🦊 Starting Weight: 298.8lbs
🦋 Current Weight: 248.6lbs
🦄 This Week: -22.0lbs

I had a huge inflammation gain last week and started a 12 week plan to better identify and eliminate those reaction triggers.

I think for the first time in more than 5yrs, I may be on to something. Usually when I have an inflammatory gain, it takes 2-3 weeks to lose it. If it is a huge gain like last week (+21lbs) that often takes 4-6 weeks to lose it.

For the past six months I have been steadily gaining with one flare after another. It absolutely has been a combination of the weather and food reactivities.

I have known for a while about my Histamine Intolerance but what I didn’t know until this week is what kind of role Oxalates play in this. Oxalates are found naturally in many plants and it turns out that a lot of the things that I was eating (that are super healthy for you) are also extremely high in Oxalates and having an excess of oxalates can cause inflammation issues in people who are sensitive to it. I am finding more and more evidence that this is likely the case for me.

Normal recommended oxalate level are 200-500mg/day.

For someone who should be monitoring their oxalate levels, you want no more than 100mg in all of your foods combined in a day.

People who have trouble with kidney stones and are high risk – free recommendation is 20-50mg / day.

Spinach alone, which I eat very often, has 650mg of oxalate per cup. Other dark leafy greens like Chard and Beet Greens are 500-700mg per cup. Then things like Black Beans are 72mg per 1/2 cup… Things like potatoes and sweet potatoes which I was eating at least every other day are high in oxalates per ounce. Whole wheat and whole grain foods can be 3-10x as many oxalates as a standard white version of the same thing. And I always eat whole grain…. So if I had all of that in one day – I was literally crippling a body system that was already struggling but I thought I was eating healthy.

I’m learning a tremendous amount as I go and I’m hoping that at the end of this 12 weeks, I will have my customized food plan with all of the correct reactionary levels for myself personally.

I would love to see a general decrease in my weight as I go but the biggest thing for me right now is just to heal this past 6 months worth of Mass Cell destruction and get a better understanding of what I need to do specifically for me.

Having a medical condition of any type is never easy but taking the time out during your journey to actually work out what works specifically for you is so important. Heaven knows there is a ton of conflicting information available in books and on the web. You have to work out what is specific to you.

There are foods that I react to that other people have no problem with and then there are foods that are marked generally higher in reaction properties and people have said “oh you shouldn’t be eating that” but for me, I don’t have a reaction to.

There is a tremendous amount of information out there but until you break it down and test it for yourself, you’re only guessing what has worked for somebody else. This is going to be a wild 12-week ride with great learning potential, but it’s off to a fantastic start.

↙️ ONWARDS & DOWNWARDS ↘️

🏆 NEXT MINI GOAL: 223.8lbs [-75lbs]
🎯 NEXT MILESTONE GOALS: 223.8lbs [-75lbs]
🌏 NON SCALE GOAL: Fit in the Hoodie I bought for New Zealand

🎯 MILE MARKERS
Goal 1: 273.8lbs (-25lbs) 🏆
Goal 2: 248.8lbs (-50lbs) 🎖️
Goal 3: 223.8lbs (-75lbs)
Goal 4: 198.8lbs (-100lbs + Onderland!)
Goal 5: 173.8lbs (-125lbs )
Goal 6: 148.8lbs (-150lbs)
Plan: Currently tracking in ℹ️ iTrackBites on Calorie Command / 🍎 Whole Foods Focused Wellness

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If you aren’t familiar with my situation, basically I live with several autoimmune issues… an “inflammatory overstimulation response” brought on by my basic blood cells thinking they are Spartan Warriors and attacking everything in sight.

[Mast Cell Activation Syndrome or MCAS is my main issue but also fun things like Fibromyalgia, POTS, Histamine Intolerance, Insulin Resistance and on and on… ]

My weight fluctuations are not water weight, not sodium retention and the gains do not go away until the cells calm down and the actual muscle inflammation decreases. When a flare happens, everything swells – my eyes, my hands/feet, my actual muscle tissue and organs … I can, and do, put on up to 20lbs in a bad flare and this can take 3-4 weeks to lose again.

Foods, chemicals, weather changes, environmental elements… literally, sometimes just existing, fires them up. Some things I can control and otherwise it is a #justkeepswimming kinda life.

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📚 RESOURCES 📚
MAST CELL ACTIVATION SYNDROME
https://www.mastzellaktivierung.info/en/symptoms.html

FOOD LIST I WILL BE USING
https://www.mastzellaktivierung.info/downloads/foodlist/21_FoodList_EN_alphabetic_withCateg.pdf

HISTAMINE INTOLERANCE
https://www.healthline.com/health/histamine-intolerance

INSULIN RESISTANCE
https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/insulin-and-insulin-resistance

FIBROMYALGIA
https://www.healthline.com/health/fibromyalgia/signs-of-fibromyalgia

POTS
Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome
https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/16560-postural-orthostatic-tachycardia-syndrome-pots

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MY TOP 3 WORST INFLAMMATION TRIGGERS
These are not the same for everyone and in 90% of people they don’t trigger a reaction – but if you are constantly dealing with being bloated, headaches, muscle or joint pain or digestive distress – they may be worth considering as potential inflammation triggers.

ARTIFICIAL SWEETENERS
https://www.eatthis.com/artificial-sweeteners-side-effects

WHY “NATURAL FLAVORS” ARE A NO NO FOR ME
https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/natural-flavors#TOC_TITLE_HDR_7

CARRAGEENAN (Another big no no)
https://www.healthline.com/health/food-nutrition/carrageenan

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