Day 24: Burning Calories, One Way Or Another...

Day four of my hacking, body wracking cough.  I'm hoping - by how incredibly sore my ribs, back, shoulders and abs are - that it means my muscles are getting some sort of a work out from all of this.  In addition, I googled it and - although there is no way to measure how many calories I have burned coughing for four days, the professionals say that I AM burning calories.  It might not be my preferred method of exercise, but it surely has my breathing, pulse and blood pressure elevated!  I believe that throwing up part of my lunch again today may have burned some calories as well...not to mention the calories that I gave up to my porcelein Goddess.  I'm reaching my 20 lb goal one way or another!  lmao

Despite feeling like poop for yet another day, today was a good...no, a GREAT day!  My mom had a doctor's appointment this morning and discovered that she's lost 8 lbs!  I can't personally take any credit for it, but she insists that it was my inspiration; because she is shopping healthier and being more mindful of what she brings into the house for me, she is eating better in turn.

My parents have both taken to asking me questions about what I'm doing - wheras they may have been quick to provide advice at first, they are beginning to wonder what I'm doing differently this time and why it seems to be working.  I hate to be a born again skinny person (like all the fat people before me who lose weight and then think they know it all), but I love sharing with them what I've found works for me.  Since we all know each other's eating habits, it's easy to support each other and encourage each other away from our weaknesses.

Furthermore, both of my parents have signed up for MyFitnessPal.com!  Mom's even adopted the name "ChuChi's Ma" for herself.  (Can you tell she's proud?)  Dad is not all too thrilled with the notion of counting calories and having to enter everything into the online form, but I've told him if he keeps a daily journal of what he ate, that I would gladly enter it for him.  My mom, on the other hand, is a little intimidated by new technology, so it will take her a while to get the hang of it - but I've eagerly encouraged her by offering to input her meals as well for the time being.  Today was the first day we completed their food diaries, and they both ate under their goals!  In fact, mom was even under the 1200 minimum caloric intake, so I helped her figure out what she could eat to bring her to a safe calorie intake and gave her some feedback on how she can improve her nutrition in the future.

Having started this with such personal goals, it blows me away each time I find out that this project is helping someone else.  To know that it could finally make a permanent change in my household after all these years is extraordinary!

Even more "good" news - my Dad's doctor has confirmed that my father is NOT diabetic, however, he is in the high end of what is acceptable.  This means, unless he changes his eating habits and loses weight, he could still slip over the borderline into diabetes.  However, his doctor feels that he is safe to undergo his knee replacement surgery, so now we are just waiting for the surgeon to reschedule.

The bit of scary news is that at my mom's morning oncologist appointment, she discovered that her white cells are just a tiny bit elevated.  The doctor said there was no cause for alarm, but we simply need to monitor her blood results in the coming weeks.  Meanwhile, they moved up the date for my mom's next scan to ensure that her lymphnodes are maintaining and not swelling any further.  This is at the end of my blog not because it is the least important or because I want to downplay it, but because I am optimistic that she is going to nip this in the bud and because this is only driving me harder to earn some funds for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society in September.  My mom is more than worth it.  So, if you can't donate, please help me spread the word until I can find someone who can.  I promise, on my part, to bust my ass to earn it.

Until tomorrow folks, this is a sick and tired ChuChi, signing off and praying that my prescription with codeine kicks in soon...