The Journey

J, Impressed as hell. Despite injury and tsuris, you have triumphed. Self-discipline. Not good at that. You are. I'm humbled. (Doesn't happen often.)

Keep going, kid.

Good going, JPB. It's great that you held on and kept going in the face of back trouble.

JPB - you are amazing. So proud for you for what you've achieved here

I so wish I lived next door to you... and could do this with you - you would inspire me to do better... do something.

22lb weight loss - bloody mahhhvellous dahling!

You sound great. I know you will be looking great too - oozing confidence and well-being from the inside out... so very pleased for you.

Hope the girls were both OK this weekend.

Hoping too for no surprises (other than good ones ) or setbacks for you.

Go girl

love you x

I had to look that up. Great word and thank you. I too have been humbled by what you've been facing these many months (years?). That's one of the reasons that I think sharing these stories/situations is valuable - both to the sharer and the reader. We get to see a glimpse of a life that is not our own but one that very easily could be so. "There but for the grace of god go I", or, "****! That could easily happen to me as well!" come to mind.


Thanks, osso. Holding on and keeping going was the only option. I saw this as an impending financial and medical emergency. Not a potential one - a real one. I buried my head in the pillows for quite a while before deciding that no one was going to pull up my bootstraps for me. Fortunately it's turned out to be win - win. I feel better than I've felt in years and I've given myself a new purpose and focus.



Thanku, hunni. I am smiling a lot these days. When I'm not grimacing and gritting about the horrific state of our insurance and health care system in this country, that is. We had a nice visit with the girls this weekend. They went to a concert together in Milwaukee on Friday and had a great time. It's nice to see them connecting with each other and doing things together. The weather here has been picture perfect for the past week. It certainly makes getting outside and enjoying the changing colors while walking a joy. Not having any back pain put a smile on my face too!

I wish you lived next door too!

Thanks all!

what's shakin' today?

not much. Keeping on keeping on. I've still got 0.5 lb to lose to reach my target. I bought apples and cheddar cheese in anticipation of adding fruit, cheese, and bread to my daily intake. I don't eat bread much so I think I'm going to go with multi-grain Wasa crackers instead.

wow, you've reached your goal so fast - from start, August 27th to October 11, you did all what you've set out to, despite the set backs to your health. Yeah, definitely have an apple and some cheese to celebrate (a glass of wine should help too). Congratulations!!

The biggest challenge is now to keep it that way!

Keep on keeping on girl - you've done so brilliantly - enjoy your added extras and I know, you will keep going and you will remain stable. (((((JPB)))))











<tesco shop a bloomer and nutella - i loathe myself >

I did get some bananas and fruit tea tho

Indeed! That's why I ultimately chose this food plan though. It promises rapid initial weight loss for the first 25 lbs or so and then it slows down from there, but I don't need to lose more than that. Then the third phase of stabilization kicks in and lasts for quite a while under less stringent but still controlled intake. I get to add fruit (1), cheese (1.5 oz), and whole grain bread (2 slices) daily, one serving of a starchy side dish per week (increases to 2 servings half way through) and one "celebration meal" (also increases to 2 half way through) per week. I drop down to one day of protein only per week. Lean proteins and vegetables are unlimited every day except the protein only day. This sounds doable to me even though it will last for 5 months.

I had a couple dates hanging over me that kept me motivated. My insurance ended on 10/6 and my neurologist appointment is on 10/21. I wanted to be done with the weight loss portion before I had the conversation about coming off the Plavix. I was going to ask about discontinuing the statin right away but I've changed my mind on that. I want to make sure that even if my weight is stabile that I'm done losing inches. I've read a number of stories where folks have transitioned to the third phase, their weight has stabilized, but they've continued to lose inches around the midsection (tough problem to have, I know). That's where my risk of a cholesterol plaque remains. I'll stay on the statin until both my weight loss and body shape have stabilized.

I have a bottle of white Bordeaux chilling in the fridge for my first celebration meal. Not sure yet when that's going to be. Tomorrow night, maybe

Thanks for all your support here, CJ. You've given me lots of great ideas, not the least of which is the peddler. I started using it again yesterday morning. It's a great addition to my am coffee time!

<snicker> NO! not the candy bar!!!

