Pinky Green

Before surgery I think I had reached a tipping point. That is a point at which if I hadn't lost weight I would have gotten sicker and sicker and then eventually died from being overweight. I had a mild heart condition that would have gotten worse if my blood pressure would have continued to be high and a fatty liver and I couldn't walk very far without a lot of pain. And my blood sugar was a little high and I weighed 240 lbs.
I think I have reached the tipping point again going back the other way. I have lost 34 lbs now (almost 15% of my body weight and about 30% of my excess weight - in about 2 months.) I have noticed that my knees don't start to hurt as fast as they did before. I can now walk about a mile (even though it still hurts a little toward the end). I can go up the stairs faster now and without having to hang onto the rail and pull myself up. I can stand and cook and clean in the kitchen now without getting tired right away and walk around the house and clean up. And the other day I started dancing again. I used to dance around all the time. I danced through 2 songs. About 7 or 8 minutes. I find this awesome and it can only get better the more weight I lose.

Before surgery I think I had reached a tipping point. That is a point at which if I hadn't lost weight I would have gotten sicker and sicker and then eventually died from being overweight. I had a mild heart condition that would have gotten worse if my blood pressure would have continued to be high and a fatty liver and I couldn't walk very far without a lot of pain. And my blood sugar was a little high and I weighed 240 lbs.
I think I have reached the tipping point again going back the other way. I have lost 34 lbs now (almost 15% of my body weight and about 30% of my excess weight - in about 2 months.) I have noticed that my knees don't start to hurt as fast as they did before. I can now walk about a mile (even though it still hurts a little toward the end). I can go up the stairs faster now and without having to hang onto the rail and pull myself up. I can stand and cook and clean in the kitchen now without getting tired right away and walk around the house and clean up. And the other day I started dancing again. I used to dance around all the time. I danced through 2 songs. About 7 or 8 minutes. I find this awesome and it can only get better the more weight I lose.

We have eggs and refried black Beans two or three times a week. I usually take a can of black beans. Heat a skillet sprayed with a very light coat of grape seed oil, add some onions and bell peppers if I have them and little garlic powder. Saute for a minute and then add the liquid from the refried beans and then add the beans a little bit at a time while mashing with a spatula.

I am also losing the weight somewhat slowly after the initial 20 pounds. I have lost 32 pounds since starting the 2 week liquid pre-diet - that was September 12th. That's 10 and a half weeks. My doctor thought I should have lost more. But that is still an overall average of about 3 pounds a week. If I even lose 1.5 pounds a week after a year I will have lost 78 pounds. That would put me down from 240 to 168. Another 26 weeks would make that 39 pounds more putting me at 129 pounds and under my doctor's goal of 130.
Today is a really great milestone. I was able to get up and dance for 2 songs. I danced to the video on my laptop to Rolling Stones - Brown Sugar (3:33min) and then my boyfriend put on Cyndie Lauper's Girls Just Want to Have Fun (3:54) and I danced to that too. . I have not done that in at least 4 years. We are going to the park in a minute. I'm going to walk around the park. It's a big loop around several soccer fields that informal groups go to play "futbol". If anyone in Houston reads this and would like to form a walking group I would be interested. Or if someone wants to meet up to dance or ride bicylces - or swim. If you are interested message me and I will send you my phone number.

If you are working out a lot, you may be gaining muscle and losing fat and that would cause you not to lose weight on the scale. But you will look better and be healthier.

