41 Pounds or More!

Arrgh!  In last week's communication with my son, he made this statement, "My metabolism got nuked. Like, on Tuesday and Wednesday I ate an estimate of about 6000 calories each day, the following day it must have been about 4000, the next day about 3500 and the next day 3500 again.”

In that single statement, I saw evidence of counting calories and tracking them over time.  I also saw him inflating the numbers wildly like he used to do.  

So this week, I got in his face (as much as I could over email) and asked what was going on.  This was his response:  "I'll be frank with you. There have been some recent paradigm shifts in my mental processes that have been frightening and a little reminiscent of my former days. There have been a lot of things that I thought then that I am thinking again that I had forgotten I thought. So you could say it has felt a little digressive. 

That being said, while also anxious to not regress into a complete psychological vegetable and completely incapable servant of the Lord, I am not eager to return to my physical state from immediately before my mission and in H*. Both of those times were painful and frustrating, both physically and mentally. I feel like I am in a reasonably good middle area."  

What an incredibly hard spot to be in!  What do we do about this?  The good news is that transfers are happening next week.  In his mission, there are areas where the missionaries are very well-fed.  He hasn't been in one of those areas during the past 9 months.  Any of those areas would be perfect for him at this point.  So that's what we're praying for.  

He has 10 months left.  It would be best if he could finish out those last 10 months.  I don't think he is at the point where we need to bring him home.  There are several other interventions that we can do before hitting that point anyway.  But I am so worried!