01gt4.6

At work 20 mins, about to write my 1st policy and the Internet dropped!!!!!!!

taubele

Cassie: Seems like the Chinese went ok, that food can be a death trap - though they really do have some healthy-ish options if you go for 'em before you grab the sesame chicken!

Mike: I agree with Amy that writing a letter for the woman who might have identified the fix would be a great idea. I always try to make it a point when someone fixes a problem that other people seem stumped on. What a proud Dad you must be of your youngest, that's awesome!! How's the computer/net?

Amy: Those bunnies are adorable!!! I love the names, too, it's like keeping a little bit of Christmas all year. Good luck on building those cages, I'm sure you will absolutely kill it.

Mern: You have every right to brag! I can't ever remember having an all-green report, actually, lol. I'm so glad your back is feeling better - yes, the pain was totally gone the next day after I slept when I hurt my shoulder, it was really weird. I ended up chalking it up to stepping on the stair funny (somehow?) and it hasn't even made a peep of returning, so I'm just signing it off as a body quirk. I will be feeling totally better soon I hope! Coughs always seem to linger, but other than the hacking every once in awhile, I feel like myself again. I am even going to try a workout this evening, we'll see how it goes.

Pam: I haen't taught for a few years and I miss it. There are a lot of pains associated with teaching (the constant e-mails, whining pre-med students, grading, make-up exams, the red tape involved with it all) but at the end of the day I feel like a better scientist when I'm teaching, and I'm happier with my day-to-day life. I think that counts for something. I'm a little nervous about starting up again - worried about being rusty! - but I've been lucky in that a lot of people have been willing to share powerpoint slides (makes the prep not take hours and hours) and I'm just going to ease in tomorrow with a small introductory lecture after getting to know my class a little bit. 20 Masters' students shouldn't be too hard to take - hopefully they will be more focused than your typical undergraduate!

Beth: I don't know you from before, but hello and welcome back!!!

Tori: Your Tuesdays sound like my Mondays I wish I could have been a fly on the wall when you gave that dude a piece of your mind!!! I'm so terrible at giving tongue-lashings when needed, I tend to just go into shock and my jaw drops open and I can't think of anything at all good to say, lol. I'll think of real zingers 20 minutes after the fact.

Lizzie: AWWWWW on the kisses, those are a worthy treat!!

On BF: He called Firestone this morning and the manager told him that his application had been rejected by the district manager due to experience, as thought. They're trying to work it out on the phone this morning to (hopefully) get him in the system or get an interview or something rather than having the automatic rejection due to experience. Waiting on all these calls is nerve-wracking.

Monday Report Card

1) Log calories every day. Everything. M: Yes, even the handful of M&Ms I had for dessert T: yes, though I had to guesstimate a couple of things
2) Try to keep calorie average for the week between 1200 and 1500 (giving myself a little more wiggle room than usual here, because my illness is making my appetite unpredictable. Some days I'm ravenous, other days I only eat one meal.) M: 1,116. Was not a hungry day. T: 1,507 - I hate this appetite up-and-down thing I've got going. (Week Average: 1,311.5)
3) Keep track of daily expenditures M: no, but I will go backlog it right now! T: yes
4) In bed by 11:30 every night, no excuses M: No T: Hell no.
5) Keep positive and level-headed for BF M: yes T: yes
6) 80 oz. or more of water daily M: No (64) T: I think so
7) Weigh in daily; report here. M: 163.2 T: 161.6
8) Name something wonderful that happens every day. M: I had a moment of panic when I thought I lost the instructor's materials for the class I'm teaching. But then I found them, and that was wonderful! T: BF's job prospects looking better.

My appetite is completely running me ragged. One day I have to force myself to eat, and the next I could swallow a cow whole. I could have easily eaten 500 more calories yesterday but I made myself go to bed hungry. Now, this morning, I couldn't even bring myself to eat breakfast. Ugh. I'm guessing it's a combination of getting off of vacation hours + getting over illness + terrible sleeping habits that are throwing me off-kilter. I am feeling okay today. Tired (I didn't get to bed until 1:00 AM) but that's my own fault - I should have hit the hay at 11:00 when I was tired, but instead I ended up talking with BF about this and that and I hit a second wind, couldn't sleep a wink until the wee hours.

My weight was 162.1 this morning. We are bouncy this week.

I've resolved to try a workout tonight. Maybe it will tucker me out and I'll get back to sleeping at a decent hour. Got a lot of class prep to do today, and the internet resources I need for my class roster aren't working, so I need to make a fun phone call to the Registrar's Office on the first day of class. Let's see if my hold time is less than an hour!!

