M2G

Good to hear from you Wanda and good luck with your mom. That is not easy stuff. And a playwright? WOW! You never cease to amaze me with your talents! Awesome! Well, I did search but only found our mission statement that LV wrote for our group: Mission statement Welcome, to the 5:2 group. We consist of members that are at least a year out and almost at goal or have reached goal and put on a few pounds while in maintenance. we are not trying to exclude anyone, but this method is not for the newly sleeved. Please talk to your nutritionist and try the diet first to see if its something you can do. Then if you want to make a commitment to it, send us a message and you'll be invited in. http://the5-2dietbook.com/ Obviously we can't use that word-for-word since it says send us a message and you will be invited in. I just would redirect people to the 5:2 thread in the Vet's Forum. They should be a year+ out before trying fasting anyway, so that seems appropriate. I guess I'm confused as to how people still know about this message board that we created because I didn't think it still showed up in social groups? Is it just from previous knowledge or is there somewhere that people can "see" we have this group and they aren't allowed in?

Cathy good luck with the move...I *hate* moving with a passion! I think typically in the states (or at least for us) we left all blinds, but kept the curtains or more decorative elements. I specifically had our relator write it in the contract that our window coverings could stay but the decorative elements were ours. When we bought this house (gosh 14+ years ago!!) we bought paper blinds until we could afford real blinds. They are a basically like a folded piece of paper that you fold up and down and clip together with a plastic clip to keep them open. They have adhesive along the top and that is how they stay in your window. They are cheap and temporary until you can find what you like/need. Good luck also Florinda! Fingers cross...and a new low...WOO HOO!!! Denise, I will look and see if I can find the wording LV used. Does Susan still read here? She popped in and out so quickly that I'm not sure she is still active. That is too bad about Cheri, GamerGirl, LauraVen and Butter...such great voices and even though I rarely read anything on the main board anymore it's too bad they are gone. I'm only doing so-so with tracking my food. Had like 3 great days then went off for the weekend and so far I'm trying to get back on track today. THEN MY NEXT GOAL IS A GOOD OLD FASHIONED FAST DAY. I have not done that in what feels like forever and I NEED TO DO IT. I know I will feel so much better if I do. Just need a good ole kick in the pants (and maybe a prayer to Him) to help me do it!!

Sarah! Oh my gosh! I'm so sorry about your FIL, that must be incredibly stressful. And family drama to boot? Open heart surgery is stressful enough. Just sending you a hug!!! Come back when you can...

Oh and interesting about LV and Butter both going MIA? Haha Cathy!!!

Sorry computer is acting up didn't want to lose my post so I hit send... Will try to attach a photo here...

Kelly, thank you so much for the information about the meds. I might look into it in the future, but for now I will probably skip trying any meds. I really need to just 1. focus on tracking my food. and 2. focus on trying to fast at least once a week. (more would be better, but baby steps, baby steps.) Florinda, I'm so sorry you are having such a rough time, just wanting to send you a hug. Kim, I hope you don't have to lose -5lbs, I can totally understand your mindset of just let me enjoy what I've accomplished before having to set any new goal. I like the idea of tweaking your eating to see what kind of results you can get. Wanda, lovely song! Georgia, OMG love the pictures your grandaughters are just beautiful and your daughter looks exactly like you. Glad you made it through even though you still have reservations I wish the new couple nothing but happiness and sunshine. Also glad the worst of the shingles is over. Hugs! Coops, awwww, shucks, please don't be down on yourself about the extra lbs. You are doing so good and that f'ing mother nature and her damn meno-crap....well, just chalk it up to that and NOT WHAT YOU ARE DOING...because I think you are doing FANTASTIC and listen to Steve when he gives you those compliments about how great you are looking!! Hugs for you also. Dorrie...I'm sending you a hug also...gosh it sure does sound like you are dealing with a lot. Please know that I'm thinking of you... Sheryl, glad you had a good vaca and you killed that swimsuit!! Woo hoo! Did I forget anyone? If I did, apologies... Anyway, I did attend the funeral for the friend's sister who killed herself this past Wed. Talk about an emotionally exhausting draining day. I was proud of myself though because they had a reception immediately following and I ate 1/4 (seriously tiny) of a turkey wrap, 2 baby carrots and 2 mini-thumprint cookies AND I logged everything! Woo hoo! So major victory there. Here is what I wore to the funeral...actually this photo was NOT taken on that day but rather a day that I was just trying out various clothing options and when it came time to decide what to wear this outfit seemed appropriate.

