Sunday Weigh in August 27, 2023

[Barb135]

Good morning.  How's the weekend going for you?  It's another hot day and to top off the heat, we have a tropical storm heading our way.  It looks like it's going to hit sometime Wed (probably in the middle of the night, Tues) and could be anything from a tropical depression to a hurricane.  Fun times on the horizon!!

My week was pretty busy.  Friday was our anniversary (56 yrs), so we decided to take off for a little "mini-trip", leaving on Wed and home Friday afternoon.  We enjoyed it, as always, but then it was good to be back home again, as well.

Being gone for a couple of days means I didn't get any of the stuff done that I've been planning to do, but, as they say - "it'll be there tomorrow"... lol  I have some plants that need to be repotted, as well as some weeds to get sprayed.  I also have a ton of housework that needs to be done.  I've been procrastinating on some of this stuff for so long now, it's becoming overwhelming!!   Time to dig into it.  

Anyway, having been in the car riding for the better part of 2 days, this past week, my feet are swollen and my toes look like sausages, not to mention that we spent 3 days eating in restaurants and/or snacking.  Yeah, the weight picture isn't looking too good this week.  Yesterday, I was up by 5 lbs from last week and today, I'm back down by 2 lbs, so that gives me gain of 3 lbs from last week.   I don't want to be alarmed by that much gain, but it's at the point at which I need to make some serious changes.

I've been having severe muscle cramps in my feet/legs during the night, so have been trying to do an adequate amount of stretching/moving around during the day.  The stretching hasn't helped yet (usually does), so it looks like I haven't been doing enough!!   '

So - that's my week in a nutshell.  I'm going to go out and get my weeds sprayed before it gets too hot and if I'm lucky, maybe I'll get a couple of plants repotted, as well.  We'll see how hot it gets!!  

I hope you've had a more successful week than I have and look forward to hearing about it.  I hope you were able to meet/exceed your goal(s).

~~Wishing everyone a wonderful, successful week~~

[Athena_M]

Hi Barb and Annie
Barb sorry to hear about your painful cramps.  When someone in my family has leg cramps we do a glass of milk with Nesquik chocolate syrup.  The mixture has lots of calcium and magnesium to alleviate the cramps.  Are you still taking a lot of naps? Sometimes our bodies don't like to  be in bed too much.  I have been wanting to stay in bed longer and want to stay for long naps, but then I get cramps and dizziness.
I am up 2 pounds . I weighed myself on Saturday morning and by Sunday morning I had gained two pounds.  I did eat pizza on Saturday. It seems when I eat pizza, I gain weight and my body doesn't want to  release it. If you guys have some insight on that, I could sure use it.  

Annie I am sorry to hear about your mom.  I believe she can hear you. I watch  Hospice Nurse Julie on you tube. She gives a lot of good advice and does say that our loved ones can hear us. Try to eat some nuts or some protein like beef jerky or whatever protein you like. When everyone eats sugar it can make our emotions and reactions deeper and more negative. I will be thinking about you and yours.    

[Barb135]

Hi Athena

Thank you for the suggestion.  I love the idea of having milk with chocolate.  Milk has lots of calcium and chocolate is full of magnesium.   The problem is that, both, milk (dairy) and chocolate cause me to have severe acid reflux, especially, if it's within 3-4 hrs of bedtime.   I do take magnesium supplement on a daily basis, with my Vitamin D.  I also take calcium, but probably not as often as I should because it can interfere with thyroid meds.  I did notice a while back that (for a short time) my cramps lessened with calcium supplement.   I appreciate that reminder.  

I do still need to take naps... Sometimes (like this morning), I get up and think it's all good, but suddenly I need to sleep.  I'll lie back down and sleep for 45 min or an hour, then I'm up and ready for the day.  Even at that, I took a short nap after I ate lunch.  It's sort of like "I sit, I sleep".    I haven't been able to connect my cramps to excess sleeping - but I know you're right that sleeping too much can make us want to sleep more.  Just like doing no exercise, makes us want to do less...  It can become a "catch-22"

I'm sorry about your 2 pounds up... I'm guessing that since you ate pizza, the weight gain might have been from the salt/sodium intake.   I don't know what kind of pizza you ate, but most toppings have an abundance of salt - even the cheese.   I dropped 5 pounds since my weekend weigh-in, just by getting back to a "normal" diet.  I'd guess that if you're back on a normal diet and exercise, you'll drop that 2 pounds...

