maintenance mode, this time with doctor approval

Normally I take issues with doctors nagging patients about the number on the scale but in this particular instance I can understand her questions. She asked if there was something that caused it and I mentioned that both personal and professional stresses hit at the same time and while I had figured out the physical part of weight loss, I hadn’t figured out the mental part so I was completely unable to cope with the stress. She nodded in understanding and asked how I lost the weight initially and I said Weight Watchers. 

So, this is where things get interesting since her follow-up question was related to what I’m doing to relose the weight. It’s interesting because, well, as you guys know, my focus right now is maintaining this, albeit higher, weight. Which is what I told her. I said I’ve spent the past year and a half yo-yo dieting (which is exactly what it was, it just took me this long to put that label on it and when I did it was quite the light bulb moment, let me tell you) and that now I really want to stay where I am for right now and decide down the road. When asked how I’m doing with the mental/emotional stuff, I was able to sincerely say I’m in a much better place now.

This, then, naturally progressed to asking about what I do for exercise. After I said that I run, go to spinning classes, and practice yoga, she smiled and said “Okay, I’ll stop harassing you.”

She meant it as a joke and I think it was also a self-aware type thing of recognizing the concept of nagging patients about their weight, especially since we also talked about the fact that my tests are all good. But I appreciated that once I had been given the opportunity to explain why I was choosing the maintenance route and showed that I am active she let it go.

The next day was rainy and grey, so I headed to the mall to do some window shopping and give my FitBit a workout by walking around. I also stopped at Half-Priced Books and picked up this book on a whim.

I’m still reading through it and it has some flaws, but it’s really challenging me to look at my body outside of just pounds and the BMI chart. It sort of bills itself as a diet book but it’s not really, which is why I like it. The basic concept is that the health and nutritional needs of woman are different but most science and research has been focused on men and, as such, most dietary plans have been built on that whereas we woman need a different structure.

She talks about losing weight but I think the main message is about finding a healthy weight and while she mentions the BMI chart, she also talks about things like hip to waist ratio (mine puts me right in the middle of the moderate health risk, which is better than the high health risk) and body fat percentage (I measured myself, like, half a dozen times because this number still surprises me as it has me in the “acceptable” or “average” range — which is great, obviously, but unexpected. I may see about going back to my doc and seeing if she has calipers she could use).

Much of what I’m reading in the book reminds of the “accept the body that is a result of my lifestyle” concept, which is why I think I’m finding something beneficial in it.

I also picked up two cookbooks:

You know me, I’m all about a healthy balance and I figured these show that in action. The Hungry Girl book is huge — I don’t even know where to start.

Of course, the addition of these two books to my cookbook collection meant I needed to switch the bookcase they sat on as I had officially run out of room on the other one. This is their new home and there is still plenty of room to grow.

Over the weekend, I asked BC if he’d ever like to come over and let me cook dinner for him. He said yes (what man wouldn’t) and I have no doubt I’ll be able to find something in one of these books to make!

Love from the ashes,
Lady Lazarus

PS Funny story about Weight Watchers: a couple weeks ago I met the parents of one of my friends and I immediately recognized his mom although I could not for the life of me figure out where from. Ran into them again over the weekend and a few hours later it hit me: She was the leader of the Weight Watchers meetings I briefly attended back in the fall. I texted him to confirm and he said “I hope she was a good leader!” I said she was and that I even mentioned on my blog how much I liked her. SMALL WORLD.