Second chance...

I know even when I was more a part of this group, I was never a consistent "regular." I really struggled with dieting results, and couldn't quite put my finger on it. I could do really well and suddenly gain 10 pounds, and do poorly, I mean really POORLY, then lose 10 - almost overnight. Turns out I was really sick with an autoimmune disease. It finally came to a head last summer when I broke out in a painful rash from head to toe, then began to experience arthritic pain. This time last year I could not walk and it could take almost 2 hours to pull myself up to a sitting position. It was determined that I have psoriatic arthritis, an inflammatory autoimmune disease that attacks connective tissue like joints, tendons and the skin. After a strong dose of prednisone, I was moving and walking again. I just weened off of the prednisone in the last couple of weeks and hope that the weight will come off easier now. In November I started taking weekly doses of a chemotherapy drug to suppress my immune system and it's been working very well. I'll likely continue these treatments for the rest of my life.

My skin is clear and I only suffer a managable amount of joint and tendon pain - unless I push myself too far. Many foods make my condition worse, so I am working hard to watch what I eat. Losing weight should also help relieve the workload on my joints and tendons. My starting weight is 197.5, as of today. My goals are to continue watching what I eat and walking daily while increasing distance. Keeping it simple. :)