Happy Wednesday, everyone!

~Terri

DeanaFerris

Hi all! My name is Deana and I live in a small town just south of Olympia, WA. I've lived here with my hubby for about 1 1/2 years.

I had gastric bypass in May of 2004 and lost just about 150# over a year and a half. Since then, I've mostly hovered around the 178-185 weight and even though I would like to be smaller, I am pretty happy with that weight. Before my bypass, the doc told me that when all was said and done, I would end up weighing about 190, which is a huge improvement over where I started.

Long story short...this has been one hell of a year. My MIL passed away in April, my mom got sick in August and we subsequently moved her across the state to live with us. I lost my job with the state at the end of August, we suffered a huge business setback in September and have had my mom in and out of the hospital several times over the past few months, with yesterday being the most recent. Also, today is the first day I've felt good in over 3 weeks!! I had a migraine that sent me to the ER 3 times and admitted me to the hospital last week ----think stress is overwhelming me??

Anyway, I'm a very emotional eater and have found myself mindlessly eating in an attempt to sooth myself. ACK!!! I'm up to 194# as of today and know I've got to lose a bit so I don't end up back where I started, which is a huge fear of mine. I would like to weigh in at 175 when I reach goal, so I've got 19 pounds to go. Even after gastric bypass, I still have to keep an eye on things and I guess that's normal for most people. Having spent most of my life on the heavy side, I didn't watch a thing except the food going from plate to my mouth! LOL

I am here to feel like I've got some outside communication and support. Being a caregiver is emotionally and physically hard work. My hubby is great, but there are things that are my responsibility to handle. There have been days where I feel like I'm ready to have a breakdown and several days I've cried. I know that's normal too, but being a generally happy person, this is so difficult.

I feel like I'm rambling now, so I'll sign off. Thanks for letting me put myself out here and I hope we can all get to know each other in the coming weeks/months.

Deana

Mern

Mike, oh crud! My mouth dropped open when you said your Internet dropped again. Wouldn't help to change Internet providers? My mind is still a day ahead..today is just Wednesday, so you've still got plenty of time to meet that 10 mile walk committment. Bravo on the acts of kindness--your neighbors are blessed with your friendship and generosity. Aw, nice of you to make the avatar, too.

Terri, thanks for the kudos on my green--very unusual for me. Almost made it again yesterday--missed on water, so I'm making it a point to get it in today--only 48 oz. (less than many drink) but I'm OK with that. So glad your shoulderblade body quirk was completely gone the day after. I'm positive now my back thing was just a severe cramp--just finished my two miles of exercise complete with resistance band work and I feel great. I hope you are truly on the tail end of that cough. If you decide to try it, I hope your workout goes well tonight. Thanks for the update on BF--great to know there's still hope on that Firestone job. So we won't DIScount the chickens before they're hatched. I hope your appetite comes back to normal very soon--makes it hard to control healthful calorie levels and food choices when you're recuperating from a cold. Probably the same reason for your scale numbers bouncing. It'll level out soon. Best wishes, too, on your class prep and phone call to the Registrar's Office.

Deana, welcome to our group! Thanks for sharing your story. Wow, do I admire you for all you've accomplished under very difficult circumstances. My condolences on the loss of your mother-in-law. Several members here have been or still are caregivers, so can certainly empathize with you. What kind of treatment did they give you in the hospital for that migraine? We will be happy to lend you our support. Have you got a plan worked out for getting your weight back down? I mean like goals set for calories, exercise, etc? Are you doing this under doctor supervision? If so, what are his/her recommendations? Best wishes and big hug to ya!

01gt4.6

Welcome aboard Deana!

Mern, I just wrote #2 and I dropped the internet again!!! That makes twice that the internet has dropped in less than 2 hours. There's only 2 internet companies here. AT&T and Charter, they both suck becuase they both use the same lines. We've used them both.

Terri, See my reply to mern.

01gt4.6

Can you hear me???? I'm yelling!!!! I dropped for a 3rd time in less than 2.5 hours.

dar n

Mern I really don’t know why the computer makes me cranky but hubby and kids can attest to my mood change after a couple hours I get irritable it’s a good thing my career doesn’t require an length of time sitting behind a computer. I don’t normally drink that much water and after 3 bathroom trips before 6am I know why. I am just trying to detox out all the sugar so my body feels better and a couple years ago I did a three week raw food cleanse and I honestly never felt better I couldn’t do it as a lifestyle I missed a lot of foods and was hungry often but I do find just doing a couple of days makes me feel really good.

