Slim Challenges of Life with Mom, Part 2

Mom & Me, Circa 2002

It has been quite the Slim Challenge to live with my now 91.75 year old Mom.  As you may recall, she eats the least healthy food possible at every opportunity and has sweet treats Every Day.  Even just keeping her company some of the time plus doing my fair share of stress eating (stuffing those feelings), had a weighty consequence.

After about 7 months of sporadic healthy behaviors, I hit my saturation point.  I recommitted to all my slim behaviors, started exercising regularly, and slowly I have let go of the 22# amassed.

I did think,  having developed wonderful easy ways to use feng shui to support slim intentions and written a book on the subject that I was off the Slim/Pudgy Pendulum Ride  forever.  Obviously, I've found that major changes in one's life can still wreak havoc with one's desires and intentions.

I am very glad that I was able to apply the principles in Slim House Slim Body, even when it didn't seem to be having a very direct effect on me.

Over the last year, I have been clearing out virtually every closet, cabinet, storeroom, and drawer in my Mom's very large home.  To her eyes, it looks very much the same.  Most of the differences are behind closed doors.

The bulk of this project was completed about the time I decided enough is enough and recommitted to my slim lifestyle. 

It took about a month for Mom to quit suggesting I taste her yummy indulgences.  For a while there, it seemed like I was saying "No, thanks" about 8 times a day.  Her new habit of refraining from asking me to share in such things makes it much easier to stay on track with my healthy food choices.

I'm currently at an acceptable weight.  However, there's this gorgeous, red, halter top dancing dress with a beaded jacket that will be perfect for Christmas dancing parties that I'd love to wear.  It's my Mom's dress from her former petite days.  I think it is possible that I can healthily wear it.  It's a wonderful dream, in any case.

Do you live with someone who either doesn't need to watch what they eat or simply chooses not to be careful?  How do you manage?

Copyright © 2010 Kathleen Tumpane. All rights reserved.

Inconvenience is good feng shui!

Two of the challenges in the slim life while being present for (living with) Mom has been
(a) being too tired in the early evening to have the energy to make a real, healthy dinner
(b) the abundance of high fat, high carb and yes, delicious, food in the house.

Gone, for the nonce, are the days when Dangerous Foods just didn't live with me. I have fresh appreciation of how difficult it is for those of you that have husbands and roomies that do not share your desire to surround yourself with ONLY yummy, SLIM food options.

I'm happy to report that I've had a breakthrough !! It primarily addresses the first of the challenges mentioned above ... being too tired at the end of the day to prepare a real dinner. However, it also reduces the desire to munch on all those scrumptious somethings in the kitchen.

What I've discovered is the magic of doing most of the prep work for dinner first thing in the morning. Well, not FIRST thing, but nearly. After my second cup of coffee and while I'm enjoying the third, I LIKE to cook. Or at least prepare up to the point of actually cooking.

That means, when the dinner hour approaches I have just enough energy to complete the process and enjoy an absolutely scrumptious, healthy meal.

I still seem to have the habit of munching the evening away. But, that is easily arrested by having the munchables sufficiently distant from my usual evening locations (Den sofa watching TV, snuggling in bed with my kitties reading a book). Distance to munchies being up the stairs and through the entire rest of the house to get to them gives me time to re-consider munching. Distance allows awareness to be heightened which helps break the munching habit.

If you live in very small space, distance may not be an option. You probably can keep your favorite munchies in inconvenient locations, though.

• top shelf especially if you need a step stool to get them.
  
• bottom shelf, way in the back of a cabinet, so you practically need to get on the floor to reach them.
• in a cabinet in your garage.
• in a box in the trunk of your car ... far away from the lid.

It is actually better to store your favorite indulgences in a room you rarely use, like a guest bedroom, or a room usually not associated with food, like your garage.

The goofier the location, the less convenient, the better!

In most cases, the feng shui suggestion is to place items in the most convenient location. In this case, the opposite is the best feng shui option. Don't you just love that!

Slim Challenges of Life with Mom, Part 1

As you may know, I am currently being present for my 90 year old Mom. This has brought several challenges to my slim life. In no particular order ...

1. Her home is filled with stuff. For the most part, it is beautiful, well-loved, great memory-filled stuff. The other stuff is just stuff. I have been steadily deleting THAT stuff. With every load for the trash guys, my slim life gets easier.

2. Mom eats whatever she likes which is usually the most fat filled, artery clogging item on the menu. As long as we're eating out, that is no problem for me. Those foods hold no allure for me. One example, Zeppo's Mac and Cheese. The serving was enough for Mom's lunch plus dinner for two. Luckily, mac and cheese is NOT one of my comfort foods. My lunch at Zeppo's was Salmon e Limone; molto bene.

3. At age 72 or so, Mom's sweet tooth gained precedence over her will power. So if we stop at Starbuck's or Peet's for coffee, she will always want something from the sweet offerings. This IS difficult for me because I've always had a very active sweet tooth. I'm doing better with this than I was. Just realizing that mom will Always want something sweet makes it easier for me to make careful choices of indulgences.

Interestingly, rearranging the TV Room/downstairs Living Room so mom can see and hear the TV more easily has had the most impact on easing my slim life. In doing so, I moved the two chairs I've never liked out of my Office and moved the loveseat from the downstairs (dare I say My) Living Room into my Office. The net result is a much lighter feeling Living Room and a cozier Office.

What are your Slim Challenges? Does this post give you some ideas of how you can handle your challenges more easily? Please share. We're all in this, together!