I had not been exercising as much as I should have been because my knees were still hurting, at my one month appointment my doctor said I could take my arthritis medicine again.
However, I may not need it that much longer - or at least not as often. Yesterday, I decided to take a walk, I forgot to take my arthritis medicine and I walked from my upstairs apartment, down the stairs, across the courtyard, across the road to the front part of the apartments, across the front parking lot, and then down the street to little strip center on my street. It wasn't very far .35 one way, and I only stopped at the end and sat down for about 5 minutes or so. I used to have to sit down 3 or 4 times to make it that far and my knees would hurt a lot. This time my knees didn't start hurting enough to make me stop until I get to the end and then when I rested a bit it didn't hurt as much as it had before. And then I walked around 2 stores before I headed back. I am guessing that another 20 lbs and my knees won't hurt at all.
And I can scratch almost my whole back.
I bought 2 pair of jeans at costco the other day - they were size 18 and one fit and the other didn't, one was 1% Spandex and the one that fit was 2% Spandex. Then I went to Walmart and they had a pair of jeans that was 18P and was 2% Spandex but this one didn't fit either, but they will in probably 5 or 10 lbs.
I was not able to overeat at Thanksgiving this year. I did eat more than I thought I would be able to eat but way less than I would have eaten in the past. First, For Breakfast I had a Protein shake. Then I went to my friend Linda's house for lunch. I had 5 Ritz crackers with a bit of cream cheese and Raspberry Chipotle Sauce and my friend cut up slices of different kinds of cheese into quarters and I ate 4 quarters of cheese (1 whole slice) and 4 or 5 black olives.
Then I went to my friend Sam's for dinner and had a couple of pieces of carrot, celery and broccoli dipped in guacamole and 2 deviled egg halves for appetizer and then dinner came and I had about 2 oz of turkey, a small piece of cornbread, about 2 tablespoons of cranberry sauce and about 2 tablespoons of sweet potatoes. Later we had sugar free vanilla ice cream with apples cooked with cinnamon, nutmeg and diet Dr. Pepper. I felt like I ate a lot but I know in the past I would have eaten about 3 times that much.

I had not been exercising as much as I should have been because my knees were still hurting, at my one month appointment my doctor said I could take my arthritis medicine again.
However, I may not need it that much longer - or at least not as often. Yesterday, I decided to take a walk, I forgot to take my arthritis medicine and I walked from my upstairs apartment, down the stairs, across the courtyard, across the road to the front part of the apartments, across the front parking lot, and then down the street to little strip center on my street. It wasn't very far .35 one way, and I only stopped at the end and sat down for about 5 minutes or so. I used to have to sit down 3 or 4 times to make it that far and my knees would hurt a lot. This time my knees didn't start hurting enough to make me stop until I get to the end and then when I rested a bit it didn't hurt as much as it had before. And then I walked around 2 stores before I headed back. I am guessing that another 20 lbs and my knees won't hurt at all.
And I can scratch almost my whole back.
I bought 2 pair of jeans at costco the other day - they were size 18 and one fit and the other didn't, one was 1% Spandex and the one that fit was 2% Spandex. Then I went to Walmart and they had a pair of jeans that was 18P and was 2% Spandex but this one didn't fit either, but they will in probably 5 or 10 lbs.
I was not able to overeat at Thanksgiving this year. I did eat more than I thought I would be able to eat but way less than I would have eaten in the past. First, For Breakfast I had a Protein shake. Then I went to my friend Linda's house for lunch. I had 5 Ritz crackers with a bit of cream cheese and Raspberry Chipotle Sauce and my friend cut up slices of different kinds of cheese into quarters and I ate 4 quarters of cheese (1 whole slice) and 4 or 5 black olives.
Then I went to my friend Sam's for dinner and had a couple of pieces of carrot, celery and broccoli dipped in guacamole and 2 deviled egg halves for appetizer and then dinner came and I had about 2 oz of turkey, a small piece of cornbread, about 2 tablespoons of cranberry sauce and about 2 tablespoons of sweet potatoes. Later we had sugar free vanilla ice cream with apples cooked with cinnamon, nutmeg and diet Dr. Pepper. I felt like I ate a lot but I know in the past I would have eaten about 3 times that much.

It is not a proven fact that it kills brain cells. I know with the state of the current news agencies it is sometimes hard to tell truth from propaganda
http://www.art.net/~...no-clothes.html
The facts: Suffocation of Research Animals
The Heath "Voodoo" Research methodology, as reported in Playboy: Rhesus monkeys were strapped into a chair and then strapped into gas masks and given the equivalent of 63 Colombian strength joints in "five minutes, thru the gas masks" losing no smoke. The monkeys were suffocating!

Due to the passing of the law in Washington and Colorado, most marijuana smoker's will not have to worry about being arrested. The Feds might come and shut down a grower or a retail store, but there are way to many marijuana smokers for the feds to come in and start arresting everyone who's smoking. In those states already the local and state police have stopped arresting individual smoker's and in fact the King County Prosecutor has already dismissed over 100 pending marijuana possession cases. In fact, in most states, most people don't worry much about being arrested. Most of the people I know that got arrested were doing something else (like drinking) when they got arrested for marijuana. Drunk and disorderly is not a good time to be carrying weed around.