Hugs Georgia...that is hard. Especially since it's not like she is OFF doing her OWN thing and really in a position to hop into marriage with someone. Since you guys have been supporting her financially and emotionally and helping her raise the girls, I would think that you DO get an opinion on this. But I guess she is going to do what she thinks is best right now. Hugs, I know this stuff is hard...

I'm sorry you are having this trouble, as you said it's no fun on either side of the coin...under or overweight neither one is healthy for you. I just want to echo was Lynda said...adding in healthy fats, calories and planning out your day in regards to your meals should help you get a handle on it. I also just want to say this. (Not to be rude or stir up drama) but I just want to mention that sounds VERY UNUSUAL for most sleeve patients. At 17 months out most people are just usually hitting their goal weight or they have found a few pounds have climbed back on etc. So to drop 30 lbs in 3 months, well are you sure you don't have another medical condition going on? Can you have a dr. appt to just run blood work and check that everything is ok? That seems pretty worrisome! I hope you can stop the loss and regain a few lbs of muscle!

Oh no Georgia! We were posting at the same time. Your daughter is getting married THIS (really THIS>????) weekend? At your HOUSE? And you have shingles and are not feeling well? Ugh. I wouldn't be too happy about that either. Do you like the person she is marrying or is that some of your not being happy. FEEL BETTER SOON GEORGIA!

Wonderful news on the house Cathy! And Sarah that will be great on Sat. I will be thinking about you! I'm sure you will do great. Please keep us updated on how it goes. Kelly, that would be hard to live in such an expensive market. There are pockets of Denver like that. Totally run down old homes will get knocked down, and then a million dollar home put up in it's place...but yet right next to the big new fancy home is the next run down older home? Can you please share more about the Phentermine Kelly? What does it help you do? Control appetite? I'm just curious, I thought that stuff was taken off the market years ago...or maybe it was similar but different..phen phen? I would love to have some extra help but I always kind of poo poo'ed anything like that because after all I felt like surgery was my LAST RESORT. But now that I'm inching close to 4 years post-op I'm more open to trying things that will help (within a healthy reasonable diet, exercise, etc. I do NOT believe in miracle pills otherwise I wouldn't have had surgery.) Anyway, just more info would be great about what it does for you, does your insurance cover it (how much does it cost) and basically anything else you want to tell us about it! Thanks!

Hello ladies...so sorry for going MIA again for 2 weeks. Ugh. I've just been slammed with homework and freelance work and was on a committee at school to pick our new principal (3 days of interviews and deliberation) plus I'm a parent group organizer for one of the school programs... AND of course THE NEW (THANKFULLY ALIVE) PUPPY! Piper the pup is doing well, it was very rough for the first week after we got her home from the hospital because she still wasn't just a "normal" puppy but a very sick puppy. I'm happy to say she is finally doing well and is settling into life with us nicely. She is a gem and a doll and we shudder to think what might have happened if she had been adopted by someone who could NOT afford to pay for treatment of the parvovirus for her. Just make me think even more that she was meant to find her forever home with us. So I apologize because I basically just skimmed through the last 2 weeks of stuff here. And I want to say I think of each of you even when I'm not checking in. I'm sorry that some of you are hurting physically, emotionally or otherwise. A very very very good friend of my husband (they were childhood friends and remain good friends today) just found out yesterday that his sister committed suicide. The friend (Rob is his name) was one of 4 siblings, Rob had 3 sisters. The second oldest sister was found dead yesterday. I don't know any of the details (how she was found or what method she used etc.) but it's just so tragic. She was skinny and pretty and had a husband and two grown children (like early 20's). She was always a bit of a drama queen and seemed like she was always struggling with things, but I just wish someone had been able to reach out to her and help her find her way out of whatever darkness she was in. So sad. And tragic and makes me realize how much people are often hurting on the inside even when they look great on the outside. So hugs to you my 5:2 friends. Thinking of you all!!

