Cari's online journal
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It's Saturday morning. It's been a rough couple of days. Went to see PA at surgeons office, my back incision is healing very nicely. I also have an incision like a c-section in the front of me. That incision is not "open" but not healing the way it should. I see the vascular surgeon who did the front incision on Monday to see what can be done. Please send good vibes. They're needed right now.
Food wise since Tuesday, I've done well. I am finding that one of my goals (getting a fruit/veggie in with each meal/snack) is very hard for me to do. SO I'm going to continue working on that goal next week.
I do have a new pain, it's in the back of my knees. According to the PA at the surgeon's office it's just from moving the organs, veins, nerves around from surgery. They've gotten inflamed and just need time to calm down. I'm allowed to ice the spots, but no anti-inflammatory meds.
I walk around the house as much as possible. I also do the steps as much as possible. I'm trying to help with laundry. Can't lift the laundry baskets, so I do make multiple trips to the basement with clothes. My Mom is having major surgery in 11 days, so I need to be as recouped as possible to help her out. I also called my nephew and let him know I may need some help around the house from him. No one in the house can lift anything right now. So help is definitely needed.
Off to start my Saturday!!! Hope everyone has a great day/weekend ahead!1 -
Lots and lots and lots of good vibes sent your way!!!
I would be okay on the fruit part but veggies...not so much. I could probably eat my weight daily in fruit but veggies...well not so much. haha I know you can do it! Keep working at it!
I hope the ice helps the new pain and that that pain subsides soon!
Yes, I would say get more back up people to help as well if you can. When no one can lift anything, the more people that can help the better.
I just realized that this post was from the other day, sorry I'm just now seeing it. I hope things are improving!0 -
I know this post is not weight related per se, but I needed to get these feelings out of me. You see, on Friday 07/15, my father woke up as usual, but when he was getting ready for the day ahead, he fell over his own 2 feet. This would not be such a huge deal, but to understand... I have to add, my father had open heart surgery 10/13/15 and broke a bone is his vertebrae about three weeks ago. My father has an LVAD and is in a neck brace. When he fell on Friday, he assured my mom and I that he was just fine. We wanted him to go to the ER then, he said NO. So.... as the day went on, he seemed ok, but than at night at about 10 pm he started asking my mom questions about when my deceased sister had appointments today. When my mom explained my sister was deceased, he seemed confused... She thought nothing of it, he has been slightly confused since his surgery in October. (you see on top of open heart surgery, they know that my father suffered a stroke during surgery-so confusion since happens quite often with him).......Around 1200am, my father unhooked himself from his LVAD machine (keeps his heart running correctly) and also started throwing up. We called 911 at this point. At 2am, he had a CT scan, determined that he has a major bleed in his brain. The Dr. was all ready to do surgery to relieve the pressure from the brain bleed, but told my mom that my father would never be the same. He had already had irreversible brain damage. My father as I knew him is gone. We turned off the ICD in his heart, removed the LVAD machine from his heart, and he is now on meds to keep him comfortable.
Immediately, I started a prayer circle with my Weight Watchers friends. Asking that everyone pray that my father passes peacefully and quickly. Today has been the absolute hardest day of my entire life. I watched the man I love more than life gasp for breath. According to the nurse, Dr. and NP, his breathing is normal for someone with his injury. As of this post, my father is resting comfortably, but he's hanging on as if he's waiting for someone. My mom, niece, nephew and I all were in together and said our goodbyes. My mom and I spent the remainder of the afternoon with him in the hospital. I've prayed, begged, all I want is peace for my dad, my mom and my family.
Hopefully, I can get some good new tomorrow. The news that my father is at peace. I hate seeing him suffer. I love my dad.0 -
I am so very sorry to hear this0
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Lots of prayers for you and your family.0
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@50extra and @tcunbeliever thank you so much for the kind words. My father passed at 11:20am. My mom and I were by his side.0
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I'm just seeing this post today, I'm glad your dad is at peace now. *LOTS & LOTS OF HUGS*0
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Thanks Kayla!!0
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You're welcome!
I thought about a poem I stumbled on a long time ago that I shared with my Mom and I was able to find it again.
http://www.familyfriendpoems.com/poem/do-not-stand-by-my-grave-and-weep1 -
Kayla, that's what we used for the back of my father's cards. Thank you for thinking of me.1
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@carimiller7391 *HUGS*0
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Thanks Kayla. I appreciate it,0
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Good evening everyone!!!! I'm not sure how to word this, so I am just throwing the idea out there, I've been doing WW seems like on and off forever. And while the results are decent, I went back hard after my surgery. I've gone from 300.2 (last recorded weight after surgery) to 277.0 (weight as of this past Sunday).........Sometimes I get tired of tracking, wish I could just eat less food and move more. Unfortunately this doesn't work for me. My bipolar meds make me gain weight, or at least make losing hard as hell. What is everyone else's strategy??0
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That's an amazing loss - way to go!!! Maybe that should be way to lose!!!
