Here's my mid-week brain dump/check in!

Exercise has mostly eluded me this week, primarly for time reasons. Tonight I am aiming to get on the bike, we'll see if I can do it. Eating has been fine, at anywhere between 1900-2200 calories a day. That is a half to one pound loss for me, if I count my calories accurately and don't nibble :).

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In happy news, my weight has been around 213.0-212.8 for the past few days, with the only bump-up being the night I had fast food for dinner. It was within my calories, but all that sodium is killer! I'm doing great eating fruits and veggies, but meat still generally gags me. It stinks because I NEED protein to grow a healthy baby, but I am having to resort to nuts, beans, and protein shakes almost exclusively. I've been craving eggs but I am highly sensitive to them, and they give me the fuzzy throat/icky feeling allergic reaction. So I've been indulging in them VERY limitedly, a few eggs a week. If anyone wants to pray for me, pray that my food aversions would mellow so I could rely less on bread and get more poultry and beef, especially, into my system!

Still, I can't complain. My nausea has been coming and going in waves, but is tolerable overall. I am mostly eating well (probably 80/20) and feel exhausted, but not *weak*, which is nice. Sadly, I keep craving all my allergens when it comes to food. I have been tested to be sensitive to baker's yeast, brewer's yeast, wheat, oats, milk, eggs, cheese, and almonds, in varying levels. Frequent exposure exacerbates my immune response, and infrequent expose makes it more mild. The problems comes about when one realizes that this was almost my exclusive diet during my first pregnancy, and that I LOVE all of these foods. Ugh!

For breakfast this morning, I gave into my cravings and am paying for it now in how cruddy I feel.

I ate two eggs, a bowl of banana oatmeal (old fashioned and from scratch), and a cup of milk. Tasty and healthy, right? All of these foods are nourishing, whole foods, and yummy too! But eating healthy isn't always as simple as the calorie count of nutritional profile of the foods. Your body's response to that food is also key!

For me, I am very prone to that allergic inflammatory response if I eat too much of the same food over a period of weeks, particularly foods from that sensitivity list. Considering that research has discovered most long-term losers and maintainers eat largely the same diet every day, it can be quite a challenge for me to eat foods I like, that stay within my calories and satisfy me, while rotating them enough that I don't start feeling 'off'. If you find yourself suffering from headaches, lethargy, rashes, unexplained weight gain, or generally feeling like you have a cold, getting a blood panel down to identify food allergies may be a fabulous investment for your health. You can be eating 'all the right things' and still have issues, if those things trigger an immune response in your body.

Case and point with my breakfast? It was the right thing to eat, but not right for me. Grapefruit, toast with peanut butter, and a glass of soy will sit much better and nourish me just as much. Especially during times of bodily stress, like pregnancy or illness, food allergies and sensitivities can appear that never triggered you before. A simple elimination and reintroduction diet approach can make a world of difference in how you feel.

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In other rambles, I am in the midst of *cough*being lazy*cough* cleaning up the house and packing, getting ready for funeral #2 down in California. I fly out tomorrow morning at 9:00 am, and spend most of the day stuck in Sea-Tac, before flying out again at 9:00 pm down to San Diego. The flights are, woefully, packed, and I am worried the smells on the airplane will turn my stomach the whole time. That, plus the general exhaustion/boredom of being in the airport will make me prone to overeating. So good thoughts for self control on Seattle would be much appreciated! The trip, itself, should be good... It's the coming and going I am worried about! And those monster layovers are truly mindnumbing. I am happy to be traveling alone again, but I will miss my husband and kids like crazy.

The only other travel related concern, really, is weight gain due to eating out a ton. It always happens and I know I can overcome the bulk of the gain by being mindful (and take it back off once I get home!) but I'd rather not gain it to begin with, if I can help it. This overwhelmingly long half year of travel is not helping my weight loss, and while I have lost inches and gained self perspective, I cannot express how thrilled I will be once April passes and the our last trip (to Michigan for two weeks) is out of the way. After that, we're not going anywhere for at least a year, and I can stop getting these travel-related weight setbacks. I can deal with pregnancy weight gain, but fast food weight gain from being on the road is another thing entirely!

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I think that about does it for my sprawling weekly update. I will be gone until Wednesday, effectively, so I may not do a weigh in until two Mondays from now, but I should be back to normal and blogging by the middle of next week. Here's to safe travels and healthy airport food (ha!)!