Oh Sue thanks for the update on your man, I was wondering how he was doing. I hope he's done getting his knees fixed for a while. Florinda, love love love Shel. Nice quote and a good reminder... Denise, I think Bill sounds great too...any new relationship is bound to have little pushes and pulls until you settle into a groove with each other. Like Sue said he does sound wonderful/attentive to you. You deserve that! Sheryl if you go this weekend we need pics! We are missing some of our gals around here...how long has it been since Dorrie posted? There are others MIA (Kelly?) too but I think maybe she hasn't checked in for a long time. Hope she is ok.

Daisy, I think you do need to be honest. You really enjoy spending time with Bill but you need to make room for the other people/activities in your life that are also important to you. I'm not sure how you "draw a line in the sand" so-to-speak. ie - look we are "in a relationship, but NOT married"...I would definitely make time for those other things/people in your life and just tell him that he can't spend every waking minute hogging you. Good luck! Coops - definitely love the idea of group hug! LOL. I'm wondering more about the mid-life crisis...what defines it, how long it lasts, and what people do to alleviate it? I'm just curious. I'm 42 and don't feel like I'm experiencing it but as far as weight-loss I do think that it somehow "changes" us. Like Sue said we are used to being invisible and then when we shed the layer of fat, it's like BOOM, we exist. And to US we've, of course, existed all along...but it's a fascinating process to go through, suddenly being visible to the rest of the world. Thank you guys for all your good thoughts about our puppy, Piper. Last evening we were FINALLY able to bring her home. She was basically in intensive care for 7 days (yes an entire WEEK!) not only was she on IV fluids that whole time, but she was also in isolation, we couldn't even go in and hug her or pet or anything. Horrid. We tried on Sat. to go see her and they wouldn't let us beyond the glass door that separated the isolation room from the rest of the animal hospital. Anyway, I think due to this, she is going to have to re-learn how to just be a puppy. She had a cone around her neck to keep her from chewing her IV, and by Sat. she ended up with an NG tube down her nose to suction out the gastric juices that were making her sick and then once they cleaned her out they were feeding her through the tube. Anyway by Mon. night she pulled the tubing out and wiggled out of her cone. LOL. So anyway, we got her home and she has been so so so so tired. I'm guessing that much like a human in the hospital, she didn't get much SLEEP while in there (those cones are uncomfortable!) so now that she can just curl up and sleep that's exactly what she's been doing. Oh and she just wants to SNUGGLE all the time. LOL. Cute now, (at all of 8lbs) but wondering how much human snuggling this little baby is going to want when she is 50lbs. ha ha! Anyway, thank you again for all your words of comfort. Now I need to clean up my diet. And get back to fasting. I can't even remember when my last fast day was?? Aaargh.

Coops, I love that instead of wallowing in the sadness you went out and let loose a bit, and just enjoyed life. Really loving all the sentiments the last few days of self-love and CELEBRATING what we have. We are blessed, and even though we have sad, difficult, heartbreaking, awful things happen to us (a lot of which is out of our control) we still soldier on, and trying to find the silver lining. Hugs to everyone who hurting right now. Wanda, you might need to add a bit of cardio to your Curves workout. I always felt like cardio helped burn the calories, but the weight training is so good for your body/muscles/overall shape, etc. Curves is most definitely light on the cardio. Even if just once a week you hit Zumba or a good fast-paced walk, that cardio will help burn some extra cals. Georgia, I just want to say you are such a ray of sunshine and I sincerely appreciate you! Sheryl, Mia sounds like a beautiful horse. I'm glad you had a good ride. Florinda, I have "access" to a scale and I've simply ignored it. Kind of terrified about getting back up there...lol. I've been eating like total crap lately and I know it's stress eating and I know that stress eating does ME no good, does the SITUATION no good, but some old habits just don't die. Ugh. I'm sure whenever you get back on the scale you will be pleasantly surprised. Our pup is still surviving...today is day 6 of basically intensive care. Yesterday they had to run an NG tube to her stomach to suction out some of the (for lack of a technical wording) GUT JUICE that was making her sick. Today they plan to trickle feed her through that tube. I did ask the Vet ---flat-out--- give me a % of her chance for survival and she said 90% chance for survival. Which is encouraging. Also we found out in CO it's against the law to sell/or adopt a puppy before the age of 8 weeks. I think we are going to end up getting some monetary help from Petsmart (I sure hope so because we don't have $5,000 just laying around for this sweet baby) so keep your fingers crossed that it works out and we don't have to take legal action. Sigh.