Beth You work in a gym so you are very active your calories would be higher than mine since I am 5’2” and not presently working, my activity level is low to moderate so I am eating in the 1200’s when I was working and getting to the gym 5 days a week I was eating 1500 and still losing so it just depends on what works for you.

Cassie I eat raw more often in the spring and summer when organic fruits and veggie’s are cheap and plentiful. I use it more to cleanse and just to feel better yesterday I had 2 pieces of fruit and carrot juice for breakfast, snack was raw granola and yogurt, lunch was salad with sprouted seeds and berries and a protein shake(not raw food), snack avocado, hummus, veggie sticks, dinner gazpacho soup, salad, coconut juice, yogurt and wheat germ, snack nuts and fruit I also still drank my coffee but had it black instead of with milk. Like I said to Mern I couldn’t do it every day but if you have never tried it give it a go I feel so good after a couple days. I have heard people say that it can have complete body detox results so some find they have headaches or tummy concerns while all the toxins leave your body and I did find that when I did the three week plan.I hope your work day isn't to long and you get some down time.

Amy I hope your day got better after you got them to school.

Lizzie Your guy sounds really sweet. It is also wet and windy here today it makes it hard to go out and exercise.

Mike I am sorry, I can feel your frustration.

Terri I hope you appetite gets a routine back soon it’s horrible to be so ravenous you can eat a cow.

Deana Welcome Congratulations on your huge weight loss so far. It sure sounds like you have a lot of stress in your life right now I think you will find that this is a supportive healthy place to help you get your eating back on track. Most of us pick goals each week and aim at achieving them some days are more successful than others we than post our results in the evening so you may want to start with choosing some things you want to accomplish (calories , water intake, exercise, etc.).

I have a ton of errands to do today and my house looks like no one cleaned it yesterday. I want to get some treadmill time in today since it's horrible outside. I am going to try to keep eating raw today, I am feeling hungry this morning so we will see I may have to steal a steak from Terri before she eats the whole cow.

Hope you all have a great day.

DeanaFerris

Hi Mern,

My plan is to use FitDay, as I have done in the past when I weighed a bit too much. I find that if I log everything that goes into my mouth, I'm more accountable to myself and can't fool myself into thinking "Oh, I haven't eaten that much today!" I'm just trying to eat healthier - no more Christmas cookies and meals and not so much nog either. LOL And, since I'm finally feeling better, I'm going to get on my treadmill for an hour at least 3 times a week. I was tempted to do it this morning, but being the first day with no headache, I didn't want to push it too quickly.

For the migraine - the question is what didn't they give me? Of course they tried all the regular things like reglan, torodol, delotid, percocet, imitrex...then a doc finally admitted me and did a two day regime that included about 6 different IV drugs every few hours, which gave me some relief. Even after that though, I still had a bit of a headache, with the fear it was going to return, for several days. It was such a relief to wake up this morning and be pain free.

Also, thank you for the condolences. It was a difficult time and I fear it's coming to fruition again soon with my own mom. While at the ER yesterday, they told us her kidney function is decreasing even more and she may be at the point of needing dialysis soon. I know she will refuse it as my dad died of kidney failure after enduring many months of dialysis and then deciding he didn't want to do it any longer. So, kidney doctor appointment is tomorrow, and we'll hopefully get more news then.

Chat soon..

Deana

quinnesec

Hi Deana,

Welcome to our group (or our dysfunctional family, which ever you prefer. ) You've been on an amazing ride for the past year and we're glad that you're here to share the journey with us.

I reached my goal almost 2 years ago after struggling with my weight all of my life. Only when I joined forces with this crew of misfits, did I keep it off... well, nearly all of it off. lol I stick around in "maintenance mode" to remind myself of what I have to continue to do. Some of us are maintaining, some are losing, but we're all in the same boat at one level or another.

Life's ups and downs are a major component in our weight struggles. I am one of the caregivers that someone mentioned. I have been the sole caregiver of an elderly parent, at different levels, for 7 years. Although she is still in her own home, those days are coming to an end and my responsibilities continue to grow by the week. I also still have one child left at home, which puts me in "the sandwich generation"; caring for an elderly parent while still caring for my own child. It's difficult, frustrating, emotionally draining and wonderful at all once and I wouldn't change anything even if I could. The key is a very good sense of humor. Finding humor in pitiful situations is the only thing that has kept me moving in the right direction.

Everyone here is wonderfully motivating in all aspects of life... diet related or not. If you need someone to vent to about care giving, I'm always available. I must say I've learned a few tricks along the way. Through the open forum or PM, one of us will usually have an answer... and if we don't, we'll make something up...

Again, welcome aboard. Glad you're here!

quinn

quinnesec

I thought I heard a scream a little while ago...