fatmad I am so sorry that you are still sick from the wheat. I hope you are feeling better today.

Carol Sue So glad your foot didn't give you any problem from the casino. I am so sorry you got sick from the buffet.

I also come from the time when the wife did the cooking. My Mama waited on my Daddy hand and foot; she spoiled him so. I have kind of done that with all my DH I've had. DH I have now only expects me to cook our one meal together around 3ish unless we go out or get take out. However, we have bought take out and I add to it when we get home. I'm used to it. Our other meals or snacks we are on our own. That is the main reason CAD always worked so well for me.

I am on Day 2 back OP. Writing out a foodplan for the day like I did yesterday has proved to be a big help. The results of Day 1 is that my weight stopped going up and the FBS was the same today as yesterday. In fact, both weight and FBS was the same as yesterday. So I feel like my body said "Halt! No more ups." I'm swelled today from the sodium in the chipped beef which is the main reason I don't like eating it although I do like it okay. It won't be on the menu very often. Today I have to work at getting the fluid off. I'll drink a lot of tea and water to flush it out.

Fatmad, I liked what you said the other day about how much time is freed up when you fast. I feel that way about cooking meals too. I was going to have an omelet for breakfast this morning, but decided to boil the eggs and have 2 eggs with 2 sl bacon and what I call a finger salad of celery and radishes. I put the eggs in to boil on medium fire while I got 20 minutes on the recumbent bike. It feels good to be in control again.

Fish is on the menu for RM with salad, broccoli and corn. RM is when I also drink my milk and have a specialty flavored coffee. We have something here called TX Pecan coffee and it is absolutely delicious with Fr. Vanilla creamer in it. I figure the creamer makes it a RM thing instead of a low carb meal.

Daddy is a little better today. I know he is not happy about everything but I hope next week they will get him into the restart therapy program and I hope the men's club gets started soon to. I really think if they can get him into some activities that he will be fine and I know it will be a lot easier for DS and me. She and I talked this morning. We both need a life. I suddenly realized yesterday that we are both depressed and very stressed out. We are both struggling to pull ourselves out of it.

The nice thing is that my DH actually wrote me a not last night and told me that he want s to help me but doesn't know what to do. I am so appreciative of having him here. I am making some changes to take care of myself. One of them is getting on CAD and exercising as I work at getting healthy again. I DO NOT want to go through what my Daddy is going through if I can stop it. I told DS that I don't know if I can stop it from happening, but I am going to give a good old college try.

Y'all have a great day.

Carol: I am afraid I am now a born-again convert.
You may remember that I had quite a bit of pain a few months ago. Mostly joints but also random muscle pain, sharp shooting stuff in my legs especially.
Most of that went away except in my left thumb, since I was off gluten.
The muscle pain that I have had since the gluten exposure is pretty intense. The gut pain is significant too. but the muscle and joint pain is quite revealing.
Going gluten free is difficult, but not so much if you are doing low carb.
Its an experiment worth trying.
It takes a few weeks to really feel the difference, but worth trying in my experience.
I have been learning more about coeliac and gluten intolerance. I didn't realize coeliac could start up later in life and cause problems beyond the gut. The gluten causes an inflammation reaction that can go through the whole body.

Forgive me, I know I am sounding evangelical. But I have been feeling so much better until now, and now that I understand the effects this food can have on me,
I realize I have a lot to learn about how to handle it.

I will do this while continuing to do IF, because I still need to lose weight and fat to be healthy.

Mad, I really don't think gluten is my problem. I sometimes go for days without eating any gluten and then other times I might have some bread every day. I just ate the last of my bread today, and have been eating it all this week, and as I type this, I realize that I have no pain in my hands or elbow like I have had for the past few months. I just feel confident that gluten is not my problem based on things like this. My rings are also twirling on my fingers which tells me there is no swelling. I can make a perfect fist with both hands. So DH had better watch out. LOL

This pain is either resolving itself or the Turmeric is working. I am just very very tired today, which is typical of the day after a casino visit. I don't know why. I think it might be the 1 1/2 hour drive home that tires me out so much. I always have a rough day the next day. As little as 10 years ago we would go and if we were having a good night we might be there until midnight and not get home until after 2. I am just not as young as I used to be. We did stay overnight once but we can't do that now because of the dog.

I don't have any queasiness today after last night. I was able to go right to sleep afterwards and I have eaten today with no problems. The pain I have is in my thighs right above my knees and I notice it when I get up from a chair. I wanted to take some Motrin today since they said I can take it occasionally but I can't find it, and it might be gone. I took 2 of DH's Ibuprofen which is generic Advil, but Advil has never worked as well for me as Motrin, even though they are both Ibuprofen. I don't know why. So as of today I am just about pain free, but who knows about tomorrow. It can change from day to day.

