07-09-09 – Updates

I didn’t do too well at my Weight Watchers weigh-in this week – I gained 3 pounds.  I know why, too.  I didn’t keep a log of what I was eating, and I ate a lot of junk food.  I volunteered to show my tracker log to our group leader next week, so hopefully that will give me the additional motivation I need.  I’m still down in weight overall since joining WW.  Not very much, but anything in the downward direction is good!

My father is in a rehab hospital right now, and he seems to be improving.  On the mental side, he is much more aware of his surroundings, and on the physical side, he is walking better.  The doctors say he shows definite signs of dementia, which of course doesn’t get any better, but for now he’s certainly better than he was when he went into the hospital.  We still don’t know what the next step is – whether it’s back home or off to another extended-care facility.  Hopefully, we’ll have some answers by early next week.  I’ll post another update then.

06-22-09 – Stressful week

It’s been a stressful week.  The first part of last week went fine, but the rest did not.  Thursday night, I called my father to let him know I was coming up for the weekend.  It was immediately apparent that something was wrong.  He was making no sense at all on the phone, and he was insistent that my oldest brother, who is special needs and lives with him, was at Johns Hopkins hospital.

I called his neighbors (they are both medical people), and he went over to the house and ended up going out to the ER, where my father was admitted.  He’s had a number of tests, but so far they’re not sure what happened.  They tried to do an MRI on Friday, but he wouldn’t lay still on the table.  So, late this afternoon, they tried it again, this time with anesthesia.  We still haven’t heard anything.  Hopefully, tomorrow we’ll have a better picture of what’s going on.  So far, he’s not really sure what’s going on, and is not sure where or when he is, although he knows he’s not at home.  He thinks my mother is still alive (she died four years ago).

As far as the weight loss plan goes, last week went fairly well until the weekend, and the weekend didn’t break down until Saturday night.  Then, I guess the stress got the best of me.  My brother and I went to a local diner for supper, and I pigged out.  I had eggplant parm, which came with a soup and salad bar, plus a side of linguini and garlic bread.  It probably wouldn’t have been too bad, except I ate the entire platter of eggplant and pasta, plus the garlic bread, plus the soup, plus the salad bar!  Sunday was a little better, but not by much.  Today, I stuck to plan.  My Weight Watchers weigh-in is Wednesday.  Hopefully, the weekend won’t cause a weight gain.  As long as I can hold even with a week like this, I’ll be satisfied.

06-16-09

Things have gone better the last week or so with Weight Watchers.  I went away this past weekend to visit some old friends.  I wasn’t very good about writing down my food intake, but I had saved up all my flex points for the weekend, so I think I came out in reasonably good shape.  I’ll find out tomorrow – my weekly WW meeting and weigh-in is at 12 PM!

I went out for a very brief walk tonight.  I’m still having a lot of back and leg pain, but it’s a little better than it was two weeks ago.  Hopefully it will continue to improve.  One day at a time, one day at a time.

My Phillies are doing very well so far this season, in spite of their lackluster starting pitching.  They’re 11 games over .500,  and they’re in first place by 4 games.  Hopefully their pitching will hold up.  Sally’s Yankees are also doing quite well, but those Red Sox are on a tear right now!

I hope everyone’s havnig a good week.

06-11-09

After I posted last night, I realized that my twenty-minute walk to my car after work wasn’t really that long.  I had forgotten that I stopped in the men’s room on my way out, so the stop was part of the time.  I timed myself again today (no rest room stop) and it took me ten minutes.  That’s still too long to take walking about one block, but it’s a lot better then twenty!

My back pain is a little better today – still not good, but better.  Hopefully, it will continue to improve.  I need to get up and move around a lot more.

I’m going to visit some old friends this weekend.  I’m sure I’ll be using all of my flex points and then some.  My friends live in one of the snack food capitals of Pennsylvania, Hanover.  I haven’t used any flex points yet this week, so I think I may be OK.

06-10-09 – Weight Watchers Update

I see that once again I’ve allowed this blog to languish.  I have to start forcing myself to write a little something each day.  I’ve written before that I stick to plan better when I’m updating regularly.  I hope that doesn’t sound too selfish; it means the blog is really for my own benefit.  Although, if you’re reading, I’m glad you’re here!

I’ve been on Weight Watchers for 3 weeks now.  Overall, things haven’t gone great, but I am down a total of 2.8 pounds according to today’s weigh-in.  That’s an average of almost a pound a week – not great but I’ll take anything I can get.  My biggest problem is the same problem I’ve always had – it’s the nighttime snacking.  I don’t really keep junk food on hand, but it’s too easy to stop at the cursed convenience store on the way home from work.  And, of course, anything I buy gets consumed the same night.

If I avoid the stop on the way home from work, I’m fine, because once I have supper, get my lunch together for the next day, and do the dishes, I’m too exhausted to think about a junk food run.  Tonight, for example, I successfully avoiding a stop on the way home, and my snack was a piece of seedless watermelon and two sugar-free frozen fruit bars – 2 points total!

