I asked these questions in my journal in the hope that someone might give an opinion. Perhaps here they will get seen more.

I had major (I guess) surgery 3.5 weeks ago - total hip replacement. Since then & until June 11, I must walk on crutches with only about 20-40 pounds on the operated foot.

I know that I was about 217 when I went in, but weighed self on balance beam in the hospital and was back up to 221. Well, all they gave me to eat was sugar & starch, so no wonder!

I was advised to eat about 100 gm of carbs daily while healing (about 2 months) so have been eating good carbs (potatoes, bran bread & veggies) and also some bad carbs (cookies, ice cream, but not often).

The strange thing is that I am losing weight and am now lower than I have been in 2 years, despite months of strict LC.

So the questions are:

1. Does it REALLY take so much energy to heal & regrow bone and muscles that I am losing despite the high carb level?

2. Am I losing because I am doing BIG strength training by hauling myself around on the crutches?

3. My waist is about 2 inches smaller in the last 2 weeks. Why does arm exercise decrease the waist?

4. is it possible that my CCLL (see Atkins) is really much HIGHER than I ever thought and that I have been eating too FEW carbs for the last 3 years of a stall?

If you have ideas about these things, I'd really like to hear them. Thanks in advance.

BarB