Good morning everyone! I am sorry that I have not been on the boards and replying to any messages for me in the past week. It has been a hectic week. I do plan on replying to the messages as soon as possible though!

This week has been a nightmare! Here is my week:

• Monday: Storms in our area so didn't do much of anything.
• Monday Night: My dog (puppy) was sick so we had to rush her to the vets office for an emergancy visit. It ended up that she had some kind of a flu bug! We have to give her antibiotics twice a day for 7 days I beleive it is. She is getting better already! But she has to still be in the kennel right now just to make sure she is not hyper (she is very hyper!) because of her stitches from her surgery. Those will be out soon.
• Tuesday: I decided to flood my house!!! Not intentionally (sp?) lol I didn't know what to do (no emergency shut off in the house then) so I called 911 lol. Then my neighbors seen me freaking out and ran for help too! My neighbors are eldery and can't get under the mobil home so they went to get a young guy on our street. Then our police cheif came and looked under my kitchen sink to tell me what happened and if I needed a repair man. Sure enough.... lots needs to be fixed. So the repair man fixed the water so we had water... then next week he will come back to fix the hoses and stuff under my kitchen sink (the people who used to own my house made a mess of the whole house by doing all of the repairs themself... and doing them all wrong), rebuild the floor (bottom) of the cabinet, fix the wall on the other side of the cabinet (it is like an island), and fix parts of the floors that are soft. It took me forever to get the water up! The water was almost up to my ankles! I used ALL of my towels and sheets to soak it up! I have had fans blowing on my carpet since to make sure it is dry. I am finally caught up on washing towels, sheets, and rugs lol. Now I have to catch up on our clothes. Then the day of the flood my son has an asthma attack at school (no a/c and it was hot out) so I had to go pick him up. While I was there the principal asked me to come to his office. He gave us free tickets to the circus that came here the other night. So we went to that. It was fun. I don't think I had ever been to the circus before. The whole family really enjoyed that. It was nice to relax!
  
• Thursday: Was my weigh in day. I am starting to wonder if there is a point to dieting anymore! I eat better then before and exercise my butt off (even if the last couple of days have just been cleaning for the flood lol) and I am still gaining weight! It is getting down right depressing! In June I only weighed 180! I quit smoking then and keep gaining weight! I don't get it. It has been long enough to not be gaining weight anymore... I would assume! And then I talked to my mom on the phone. My dad bought her a new car for her birthday. I wish I could have taken her truck! It would have been nice to have a 4 x 4 out here in the country! But she said it needed to many repairs (probably the same as my car needs) but that it was also worth $10,000.00 and I didn't have it. Then we discussed my weight gain and she new I was upset. But then she started complaining to me about how I am so poor blah blah blah because I had to call my husbands parents to help us fix the house because we didn't have any money! It felt like she was just taking a knife and sticking in and out of my gutt! I know I am poor... but I make myself feel good and think positive... I have a home and food on the table... and a healthy (except for the weight) and happy family! Money does not what make happiness! It can help... but it is not the main thing for happiness! But everytime I talk to my mom and she talks like this (which is to often) I feel worthless. I ended up in tears that day and fell asleep on the couch while drying a load of clothes. My day was bad enough after my weigh in let alone my mom coming down on me! I try to ignore it (so she thinks!) because she has lung cancer and she is not feeling well. And I don't want to upset her. But I can't take to much more of this!!! This has been going on for years!
  
  

It has been a very long few days!!! The information about was copied from email because I didn't feel like typing all of that out again. But since that email with a couple of my friends from this board I feel much better! I am still counting calories! There were a couple of days that everything was nuts and I just ate when I could and stuff... but I am back to normal healthier eating as of yesterday!

Things are finally getting cleaned up from the flood. Some of my dishes have to stay in the living room is baskets for now though. Once the repair man fixes the cabinet I will put them back. But there is no since in putting it all back just to take it all out again.

I am hoping to get everything back to normal again! I am hoping to be back on these boards like before very soon! I will respond to any and all messages that were written to me as soon as I can. I plan on starting to reply this morning. I am not fully awake yet lol.

