Weight Loss and OCD
Well it has been an interesting couple of weeks since my last update of the lives and adventures of Paul and Ginger. The pictures from last post of the roaches, well, that place has now been painted, cleaned and made to look brand new. Hard to imagine but 3 days worth of work, drywall patching, ceiling texturing, and painting along with a revamp in the make ready department will do that.
The big news, however, for the past couple of weeks has been Ginger and her journey into weight loss and OCD. Ginger's OCD had gotten to a rather critical level so she had received some medication from her doctor to relieve it. One of her close friends on the same medication said it would alter her quality of life drastically. Did it ever. Her husbands too. One of the symptoms of chronic OCD is obsessive checking, which Ginger did quite a bit, and that has all but vanished. And something else happened to. One of the side effects of the drug is either a) increased appetite or b) decreased appetite. Ginger falls in the b) category. Suddenly food, which was rather an obsession, has become a normal part of life, not an obsession. We've altered our diet to accomadate her weight loss (I pick my calories up at breakfast and lunch for those worried about me). And she can have two snacks during the day, an apple and almonds for one, yogurt and blueberries for the other. Sometimes she has both, sometimes none. And something else happened too, her husband became a hard nosed accountability partner. Before I get emails about how I need to support my wife, don't worry, she is very, very happy that I am hard nosed in this area. She's amazing. She'll text me and ask for ice cream, no. And she listens. She loves the structure. And she is obedient. I check on her during the day: Food check and Sanity check. I encourage her, she loves gold stars for doing well. And it spurs her on to continue on the journey. We've battled through a depression cycle, and made it out with her doing very well. We've had therapy sessions, just her and I, to delve into some past issues and the progress has been amazing.
So funny story to show how well the therapy is working. Last night we were in Hastings. I was looking at a book and Ginger was over in a chair across from me looking at her phone. Enter a creepy looking man who comes over by us and stands next to Ginger. I move over, put my hand on her shoulder and stand next to her. Suddenly she looks over at creepy looking man and says,
"Excuse me, your in my space and standing too close." He apologized, I looked at Ginger and she had a confident look on her face. "Come on let's go." I said, and we left. She was soooo proud of herself, because for once she defended herself. She is developing a confidence in herself that I get a first hand, front row seat to watch.
And now the weight loss, rather than a yoyo, is on a slow decline down. It's not jumping up and down. And she is about to hit one of many milestones. Nooooooo, I'm not telling you the milestone, one thing I learned early on is not to discuss women's weight. If she wants you to know she'll tell you. I want a happy wife and if she looked at this and I put a weight down, well, I'd be in deep doo doo.
Anyway, our belief is that God is working through the medication. We give God the glory for this change in our lives and for guiding us in the steps we need to take. It has been a fascinating journey and continues to be so, sweet Ginger and her drill instructor husband! Just kidding!
Baa
The big news, however, for the past couple of weeks has been Ginger and her journey into weight loss and OCD. Ginger's OCD had gotten to a rather critical level so she had received some medication from her doctor to relieve it. One of her close friends on the same medication said it would alter her quality of life drastically. Did it ever. Her husbands too. One of the symptoms of chronic OCD is obsessive checking, which Ginger did quite a bit, and that has all but vanished. And something else happened to. One of the side effects of the drug is either a) increased appetite or b) decreased appetite. Ginger falls in the b) category. Suddenly food, which was rather an obsession, has become a normal part of life, not an obsession. We've altered our diet to accomadate her weight loss (I pick my calories up at breakfast and lunch for those worried about me). And she can have two snacks during the day, an apple and almonds for one, yogurt and blueberries for the other. Sometimes she has both, sometimes none. And something else happened too, her husband became a hard nosed accountability partner. Before I get emails about how I need to support my wife, don't worry, she is very, very happy that I am hard nosed in this area. She's amazing. She'll text me and ask for ice cream, no. And she listens. She loves the structure. And she is obedient. I check on her during the day: Food check and Sanity check. I encourage her, she loves gold stars for doing well. And it spurs her on to continue on the journey. We've battled through a depression cycle, and made it out with her doing very well. We've had therapy sessions, just her and I, to delve into some past issues and the progress has been amazing.
So funny story to show how well the therapy is working. Last night we were in Hastings. I was looking at a book and Ginger was over in a chair across from me looking at her phone. Enter a creepy looking man who comes over by us and stands next to Ginger. I move over, put my hand on her shoulder and stand next to her. Suddenly she looks over at creepy looking man and says,
"Excuse me, your in my space and standing too close." He apologized, I looked at Ginger and she had a confident look on her face. "Come on let's go." I said, and we left. She was soooo proud of herself, because for once she defended herself. She is developing a confidence in herself that I get a first hand, front row seat to watch.
And now the weight loss, rather than a yoyo, is on a slow decline down. It's not jumping up and down. And she is about to hit one of many milestones. Nooooooo, I'm not telling you the milestone, one thing I learned early on is not to discuss women's weight. If she wants you to know she'll tell you. I want a happy wife and if she looked at this and I put a weight down, well, I'd be in deep doo doo.
Anyway, our belief is that God is working through the medication. We give God the glory for this change in our lives and for guiding us in the steps we need to take. It has been a fascinating journey and continues to be so, sweet Ginger and her drill instructor husband! Just kidding!
Baa
So happy to get an update! Congrats to both of you! You make an amazing team/couple & are both inspirations to all of us. Each person has his/her own mountain to climb & you both show us it can be done! Love you both so, so much!
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