I slept off several hours of yesterday and today. Earlier this week I bit the bullet and stepped on my scale. Down to 105. I know what my dad meant when he said he ate to live. After that awful head injury, food means nothing to me, either, though I did manage to keep my weight at 110 or a little more. Since I came back from breaking the other leg though, I haven't got the weight back up.
Yesterday I decided to just eat my way through, and started with a local restaurant's lasagna, delivered to my door. The side salad was as big as my head, and wonderful. I made it through half the lasagna, and put away the rest for tonight. And I dozed on an off until bedtime.
Today I enlisted my granddaughter, now the garden fairy, and set about the mandevilla project. I've already been weeding the front gardens a bit, so she and I set off after lunch to collect up the necessaries.
We have red, pink and white, and a salmon colored that isn't a true mandevilla, though it looks very much the same. It took us only about three hours of her hard work and my feeble assistance. I came back in the house and took another nap. She's out with friends.
Here's a mandevilla at another house. Ours could be that lovely by summer's end.
I'm glad you ordered a meal from a restaurant. Lasagna with a good salad is a great choice. Definitely get those extra calories and put on some weight. You need to stay strong. Your new mandevillas sound very beautiful. Watching them grow, flower and climb will add a lovely display to your property.
ReplyDeleteHari OM
ReplyDeleteMeanwhile, I can't shift the weight for love or starvation... Oh those Mandies... can't wait to see how it all grows! YAM xx
That will be beautiful, Joanne. I hope you are successful with both your flowers and your weight journey. -Jenn
ReplyDeleteYour plant is so pretty. Hard work but it will be worth it! I hope you will be able to gain back some weight too.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure it's as frustrating for you to try to gain weight as it is for me to try to lose it.
ReplyDeleteI have never had trouble gaining weight. Glad about that because I would find it hard to eat if I didn't want to. I hope your plants start to vine and make you smile!
ReplyDeleteSo unusual to have to seriously work at gaining weight. But yes, you need the nourishment especially now.
ReplyDeleteYour mandevilleas are lovely. I knew you'd be out there soon!
Lasagna will do the trick! Try a few milkshakes too!
ReplyDeleteLasagna is such comfort food. My mom is having trouble keeping the weight on too; she has little motivation to eat and stuff tastes weird to her. That is a gorgeous flower! (never heard of it)
ReplyDeleteI understand the food thing, after trauma of any sort but especially head injury , food rather loses it's appeal. I do not have that problem AT ALL- opposite actually but then I rationalize that weight bearing is good for the old bones that live inside this meat bag.
ReplyDeleteI love the plant, it is stunning!
I hate to say it, but more lasagna and less salad will put the weight on more easily :) It's probably hard for you to change your eating habits to worse ones, just like it's hard for other people to change to better ones, but high calorie foods are your friend at the moment. We all need a bit of a cushion as we get older, or so says the geriatric doctor's assistant who assesses my mom. If you can stand those meal replacements (like Boost or Ensure) they will also deliver nutrients plus extra calories. Look for the one labelled higher calorie. Good luck. And your flowers will feed your soul while you feed your body - they are beautiful.
ReplyDeleteYou have used this comment to take the words out of my mouth/fingers. An unsanitary habit dear friend, but I agree with you 10000 per cent.
DeleteLOL, EC :)
DeleteIf you are able to eat ice cream that is a great way to gain weight. An occasional milkshake would help as well. Unfortunately, I don't need to gain weight but if I did...
ReplyDeleteI have no doubt your mandevillas will be gorgeous before you know it. Those flowers love you!
They're so pretty, it's a shame the mandevillas have to be replaced every year, instead of just living on and on. I agree with Bonnie, ice cream and milkshakes would help and other desserts such as rice puddings and baked egg custards. Unless you can't tolerate that much dairy. Bread is good too.
ReplyDeleteChoccy biscuits (cookies) do the job as well:)
ReplyDeleteWeight seems to be an eternal issue doesn't it. Too much or too little - rarely quite right!
ReplyDeleteJust eat a healthy balanced diet, maybe in more frequent meals..as you don't sound as if you would eat big meals. Maybe increase the protein a little?
ReplyDeleteWhatever you do, enjoy it!
It looks great already.
ReplyDeleteWhat a pretty mandevilla! As for weight, I support what gz said above.
ReplyDeleteWhen my husband was a college freshman and playing basketball, his coaches wanted him to put on weight. He was a skinny tall guy. So they told him to make milkshakes with ice cream, chocolate, peanut butter, and bananas. He was supposed to drink several of those a day. After a day or two he said he just could not.
ReplyDeleteYour mandevillas are going to be so lovely!
How lucky to have a good planting helper! Those flowers will be so beautiful!
ReplyDeleteI love salads, Joanne... and would take the salad over the Lasagna, but guess that's not the way to gain weight. You mentioned that you didn't drink milk once, but do you drink milk shakes or ice-cream? I know you make crostatas - so you must like pastry, try adding that to your daily healthy meals. And that pic of the Mandevilla on that porch is beautiful!
ReplyDeleteMy husband got to the point with his medical issues where he just had no appetitie and wouldn't eat. He was getting dangerously thin and lethargic and I told him he was going to end up in a nursing home if he couldn't start eating. I finally convinced him to start counting calories on everything he ate. He was resistive at first but then his old competitive nature kicked him and he started counting and recording them faithfully. It was an eye opening for him how little he was eating. Now months later he is back up to a healthy weight and is committed to staying there.
ReplyDeleteYour mandevilla looks very pretty and nice to have had a yard helper!
ReplyDeleteI'm so glad you have the garden back! And she who cannot be named to help. The iris you sent me still have never bloomed. I thought for sure with the really cold weather the last two winters they would. Maybe they don't get enough sun so I'm going to move them to a different location.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful flowers.
ReplyDelete