Lurker noob de-cloaking

[Frankie]

Hi. My name's Frankie - and I'm a nerd.

I also have had fibromyalgia for the last 20 years. I'm a bit of a mess

I have to work as I'm a single mum (for 10 years now) with two teenage kids but work is making it worse. Kinda stuck.

Since going full time at a desk (2 years ago) my symptoms have really flared up and I'm on constant pain, mostly upper back and neck. All I do is work, and then go home and crash (most of the time on pain killers). I'm now 25kg over what I should be (I'm currently 87kg and 5' 8" tall) ..actually probably more as I'm an ectomorph (a fat ectormorph!!) and very fined boned with little muscle so to get down to a happy bodyfat % I'd really need to be in the high 50kg's (like I was in my 20's - I'm 46 now).

Yup, bit of a whiney story I know.

I am determined to be in great shape for my 50th birthday in a couple of years. I hope to lose the weight sooner than that (within the next few months) but getting on top of my fibromyalgia symptoms and trying to be pain free is the key. I want to lift heavy sh*t and do chin ups!

So, I've started the Whole30 to try and get my eating under control. Low carb paleo is how I would like to eat and have been cooking up a storm. Hoping the Whole30 will help identify some of the irritants in my diet. I know wheat is one, or it might be gluten, not sure, but always feel better off the grains. I'm crossing my fingers that dairy isn't out as I don't think I could go too long without it. But, we'll see in another 25 days as I start to re-introduce a few things.

I will try to post here regularly although blogging etc has taken a back seat lately to vegging out on the couch. Gotta change something...and soon!

I look forward to getting to meet you guys in due course.

Cheers

Frankie

[Book]

Welcome, Frankie. I'm sure you'll find a lot of support here. As you've probably seen already, it's a really great group of people.

Don't worry about sharing your story, we want to hear it, and help if we can.

As Callahan so wisely told us:

Shared pain is lessened; shared joy, increased.

[Frankie]

Thanks Book, I'm really looking forward to it

[Morrigainz]

Welcome! This is definitely a great place to be with so many supportive people! If you need sympathy, we will commiserate, if you need a wake-up call, you'll get a swift kick in the rear (speaking from personal experience - oof!), if you need advice, we will advise

Have you set out specific goals and a way to get there yet?

[Frankie]

Hi MirGSS !

Yes I do have some goals and ways to get there.

I started the Whole30 plan ie eliminating grains, dairy, legumes, sugars etc on Sunday. That's the first part of my plan, which is trying to reduce my pain enough to exercise. Exercising regularly will REALLY help my symptoms. So, finding out which foods are inflammatory is a start.

I'm hoping in the process that I will start to lose some weight. So my first goal is to reduce pain as much as possible, goal 2 - lose 5kg in these 30 days. I'll take one month at a time and re-assess.

Found out last night that my big boobs may be making my neck pain worse...it never even occured to me. Going to be fitted for a new bra tonight!! (ok is that TMI?)

haha

Cheers

[Morrigainz]

Ahhhhh bra fittings are the best! For the LONGEST time I wore bras that were 2 sizes too small >.> so I hear ya! That will be awesome. Or was awesome. Or something.

Let me know how the Whole30 thing goes...I might be interested in giving it a go sometime

[betsywhim]

Hi, Frankie - as a fellow single mom who's also wanting to hit my 50th birthday (later this year, in fact) in better shape than I've been in my adult life, well - I hear you! Good luck with the 30-day challenge & in identifying triggers that inflame the fibromyalgia.