Monthly Milestones 2016 {7}

Today is the seventh Monthly Milestones of 2016.  If you want to share a milestone post, just leave a comment below with a link to your milestone post, and I'll pop over and visit it and leave a comment, and hopefully some of my other readers will, too. :)  Normally, Monthly Milestones, where I will be giving you updates on how I am doing physically, mentally, etc., will go live on the first Saturday of every month, though sometimes I may be a day early or late depending on circumstances.

Here is how I am doing as of today:

Me as of today, July 2, 2016, at 234 lbs.  Sorry for the odd smile.  I misjudged when hubby was snapping the photo. :D

1. My weight is finally going back down!  I lost 1 1/2 pounds overall this month! :D  To say that I am excited about that would be an understatement.  I did not get to do the "no carbs" diet that I planned, but I did greatly reduce the carbs of all sorts (not just grains, but all sugar sources like juice, sugar, etc., though I did allow for some in moderation, whole fruit especially) as well as upping the amount of protein I get, and that did make a difference.  I also realized over the month of June that my body does NOT tolerate some things, and most of that is processed foods and soy in all forms.  I am finding I can barely tolerate a serving a day of soy containing or processed items, sometimes not even a serving a week it tolerated.  My pain is more, my weakness is more, my IBS symptoms are worse, my focus is worse, etc. when I have those things.  The foods with the most natural ingredients possible (i.e. nothing made in a lab) are best tolerated by me.  I'm going to work more on cutting out the processed/soy containing foods and eating more good fats and proteins this month, and we'll see how that goes. :)
       
2. I've been able to be a lot more active!  I have made it a point to be active.  I've hung clothes out on the line vs. dried them in the dryer to help with this whenever possible.  I've gone on walks at least once a day when it wasn't stormy or raining.  I've made a "housework" schedule to help me from being too idle.  I've also been working on some creative writing to keep myself from being bored so that I don't eat everything in sight out of boredom.  For me, weight loss is not linked to exercise, but exercise and busyness does help keep my energy up and keeps me from binge eating, so it's a good thing. :)  I'm hoping to keep up the walking and such as much as possible.
    
3. Dietary/lifestyle changes are still happening.  As I mentioned in #1, I'm going to work on my diet even more in July.  Cutting out my multivitamin seems to have made a big difference for me.  My water retention issue is better as long as I remember to drink a lot of water.  I'm going to talk with my neurologist and/or my doctor about the water retention when I see them, and see what they recommend as sometimes even drinking a lot of water isn't enough. 
   
   I'm also having issues with sleep.  I am either finding that I can't get to sleep, I wake up super early and can't fall back asleep or both.  It's not been real fun.  It doesn't appear to be linked to being too hot or too cold or to diet that I can pinpoint.  I'll talk with the doctors about that, too, and see what they think.
     
4. I will be getting my results from my testing soon.  I find out the results from my testing in a few weeks, and then we see where we go from there.  I'm not sure how I feel about it all, honestly.  I'm a bit scared in some ways.  Part of me doesn't want to know, but more of me wants to know.  Knowing what to do next will be a good thing.  If everything comes back "within normal", I'm not sure how much further I will pursue this at this time as far as testing goes.  We'll have a lot to discuss, that's for sure!
       
5. Thank you for all your prayers, and we would appreciate your continued prayers!  We appreciate all the prayers and support as we've gone through so much this last year, especially. It's been a real blessing!
   
   We still haven't cemented our schooling decision for next year 100%, so we'd appreciate your prayers in regards to that.  We'd still like to homeschool the boys, but we're holding off on the final decision on that until after I see the neurologist.  This is a great matter of prayer for us.  We want our kids to be where God wants them, and if that's not at home, then we will do what His will is in that regard.  Thank you so much!
   
   We also have some unspoken prayer requests that I will share later as I have liberty.  Thanks for praying for those, too. :)  We are certain that God knows - we just want His leading, timing and direction!
    
6.  Blog updates have stalled, though posting has increased! So far, I've been able to make at least monthly changes to this blog and Natural and Free.  Sometimes, I have even been able to make some minor changes, so that's a plus.  I am not sure what all I'll get to over July as it is one of our busiest months, but we'll see. :)

That's about it for now.  How are you doing?  Are you reaching your goals?  Have you tried something new?  Come up with a new recipe?  I hope all is going well with you, and I hope you will leave a comment sharing your thoughts and/or milestones (with a link to your post, if you wish).  As always, I wish you the best of luck in all you do, and hope you will return soon! :)

(This post was originally posted on my original site, Fibro, Fit and Fab!)