The room to break me.

In addition to the master bath remodel, we also updated the master bedroom.  It has a tray ceiling that was covered in that plaster popcorn crap builders like to use since it’s cheaper to spray than pay someone to manually skim coat.  It was also very dark in the room.  Overall a dark bedroom is a good thing so you can sleep, but during the long, dark winters, dark rooms are just depressing.  

Then there was the honey oak trim that we’ve got throughout the house, and we’ve slowly either been painting white, or staining cherry to match the wood floors in part of the house.  

Removing all the popcorn ceiling was messy, but getting the skim coat smooth was extra hard with the angles and transition from one level of the ceiling to the next.  Then there were the multiple coats of primer and paint to get rid of the dark green.  Right now we don’t have any decorations or pictures on the walls or window dressings on, so it feels unusually bright and empty in there.  I still need to build out the master closet, but I have to take a break.  I am so burned out on home improvements right now that I need to turn my attentions elsewhere for a bit.  

Enforced weight loss

So I thought I posted about this earlier, but then I didn't see a post, so I guess maybe not. Well, I've been losing weight. Last fall I ended up in the hospital with all sorts of tests being run on me because my stomach was so bloated and I was in so much pain. They thought my gall bladder was going to rupture, but it turned out, my gall bladder was fine. Then I was scheduled for an upper GI to look inside and see what was going on. Other than really bad inflammation and a couple of benign polyps, there was no evidence of disease or organ issues. The doctor deduced my issues must stem from something I was eating daily.

Yes, I had developed ANOTHER food allergy, and apparently, this was a more intense one. So I went on an elimination diet for a few weeks. I lost 12 pounds and felt so much better. The first food I reintroduced to my stomach after three weeks clean, were steel cut oats. I was cooking oats in the crock pot overnight for breakfast every morning. I was eating oats to help my cholesterol levels, since I can no longer go on statins, you guessed it, because of allergic reactions. Remember my post about the bleeding hives three years ago? Anyway, after that one bowl of oatmeal on a Saturday morning, I got sick all over again and it lasted until Monday. Damn. I LOVE oatmeal, oatmeal cookies, oat flour bread, and I already have a severe wheat allergy. I've spent years and countless dollars trying to find gluten-free or wheat free breads, cakes, cookies, etc. that tasted like the real thing, to no avail. Now I couldn't have oats either. So rather than continue to try and find substitutes, I decided to get off all grains entirely. I never liked barley or rye, so it wasn't that hard. Then the weight started coming off easier. I felt so much better. Every once in a while I'd have a little rice with a meal, or try to have a pancake made with almond and coconut flour, but none of that sat right with my stomach either. I didn't have the pains I had when eating oats, but I still got bloated and my stomach felt queasy. So I've been grain free since last October. I'm now down 32 pounds, two and a half clothing sizes, and have lost 6 inches off my waist.

The first picture is my starting weight, and the bottom picture is when I was 25 pounds down. Needless to say, I've culled my closet of the fat clothes and have been buying new, more slender clothes. I think this weight will stay off just because I have no choice but to avoid the stuff that's made me sick. So no breads, cakes, cookies, pies, etc., just meats, fruits, veggies, and some dairy. I eat whatever I want, whenever I want, and as much as I want. I no longer have food cravings, and my blood sugar no longer goes up and down convincing me I'm hungry all the time. It's been far easier to just give up all grains than it ever was to go gluten free.