... that is actually an exceptionally unremarkable check-in at the end of the week.

I've been feeling cruddy lately, which was no surprise given that my period started up again. Oh joy. Even with the bloat and lethargy I did still manage to stay at 222.8 today, and even got in half an hour on the bike today for the first time in two days. I burst through my next hundred miles to reach 206.5 miles biked on the recumbent, and was pretty proud of myself. I did just over 9.1 miles today, which is a brisk 18 miles an hour on a moderate resistance level. Go me!

I have also been doing very well on my food, I think. Less veggies than I'd personally like, as my fridge is running a bit bare right now, but I am still staying right around my target calories (usually at or within 200 on either side) and making good choices. My next produce box is coming from Full Circle Farm this coming Wednesday and I'd like to pick some stuff up at the Farmer's Market tomorrow as well, but we'll see how that goes. Either way, I am proud of my chugging along, even if the losses are slower than my impatient self would like to see.

I've been feeling a bit off after breakfasts, and I am thinking of trying an experiment to see if I can pinpoint the cause. The last time I felt like this - lethargic, stuffy, with headaches and moodiness - I discovered I had a bunch of food allergies I was exacerbating. Essentially everything that was a core in my diet - yeast, wheat, eggs, soy, dairy, almonds, etc etc - I had varying levels of sensitivity to. By cutting them out of my diet I stopped my inflammatory response to the foods and felt remarkably better. The only real regular dairy I am eating is my half cup or so of yogurt with my granola in the morning. Both yogurt and granola, however, are foods on my list of 'be careful'! I love dairy and love how filling that breakfast is, so I am loathe to switch it up, but I think I may have to.

But I am also a creature of habit with food, and changing my morning habit, especially when most of my other preferable options (like toast, omelettes, etc) also cause similar responses in me. I cant manage oatmeal or most cereals long-term for the same reason, so my challenge is to think up a good breakfast that isn't too light or heavy on the calories and work it in.

Ideally, I'd rotate breakfast items daily on a weekly schedule, so I never ate too much of any one thing in a row, but I just don't have the budget to buy such an assortment of foods without having something go bad too soon, nor do I have fridge space.

I am thinking that eating something solid for breakfast, like fruit, potato, and sausage or something of the like, may be my best bet. I will miss my dairy, but I can put it back in after a few weeks, when my sensitivity has decreased a bit. But I am once again learning that too much for too long a stretch, even of organic, low-sugar yogurt with tons of active cultures, just doesn't make my body feel good. So choosing meals for breakfast that are less... breakfasty.... seems to be my best bet. I may be able to work in some hardboiled eggs as a protein option once or twice a week, but those make me feel awful in shorter order than almost any other food. Drats!

Like anything else in my life, my food sensitivities are something that I can mostly ignore until they start creating problems. And like all the solutions to the things in my life, ignoring doesn't actually get me an outcome I am happy with, and so isn't worth it in the long run. I am just going to have to find a feasible solution to my food dilemmas that fits within my budget and time allowances. I know I can get creative and do it, I just need to commit and make it happen. It is no longer worth feeling like crap all day just to get my one dose of dairy and slightly refined carbohydrates in!

Barring disaster, I'll check in with my weight on Monday and stay on the ball this weekend with my food choices. We'll see!