2012 Challenge

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  • Mary, good job leaving the 2 pizza slices in the fridge and not in your stomach. BTW, I have two lo-cal mochas a day. I figure the skim milk is my protein source since I get so little elsewhere. Sometimes I feel guilty if I go for a third. I'm thinking I couldn't cut to one like you're thinking about.

    Tera, I have not one symptom of menopause or perimenopause. So on March 6th sometime in the afternoon my body will be abruptly throw into that state. It should be interesting. Dr and I discussed HRT and I will take the risk and do it because I don't want the effects that will happen without. All my friends I've discussed this with have said they'd do it again in a heartbeat and they were able to slowly stop the HRT. The dr agreed that it is not something you do permanently.

    I was at 1430 cals yesterday even after the trip to Applebee's. Today I wanted food, the real stuff. The junk food. Not the healthy food. So a co-worker and I shared a cinnamon roll and I think the 200 cals were so worth it. Yummy, yummy and the craving is gone. Last night I Zumba'ed and this morning I ellipticalled.
    Marie
  • Marie - I can understand at your age wanting to take the HRT. I would/did feel the same way then. I had a vag hyst at 37..so I didn't have my ovaries removed but I still started having mild flashes (more like a rush (tingling) and only at night)..didn't even think of hot flashes just was curious about it....could have done without the HRT but my doctor at the time thought perhaps it would help my achy legs...I now see that was ridiculous but didn't know better at the time. Anyway I did feel good while taking it and I think I slept better. I took it for about 18 years...until I was about 60. At that time I was on the Prism Weightloss Program and I lost 33+ lbs. The hot flashes (what little I had as described above) went away completely! So I thought I could go off the HRT then as I was hearing about the risks and didn't want to take it anymore. My gyn agreed although my regular doctor didn't think it was that risky.

    Anyway I did it my own way...I weaned myself off very gradually while increasing an herbal remedy. And the hot flashes hit me suddenly VERY HARD!! I remembered my mother going through it hard (without any help) when I was a kid and now I was like her. It was really difficult to live with. The herbal supplements took a good three months to give me any relief at all and then not much. Several years later I found iCool which helped me more (I took both), but they were still pretty bad. Right now I'm in the process of going off both these supplements...have already dropped the iCool and am weaning myself off the other supplement. There is some risk to taking these herbs too from what I read esp black cohosh so may not be much better than HRT.

    I've wondered whether being on the hormones for so long made my experience worse...I have no idea, can't prove that, but my sister and I are the only women I know who are still having hot flashes at this late age. I am 69 and she is 76. If I were in your shoes at your age and this happening knowing what I know now I don't know for sure what I'd do...I think I'd still probably do the same thing..take the HRT at least for a while. I hope I have not scared you, Marie...not my intention. I know you are facing a lot already. Whatever you decide you can always change your mind later and like you said probably won't want to take the HRT forever anyway. There is another hormone treatment that supposedly is less dangerous but I'm not sure I have the name right...Esterace or something like that. I've often thought of using that even at this late stage. You also may be one of the lucky women who aren't bothered much by hot flashes although there are of course other symptoms. For me those occurred more gradually.

    Also I've recently wondered if after too long (and older age) if there can be a sort of rebound of symptoms actually caused by the hormones, even the plant estrogens. This is why I'm now trying to go off the "natural" remedies as well. So far I'm no worse but it hasn't been long enough to tell for sure. I am repeating my story here because i know I've posted it before, so sorry if it is a repeat to you and again hope I am not stressing you.
  • Todays cals-1470. Exercise 60 minutes of step class at the Y. The weather was spring like around here today. It felt really nice after our few days of winter we managed to have last weekend.
  • You did well Terapet! I got to the gym again today. Really glad I did as we had went to Red Lobster and I didn't hold back really...I estimate I ate 400+ over my daily limit but I did show a teeny bit of restraint...LOL...I left about 1/3 of my salmon (soy and wasabi..yum!), abt 1/2 the butter and sour cream for potato, and shared dessert. Dh offered me one of his biscuits and I declined even though I wanted it. Was glad I did when I stood up and felt so full! Back to my diet tomorrow....at the end I was thinking of that song...It's my party, and I'll cry if I want to and thought yeah, you probably will when you step on that scale in the morning! Well, maybe I won't step on it!
  • maryea-I agree with skipping the scale this morning. You had a nice dinner out and don't mess with that. Good for you for leaving some of the goodies you thought about including last night. Baby steps are good, just keep moving forward.

    I moved my ticker another pound today. I have been here for about a week but I was afraid it would go back up but this morning it was actually 144! However, I am going out of town this weekend which will include lots of eating out which could be a problem. I am not going to worry about it too much though. I do not have much going on after this trip and I can focus on losing these extra pounds hanging around my midsection.

    I was so happy to move that silly ticker but then I look at it and see I still have six pounds to go. Sheesh. Oh well, I have done it before and I can do it again but this time it has to stick!
  • Mary, thanks so much for the information. I printed it out so I'd have it to refer to. I hadn't read your experience before and I very much appreciate it. I just spoke with the nurse and there is no firm surgery date scheduled now. So it has been postponed. Very frustrating. I just want it over. And I'm very glad you had a great b-day celebration and dinner.

    Tera, wow I think your cals yesterday were the lowest I've seen. And the workout probably burned them all. And that is one reason why you lost another pound! And don't look at the number of pounds to go -> look at the number you've eradicated. you're up to 32 pounds gone!