Smoking does increase your metabolism. I wish I could remember where I read this stuff, but there is actual scientic proof that some folks can have self induced hypoglycemia from drink lots of coffee and smoking.
It'll level out for you and you'll find YOUR calorie levels for weight loss.

TMunday,

I also quit smoking on March 01, 2004. I did so laying on my back in an emergency room for hours following a 2 hour breathing treatment waiting for my oxygen level to go up. FINALLY, it did and I got to go home. I went on prednisone for awhile until my asthma was more controlled with just an inhaled steriod. All said, in the end I was 40 pounds heavier.

Now, 18 months later I'm determined to lose the weight...but I, like you, am beginning to wonder if it's worth the trouble. My doctor recommended Atkins...that worked for me about 2 days. The fact is, I don't like being told I can't eat something. Calorie counting deprived me of nothing and forces me into better choices because nothing is off the list.

It's taken me 3 weeks to loose 5 pounds. I've gone the last week with no weight lose and it's been my best week yet. My calories have not exceeded 1300, I've exercised everyday, I've even eat my veggies this week ...for nothing!!!

Since I've quit smoking my body has gone through so many changes. At one point I thought I was going through menopause...it was that bad. My hormone levels have been whacky...as have my moods, etc. --- I think Susan is on to something. YET, another reason to despise those cigs.

I'm sorry your week was so terrible, however, I'm glad your back. I'm new here and I've enjoyed following along with your questions.

Carrie,

Congrautlations on quitting smoking! I sat in the hospital like that for hours once too with an asthma attack! It was terrible! But I was stupid and lit up not long after leaving the hospital!

About a year ago I was doing Weight Watchers. I was not loosing weight, but I did decide to quit smoking then too. I gained around 30 pounds! Thats what put me back up to 180. I was in the 150's! And it took a lot of work to get back there! I said forget it and started smoking again. But then I ended up with that real bad flu bug that was going around. I was on the couch for about a month with a fever and sleeping. I did not eat!! But I didn't lose any weight either lol. I didn't smoke either!! But I lit right back up once I FINALLY kicked that nasty flu bug! I stayed at around 180 since. (until I quit smoking in June)

When I started dieting in 2002 my mom sent me to Weight Watchers. I never lost anything! I am not one that likes to eat!! Then my doctor said Atkins too. So I tried it. I lost about 10 to 15 pounds. That lasted a month. Then I did the South Beach Diet for several months. Lost a very good amount of weight.. that is when I got down into my 150's! Got lazy and just ate normal again. Which is not much... basically only dinner. Did WW again.. nothing. Went back to SBD and got very sick. And now I am here, counting calories. I really feel this is a great way (and the oldest way) to lose weight!

I can't wait to see a negative number in my weight lost charts! I have to lose 3 pounds to do that. But it would make me happy.

I have recently heard on tv or read that stress can kill weight loss too!! Stress causes cortisal in the belly. Which could be an issue for me. But I don't think taking the pills "Cortisal" will do anything either. I am seriously thinking about seeing my doctor again though! I am starting to think there is an underlying problem (my mom says this) that is not allowing me to lose weight. I might check into one day.

Mood swings from quitting smoking.. lol.. aint that the truth!! My husband hates it.. but he loves not smelling the smoke so he deals with it lol. What actually is keeping me from smoking right now is that I cannot afford it! We make like $400.00 less a month now with my husbands new job. And cigerettes would be very hard to try and buy. I absolutely refuse to buy cigerettes with credit cards!! So it is off limits. If we we had more money.. I would have started back up long ago I think. I do feel and believe that cigerettes messes with your mood, emotions, stress levels, weight, hormones, everything! It is sad!

But I am thinking that is the cause for the majority of my weight loss problems!

I am glad you joined the site! I like to ask questions. You learn a lot here. I didn't know about calorie counting until the people here told me about it! Lost of good information and support here.

Edited: I am basically at my highest weight now. In 2002 I was around this amount of weight... but I can't remember the weight exactly.

Five pounds in 3 weeks is AWESOME! Do not tell yourself that it was nothing! At that rate, you'll be a bikini before next summer!

