Bill,

My condolences. I have been through a similar situation. Take care of yourself. You are not alone. Thoughts and prayers are with you.

-Bob

Thank you Don. I suspect you've come across similar situations in your line of work.

Bill,

My condolences on the passing of your father in such a tragic manner.

Don

I am checking in even though I can't weigh myself. I am away from my home. It has been a bad week. Very bad. My father died unexpectedly Friday morning, leaving me and my brother to find a way to care for our semi invalid mother. We were able to find a very small (10 residents counting Mom) personal care home close to their home. It is a bit more of a drive for me, but it is close enough that her friends will be able to continue visiting her easily. And they are already.

I guess this is where I should write "life happened", which is bariatric code for "I started eating bad food and not caring about my body because of stress".

Let me tell you about "life happening" and stress. Stress is finding your 83 year old father on the front porch of your childhood home dead by his own hand. Stress is having to climb over his body and tell your mother about it a few minutes later while police officers and EMTs are hovering over your shoulder. I am two days out from that now. Am I eating right? Not quite, but most of that is because I am not home. As near as I can tell, I am still within the 80/20 guidelines set down by my bariatric team.

Anyway, I am not posting this for sympathy. I am posting this to tell you **** happens, life sucks, and it is our choice how to respond. I will freely admit that I am sucking down his wine stash way more than I should at the end of the day as I sit here alone with my ghosts in the Civil War era house I grew up in. There are lots of them. But beyond that wine, they will not beat me.

I've already given away two cakes brought by the house by some of the ladies from their church. I still have four packages of bread, two packages of bagels, and a whole tray of stuffed shells to deal with, but I am giving them to my skinny brother. I will eat the meat and cheese they brought and stay on plan as much as a I can. I've worked too hard to screw it up now. And I can't see it getting much worse than this. I suppose it can, but right now I can't see it.

318.6, making progress, not as much as I should but better than I was.

Not as focused this week as I was to start the year. Playoff football and food is my immediate challenge. Working on self-awareness about relationships and stress. I'm 43, staring to see my parents move from old to elderly. Lost my grandmother last month and my other one is not far behind. Watching them move from elderly to hospice is hard.

I remembered that I weighed in at 301 at the end of Oct before going to see an old friend that I could wouldn't mind being more than a friend. Weighed in at 327 at the new year. Amazing how my avoidance of relationships can lead to stress/sabatage/weight gain.

Have a great week guys!