And on the Eighth Day ...

 

One week on the books. 

Here was the starting point on 8/5: 

Here is today: 

The other measurements didn't change, so not listed for today. 

Blood sugar look like this, as of 8/11: 

I tend to check it right before first ingestion of foods, so that'll happen later this morning. 

Let's get into it. 

Side effects: 

* Belchiness - significantly subsided after the first couple days. 

* Toilet News - NORMAL movements are a rarity for me, so all I can surmise is that things went from       nearly free-flowing to somewhat quasi-just-below normal. No crampiness, no emergency situations,         just adjusting. 

* Headaches? Maybe - but I can't determine if those were from the Tirz or from the lack of Estradiol           because my last dose was last Wednesday, and there seems to be a nationwide shortage, so I am               currently back to probably close to zero on that front. It was the lowest dose, anyway, so I am not all       too concerned. Just want to find a mode that will be readily available and yet not hasten my                     unsubscription from breathing. I digress. 

* Fatigue? No. Nothing abnormal. Starting the HRT caused more of that than this. 

* Sleep issues? Also no. 

All in all, I would call it a pretty decent first round. 

I'm happy for the loss, but not going to wig out and obsess. I am weighing once a day, right when I get up, and that is it. 

What did I eat? Nothing too out of the normal. I daresay I did eat much less in the first few days than the last. 

I got Factor meals (holler if you want a free box - I have a few of those to hand out) yesterday, so I had my first one for lunch. I ate all of the chicken and risotto, and about half of the green beans. That was probably the biggest meal I've had all week. 

We got Red Lobster carryout the other day. I had about 2/3 of my salmon, a few bites of rice, probably five Brussels sprouts halves, one very disgusting hush puppy, and one bite of the worst Cheddar Bay biscuit I've ever consumed. It was devoid of that lovely buttery crispy garlicky joy that used to exist. It was a dry, crumbly, unchewable mound of dough gum. Yuck. I guess that's not necessarily a bad thing, though. 

A few times this week, I had some Philly Cheesestead snausages, and some of that Birdseye Garlic Cauliflower Mash with a bit of butter. 

I think I've had one salad this week. 

I have a higher-protein smoothie in the morning - almond milk, Greek yogurt (0% fat), peanut butter, cocoa, chocolate low-carb protein powder, and a sprinkle or three of cocoa powder for extra chocolate. I started the week making a full sized probably 24-29 oz glass, and now I would say I have cut it back to probably 16-18 oz because I noticed that the full version was making me feel uncomfortably bloaty. Eww. 

I eat an actual meal at lunch. A small one, but it's my chance to get in real protein and maybe a gram or two of fiber. 

I have another smoothie at dinner. Not on purpose, but just because I seem to have less appetite in the evenings, especially when it's super hot out here in the desert. I think twice during the week, I ate a meal at both sittings. 

I'm going to guess that it's removed some of my obsessions with particular foods of the snacking varietal. I had zero bites of anything between meals until last night, when I had a few pinches of mozzarella cheese an hour before bed. 

The biggest thing I have noticed is that I am actually starting to FEEL hunger, like the real hunger, not just oh, let me shove some food in my mouth because I'm bored. It's been a hot year since I've felt that. And it mostly occurs in the morning and before lunch. After that, it's not there. 

Oh, and I have not begun any sort of formal exercise yet, either. I wanted to see what my digestive system was going to do. It seems I'm mostly safe as long as I have not yet consumed any food, so I think very early mornings will be my time, that or mid-afternoon before dinner. 

It's just too soon to deduce anything else. It's been one week. 

I take my next shot at 8:30am. Then I can start to develop a pattern of when the side effects are worse, if I will be able to tell when it's time for the next shot, etc. 

I'm doing my damnedest to NOT overthink this. It's a long game.