I’ve realized that there is a specific type of blag reader out there — the “Title Reader” or the “Skimmer”. Not a problem — until the confusion begins. Title Readers read only the names of the blog entries and believe they have all the information contained within.  Skimmers, well, skim the entry and believe they too know all the information. This has caused some confusion between me and those types of people.

Title Readers and Skimmers all believe I am pregnant.

I am not pregnant. I do, however, have a GI condition that causes my tummy to expand in great amounts. This in turn creates the need for me to purchase maternity pants (or, as I have referred to them — my all time low). So I just want to say it clearly – I am not purchasing maternity pants because of maternity; I am purchasing maternity pants because I have GI problems.

Why do I have these GI problems that make my stomach blow up to the size of, well, a pregnant lady? It is not a food allergy or intolerance, as many of you have suggested. Food intolerances don’t have a specific start date. My problems do.

It is believed that after an infection that I had in August 2007, the antibodies that attacked the infection also attacked certain nerves and/or muscles crucial to the GI process. After the infection went away, nothing was the same  for me again. I seemed to simply stop functioning normally. And I felt awful. I gained weight immediately, stopped being able to eat normal meals and started feeling uncomfortable and sick all the time.

As I said, this is not because of any specific food or allergy — but certain foods do make my problems much worse. These foods are vegetables, fruits, whole grains, oats, bread, rice and anything high in fiber. I avoid these foods so I can feel as comfortable as possible. I also want to add that I have been under the care of doctors for this since November 30, 2007. I have had countless tests, procedures, treatments and doctor visits. We know what it isn’t. This is what we believe it is.

Please feel free to comment or contact me if you’d like to know more.

The 30 Day Shred Level 1 is NO LONGER on Exercise on Demand
I woke up today ready to get back into the Shred after oversleeping yesterday — and it was gone! As I mentioned, I haven’t figured out how to set up my DVD player at the boy’s. Once I discovered the Shred is free On Demand, I stopped trying. This morning, the Shred Level 1 was not there! And I didn’t have time to start playing with the DVD and TV settings, so I did Level 2 — which is still there. Uhhhh…. it was HARD. And because I didn’t know what eksusizes were coming next I couldn’t set up the living room properly to accomodate them, so I wasn’t able to do everything full out. But I never did any strength training before Level 1 and I only did Level 1 about 8 times. I simply was not ready for Level 2. Not that I couldn’t do it — I could. I just would prefer not to until I am more comfortable with Level 1. Also, Level 2 is LOUD – I fear my feet banging the floor with these plank jumping jacks and all would wake up sleeping people!

I must say – Plank JUMPING JACKS??!! Jillian Michaels, are you insane?

I can’t even imagine what Level 3 must be like.

Needless to say, tonight I will be working hard to try and set up the DVD player. If I still can’t, it is back to Level 2 tomorrow – but let’s really hope I can! I have attached the yellow wire from the DVD player to the cable box. Is there anything else I need to connect?? Help!

Lastly, in Bethenny’s Naturally Thin footsteps, look what arrived yesterday – ramekins! Now I can attempt to portion out ice cream and other treats should I decide I want them. More thoughts on Naturally Thin coming soon – I promise!

• 16 comments