We'll Start the Diet Tomorrow!

Sunday July 21, 1991

We leave early stopping to visit Marty and Kathy Murphy and shopping before going to Henry and Jan Alent's house for dinner. We meet his daughter. She's very nice and stays for an hour or so. Jan serves us a wonderful turkey dinner and dessert. Our diet is shot but last night we ruined it with chili fries and Friday night we had Chinese dinner with Judy and Paul.

We are quite tired today. We stayed up late last night and couldn't sleep in so had about 6-1/2 hours sleep.

We're in bed at 9:30 and right to sleep.

Marty Murphy was mom's boss when she worked as a purchasing agent at a medical supply company. Never heard of Henry and Jan Alent. Perhaps they belong to their square dancing club. They made many new friends there.

A Woman of Extremes

Friday June 14, 1991

Didn't sleep well at all. I woke up extremely hungry about 3 a.m. I drank alot of water and slept til 4 when I woke up hungry and sick. Came down and ate a banana which held me til 5:30. Woke up sick and hungry and had some grapes and cheese. Couldn't get rolling. Took a nausea pill and Tylenol. No walk today.

Left for Frank's folks house about 2 p.m. No energy. After visiting awhile we all went to the Sizzler for dinner (our treat), Father's Day and Dad's birthday. Ate like pigs and really enjoyed it.

We took Dad the park bench and a shirt. He liked the bench a whole lot. He likes to sit in the sun each day.

Frank drove us home at 9:30. I slept.

Mom, why are you starving yourself one day to the point where the hunger is keeping you awake and you are nauseous, and then pigging out the next night? And you are eating out almost every day. How in the world do you expect to lose weight if you are eating out so much. Eating out should be an occasional treat, both for the sake of your body and your wallet. Slow and steady wins the race, not yo-yo dieting.

I can so relate to her mind set of being on the diet vs. off the diet. Last year I joined Weight Watchers in January and lost 28 pounds in 5 months, but then I went on a one-month vacation and went "off the diet" in June. I ate whatever my heart desired and enjoyed every bite because I was on vacation so "I should enjoy myself". I gained 12 pounds, and I lost my momentum.

The Park Bench

Thursday June 13, 1991

Up at 7:15--feeling really good!! Took a good walk.

Frank goes shopping for a park bench for his dad. I get my wash and ironing done. He refinishes the bench. It turns out great.

I try dieting today. I've gained 12 pounds back. Salad lunch and lite dinner. Then strawberries at 9 p.m. after we return from grocery shopping.

Bed about 10:30.

I'm not sure that restrictive dieting is really a good idea when fighting cancer, especially the simple salad for lunch. Where's the protein? Yes, eat a healthy diet, but concentrate on eating well and taking care of your health. The diet can wait!

I do need to make a personal comment about mom ironing. When I was growing up in the 50s and 60s men's shirts were cotton, not permanent press. When mom went to work when I was 12, she left me a "list" everyday of my chores to do after school. I had to wash last night's dishes (we had no dishwasher of the manual type), vacuum, clean bathrooms, shake out the rugs, wash the laundry and hang out the laundry on the clothes line (we had no dryer). After the laundry was dry which did not take long in sunny Southern California, I brought in the laundry from the clothes line and put it away in drawers and closets, except for my dad's shirts, which required ironing. I set up the ironing board in front of the TV in our hot living room (we had no air conditioning either, except for a swamp cooler that only cooled one room slightly), and with sweat dripping off my forehead, sprayed each shirt with starch and applied the hot iron one small section at a time. This process took several hours. By the time I walked home from school (4.2 miles from Granada Hills Jr. High) and finished all my after-school chores, mom came home to prepare dinner and I was free to do my homework. Do my kids have it easy!!

Don't Recommend This Diet

Wednesday, April 24, 1991

Frank loved my new bathing suit so I'm off to Penneys in Thousand Oaks to find another. I do. Then I check out May Co. They are having a great sale. Four hours later I am heading home with several new outfits, size small.

It's really odd. I'm suddenly wearing size 12 instead of a 16 and many size small instead of large. It's like I skipped right over size 14 and medium. I actually look good in flowered pants after years of only black and dark colored pants to look slimmer. I love my new figure. I still should lose another 15 pounds to look better yet but I'm supposed to eat well to keep my strength up in order to fight the cancer so I must be careful.

As mom began her battle with cancer she quickly lost 17 pounds. She battled with her weight all her adult life and she passed this battle on to her daughter. For me it was having my foot in a cast in 1990 that caused me to gain 35 pounds, skipping right over size 16 to a size 18. Mom was concerned with her weight even in her last days. I remember her stating that she was happy to have lost 20 pounds right before she died. She was resigned to dying by then, and I think she wanted to look good in her casket. We women are so obsessed with our body image, no matter our stage in life!