Monday, August 6, 2018

Weight 120, calories 801. We went out to dinner but I ate "smart". I want to continue all week (well, and beyond). 120 is a little scary.

Today is an Alzheimer's Support meeting where the caretakers are separate from those afflicted. DH was super foggy yesterday and has been a lot more often lately. It is a little disheartening. He has been sleeping even more now (13-14 hours). They say that eventually his sleep/wake cycles will get all confused and he will be up and down all day. Not looking forward to that as my patience works best when I am rested. I also have to tell him what to wear and remind him to shower and shave a lot more often. But at least he can do it himself right now. Again, not looking forward to the days when he can't.

It is already 80 at 8:30 am and the air is like pea soup. It is going to be yet another scorcher!

Have a mostly cool Monday!

Good morning!

Liz, while you might be a bit above your favorite numbers, I am in awe of your ability to navigate social eating on the regular. I'm a lot better at that than I used to be, but it isn't nearly as often as you. I am sorry about DH's progression.

My DH learned on recent endoscopy that he has Barrett's esophagus which isn't much of a problem on its own but it does mean that he has a slightly increased risk of developing esophageal cancer.

There is a 100% chance of this pushing his pre-exisiting anxiety that he might get cancer into hyperdrive. (His mom had 3 separate primary cancers over her lifetime.) He sees his GI doc soon so hopefully that will help. Honestly, I have concerns, too. He has had endoscopies in the past and this is a new finding.

My body felt super hungry this morning despite ample food yesterday. Over the weekend, I hiked a total of 23 miles and gained about 6600 ft elevation. I ate a bit more yogurt than usual for breakfast and currently feel gross. Feeling gross with overeating is good....but I am sure that if I had grazed (as I am want to do) that I could have managed those extra calories easily.

While not my traditional head hunger, I do think it is some sort of faux hunger. I know that as activity increases, I feel more hungry. But if I eat more, I gain weight which is not muscle or water. (My clothes tell me this.)

I'm going to start tracking so I could better keep a handle on food choices. I've got tools, might as well use them.

Stay cool, all! Shel

Sorry about the Barrett's diagnosis and rising cancer fears. Hopefully DH can be helped to understand that knowing about it, treating it and watching it can reduce the risk of it developing into cancer?

DH is pretty fatalistic...."nothing helps, no matter what, so why bother" type of thinking which greatly increased as he took on management responsibilities for his parents. I am sure he is depressed.

It will be interesting to hear what he takes out the appt with the specialist. This is the only doctor he likes so that's a good thing.

If the doctor tells him to take a pill he will be happy to do that. However, he is very resistant to any sort of lifestyle change.

His doctor told him to cut out dairy to see if that helped his extreme IBS symptoms and he stopped ice cream but is eating a different frozen bar whose first ingredient is skim milk. I bought the same type of frozen bar that is dairy free and it just sits there, he won't touch it. In the meantime, he complains that cutting out dairy didn't help. It is nonsensical to my brain.

Barretts doesn't have a great treatment available.....just a few strategies that sway odds. But having barretts doesn't mean that one will (for sure) get cancer.

No weight this morning.

A/C installation continues today. At least it's all happening under me in the basement. It looks like it wants to rain, but it's all just a few miles below me. Bummer. I love a good thunderstorm! Fergus has a bug of some sort so I've had some nasty cleanups this morning. Yuck. Poor baby.

I never made it to the grocery store yesterday so that's today. Shel, normally I do try to get out and enjoy the outdoors here in MI. But it feels like I haven't been here on my own enough to get into a rhythm this year. First the aunt, then off to Canada. Now that I'm back I need to get into a routine and get out and about. There are nature preserves here that are very pretty, Sleeping Bear Dunes National Park, Huron-Manistee National Forest with gorgeous river trails. The latter is the closest to me, but I am a little wary of going out there on my own as it seems lightly used and being alone in the woods is a bit scary. I get visions of Deliverance. Plus there are bears out there. So mostly I stick to walking the beach and on the roads around us. And we have an exercise room in the barn with a treadmill if the weather is bad.

I should go tackle the day. Hope you all have good ones!

It's Monday...

It's going to be a HOT and humid day...I'm going out soon to work in the pot garden. I'm also going to venture out to the CBD oil store to ask questions and maybe make a purchase. I need relief! My parents are also coming today for a short visit before a docotor's appointment. That's about my day...

My weight has not moved which means I need to cut back some more. Weekends are hard...

Liz, hope you find some peace and comfort at your meeting today. This is not an easy path for you or your DH.

CBD oil has helped me. First thing I noticed was better sleep. It does reduce my pain some. And for me reducing anxiety too. I started out slow and increased the dose. They make an isolate oil that has absolutely 0 thc. I am a pain management patient so I have to test clear. Hope it is good for you too.

I've noticed that I am sleeping better, too. No Benedryl the last couple of days. Can I ask what brand you use? I'm using Green Roads. I'm hoping this helps with pain management and anxiety as well. I'm not noticing a remarkable difference yet but will increase my dose. Thanks for your input!

We have tried a couple of brands. They are multi level marketing models. Both seem to be good products. One was hempworks and the other we decided to sign up as sellers so we could get the discounts because BIL was selling it too. http://arcbdnow.myctfocbd.com I do not know how pricing compares. There is full spectrum that has an almost undetectable amount of thc and an isolate that has no thc. The full spectrum is what I use now. I am getting more sleep benefits and anxiety benefits than pain relief.

Liz-yuck description but spot-on. Going to be hot here too.

Shel-you remind me that I need to go ahead and get that endoscopy. I'm pretty sure my heartburn is due to vsg and is controlled with meds, but better be sure. Plus we already met our deductible (from having baby!). Hope everything goes okay with DH.

Weight: 168.8. If that doesn't shock me out of my complacency. Well, I hope it does! Yowzers.

I've actually felt pretty restricted on my sleeve, and therefore eating less, so I'm a little shocked. But over all I know I've been very lax on choices as well as portions. The reality is that if I don't do something, I probably won't even maintain this undesirable weight. Plus, as we get into fall and winter, I tend to gain weight if anything.

I was watching a vlog last night and it was unrelated to weightloss, rather talking about habits of successful people, waking up early, etc. The commentator said she had always thought it was a matter of self discipline and that she apparently lacked that self discipline. But in a book she'd been reading called "The One thing' it suggested that successful people aren't more disciplined: they just use the discipline they have smarter. Successful people create good habits so they don't have to be disciplined. She was talking about how much more manageable that idea makes things. Commit to doing something hard for 2 months, laying the groundwork, and it'll be autopilot after that. I also think of hthis in terms of my sleep training/ food training theories. Just because something is hard now doesn't mean we can't adapt and it'll be far easier later. Hopefully!

Toward that end, I'm making egg bites in the instantpot, vowing to do better.

Had a good weekend otherwise. DH and I picked up a pizza (I only ate one piece!) Friday night and watched a movie at home. Saturday I attended a baby shower and didn't even have cake! It was in a beautiful home. I'm so jealous! Then we had company over for dinner. I grilled salmon on a cedar plank and they brought sides and I had a fresh cherry almond upside down cake for dessert. Becca was good until it was time for her to go to bed justs as we were starting dinner. We put her down drowsy, as all the books say to do (so she learns how to put herself to sleep and doesn't depend on us for that). I have NEVER heard her make a blood curdling scream like that before. So it took that much more time to settle her. Sunday we met a friend for Brunch and otherwise hung around the house before taking DH to the airport to fly out for work.

Looking forward to catching up this week.