A new adventure...

Irony. I see it all around us in this crazy life. One of the biggest moments of irony I have experienced came when I realized that my new married name would be Meeks. Funny. God has a sense of humor, doesn't He?! Another ironic thing about me? I hate to speak in front of people, yet I teach. It bothers me to raise my hand and have everyone look at me, but sometimes I cannot help myself. I MUST speak. I am not arrogant, nor do I believe that I am better than others. It's just that my life has been one adventure after another, and I think that maybe it makes me qualified to share it with you. Take what helps you and leave the rest. Feel free to share with me as well. I love to learn.
 
I'm starting this adventure because I am, for lack of a better term, divergent. I've always known it, but Veronica Roth made it cool! When I was a little girl, my grandmother said I was an enigma. It took me a while to get over it because I wondered what I did for her to say such a thing. After I realized it was not meant to be ugly, I took it as a compliment. I am tough, but I'm a sucker for the sappy story. I am logical, but I go with my gut. I am together, but I am a mess. I am weird. I have learned to accept it. This has now carried over to my health and fitness. As I start a new journey, I thought I'd share. It will help hold me accountable, and I hope that it will help someone else who is going through this.
 
In short, I have always been a fairly fit, well person, minus some respiratory issues in my life. I later learned that I had a mild form of asthma that caused me to have coughing, ear infection-general respiratory junk. In the last six or seven years, I have gotten progressively sicker, albeit mild sickness, it is chronic. In the last nine-month period, I was on antibiotics and steroids for five different periods, each lasting 14-21 days each. I continued to stay sick and gain weight. Although I tried to work out, I could not do it without feeling like I would pass out. I saw quite a few doctors and weight loss gurus, but nothing changed. I cried every time I tried on clothes, and I felt terribly about myself.
 
It's a long story how we got it all figured out, but it was a combo deal. My fabulous ENT realized we needed to get to the bottom of things for my health and tested me for allergies. (I am allergic to EVERY thing.) A random look at a Dr. Oz rerun made me realize that my symptoms might have been triggered by food allergies so I did a week of elimination. What I found out is crazy! That whole wheat/gluten allergy thing is for REAL.  I can "add" potatoes in and my stomach almost immediately swells, and I have trouble walking through the house without losing my breath. So...I have done some research and started a new chapter. I had my first allergy shots today. I began cooking without my favorite ingredients and am surviving! No butter-which is the staple of southern cooks-no Mt. Dew-which is a necessity for me since I don't do coffee-no dairy, no wheat, no white stuff. It sounds awful, but in truth, it's not so bad. It does require thinking ahead, as well as changing the "staples" in your kitchen. Here's a good rule: Get rid of processed stuff.
 
I have not had a caffeine headache. I have not starved. I will also be honest with you and say that it's not always easy. You do have to re-learn. I also made a decision that I'm not going to go without my favorite things for the rest of my life. I will allow myself a Mt. Dew and a steak and potato meal on the weekend. I just won't do it more than that. I'm going to upload the "at-a-glance" sheet I downloaded for my first elimination week. I got it from Dr. Oz as a part of his Rapid Weight Loss two week plan. By the way, before this I was working out and eating 1200-1400 calories a day and gaining weight. After four days on this plan, I lost 3 lbs. I've been on vacation and not keeping it all up (weighing and working out each day) so I started back this week. Hopefully I'll be able to report a greater weight loss soon. I'll add some recipes tomorrow.