I have to consciously push myself to not make those stops on the way home.  Other than that, my biggest problem right now is lack of exercise.  I’ve been having so much back, hip and leg pain lately that it’s a challenge just to move.

At work, the garage where I park is right across the street from the office, although from my desk I have to walk down to the end of our building, cross past another garage, then cross the street to the garage where I park.  I would say it’s the equivalent of about a block-and-a-half of walking.  Tonight, I left my desk at 6:10 PM.  When I got to my car, it was 6:30!  Twenty minutes to walk the equivalent of a block-and-a-half!!

I guess the only thing I can do is force myself to walk for just 2 or 3 minutes at a time, and gradually work my way back up to where I was before I gained back all the weight that I lost last year.  I’ll try to update again tomorrow.

05-19-09 – HYC Update

This past week has gone slightly better than previous weeks.  I didn’t lose any weight, but I feel a little bit better, and a little bit more energetic.  I’ll take anything positive.

I’m still trying to find my way back.  I’m not sure whether the decision I made to hold off on gastric bypass surgery was the right one or not, but for now, it’s on hold.  I’ve decided to join Weight Watchers, and tomorrow is my first meeting.  I’ve never attempted weight loss with any kind of organized group approach before.  It’s always been just me under the care of my doctor, so this will be something new for me.

I hope everyone’s having a good week!

05-12-09 – One Day

Today was one day.  One day out of seven days in a week.  One day out of 365 days in a year.  It was only one day.  But today, I stuck to the plan, and I made it all the way through.

Weight loss, as we all know, is a marathon, not a sprint.  Every day begins a new battle in the war, the daily battle we have to wage with ourselves against the demons doing battle with good consciences everywhere.

Today was only one day, but today I won the battle, and today is the only day I can control, so that’s good enough for today.  Tomorrow begins another brand new day, and another battle.

05-11-09 – HYC Update

I finally stepped on the scale today for the first time in about a month.  It wasn’t good.  Not only have I not lost any weight, I’ve actually gained 4 pounds!  I guess I should have stayed off the scale for another week.  I’m not sure where I go from here.  My efforts to stay on track are not going well.  I can’t gain any more weight or else I won’t fit into any of my clothes!

I have to get to the point where I stay on track.  I did lose weight and feel better when I was staying on track.  Lately, it’s been one good day, one bad day, one good day, two bad days, etc.  It’s been frustrating, to say the least.  Not to mention the fact that I feel like the proverbial beached whale!

On a lighter note, I spent the weekend visiting old friends Jackie and Jeff.  Jeff and I were roommates in college 20-some years ago, so we go back a ways.  That was the best part of this past week.

My brothers and I signed our father up for Visiting Angels, a Senior Home Care agency.  Someone will be coming in to help him out two afternoons a week, starting this week.  Hopefully, it will work out.

I hope all are well out there, and hope at least somebody made their goals for this past week.

05-06-09

Today was much better on the old back than yesterday.  I didn’t have any meetings today, so I was able to get up and move around at will throughout the day.

I’m going to step on the scale next Monday to see if I’m still in the same boat or if I’ve actually lost weight.  I’m hoping it will show a loss since the last time I weighed myself.  We’ll see.

My brothers and I are getting our father signed up with a home care agancy on Saturday.  They will come in two afternoons a week for four hours each time to help him with household chores like laundry, straightening up, grocery shopping and cooking, and also companionship.  Then, I’m going to visit my old friends Jackie and Jeff for the rest of the weekend.  I’m looking forward to getting away, even if it is just for two days.

The Phillies just lost to the NY Mets, 1-0.  Oh, well, they play again tomorrow night.

05-05-09 – How to kill your back

Today, I discovered a good way to completely kill your back, if you happen to have any kind of back issues.  This morning, I had a team meeting at work.  It lasted for about an hour, which wasn’t too bad.  We have a team meeting every week, and it always lasts an hour.  That was fine.  Then, this afternoon, we had an all-IT meeting in a large conference room with really disgusting, uncomfortable chairs.  I knew it was going to be grueling, and I kept trying to reposition myself and stretch my legs out.  Even so, my spine felt like it had been twisted into a pretzel by the end of the meeting.  Plus, there was an additional element of torture.  In the end, the meeting didn’t last two hours, it lasted three hours!!  By the time we got done, my back hurt so much that I was completely incapable of any form of comprehension whatsoever!

Those who know me may say that lack of comprehension is one of my problems, but today’s episode went beyond my normal scope of airheadedness.  All because we had to have a three-hour freaking meeting!

OK, sorry for the rant.  My back is feeling better now than it did 5 hours ago, so that’s a good thing.  And believe me, I’m ecstatic to be gainfully employed and making a decent living in this economy.  I just hope it’s a while before we have another THREE-HOUR MEETING!!!