    I finished the day at 1449. Elliptical was the exercise d'jour yesterday. Today I hiked with the dogs and is my day of rest.

    Marie
  • Marie-Thanks for the supportive post. I am really glad I have lost 32 pounds with a mere measly 6 to go! Sorry your surgery date was delayed but it is a big step so you can use the time to get more used to the idea. It sure will be a relief not to deal with the pain though.

    I am off to the Y in a few minutes to sneak in a workout before heading out to see our daughter at her university in Florida. I am afraid it is going to be a weekend of waiting around for her and then taking her out to eat but we will be very happy to see her just the same.
  • Hello friends!

    Sorry that I haven't been here but I have had a really busy week. Fortunately, I have dutifully logged on livestrong and I have been within limits all week. The scale is actually showing signs of maybe heading below 170 (or it is teasing me ) but I will wait til it solidifies.

    Today's eats:
    Breakfast: 1/2c fiber one, 1/2c almond breeze, apple, pb2
    Lunch: romaine lettuce, wonderslim shake, almond breeze
    Supper: chicken stir fry with broccoli, water chestnuts, bamboo shoots and mushrooms over spaghetti squash, 10 oz wine
    Snack: chocolate yogurt pudding with fiber one cereal

    Calories: 1109, carbs 164, fiber 58, 64 oz water.
    70 minutes walkitout.

    Everyone is as good as gold here!

    Marie, my hysto experience was at age 39. I was actually already having hot flashes and some symptoms, including bladder problems. I had really bad endometriosis and systs. I felt better within a couple of days of surgery but I then went full blown into menopause even though I kept my ovaries. I didn't take any hrt (I was also smoking at the time = too big a risk). My symptoms were gone within a couple of years and I rarely have problems now. However, I didn't realize how much pain I was in ALL the time until it was gone. Also, the bladder problems went away - endometriosis was destroying everything. Bummer that the surgery is delayed. You are going to feel better! I think your decision to take the hrt is good. Along with the risks, there are also benefits such as heart disease protection. Estrogen protects us from certain health problems.

    Tera, congrats on the weight loss! You are flying down the scale!

    Gotta go.

    Rie
  • Tera, maybe while you're waiting for your daughter, you can walk the campus and enjoy the sites. at sneaking in an exercise session. Never sneak exercise - blare it from the mountaintops that you are an exerciser!

    Rie, way to go being on plan and I hope the new 16X decade is on the scale tomorrow. You are amazing.

    I was at 1388 cals yesterday and will finish at 1440 cals today. I even made myself a dinner tonight. I've had greek yogurt the last two. But had too many cals left over so I made Kirkland ravioli with my homemade marinara and green beans. It was delish.

    And the surgery is back on for the 6th of March. This time it's written down in ink so I'm back to panic mode to get everything done and ready. But I'm glad I only have to endure one more cycle. I had the nasty pain at ovulation this week and it is definitely getting worse. So an end is in sight.
    Marie
  • Just a quick update as very has happen while I slept - except another pound is eradicated.

    So I moved my ticker and did that happy dance of joy. Now I will go elliptical then make my first mocha of the day.
  • 1545 calories but over on carb servings at 14.

    Marie - Congrats on the weight loss!! And glad the surgery is on again. It will be good to be without pain!
  • Hi all, today I believe I will be over on my cals. Aka I haven't entered them into LoseIt. As I had intended to burn off breakfast and lunch downhill skiing, I figured full breakfast (350 cals) and full lunch (~550 cals) would be ok. But alas, we got to Mt. Shasta and it was clear that there wasn't enough snow no matter what their snow report said. Rocks, dirt and grass could be seen from the chalet. I didn't want to give them my money for lift tickets just so I could destroy my skis. DH and I sadly went home. Oh well. Now that I approximated the cals here, I can safely say I will be at ~1700 cals. But it freer Sunday. I wish I could have gone skiing once this year. But the no snow winter is problematic.

    Mary, your cals looked good. Just a quick question - when you go over on your carbs, is your blood sugar way out of line?
    Marie
  • So my calories have been:
    Sunday: 1528 and absolutely no exercise since the ski area had rocks showing on the runs.
    Monday: 1438 and I ellipticalled as well as the doggie walk of 1.5 miles.
    Tuesday: I did the doggie walk this morning and will elliptical after work. I'm at 698 cals so far.

    Mary, Rie, Lucinda and Tera - how are all of you doing???
    Marie
  • I'm back from my trip. It was a crazy last few days and I ended up going over on calories. I did not even bother to calculate them. Plus no exercise so the scale was up quite a bit today. It's okay but all the eating out and such incites my cravings for bad things so it has been difficult even today. I am expecting to get back on track this week so it will work out eventually. It was fun seeing my daughter and then my son announced his wedding engagement on Saturday. Yikes! It is making me nervous already which is my reason for overeating yesterday. Do you think I will be the first mom to gain weight for a wedding?! Today's calories were 1685 and I got in 60 minutes of strength training at the Y.

    Marie-Sorry the ski trip was a bust. Good thing you can always rely on the dogs to take you walking. Good job on dropping another pound. I am glad you have a date set for the surgery. Not too far away and not too soon.

    Rie-How exciting that you are close to a new decade. That is awesome.

    maryea-Great job with the calories! Next time you can beat the carbs.
  • 1620 calories, 1 over on carb servings.