Frustrating!!!

Partially the new diet has worked wonders for many things: noticeable difference in my moods and energy levels and also the puffiness, that I hadn't even noticed until is was gone, in my face, wrists and ankles has vanished!
This was taken about a week before I started the diet (by Madelyn...she's such a good photographer!)


And this was taken about a week after starting


The difference is very noticeable!

This diet is still very much a work in progress as proven by my recent spilling of ketones into my urine. This happens when the body isn't getting enough carbs/sugar or calories and so it will burn up fat to access the sugar needed for the baby to grow. Normally, this isn't a horrible thing, if you are dieting and it's what Atkins Dieters strive for. During pregnancy, this is NOT a good thing, it causes your body to think it's in starvation mode and the ketones circulating in your blood cause acidosis that can harm the babe, if it stays at high levels for a long period of time. So I am trying to find a good balance of not eating too much sugars but making sure that I do eat enough. It's also interesting to note that since cutting out the processed junk, I'm now not getting enough salt in my diet! Salt is important, especially right now as my blood volume has just doubled and I never realized how much sodium I got in from junk food. I've been having to add salt where I can to help keep the ankle swelling to a minimum and keep my blood pressure up where it should be. I guess cutting out the 1660mg of sodium I ate from having 2 McChicken sandwiches really changes things!

This morning I am having turkey sausage links and Steel Cut Oatmeal with cinnamon (a proven spice that helps with blood sugars! who knew?!?!?!?) and stevia. If you haven't tried stevia I HIGHLY recommend it! It comes in different flavors and is very sweet. The best part is that it doesn't effect your blood sugars, has 0 calories, and since it's a plant it's all natural. They sell it at health food stores and I've even found it at Meijer, although it's in the supplements aisle because the FDA forbids it to be labeled as "food" so it's a "dietary supplement". I have vanilla flavor in my oatmeal and grape flavor in my water right now. I have a feeling that if I got some bubbly water and added grape (or any other flavor...i've seen root beer flavor too!) that it would be better than grape soda.

So we are chugging along. 10-ish more weeks of this ultra strict diet, after which I will still want and need to modify my eating habits, just not as drastically. Jeremy is being very supportive, and even feels guilty for buying himself Mt. Dew at work or McDonalds for lunch. I didn't expect him to start eating like me, afterall he's his own person and has normal blood sugar, but he's started to adopt a lot of my (hopefully soon to be) habits and lost a few pounds in the process! He's also helped to take away some of the stress of meals by making dinners and helping me to plan my meals. I can't say that I'm not totally bummed about not partaking in cake eating celebrations next week for Jonas' birthday, but I'm hoping that watching him devour it will be a good enough time to make up for it!