Hello,

I was a tried and true WWer. It worked if I worked it, or so I toldmyself.... but in the last month I've gained about 14 lbs....my husband was admitted to the hospital in critical condition in the begining of January. I had to make the 'calls', because I was told he maynot leave the hospital alive. He had an infection ( sepsis? ) that affected his heart, lungs, liver, and kidneys. He's also a type 1 diabetic. I ate for comfort, I ate to distract myself...my parents and inlaws travelled the 6 hours to get here and spent the first night with me, the rest of it I was pretty much alone. We do not have family here, and no close friends...so I ate. A lot.

He's doing better, but facing a pancreas/kidney transplant in the next few years. I can take that,since at first I thought he'd die.
I'm trying to get back into the routine of my life, going to karate, working, and yes, taking care of my husband. He is back at work but can't do a lot around thehouse. I do get overhwelmed but I also don't want him to feel guilty about being sick.

I weigh 169. Higher than I have in many years, but the whole Idea of dieting just tired me out and defeated me before I even attempted it.... I kept thinking about it as somethign I'd have to do, nto that I wanted to do. Before all this happenned with my husband I had lost about 13lbs because I just grew disinterested in food, or more accurately, I wasn't obsesseed with it. I get obsessed and beat myself up ovber it, and certainly don't enjoy my food. I'm trying to get t here again. I'm also blogging the whole affair as well.

My husband and I are 31. This has actually turned into a blessing for us, brought us much closer as a couple, caused us to re-evaluate our priorities...that's another reason I"m going w/ IE. If I'm healthy, that should be my goal. Not what size my pants are. When I think of women I love and admire, I do not think of thier size, so why do I think everyone thinks of me in relation to my size? Silly.

We've adopted a diet that's kidney friendly, so no whole grains ( per his doc), organic meat with out phosphates, low sodium/salt, low potassium. It was tough to get rid of my lean cuisines and smart ones, but when I started to discover how much sodium there is in stuff--wow!

I'm very happy to find this thread, it is liberating...andI never noticed how much peple talk about lsoing weight when you're not thinking that way. It's all the time...

to answer the kid question: We do not have children, and do not plan on it. Most women in my family have thiers between 29-31 y/o.

It's unfortunate that it took such a scare with my husband to get my priorities in order when it comes to myself, but I'm glad it's happenning.

It's definitely a process, it's difficult for me to not fall into diet thinking yet not go on a food free for all because I can... that's not the idea.. but in time I know it will come. Even now, in it's infancy I feel much freer, even when we order lunch at work. I feel like I can participate. Many times I still order healthier fare becuase it makes me feel good and I want it. I no longer begrudgingly order the salad because I'm 'supposed to'....

Ah! Now back to lurking and learning

Optical, I'm so glad your husband is doing better!

Your avatar reminds me of the 72 year old second degree black belt that goes to the same karate school I do. If She can do it, so can I

Julie, did you lose more weight since those pictures you put on? You should post some new ones.......says me who doesn't have a clue how to post pictures here. It has to be so simple for me that that I can just click on browse and post right from my computer.

I don't have a camera I plan on doing the next set of pictures after I get back to daily yoga for a month.

And yes, that's just how you do it. When you post, there's a section below where you type called "Additional Options," and you just click on Manage Attachments - and you'll get a pop up with a box that let's you browse to and click on the picture you want to include in your post.

everyone who answered my kids thread, thanks =) It's always nice to hear different stories.

Optical Goddess, I am really sorry you have to be going through this. I think one of the reasons why diets don't work is because of exactly this: how unpredictable life can be. My mom lost a bit over 100 lbs years ago, right after my dad passed away, with a very calorie-restricted diet (from 700 to 1000 calories a day). About a year after she lost all the weight, her sister was diagnosed with cancer and died within two months. My mom regained at least half the weight she had lost in those months (I never asked her exactly how much because it would only make me mad to know).