We have to make a run to Walmart and then go out to eat. It's the place with the salad bar so I don't know if I will eat that again or order a meal. I'll have to see how hungry I am by that time.

seems every time I eat anything, I have cramps and back to the bathroom again. I had a few strawberries and this happened, a lower fat smoothie, and again, and some gluten free crackers at different times, and it just starts every thing up again. I am hungry, but not willing to do anything.
Also had some upper right abdomen twinges that make me think of gall bladder issues. I hope I won't have issues there as well, but we are at risk. I have all the 4 F, (female, fat, fertile and fifty) so its not a stretch, especially with the rapid loss. 10 pounds in just a couple of weeks. I will break 170 soon if I can keep it up.


Carol, I hope the pain stays away. I wonder what other options other than that casino there would be for your DH. As you say, in a few weeks he will want to go again. My friend who enjoys going does a seniors bus trip and they often offer to go to different casinos, and she gets low priced rooms to do it.

Trish, so glad if things work out for DD, he is fortunate to have loving daughters. You and your sisters are doing a terrific job and Im glad he seems to appreciate it.


Hoping to be able to eat tomorrow.
Have a good night

Mad, there are casino bus trips in our area but the problem with them is the time frame that they are at the casino. We go with a limited budget an if we run out of money, we leave. If you go on a bus trip you have to stay until the bus leaves. If you have run out of money that can get very boring. There's nothing at all to do, and also limited places to sit to wait until the bus is leaving. So we have not done the bus trips. We get reduced rate rooms, but cannot take advantage of them because we have to come home to let out dog out. We can only be gone for several hours. Somehow we got into the habit of going just about every weekend. That was ok when we were winning 3 out of 4 weeks, but the new owners have tightened things up and it's not like before. I need to find a way to get him to go less often. He is addicted. It's like I am with food so I do understand how he feels. LOL

I sure hope you get things under control. I have heard that rapid weight loss can cause gall bladder problems. It's great that you've lost so much weight and have been getting your pain problems under control, but not at the expense of your gall bladder. My neighbor across the street just had a severe gall bladder attack and was taken to the ER by ambulance. He had it removed, and had 9 gall stones. His was not from weight loss. Knowing him, he was probably having problems but let it go until it got severe. I hope you don't do that.

Trish, I am also glad that your Dad has you and DS to be so attentive to him, but I can tell it is taking it's toll on you. That's not easy when you have your own issues to take care of too. Please take care of yourself.

I have been thinking about your statement that you see what is happening with your Dad and want to take steps to prevent that from happening to yourself. I understand that. I am not seeing that in an elderly relative, but see signs of it in myself in my mobility becoming more and more limited. I do believe I am still at the point where I can make changes and I have all the exercise equipment I need in my basement to do it. As much as I say I'm going to get back to it, but saying and doing are two different things. And time is not a factor either. I have all the time in the world to do it. My best time is during my soap operas I watch each day. I used to have a rule that I could not watch them unless I was doing some type of exercise. I have a full size TV in my exercise room and did that faithfully for a while. If I have time to sit in my recliner and watch, I have time to be exercising while I watch. When I had my bowel surgery that threw me off schedule and I have not been able to get back to it regularly since then. I realize the mistake I am making here, but I just procrastinate every day. This is more important that diet for me. I would like to lose weight and get my blood sugar under better control, but what good is that if I can't walk and do my daily activities. And the exercise would greatly contribute to better exercise and calorie burn. I have to find a way to get myself motivated to do this, NOW. I have to start paying more attention to moving.

I hope everyone else is doing well, Momtopands, Lotsakids, Eagle River Dee, and many others who have been missing lately.

fatmad So sorry you are still having issues. I certainly hope you find out what is causing it. You are in my thoughts and prayers.

Carol Sue I understand how you feel about doing the exercise. I decided while reading your post that while I am making a food plan each day that I am going to put exercise on the sheet too so that when I exercise I can check it off for that day. I used to do that when I did WW. I think there was a place on the sheet they had back then or I added it, don't remember, where I could keep track of when I exercised. I would love to be able to get 4 or 5 days a week in.

I got off when the new doctor told me the recumbent wasn't what I needed to be doing. I was so proud of myself for doing 30 minutes a day 4 or 5 days a week. In fact, my doctor in SC was happy with me doing that. This doctor told me that I needed to be walking. I think it knocked the wind out of my sails as I've never been able to get back to it again. I just stopped. However, yesterday I decided that the doctors give us advice, but they don't know us and our bodies. I need the bike for strengthening my legs. I notice therapy using bikes a lot with their patients. Yes they try to get them to walk, but I don't see treadmills in therapy but I do see bike machines etc. So I am going to start back to 20 minutes with a goal of 5 days a week and work toward getting back up to 30 minutes. I know I feel better physically, mentally and emotionally when I do it so I am going to go for it.

