Over 100 Pounds to Go

Re: Hello. I'm new. Is there anyone out there that is in same boat as me?

Pamela — Tue, 05 May 2009 05:44:32 GMT

Tried to post it in the box I'm typing in now, also tried to post it in the tag box. Tried both codes it gave me, neither worked. The entire html came out both times. By the way, love your photo. Did you hand draw that? Awesome joB!

Re: Hello. I'm new. Is there anyone out there that is in same boat as me?

BABY FAT — Tue, 05 May 2009 02:24:28 GMT

Hi, where did you try to post it. I copied mine from the ticker page thing and just pasted it in the signature box on the edit profile page. Give it a try.

Good luck.

Re: Hello. I'm new. Is there anyone out there that is in same boat as me?

Pamela — Mon, 04 May 2009 22:18:46 GMT

well to hell with the ticker since i can't get it to post. was stupid idea for me anyway. ugh.

Re: Hello. I'm new. Is there anyone out there that is in same boat as me?

Pamela — Mon, 04 May 2009 22:18:12 GMT

<a href="http://www.myfitnesspal.com/weight-loss-ticker"><img border="0" src="http://tickers.myfitnesspal.com/ticker/show/20/3707/203707.png" /></a><p style="text-align:center;width:420px;"><small>Created by MyFitnessPal - <a href="http://www.myfitnesspal.com">Online Calorie Counter</a></small></p>

Re: Hello. I'm new. Is there anyone out there that is in same boat as me?

Pamela — Mon, 04 May 2009 22:17:22 GMT

I just started my new ticker that I see others have. Maybe this will help me motivate a bit better.

Re: Hello. I'm new. Is there anyone out there that is in same boat as me?

Pamela — Mon, 04 May 2009 22:03:41 GMT

Hi :) I knew someone years ago who has RA & fibro & she was in terrible pain all the time like me. They gave her a med (4got the name of it) for restless legs syndrome. I take ambien to sleep when my pain is so bad or the insomnia is too insistent. I do not take it every night.

Cheez It's aren't that bad, you could have worse cravings. I think I saw in the store a new cracker from Special K not sure of the flavors, but you may want to check them out. I will try to find you a link for them. Ok seems they only come in tomato/herb flavor. Here's a link to their products. http://www2.kelloggs.com/brand/brand.aspx?brand=215&cat=cereal

My weakness is fried mozzarella. On the times I'm allowed cheese for a snack or meal, I can make english muffin pizza's & sometimes that helps the craving. I don't make a habit of that though. Yes I know about the moderation thing. The only time I allow myself to "splurge" is on Sundays which are designated as my free days. Seems to work out for me because it's my reward day for being good all week. No slimfast products are eaten that day, but I still watch my portions & don't go crazy with bad food persay. Like breakfast, I would have a few slices of homemade french toast. Lunch is a sandwich w/ ritz chips. And dinner is a diet tv dinner with some veggies on the side. At night, I have one snack only & that is one scoop of ice cream. For some reason as long as I have that one scoop that day, my week is ok & i don't binge. But if my week is bad, then no ice cream whatsoever. My punishment. So it really works lol. Try it that way with your crackers see if that helps :)

Re: Hello. I'm new. Is there anyone out there that is in same boat as me?

Pamela — Mon, 04 May 2009 21:53:06 GMT

I'm glad to hear your son's visit went well. I like Special K also. The red berries one is my favorite. I'm trying to restart my diet again today. Last week too much stress made me fail, this week I have gained weight due to my period & I'm depressed because I cannot go to the pool til this is over. I am tired today from the fibro but the diet is going good today so far. I will make my lunch in a little bit. You don't like eggs? I don't care for breakfast meats, but I love eggs. My dr said I can have up to 4 eggs a day, as long as no more then 2 are whole eggs. My list on here for snacks includes buttered bagels. I was shocked. So I picked up a bag of cinnamon bagels. They are only 10 more calories then plain bagels & I read that cinnamon helps trigger the brain into feeling full or stopping sugar cravings or something like that, so I figured why not. Even though I'm only allowed half a bagel on my plan, it still helps, plus that makes the bagels last twice as long as well.

