Eva's journal

 Gaining back a little was annoying, but okay. But now' I hve gained back 4 kilos from my lowest and I keep gaining. I hae also gotten wider around the tummy, though not around the waist and bust. 
If I can't get this under control the next two weeks I will do a couple of weeks on the shakes again. 

 Yesterday I finally got down to the gym where I have had membership for almost trhee months. First Valeria, who I am going with got sick, then I went ot England and the Netherlands and has way too much work in between those trips, then I sprained my ankle badly, then Valeria got sick again. And I didn't want to go there on my own the first time.

But now I've ben there and can go again, though probably not today. The plan is to go at least twice a week.

Something has to be done, because I have started gaining weight and I am up almost three kilos (six pounds) from my lowest.(I now weigh 61.6 kilos)

I also cooked something with quorn for the first time yesterday.

In other news I'm not enjoying this part of menopause at all, getting so hot that it feel like you could fry things on me, followed by being really cold.

I have started on a pair of reasonably 16th century knit socks to give to Alfhild when I step down as baroness in a month, for all her service to me during our reign. I have also made a painted glass for Valeria, for the same reason.

 Today I'm going to the hospital to see the dietitian and make a DEXA scan, presumably to see if the diet and weight loss has had an adverse effect on my bone density .I am a bit nervous about the weigh-in, because lately there has been the medieval yule party, and me baking gingerbread and saffron buns - and you really can't avoid eating cookie dough, or warm saffron buns when doing that. And then Sunday, AND yesterday we made almond past candy, and I love almond paste, and yesterday I also made Knäck, Swedish christmas toffee.

Burt we'll see.

After that I have the last lecture before christmas.

 Since I'm part of a research project on weight loss and psoriatic arthritis I get to see a dietitian every month or so (don't remember the exact space between the appointments) where you get weighed on the hospital's more exact scales. My own scales show lower figures, so the official weigh-ins feel important to me, as a kind of confirmation that it's working, that I'm not gaining weight again.

Today's weight was 59,3 kgs (130.7 lb), which is 700 grams (a bit more than a pound) less than last weigh-in. That is still just a small variation, but the important thing is that I don't gain weight again. And that seems to be working, despite the fact that a busy work schedule gives less time for long walks, and a tendency to snack.

This means that I have now officially lost 39,2 kilos (86.4 pounds)  since Christmas, and I've kept my new weight, and even lost a little, since I got back on normal food again full time in the beginning of June.

During Double Wars Jonas Evertsson/Lord Edricus filius Offaeus took this photo of Mistress Helwig Ulfsdotter and all her apprentices, her former apprentices, now mistresses themselves, and their apprentices - the "grandchildren"





Mistress Helwig is the woman in the middle, she is my mistress, to the right of her are my "siblings", her other apprentices: the king and queen of Drachenwald, William and Isabetta, and viscountess Filippa. To the left of Helwig are first Mistress Tece de Kaxtone, the newest of the Laurels, and former apprentice to the woman next to her: Mistress Lia de Thornegge , Mistrsss Helwig's first apprentice. Lady Silva standing on the far left is Lia's apprentice. Sitting down it's me, and duchess Agnes Odygd, who just had become Mistress Tece's first apprentice.

Family!

Otherwise I have been very busy since I got home from Double Wars. Today I went to the hospital because of the research project about psoriatic arthritis. It took a couple of hours, but I also got a referral about the weird lump on the right side of my abdomen, which probably is a hernia, after when they had to cut open my belly three and a half years ago, a referral concerning the bunion on my left foot which makes it hard to find shoes, and an appointment to discuss the possiblity to start getting remicade injections in the autumn.
And I now weigh 64 kilos on the official scales, which means that I've lost 34 kilos since christmas.

Extremely efficient day.

In the evening we had taco dinner with my neighbour Anna and her son, and then I started sketching and painting on the collapsable chests I had intended to make for Double Wars, but didn't have the time to work on.

Tomorrow I'm taking Maja and her best friend to a medieval market som 40 kilometres north of Gothenburg. By tram, train and bus. Neighbour Anna and her son are also coming along.

So, I as away for three days on a conference (including travelling to it) and I ate badly. Well, not really badly, just not according to the plan I've been given. I had a sandwich one day when I shouldn't, and I ate the whole conference dinner except the dessert (which I just tasted one spoon of), and there were almost no vegetables/salad in that meal.


Still I couldn't have done too bad, because I at least continue to loose weight, but slower. This week I lost 6 hg, that is 1,3 pounds, so I now weigh 66,1 kilos (c. 146 pounds), and this morning I tried on my gothic fitted dresses from mid- late 90s and they fit!

So I go on eating breakfast and dinner (with half the plate veggies, raw or cooked) and two low calorie shakes, one for lunch, one before bed - it seems to be working.


And just as a reminder: I started out on 98 kilos/216 pounds

ETA: I checked and I remembered wrongly. Last week was 67,7 kgs, not 66,7, so apparently I keep loosing at a quick rate. It should be 1,6 kgs (a little over 3,5 pounds) in a week.

 Yesterday I had my first dinner since Christmas day. It was ca 150 grams chicken filet fried with garlic, lemon juice and various spices, 120 grams bulgur, cooked green peas, and lots of a salad made from spring onions, different varieties of lettuce, and toamtoes with a little olive oil and apple cider vinegar on it. Half the palate was salad and peas, so I followed the rules set down for me. And I still felt full 14 hours later - I had dinner at 5 pm and when I got up at 7 am I had to convince myself to eat breakfast.

I should have eaten a shake before going to bed, but I was so full I had to pass. 

I am continuing with this diet I've been since Boxing day and it is going very well, though I am getting very tired of shakes instead of food.

For almost five weeks now I have replaced the breakfast shake with real breakfast, though with strict guidelines for calorie content, and it has been wonderful. Mostly I have two pieces of crisp bread with one boiled egg, tomato and ruccola, and it's really yummy. And I keep losing weight - I started on 98,5 kilos, and now, I'm at c. 73 kilos. And I can wear almost all my old clothes. For some costumes, like my Flemish 16th century I need to lose quite a lot more though, but since I will be on a diet, though less severe, until August, and after that continue to watch my food intake for the rest of my life, I may eventually be able to fit into them again. Right now I think that I would even more like to fit into the green bliaut again.

Now I'm going to shorten two pairs of jeans for Rickard and than make waffle batter, because in Sweden today is waffle day.

I re-made it! I'd better not get that weight back again now :)

The lighting is wonky, since it's dark both outside and inside now.