It should have dawned on me then, when I lost 22 pounds on Weight Watchers, that something was wrong. After I lost the weight, I started becoming cold all the time. And then, I started craving sugar.
A lacto-ovo vegetarian since 1980, I never used sugar, never ate sugar, never ate sweets of any kind. Suddenly, I "needed" dessert after every meal. I craved cheese, yogurt, potato chips and dessert -- preferably ice cream, but also chocolate bars. The only time previously I had needed chocolate bars was the first six months after I stopped drinking back in 1988. I didn't "crave" the candy, I needed to satisfy some other deep-down need for sugar that alcohol up until then was filling. The chocolate bar thing only lasted a little while, and I returned to my healthy eating style. Shortly thereafter, I began eating fish and sometimes chicken. I've been a semi-vegetarian ever since, although I eat too much cheese and dairy, and potato chips are my weakness.
But in 2000, when I lost all that weight, I was always cold and always craving sweets. I remember telling people about this because it was so against my nature. I was the one who could always turn down the candies, cookies and birthday cakes at work. I was the one who walked around in winter with just a big sweater and a couple of layers, never even owned a winter coat, in Massachusetts! Suddently it all changed, and I have to ask myself now, seven years later and in rehab from full-blown fibromyalgia and probably chronic fatigue syndrome too, if the reason more women than men get fibromyalgia (and CFS) is because we are constantly dieting. I was never a dieter before Weight Watchers. I was always "chunky" but never severely overweight. But my doctor told me I had to lose 25 pounds, and to start Weight Watchers. Doctors orders! I complied. And as soon as I lost the weight, I started to develop these symptoms, which I've found out only recently are part of fibromyalgia. Which came first, was fibromyalgia always lying dormant in my body, and the weight loss fueled it? Or did the weight loss cause the fibromyalgia? Experts don't know what causes fibromyalgia. I wonder if they've done any research on dieting.
At that time, I was also exercising, a lot. I walked Hobie up to eight miles a day, sometimes more. Two hours, twice a day was the general time frame. He was a young dog, and very full of himself, he needed to burn off the energy, and I needed to keep the weight off. I remember being achy afterwards, but not tired or in the kind of pain that surfaced shortly after those overseas trips in 2004.