The Cancer Patient Gainback

Hey Everyone,

While in the hospital I lost quite a bit of weight, 23 lbs in total. Since getting out of the hospital I put back on a good amount of this weight. I expected to gain some mass back as I started gaining back muscle mass but I also didn't exactly eat healthy my first month out of hospital. I was so restricted in my in hospital diet that my first month was dedicated to eating every craving I had and as much of it as I wanted. When in the hospital I heard from many patients that they all gained back all the weight they lost in their first month out of the hospital, I for some reason did not think it would happen to me. Call it delusion or just false hope, but it did happen to me. I have titled this post the Cancer Gainback because this common occurence of gaining back all the weight you lost reminded me quite a lot of the Freshman 15 (which I was victim of :( ) For those that were curious, I was also a victim of the Olivieri 15 as well. Try working in a pasta plant and not gain weight though, I dare you :)

Two weeks ago I made the decision that I would do something about this weight gain as I was not happy with it and it didn't fit into my new years resolution for 2010. I had the goal of losing 30 pounds by the end of the year.

My plan was not to specifically diet but more watch my portion sizes, eat fairly healthy, and add low calorie foods to fill up on. I have no intention of cutting treating myself out of my diet, I just realized I didn't have to do it every night of the week. Now I try to treat myself to something not as healthy at least once a week, to eliminate the diet feeling. Being in control of cooking your own food the other 6 days of the week makes it fairly easy to control how healthy my diet is. I am eating healthier but by no means am I doing it at the expense of flavour.

In addition to eating healthier, I have been trying to get some more exercise to build back up some of the muscle strength I lost during my hospital stay. I don't have a weekly plan on how much exercise I want, it is more dedicated around getting out for some form of physical activity when the weather is nice and when I have the energy. In the past two weeks I have gone rollerblading, to the driving range and went on many walks.

These changes are already starting to show some positive aspects in my life as I have lost 6 lbs in the past two weeks with implementing these changes. It isn't about dieting but continuing to live a healthy lifestyle and achieving my 2010 resolution. Cancer or no cancer I will achieve that goal. :)

I would love to hear of any positive changes that you have implemented in your lifestyle this year.

I hope you all have a great weekend and enjoy this beautiful weather.

Until next week,

Aaron