Maybe you should talk to your dr about your arm going numb. Mine does that due to the damage in my neck from the car accident. But you need to know why yours is doing that. Good luck on the findings. :) How did your weigh in go? Pamela

Re: Hello. I'm new. Is there anyone out there that is in same boat as me?

mlrj — Mon, 04 May 2009 17:53:56 GMT

hi , i was diagnose with rhymatoid arithritis 10 years ago , and fibro 2 years ago, so i also have a lot of pain, im currently taking pain meds and gabapentin to sleep at night, and i also have high blood pressure , and talking paxil for menapause, i have gotten to the point where i can walk 5 times a week for 30 min each time and then i do some exercise, the exercise hurts more than walking. My weight loss is slow because of the paxil but the paxil keeps me from going homones which they say cause *** cancer, since going on slim fast and eating the right foods i have more bad days than good ones. I have never heard of fibro, until i was diagnose with it, and now i see a lot of women suffer from it, and that makes me feel at ease to know that some other women have what i have. i have a problem with cheese IT , i love those things, i will start eating and have to stop to keep from eating the entire box. I still eat them but only 16 crackers when i do and that take care of the craving for them. I guess i found out that you can have the things you like and crave but in moderation. If you learn that and get that in your head you can manage. Just thought i would send you a note to let you know you are not alone.

Re: Hello. I'm new. Is there anyone out there that is in same boat as me?

LJC — Mon, 04 May 2009 16:38:29 GMT

So sorry to hear about your boyfriend's son. People with disabilities really need family, especially daddies. What a shame.Our weekend visit with our son went well. He did so good in the pool friday and slept well that night. He had no behaviors or violent outbursts. If he keeps this up I think we should be able to keep him home for 3 nights a week. It would be so much easier if he hadn't lost the ability to do his puzzles or color or do his favorite activites. The seizures took all that from him. Now all he does is pace around the house or look at his books. He doesn't even have the ability to listen as you read a book to him. It's so sad. He used to do 50 piece puzzles or his 24 pieces in minutes. He could bead beads, color in the lines, sound out his flash cards, sign 100 words, say and write his name. I wish I could be a fly on the wall at his group home and see whether or not they engage with him in challenging activities or just let him pace and watch tv. It's so disheartening.

Don't get me wrong about the breakfasts I eat. I make alot of food for my family but I will usually eat 1 cup of potatoes or a bowl of Special K. I am not into eggs or meats. Sometimes I will eat lunch, but make sure it's a light lunch.

I had a nice long message for you, but accidently deleted it. Now I can't remember what I had said.

I better go now, my arm is dpoiong that weird thing with being numb again and I have to get reasy to walk. It's a bummer that you can't do water aerobics. But just walking in the water is a stronger work out than plain old walking. Don't worry about only being able to do it a little while cause you are working to build up your stamina. Soon you will be able to do more and more.

Keep up the good work...

-Laura

Re: Hello. I'm new. Is there anyone out there that is in same boat as me?

Pamela — Sat, 02 May 2009 16:58:32 GMT

Truffles are evil EVIl! Get rid of them! Shame on the truffles! Don't they know they are illegal? The slimfast swat team would swarm upon your house in a raid!!!!! Fortunately, I don't have that problem as I don't like chocolate so much. My weakness is fried mozzarella. If it isn't in the house I'm ok, but omg they are at dennys and arbys and they scream my name!!!! I havent had any in awhile. One time while dieting, I had some, and they were undercooked and kind of hard in the middle and not gooey and it ruined for me so I wouldn't eat them for the longest time lol.

I'm mad at myself too. I tried to stay on track this week, & I didn't do too bad, but I didn't lose weight either. I've had a horrid week with the pain & migraines & yesterday the pool opened up and I was there. The water was cold but omg it felt good. Got a slight sunburn on upper arms, but oh what an idiot I am, I pushed myself tooooooo far & did tooooo much and now today I'm paying for it, its like going to a gym and working out for 2 hrs lifting weights and stuff for the very first time. I feel like I've been hit by a truck and my neck pain is so bad I want to cry. Was at the dr yesterday and he will track my weight also. He is glad to hear I started a diet. They did bloodwork yesterday to test for Lupus. Wed I go back for an echocardiogram on my heart. Today will be back n forth from bed to chair as the pain is very great. No pool today. Will give my overworked muscles a break. But will definitely go tomorrow.

