Eat Less, Move More

I'm having a really down day. It's been two and a half weeks since my surgery, and I've had some good days that led me to expect a continued upward trend. Apparently, the healing human body doesn't work that way.

My sister the nurse told me tonight that it's normal to have good days and bad days after surgery. She mentioned that sometimes when we have good days, we do too much and then don't feel so good the next day (Why does everyone say that to me? Do they think I am a person of little self-control? Oh, wait. These are people who know me. Very well. Oh-kay, then!)

Then she said the words that have haunted me all my life since the first time my mother hauled my rotund 11-year-old body to the doctor's office for some "diet pills." My sister said that since I had intestinal surgery and am now having trouble, maybe I should try eating very lightly for a while, but keep getting gentle exercise. She said "eat lightly and get gentle exercise" but I heard the mantra I've been hearing in various permutations since I was 11: "Eat less, move more." Sounds really simple, doesn't it?

Damn. I was really happy when the doctor let me out of the hospital and said I had no restrictions on what I eat. "Except," he said, "stop when you're full." This is a 45-year-old man who eats right, works out, loves life, and practices what he preaches. I'm a rotund boomer who practices "recreational eating" when lonely, frustrated or bored. I wasn't about to point out that his definition of "full" and mine might be just a wee bit different. But there's no getting around it when you hear it from a sister who knows you and loves you and makes keeping people healthy her life's work.

So, here I am, in the "Guy house," with no one to talk to during the day (oh, and during the evening too, unless you count a few words during commercials), three small dogs who want constant attention, and a kitchen full of guy food. I'm in pain and feel like a limp dishrag and TV has only reruns. The guys have added all sorts of techie things to their TV-surround-sound-on-demand-digital-TV-viewing-stations. The one in the kitchen is permanently set to channel 3, which seems to be the all-Cash-Cab station during the day. So, "eating less, moving more" is a challenge of major proportions.

But then, I'm a woman of major capabilities. And this limp dishrag act is getting very old. I want to go see my friends. I want to go ride a ferry in the sunshine. Mostly, I want to feel better. Maybe I can do the "eat less" thing. I think the "move more" bit will come more easily when I get that right.