I have been on and off Atkins for about 2 years. Lost 50 lbs, have gained 40 back. I need help and support. My husband now has cancer and he is going through chemo. Yuke!! I am the typical over weight person, don't exercise. Now that my husband is sick all of the time I really don't do much. I try and cook the things that he can eat, he tries, can't and I end up eating it. Besides being worried I am frustrated because there isn't much that I can do to help him. I also cook for a living. I loved it when I lost all of the weight. I want to get back there again. Have started and re-started daily. I am really hoping that I can do it this time, but I need help. Thanks for your time.

Jansky I am so sorry to hear of your husbands cancer. This must be a very trying time for you and him. You will be in my thoughts and prayers.

I am by no means a pro at thisi but I do know you just have to take it one day at a time. You do need to take care of yourself so you are able to be there and able to help your dear hubby.

Try to keep just eating the foods you can eat and you will start going down again. I really have no words of wisdom just my support flowing through this computer. I hope it gets easier for you.

Have a good Saturday,

Windy

Hello Janksy!

The best thing you can do for your husband is to take care of you. He needs you the most right now and you need to be healthy as a horse! Working together you both can get stronger and healthier. We will all be here for you helping as much as we can as you go along this journey. It is going to be very difficult for you....more so than for most of us I am sure because you have the added stress of your DH.

Hopefully, this site can make it easier for you. There are recipes, tips, and most importantly, others who can share your fears, your goals, your setbacks and your triumphs. You will have all of them at some time or another and hopefully you will get through all of them. Keep a journal and talk to it everyday. Keep a log of your food on fitday.com. It helps!

I wish you the best of luck! My thoughts and prayers are with you and your husband as you both take on your battles. Just remember, you're not alone. We are an army of thousands - actually I think there are something like 22000 members on this forum!

Keep smiling
Dina

Jansky

I'm so sorry about your husband, and hope that the results of his treatment are good. I know how stressful a time this will be as my sister-in-law recently completed treatment for breast cancer her outlook is excellent and it seems with all the treatments available today that cancer patients have much more reason to be optimistic

To really help your husband you have to take care of yourself, and that means taking the time to be good to yourself even though there are many demands on you. One way to be good to yourself is to make sure that you are happy with yourself, maybe if you can look on sticking to your LC plan as a gift to yourself it will help.

Take care

Just wanted to add my support. I know you must feel pretty helpless. Just getting control of one area of your life will help you face the others.

Take care of yourself. I will be thinking of you and your husband.

Paleoanth

I would like to thank Windy, Dina, KoKo and Paleoanth for writing back. I sure appreciate the time that you took to help me. I am more inspired today than I was yesterday. Your messages sure help. It is like I want to do the right thing so that I can report back to you all. I made it through yesterday with just eating 3 jelly beans. I will have to take them off of my desk. I have them there for everyone else, but, as a fat person I find that I end up eating them too. And it is about the ice cream that I have in the house. That has to go too. I am okay with ice cream bars that I get for my husband, but I just can't leave the gallon of ice cream alone.
KoKo, I sure hope that your sister-in-law does well. Is she having to take chemo, etc? I will pray for her fast and complete recovery. They can do wonders now, but as you and I well know it is all in God's hands. When my husband came out of surgery the doctor told me that he wasn't able to get all of the cancer, but so far there is no sign of any more. I think that is because of all of the prayers that our great friends and family have made daily that has made the difference. We just have to keep up the faith and think positive.
You all, please take care and remember that I really appreciate your thoughtfullness.
Bye for now.
Jan

Good Morning Jansky,

Move those darn jelly beans, I have a tub of them at my house - acutally half a tub. I bought them for "my last meal" before starting low carb. I was eating them in the dark watching t.v. and since I don't like the black ones tossed what I thought was black back in, next day noticed an abundance of PURPLE ones - hadn't noticed there was a new color in there. Anyway they were not the best jelly beans, I like the tiny gourmet ones but my small town only had the big fat ones. So there is this container still hanging around, I have put them in cupboard I seldom open but once in a while when I see them I am tempted to take a handful. They just look so pretty I know I should throw them out but it goes "aginst ma Scottish blud to dae that"

My Sister-In-Law is doing great thank you. She had, surgery,chemo and radiation and they really think she will be allright. It was breast cancer that she had. She still has her breast by the way, they were able to just cut out the cancer.

