TWO YEARS LATER….

Updated 11/15/15
Well I spent two years waddling along, gaining as I went :)

I was privileged to take a rental unit back infested with cockroaches, bedbugs and have one wall destroyed with termites. I have learned a lot about bugs. The tenants left June 1, 2014. We tore out all the carpet, took out all the carpet tacks, took out all the bathroom cabinets, took out all the doors, took down the kitchen cabinets, cleaned and sprayed (thousands there, mostly dead) sprayed every crack, every corner for both cockroaches and bedbugs. The last bedbug we saw was about mid July, when someone started sleeping in the unit. We saw cockroaches even a week ago, but only tiny ones, I'm thinking that some eggs hatched. Last big one was seen over 2 weeks ago. So, now both bathrooms have been totally renovated, walls patched, new toilets, new cabinets, all new plumbing, tiled floor, new lighting, etc. Bedrooms have been painted, new outlets and switches and covers in all the rooms, a family member who will be living there is living in one of the semi-finished bedrooms. The downstairs is still a major disaster and it feels like it's going to take forever, but slowly things get done. We have already rehung the upper cabinets and installed an over the stove microwave. And here it is November 2015, and nothing more has been done because we have been so busy doing other things. Found out from my exterminator that bedbugs like to hide in the ceiling, ceiling fans, and then drop of people when they are sleeping. They hide in amazingly small places. One popped out when I removed an old curtain rod bracket. It wasn't alive for long!! And did you all know that the "worker termite" look like maggots. And they can eat wood and drywall… Had to totally rebuild the back wall of the unit. It was amazing to see the damage! And I guess the Queen can live 20 years.

So, while going through the stress of that, I was eating out at my favorite Chinese buffet restaurant over and over and over,,, and I did a good job of gaining weight!

Finally, here it is November, 2015, and I think I've stopped the insanity of eating too much -- at least for now! Committed to a strict program for the next several weeks with a weekly weigh-in. Now that I'm accountable to someone, I am having some success! Seems to help! I tried and after 2-3 failed over and over again over the past two years.... Now I'm smiling with a whole 10 days of successful eating. I rewarded myself with a new bottom freezer refrigerator and it's awesome to open, see food that I can / should be eating and make wise choices! So exciting after so long in the doldrums!