New Resolve

I haven't posted for a while because I've been doing so poorly. My current weight loss is 19 pounds. I gained three weeks in a row. I was definitely disheartened.

Then I did two things.

First, I realized that I've got to work the program. I just have to. There are lots of other things I'd like to improve about myself but I've decided that weight loss gets top priority. For me, working the program means tracking; as much as I like the idea of Simply Filling Technique (still a lousy name compared to Core), I can't seem to stick to it right now.

After last Saturday's meeting, I knew I just had to knuckle down and start tracking. I've often started the week with the paper tracker but never finished a week with it. I'm rarely far from a computer so I'm tracking completely online with eTools. This is Day 3 of my New Resolve and I've stuck to the program so far.

The second thing I did was to realize that I needed to treat my Lyme disease. I have chronic Lyme, which some physicians say doesn't exist. Well, maybe it doesn't exist for some people but it definitely exists for me. I continue to test positive for Lyme and I still have symptoms despite five years of daily antibiotics.

About a year ago, I decided I'd had it with all the pills and the rigorous schedule (four times a day, evenly spaced, no dairy or minerals taken within two hours either side of taking the antibiotics . . . you get the idea). So I stopped.

I'd been thinking for a while that I needed to do a short course of antibiotics to clear my system. Last week I finally finished up all the annual reporting projects I had on my plate and decided to take antibiotics for four days. It had occurred to me that I couldn't stick with the program because those nasty Lyme critters were interfering with my willpower.

When one takes antibiotics, many of the bugs die at once and release toxins that make one sicker than before. It's called a herx (short for Jarisch-Herxheimer reaction, first observed with syphilis patients) and it's miserable.

After four days of aches and pains and brain fog, I'm feeling much better. And I'm having no trouble sticking to my New Resolve!