Hello everybody....remember me?
I am sorry to have been absent for so long....I am not even sure what my excuse is.
Had a very painful wake-up call this week and ended up in A&E with severe...and boy do I mean severe...abdo pain. The docs are pretty certain it is a grumpy gallbladder which is hardly surprising. In all fairness though, no mention of my weight was made by either the doctors or the paramedics. I have to have an Ultrasound to confirm. So I HAVE to get to grips with a low fat diet!
How did I diet for all these years and not realise that 0% fat yoghurt zizzed with fresh fruits is nicer than the other stuff?? Who knew??
Hi to any new guys...I am so sorry not to have kept up with everything!
84 days until my daughter's wedding and counting!!

Good morning all. It's been an interesting morning around here, and the day hasn't even really gotten started. More on that later.

Fi The next time Bob (who, I agree, is a peach and a keeper!) swings by with a coffee refill, ask him to bring you a hand mirror. Then you can practice the smug look you'll have on your face when the doctor announces that you appear to have......serotonin toxicity. It is definitely a pain to go through all these tests, but hopefully they'll come to a conclusion some time soon. Or you can the living embodiment of the phrase, Physician, heal thyself.
Sam Good luck with finding a microwave and a coffee pot. Anything on Craig's list that looks good?
Rapidstoat I'm with you -- yesterday was a disaster. Back on track today.
Donna Nothing like a gall bladder attack to make us committed to changing our eating habits! Hope that things are calming down for you. Feel better.

Bill had told me that he was going on a trip with some guy friends to Illinois for a duck decoy convention (lasts 5 days......how could anyone look at duck decoys for 5 days......but I digress). Of course, that means that Becky (his black lab and Toby's BFF) will be staying here. Bill told he was leaving tomorrow, so I had planned on getting Toby's summer hair cut done today since it takes about 3 hours to do. Well, Bill just showed up dragging in Becky's dog food bag, bowls, etc., handed me the mailbox key, and said he had the day wrong and was leaving NOW. Toby and Becky immediately ran outside, and came in after about 10 minutes. Obviously, they've dug a new hole some place because Toby's paws are dirt covered up to his knees and elbows so no hair cut for him until he completely dries out. Not a big deal, but there are days when I wish we weren't so conveniently located to each other!

Yesterday's trip to the Farmer's Market was great -- good time and Thai for dinner.

OK. Time for a pot of coffee, the crossword, my Saturday morning call with my girlfriend and then I guess I'll wash the windows. Hope everyone has a great day.

Good afternoon everyone.

Fiona, I hope the doctors come to the right conclusion soon. So glad Bob is being a good husband and helping you out, like he should.

Rabid, I think it's true that once you get off-track it's hard to get back on, but, not impossible. Give yourself credit for the things you are doing right. Enjoy the convention.

Sam, good luck with the yard-saling this weekend. I love going to yard sales and finding great deals. I have tried to curtail it somewhat in recent years, as I have enough stuff. DH and I are planning to have a yard sale of our own this Spring.

Betsy, sounds like you had a busy and good day yesterday. I can't wait until the farm stands open up here. We are going to plant patio tomatoes this Spring and cucumbers and perhaps zucchini, as well. Not really a lot of space for a garden here, but we manage. By the way, DH did hide his chocolate bunny, or else he took it with him. At any rate it's not anywhere that it can tempt me.

Donna, so good to see you back, and so sorry about your gall bladder attack. I hope you're feeling better.

Well, I'm roughly 24 hours into my "home-alone" weekend. I really haven't done much, but my knee is getting plenty of rest. I most likely won't accomplish everything I wanted to this weekend, but I'm going to get some housework done anyway.

I hope everyone is enjoying their weekend.

Donna: Glad to see you back. Those gallbladder attacks are nothing to play with. I'm glad that you got into see your physician before it got really bad. I had to have mine removed right after my first child was born because I spent the last 3 months of my pregnancy having attacks and ignoring symptoms. I ended up in the hospital for two weeks because I had pancreatitis and the original surgeon wouldn't operate until that swelling was down. Then a different surgeon came in who was willing to take the risk before the swelling went down because I couldn't eat until I had that surgery, and smells made me produce digestive enzymes in the pancreas, which kept the swelling up. I couldn't stay on an IV indefinitely. Hopefully, they can just remove the gallstones for you.

Fi: The docs are just trying to be careful. I know that it's annoying, but they probably really do have your best interest at heart. Lowering doses of medicines, especially psych medicines, as you well know, can be dangerous because of the withdrawal symptoms. I hope that they come to some decent conclusion to help you soon.

Rapid: being honest with yourself is the most important things that's you can do, and you're doing that. What's important is that you learn from the mistakes and get right back to doing what is necessary to reach your goals. You can do this.

Sam: I can't stand yard sales, but I can't fault you for wanting to get out and enjoy the weather. I don't know about where you are, but it's starting to get beautiful here.

Betsy: Good luck with those animals. They can be about like young kids. Farmer's Market sounds awesome. I don't go to them, but have always wanted to. I had a sample of blackberries at the grocery store today. I love them. I used to not really like them except in cobbler, but now I like them plain. No one else in my family does though.

