Day #7: New Diet, Workout Regimen, and A New Place to Live

Working out is one of those things I really enjoy. Lifting weights, seeing marked improvement, generally making yourself stronger, that's one of my favorite things.

For the past few weeks, especially with work and class, I haven't been able to devote a great deal of time to it. I've been able to do the absolute minimum of benching, core, and leg exercises, but, that's not where I'd like to be. Although, to be fair, I do have a strained tricep, so maybe taking it easy isn't all that bad.

Now, I've always done weight lifting, but I've never made any changes to my diet to go along with my workout plan. Enter interstitial cystitis. Funnily enough, the same diet you need to see massive gains in the weight-room and lose inches of fat is nearly identical to the diet of a patient with moderate to severe interstitial cystitis. So for the next few months, it looks like I might get jacked. I'll start posting progress pics whenever I mention workouts, which may not be very often (I hate that word...it shouldn't have a 't' in it...I don't care what it's origins are!).

 My diet for almost the whole week can be summed up as follows:

• Chicken. Lots of it. Almost always skinless
• Rice
• Soy sauce for flavor
• Turkey, lettuce, cheese, mayo sandwich
• Apple juice
• Naked juice - Blue Machine
• Water
• The occasional dessert, be it peanut butter cookies or a small serving of ice cream
• Raisin Bran Crunch

There is a nutritional hole in my current diet (a distinct lack of veggies) that I am looking to fill, but the multi-vitamin listed below helps fill that hole somewhat. If you have any suggestions as to how to fill that, please comment and let me know.

Now, for the medicine. The insurance never came through on the Vesicare, so, I'm not taking it. And if the past few days have been any indication, I don't need to. Here's my current daily medication intake in total dosage:

• 300mg of Elmiron
• Ibuprofen as needed
• 10 mg of Montelukast Sodium (for asthma/allergies)
• 1 dose of Hair, Skin, and Nails multi-vitamin
• 150mg of Ranitidine  (also known as Zantac)

All but the last one should come as no surprise. The ranitidine I started taking after seeing several reports of success from various IC forum users. It is most often taken as a treatment for acid reflux and excessive heartburn, and seeing as how the same foods that cause heartburn also exacerbate IC, it seems like a logical decision. Honestly, up until I started taking that (about Wednesday) I was still in a great deal of pain, although that may be a combination of the medicine working and the diet changes.

Also, since Geoff and I can't find a rental property to suit our needs, I'm going to the bank Monday to see what kind of home loan I can get. Gonna buy a house. Maybe.

In short, I'm doing far better than I was a week ago.