I did well today and am in great shape for tomorrow. I am wondering if this is roughly my break even calorie limit. The scale isn't moving either direction and I am able to manage my calorie intake successfully.

I bought ketone test strips today and they indicate I am burning fat. Clearly not enough to get the scale to budge though.

On-track today and it was a little challenging. I am on the cusp of failure though. I really want the scale to start moving downward so I have been thinking about making big changes for the week starting tomorrow. My history with big changes is that it leads to big failures rather quickly. Of course, my history with small changes is it leads to teeny tiny successes that can be easily rolled back. Medium changes are in the middle.

I just don't know what to do with myself and me.

I'm not sure if I have mentioned this here or not. My eye color has changed. My eyes use to be a medium uniform brown. Now they are more of an amber color with a dark rich brown circle around the pupil. This has kind of weirded me out. It also affects how different color clothing looks on me.

Hmm...it seems to have worked. I don't think that I like that it was successful. As I have written before, I am battling pretty much chronic fatigue but I have not been diagnosed with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. The CFS specialist send me back to an endocrinologist because of my thyroid issues which starts the cycle of evaluation over again.

Anyway, sometimes if I am really tired but want to have a good skate session, I will occasionally drink about an ounce (about an eighth of a serving) of an energy drink. When I first started doing this, it made a huge difference in my skating. Interestingly, it included making me more flexible. The effect has been less for the last couple of months when I've tried it. Well, yesterday and today, I decided I would try something new and drink little bits during the day. It has made a difference.

Most notably, my weight on the scale this morning was the lowest of the week. Today is my weigh-in day and typically it is the highest weight of the week. My FBS and BP were slightly better. Also, I did my household chores yesterday and today. I've been letting the housework slide for a while. In fact last weekend, I rested all of Saturday (no walks, no rec center, no skating) in an effort to have more energy to do chores but it didn't help.

This is not something I can nor want to do on a regular basis despite the apparent short term benefit. I simply think it is not healthy. Hence, why I don't think that I like that it was successful. More information for the data bank though.

So over calorie wise today but only a bit. It was 165 calories and last week I was under by 180 calories. Does that balance out? Only the scale knows. It was okay this morning and I hope that it is okay tomorrow.

I was more tired today and it was possibly a result of my goofy experiment this weekend. I almost fell asleep at my desk which is different. Typically, I am really fatigued but not sleepy. If that make any sense.

Tomorrow will be a challenge but I have a plan to skate through. Diet wise and exercise wise- LOL.

Way over on calories today. And I was over a little bit yesterday. It seems this calorie drop was too much. I've only tried for two days and have gone over on both days. Plus, I haven't done any tracking this evening.

Bizarrely, I want to go get fast food a couple of hours after having a lovely home cooked meal. The urge was quite strong so I am proud of myself for holding my ground. Not so proud of giving myself permission to go way over my calorie allotment after realizing how hard it would be to stay on-track. I had some digestive track issues last night and I eat a little bit to calm everything down. Unfortunately, the few calories I ate was enough to throw my plan off.

I have a whole mini protocol that I have promised myself I would follow it. I did not, even after thinking about it. There must be a way through this.

Today was a rough day here. One of the cats was at the vet to get some teeth pulled. She was had enough trouble with them that I had taken her to an emergency vet just over a week ago. She had four teeth removed and is very unhappy. She is doing okay but we are having trouble finding a soft food she will eat.

One of dogs was at three vets today and his situation is much more serious. He is a sensitive boy and a finicky eater. There was a double whammy just over a week ago. My husband was out of town. This dog misses him so much that many times he will eat very little or stop eating when my husband is out of town. Also just before my husband left, we had to get a new flavor of dog food. They were out of this dog's favorite flavor. Typically when this happens, the dog refuses to eat for a day or so. This is what happened this time.