Oh, I am so glad I could contribute a bit, and I am happy to see such a great outcome. You certainly deserve your celebration meal, wine, and the whole nine yard. Enjoy!

I did it! 23 lbs lost in 46 days. My bmi is now a healthy 23.5 and I'm more than 10 lbs inside the upper limit of normal. I have the tools to maintain this weight and I certainly have the motivation. I'm traveling this weekend which will bring on a challenge but I can do all my exercises and I can make smart choices with food and beverage. I certainly don't want to come back from my trip and have only a couple days until my dr's appt needing to recover from a quick weight gain.

I can do this. I can do this.

I. can. do. this!

So can!

Chinese herbal medicine and acupuncture are worth considering. I found them of much superior quality for getting the body back into shape and I found there were no side effects. You need to cook up a tea with the herbs every day and drink it and sometimes it doesn't taste too good but that is easy enough.
Weight problems are an indicator of stress, which comes about out of toxic relationships. Stress is the early part of disease soi you need to eradicate or reduce it. Stress means someone is trying either to manipulate and control you or wanting to punish you, either out of jealousy or whatever. Eating works because parts of the digestion process, especially the digestion of fats, requires a high parasympathetic nervous system tone and this is the same part of the nervous system that helps bring the body to rest. So if you are stressed (and in particular feel irritable or angry) then eating something fatty helps you find rest but of course the side effect is putting on weight. Know why you are eating goes a long way in helping to overcome it. Who is making you stressed/ angry etc.? Let your gut feeling guide you. Toxic people are not worth the time of day. Get out of whatever relationship it is and then you can move on.
Also self-hypnosis helps. Make yourself a prescription of ideas and use them to help you achieve your goals. Keep them to yourself. State what you want as if you already have it. Good luck.

Hi kYRANI, thanks for your thoughts. I agree with much of what you've said and will comment more when I return next week. In short, though, while I think stress plays a major roll in a number of complications for a number of people (myself included), I don't think we can chalk all weight problems up to stress. It certainly was a component of my weight gain but I can't discount the effects of aging (menopause) and arthritis (becoming less active) on top of an increasing stress load.



AMEN!

I've begun to investigate meditation. I can't say that I'm in any way proficient, but I can see a definite value to those who practice it regularly.



Exactly what I've been attempting. I didn't keep them to myself, however. I found that putting them out in public was much more beneficial to me than keeping them private.



I like that. And, thanks!

Good going, JPB!

you.are.doing.this!

The day after I had lunch with you, I had lunch with my younger brother who was in town for a yoga conference. He is a certified yoga instructor and talked to me about eliminating negativity from my life. He even went as far as telling me to avoid toxic political discussions on the internet! (I am not joking.)

Thanks, TC and ehbeth!

jw -- I wondered where you'd been.

Ok --- shutting down the computer, putting on my blinders, and focusing on what I need to focus on.

Have a great weekend, y'all!

I did it!

I spent 5 days in New Orleans having a grand ole time - I can't say that I was overly diligent other than with walking. I tried to keep it sane. I came back and had two protein only days to get back in the swing of things and weighed in this morning with a net 1.5 lb loss!

I also had my visit with the neurologist this morning. He's no fun at all, but I convinced him that I wasn't going to pay $287/month for Plavix when I could get sufficient (IMO) anti-coagulant therapy from low-dose aspirin and the therapeutic levels of MSM I'm already taking for my arthritis. Once my insurance coverage gets sorted out he wants me to have another MRI on my brain to see if there have been additional sub-clinical TIAs. If yes then he wants me to go back on Plavix. If no then he's ok with permanently switching over to aspirin therapy. He absolutely doesn't want me coming off the statin unless I demonstrate a total cholesterol under 180 and a LDL under 70. I was higher than that in June and I'm sure I'm not there now with the weight/fat loss that I've been pushing through my system. I'll get a lipid profile in December once I'm sure I've stabilized my weight loss/body structure. Actually, he absolutely doesn't want me coming off the statin ever, but we'll fight that fight once I've met some target numbers.

I picked up a six-month supply of 81mg aspirin for $4.99. This compares to $1722.00 for the same amount of Plavix. The MRI better not show any indications of on-going sub-clinical TIAs!