Alpha Nutrition Diet - Day 6

I have actually made it through six days of the Alpha Nutrition Program.  I may be feeling better but I'm not really sure.  Six days of ingesting only Alpha ENF, white rice, rice crackers, water and apple juice.  It's definitely getting harder to resist other foods.  Especially when I have to prepare meals for my daughter.  I went for a walk this morning and I felt a little stronger than usual.  I pushed myself to walk a little faster than normal and although I had to keep pushing the entire time, I was able to maintain a fairly decent (for me) pace.  I just hope I didn't push myself too hard and become useless for the next three days.  It has happened before.  In fact, the very first time I got really sick was the day after I had totally over-exerted myself.

Before I got sick, I used to walk about two miles a day up (and down) slopes with an average grade of 9.5%, which I think is pretty steep.  I would say I was in better shape than the average person but not an athlete by any means.  While I was pregnant with my daughter I wasn't able to exercise at all due to extreme fatigue - like, couldn't stand up long enough to take a shower, fatigue.  Because I wasn't exercising and I was eating the same or more than average, I gained weight.  I gained fifty pounds during my pregnancy!  Miraculously, when I left the hospital, thirty of those pounds had disappeared (ten of which was my beautiful daughter) but I still had twenty to go and I was determined to loose them. 

About two months after my daughter was born, I started to get my energy back.  It was very short-lived though.  I started exercising again, struggling up those same hills I used to walk with ease.  One day, determined to get out for a walk, I took my daughter in her stroller, since my husband was at work and walked up an even steeper hill than I usually do.  My muscles and lungs burned the whole time but I kept pushing that stroller higher and higher with thoughts of me in my pre-pregnancy jeans as a motivation.  I had clearly over-done it.  When I got to the top my face was bright red, I was covered with sweat and could hardly catch my breath.

The very next morning I woke up feeling like I had the flu.  My whole body ached, I felt like I had a fever (but didn't) and I could hardly get out of bed from weakness.  That was two years ago and those symptoms are still here and more have joined the repertoire along the way.  Although the severity of my illness has increased and decreased over the last two years, it has never gone away.  I have always thought, maybe that uphill climb while pushing the stroller had set something off, but I'll never really know.