My biggest dilemma is that I have to take medicine in the morning. I don't want to eat until around 11 am because I like to have a late night snack of 100 calorie pack of cocoa dusted almonds. I've been putting off taking my medicine but the one I can't put off is an anti biotic.

I guess I can share this ,lol. I have to take an antibiotic before have sex or I will get a UTI.I have to take it with food.

I guess half of a Greek Yogurt would be 50 calories. I need to look up string cheese and baby bell light.

How about you? Is the 5:2 plan working with your life? I also don't like working out with my trainer on an empty stomach.

Will this not work if you have 11 hours in between instead of 12? There must be some reason you have to have 12 hours off.

Some of you have probably heard about the big landslide in the next county north of Seattle. This is a great photo illustration: http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/03/26/us/houses-in-the-path-of-the-washington-mudslide.html?_r=2

I've been actively following this heart rending situation. Unbelievable.

Sheryl that is so awful! How devestating! There have been so many mudslides out west here since there were so many fires. The trees hold the ground down. It's been raining buckets  here all weekend and no end in sight

 

I think what you are experiencing is normal. Some sort of mid life crisis. People evaluate their lives at some point and things are never as rosy as we want.

 

Where is Wanda?

 

 I just can't get over Kelly's  generousity. This is going to make a huge difference for us. Hers Cpap  is new and Bill's is quite a few years old. I am so excited!

 

Georgia I am so glad your shingles are gone!

 

Coops that sounds like so much fun getting together with your friends. I love it when all my friends are together.

 

I am sorry if I've missed anyone. I do so much better when I open up another window but I have to make dinner. I've been working on the  other house. Everyone, please cross your fingers that someone buys that house.

Edited April 1, 201412 yr by Oregondaisy

I have been eating very very low calorie, in an effort to jump-start after some bad behavior a few weeks ago. As you know, it has been working, I've been stoked! Two days ago I fell off the cliff, those gd cadbury mini eggs, an entire sleeve of saltine crackers, half a slice of cake, several fried mozarrella sticks. But, the following day I dusted myself off, and got in 500 cals. This morning I weighed myself - 163.4 Are you kidding?! I gained over 3 pounds, from ONE DAY of poor eating? One day of eating 2100 calories?! I'm tragified.

Florinda I do that all the time and it takes a couple of days to take it back off. You'll have to try to do protein only and exercise. It's only when we have several of those bad days in a row that it gets really hard to break the cycle.

 

I know you can do this!

All those saltines would make me gain water weight.

I have an appointment with a sports medicine doctor next week. I have been waiting forever for my thigh to heal but massage therapist thinks hip flexor might actually be torn.

Must be spring...rode again today. This time all by myself and had a great time. I rode my old horse and led the pony along. I had 3 guys that were out walking or running stop to talk to me. I think when I decide to "date" again this might work better than POF etc...haha

I haven't done much with pony since before plastics but he was really good.

Florinda - don't feel bad! I was doing so well when my hubby was off on his 'alpine tour' skiing trip with friends - he arrives back home with chips and candy bah! I was just about to reclaim my ticker weight and I have popped back up by 4 lbs - it has to be bloat/water. I was careful but man, one or two Hershey kisses and I am right back on that sugar train - wishing for more of it.

 

Denise I am off to the post office - I will PM you with the PSPS tracking number when I have it.

 

Hang in there gang - with so much rough stuff in life, remembering blessings can be quite a challenge - I know it is for me.

Hi Ladies, I've been reading every couple days trying to keep up. Things have been crazy around here. My FIL had his surgery last week. He is doing well. He's in a nursing home for a couple of weeks for rehab. He is actually in great physical condition for his age of 85 so that has made healing a lot easier for him. He had a heart valve that needed to be replaced.

My MIL has Alzheimer's so she can't be alone. She is going back and forth between here and my BIL's house.

It has been very busy because all of this has been taking place in Illinois which is about 1.5 - 2 hours from our house in WI. Also the family dynamics with his family are so out of whack that you wouldn't even believe it if I tried to explain it all to you! I'm hoping things will settle down soon.

