Kristine, thanks for taking the time to post.
Yes, I usually weigh every day, or three. The scale dropped down from 179 at my highest on gluten or near daily gluten cheats, to 163-173 currently, depending on if I "cheat," when it comes to gluten, or stay on track.
For context, I was STRICTLY gluten free for 3 years, during which time my weight normalized to a healthy weight, in combination with paleo and lower carb than the SAD (standard American diet). I would do Periods of diet variations during this time, which helped the weight loss (Jack Kruse's leptin reset; AIP paleo; an attempt at near GAPS; IF, Carb cycling, Some HIGH PROTEIN, HIGH FAT, LOW CARB meals, etc.)
I have 3-4 years of damage to undo now, as I've "let myself go," for the past 3-4 years, but it only got really noticeable to me, in the past 2 years.
You are right, re: inflammation. When I was eating SUPER, SUPER clean on AIP Paleo for like 3 months, 6 years ago, I started noticing how random foods could produce an inflammatory or allergic response in me.. For example, if I'm honest with myself, coffee and chocolate both irritate my body a little bit.
I've read some on histamine intolerance, mast cell activation disorder, and electrolyte issues, and believe they all play a part.
I most definitely have to stay focused on staying hydrated. Unfortunately, regular water goes right thru me, so I have to either drink waters such as smart water, or spike my own, with a pinch of unrefined sea salt (you would think that would cause water retention, but in my case, just the opposite).
Yeah, I should have clarified that I know meals that show a scale drop, don't necessarily mean a fat loss drop. At any rate, I appreciate meals that don't cause me instant water weight/inflammation weight. It's usually somewhat of an indication of what is easily tolerated by most people.
I'm trying to find a simple quick meal routine that I can stick with, and that will produce results.
My biggest obstacles:
1) Grocery shopping on foot in the cold winter (up to 0.7 miles each way, depending on which store).
2) A job in nightlife that unfortunately does involve adult beverages at night (I *know* this is like the largest issue here, but I'm trying to implement changes around this one, for now, and keeping those beverages SF when it comes to mixers)
3) Sharing a kitchen with several house mates. It gets awkward at times, to the point that I avoid the kitchen, and cooking, especially at weird times when I get hunger attacks (after quiet hours at night, etc.)
4) I am often hungry ASAP for satisfying savory, carby food. If I'm not careful, I will order gluten comfort food for delivery. I did improve on that, by stocking gluten free convenience foods for those emergencies, such as canned soups and GF crackers, or GF bread for toast. Even this helped me to drop down from 179. But I mean, I need to get back down to 120, so at some point all the gluten free carby convenience foods will need to go.
I also eat too much cheese, cured salami, etc. It's like if I can't have satisfying carbs, I have to have creamy and cheesy flavors to satisfy me. Or else, I will just end up ordering carby comfort food for delivery. LOL
Thanks for your kind wishes.