Wow, congrats on hanging in there, you will join a lot of us who have passed our 3rd anniversary already. Welcome to the vets hangout. Keep coming back more often, we NEED vets who have experienced a lot. Awesome job on the chocolate run (could that be ANY MORE TEMPTING...lol....did they serve choc. at the finish line?) But your costume is a GREAT way to celebrate choc w/out eating any of it!!

Congrats! You have done well, keep up the great work!

Hi ladies, thanks for the good thoughts about Piper. Parvo is and can be deadly for dogs. Treatment is expensive and we have already put over $1200 into her treatment. We transferred her to a 24 hour care animal hospital because our vet office is not staffed 24/7...they basically have office hours. So we moved her yesterday. Her care for the next 3 days could climb as high as $3500. We applied for CareCredit. Ugh. So yes here in the states we vaccinate for Parvovirus as well. Ideally pups should NOT be weaned until 8 weeks, and then start their first of 3 rounds of vaccines. This poor pup was pulled from mom just shy of 6 weeks, taken to a clinic and spayed (that is REALLY YOUNG to spay a dog) AND given her first round of vaccines. (Prob. too early for that as well.) Then she was packed up, and driven from Texas to Colorado where we adopted her at 7 weeks old. She had her 8 week old birthday yesterday. She is still alive and trying to beat this thing. Poor baby is just exhausted. We transferred her to a 24 hour animal hospital and she will be getting the best possible care available. It won't come cheap. So this dog that we adopted from Texas for $165 could end up costing us $5000 and we haven't even been her pet owners for a week yet. Sigh. Sorry to just come and vent and be sad...but thank you all for the thoughts and prayers...my current prayers is that she can come home on Sunday for good. We shall see...

Hi ladies! Sorry I went MIA again...lots to cover here but here is my plea.... You all know we had lost our cat of almost 17 years 2 days after Christmas we had to put him down due to aggressive cancer. So we went and adopted a TINY BABY PUPPY this weekend. I think it was a "National Adopt a Pet" weekend so several pet stores were hosting adoptions. We all have been hating not having a pet. Well, this baby (she's a mutt, boxer/shepard/rottie mix) came to CO from TX and brought a whole host of problems with her. She has something called parvovirus and is currently battling for her life. OY VEY! So I don't even know if she will survive this. Of course, we didn't know all this when we adopted her on Sun, by tues she was SO SICK and now has been at the vets with IV fluids all day yesterday/today and sounds like she is still not better. :( Plus they lied about how old she was (said she was 10 weeks or 2 months) but found out she will be 8 weeks old tomorrow. UGH! Anyway, not to bring you down, I'm getting spotty again about coming here because having such a tiny puppy was like having a newborn. Nothing was getting done because of trying to potty-train her. Now she's been at the vet the last 2 days and I'm hoping and praying she makes it through this. If you are the praying type and have a moment to say a prayer for this little girl I would appreciate it! Here's Piper!

Yep! There are a lot of us REGAINERS over the 2 year mark. I'm one of them. Unfortunately diligence has served me well in the area of STOPPING the regain (it was much like FYE's about 22+ ...it's always give or take a few right?) but as far as totally shedding the regain, well, that is a work in progress. I will continue to fight my regain (I'm 3+ years post-op now) but I've upped my goal from it's original state to accommodate the fact that I just am never going to get a perfect BMI. And I'm actually OK with that! CGJane...glad you are feeling better!

I am glad to see an update from you and I love the tattoo idea and I'm sure choosing a headstone would be so hard. Still offering up prayers for you and your family.

Oh my gosh! No wonder you want to be a trainer! WOW!!! Congrats, I see the difference, and holy low body fat % batman...18% WOWSERS!

Where in aurora? What sizes do they carry? I'm soon to be at the point where I will need new staples. Just sent you a PM! They carry all sizes but generally their inventory is mostly comprised of S-XL however, they do go up into the plus sizes!