It did seem a bit more serious since it has been going on for a week. We chalked it up to the double whammy. So we started offering the dog his absolute favorite foods and he would eat a little. We also bought some expensive refrigerated dog food and that worked for about a day. Early this week we called the vet but they couldn't get him in until Friday. Yesterday, my husband called around and found a vet that had an appointment today. He took the dog in and the vet ran some blood test. After the results came back, the vet told my husband our dog was dying and needed to get to a specialist immediately!

Just too shocking for words! The next stop was our regular vet. They couldn't see our dog that moment but scheduled an appointment two hours later. At that appointment, the news from the second vet was the same. That vet called around to a specialist that could get our dog in right away. The third vet confirmed that the situation is indeed dire. Our sweet, intelligent, beautiful dog either has bone cancer, an autoimmune condition or some awful tick borne disease. He had to stay at the vet overnight and may need several transfusions. We are waiting for an update.

My poor dog is still at vet and should come home tomorrow. We still don't know exactly what is wrong with him.

Needless to say my program is off the rails right now.

My dog is back home and it is good to have him here. He is not eating well so we are offering him anything we can think of. So far his favorite seems to be braunschweiger. He is still very tired and lethargic. We are hoping he sleeps well tonight.

So my program is completely broken. I haven't even been keeping up with all of my exercise after being so consistent over three years. It took three days to fall apart. We will see if I can get back at it tomorrow. I have been overeating and not tracking the last few days also.

I did manage to put pen to paper to track calories tonight and the number is ugly.

My dog is doing better today and ate more. He was also closer to his old self and barked at things outside a few times. Hoping he continues to improve. The main issue is his red blood cell count is really low. After looking at old blood tests, it looks like he was always on the very low end of normal. In addition, it turns out fasting can lower RBC. He was essentially fasting because he wasn't eating enough. It is still likely something more serious is going on but we are hoping maybe it was just a confluence of events.

Went skating and to the rec center today but no walks. I am also tracking my calories. Trying to get back on-track.

Hope your dog continues to improve, Pipsicle. Its hard when our fur babies are sick.

Thanks Carol- He is doing okay and goes back to the vet on Tuesday. I have two fur babies with issues right now and they are both picky eaters. I have spent half the day getting them to eat.

This morning, I was thrilled with a normal fasting blood sugar. I felt pretty good yesterday which was disappointing. I started the day with pretty much the worst breakfast imaginable that was pretty much pure sugar. I felt great all day including having one of the best skating sessions I have had in a while. This is so frustrating. I can eat better for weeks and weeks and feel worse and worse. I run off the rails and I feel better. How do you beat that?

My dog seems to be doing okay. Back to the vet tomorrow and hoping he won't need another blood transfusion.

Was over on calories today. I thought I had a lot left but I didn't. The good news is I picked some healthier snacks this evening.

My dog is still doing okay. Good news- it seems to be autoimmune (treatable) and not cancer. We have some decision to make about his treatment. He ate well today after a slow start. The kitty is doing well.

During skating today, a little kid cut me off. My choice was to run into him or the boards. I chose the boards and my right pinky took the brunt of it. It was grotesquely bent and would not stay straight. After a little first aid at the rink, I headed to the urgent care next door. Unfortunately, that one was closed. I went to another one nearby. It is not broken but it is in a splint and will likely need to stay in the splint for at least four weeks.

Was on-track for today but tomorrow will be a challenge.

My dog is doing okay. It is still hard to get him to eat but he has been eating. My cat who had dental surgery is back to her regular kibble and is very happy about it.

My finger is very sore and throbbing today. I have ordered a better splint. My finger is not very stable in the one they gave me.

I think I did okay today but I am not sure if I wrote everything down. I will have to do better than my best tomorrow to stay on-track. I am hopefully I can do this.

Well I managed to stay on-plan and I am surprised. It was getting really tough but then I went skating until my new calorie window opened. I think I am in pretty in good shape for tomorrow.

My dog seems to be holding his own. I wish he would eat more.