Florinda, I read that you had new low but then bounced back up. It will go back down. Hang in there. I am sure the stress of everything has caused you to feel exhausted. Take care of yourself.

Sheryl, I'm interested in hearing what the doctor says about your injury. Do you do any stretching?

My mind is drawing a complete blank on everything I have read and the things that I wanted to say.

Oh, I did want to say that I went to a plastic consult yesterday. I absolutely loved this surgeon. I just got a really good feeling from him. I saw his work and it looks amazing. I also know someone personally who has had work done by him. For the lower body lift, including lipo, and tummy tuck the cost is $13,000. This price seems very reasonable. I would still probably want work done on my inner thighs but he wouldn't want to do that surgery at the same time and the skin on my tummy and butt are what bothers me the most. So we will see. When things calm down here my husband and I will talk about it more. I dream of the day when I don't have to wear the Spanx anymore!

Kim, Denise, Georgia, Kelly, Sheila, Dorrie, Wanda, Sue, Cathy, Florinda, Sheryl...hope I'm not forgetting anyone...Hugs to all of you wonderful ladies!

Edited April 1, 201412 yr by sarsar

For me, I think if I absolutely HAD to prioritize, I would get arms and thighs done, but of course I want it all

It simply does not make any sense that one SINGLE DAY of bad eating would result in a four pound gain - it leads me to believe that we really have destroyed our metabolisms, that we really are in starvation mode, because our bodies see an extra calorie coming in and sieze upon it! v_v

630 cals yesterday, 500 the day before, and this morning 162, STILL TWO POUNDS UP! And they must be real pounds! HOLY FU**.

I'm having dizzy spells, and brain gaps, and extreme fatigue and I know you all have the purest sympathies at heart for me and I am truly grateful, but please resist the urge to compare my fatigue with yours, this is not just "I'm pooped I'm overstretched and over busy" This is a different kind of fatigue. HowhowHOW could I have gained 4 pounds in one day?

Kelly what a beautiful and amazing gift to give your CPAP to Bill. You are wonderful!

Sheryl, wow, that landslide, awful! Thank you for the photo illustration that really helps me see how easily that could all happen. So sad!

Coops, OMG, Betty found a dress just like that! Woo hoo! That is awesome, my mom and I used to have the worst time because I was a chubby girl and nothing ever fit just "right" and she was pretty good with a needle and thread and so we would argue and clash and she would say "I can make it work" but then complain the whole time about what a pain in the arse it was to have to fix up a dress. lol And I went to such a SMALL HIGH SCHOOL (less than 200 kids in grades 9-12...graduated in a class of 32) I ended up going to 4 PROMS because the whole school was invited since it was so small. Chuffed to beans that she found something and it was stress-free for you both!

Georgia that weekend sounds so fun and foody and I'm sorry that someone you know lost a beautiful soul. So tragic and sad. I pray for peace for that family.

Sarah, good to see you here! Sorry about your MIL and FIL and how that has shaken everything up. I'm glad the surgery is over and hopefully some of the family drama will lessen as your FIL heals and can help MIL out a bit more. I wish my plastics consult had gone well. It goes down as one of the WORST days of my life. Honestly. It was just horrid. I went in feeling like I could have some surgery to correct the skin and shape my body to reveal my weight-loss and came out feeling like I must be the worst-case senario and that even after spending $25,000 I still wouldn't look good, etc. It was just awful. I will maybe muster up the strength to visit another plastic surgeon but there is no way I would move forward with the one I had the consult with.

Florinda, ugh. I fell off the wagon too. Had a fast day and felt sooooooo good about myself only to have a horrid weekend that then spilled into this week and now it's Wed. and I haven't mustered up the strength to have another fast day. I do agree our metabolism is shot to he%%. I don't know much about the "science" behind it but something *must* change when we have surgery and exist on such low-cal diets for long periods of time. There are just days that I curse the fact that eating too many calories wrecks havoc on the scale. But then I also remind myself the idea of having surgery was so that I COULD EAT LESS CALORIES, and so I have my pity party and then pull up my big girl panties and get on with it. But, nevertheless, it IS frustrating to have to be so careful.