Well, thank you for sharing your insight Sheryl. That was nice of you to put that inspirational seminar into a couple of paragraphs for us to ponder. I like to *think* that my voice is 90% positive but I *know* I've had my dark moments (especially when I was morbidly obese, I used to go to bed at night and turn over in my mind the things I ate and how it contributed to my MO, etc.) but I have to say I'm much more of an eternal optimist so I like to think my voice is kind to myself, but there is always room for improvement. I really do like the idea of jotting down what that voice says. I've never tried that and I think there is a lot to be learned from doing it! Wanda, I'm so sorry about your mom. My FIL is in the exact same situation, except his mother is sliding towards 90 (I think she is about 88ish?) and she STILL LIVES ON HER OWN and she lives in Mississisppi and he lives here in Denver. Also he made her a PROMISE years ago that he would NEVER put her in assisted living. So he has literally spent half of last year (like in chunks, gone Mar-July then Aug-Dec.) LIVING in Miss. trying to put pieces of the puzzle together in order to allow her to continue to live in her OWN HOME. He is also an only child and has many cousins and other relatives that live in this small town in MIss with her, but honestly at the end of the day he feels as if this is HIS responsibility. So while I don't have any words of advice, I do understand the struggle and I hope and pray that you can find something that is going to work for her. I'm so proud of you for joining Curves and more importantly for GOING. Signing up for a membership does you NO GOOD unless you go several times a week (or whatever your schedule allows.) I'm glad you found something to be committed to right now. Sarah do you have to take classes or is it physical or both to be a PT. I *know* my PT always jokes that she's not in it for the money. But she TRAINS so much all the time. For instance on Tues she teaches 5 classes. She starts at 10am with our women & weights (usually 6-10 women), then teaches 2 back to back silver sneakers classes (big classes, like 25-35 seniors, but I don't think she goes to "easy" on them.) Then I don't know what other 2 classes she teaches or if the last 2 hours of her day are just spent doing one-on-one PT but she DOES workout with us. When she is one-on-one I'm not sure what she does, if she just stands and WATCHES the person do THEIR work or what? I've seen other PT's doing that...they stand, correct, watch, but don't workout at the same time if that makes sense. But when she does small group or big group she is DOING the work. So interesting...anyway would love to hear more about what you are doing in that regard. Thanks Florinda for sharing more...ugh...the shuffle to the shower would just SUCK. Reminds me of college when the shower was down the hall. So awkward carrying your little basket o stuff, with just a robe on. Do the Polish girls speak English? It would be hard to "share" space with people that aren't your immediately family ...heck sometimes it IS hard to share space with your immediate family but at the root of everything is LOVE. Notsomuch with bunk mates, co-workers, etc. Ugh. I really feel for you! Well after taking a much needed break from fasting in the last couple of weeks, I finally did a real good fast on Mon. and I'm reminded WHY I like fasting, because I felt SO GOOD. I tried to do another fast day on Tues but I think I probably ended up in the neighborhood of 900-1000 cals instead so it really wasn't a fast day. I plan to get another GOOD fast day in this week and then I will feel like I'm back in the groove of my 5:2! Woo hoo!

This isn't the same LINK that Georgia posted, but it has a bunch more information (and pictures too! ) http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2546975/One-twin-gave-sugar-gave-fat-Their-experiment-change-YOUR-life.html Sarah, you are going to become a PT? What is involved with that? I don't think I could do it but it was funny my trainer made a comment about how hard I work out and that I was "gunning for her job" lol lol lol!!! I really don't think I could do it but it was a nice compliment from her. And congrats on the weight loss Sarah! That is amazing...really in 4 weeks? I'm about ready to look into plastics again also...sick of the shapewear and sick of seeing the "extra" in my gym clothing!

Okay just read the article about the twin doctors...really good read! And those guys are both kinda cute, aren't they? My new professor for school is cute, and he is an amazon 6'7" tall! (Thought of you Sheryl! ha ha!) Sadly he's only 31 and I *think* he is gay (unconfirmed but just my suspicion...not that there's anything wrong with that...just too bad for all the females who think he is cute!) LOL!