Week 1 AIP

Hi Y'all!  I am officially on Day 7 of the Autoimmune Protocol.  And the best news is…I lived!  No, really.  Giving up coffee made me really contemplate if I could get through this.  I have drank coffee every morning since I was sixteen.  I LOVE coffee.  Hot, black, strong coffee, first thing in the morning, on my deck watching the sun come up.  Coffee has evolved into much more than a hot beverage to  me--it is my favorite time of day, and every sip brings back 1,000 memories of my favorite people.  Heck, I even have coffee-scented candles.  So giving up coffee for AIP (since it is a bean, you know) weighed heavy on my heart.  But after my most recent Hashi's spell lasted a never-ending four days, I knew it was time.  Time to stop procrastinating, time to stop contemplating, and time to START HEALING!



I have dabbled in Paleo lifestyle in the past, for a whole three months, actually.  And I enjoyed it and saw some physical and mental results.  BUT I have the willpower of a puppy and cannot stick to anything too long before I get bored.  So one non-Paleo item led to another, and last week I found myself miserable yet again.  Miserable with a migraine, sinus congestion, stomach pains, brain fog, you name it, I had it.  And that's where I arrived at AIP.  Actually, my husband had a little heart-to-heart with me and said, "You know it's time."  And I did.
So about my first week.  I'm not going to lie…the first three days were hard.  And a little of the fourth day was hard, too.  Days 1-3 I had a migraine so bad that it made me long to go back to the good (bad) ole days of Diet Coke and Goody's powders, but I managed to push through.  I could not even THINK of going to the gym to lift, and didn't dare leave my house to take a nice walk (even though the weather was perfect for it).  I think I left work early all three days.  The sofa was my command station, and I barely left it.  But by Day 4, I started to feel good.  Like, REALLY good.  The go-for-a-walk, break-into-a-jog kind of good.  I wasn't really having too hard of a time with the food changes.  I missed my morning coffee, which has since been replaced with hot tea, but I found myself satiated and content.  While my husband had ice cream, I had berries.  While he had coffee, I had hot tea.  And I am lucky in the fact that he has come to enjoy our lifestyle of eating only whole foods.  Otherwise, my willpower monster would rear its ugly head.
On Day 7, TODAY, I have noticed a significant change in the keratosis pilaris ("chicken skin") on the back of my arms; it is no longer surfaced and bumpy, but now faint and smooth.  The first three days, my weight dropped three pounds, but two pounds have reappeared.  I have decided to limit weighing until the end of each week, so I don't drive myself crazy.
So what about you?  What is your AIP story?  Any tips or tricks?