Health Update - Month 20: For Looks vs. For Real Life

This month I had no new labs. My last labs were my annual checkup on October 1, which I shared in my Months 16–19 update.

And honestly, I am feeling the best.

Nothing big changed this month. I kept doing what has been working for me. But I did notice a few things — about my weight, my appetite, my training, and my stress. Most of them taught me the same lesson, in different ways:

I don't want to do things just for looks. I want what is natural, and what I can actually use in real life.

Contents

• Autoimmune & ITP Update
• Menstrual Cycle
• Sleep & Energy
• Diet & Lifestyle
• Body Weight & Composition
• Skin: The Mosquito Bites from Guatemala
• Strength: I Carried Two Gallons of Milk with One Hand
• What I Learned
  • 1. Heavier Weights Made My Appetite Grow
  • 2. I Gave Bras Another Try — It Lasted 5 Minutes
  • 3. Stress Shows Up as Water Weight
  • 4. Leg Extension Machines Are Unnatural
  • 5. Guys Have Skinny Legs, Women Have Big Thighs — It's the Hormones
• Next Steps

Autoimmune & ITP Update

No change, and I am thankful for that.

• Doptelet: same dosage, 20mg every 3 days
• Symptoms: none
• I am still watching my period each cycle to see where I am. That tells me more than anything else right now.

Last time I checked, on this same dosage, my platelets were 107k at my annual checkup.

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Menstrual Cycle

My period has been normal this month.

There was one thing I noticed: a blood clot toward the end of the bleeding. I am not sure why. Other than that, there was no excessive bleeding, which I am very grateful for.

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Sleep & Energy

My sleep has been consistently good this month.

There was only one day when my deep sleep was very little. I suspected I was sick that day. It was just that one day, and it stood out because the rest of the month my sleep was good.

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Diet & Lifestyle

My diet and lifestyle are still the same.

I eat whole, clean food. I still follow the fasting cycle from Fast Like a Girl, fasting and eating according to the phases of my cycle.

No new diet. No new rules. I just kept going — and I am feeling the best.

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Body Weight & Composition

This cycle, my weight trend was interesting.

My current cycle started on October 8. So far:

Min	Max	Avg	Range
119.0 lb	122.8 lb	120.8 lb	3.8 lb

From last cycle to this cycle, my average weight went up +0.63% (120.1 → 120.8 lb).

At first that looks like more than the clean lean gain range I talked about last time, 0.25% to 0.5% a month. But when I looked at when my weight was high, it made sense.

My highest weight was when I was traveling. I was in Guatemala from October 13 to 18. Around Day 7 to Day 9 of my cycle, my weight went up to 122.8 lb. That is not when my weight normally peaks — usually it peaks around Day 13 to 17. Traveling did it. Different food, different schedule, everything different. After I came home, it dropped back to around 120.9 lb.

Later, stress did it too. I noticed my stress increased since I started working with agents. I was holding tension in my body and I didn't even realize it. When I walked, I had to intentionally relax my body. After I did that, my body water dropped, and my weight dropped with it, to 119.9 lb by Day 23 to 24.

On Day 24, I was only 0.4 lb higher than Day 24 of my last cycle.

So this cycle taught me again: the number on the scale is not just fat or muscle. Travel can move it. Stress can move it. Water can move it.

My current cycle in HerWeigh: min 119.0 lb, max 122.8 lb, average 120.8 lb. The peak came early, while I was traveling in Guatemala.

Cycle ranges: high, low, and average for each cycle, from May to October.

Cycle-to-cycle change: +0.63% this cycle (120.1 → 120.8 lb) — most of that high end was travel and stress water, not fat.

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Skin: The Mosquito Bites from Guatemala

I loved every aspect of my trip to Guatemala — but the only thing I hate is the mosquito bites 😫

They have been itching for more than a week — and they are still itching!

My skin has been calm otherwise. This was not my skin being sensitive. This was just mosquitoes.

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Strength: I Carried Two Gallons of Milk with One Hand

I realized how buff I am: I carried two gallons of milk with one hand, EASY.

Two gallons of milk is about 17 lb. And I didn't just lift it once at the gym. I carried it, with one hand, in real life.

This is the kind of strength I want. Not strength for looks. Strength I can use.

It also made me feel good about how I train. I train with light weights, often, with good form, and I stop before my form breaks down. My arms are bigger, and now I can see the strength is real, in my daily life.

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What I Learned

1. Heavier Weights Made My Appetite Grow

This past month, my appetite grew a lot. I finally found the reason: I had started to use heavier weights when I trained.

I will keep light weights, and resist bigger weights.

Here are a few of my observations:

• Female heavy weightlifters are often muscular and fat.
• At my gym, the big, bulky women usually use heavier weights.

That is not how I want to look, and not how I want to feel. I want to be strong and toned, not bulky and hungry all the time.

And I don't need heavier weights. I carried two gallons of milk with one hand, easy. Light weights already work for me.

2. I Gave Bras Another Try — It Lasted 5 Minutes

I gave bras another try, but I took them off after 5 minutes!!!

Bras are unnatural. A shackle that women put on themselves for looks.

Last time I wrote about why I stopped wearing bras most of the time. I tried again, and my body answered very fast. Five minutes, and I was done.

3. Stress Shows Up as Water Weight

I didn't know I was holding so much stress in my body until I paid attention when I walked.

Since working with agents, my stress went up. There is always something running, something to check, something to decide.

When I intentionally relaxed my body while walking, my body water dropped. My weight dropped too.

Stress is not just in my mind. My body holds it, and I can see it in my weight.

4. Leg Extension Machines Are Unnatural

Unpopular opinion, but I'd die on this hill:

Leg extension machines cause unnatural leg motion. People do them only for looks, not usability, and they hurt the knees.

I'll never touch them. I tried one, and my knee hurt for 2 days.

That is not how legs move in real life. In real life we walk, we carry things, we go up and down. I want to train my legs for that — not for looks, at the cost of my knees.

5. Guys Have Skinny Legs, Women Have Big Thighs — It's the Hormones

In the gym, it always seems like a law: all the guys have skinny legs, while women have big thighs.

The sex hormones are the key.

Women's bodies are made to carry more in the thighs and arms. I wrote about this before, when I stopped wearing yoga pants. It is not something to be ashamed of, and it is not something I need to fix with a machine.

Men and women have different hormones, so our bodies look different and work different. That is natural.

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Next Steps

ITP & Medication

• Keep Doptelet at 20mg every 3 days
• Keep watching my period each cycle

Diet & Nutrition

• Keep eating whole, clean food
• Keep following the Fast Like a Girl fasting cycle

Fitness & Lifestyle

• Keep light weights, and resist bigger weights
• No leg extension machines
• Keep training the way that works for me: light, often, good form
• Remember to relax my body when I walk, especially when I am stressed
• Keep protecting my sleep