| Yo-yo dieting. Can you identify? For breast cancer | | | | So I decided in early June to do what millions of |
| survivors it's a double entendre. | | | | Americans try to do each year: lose weight. This time |
| My weight has flip-flopped for many years, long | | | | it would not be a diet, but a so-called lifestyle change. |
| before receiving my first breast cancer diagnosis. Not | | | | I had already attempted such a feat in 1999 because |
| that I was very heavy to begin with, or gained huge | | | | I developed lymphedema, a swelling condition |
| amounts of weight. I'm talking about that extra | | | | worsened by weight gain. The weight came off and |
| pesky 15-20 pounds around the stomach on my 5'7" | | | | stayed off for six months. I thought I had it licked. |
| frame. | | | | Wasn't a habit formed in three weeks? |
| Much of that weight gain is due to compulsive | | | | Alas, the weight started coming on again, little by |
| overeating, a binge disorder with which I have | | | | little, as I snacked a bit here, a bit there. I stopped |
| struggled since teenage years. My mother would | | | | avoiding buffets and church potlucks. I resumed |
| chide me at sixteen for eating a quart of ice cream | | | | walking the candy aisles of the drugstores and |
| when I got home from school, when dinner would be | | | | supermarkets in search of sale items to put in my |
| in two hours. And when I received three Easter | | | | secret storage drawer next to my computer. How |
| baskets every year, I wouldn't just bite off the | | | | could I give up my comfort food, my emotional |
| chocolate bunny's ears. I'd ingest the whole thing | | | | eating fix? I found myself back to where I was: |
| along with a few marshmallow eggs for good | | | | 20 pounds heavier with an arm swollen with |
| measure an hour before a meal. | | | | lymphedema. |
| Things only became worse when I got married and | | | | But 2010 is going to be different. In three months I |
| had kids. The boys always had sweets in the house, | | | | have lost over 17 pounds. My not-so-private secret? |
| so Stealth Mom would grab a stash of cookies or a | | | | Consciously eating more fruits and vegetables and |
| quart of ice cream on her way upstairs to her | | | | avoiding any kind of sweet snack or dessert. |
| computer. I even stole candy from my sons' rooms, | | | | Journaling my eating patterns and weighing twice a |
| always promising myself that I would replenish their | | | | week also helps. I only eat three meals a day, |
| supplies. I'd also gulp down chocolate chips-intended | | | | choosing whole grains and small portions. |
| only for cookie dough-straight from the bag in which | | | | People have started to notice my weight loss, even |
| they came. | | | | though it doesn't show dramatically on my body. |
| I thought my diagnosis of breast cancer, the | | | | Young adults and baby boomers have complimented |
| estrogen-receptor-positive kind, would put a stop to | | | | me, and my husband thanked me. I was thrilled to |
| bingeing on high-fat goodies. Because estrogen is | | | | get visible results and enjoy better-fitting clothes. To |
| made by fat cells. I needed to reduce my fat intake | | | | go with my new figure I bought new skinny-jean |
| to quell any cancer cells that might lurk in my body. | | | | leggings. |
| My weight zoomed up during chemo treatment, as | | | | But then the inevitable happened. A senior asked me |
| does the weight of most breast cancer survivors, | | | | if I was all right. |
| but I got it under control soon after chemo ended | | | | "Yes, I am fine. Why do you ask?" I ventured. |
| by resuming my exercise regimen. | | | | "Well, I noticed you lost some weight." |
| At least until I received a second diagnosis of breast | | | | "Yes, I did. And it's a good thing." I wanted to sound |
| cancer at 52. | | | | convincing, but wasn't sure if I was getting across to |
| The pathology of this second tumor warranted the | | | | this concerned lady. |
| "big-guns" chemo that made me gain about 15 | | | | "Is it? I just hope it's not your cancer." |
| pounds. The added baggage proved hard to shed this | | | | Well, this comment burst my bubble. I expected |
| time as menopause sank in and age crept up on me. | | | | someone to make this observation eventually, as |
| I believed, however, that my secret snacking could | | | | weight loss in a cancer survivor could be serious, |
| continue because I was taking a daily | | | | could mean wasting away. But I was hurt that this |
| estrogen-depleting medicine Arimidex to ward off a | | | | woman thought I would not tell her if I had a cancer |
| recurrence. Surely this medicine would attack any | | | | recurrence. Of course, I would tell everyone who |
| estrogen produced by my fat cells. But I couldn't help | | | | would listen so more prayers would go heavenward. |
| reading those articles reporting a higher risk of | | | | Then I remembered that this poor soul had lost her |
| recurrence in overweight and obese women. Was I | | | | husband to cancer. That explained everything to me, |
| considered overweight? Not according to my body | | | | and increased my compassion for caregivers and |
| mass index and the standard medical charts. Still, my | | | | widows of cancer patients. |
| clothes were feeling tighter and tighter, not only on | | | | As a breast cancer survivor I advise eating right to |
| the bottom, but on the top. Now was the time either | | | | improve one's health, and exercising if appropriate. As |
| to clean out my wardrobe of all the size-8 jeans and | | | | I am not a doctor, I strongly suggest asking an |
| other accoutrements that went with the slender | | | | oncologist about the advisability of weight loss for an |
| figure, or actually try to reduce. | | | | individual patient, especially if osteoporosis or anorexia |
| In March 2010 I discontinued the Arimidex. The | | | | is a possibility. And if the weight loss is involuntary, a |
| doctor said I had taken it long enough. At that point I | | | | cancer survivor should definitely seek medical help. |
| realized I needed to get rid of all extra poundage. I | | | | I'm happy with my new weight and hope to maintain |
| no longer had my prescription crutch to lean on. Plus, | | | | it for life. Binge eating did not suit me nor my size-8 |
| I wasn't sure if my husband was so thrilled anymore | | | | pantsuits. Yo-yo's are out, bon-bons are out, but |
| with the way I looked. I wasn't flabby, but neither | | | | pom-poms are in. I'm cheering for patients and |
| was I svelte as in the days of yore. | | | | survivors to get into the groove of healthful living. |
| Something had to be done. | | | | |