Enjoy the rest of your week.  

[Athena_M]

Hi Barb
Have you tried Viactiv calcium chews? They have Vitamin D, Vitamin K and Calcium. They are chocolate flavored. I take those also for muscle cramps.
How many hours sleep are you sleeping and how many naps are you taking a day? Our brain gets used to taking naps and will remind us to sleep again. A while back I was taking naps. I could not stop it. Finally, I had to force myself to not take the naps. It was hard to push through staying up during the day for the first week, but eventually I didn't need the naps.

[AnnieBrooke]

I hope your tiredness from a couple of weeks back (and further back) finally eased a little, Barb. Travelling and sitting might at least have one benefit -- you're kind of forced to rest! Sorry about the sausage toes, though.

I somehow haven't been writing my weight down every week, my calendar shows 5 weeks ago's weight, three weeks ago's weight, and this week's weight. Generally it's an upward trajectory, unfortunately. Since 5 weeks ago I've gained 2 pounds. But this isn't quite a surprise ... my mom has been dying, and this week we've all been sitting with her for many hours, and everyone is eating cookies and drinking Coke and gobbling down whatever someone shows up with. What a bad idea, but I guess sweets are called for when you're on a death watch. Mom seems to have had another stroke, and isn't waking up, just sleeping or passed out, and since she's on hospice with do-not-revive instructions, we aren't putting her through racing her to the hospital any more. It's pretty clear she's not going to come back. I guess sometimes a person just takes a long time to unwind being alive even if there's no capability left. I hope she can hear us talking to her, or simply is halfway to heaven and not looking back.

Today I've got to get to a pile of bills on my desk that I've ignored for more important events, and work with my husband on a couple of his projects. High school starts next week, there's also that to get ready for.

Have a good week.

[Barb135]

I'm very sorry to hear about your mom, Annie.  That's a hard thing to go through.  At the end of my Auntie's life, she required 24 hr nursing care for the last few days, but they (Hospice) only wanted family to stay with her during the last day.  The night she passed was very quiet since I was the only one there with the Hospice nurse.   On the other hand, when my brother passed in 2019, my nieces and nephews took their beer/food coolers and camped out in the waiting room just outside his room - he was in a regular Hospice house and the family had the waiting room, plus outside access to a little courtyard right outside.   I think, on some level, they know loved ones are nearby, even if they can't see/hear us.   I think what's called for is whatever the family is used to doing when they're together or whatever feels most comfortable.   It's very difficult to just watch and wait, but it's still a relief not be making those frantic trips to the ER, knowing there's nothing they can do.  

All of that said, it's not surprising that you might be gaining a bit, considering that you aren't eating regular meals consisting of healthy food.   You're probably not doing your Pilates, either??  

How is your mom's husband doing through all of this?

My tiredness has actually, been an ongoing thing for several months.  I talked to the NP at my doctor's office when I saw her in April; she ordered more tests, but then did nothing about the results that were out of range.  It's true that traveling does allow one to sit and do nothing, but that's not usually a good thing for me, because sitting and doing nothing makes me want to sleep.   I did, at least, half the driving, so no sleeping for me!!  The other drawback about sitting in the seat is that my feet are dangling down, which allow my toes to swell, thus turning to sausages.  

I hope you get your chores done today, as planned.  I did get my weeds sprayed this morning, but by the time I finished that, at both, our house and our neighbors, it was so hot, I was soaked with sweat and decided that was enough!!  

I wish the best for your family.  

[AnnieBrooke]

Thanks for the kind thoughts. My mom's husband is having dual reactions -- prepared intellectually for the fact that she's failing, but emotionally, not so much. He himself isn't in the greatest shape, he's frail and bent over with osteoporosis, gets irrationally angry, and his memory isn't good. He's been OK with all of us this past week, though, not yelling at us or scolding like he sometimes does when under stress.

Get on that nurse practitioner, will you? and tell her you expected better from them when your tests came out the way they did. There's totally no excuse for them letting your issue drop, your tiredness is affecting your life.

Take care.