I'm almost done with school (yay coops thanks for your encouragement!!!) I have ONE CLASS LEFT and then I will have my Certificate of Web Tools. Funny, Kim, for my last class I have to give an "artist's talk" ...do you ever have to do this about your art? Duh, of course you have. You linked the video to it one time here (could you do that again for us??? thanks!!!) Anyway, it feels a bit funny because I'm not an artiste, but a graphic artist. I do what people pay me to do ...lol. So from that perspective it's challenging to talk about my "art" ...but after Monday I will be done with school ...YAY!

Florinda you aren't the only one with outrageous weight bounces.... and they often take multiple days to come off and I still think it is water

I just woke up and can't recall the right word but essentially when your body stores carbs (glycerin?) it picks up a bunch of water too. That is why most of us lost a crazy amount of weight the first month - a good portion of that was water as we radically reduced overall intake we were reducing carbs. I think it is a mistake to get so upset by it as it is part of the process and if you stay eating clean it will come back off in a few days.

But this is insane! Yeah we had this surgery to eat less, but if I eat more than 700 calories I get punished?! FU** THAT SH**.

Okay, on plastics.... I really think you should have multiple consults. For me the first one was like M2G experience - emotionally devastating. Apparently I was worse off than any of you because I my entry ticket was about 20-25K for doing the first of 3 surgeries! I never found out the total cost but I guessed it to be in the 40-50K ballpark. That was until I found Dr Sauceda where I paid 16K for the works, including actually getting after care by the Doc and real nurses for those first 11 days.

So, my point is to get different consults and opinions. I was astounded at how adament each was about which procedures should be done together (or not) - every consult essentially recommended a different combo!!!

Local surgeons recommended the long thigh lift and Dr S did a small one on me. That was a tough trade off because my inner thighs still touch, but when I look at photos - I have remarkable improvement without the difficult healing and long scar. I can still revise later to the long lift but for now I am pretty content.

They all (including Dr S) gave me somewhat dire predictions - you won't be perfect, but good improvement. That is expectation setting - as a formerly obese person I am not going to have a super model body no matter what. However, I have been to the gym ladies and they have mirrors. My body looks good compared to other women in my age range - and plastics is what helped me get to that.

Just for a little shock factor I am including some graphic pix.

The befores were taken by Dr S the night before my surgery. The afters were all taken either immediately post op or within the first 2 months. I need someone to shoot more pix of me for my 6 month mark coming up mid april. In spite of the dire predictions, my body truly transformed.

Afters, these were mostly taken to reveal status of scars over time.. but you can see the massive improvement. and my breasts look great now, they are a little weird looking immediately post op in the full body picture due to uneven swelling and riding a bit high:

Edited April 2, 201412 yr by CowgirlJane

Chimera, I am still in awe that you're just giviing that machine to us! We are so excited! I just can't thank you enough.

 

Sarah, you really do have your hands full with your inlaws. I remember very well how difficult it was when my parents aged. It was one thing after another with my mother and she was in and out of the hospital all the time. It was so stressful.

Sending you cyber hugs!

 

Sheryl, it's so wondeful that you have the horses. I don't know if I ever mentioned I had 2 of them for a long while. After my husband died, all I wanted to do was ride. I bought them after he died and they were my lifesaver.

 

Bill and I are having his female obese friend over for dinner at his house on Fri. She's very depressed over some guy she met online and thought they had a relatioinehip. They were texting talking and emailing but they had  never met. She had won 2 nights at the casino and gave htem to him and when they met, he was very insulting about her weight. Bill wants to cheer her up. I want to get to know her because she is from Chicago, like I am.

Bill definitely needs some male friends for sure though.

 

I haven't weighed myself yet. Kind of scared. with DD birhtday yesterday, I am afaid to get on ithe scale. I was 132 the day before and i was happy.

