First, this week's numbers:
- Yesterday's weight: 205.0 lb
- Change since last week: -1.0 lb
- Cumulative weight loss: 129.0 lb
- Average weekly weight change: -1.74
So it looks like I'm consolidating around the four-pound drop I registered last week--excellent! I was slighly concerned that at least some of that big drop might have been water weight due to getting myself dehydrated from all the moving-type activities of last week, and was half expecting a slight upward rebound on the scale. But no, it looks like that level is gonna stick, at least for the moment.
(I am studiously trying to ignore the fact that I'm creeping up on the 200-pound weight milestone. I don't think I've weight less than 200 pounds in forever. But it's really just another number on the scale, I keep telling myself. Lalalalalala ... )
Meanwhile, I'm continuing to get used to householding with, and cooking for, Mr. E. It's so funny--he's understandably wanting to be independent, and is very sensitive to any hint that I'm being overprotective of him--even when it's evident to me that he's not anywhere near as together with the independence thing as he thinks he is.
For example, he doesn't like it when I get overly interventionist about his food choices. But when I see what he selects to eat when left to his own devices, it's really really hard for me not to intervene. If he had his way, I doubt he would ever remember to eat a vegetable, or any fruit other than orange juice--it would be all protein, starches, sugars, and fats, and heavy on those latter three nutrients.
Like just now, choosing lunch for himself, he picked cottage cheese, some leftover steak, and an English muffin almost drowning in margarine, with a glass of milk. Okay, the steak, cottage cheese, and milk aren't bad--especially since the steak was very lean and the dairy products low fat. But the drowning-in-margarine thing--oy. And not a single vegetable or fruit in sight.
So I've taken to various subterfuges to influence his food choices while still giving him room for choice and autonomy. I now have a fruit bowl out on the counter, plus a bowl full of cherries in the fridge. Left in plain sight that way, they tempt him into eating the stuff--I can tell it's working by the decreasing contents, plus the various little fruit pits he forgetfully leaves on the kitchen counter. Another trick I've come up with: when he puts together a (produce-free) lunch for himself, I slice up some tomato or cucumber or similar vegetable, ostensibly for my own lunch--but I put it in a bowl between us, announcing it's for us to share. Even though he'll say he only wants a slice or two, once he tastes how good it is he does wind up getting tempted into eating a good bit more than that.
You see, he really does like fruits and vegetables, more even than he realizes. It's just that only his crave foods stick in his memory and motivate him to eat--and not nearly often enough, either. Even though he knows that style of eating led to the malnourished state that helped catapult him into a health crisis last fall, that lesson doesn't stick in his head enough to make him change his behavior. So, I'll just continue to help steer his behavior in these and other such non-interventionist ways, and see if that helps any.
He's lucky to have you there to influence his food choices a bit. Fresh produce really is tempting when it's right there and easily available.
Posted by: Kathy | June 29, 2007 at 11:44 PM