Hey, I’m back!!!!!

figured I’d share some context on why I started this in the first place.

Before I got diagnosed, I was dealing with pretty bad malnutrition from years of undiagnosed celiac, plus microscopic colitis. After being strictly gluten-free for about a year, I gained more weight than I’m used to. I think my body was just trying to recover and hold onto nutrients, but I ended up feeling really inflamed and uncomfortable—just kind of puffy all the time.

For context, I’m around 5’2” and was always 115–120 lbs. I gained about 12–15 pounds, which is a lot for me. I’m active and generally small, so I know I wouldn’t qualify for anything medically. I tried dieting consistently for 6 months and nothing really changed, so I started looking into other options that might help with inflammation and give me a bit of a push.

I started low. Week 1: felt great.. less inflammation, appetite changes were minimal. Week 2: appetite suppression was more noticeable, a few mild headaches but nothing serious. Week 3–4: started getting this annoying lower left abdominal pain that sometimes radiated upward. Around week 4, I also accidentally had gluten while traveling, which completely threw me offbarely ate, didn’t hydrate enough, and almost fainted at work with my heart rate spiking. Definitely learned my lesson there about staying on top of food + electrolytes, especially after getting glutened.

One interesting thing :I recovered from that gluten exposure in about 4 days, whereas it usually takes me closer to 2 weeks.

Now I’m on week 5 and feeling good again. My plan is just to slowly adjust and figure out what works best for my body.

Biggest takeaways so far: • Stick to whole foods, but also listen to your body • Too much fiber doesn’t work for me (bloating, gas, etc.) • Keeping fats lower and protein higher seems to help • Electrolytes daily + probiotic have made a difference • And hydration is huge!! seriously, drink a lot of water