I've decided that I will have to track forever. I don't eat much in the way of meat, so I like tracking my protein just to make sure I'm getting enough every day/week. Tracking with MFP is pretty easy, I like the built in reports, and even from the phone app it's pretty easy to enter food. I'm usually terrible about tracking what I eat on vacation, but I'm going to try to track this time to see if I can keep up with it. I am a WW lifetime member, but they stopped coming to where I work and after a few months of having to drive to a place in the middle of lunch traffic I just quit attending. I don't even understand the new plans, but I liked the old one where I could calculate the points in my head and I made myself a beaded charm bracelet to keep track of how many I was eating each day. It was an easy plan to follow, and I think going to the meetings was helpful because I was always getting little tips on fitting in more exercise or wiggling more out of your points.1 -
@carimiller7391 My strategy is: I do flexible dieting. I eat the same foods I've always eaten, just less of them. I stay at or a little under my calorie goal. I put more emphasis on protein and fat as they are more satiating to me and use the ones given by MFP as minimums. I weigh all my solids in grams using my food scale and use measuring cups for liquids. I work out at least 4 times a week for 30 minutes (but it usually ends up being longer.) and I eat most of my exercise calories back but I take 25% off the calorie burns MFP gives me for everything except walking and my Wii (since I use the calorie burn it gives me.) and that's it.0
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Thank you Tiffany and Kayla for the words of wisdom. I did cancel my WW membership and decide to do MFP for awhile. I'm also doing some research on different plans out there and trying to take the best of all and develop what works best for me. CICO doesn't work well for me. My bipolar meds make me gain/retain weight and make losing weight very difficult.
I also think I need to take a mental health break after the passing of my dad. I knew he was on borrowed time after having a LVAD implanted in October 2015. He seemed fine till the new year and then he just became more and more depressed. When he passed July 17, I feel like my heart is just breaking and breaking. He was knocked out due to the severe brain bleed and although I KNOW he could hear and feel me... I did not get to tell him how much I loved him while he was awake.0 -
Finding something that is sustainable to you will work wonders. If your medicine causes you to retain water, I suggest doing progress pictures instead of relying on the scale since the scale is not the only measure of success especially given that it doesn't just weigh fat. Even just paying attention to how you feel can keep you motivated. I didn't mention up above but I also have been paying more attention to how I feel when I stick to my deficit or meet a certain goal I had for the day or for the week or whatever the case is and it motivates me to keep going because I want to keep that feeling of success and then once I've had a streak, I'm less likely to break it because I don't want to start over - at least that is what I'm noticing. This is just a thought, it may not work for you but it can't hurt to give it a try.
I can't even imagine losing a parent but your dad knew that you loved him. Parents always know, it's in the description of duties.
I'm sorry you're hurting and I'm here for you! HUGS!0 -
Kayla, the first book I tackled was the mayo clinic diet book. It says you need to break 5 really bad habits. These habits for me..... are all a part of living, so I put that book down.
The 5 habits were, NO TV-you can only watch the number of minutes or hours of TV that you spend exercising, also no TV while eating. No 2: no sugar, only what's naturally found in foods. NOW, I'm not a sugar-holic, but a sweet now and then is OK. No 3: no snack but fruits and veggies. I can understand that fruits/veggies are low cal, but they don't fill me up alone. No 4: Moderate meat and low fat dairy. Meat satisfies me, not veggies and fruits. No 5: No eating at restaurants. NOW, you tell me... how sustainable is never eating at a restaurant again.0 -
Wow, that's crazy to me.
- I understand the TV rule - minutes earned, and no distracted eating.
- If foods had the same sugars as they did historically, instead of how we've genetically modified them to have more fleshy bits, more sweetness, etc., I could see this being healthy, but my body reacts about the same way to a banana as it does to a Snickers bar... What does that tell you? http://www.dietdoctor.com/heres-what-fruits-and-vegetables-looked-like-before-we-domesticated-them (for anyone who needs confirmation of this...) And I agree...even for diabetics or other life-threatening diseases, a carefully planned treat now and again can help keep sanity!
- I can't eat just fruits and veggies for a snack. I could eat 500 grams of something - but without protein or fats, it wouldn't satiate me. That being said, when eating well, I generally don't eat or need snacks...
