So I went on a fabulous vacation to French Polynesia, played with Stingrays and black tipped reef sharks, then came home to some bad, but not totally unexpected news.  My brother had passed away.  Besides the emotional turmoil I had to make emergency arrangements to fly to New York from CA then reschedule my flight to San Antonio for the WLSFA Meet & Greet.  I got that done, made my trip to New York, packing for both New York and San Antonio and made it through the funeral and the aftermath.  I am still sad, grieving but happy that he is no longer in pain.  I then got on a plane (actually - two since there is no nonstop flight from any NY airport to San Antonio), and headed to San Antonio.  Spent 4 nights there, working 3 days from sunup to long after sundown, loving every minute, and on Monday, June 4^th I headed home.  Whew, I am exhausted just writing about it.

When I added up the air miles it was a total of 15,350 miles flown within a 24 day period.  That doesn’t count the hundreds of miles driven.  I guess I have a right to be a little tired and take some time to recover.  Well it’s 8 days since I landed at home, all my laundry is done, all the clothes are put away, I am back on my regular schedule for the gym and starting to feel almost human again.

I am still feeling extraordinarily tired, headachy and a little bit out of sorts.  So what do I do as a “good” weight loss surgery patient?  I look at The Success Habits and see how I rate in following them.  Nutrition and portion control – check; exercise - check; accountability - check (or so I thought); hydration - ooops; vitamins and supplements - bigger oops.

Yes, I found that I had not been getting in my water as I typically do.  This can happen while away from home or being off a regular schedule for any reason.  I know better.  I hydrated well while I was flying, but not so much in between flights.  Hmmmm, could that be why I have had a headache on and off for the last week?  Could that be why my digestive tract has been a little unhappy?  What do you think?

My doc recommends 64 oz of water daily, but my body likes about 80 to function well.  I’ve been lucky, except or this past week when I have been giving it my attention, to get in 64 oz.  I managed 80 for several days in a row and my headaches have been non-existent and my body aches are going away.

Next, I realized that I have managed to miss my regular vitamin regimen at least ½ the time since I got home on 5/20 from my vacation through yesterday, when I didn’t take a single vitamin.  Could this be why I don’t have energy in the middle of the day, why I poop out immediately after dinner and why my workouts have seemed so dang hard?  My vitamin/mineral levels are always good when bloodwork is done, but that doesn’t mean that the extra B complex I take daily doesn’t give me a boost of energy…  I am committed, starting today, to get all my vitamins/minerals in gain on a regular basis.  For 14 years I have been 95% compliant, now is no time to stop.  If I feel better when I take them I don’t care if it’s real or a perceived (or placebo) effect I want it!

Finally, sleep was hard to come by for a week or so, not because of the time zone changes (that only confused my body) but more because of the emotions that I was going through.  I woke up in the middle of the night, or couldn’t get to sleep as my mind raced on with the “What if I had…  and, Why didn’t I…” questions.  Once I recognized that I was trying to control the questions served no positive purpose, I was able to push through and get to the other side of that insomnia.  Now that I am sleeping better I wake up with more energy, even though until I get my hydration and vitamins back on par that energy doesn’t stay with me throughout the day.

My prescription for ME is threefold:

1. Hydrate - drink 80 oz of water a day
2. Take my vitamins - without fail daily
3. Sleep- go to bed between 10 and 11 each night since I wake up by 5am

I’m sure I will be back to my normal within another week.  In the meantime, I will work diligently to convince my brain and body to obey me, no matter what it takes.

When you feel out of sorts do you stop and check in with yourself to see what might be missing from your daily actions?  Personal accountability is key to long term success.