement vegetable, I prepped some sweet potatoes....it felt like it took forever! I bought 4 medium-large sweet potatoes and plan to eat them with breakfast and dinner just about everyday this week. I peeled and sliced them, and then cooked them in a skillet with coconut oil and some salt and rosemary. [I've never cooked with coconut oil before, I still am undecided on how I feel about it...]

In addition to prepping the sweet potatoes, I cut up and caramelized 4 onions for the week. Caramelized onions compliment sweet potato excellently! [I know there are more than 4 onions in my picture...I kept one raw to use later in the week and ended up throwing one of the smaller onions away] For future meal prep, I think I'd need to almost double the amount of onions...there just doesn't seem to be a whole lot once they've cooked down!

Finally, I made some maple and sage turkey sausage [there isn't a picture of this, but you can see it in my assembled breakfast bowl]. I really like having a batch of this made and kind of just hanging out in the fridge...I'm hoping I made enough for all of this week's breakfasts and maybe even some if I need it for lunch, but I'll likely need to make bigger batches of this in the future!

I don't have a picture of it, but over the weekend, I had some split chicken breasts that I seasoned with olive oil, garlic, rosemary, and thyme and then baked in the oven. For lunch, I've been having a little bit of this chicken on top of a kale and spinach salad. Yesterday, I realized that store bought salad dressings aren't allowed on the AIP diet....so today, I made a small batch of balsamic vinaigrette. 

I'll be sure to write another post later this week, updating on how the diet is going. Wish me luck, I'm going to need it!