The good and the bad
I’ll be honest with you.
With the exception of recuperating from my simple-surgery-gone-wrong and providing an entirely handmade Christmas for nearly 30 loved ones (plus 40 or so coworkers for strategic and political gain and 8 of my employees), I haven’t been doing much along the lines of health and wellness for the 6 weeks since I got home from the hospital. I mean, I have continued to weigh in each week and attend Weight Watcher meetings when possible, but I have mostly done so to ensure that I don’t cross the 289-pound mark and to monitor what happens to my body when it rapidly loses 25 pounds of weight the wrong way.
As a testament to the general neglect that has occurred, I offer up a fridge full of rotting food, unswept floors, and a car that has doubled as a locker/dumpster for the past month. Certainly, now is the time to pull it together and get my life back in gear. It’s time to sort through and iron out the stacks and stacks of fabric and paper scraps that resulted from making books, aprons, yoga mat bags, purses, tote bags, and a dozen other projects for Christmas. It’s time to wash the car inside and out, to launder the sheets and towels, and to make an appointment to get waxed already, ifyouknowwhatImean.
Things started going much better, recuperation-wise, when my sister reminded me that at the end of my hospitalization, every doctor and nurse who looked at my chart exclaimed about the profound anemia that I had developed. However, they never gave a prescription or mentioned it to me on discharge and, in my drug-addled haze, I plumb forgot. When she reminded me of this, I put myself on an iron supplement and within a week I was feeling markedly better. It even seemed to go a long way toward treating the insomnia that developed when I went back to work. In general, I would say that my energy has returned to pre-illness levels — whatever I felt last Spring before my gallbladder died and lay rotting in my gullet.
Last night, I made a batch of low-fat chicken stew for lunches this week, spiced some almonds, and froze fish filets into individual servings. (I realized that working on creative projects every night sapped me of some of my cooking enthusiasm. Apparently, cooking and crafting draw on the same energy reserves — which makes perfect sense to me!)
I’m looking forward to the new year, now that the holidays are past. I’m proud of myself for keeping to my goals, and for having the foresight to realize that a major surgery plus Christmas might throw me off plan. Granted, I’ll have to really step it up in order to reach my Valentine’s goal of weighing 275 pounds, but I have faith that it is possible.
In general, I’m proud of myself for losing 70 pounds this year, and for doing it almost exclusively through food changes alone. In 2009, I hope to finally be able to solve the fitness puzzle and not just lose weight but use my new body in more active and athletic ways, whatever that may mean.
December 29th, 2008 at 9:04 pm
First, congratulations on a year of accomplishments and goals met.
The “It’s time to” parts of your post made me smile, in a good way, because they made me think of two things. First, the ring announcements of Michael Buffer during UFC fights, as his signature phrase is “It’s Time!”. Second, the opening theme of the Muppet Show, “It’s time to play the music / light the lights! / put on makeup! / dress up right!”. I never realized how appropriate that song was for starting a new year with great oomph, so thank you, much appreciated. :-)
December 30th, 2008 at 4:04 pm
I am pondering the 40 homemade gifts -
did you already have $$$ invested in all the material/stuff – so wanted to get it all done?
or
did you use it as a distraction from food, recooperation, boredom?
or
what?
Six weeks is pretty fast – be proud at how strong and resilient your body is!
Glad to have you back in blog land! And happy you are continuing to get back on your feet.
In the very beginning – I went to Curves. There one works at their own level and pace. It is a good place to start.
When I ‘outgrew’ Curves I started yoga and pilates and walking. A personal trainer suggested the yoga as something that would not do (more) damage to my back – that I could do at my (then) weight. I had to leave my ego at the door and start small/doable and work from there.
So, on the exercise front – try things to see what you can do without injurying yourself. And leave your ego at the door.
It is worth paying a personal trainer that specializes in helping people get started WHERE and HOW they are (VS a personal trainer that is used to working with very fit people). I am not talking about paying them for years – I am talking about a small intro sessions package.
Several times I have taken classes designed for geratrics or people with disabilities. I have found these classes very comforting and non-stressful. The directions/class structure is usually very simple. I might work with heavier weights or work in a more advanced position – but the pace of these classes and the careful regard for positioning and taking care of one’s own needs has been very helpful. This is part of what I mean by leaving one’s ego at the door.