Doing well here. I'm happy that the surgeon said that I can do cardio. He scolded me about starting sooner, and said, "NO weight lifting for six weeks. I don't want to see you in here because you pulled your stitches!"

Hey all quick check in...I just woke up from a long nap so I'm posting on my phone which makes it kind of hard.

The yard sale situation was a bust. The weather was bad and the one we went to had nothing but junk so we decided to hit up a few of the local good wills and salvation armys. I found a gevalia coffee pot for $7 for my office and found a pretty Ann Taylor dress for spring/summer. I need to find a few because I like wearing them to work and its easier to wear longer as I lose weight than pants. I got it in a XL and when I held it up I really didn't think it would fit but it looked beautiful on me. It reLly is weird to see small clothes and I can fit in them. I even tried on a size large dress and it fit great but I didn't like how flowy the skirt part was so I didn't get it...how have I ended up in a large?!? For the microwave front DH came up with the clever idea to call the office and see if they can switch out our microwave as the one we have came with the apartment...they're coming monday...how clever because I distinctly remember mentioning the same exact thing weeks ago and got told we need our own microwave...hmmmmm

DH and I came home and layed down for a much needed nap. I just woke up so it's probably too late to fix anything for dinner lol.

Hope everyone enjoys their night, will write more tomorrow.

Morning everyone!!

Looks like I'm double posting almost...where is everyone!?!? Hope you're all enjoying your weekend....I have been feeling a little sick since last night.

I got on the scale and only lost .2 pounds this week. My guess is I've taken in too many healthy fats. Healthy fat is good but you still need to watch how much you consume. I know I've had avocado and peanut butter probably a little too much this week so that could probably account for why I didn't lose much. That's ok I know where my error was and I will work harder at watching what I'm eating this week. I still need to take measurements, I haven't done that in quite awhile so maybe there's something good that will come out of that.

My stomach has been kind of upset with an onset of going to the bathroom a little bit too often. I'm also having cramps I'd get when it's about time to have my TOM so maybe I'm also retaining water because of that. I haven't eaten breakfast yet...nothing sounds good. I'm on Pinterest trying to find something that strikes my fancy and I can make with the stuff I have here at home. DH has gone to McD's for him and Kevin (my BIL). I thought about making a healthy fruit tart...it sounded so good but I have none of the ingredients lol...

I need to get an exercise in today since yesterday I didn't get to it. It's a little over cast but I think it may be safe enough to take a walk today. Maybe I can get DH to go with me...That would make me so happy. Little bits at a time I'm going to get him right where he needs to be, but make it his idea...I know you ladies probably know that little trick in the book all too well lol... Other than that I need to meal prep my lunch for this coming week. I'm going to have a greek salad with chicken. I need to get some greek yogurt so I can marinate the chicken, or I may just make a tzatziki sauce for my dressing...I'm not exactly sure yet since DH already made me a greek dressing.

Anyway, Hope everyone enjoys their day...I swear the weekend never goes by slow for me LOL...Take care everyone!

Hi everyone.
I seem to be in a funk. Sorry I have not been active on here. Eating is horrible. I do miss all of you and I miss my old self too. I've been reading your posts and am with you in spirit! 256 days left until 2016.
I have to admit reading your posts does brighten my mood.
Thank you all for being here!

Good morning everyone. I woke up this morning just as the sun was rising and with a very large mountain to look at out my bedroom window, it was easy to tell how far north the sun has moved. Or more correctly, where earth is in our annual journey around the sun. Love this time of year.

Cindy Hope your home alone weekend has helped with healing your foot. When I first ready your post, my thought was that I hoped it wasn't as bad a time as the kid had in the Home Alone movie. DH's chocolate bunny taking/hiding/eating/whatever was a great thing. I know what would happen if I found it! Sounds like you're going to have what my grandma referred to as a kitchen garden -- just enough things to be able to have the staples for a salad. Yum.
Tootsie Glad you're on the mend -- you sound like you're feeling better. And I assume that you're listening to your doctor and being a good girl. Just being able to walk and do the cardio is a big achievement.
Sam Hope you're feeling better -- sounds like you've got some sort of tummy bug. Glad you found the coffee pot and the shopping trip sounds like it was great both in terms of finding clothes and really great in terms of new sizes -- Way to go!!!!! Don't you love it when hubby gets a different answer than wifey gets from the same people. That should have a question mark for punctuation except it really is more a statement of fact for women. Oh well, as long as you end up with a new microwave.
Ubee What can we do to erase that funk? I finally figured out what has been causing my horrendous eating patterns of late.......ended a 5 year long distance relationship (he lives in Illinois) back in October, and I've been out of control with my eating since. So, figure out what's driving your funkiness and let's both have a Bag Up the Funk day and throw all that baggage out the window. Let's do daily weigh ins -- AND TRACK THEM -- along with tracking our food and taking measurements and drinking lots of water and pausing when the funky moods hit us. I got your back.