Today is our day to go see Daddy. I've got to call him and then ride the bike 20 minutes before I have a late breakfast. I already have dinner in the crockpot so I won't be tempted to get take out on the way home.

I hope you get to feeling better fatmad and y'all have a great day.

Trish, I think the best exercise for us is the one we will do. For you, that is the recumbent bike. I can understand why having your doctor say that would discourage you. There are some people who cannot walk for different reasons. So should they not exercise? I am starting to believe that doctors know how to order tests and prescribe drugs. Otherwise, anything they say is their own opinion. Some other doctor will tell you something else. My first cadiologist always wanted his patients to walk no matter what else they did. He said that walking helped your body form new blood vessels in your legs that helped ease the pressure on the ones you already have and contributes best to heart health. This new cardiologist just tells me to exercise.

That's the same as when my step-son told me that my Cloud Walker isn't doing anything for me. It is similar to a Tony Little Gazelle. I know it is a very old piece of equipment not even sold anymore, but I feel that when I'm using it, I'm using muscles that I don't use when sitting in a chair. LOL It uses different muscles than walking, or biking, for example and we need to use all our muscles.

I also have something that I like called a Body Glide. You sit on it like a bike, and push down on the foot pedals, which makes the handle bars go forward and back. Some other brands were Cardio Glide and Health Rider. They don't sell them anymore and we see them at Goodwill occasionally. We were watching one of the online shopping channels this week and they have something very similar out now, and are calling it NEW. It's for legs and abs and costs $179. I think mine was $29.95 30 years ago. So I will do my exercise machines that I have and consider it good exercise. It's better than doing something that can be harmful.

I have had my days mixed up for the past few days. I thought today was Monday. I wanted to go to get my hair cut. They are open today, but I prefer to go during the week when most other people are working.

The last time I bought my bread I wanted the Nickles 35 white but they didn't have it so I got the Sara Lee 45 whole grain. I really liked it, so I decided I would buy that from now on in spite of the additional 10 calories per slice. I went to Walmart yesterday and they didn't have the Sara Lee, but they did have the Nickles 35 so I got that. LOL I guess I will just switch back and forth depending on what they have.

I had some pain, mostly aches overnight. Took some Tylenol Arthritis and now feels better.

I bought some lotion to use on my legs for leg cramps. It's Dr Teal's Pure Epsom Salt Body Lotion. We'll see if it helps. I wanted it for the calf cramps, but also for my psoriasis on my legs. The magnesium is supposed to help with that, too. I do soak my feet in Epsom Salts now and then. It contains magnesium which is supposed to help with pain and cramps. I also have some Dead Sea Salts which is similar but a little stronger, and will try that after the Epsom Salts are gone. I'm also wondering if the Turmeric is doing something for my psoriasis. It's still there, but the only time it's red is right after my shower. Once my skin dries it calms down and is much less visible. I can feel the roughness on my skin when I touch it but can't see it.

Yesterday we went out for dinner again. We split a salad and a meatball stromboli. I pulled the meat and cheese out of it and left the dough. My blood sugar still went up, though.

I got up very early because I couldn't sleep but now I'm feeling sleepy so I will go back to bed.

Hit some new numbers for a Monday weigh-in, below peak pregnancy weight when i had my 2nd DD, which is a big deal to me.
173 is pretty magical in my head, its the point at which I go from overweight to obese on the BMI scale, and of course, was my end of pregnancy weight, and psychologically, when I went over that, even trying to lose weight or not to gain, its been a big deal, going nicely below that, not even hovering there, is pretty awesome.
About 3/4 inch off the belly too.
I am well hydrated and ate plenty yesterday, so we aren't just talking post-fast numbers or from my recent wheat exposure.
I am going to have a couple of "up" days now eating a bit more then back to IF 18:6 again.
Having kefir with probiotic pills for breakfast today, after clearing out on the weekend, I want to ensure my gut bacteria get back to normal.
I did have a few of DH's potato chips yesterday too, was craving salt, and even eating salty things didn't seem to halt that completely.

Carol and Trish: I agree about exercise: any exercise is good. Anything that gets your heart rate up and keeps you active is good. I can see your doctor telling you to keep challenging yourself to get better, but I am sad (s)he put down your exercise plan in a way to put you off. Get out those old machines Carol, and use them while you watch your soap. Trish, get back on that bike and ride your self around.
Of course you should go outside and walk about when you can, as well. Its all good. I haven't walked much at all the last few days, with not feeling well and not feeling like I can go far from a bathroom. Now, as I get back to normal, thats back on the table again. Looking forward to it.
I think my doctor would tell me to add some strength training too, maybe some weights. I will take walking poles. Hope for a bike ride with DH tonight, see if we can have some fun on the trails.

have a good day friends.