- Moderate meat, I get on board with that. You don't want to overdo it on protein - wears out the kidneys. But low fat dairy??? If it is a naturally occurring low fat, maybe. But any low fat or non fat dairy that is normally higher fat - like cheddar cheese or cream cheese, etc., those are chemically altered, essentially fake foods. Why would I want to stop eating a natural food like butter and eat a fake one like margarine or rancid/bleached oils? Why would I want to eat a cheese that isn't just cream, enzymes, and salt?? If it has more than an ingredient or so that I can't pronounce, why eat fake food??? I just cannot wrap my head around that one.
- No eating at restaurants? How about just educating yourself as to which restaurants add sugar and gluten and MSG to everything? Educating yourself of nutritional content and making educated choices? That's far more realistic than never eating out again!! And again, once in a while, getting to sit down to a treat meal out (like for one's birthday or anniversary, etc.) is something I feel we should all do...
I think educated choices - and research into realistic plans - is a far better option. Not to mention that it sounds like the Mayo Clinic is still 20-40 years behind on health research. I don't know anyone who really thinks that eating low-fat manufactured and chemically altered fake foods is a better choice than real, whole foods is healthy quantities... *sigh*0 -
@carimiller7391 Sounds like putting the book down was your best bet. (It wouldn't have been sustainable for me either.) I absolutely do not see my life without sweets or going to the restaurant or never sitting in front of the tv while I eat. I'm a multi-tasker and it kills two birds with one stone. I get to eat and watch my favorite show.
Some suggested reading:
The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg (Your library may have it.) I didn't finish the book completely but it was a good one, I just ran out of time with it and have had other things going on so I haven't gotten back to it yet.
The Fit Bottomed Girls Anti-Diet: 10-Minute Fixes to Get the Body You Want and a Life You'll Love by Jennipher Walters & Erin Whitehead (Also didn't finish this one and don't necessarily agree with everything I've read so far but I like their approach and think it may help you.)
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Thanks Kayla. I'll check them out next.1
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@carimiller7391 How are you doing Cari?0
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@WifiresGettingFit .. Hey Kayla, I'm living right now. Not good, not bad..... just going thru the motions. I up'd my anti-depressant the Friday that my dad went into the hospital. I was only supposed to stay on the higher dosage for 10 days max per my psychiatrist. Well, I don't listen very well as I am still on the higher dosage as all I feel like I do is cry. After my dad passed that Sunday, I had a huge decision to make. I decided instead of working on getting a place of my own and leaving my mom in a huge house all by herself, I would stay home with her. This puts a LOT of my life on hold, but I do not regret doing it.
I'm in physical therapy for my back. My back since surgery feels 100% better, now I need to just get the nerves and muscles working again. Because my back was in pain and I limped badly for so long, my left side is so TIGHT. ... I cannot even lift my left leg straight out in front of me without immense pain. BUT, PT is working as I feel it getting better daily. Also, I don't limp nearly as bad, normally only limp when my legs are tired.
My mom is having major surgery next Wednesday for 7 hernias that need to be repaired again. Both a general surgeon and a plastic surgeon are working on her. The general surgeon will put everything back in place while the plastic surgeon will use the heavy mesh to keep the hernias in place so they do not return and stick her up. She'll have 5 tubes coming out of her for drainage. Those hurt, I remember for myself.
Right now, I am also waiting for the Mediterranean diet books to come into my library so I can read some info about that. I really haven't been following anything, just eating less food.
Kayla, thank you for checking on me. I'm hoping that one of these days things get back to "normal" as normal as can be.1 -
@carimiller7391 I'm glad to hear from you. I'm sorry to hear things are rough but they will get better! It just takes time even though the pain never really goes away it will ease. I hope the surgery goes well with your Mom! I was glad to read that your back is feeling better and that PT is helping! I've heard good things about the Mediterranean diet and hope they get the books for you soon! Things will eventually go back to a somewhat normal, it'll just take time. Just keep moving forward as best you can and things will settle down eventually!0
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On the search for the perfect program for me, I've been doing some major reading (and head shaking as to how behind the times some of this info is). I obtained a book about the Mediterranean Diet. It makes total sense to me. All about eating from the perimeter of the store. NO processed foods. WHY though does this make sense, when it's what WW is doing also. Is it that I am use to old WW programs that did not feel like a diet to me. I have 6 more books on order about the mediterranean program. I'll keep you updated1
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Sounds like you're on the right track @carimiller7391 and even if you find that it isn't exactly perfect, it could be a guideline to get you on the track you want. I look forward to your next update!
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That does make total sense!!!0
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I'm working on some exercise type things in my calendar. Starting slow as I do not get fully released from the doctor till 09.14.16. September is looking very good so far.1
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@carimiller7391 Sounds like a good plan Cari! Glad September is looking good! 0
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Thanks @WifiresGettingFit0
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