Still here. Life is just so busy it's hard to get on here much anymore.
Weight still fluctuates. Not uncommon after having a baby. Lose some, gain some, lose some.
I'm down to my lowest weight since having my daughter, but not as low as I was before she was born. Very close though.
Alcohol is my biggest issue TBH. I'm not a super heavy drinker by modern standards, but three drinks is enough to spark a binge and that's the problem. I typically only drink on Friday and Saturday nights these days, but I always end up having more than I want to and then I eat too much and just over all feel like garbage for the next two days. I really want to give it up entirely but it's so ingrained into our lifestyle that that feels impossible.
I've been playing around with intermittent fasting. Not the every day kind (like 16:8 or whatever) but longer fasts less often. Mostly for my gut/skin health.
I was on antibiotics when my son was born (just realizing I haven't posted since I had him... had a boy! He's wonderful and healthy and happy and now over a year old, and I have much to be thankful for).
Being two weeks past my due date and having a few complications near the end, I opted for another c-section. Had antibiotics for that. Then my incision came open in the hospital and I had to have it re-stitched and cauterized and was then on 24 hours of IV antibiotics to address that... but it got infected anyway and I was on another week of antibiotics after that. Then last fall I had pneumonia and was on prednisone and MORE antibiotics..... All of this resulting in dyshidrotic eczema (yay for painful itchy blisters on my hands and feet!) and in researching how to deal with that I've learned a lot more about intermittent fasting (I had learned some in the past from some continuing education I had to do for my professional license) and decided to try a 24 water fast, then about a month later a 40 hour water fast, and about a month later a 48 hour water fast. I'm amazed at how much better my skin is after each fast.
I know in this space fasting is so common but I honestly feel like in the past I don't know how much full fasting I did. I would usually eat some cucumbers and an egg or something even on days I was keeping my calories below 300. But just water (and I add in a couple of cups of peppermint tea) for a couple days with no vegetables or anything? I don't know. I'd honestly have to look at old blog posts to see if I have done that in the past. I had so many bizarre habits that it's entirely possible I went multiple days without anything at all but I can't remember. I know I usually ended up having to eat something socially in the past.
But fasting for other health reasons (and my husband of course knows about the eczema) is much more socially acceptable than for weight loss reasons (though weight loss has come with it).
The biggest challenge is communicating it to my daughter. I don't want her to have a lot of childhood memories of "mom not eating". She has such a great relationship with food, she loves everything (she ate a plate of grilled salmon, broccoli, and gnocchi for dinner tonight and loved every bite) and eats to fuel herself and I want that for her. But I also feel like I need to model that and it's hard when we all eat dinner together and "mom isn't eating". At her age, I just tell her it's because "mommy's tummy doesn't feel good" and she's fine with that, and when she's much older I'm comfortable with having conversations about intermittent fasting and how to do it in a healthy way, but at her young age I know it's only really coming across as "mom's not eating". Ugh. Tricky waters to navigate.
Alcohol:
Flares up my eczema
Is full of empty calories
Leads to excessive eating
Ruins my sleep
Makes me feel like garbage for days after drinking it
Costs a lot of money
It's funny how people I know or have read about who have stopped drinking say people give them a lot of flack for it.
Whenever I meet someone who doesn't drink, the only thing I think is "lucky".
But still a partake. Hopefully by my next update I'll be done drinking.