If you can't fit walking into your schedule, you can sneak it in. Like you said you were running errands, don't park close to the store or wherever it is you are going. Park far out in the parking area and walk that extra distance. Boom, you just made time for walking. Couple hours of errands, look how much walking you just did!

On my diet, I swap my lunch & dinner because I cannot be active due to my pain & disabilities. So for my lunchtime, I eat dinner, the real meal I'm allowed on the diet. At dinnertime, I eat my lunch, the lighter meal of my diet. That gives me more time to burn off the bigger meal. For breakfast, I don't eat all that stuff like you do. I have a shake, and scramble 4 eggs ( 1 or 2 whole, & the rest just the whites) and a piece of bread to make a sandwich out of them. No potatoes. Or I have 2 packets of oatmeal and a banana like my plan says.

I will keep my fingers crossed on the Olympics for you. Omg hot tub. Wish there was one here. I sooo need one. And a massage. Well back to lay down again. I hate living in so much pain.

Re: Hello. I'm new. Is there anyone out there that is in same boat as me?

LJC — Sat, 02 May 2009 16:12:18 GMT

Hi, how are you this am? I am pretty good. I weighed in today and had a 1# loss. It's not much but I wasn't even expecting that. You see, I had a pretty rough week. I over ate a couple of days, not alot but not as I'm supposed to. I even broke down and had some white chocolate truffles. In case you don't know what they are, imagine sweet white chocolate in the shape of a small ball the size of a quarter. Inside is a creamy white chocolate liquid filling. They literally melt in your mouth. They are my only weekness. There are 250 calories for every 3 truffles and I had 12. I know it's alot but it's less than a bag of M&Ms. I had intended on having a few a day but i should have known better. I've tried that before and failed miserably each time. When will I learn? But I did learn this time. I know I just can't control myself around them. I can not have them in the house. I am too weak around them. I'd love to just pop one in my mouth when I had the craving and make a bag last a week but I'm just not that way. I keep returning to that drasted bag, hour after hour, til it's gone. I can control myself with everything else.

I have no other junk in the house. No candy, chips, pastries, pop or chocolate. I but no breads or pastas. I threw all of that stuff out when I found out I weighed 250#s. I just keep SF bars and Special K bars. I will buy light Pringles and have a small amount about once a week with a burger or something. I usually don't eat dinner because I try to eat earlier in the day but I will break down and eat a little if we BBQ. Iwill have 1/2 a burger instead of a double so I allow myself a few chips. They aren't something I binge on. i used to not be able to resist them but now I have no problem.

I am doing great on the eating only breakfast. It is so easy. I get up early and fix my family a big breakfast. I buy a 5# bag of frozen diced red potatoes at Cash & Carry, a restaurant supply store. I get a bag for $4. I also can get a 24 pk of frozen hashbrown patties for $3. I will alternate on the potatoes. I buy precooked bacon or sausages at CostCo. I will serve eggs and breakfast is cooked and served in 15 mins or less with no prep time or thinking up plans or anything. Sometimes I will mke waffles, pancakes or french toast for a change. My family loves it and I can eat whatever I want and still have a good weight loss because I burn up those calories through out the day instead of taking in my cals in the evening and letting food sit in my stomach over night. I was losing 3-4 #s a week this way.

My body loses weigh strangely. I will plateau at a certain weight for a couple of weeks, then have a good loss of 3-4 #s. My dr says this is my body getting used to the changed metabolism. She says as long as I continue to exercise every day, i will do fine. I am a little behind some who are losing 2#s a week but I have accepted that this is just how I work. I would love to lose as fast as, say, SisterC, but that's not how I work. As long as I work out I will do fine.

That's another thing about this past week. I only walked once. I had a very busy week and had a few morning appointments and didn't allow time for walking. My bad. This week I will do better. Get back at the mall every day. It's one of those things that if you stop doing it's difficult to pick back up again. I would love to be able to walk outside again but the weather just won't cooperated.

