I haven’t talked to many folks who’ve been diagnosed with cancer and discussed weight change during chemotherapy. The one friend I did talk to let me know that she lost a whopping 20 lbs and that outright scared me – she didn’t have 20 extra pounds to lose!!  Hearing this, and hearing the doctors tell me (when I asked what I should eat) to just eat what I could since it’d likely be hard to focus on eating the perfect diet since the chemo would make it all exceedingly challenging hasn’t helped things much.

My diet was pretty good coming into this whole mess. I was eating low carbs, high protein and trying to get more fruits and veggies onto my plate. Enter chemotherapy and wham, carbs came back with a vengeance since they help settle my stomach. Now I feel like the odd man out – the cancer patient that’s actually putting on weight and for me, who’s been at my current weight for what’s gotta be close to 10 years, this is not a cool thing. All of that work at the gym, all of those hours of running, lifting weights, burpees and wall balls, they all have given me the body I have and I love the way it feels!!! and now I’ve been trashing it these last few weeks – indulging in my ever favorite gluten-free tortilla chips. On the couch. At night. Right before I go to bed. The absolute WORST time to stuff myself (or anyone) full of big old empty carb calories. And what do I have to show for it – my happy little ring of softness growing around my midsection which totally sucks.  I KNOW better than this. I AM better than this. I just have to fine that new line between needing a little hit of some carbs to keep me settled and eating the ENTIRE packet of Ritz crackers (at work) or half the bag of tortilla chips. Seriously. This is uncool.

Last night I hit the grocery story and I’m happy to report that the beautiful red, yellow and orange peppers were on sale, 5 for $5 – cheaper than the plain old green ones – so I bought a bunch.  The big peppers have been my go-to, gotta have a veggie on my plate but I’m too lazy to cook any veggie. I simply cut them up, remove the seeds and eat as is. Simple as that. If I’m going to eat those carbs and going to need to for the slight nausea then I have got to get back to my rule of having to have some veggie/fruit to balance it. One cannot go into my mouth without the other. No can do. Not any more.

Today the battle will begin again. One meal at a time. One snack at a time. One simple decision at a time I will get it back.