So far, gluten free is not so bad. It’s not easy, but it’s going fine. I’m not seeing any tummy related results yet, but it hasn’t even been a full week yet, so I’m happy to keep waiting for now.

I have lost the four pounds I gained recently, so that might be something.

Yesterday, however, I had two trip-ups.

#1 – hey, did you know onion straws have gluten? Yeah, I would have known too if I’d stopped to think about it, but I didn’t, and they ended up on my (lettuce for a bun) burger yesterday at lunch. I caught it about halfway through and pulled them off. Since I’m doing this for tummy reasons and haven’t seen improvement there yet, I don’t think I undid anything… but it did remind me how easy it is to “accidentally” eat gluten. Lesson learned: be more careful.

#2 – going gluten free has definitely left me with a slight sense of… lacking? missing out? Something like that. As such, I tend to get pretty excited when I find something I love that is gluten free, especially when it’s not a modification but just that the ingredients already are that way. Yesterday I realized that my favorite cookies in the entire world are gluten free. No Bake Cookies. I know oats are on the edge of what is/isn’t gluten free, but I’m choosing to count them as safe. I made the cookies, and immediately fell into the thinking that they were “allowed”, which led to me eating… six? seven? I went to bed feeling frustrated and gross, and getting up for the gym this morning was less than fun. Lesson learned: gluten free does not mean free-for-all.

That being said, HEY! I went back to the gym this morning! I didn’t feel awesome, and I didn’t rock out with a super hard workout. In fact, I intentionally kept it easier and a little freeform. I did five minutes each of 3mph, 4mph, 5mph, 4mph, 3mph. I did curls, crunches, pushups, shoulder lifts, and tricep dips. I’m super glad I went, and facing my gym friends after THREE WEEKS off was not nearly as hard as I thought. They were all just glad to see me again. Lesson learned: people want you to succeed and will applaud you for trying. No one expects perfection (except yourself).