Swimming with my son went great. He is doing so good. He is loving to sit back and relax for a while in the hottub. It's so cute. He will swim for 1/2 an our and then just float for a little while til we sit him in the chair so he can lounge for a while. But it's a good workout for me. Did I tell you that my daughter and I will probably be coaching Special Olympics swimming next year? I am so excited about it.

Anyway, I have to go. My left arm is killing me from typing.

Laura.

Re: Hello. I'm new. Is there anyone out there that is in same boat as me?

Pamela — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 04:33:36 GMT

Hooray for your son winning!!! That is so great! My boyfriend has a 5 yr old son who is autistic. He doesn't live with us, he lives in another country with his mother who kidnapped him across the border & no clue where she is. He's hoping to get a divorce attorney soon & fight for sole custody. Long story about the mother, but its a bad situation for his son there psychologically & her parents do drugs as well. Let's just say she is raising him to believe she is his sister & her parents as his parents. Very wacked.

Yes I knew insomnia is part of fibro, I had to laugh when you said what isn't as i know that feeling too. I'm sorry you had such a bad day. I'm having severe pain in my neck today and also hurts to breathe from mid back pain. I would not mix melantonin with your sleep medicine. It's bad to mix herbs/otc meds w/ prescriptions. Check with your dr first to make sure it's ok.

Today was first day of my diet. I weighed myself for kicks & saw I lost 2 lbs. I dont know how lol. Trust me, I know bad days upon waking, there are times I need help out of bed because it's too painful for me. I know what you are going thru. I did ok today on my diet. Did not cheat. We had KFC for dinner cuz I was in too much pain to cook, but I didn't overeat and I'm proud of myself, in fact, i have one snack left and its 12:30am. I will save it for when my meds are due again at 3am if I am up.

Re: Hello. I'm new. Is there anyone out there that is in same boat as me?

LJC — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 15:18:58 GMT

Hello, How are you? How was your weigh in?

I am having a rough morning. I woke up in so much back pain that I had to stretch before I could even move to take my morning meds. I took them an hour ago and am still in as much pain. Usually it backs off by now. I am also having something weird going on. I woke up with my arm numb. It got a little better but my hand is still numb. It’s so strange. It’s the almost painful part of having a part of your body asleep. I keep having weird feelings in the rest of my arm also. Almost an ache. If my heart was hurting I’d think I was having a heart attack because this is all happening in my left arm. I don’t like it. Weird.

I can’t walk this am because my son is home for his weekend visit. He is 21 and has autism. He lives in a group home about ½ an hour away. We bring him home for weekends. This weekend was Special Olympics. We usually get him on Friday nights but his events were on Saturday. Since we can’t really get him going in the early mornings we had to put his visit off til after he competed. He has to stay somewhat on his schedule and is used to spending 2 nights with us. So he spent sat. and sun. nights. That means he is still here. He has trouble walking so I can’t take him with me. Btw, he won 2 silver medals. He competed in the assisted walks, 25 &50K relays. I walked w/ him. It was fun. Anywho, about your insomnia, you take ambien? I take Seroquel and melatonin. The combination puts me out in about ½ an hour and keeps me out for 8 hours or more. Before I was taking Seroquel I could be up for days with no sleep. Now it doesn’t even feel like I have insomnia, except if I forget to take my meds. And I don’t have to take anything to wake up. Did you know insomnia is a symptom of fibro? But then again, what isn’t? I am on the patches also. I never heard about the shots affecting the heart but I do know that they will only give a few shots per year. They are painful but really help me. Fortunately my dr. will put me out for the epidurals. My friend’s dr. doesn’t. She also takes Lyrica. My dr. won’t give it to me because she knows I am trying to lose weight and it causes weight gain.

Well, I better go. I want to try to get on the recumbent bike before my son wakes up.

Talk atcha later…

Laura

Re: Hello. I'm new. Is there anyone out there that is in same boat as me?