Yesterday was a much needed day of rest -- both mentally and physically -- here. Read a book, watched a movie, managed to do basically nothing. So today I need to change the bed linens and wash the sheets, vacuum because the "kids" have brought in half of the outside, put together a stand I ordered for my half bath to have some storage in there, write down what I've spent in the last couple of days, and figure out what I can have that will keep my carbs under 50 g for the day. That shoulld keep me busy. Tomorrow I really want to get the windows washed and one day this week get the deck power washed and the screens put up on the porch. Always so busy this time of year!

Hope everyone has a great day.

I want to talk about pain. Muscles that are failing sure do deliver a lot of pain to the brain. It seems like every day of this weird endurance challenge I'm doing comes up with a new way of making me want to scream myself silly.

Today's version happened right after the Formula One (Grand Prix) race. Getting out of my chair, across Bob's chair, and then into the wheelchair was outrageously painful. I really wanted to give up and just live in the den for the duration.

And now.... now that I'm finally back into the green futon at the front of the house, when I oughta be basking in glory from that huge accomplishment... now I need to be thinking about climbing the stairs with these cramping, failing, agony-producing leg muscles of mine. I didn't climb the stairs yesterday, and I would like to be doing it once a day—for my shower, for my legs (so they don't turn into pudding from inactivity), and for my studio time. I haven't made a collage in so long it would be embarrassing to figure out exactly how long.

As for my diet, I'm failing there as well. But I'm so couch-bound I can't make it to the foods that would tempt me the most, so I suppose there are some advantages to pain-racked immobility. I can't drive! =sigh=

Good evening! I had a pretty busy weekend, but not busy enough to keep me from eating EVERYTHING. It's my TOM so I had junk food after junk food all day yesterday and today. Back at it tomorrow! Been working too hard to blow it on crappy food on a weekend. Hope everyone is doing well. I know I'm not the only one dreading the work week!

Fiona I do have that book. I've been reading that and 'how to have your cake and your skinny jeans too' (approximate title, it's something like that). I'm just having a hard time putting things in practice.

Bad News: Still mentally off-balance and not eating that healthy and exercise has fallen by the wayside.

Good News: I haven't gone as totally off the rails as I have at other times. I am eating unhealthy choices and doing 'mini-binges' but not big huge binges.

Trying to pull it together again this week. I wish I knew why things weren't clicking. I never know why things work when they do, and why they don't when they don't. Is it just that all this rainy weather has me down? Has it been too long since a vacation? Am I frustrated at the scale not moving for three weeks? I have no idea. Maybe it's a mix of all of those and more.

P.S. Finding the '250 flavor popcorn store' was the Worst. Thing. Ever. No more popcorn until I'm back in control!

Hi everyone.

Tootsie, so glad you're doing well. Now, listen to the doctor and be a good girl.

Sam, I hope you're feeling better today. I also hope you got your microwave today. I would be lost without mine.

Ubee, keep posting even if you are not doing well or eating well. None of us are perfect and we don't expect you to be either. I wish I had the magic words to help. I look at each day as an opportunity to start again, but sometimes you just need to get through a meal. I'm with Betsy, track your food and weigh daily.

Betsy, just reading how busy you are makes me tired. I'm glad you had a day of rest. You have earned it.

Fiona, I hope you find some relief and some answers soon.

Mae, I hope today was a better day.

Rabid, I never know why things work when the do either, but I'm glad they do sometimes.

I didn't eat all that well yesterday either. Is there something in the air? Today has been better on the eating front, but I had a frustrating afternoon at work. My work computer decided to stop working and still isn't fixed. I was eventually able to use another one but don't have access to a lot of my systems. I hope it gets fixed tomorrow.

Time to go make some dinner. I hope you all have a better day tomorrow.

Better day today, in several ways, the most hope-inducing of which is that my muscles are stronger.

I've had a goal for some days now, which was/is to get to a wooden chair that is right next to where I used to do my Qigong exercises. And I made it! I finally got my butt planted in that chair. I didn't actually make it out of the chair and into doing my exercises—still too weak and spastic for that—but getting to the chair itself, on the opposite side of the room, was an achievement.

I see Mike, my Qigong instructor, tomorrow. Maybe he can show me how to get out of the wheelchair and onto my feet doing the exercises.

Small but significant steps—that's how I'm going to master this thing! Maybe tonight I will get upstairs and down the hall to my collage studio. That's what I need for my morale now, more than anything: I need to make a collage.

Still too weary from these feats to write personal replies, but I'm reading all your postings and cheering for your accomplishments. Most of all I'm thinking about you, Ubee: leave that funk behind you, gal, and get back to your real self and your real Way of Eating. I need your attitude!

Sam ~ Yeah I havent went for a walk outside for a couple of days now due to it storming.

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Woke up at 8 a.m. and I watched a few hours of t.v and then at 10 a.m. I went back to sleep until 1 p.m. and now its 5:43 p.m. and I've been up ever since 1 p.m. I'm about to start cleaning the house. I hope everyone has a lovely day.

Hi everyone.
Today was better with food. Still very busy. We will be going to the doctor on Friday to see about getting our daughter put back on her old meds. We are more then willing to pay out of pocket to see her get back to her old self.
Missing you all and sorry I am not taking the time for each of you.
Maybe tomorrow...