Early morning

  In meditation, don't expect anything. Just sit back and see what happens. Treat the whole thing as an experiment. Take an active interest in the test itself, but don't get distracted by your expectations about the results. For that matter, don't be anxious for any result whatsoever.

-Bhante Henepola Gunaratana, "Mindfulness in Plain English"

 I have been up since 5.  I awoke on my stomach with a deep throbbing pain in my,(sorry about this), nipple.  I can not get comfortable.  I didn't mean to sleep on my stomach so soon, but must have turned over in my sleep.  It is now 2 hours later and it is still throbbing.  Everything looks OK so I hope nothing is wrong.  I have read on the BR board that most incisions that break open do so at about the 4th week.  I see the doctor tomorrow to get my stitches out and will ask her all these things.  So anyway my morning is not starting out extremely well.

   I did get something really great though.  I am a member of the Kick in The Tush club and the newsletter is always full of useful information.  Click on the link to read a nice article about margarine.  Did you know it was once illegal? 

http://app.e2ma.net/app/view:CampaignPublic/id:3610.186996587/rid:16f31f3a49a72059c931d9fde8362402

    Since I am feeling pretty sorry for myself this morning I decide to break a little and have my husband make his world famous french toast.  I will not have the amount I used to eat and will have one andouille sausage this morning.  Oh and a big glass of orange juice as I continue to increase my Vit C.  I will not feel guilty about this as I never use syrup and hopefully will still go to the gym if my pain settles down.  I am trying to decide if I should call the doctor for reassurance or just wait until tomorrow.

   Yesterday I made my salad for lunch and decided to use a few blue cheese crumbles on top.  How do you know if blue cheese crumbles are bad?  They completely ruinedmy salad.  I only used 1/4 tsp and it was enough to ruin it.  Thank goodness I had more lettuce as I had to throw that away, along with the blue cheese.  That will teach me to add things to my salad without tasting it first.

  I made a orange cake for my son's birthday and substituted some mango and pineapple juice for the water.  It really turned out tasty.  Yes I did have a small piece.  It does seem like the longer I am on my plan the less exciting things like this are.  I get more satisfaction from making a light and tasty meal that turns out to taste great then from a piece of cake.  It is always fun to try new recipes though.  People who think you can't eat well while losing weight must not be cooking from scratch but buying pre-made recipes.

   I tried doing some ab crunches yesterday and was surprised that it hurt.  Didn't think I used any muscles from up there.  I did some stretches and some yoga moves but I do better going to the gym then working out at home.  I keep getting distracted.

   I got to thinking yesterday we hadn't heard from my MIL about my son's birthday.  She is 84 and although doing great for her age, she is getting forgetful.  Turned out my husband hadn't talked to her since Thursday. Neither had I.  Well I was immediately nervous because I have taken care of so many elderly patients who lay on the floor for days before they were found with their broken hips.  Fortunately she was fine but had forgotten all about Dan's birthday which in itself was sad.  We ended up going there for supper.  We had an extremely dry and tasteless roast made with potatoes and carrots and iceberg lettuce.  Eating at her house is always great for my diet.   I discussed with my husband about not letting a day go by without calling her.  We should do it twice a day.  Him in the morning, me at night.  When it gets so she can't live alone anymore she is moving in here in our spare bedroom.  We want to put it off as long as possible because it will be hard on her.  I sleep all day when I work and we don't have TV.  That would drive her nuts.  We eat completely different then her which would also drive her nuts and I couldn't eat her cooking everyday, although I would probably lose weight.  She used  to be an excellent cook, but seems to have lost the nack of it as she aged and she forgets ingredients which makes things turn out different.  Another thing she does is salt everything.  A small salt shaker will last me a couple of years.  I rarely use it and then only when making pasta.  Then I rinse the pasta to get as much of the salt off as I can.  I retain fluid bad if I use it.  She can of course get TV when she comes, but we still hope it will be a long way off.  That is why I drag her to water aerobics at least once a week.  She is going to stay healthy as long as possible.

   Well I have rambled on long enough and my breakfast is almost done.  It will be sinfully good and worth the extra miles I will have to put on the treadmill.  Everything in moderation!

   Well breakfast was heavenly but I paid for it.  We went to the gym around 9 and I started on the treadmill.  I did 30 minutes and the last 3 minutes it hit me.  My IBS was acting up.  OH NO!  Was it the sausage or the milk in the french toast or just a full moon.  I never know when it will strike, but since I have been eating better I don't have as many attacks.  I started my meditation routine, deep breath and relax and it settled down.  On to the weights, I did my leg workouts with occasional cramps, but not too bad.  Then upstairs to walk a mile while my husband finished his workout on the machines.  I wanted to walk 2 miles but knew I was in trouble after a mile.  Back down to tell my husband he had better get me home ASAP.   I did my deep my breathing all the way home and kept it under control but yikes that is miserable.  No more french toast and sausage before the gym again.

   Now the really great news.  I weighed in after I got home from the gym before my shower and I am down another pound.  Super big grin here.