DAMN IT.

My workouts for the past 2 months or so have basically sucked. Workouts I used to be challenged by, or super challenged by but capable of doing, are practically killing me. And no matter how often I do them, there's no improvement, no strength gains, everything's as hard as if I just started working out.

I haven't been able to do a straight-leg push-up in all this time, and bringing my chest to the floor with my knees on the floor is now the perfect challenge, which I do to exhaustion, within 30 seconds each set.

I've been eating rice at dinner, both because the dishes aren't close to filling enough (protein, particularly in the form of meat, is too expensive to the owner, so used very sparingly), and because I know from previous programs that I need carbs to get through my workouts, but it hasn't ultimately been helping

Today was a 10 minute HIIT workout, with a guy who usually does stuff that's too easy for me: when I was in Chicago, I'd have to do 2 of them in a row, increasing the work time and decreasing the rest time, just to feel it. Today 1 workout (though I still increased the work time) was at the perfect level. That was followed by a 12 minute upper body tabata workout, 20 seconds work, 10 secs rest, 4 rounds of 3 sets of exercises. Whereas I used to be able to hold 1/2way down in a push-up for 60-90 seconds, I can just make it to the 20 second mark for 2 rounds, today being the first time I could hold out for that long without dropping my knees.

It is true that the last time I went in to get my levels checked, I was supposed to call back to see if the increased dosage of thyroid meds was sufficient. I forgot for at least a month, and when I finally remembered, naturally, the English speaking doctor can only be reached through a Korean-only speaking staff, and they didn't seem to understand when I asked for Dr. Park. So there IS a chance I still need another bump in my meds. Plus the anxiety gradually wore off. (But then, I also got away from that hellish job.)

But the other, and at this point I'm going to go with more likely cause, is that I'm losing muscle building ability and energy due to this awesome part of hypothyroidism, where your thyroid levels are where they're supposed to be, but you're dealing with any of the myriad, really pretty shitty, side effects of it. Some people lose hair, some have brain fog, some people feel sedated, some people have headaches and soreness, some have stomach problems... the list goes on and on. People reported improvements in their conditions from the Autoimmune Paleo Protocol. Prior to my leaving for Chile, I was going to try APP, a diet that is really as bad as the symptoms you can feel. I decided since I didn't feel like shit as others did, I would take on the elimination diet once I too started having issues, but NOT before.

And it occurred to me today as I frustratingly struggled through knee push-ups for the 6th week in a row and needed a minute break between each set change, that this may be my version of feeling-shitty-because-why-not. It may be time to eliminate wheat, see how that works, then dairy, because those are the 2 biggest issues for people with autoimmune, then go from there. It occurred to me as well to cut out the rice and grains again, but fruit alone isn't remotely enough carbs (or at least, I haven't found them to provide them).

So, I have the unmitigated pleasure of trying this elimination shit here in Korea. You would naturally think this would be easy, since dairy isn't part of the diet usually, and wheat isn't that common either. Well, it WASN'T, but deep fried everything is as popular here as ever. So there's that.

Anyway, it all comes down to hating I have to do without this stuff. Especially when brunch is still a thing I do here... and we're going to the Original Pancake House on Sunday. But hey, if it's going to make push-ups more possible, it's almost worth it. Almost.