Workin' My Way Back to You, Babe

[Guest guest]

Remember that old Four Seasons song? No? I guess you're all too young to

remember.

Now that we know what's happening with hubby's 91 year old aunt (She's

going home Saturday, even though every doctor and nurse who examined her

says she needs around the clock care), and hubby is back to work after

his so-called vacation, I'm slowly trying to get back to some semblance

of normal.

Last week's doctor visit - the only time we did something for ourselves

and not the aunt. The doc was impressed with the 22 pound loss, but said

I shouldn't eat so few calories (It was the 1000 that he *told* me to

eat!!), to eat at least 1700, like SparkPeople said to eat. I told him I

had my food logs to show him a month ago that showed I did just that,

and that I *gained* over 10 pounds eating that much. He has a choice - I

can continue to starve myself and maintain or lose, or eat 1200 cal or

more and gain. My husband chimed in saying I'm NOT going back to 1000

calories, that the past month I've been hell to live with, constantly

hungry, had a constant headache, and was generally not a nice person to

live with. The doc admitted he had no idea how to make me less fat at

this point, as 1000 calories is way too few for my health yet 1700, the

ideal calorie level, is too many as far as weight gain goes. Gee, doc,

I've been saying this to you for over 25 years! We left the office so

frustrated, but at least after getting a BP reading of 110/70 he

admitted it was a good thing I didn't take the BP pills he ordered the

last visit.

Not that the calorie non-recommendations mattered, as last week, with

all the running around for this aunt, I barely ate anything for

breakfast (Didn't want to eat before a 1 hour or longer car ride), we

had no time for lunch, and dinner was something grabbed on the fly, none

of it healthy. I gained back 7 of those pounds by Monday, and because

although hubby went back to work Monday, *I'm* still running around for

the aunt while she's in rehab, I'm still not eating or drinking the way

I should and gained 3 more since then for a total of 11 pounds back on

since the doctor visit. At least when the aunt goes home, whether she

allows visiting nurses and homemakers into her house or not, *we* get

back to our normal schedule and I can eat my three meals, drink all my

water, and get my regular exercise in.

Last week, no real exercise, just a lot of walking up and down hallways

and stairs in office and medical buildings. This week I started

exercising again, and I'm back to square one, not just because of the

lack of workouts for a bit over a week but the heat's affect on my

asthma. Even at 6am the living room is already over 80 degrees, and

there's no room in the bedroom for a decent workout.

Today is the first day I'm able to stay home since Sat. the 8th because

the aunt is having some evaluations done at the rehab. My morning was

non-stop, between exercise, housework, mending (both ours and the

aunt's), some meal prep (Salad! Glorious green salad!), and fine tuning

the dinner menu for the next few weeks. This afternoon is MINE, and I'll

catch up on some tv that was taped last week but has gone unwatched,

some reading (A week's worth of newspapers), and a well deserved nap.

Henry already knows what to do to start tonight's dinner and the time to

wake me to complete it.

List mail will have to wait a little bit longer, but I know and

are both around to handle things, so I'm not worried.

Welcome to all the newbies, congrats to everyone who has lost, and keep

the faith to all those whose scales aren't moving or going in the wrong

direction. Remember, dehydration can cause weight gains so drink that

water! I already had a half gallon today myself for the first time in

over a week, and believe me, it tastes SO good!

Sue in NJ