Day 9 First Check-in

[pghtri]

Hi! Doing my first check-in here on the forum. Successfully on Day 9 at the moment, and pretty proud I've gotten this far. I've tried the Master Cleanse twice and the Nutritarian Diet (Eat to Live, Joel Furhman) once, and both were failures within days. I'm relieved to have committed myself to 9 days of successful Paleo!

Background:

• 32 years old, 6'1", 168lb, triathlete and workout (swim, bike, run) about 5 days a week.
  
• Diagnosed with Celiac in April of 2012, have been gluten-free since August of 2012.
  
• Chronic low back/hip/glute pain for 2.5 years. Several MRI's have indicated slow healing of a bulging disc, but no other structural issues that would explain the constant pain. Doctors have now sourced the pain to an inflammatory response Currently on no medication as of October after years of pain meds/anti-imflammatories.
  
• Migraine headaches about once a month
  

This first week + has been a rollercoaster, mostly bad. I thought being gluten free would make this transition easier. I don't eat any form of bread, so I felt like I was starting at a lower carb level than most. I was wrong. Going without sugar or simple carbs like rice flour for 9 days has been a HUGE adjustment. Cravings last week were strong, but much better now. My energy levels just haven't bounced like I thought they would by now. I've been antisocial and lethargic (mentally and physically). I've had little or no energy to workout, and when I do, I can only do about half of what I'm accustomed to.

Day 3 and 4 I slept better than I have in years. I fell asleep quickly and didn't stir until my alarm went off. Not so now. Falling and staying asleep has been a challenge days 5-9. I've added Magnesium to the mix to help me sleep. Tough to say if it helped last night because I got a migraine.

I think the most discouraging thing has been the persistence of my back pain. It just doesn't seem to be any better, and inflammation does seem to be the cause of it (and other chronic pain/injuries like patellar tendonitis).

Am I evaluating too soon? So far I've seen little to no benefit from this diet, but I'm committed to finishing it regardless of my experience until Day 30. I would love to hear about similar experiences from other people. Thanks!

Ben

[Renee Lee]

Yep, you're evaluating too soon! If it always took 10 days for folks, we wouldn't make you drag it out for 30

Especially where you're coming into this with celiac, you definitely have to give it more time. You've already seen improvements with sleep quality, which is great...the other stuff may take more time.

How's your Vitamin D level?

[Kaleena]

I was surprised by how much the first week affected me too! I'm still not feeling quite right and I'm on day 13.

Low back pain, especially a herniated disc, might take a while!

[B1121]

I came from a mostly grain free, lowish carb diet and the first week knocked me around bad.

Only started to sleep better at the end of it. No energy yet.

Oh, and my knee is as sore as ever.

Glad to hear you are committed to the 30 days.

Fear not. You will get better :-)

I read so many testimonials where people kept getting better and better being 4 to 6 weeks into it.

Not everything will disappear over night!

Also make sure that you are getting enough fat and carbs for your activity level. When I plugged my food intake of a day into Cronometer just out of curiosity I was stunned to see how few calories I was actually taking in.