Edited April 2, 201412 yr by Oregondaisy

Florinda, have you done any research on MS and weight loss/gain? I wonder if there is a correlation with the weight and calories and MS. I believe stress is huge for our weight. If I am highly stressed I hold on to pounds. For you, the stress also exacerbates the MS symptoms. As I have told all of you before, I don't weigh every day. I know that I bounce between 140-145. I weigh about once a week. If I am eating bad one or two days I don't torture myself on the scale the next day. I know that it will be up and I know that I choose to eat that way. Now I would be in denial if I did this for days or weeks at a time and decided not to check my weight. This could be different for you, Florinda, with the MS. Those are my thoughts.

Denise, I'm anxious to hear if the new machine will help with the sleeping situation. Let us know. I want to see a pic of you and Bill! Does he have any hobbies that could take up some of his time?

Sheryl, I can't wait to see your 6 month pictures. The work you had done looks incredible. If you have a specific list of questions you asked when you went for consults, I would love for you to share those if you don't mind. This was my second consult. The first one was fine but I didn't like the vibe I got from the surgeon. Little things bugged me like his office wasn't very clean, when he showed me pics on the ipad there were finger print smudges all over it. He was wearing sweat pants under his white lab coat. Little things that made me think if he wasn't very tidy with things like that would he be paying attention to the "little things" on me? His prices were also outrageous.

Sheila, congrats on being done with school. Very happy for you! Wonderful news!

So, I am hanging out in the 150-151 range lately without fasting. My version of fasting has been to have low carb days... really low carb... alternating with my moderate carb days. I would like to get to 145 but I have to admit I am worried about my sadness level the last few days more than my weight.

Counselor i see really thinks that letting my blood sugar drop is contributing to the problem... I don't know. Today I didn't even want to eat but had lunch because she told me I should. Why am I so funked? Well, there have been a couple of triggers - like just **** happening all around me that I find unbearable at times. Every time i see or talk to my ex I go into a tailspin. Mostly, I think it gets back to the midlife crisis stuff that swizz talks about. Dang it... I have been talking to like a half dozen good friends to discover I have about the happiest life of all of them... maybe this is really as good as it gets. That my friends is a sad realization. I will get over it, but am wallowing at the moment.

I am still practicing my positive writing and remembering to be grateful. I have been the queen of grateful my whole life and I guess maybe it's a little busted right now.

Sarsar, I did like 4-5 consults and my questions became refined as I progressed through them. I needed to see like a zillion before and afters because I started to understand the "cherry picking" process. My favorite local doc had a bunch out on real self AND must have had 20 photo albums covering decades of surgery. She even explained how her technique evolved - I really liked her alot.

Also, to have them really explain what the recommend in terms of phasing.. and why. Make sure they have done a goodly number with photos of massive weight loss patients. It is very misleading to look at photos of a tummy tuck of or mommy makeover for someone who had a kid or two and wants to look 25 again. Seriously, massive weight loss is a whole different kettle of fish.

Ask about where the surgery is done (surgical center or hospital). Talk about how complications might be handled. Ask about complication insurance. Discuss after care. I have alot of issues with naseua and anethesia so I had alot of questions around that. Length of surgery. What they recommend for your breasts and why. The Seattle female doc I almost went to gave me the best advice on breasts and it guided my choice. I am SO HAPPY I listened to her and not all the online DDD people who think we all need huge boobs...LOL. I am so happy being a shapely C cup and I have received very positive feedback from the males around so I don't think I went to small and I can still button a jacket.

I was so terror struck at the idea of plastics, i don't even remember everything now... the initial consults really bummed me out, but i got desensitized. Plastics is about tradeoffs and it is something of an art I think... so understanding that surgeons asthetics is really important.

If you are getting a lower body lift you really do risk a bit of a boy figure... watch their before and afters for that issue. Arm lifts - man, look at those afters to see the scar placement. Ask them about scar placement for arms. Ask how they will do the breat lift. My boobs were small and perky enough that he didn't have to do the T cut underneath so I basically have no breast scars - I love that.

Edited April 3, 201412 yr by CowgirlJane