Buster's HOME

Just brought B home from the hospital.  Right now he is sleeping in his new "digs," an x-pen that will keep him confined so he can't try to climb up on anything, or slip on our hard wood floors.  Other than when he goes outside to visit Mother Nature, or when he has physical therapy, he'll be in this pen for the next few weeks.  He also has to wear a "cone of shame" so that he can't bite or lick his stitches.  But he's such a trooper.  That poor little dog has been through a lot in his 10 years of life, yet he is always so stoic and brave.

You can't see the stitches because they are on the inside of his thigh

Buster and his cone

He can see out the window so he can still keep an eye on his domain

I did take the opportunity of talking to the orthopedic surgeon to ask about something that has bothered me for years and for which I've felt guilty...whether the long (I mean hours looooong) walks he and I used to take when he was young could be related to all these joint problems he has now (elbow dysplasia, bad hips, and now this).  I've always worried that I wore out my dog!  She eased my mind and said in fact all the walking probably kept him from having more serious problems earlier in life.  She showed me on the x-ray how, although his hip bones are horrible, they are surrounded by super strong muscles. She said it was obviously from lots of exercise as a young dog...and even though he hasn't been able to walk very fast in the past few years because of the elbow dysplasia, Hub and I still take him to the park almost every day and watch his weight very carefully.  Plus he gets a glucosamine treat and fish oil every day.  So that made me feel better and actually kind of proud of being such a good pet mom.
 
So yesterday I was still a bit crazy in my eating, mostly because of the stress of B having surgery.  I ate 2 candy bars in the afternoon for almost 800 calories, but because I wasn't in the mood to eat much of anything else, I think my calories were still only around 1500 for the day.  I still do eat emotionally on occasion.  But it's rare now and I can see that it's usually related to a specific stressful event, rather than a daily mechanism for just coping with everyday life in general.   

The bottom line with IF is that you eat less because you don't eat as many times a day...it's not a magic bullet.  Let's be honest, caloric restriction is really why you lose weight. But it just seems to work better for me than multiple small meals a day, even if the calorie totals are the same.

So, now that B is okay and home, today I'm back on track and it feels good to be back in "the Zone" as Launna recently posted on her blog.  This morning, while I was getting the pen out of the basement for B, I found another box of clothes that I put away a few years ago because they were too small.  I spent a few minutes trying them on...they still don't fit.  But now it's because they are too big! I missed the "just right" phase...but no complaints here!

It's a beautiful day in the Pacific Northwest and looks to be a lovely weekend.  I hope everyone is enjoying the summer before it's gone!  Before we know it, autumn will be here!