Keep on keepin on :-)

mellykdc

Hi everyone! I just wanted to introduce myself as I start this journey.

About me:

I am a 38 years young female. I quit smoking nearly two years ago and gained over 20 lbs o ver the next two years. In those two years, my immune system went haywire, even though I started (and later stopped) exercising and have been eating healthier than I had my whole life! I have Hashimotos disease, and was diagnosed in a late stage of it, when my mind was both muddled (it gives you brain fog) and I lost about 25% of my already-thin hair. In the past two years, I've battled cellulitis, staph infections, endometriosis, and now I have been diagnosed with a very painful TMJ disorder which makes it difficult to eat.

I was very depressed when I found out that the TMJ doesn't go away and is expected to worsen. I've had a lot of nerve pain, numbness, eye and muscle twitches, etc which made my dentist think that it's pretty advanced and involves nerve damage. I spent all of January and up until this week on a "soft diet", and the TMJ has probably caused some weight loss all by itself. (I haven't weighed since then.) Luckily, it seems that this flare-up has finally passed, with muscle relaxants to spare when the pain comes back.

I work from home as a freelance writer and I am currently also working to get my Bachelor's degree after leaving school almost 10 years ago.

I've lost a significant amount of weight in the past, when I was smoking, and got to my fittest in my adult life. Quitting smoking and not exercising during the quit helped me gain the weight back. I'm fairly certain I can lose the weight again, and it will be easier as a nonsmoker, even with my myriad of weird health issues. For one thing, I have significant anxiety and really exercise seems to be the only thing that helps me de-stress without popping a pill.

Anyway, I had started walking and running last summer, then ended up grounded by an iliotal band injury. I was doing really great up until then but then the pain prevented me from doing more. So this time around, I am taking short walks every day and will be joining my local community center's gym, where I plan to use the exercise equipment and weight lifting machines...will be starting off very slowly so I don't injure anything again.

I've been keeping a food diary for 9 days now and it looks like my biggest challenge is going to be gettign the protein, iron etc I need every day. While I've been keeping to my calorie and fat goals, it looks like I just don't gravitate to protein-filled foods. So that's one thing I'm going to work on improving over the next few weeks.

I am hoping to lose a total of 5 pounds before my next doctor appointment, which is the first week of March. I am 9 days in, and some of my pants are already sagging, so although I haven't weighed myself yet, I know I've at least shed a pound or two.

I would love to meet some diet buddys here! So please feel free to add me/get in touch.