Saturday night was a bust for exercise as my son became suddenly ill with a stomach virus. It was a long and messy night with him. I spent most of Sunday disinfecting our bed, washing everything from mattress covers to the goose down comforter and pillows. On the plus side, our pillows are the fluffiest they have ever been. In a way, it was a good way to get some needed spring cleaning done.

Sunday was another weigh-in day.

I am now about 2 1/2 pounds below my goal weight but as you can see the weight loss is starting to slow down. I am thrilled about the inches lost this week, though. As all women desire, I would love to see my waist measurement come in a smidge more but instead seem to be losing fat from places like my upper arms instead. The abs and waist are always the trickiest body parts to slim in my experience.

Although I am excited to get off this diet, I also have to face the reality that the portions and food I am eating right now are just about the exact ones that I need to be eating to stay at the weight where I want to be. This is hard for me to accept but I am slowly growing more used to this new diet. I, of course, would love to be eating a little more but don’t miss the sugar highs so much anymore and am starting to learn more about powering through stressful situations without a sugar rush.

There were two new side effects of this diet noted this week. I ran into a neighbor this week who commented that I look suntanned. I have hardly been outside so I am suspicious that my new complexion is a result of the natural colorants in all the vegetables I have been eating. (Perhaps too many sweet potatoes?) Also, when the weather turned colder this weekend with winds and cold rain, I found that I needed to layer on two sweatshirts inside the house just to keep warm enough. I am losing my winter fat layer, I suppose.

Nutritional News

• TB Silent Killer: While this has nothing to do with diet or weight loss, if you haven’t seen the Frontline documentary about drug-resistant tuberculosis in Swaziland, you should watch it. I can’t imagine living my life afraid that with each breath I or my children took, I could be infecting myself with drug-resistant, lethal TB. When I see this documentary, I hope that the U.S. is doing its part to help doctors and scientists around the world solve this problem. It also helps to remind me that my diet and exercise problems are so small and insignificant in light of these challenges. Really, I have nothing to complain about.
• Weight Gain at Menopause: The Well blog of The New York Times reports that women can expect to gain an average of 10 pounds when they reach menopause. If you read the comments on this article, you see that women report that they have sudden weight gain at menopause even if they are eating healthy and even if they are exercising regularly. A large number of the commenters reported that the only thing that kept their weight under control was to cut out sugar and bread.
• All of Me. This was another fascinating PBS documentary about a group of morbidly obese women who became fast friends through groups related to fat acceptance. Then, some of the women for personal or health reasons, had gastric bypass surgery and began to lose weight. The film explores the complexities of so many issues related to weight and health such as body image and self esteem, the effect on interpersonal relationships when one person loses weight and the other does not, and the nature of food addiction. As one woman in the video explains, “Food is the only addiction where you have to have at least some to survive.” You can’t avoid food entirely like you do alcohol or drugs. You have to learn how to moderate your response to it and as we all know, that is incredibly tough!

Hope you had a wonderful weekend!