Will your husband be having chemo, or radiation. It's a rough road ahead for him, but definitely a battle worth fighting. My prayers are with you and your family.

take care now, and ditch those jelly beans,

Jansky - So sorry about your husband's illness. I remember trying to fix meals for my mom when she had cancer. I'd think of something great, she'd say it sounded good, then 9 times out of 10 she couldn't eat it. I learned quickly that it didn't make sense to make very much of anything.

Do you have friends and family who could fix and freeze tiny portions of things that he might tolerate so that you don't have to cook so much? Are there any prepared foods that would work for him? Try not to fall into the trap that "I have to eat it or it will go to waste". Yeah, wasting food is a problem, but you don't have to eat it! Give it away - feed your dog -- anything other than eating it yourself.


Cindy

I am so sorry to hear that you are dealing with your husband's sickness. I don't know what it is to have someone that you love with cancer but I do know how helpless and frustrated I feel knowing that there is very little that I can do to help my husband who has alzheimers. I was gaining more and more when it dawned on me that in order to help him I had to be healthy so that I can think more clearly. I was wearing a track to the fridge in the flooring. This wol is something that you can do for yrself that will altimately help all those who come in contact with you. I am not saying this is easy but if you need someone to talk to I will be here. Perhaps talk to someone at the hospital about hubby's diet and make then talk to yr self. I tell myself how much better I feel now after only 3 wks and then either put left overs away or chuck them. I cook in smaller quanities of things I can not eat so that it isn't a big deal to use the garbage can. I fix foods that he likes today and his tastes keep changing- sometimes he doesn't know if he has ever tasted a cheese that he used to love. I will keep you in my prayers
Jan

Good morning Jansky, I hope all is going better for you. I have been thinking of you and your hubby.

I hope that each day it is getting easier to manage your hubbies health crisis and your new healthy way of eating.

I hope you have some support that is close and can help you with the day to day things that crop up. Is your family close to help you and hubby through this?

Try to have a sunny day and keep a on your face as we are all sendin ,s your way.

Windy

Jansky,

Hang in there. I had cancer myself 3 years ago (in April) and I know it is stressful all the way around. The thing that kept me strong was my faith in God. I knew who's hands I was in. No one has told me I'm cured yet, they won't say that for 5 years but I do not live in fear. I will keep you and your husband in my prayers. I am hoping you have family and friends surrounding you at this time. They mean so much. Let me know how it is going. This is a great group to be connected with.

KoKo

Throw away those jelly beans!!!! I know, I hate to throw away food too but were they really that good? I know you are struggling, throw them away before you start eating them out of frustration.

Linda

My prayers are with you


Take one day at a time, this is a time where you have to take care of yourself. Try and find a friend or a relative who can be a support for you, maybe someone who can participate in atkins with you.

Thank you all for writing to me. The last couple of days have been bad. We are snowed in, can you believe it? I live in Hot Springs, Arkansas, the south, where it is always supposed to be warm. Because I am snowed in all I am doing is thinking about food. That is the fat person coming out!!! Last night I fixed hot wings, with Frank's Hot Sauce, the best. That is okay, but went to the grocery store and bought junk food. Haven't gotten into it yet, I am hoping that by writing to you all that will inspire me to be good.
KoKo - I am sure glad that your sister-in-law has a good prognosis. My husband has been through the whole round of treatments, surgery, chemo, radiation and now more chemo. He is about ready to tell all of the doctors enough is enough. I am suprised that he hasn't hit this point before. But I guess you just do what you have to do to stay alive.
Can someone tell me how you can post a private message. Tried today and it wouldn't let me do it.
Take care you all and remember that I really appreciate the time you spend writing to me.
Jan

Jan-

You have to have 25 posts before you are allowed to private message people. It doesn't take long to accumulate posts, you will be there soon!

Just hang in there as best you can.

Paleoanth

Welcome to the forum Jan, and I'm so sorry to hear about your husband. Everybody else is right, you need to take care of yourself so that you can be strong mentally and physically for your husband. I'm not a medical professional, but a former co-worker's mother-in-law was diagnosed with cancer a few years back and she started something called macrobiotic eating. From what little she told me about it, it's a eating concept that's supposed to come from a Chinese saying "food and medicine from the same source" or something like that. I've lost contact with her after we both quit working at the same place, but I thought maybe it's something that you could look into for your husband in addition to his conventional treatments. I wish you all the strength and courage in getting through this. People here are very caring and wonderful, so if you need support and encouragement, this is a great place to be.