I am a registered nurse so i understand pharmacology enough that when i got to the hotel today, the first thing i did was light up! The barium swallow test made me violently retch and this is no good with a new sleeve. Needless to say that now that I can hold something down i feel much better and my bp has dropped frpm 193/100 to 118/72. : )

I know he unsubscribed, but does anyone understand this. It makes no sense to me!

Also consider this:
A remarkable study published in the journal Molecular Pharmacology in 2006, found that this long vilified plant contains a compound with not one, but two therapeutic properties ideal for addressing both the surface symptom (memory problems) and root cause (brain plaque) of Alzheimer's disease. This is an ironic finding, considering that the prevailing stereotype is that using marijuana "fries" the brain, leading to debilitating memory issues.
Researchers discovered that the psychoactive component of marijuana, Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), both "competitively inhibits the enzyme acetylcholinesterase (AChE) as well as prevents AChE-induced amyloid b-peptide (Ab) aggregation."
On the first account, THC's ability to inhibit the AChE enzyme, is not unlike the mechanism of action behind most Alzheimer's drugs on the market today. Drugs like donepezil (trade name Aricept), for instance, by targeting and inhibiting the brain enzyme acetylcholinesterase (AChE), result in an increase in brain levels of this neurotransmitter, which in turn, results in symptom reduction, i.e. improved memory. Donepezil, however, is riddled with controversy due its well-known association with seizures, which likely reflects its intrinsic neurotoxicity. It is, in fact, a chemical in the same general chemical class as venom, insecticides and chemical war agents, such as nerve gas.
On the second account, THC's ability to prevent the acetylcholinesterase-associated amyloid b-peptide (Ab) aggregation, i.e. brain plaque, indicates that it may, as the researchers noted, "directly impact Alzheimer's disease pathology." In fact, they found "Compared to currently approved drugs prescribed for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease, THC is a considerably superior inhibitor of Ab aggregation, and this study provides a previously unrecognized molecular mechanism through which cannabinoid molecules may directly impact the progression of this debilitating disease."
What is so encouraging about this research, and which the researchers described as "noteworthy," is the following:


THC is a considerably more effective inhibitor of AChE-induced Ab deposition than the approved drugs for Alzheimer's disease treatment, donepezil and tacrine, which reduced Ab aggregation by only 22% and 7%, respectively, at twice the concentration used in our studies.7 Therefore, AChE inhibitors such as THC and its analogues may provide an improved therapeutic for Alzheimer's disease, augmenting acetylcholine levels by preventing neurotransmitter degradation and reducing Ab aggregation, thereby simultaneously treating both the symptoms and progression of Alzheimer's disease.

steelergirl, if you can cite a reputable study that says it kills brain cells, bring it on. Otherwise you are just repeating what someone else told you which may are may not be true.
I do know that some people have problems with it. I have known people that had problems - I lived with a husband. but I'm a 53 year old woman, I have been using it since I was 25 on and off. I have never had problems quitting when I needed to. I have had the same good job for the last 15 years and I don't live in my parents basement.
I know that drug and alcohol counselors and the drug treatment community see things a certain way and one of the reasons is that they only come in contact with people who use drugs and alcohol in negative ways and don't really understand casual users of drugs and some of them don't even really understand casual alcohol use. People who don't have problems with drugs don't go to drug counselors of their own free will. Sometimes people that would not have a problem if marijuana was legal get forced into treatment because of a positive drug test or because of an encounter with law enforcement. These people don't always need treatment. They just happened to be unlucky.
I have know people who really did have a problem with marijuana. I had a husband that worked probably 2 years out of the 10 I was with him. He would sit in his chair, watch TV, pour him a coke, smoke weed and then smoke a few cigarettes and then start all over. I would go to work and come back and he would be in the same place.

I'm not easily offended but I will speak my mind.
Would you say someone who has a glass of wine with dinner most days or a can of beer is an alcoholic? If not then why would you call someone who smokes a little on the weekend or at a party or after work every once in a while a drug addict. That sounds a little insulting. I can assure you, I am not on welfare or jobless. And judging by all the grammatical errors and misspellings in your post I would assume I am more literate and probably have a better job than you do.
Oh and making alcohol illegal? It was a very bad idea in the 1919 and it would be a terrible idea now.

