Today marks 2 weeks that I started the ketogenic diet. I thought I was on it a few days longer, but I looked back at the calendar and my blog and realized that I started this on a Monday exactly 2 weeks ago. Anyway...big improvements! I have to say I was not expecting to see or feel any improvements for at least a month. But here is a run-down:
1. Weight loss (6 lbs in 2 weeks). I started gaining weight 8 months into TSW...when my skin got better and I returned to work. A few reasons for this was not eating well and my liver getting worse. When my liver was bad years ago, I had gained a lot of weight. This year I gained about 30 lbs. Craziness! So I was hoping this diet would help heal my liver and help me lose weight. Not going to get my liver enzymes checked for another few months, but the weight loss is a positive sign!
2. Skin texture has drastically improved! I am still dealing with dry skin on my face, neck, and chest, and my fingers are still slowly healing, but the rest of my skin texture is way super soft! Could be from all the extra water I'm drinking! I posted a camera picture on FB the other day of my super smooth elbow! In my entire life, I have never had smooth elbows...they've always had dry skin! I have only had one small TSW flare on one elbow this year (lasted 2 or 3 days) but they continued to have that dry white skin. Not anymore! I can run my hands up and down my elbows and it's all baby soft skin! So weird!
3. ENERGY!!! Yes the one thing I was hoping to improve on this diet is definitely improving and much more than I had hoped for only 2 weeks in! I no longer take naps during the day and even when I feel tired, I am still able to get things done. And to top it off, that time of the month arrived the other day and it did not stop me in my tracks like it has every month for years! Am I bouncing all over the place? No...I have a LONG ways to go to heal my gut and adrenals. But this level of energy is what I had when my skin started to clear and I went back to work a year ago. I know I went back to work too soon, but at the time I didn't have a choice due to hubby's accident.
4. Better sleep patterns! I have had no problem getting enough sleep throughout TSW. I medicated myself with benadryl, motrin, and tylenol as needed during the brutal months and then only benadryl this past year. I want to come off the benadryl but I was not even getting tired before 3 am (even if I forced myself to not nap). This was a sign of severe adrenal stress in the book I read. I now get tired by midnight....and if it wasn't for the surface dry skin causing itching at night, I wouldn't need the benadryl to fall asleep as I am REALLY tired now before going to bed. I also stopped getting tired at 3 pm every day....another sign of unbalanced adrenals. I used to literally plan my errands around the 3-5 pm window during which I would almost always pass out on the couch completely exhausted. I may feel run down at that time this past week, but I no longer feel tired enough to fall asleep or even have to rest.
5. Better moods...this has more to do with my PMS than anything. I was shocked when I got my period the other day because I had no PMS mood swings. That is amazing in and of itself! :)
All good in the skin department - no major flares - still dealing with super dry skin on my face and it is more reddish in color. But no significant itching, no oozing, no burning. My neck and chest the same except no redness at all. Fingers get itchy about every 2 days and then any scratching will cause them to swell a bit - but nothing that inhibits bending at the joints like during a flare. The skin on 8 of my fingers is super dry like my face. Plus the open areas from my flare are still healing. I will scratch a few scabs open from time to time and that just makes them take longer to heal. Oh well. I'm just glad they don't ooze nor cause any pain. Still cooking and getting things done without having to stop because of nerve pain in my fingers. The rest of my skin is clear...legs, feet, back, arms.
As for the big move....we don't have a closing date yet, but we should have one soon! Looking to be in Kentucky in about a month! So very excited!! This will begin a whole new chapter for us and I can't wait!
No comments:
Post a Comment