Yes, I feel good about the 5 pounds. I lost 4 of that the first week. I think it was mostly water. I loathe water about as much as veggies but I'm doin' both. The second week I lost 1 pound. I was okay with that. 1 pound is 1 pound that I didn't gain. But this last week I didn't loose anything. Thanks for pointing out it's not for nothing. *reality check* Patience is not something that comes easy for me.

This weekend I'm not going to be so strict on myself for 2 reasons...
1) Monday is my birthday and I'm "celebrating" early, lol

2) The fiance and I are HUGE football fans. He's a Rams fan and I'm a Titans fan. They play this Sunday for the first time since the Rams stole the superbowl win in January 2000. It's time for payback So, Sunday we're having chocolate cake and chili dogs.

Oh, not a bikini I wore one once when I was 17 (pre-kids) and I was so insecure the whole time, lol I'll take lookin' good in a one piece, please!

At the risk of repeating myself.... I'm cutting and pasting this from a really good thread called something like Most Important Thing You've Learned in the Support forum.

It's what I meant when I told Tracy .....It'll level out for you and you'll find YOUR calorie levels for weight loss.

The most important thing I've learned? We all feel a need to be special in some way. My situation, my build, my height, my age, my economic strata, a health challenge and so on. Unfortunately we sometimes take these 'gifts' and turn them into reasons why we are crippled instead of reasons why we are wonderfully unique. At 3fc there are dozens of folks enough 'like me' that I cannot feel alone. However, I am, indeed, the only one of me there is. (Y'all stop sayin' praise the Lord for that )

It would be easier for me to lose weight if I was younger, richer, more athletic ... but I'm not. I have been equipped with this body. It may not be muscular nor a calorie burning machine ... and that may not be fair. However, it's what I've got. I have to learn to run it.

Patients........... what are those??? HAHAHAHA. I don't have those very often either lol. But I am trying!

I hope you won't mind an opiniated visitor to your thread... Please, please don't even consider smoking again. While it might help you lose a few pounds, it might also help you get lung cancer, harm others thru second-hand smoke, reduce the amount of fun exercise you get (smelly smokers with non-smoking husbands get less nookie)... If you are eating properly and getting exercise, the extra weight will do you far, far, less harm than cigarettes. Not to mention the cost...

As for your relationship with your mother, I don't know why she says things to make you feel bad, but it sounds to me like you're doing your best with limited financial means. Being poor is nothing to be ashamed of, and as you say, you have a home and food on the table, and a loving husband. And not smoking is another way of contributing to your financial stability. Some mothers and daughters just have personalities that clash, and that's all there is to it. I could go on AT LENGTH about my stepmother's toxic personality...

Have you tried the WW Core diet? It's a nice blend of lower carb/WW eating. It gives you a very long list of foods you can eat as desired, and really helps to see what to avoid. When I was at WW, the people who ate ONLY the foods on the Core list all lost weight at a good rate.

As for your flood, I can only think you were subconsciously trying to empathize with all those people in the path of hurricanes. Feeling their pain, so to speak...

Carla,

Lol, first you have me tearing up then you have me laughing lol. Your pretty good.

My mom is going thru treatments (chemo & radiation) right now for lung cancer. That is why and how I quit this last time. She has 2 more treatments I beleive. Then we will see if it did anything.

That's helerious what you said about nookie! Lol. The worst part about it is that nookie doesn't interest me. My husband hates it! When I met my husband I was like 110 pounds. But since I got obese sex is the last thing on my mind. I think once the weight starts to come off that will change. But until then it is hard.

I am not ashamed of being poor. Though I don't like my kids telling people we are. Which probably does not seem right to do either. Well, maybe I am, sometimes at least. No one would think I was poor if they seen me!!! I do try to represent myself and my family as if nothing was wrong. So maybe I do try to hide it. But I don't let it get me down until something like my conversation with my mother happens. Well, I wouldn't say ashamed I would say embarrest maybe. Because I don't feel ashamed but sometimes I do feel embarrest. I always think... I have a house, 2 cars, food, tv, internet, and beds! It is all paid for each month! Heck, I bought both of my cars for cash! No payments! I bought my house for cash, with the help of my inlaws (which is another ball of worms) and no payments! So I really don't have anything to be ashamed of! I think you figured it out too... my mom and I have never seen eye to eye for years! Maybe it is our personalities!!! I think we are to much the same, but yet different. Not trying to contradict myself lol. This could be an issue!

