The Weight Battle

Today I met a dietician online through Duke Medical. I’m having a hard time getting weight off lately. I’m 53, going through menopause, had a couple of years of stress dealing with loved one’s health issues, one of my knees is bone on bone and I have arthritis. Then COVID. I know Covid is not the blame for everything but it sure does put a poopy coating on already hard times. I was a super skinny kid. That is hard to believe when you see me now. In fact, my metabolism was so high, I had to eat a ton of eggs for breakfast just to keep weight on. Ah, youth. I was always muscular so I never looked skinny but I was healthy all the way through college although I gained the freshmen 10 like everyone else. When I began teaching a more sedentary lifestyle set in. I walked around the classroom all the time but once I got home I would eat supper and grade papers for hours. So I did not get much exercise. Bit by bit the weight crept up. Then I broke up with my boyfriend of 6 years after planning to marry. I think that is when I started to stress eat a bit more. I yo-yo’d like so many women and then right before I got married I lost 25 lbs through a nutritionist’s eating plan. I kept that off until we tried for babies. I was pregnant 7 times total but it was worth it to get my two beautiful daughters. Little did I know what a number of pregnancies do to a woman’s body. The miscarriages confused my body, I was sad so I ate more, then I was exhausted taking care of the first one. I always lost a lot of weight when I breastfed but then it would creep back once again. When I hit an all time high I discovered Zumba and lost 35 lbs in 8 months. I felt so healthy. I gained the weight back little by little over a course of 4 years. Then my father was diagnosed with Stage 4 lung cancer. Running back and forth from appointments, treatments, etc we ate out way too much. Sometimes I did not eat anything until 9pm and I would eat a huge meal then go to bed. Everybody knows that is a terrible way to eat. Then he passed away and I was grief eating so I became my heaviest in January. Knowing I should do something, I leaned out my eating and walked some more but it was just not coming off. Usually after 6 months I could see a difference but this time there was nothing. My doctor said that many women my age have difficulty so she told me to see a weight lost specialist and a dietician. Since my doctor is involved she has leveled out my anxiety, is medicating me for blood pressure and my depression has lifted so I feel more like a healthier version of me. So I’m not drinking alcohol, I’m eating lean protein and veggies and my dietician wants me to eat smaller “meals” more frequently. So I will give that a try. I hope to see some results in a month or two. I’m not trying to become a certain size or weight. I just want to be healthy. I may post some recipes on this blog if I come across something delicious that helps me to eat healthier. Simply put though, she says to always have a protein with your fruit, eat smaller amounts of healthy food, stay away from fried foods and do moderate exercise like walking every day. So easy, right? LOL We shall see.