Phase 3 – Day 11

Weight: 175.5

Well, I suppose I can only qualify for one miracle on each round and I guess my 1.5 pound drop the other day from exercise was it.  Actually, I'm not upset about staying at this weight because it means I've been consistent and the whole goal is to lock in and stabilize.

I was looking at the calendar this morning and started looking forward to moving to Phase 4 because there's a Soul Food Festival on Saturday, though  I'm not sure that a festival atmosphere is exactly the right one to start adding back carbs!  Even so, I don't have to worry about it because it will only be the end of week two, not week three!

Speaking of stabilizing, new events have come up over the past couple of days.  First, I wore my new clothes to work yesterday and they felt really good, and I felt attractive.  Not that anyone else there noticed.  One interesting aspect of losing weight is that people will pay attention to you because of the changes that you're going through.  Once the changes stop, the attention subsides.  I think that the combination of the "new" normal and complacency, or, in other words, taking your new situation for granted, are the beginning of the downhill slide back to the “old” normal.  Getting the attention is nice; figuring out a way to replace it with an acceptable alternative could be fun.

I talked to my brother yesterday, and his wife, who is only about 42 years old, needs hip surgery, so they've decided to schedule it during my visit.  I’ve been planning to go see them for a couple of days as a side trip to going to the Boise State Broncos v. Virginia Tech Hokies football game on Labor Day.  They're both pretty heavy and they don't offer the variety of fruits and vegetables that I am used to, in fact I've been told that they have an entire cupboard dedicated to chocolate.  This could prove challenging to say the least.

My brother will definitely need some help but I will only be there for two days, and I'm feeling that this amount of time, especially for the amount of effort and three days of burned vacation this will take, will be fairly ineffective, as far as actually helping.  My mother is supposed to come the evening before I leave and she'll be there for a week.  She keeps telling me that we'll have lots of time to spend together and that I'll actually get to visit my brother but I don't see how.  I really do want to help, and I don't need to be entertained, but it certainly won't be a vacation.

It also occurred to me that this is a one-way street.  My brother is a great guy, but if it were me having hip surgery my brother would not be the one coming out to help me, nor would he be coming out to help my mom.  The reason?  Because he is the sole breadwinner for his family (or even if he weren’t), and they have three kids and they moved far away from the rest of the family for a job promotion and it's too expensive to fly, and too far to drive.  It falls to the people who live close or who don't have other responsibilities, or somehow it's just harder for him.

When my mom had foot surgery a year and a half ago, I went to take care of her for a couple of weeks.  The difference here is that I offered to come and help, she didn't expect it, where in this scenario it almost feels as if I'm convenience to be leveraged.  I know it's not as cold and calculating as all that, but the reason they're scheduling the surgery for that time is because we will be there, not because we were asked if we would help or made the arrangements so that we could schedule a longer visit.

The reason I’m explaining this is I'm wondering how this will affect my eating choices, especially when I'm frustrated and there is a cupboard full of chocolate at hand.  Or even before that.  There's a lot coming up to deal with, including the start of school.  At least one thing seems to be stabilized, and that's my 175.5.