If we don't need to deal with our emotions, we will always turn to an addiction and an escape. On the other hand, some emotions are just too strong, so we shouldn't beat ourselves up too much. We just learn from it and continue our journey. You'll lose those 15 lbs or whatever it was and you'll end up with a stronger relationship with your husband and with much higher self-respect.

Please come here anytime you need, if only to vent out about the things in your life, optical goddess. This group really makes me feel I am not alone.


Another subject: Moooonths ago I submitted my photo to this website I fell in love with: http://thebellyproject.wordpress.com/
they just emailed me saying it will be uploaded on Feb 20th. Can't wait =D

We are heading out to Seattle and Portland on Fri. Lord willing, to see our kids so my time here might be limited for the next week. Hope everyone is doing well. Believe it or not I'll miss the beautiful snow we've been having. I just love winter. I scooped the walk yesterday and the pristine beauty was wonderful. We live in the country so it is even more beautiful.

Things are going well here. I started my fruit and veggie cleanse yesterday. Things went really well. So far Day 2 is going well also *knocks on wood*.

My DD did a cleanse and lost 10 lb in a week. We will be leaving tomorrow to see her and I'll find out how she is doing now. I just don't think I could do that by the way she described it.

What does a cleanse involve? It sounds like something restrictive, but I could be wrong. How long does it generally last?
It is strange to see what drives me to eat. It took a little more detective work for me to figure it out. I take karate lessons and am a purple belt. I was totally schooled by a white belt. It was so embarassing, me flailing around trying to keep my balance let alone kick a piece of x ray paper. I weighed myself this morning which was discouraging and then had to change out of the suit I wanted to wear becuase it didn't fit well enough to wear for 15 hours....
It may go against IE principles but there is food I cannot control myself around. TLC/Granola bars is a big one. I do okay for the most part but then it's a free for all. It's days like these that make me think about dieting, thinking it's the only thing that'll work even though I know it won't. I also am very, very far from accepting myself at this size. If I accept myself at this size than I feel like I'm giving up... it's silly what things cause me to over eat. Granted, it's a good thing that I figured out what it was but that doesn't change the fact htat I over ate. Meh.
Too bad I don't over do it on carrots...
Because I need some structure I've been trying to adhere to the old school food pyramid, because i know I don't get enough produce. It's amazing what a serving really is....

Carol & Optical Goddess--Basically I'm just eating fruits & veggies for 7 days. For drinks-- water or green tea with honey. That's it. I can add 4 oz of meat daily if I want to but haven't done it yet. Once the week is up I will slowly start incorporating back in other things I normally eat like soy milk, cereal, oatmeal, greek yogurt, nuts, wheat bread, etc.

Optical Godess:

I am by no means an IE expert, but I see a lot of diet mentality in your post. I know there are too many things going on in your life right now, but if you can. read the IE book, I think it will give you some peace of mind.

I first went through a face of wanting bread and pasta, then I went through a face of wanting chocolate. And I mean CRAVING LOADS OF IT A DAY. Now it seems to be potatoes. Funny thing?: I'm hardly eating any flour and/or pasta and just one or two pieces of chocolate a day these days. Indulge yourself in those foods you can;t stop eating and the craving will go away in two weeks, trust me.

So, lately, some things have been making me upset... and I can't eat! When I'm too upset, I think of grabbing a piece of chocolate and the thought doesn't satisfy me at all!

so, I'm trying and making foods I didn't use to buy before. Today I made the most wonderful salad EVER: Lentils, lettuce, tomato, red peppers, olives, feta cheese, pomegranate seeds and some olive oil (no salt or anything else). It was AMAZING!! I think I'll have the same thing for lunch tomorrow

I think you've got it, AOL22

The cleanse is still going well. I will try to make some type of bean soup in the crock pot this weekend. Might as well we are expecting about 30 inches of snow. I decided to cleanse because the bingeing scared me. I hadn't done it in at least 6 months. It's helping me focus and I plan to review the principles of IE so I am raring to go on Tuesday when the cleanse is over.

Can you share that soup recipe, Shay? I love soup.