Lee, nada. Did you use my username here.1 at gmail?

I have twice in the past few years lost weight from illness, and you better believe any compliment was answered with an exaggerated smile and "Thanks!! I haven't been able to eat for three weeks!"

Sean, you are so not alone with your worries and your fears. Sorry it sucks so bad and I hate the feeling of trying to make things stretch.

(I love knowing someone I can call Zen!)

Glad to be Zen for you!

Sean, sorry you're under so much pressure. You are making a positive change in your life, but that can be stressful, too.

Sean, you're doing so well in school, and you should be so proud of yourself for the positive changes you're making in your life. I'm sorry that the money situation continues to be so difficult.

Having the month off of school isn't helping. I've tried to pick up several shifts, but NONE of them came through.

Sean, you're doing so well in school, and you should be so proud of yourself for the positive changes you're making in your life. I'm sorry that the money situation continues to be so difficult.

All of this.

That sucks a lot, Sean

Yeah, but at least I have a badass GPA.

ETA: And, as my therapist reminded me today, I'm keeping a 4.0 while living in constant pain, that tends to spike when I walk anywhere, which I do all the time because no car.

I hope Matilda is better soon.

Sean, I'm sorry about the money stress. I'm still very proud of you (and an eensy bit envious, so you know you're doing something good).

Color me a brand new Seahawks fan. Bosslady called their front office to ask if they could send a poster or autographed something to one of our guys who has decided to root for them in the Superbowl. First she got through to an actual person (similar attempts with the Vikings, The Wild, and the Twins have yielded voicemail limbo). Second, she made that call on Thursday. Today he opened a package from them that had two small posters, a sticker, a rubber bracelet, a yearbook, and a hand-written note saying "Dear __, We hear you are a Seahawks fan and thought you might like some swag..."

Back to the weight loss thing, earlier in the year, another person at that house got started on a new psychotropic medication which ended up having some seriously bad side effects. She spent a month essentially doing nothing more than lying on the floor. On a good day, we could get her to drink three whole cans of Ensure. There were a lot of bad days. She lost weight. She had been carrying maybe twenty pounds extra. She lost those 20 pounds before they got her stabilized and completely off that medication. Her mother was thrilled. In my mind, her having those 20 pounds to lose is what kept her out of the hospital (something the parents devoutly wish to avoid). When she gained them back, mother and physicians were highly displeased. So now there is a demand that we get her to lose that weight again. The PCP has issued a calorie limit. The ... get this, she doesn't have a psychiatrist.... At the local clinic where many disabled persons in the area go, she sees a pharmacologist who makes recommendations and gets an MD to write scripts off them. Rural area. Not really enough psychiatrists to go around. Anyway, the pharmacologist says, go low carb with her. So I write menus reflecting these recommendations (I shy away from a full-on Atkins style plan, but I can definitely swap in lots of non-starchy veggies and whole grains for the noodles and white bread, happily and in good conscience.) Well, she went back for a re-check, lost 5 pounds last month.... instead of being pleased at the progress, the mother and pharmacologist are saying "you're gonna have to go NO carb". Riiiiiiiight. During a staff meeting, I asked, "Do they really want her to lose this weight as fast as she did when she was sick? Really? Cuz I've got a baseball bat that wants to share its opinion on yo-yo dieting with their heads." Bosslady says, "Think about who this is coming from." I said, "OK, I'll make it look like an accident."

Incidentally, sloppy joes served over mashed cauliflower? Teh Yum. Tonight's masterpiece? Turkey sausage (that was an accident, I thought it was regular ground turkey) browned, sauteed an onion and a bag of Callifornia blend veggies, pour in a jar of store brand spagetti sauce, simmer that for a while... served over spagetti squash. Good stuff. Nobody's walking away from that table feeling deprived.

The three times I've lost weight from being sick I've enjoyed it.

To be clear - these were digestive issues and I wasn't in any DANGER, I just couldn't keep food inside of me properly. And finding pleasure in my clothes being looser was about the only fun I was having.