It doesn't make everyone really hungry. Actually, it only does that when you first start using it. It doesn't really make me hungry or sleepy. It does give me the ability to tolerate boring, repetitive, work (like cleaning).

I do not use drugs in any form...I'm just not that person. However I was reading the discussion and wanted to say there is no proven fact marijuana does or does not kill brain cells.
I have my BA in medical science, one of my main studies has been chromosone research. One of the last studies I did was the effects drugs have on your body and brain. With that said....
Marijuana's active ingredient is THC (much longer name I wouldnt be able to spell out using my iphone keypad). THC is what makes you "high" it will bind with certain receptors in your brain and interferes with normal brain function. Thus the feeling you/some get of being off balance, sleeping, hungry etc etc.
However THC does become inactive. It does not "kill" brain cells. It temporarily alters them. If you (you being a blanketed term) did full research you would know the entire idea of "killing brain cells" started with a compaign to end teen drug use. It did not start in the medical field.
I'd also like to say Pinky's ex husband didnt sit on his behind smoking all day because of weed, he did so because he was lazy.
In the end its your body and you can do as you see fit with it.

It doesn't make everyone really hungry. Actually, it only does that when you first start using it. It doesn't really make me hungry or sleepy. It does give me the ability to tolerate boring, repetitive, work (like cleaning).

I'm not sure if I agree with you on marijuana. It has medicinal properties and the smoke isn't nearly as harsh as cigarette smoke. For one thing it doesn't have nicotine which increases the blood pressure and causes the capillaries to contract. Marijuana on the other hand has the opposite positive effects, it dilates both your capillaries and your bronchial tubes. Which is good for asthma. And it doesn't cause emphysema or lung cancer like tobacco.

I drank caffeinated in the hospital. They brought it to me and I drank it but then they told me I shouldn't, but I already had and it didn't bother me. But I only drink a few a week that are caffeinated I have Decaf at home and I work from home so the only time I drink caffeinated is when I'm going shopping or driving in the car or if I have to go to the office.

By the way, it IS a proven medical fact that alcohol kills brain cells.

It doesn't make everyone really hungry. Actually, it only does that when you first start using it. It doesn't really make me hungry or sleepy. It does give me the ability to tolerate boring, repetitive, work (like cleaning).

I'm not sure if I agree with you on marijuana. It has medicinal properties and the smoke isn't nearly as harsh as cigarette smoke. For one thing it doesn't have nicotine which increases the blood pressure and causes the capillaries to contract. Marijuana on the other hand has the opposite positive effects, it dilates both your capillaries and your bronchial tubes. Which is good for asthma. And it doesn't cause emphysema or lung cancer like tobacco.

I only regretted it when I woke up in recovery to the nurse telling me to keep breathing... and she told me two or three times and then they brought in the oxygen and then in a couple of hours as the anesthesia wore off, I got better and then they took me down and put me in a room. My surgery was about 9am and I'm not sure if it was the same day or the next day they had me get up and walk around the nurses station. They had the rooms in a circle around a nurses station. I walked it at least three times while I was there. But that wasn't too bad because I was still on pain medicine so my knees didn't hurt.

Before 2 week pre-diet 240
Sleeved 9/26 at 228
Today 209
Not real fast and with a few stalls but steadily going down and averaging about 3.5 pounds a week.

I don't necessarily think that everyone's concern is "thinly-veiled contempt". I don't believe that my grandmother's concern was contempt.
Also, even though you don't have high blood pressure or any health problems now doesn't mean they won't start cropping up when menopause starts and your female hormones aren't giving you as much protection. I too thought I was perfectly healthy (except for asthma that I have had since a child) until I started having blood sugar problems when I was about 47. Then a few years later my blood pressure started going up and then I developed knee problems all of a sudden. During the testing for the surgery they found I had a high blood pressure related heart condition that they said would go away if I lost weight and get worse if I didn't. When they did the surgery they found out I had fatty liver and hepatitis (although I had no abnormal liver function tests) and referred me to a gastroenterologist to be evaluated.
Just because you don't have apparent health problems doesn't mean that you don't have any health problems, you might have health problems that haven't been discovered yet or you might develop health problems as you get older.