Pamela — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 18:46:46 GMT

Good afternoon! I am usually not up in the mornings as my pain & chronic insomnia prevent that as I go to bed anywhere from 3-8am. Don't be upset at the one lb. It happens. I think the walking a half hour each day does sound more beneficial. It may seem weird, but it will work. I live in an apartment so the pool isn't open yet. I am hoping it opens in May because I really benefit greatly from it.

My weigh in will be on Monday. That is when my diet officially starts. I had problems this past week with getting the website to run right & now have got most of my food for the diet so I am ready to go. I have to start on Mondays, it's a brain thing with me, idk why. So Monday will be my very first official day on the diet. I snuck a look at the scale last night and was 316.5 which means I gained a lb, but I can feel my period coming soon, & I always gain 5 lbs with it, when it goes, it takes the 5 lbs with it also.

I am on vicodin es, flexeril, ambien, & lidoderm patches. In the early morning hours I try to sneak in 2 advil if it's been 6 hrs since my pain pill because I can't mix them. Its a bad thing if you do. I think on my good days, I am going to push myself to do things (even though the dr says no) I figure whatever moving around I do is burning some sort of calories and some is better then nothing in my book cuz I cant do anything else but pool. I'm working on decorating my apartment in pieces, so when my boyfriend goes to work, I sneak in some cleaning til I hurt too much to do anything. I get in trouble for this cuz it gets back to my dr lol. If you lived close to me, I'd invite you to come share the pool with me. Always more fun with a friend then alone. Also, have you tried tiger balm for some of the pain? I like the one in the tin that has a consistency like vaseline. It lasts much longer for me & works real good. You can get it at cvs or walmart, if you don't see the big tin of it, just ask the pharmacy to order it for you, that's what I do & takes a couple of days to come in. Its worth it.

I tried acupuncture, it doesnt work for me. As far as injections, you're only allowed so many because it does damage to your heart I think I heard somewhere, when I was in my early 30s, I developed facsitis on both feet & had to get injections on each foot, the dr gave me more then he should have each time so I dont think i can have injections at all now.

Wish me luck on Monday. First few days are the hardest. :) I am here for you though. Pamela

Re: Hello. I'm new. Is there anyone out there that is in same boat as me?

LJC — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 15:44:11 GMT

Good morning,

Well, actually, ok morning. Today is my weigh in day and I had a 1# gain. I am bummed but not too much because I have learned that this is how my body adjusts to losing weight. I will lose a few #s, then plateau out for a couple of weeks, fluctuating a # or so. Then a couple of weeks later I will have a significant loss, usually of 4 #s or so. I just can’t seem to lose the average 2#s a week like others. I discussed this with my dr and she helped me see that this is just how my body and metabolism work. So, this is normal for me.

She also said I would lose alot faster if I exercised every day. She suggested I change my walking from every other day at 1 hour to every day at 1/2 hour. I haven't done that because it just doesn't feel right to quit walking that early. I want to walk every other day and go to the Y on the opposite days for their water aerobics classes. I was going for a while but injured my ankle. I was doing jumping jacks in the water and was hit by severe pain. I had given myself a stress fracture. I was unable to walk for weeks and in pain for months so going back to the Y was out of the question. Now that I am out of the habit it has been difficult for me to go back. Also, I had been going with a friend and she does not feel like going again. She has fibro and is in really bad shape. She was just diagnosed and is in the position of not having drs take her pain seriously. She takes vicodine but it doesn't work for her and they won't give her anything stronger. She knows I am taking methodone and has seen how that has changed my life so she desperately wants that. I love the methodone because there is absolutely no high medicated feeling. It does not get me loopy or sedated. It did take me a year to learn how to live with it, tho. I noticed that my reaction time and cautiousness had been altered so I had to stop driving. Now I take it at 6 am and don't go anywhere for a couple hours and I am fine. I know being on long term narcotics is not the ideal, but I simply do not function without it and that in and of itself is not acceptable. I am just a better person now and a contributing factor in my family and friends' lives since this med came into my life so we deal with it. Like I said, there's no high so it works for me.

What meds are you taking? Do you get trigger point injections or epidurals? I do and hate getting them but they work so well for me that I deal with them. Also.

Well, how was your weigh in?

Laura