Yeah, you have to kind of "pick your hard" on this one. Mine is that a patch on my hat enables me to avoid spraying my skin with a chemical. (I know you understand the chemical avoidance priority.) But I do totally understand your finding it repulsive to yank off a strip coated with flies. I do, too, but do it anyway.

Probably it reminds me of the horse barns of my long-lost youth. In the aisles, there were often these very long spiraling twists of flypaper swaying in the breeze, covered with dead & dying flies. I worked there in the barn sometimes to pay for extra lessons. One of my jobs -- aside from mucking stalls & pushing wheelbarrows full of manure, or throwing down bricks of hay -- was changing the fly strips. Maybe that steeled me for dealing with the deerfly strips.

Okay, apologies for the hijack, but I hate the deerflies too & couldn't let ICU's post pass without offering a potential remedy.

The sticky fly strip on the hat freaks me out a little.

I did the '100 workout' yesterday. 20:53 for items 100-20, +10 mins for the running, so just at 30 mins total. And oh my gosh do my inner thighs and abs hate me today. I almost spent the day lying prone in the bathtub to keep from having to lift up to get out after rinsing my hair. The leg lifts were the worst part.

Saef, jump in any time! Wearing one of those would be no more weird than my flailing arms, and they can't be as gross as being successful with a swat (ewwww). My local hardware store carries them, amazingly enough; I will stop in after work tomorrow. Thank you for the suggestion!

Pity that Vicksburg Vaporub doesn't work on deer flies like it does on black flies. I haven't found anything for deer flies better than 100% DEET, but the stuff is not considered a good idea on bare skin. .

Yay, Allison! My alarm is set for (gulp) 5am so I can report in that I did it too. My only failure today was a mindless handful of Fritos. They truly were in my mouth before I even realized it. Culprit was DS12, leaving open bag on counter. Lecture was administered.

You can do it ICU!!!!

I'm thinking of doing the 100 workout...we'll maybe starting with the jumping jacks at least! My DD got a workout that takes her just 10 minutes a day and she says it beats her up (and she was doing the PX90 for an hour a day!). Perhaps I'll ask her what this workout is. (I'll share.)

I've been quite good today, one extra snack this afternoon, but only a string cheese. I got my order from Nashua today, so tomorrow I'm back on the diet tomorrow. For the past couple of weeks, I've been going a bit over at lunch due to having a Smart Ones entree instead of a protein based (think Medifast) meal. Basically an extra 150+ calories.

Shannon, I felt that way too. I still haven't done it again. I think I will tonight...but I've been saying that for days now.

Last night I gorged myself on chicken nanban (pictured) and a "jumbo parfait" at my last "Ladies Day" Wednesday social ritual in Japan. Somehow my weight only went up .2 kg overnight. Bodies are weird.

Toeing my way under my red line today (137.8). Went to see the rheumatologist -- drew some more blood, they still don't know what's wrong with me. In general though he thinks that treating with painkillers is safer than treating with anything else since the other drugs are all much more dangerous and he doesn't think my condition will cause any permanent damage. It's frustrating -- I hope the blood tests turn up something this time.

I've been doing pilates workouts on youtube from blogilates.com. I like this instructor. She's kind of your stereotypical aerobics instructor, but she has good energy to keep me motivated.

I'm experimenting with my diet. This week has been a bunch of experimental breakfasts, to see if anything will be longer-lasting than my typical cereal and milk. Yesterday I did a breakfast burrito -- no real difference noticed from the cereal + milk. Today was greek yogurt, fruit, and granola. I also bought a bunch of different snack bars to try in the afternoon. Today will be an Atkins snack bar; we'll see if it keeps me from getting hungry later. I also bought SlimFast snack bars and Kashi TLC bars to try, plus some muesli for another breakfast experiment.

Jessica, could it be you aren't getting enough protein in the form of meat, including red meat? I don't know why I say this, except an idea that insufficient protein can sometimes affect ligaments and tendons.

saef, all biting insects love me, and I am allergic to their bites, which means I react more strongly than just having an itch for a couple of days. So, I gave up on trying to avoid chemical repellants awhile ago. DEET is my friend, as long as I don't overdo it. I was using Picaradin for awhile, but it started giving me headaches. sigh...

Lots of encouragement to all of you sticking with your plans! I'm sticking with mine, and I'm getting good results.

Jay

Gosh, Jessica, that has to be frustrating for you. I had hopes (as I'm sure you did) that something more would come of this doctor visit. I hope they have answers for you soon.

I remember my Mom went through this sort of thing a number of years back. First they thought she had TMJ, then they did a biopsy on a temporal artery and determined she had something else. They finally chalked it up to fibromyalgia--but not until a couple years of excruciating pain. In the end, I truly believe it was peripheral artery disease. In the end, that's what caused her the most trouble and the most pain. Basically it's like her arteries were too tiny and too clogged with cholesterol and her blood didn't go where it needed and her heart worked too hard to get it there. She had a number of surgeries to clear her arteries (both in her legs and arms) but it never gave her lasting relief.

Jay, I'm not sure. According to my calorie tracker, over the last 30 days I averaged 81 grams of protein per day. Most of it over the past 30 days has been from chicken or dishes which included chicken and cheese, followed by vegetables/beans/fruits/tofu, breads/grains/cereals, cheese, dairy, then nuts, red meat, fish, and eggs. That's just for the past month so it varies month to month. So I could probably stand to eat quite a bit more red meat. And fish, for that matter, but it's hard to get good fish in the midwest.

I wonder if it's possible that my old diet when I was heavy actually was better for my connective tissues? More fat and such? Nowadays I get about a 60/20/20 split of carb/protein/fat.

Hey Jessica,

Over the past 12 weeks I've averaged 88 grams protein per day (and that's on my modified Medifast, which is low calorie!).

I don't eat red meat every day--but I'd say I eat it 3 times a week. All I can tell you is that I don't do very well unless I have some red meat in my diet. I'm willing to have more fat in order to eat it.

My current split (percentages) is 31/36/30, carb/protein/fat. That's a bit more fat than the "real" Medifast would like, but as you can see, it's been working OK for me.

You could try increasing the red meat and compensating with less beans and tofu, and maybe chicken. And you could also try increasing the protein percentage and lowering the carbs? Just some random thoughts.

Jay

Being irritated right now doesn't mean I need a brownie. No no no no.

Good job linking your feelings to your desire for a brownie! Brownies don't solve problems.

No no no no, they don't.

Knowing the emotional cause of the desire to eat didn't do a thing to stop me when I discovered my AC not working right again at home. Now I just feel stupid and bloated and frustrated and irritated, instead of just frustrated and irritated.

I'm such an idiot.

Shannon, your AC kind of sounds like my sister's. Hers acts up every year and because it's a weird kind, there are very few people who know how to work on them. Some sort of geothermal system or something like that. I don't understand that technical stuff....

And, speaking of technical... I just downloaded Lion for my Mac and it does autocorrect on my spelling errors! And it adds nuances to words like the squiggle over the N on jalapeņo. Love it!!!!