I did WW winning points and flex. I have been on WW like 5 times lol. I was never able to lose anything really. When I was on WW that last couple of times I did look at the core foods. Not much of that food is something I would eat. I am very picky.. but learning to eat different things. Some of the core foods are just yuck to me. But.. it might be something to get a copy of and try to incorperate into my diet. I might have to check into that.

I do have to say that going to the WW meetings was better then just being an online WW member! If they had meetings in my town I might attend them and check into it more. But they don't.

My doc did tell me to eat 1600 calories a day. I am starting to think that, that might be a bit much. I am not sure though. I try to stay between 1400 and 1600... which is easy to do.

That's funny what you said about the flood lol. Maybe I was trying to catch up with Katrina and now Rita lol. It is a sad situation down there!!! But it is funny how you used it in my flood situation. Lol. Made me laugh!

Tracy, one of the reasons I suggested trying to move towards Core is because I know you're trying new foods anyway (salmon, spinach) and the list would give you ideas of other things to try. You might be surprised how much you like them! And if you need cooking tips, just say so and you'll be swamped with suggestions.

As for the lack of interest in indoor sports, I'm not sure you can blame your weight entirely. I lost interest long before I gained weight, which turned out to be a good thing since my husband ran off with a girl 20 years younger than me and where would I be now if I still felt lust in my heart or anywhere else...? (By the way, I'm not fishing for sympathy. Today is one of the days I can see the humourous side of things.) I think with age, kids, and familiarity women are more inclined to just want a good night's sleep...

I'm sorry to hear about your mother's illness. But do think about it every time you're tempted to light up! And think about the extra wrinkles smokers get, especially around the mouth. And the chronic morning cough and frequent colds. Besides which, each time you start again, the quitting gets harder. (I quit for the last time about 13 years ago, after several attempts fell through. I'm fatter now, but I would only smoke again if I knew I was going to die soon anyway and then I'd be puffing away frantically to get all that fine nicotine thrill before it was too late... But I digress. What I'm trying to say is DON'T SMOKE!!! )

Carla,

Not me!!! I refuse to start again! I have come way to far to start up again. Besides I can't wait for this darn smokers cough in the morning to go away! It is starting to drive me nuts! Sometimes it even lasts into the day! I hate it! I hope it goes away soon!

That is very true about the foods I am eating now! I really need to look at the core foods list again. I will have to find someone with a copy of that. Everyone has been telling me to do WW again. And my mother in law said she would pay for my online membership if I went back to it. So this is a thought. I will have to give this some consideration. I know the moderator on the WW boards here is awesome! She talked with me for awhile. She is sweet.

Lack of interest in indoor sports lol. I had to think back and figure out what you were talking about lol. Duhhh me lol. It is probably not just my weight. I can almost bet on that! And your right, after all the things I had to do in the day all I want to do is sleep! Lol. My husband always says how it burns so many calories and it will help us get skinny lol. I like to know who that worked on? Lol. I haven't seen that anywhere lol. If it was that easy that would be all everyone would be doing lol. Sorry to hear about what happened to you! I am glad your on the humourus side of it though!

I gained quite a bit of weight after I quit smoking in Oct '97...can't tell ya how much cause I wasn't weighing myself in those days. I still think it was worth it - every time I think a cigarette sounds good I try to remember that I only quit 3 times. There were 10 year gaps between each attempt. I start to think if I start smoking again now - and it takes ten years before I get around to quitting again (I'm a professional procrastinator) how old will I be?

I like calorie counting, too...1600 might be a good place to start - it gives you room to cut back later when you hit a plateau...

Hope your house has recovered from the flood. I'm glad yer back - I always enjoy your posts!