Around when I hit my "2 years out" marker, a very annoying side effect of prednisone decided to kick in full force. For those of you who have taken the med you will understand the problem that has become......EXCESSIVE HUNGER.
Since I have been back from Maui I have had an enormous appetite, eating as much as a teenage boy who is on the high school varsity football team.
It's ridiculous how much food this "little" body can pack away and yet still crave for more. Which leads me to say that this "little" body is not so little any more; it's growing in circumference. When I left for Maui at the beginning of January I was 103lbs., as of today the scale reads 112lbs. (keep in mind that I am 5'2" when I round my height up, as I always do, lol). Don't get me wrong I am not saying that I need to loose weight right now or that I am unhappy with gaining as much weight as I have; on the contrary, I love having more meat on these bones. For the first time in years I feel stronger and healthier, not only because of the new lungs but also because of this great new appetite; I finally enjoy eating.
However, there are a few difficult things that come with this great new appetite and weight gain that I am enjoying.
(1) Putting down the knife and fork. Since I am always hungry and don't feel full until about 10-15 minutes after I stop eating, it is difficult to put the knife and fork down, not go back for seconds and thirds, and to sometimes have to push food away.
(2) Comments from people. Even though I may be happy when I look in the mirror and see a few extra pounds, that does not mean that I won't receive negative comments from people about the new weight gain. It's hard to hear people rag on your weight gain when you are proud of it. It's also hard for it to be the subject that is always brought up during conversation.
(3) Clothes are a bit more snug. What's nice about never gaining any weight, is that you never have to buy new clothes. However, when you start to gain weight the dilemma arises about whether or not it is time to buy a new pair of jeans the next size up, or to just keep trying to squeeze into the jeans that you have for a while until you make sure the weight is going to stay.
While I am on the subject of clothes I would like to mention size 0 pants. I love that there are size 0 pants. I don't think they are a size that girls/women should try and aspire/conform to. But for those of us who are in our late teens or early twenties and are "tiny," it's nice to be able to find jeans without flowers on the back pockets. I remember shopping in the "Girls" section before I came across size 0 jeans, and even size 00. The jeans never fit right, and they would always be too short and too big in the "back pocket" area. That is to say, I am grateful that there are size 0 pants.
(4) Now I have to work out. For a while I was able to enjoy going to the gym and working on what ever I wanted to. Now when I go I know that I need to work on certain "problem areas" to make sure that they don't become even more of a "problem." Luckily I have still been able to maintain a love for working out, at least for now.
All this to say that I am loving this new appetite and the new weight I have put on, even though I may have a few difficult things to deal with because of it.
(cheers to maintaining this healthy new weight and turning it all into muscle)
No comments:
Post a Comment