01 02 03 I'm My Favorite: Lying to My Doctor 04 05 15 16 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 31 32 33

Lying to My Doctor

34
Confession: I didn't see my doctor for three years after my youngest was born. I didn't go because I didn't want to be yelled at for my weight.

(Please, please, please don't do what I did. It was stupid to let my ego get in the way of my health and I'm lucky that everything checked out ok after my long absence.)

When I did go to see my doctor I was kind of excited because I was just going to see the nurse practitioner. Phew, no lecture.

Meghan was this short, thin, mid-30s firecracker who was dressed in brown cords and a sweater. (No scrubs for her). She was fast-talking and quickly went down her checklist of questions for me. We were on a roll and I thought I'd be out of there in no time.

She was very nice and knew how to put her patients at ease. We wrapped up everything and then she hit me with the question. "Do you exercise?"

And I lied through my teeth. "Yeah, a little bit."

"What kind of exercise do you do."

"Um ..."

I wasn't expecting a follow up question and my mind went blank. I mumbled something about walking.

She then went on to talk about how important exercise is and how often I should be doing it. She suggested I get the kids involved and that they would help me get out and continue to walk.

She went on to talk about my weight and other stuff, but at that point I was just hearing the Charlie Brown teacher voice and all I wanted was for her to stop talking so I could get out of there.

Looking back, she was just doing her job and she did it in a nice way. She wasn't judgemental; she was sincere.

I was embarrassed and depressed. I was determined that my next year's appointment would be different. And for once in my life it was.

When I saw Meghan in May of 2009 I had lost about 20 pounds and she was ecstatic. She wanted to know what I had been doing to lose the weight and she was so happy for me. It felt so good. I couldn't stop smiling. I was so excited to have this stranger's approval.

I saw Meghan again last week. Down another 7 pounds. She was very happy that I had kept the weight off that I had lost the previous year. She asked if I was exercising (I was so hoping she would ask). This time I didn't have to lie. I proudly told her I was exercising three to five times a week.

It was really nice to know, going into my appointment, that we wouldn't be having the dreaded weight lecture. It was really nice that Meghan praised me for my hard work. Although having my doctor's approval had been a motivation for me in the past, it's not now. I'm doing this for myself and my health.

Do you dread going to the doctor? Does your doctor lecture you on losing weight? How does it make you feel?

Family Corner
I posted on Friday that I was looking forward to a Plan-Free Weekend and I'm happy to report it was everything I hoped it would be. Saturday we went to some garage sales, stopped for a healthy snack and went to the pool. Sunday we had our "special lunches." Jim and Gracie went to McDonalds (her choice) and Target to pick out snacks for Cub Scout day camp this week. Jacob and I went to a local Mexican restaurant and ordered way too much food. Then we headed to one of our favorite stores, Half Price Book Store, and he picked out a few books from his favorite author, Dav Pilkey. We spent the rest of the day with my parents and my brother and his family who are visiting from out-of-state. It was a perfect weekend.


Me and Jacob at Acapulco Joe's for our special lunch.

Jacob's finds at the book store.

How cute are my kids?
35 36 37 38