Mad, DH tells me to go outside and walk, too, but we live in a bad area for that. Too much traffic for my liking. Also, my balance is not the best right now. The neighbors might think I've been drinking. LOL If I did not have the treadmill I think I would get my walking in in the stores, where I have a cart to use as a walker. Also, I probably don't get my heart rate up as high as I should. For me, moving is a big + compared to not moving. With my medicine, my resting heart rate is 58, so my activity heart rate is not going to be real high, but high for me. When I exercise, I am downstairs, alone. I am always concerned that something will happen to me down there and DH won't know. I also will never exercise when he is not home. It is a rare thing for him to be gone for any length of time other than to the car cruise. The day I had my heart attack he was out, but just ran out to play the lottery so I knew he would be back soon. At that time, the phone next to my chair was not working properly. I could answer, but not call out, so I would not have been able to call an ambulance. He has since fixed the phone. I had told him before that I could not call out on it, but I guess he didn't hear me, or didn't understand what I meant.

Years ago I read Covert Bailey. He made a statement that really stuck in my mind. If a person who is really out of shape exercises they can appear to be in slow motion and be getting a better workout than someone who exercises regularly. I always think about that when I'm doing my light exercise.

You are very smart to be taking care of all this at your age while you are still young enough to be making a difference. Don't let anything stop you. In the past year I have had a very big and sudden drop in my physical condition. It really amazes me.

My BIL has a different theory. He will not exercise because he says that in the Bible it says that each person is allotted a certain number of heart beats in their lifetime so he feels that if you exercise, you use your heart beats up sooner and will die sooner. Something tells me he misinterpreted something. LOL

I got my short summer haircut today. It's OK. I will have to get used to it. I really like my hair a little longer but it's so thick it's hard to wear it longer in the summer.

I'm doing another corn test today. The last one took almost 48 hours. I have not had any potty issues at all since that time. It seems when I eat more carbs I don't have any problems. That's not good because I don't want to eat more carbs. I made steak for dinner with corn, and a baked potato for DH. This is how it works out best for us and makes it easier for me to eat low carb and DH to still have his potatoes. I know that corn is a starchy vegetables but I don't worry as much about starchy vegetables as I do starchy carbs. The vegetables have nutrients and fiber. I don't know how eating the steak is going to effect my potty issues.

Trish, I have not been buying any avocados because I don't like to eat them once they start to turn brown and so I force myself to eat the whole thing. Today I bought a bag of 6 mini avocados at Aldi's. The are small enough that I will easily be able to eat the whole thing without forcing it. They are good fat and fiber. I am going to put 2 of them in a brown bag to hurry the ripening and leave the rest of them in the refrigerator to slow ripening. Don't want to have to eat 6 all at one time.

I am rereading The Art and Science of Low Carb Living. I have it on my Kindle. I must have scanned through it the first time because yesterday I read through some interesting parts that I don't recall reading before.

I also have hours of videos in my bookmarks that I want to go through one of these days.

And I have to get my house cleaned well this week for our expected guests for Father's Day.

We found a house to rent! We've been in for a wee bit over a week and are so excited. Now to get back on my low carb way of eating. To say that the last 3 months have been rough for my blood sugar would be an understatement. I have a kitchen and I'm trying to get back to it. Our new house (for a year) is on a lake and its just such a blessing! Never in my wildest dreams would I have believed that we'd be living in a lake house. I was at 208 today, which is much better than the 214 I was the week before we moved!

Donna, I am so happy to hear you have a house! And on a lake!! God is taking care of you and your family. I think things will calm down a bit for you now and you will be able to get back to healthy eating and get some well needed rest. :hug:

Quick flyby as I'm tired and headed to bed. I've spent most of the afternoon and evening at the hospital ER. We took him back to the hospital that DS and I like and he used to use. His primary is not with the other hospital and he doesn't care where he goes so we went back to the one we like.

The good news is that I talked to the ER doctor who put him through tons of test because the retirement center doctor wanted because of the results of the blood work they did last Thursday. It showed that his kidneys were not working really well so they checked everything. He has an infection and they couldn't find where it was coming from but the doctor thinks it was a kidney infection. However, he does have gallstones and will learn more about that tomorrow but don't think they will do anything about that it at this time but will wait until it is an emergency because of his age.

I did step out and talked to the ER doctor to see if there were any signs of another stroke or TIA. He said you can't tell much about TIA's but he did tell me what to look for and I'm glad I did talk to him. He saw no signs of another stroke or any TIAs. So I think when he gets over this and feels better that he will be okay. I suspect when he feels better he will be different as he had planned to go to the office today and find out what he has to do to get more therapy and start pushing for it.

I personally think he needs to keep his room mate because he is the one who called DS and told her what was going on with Daddy. He called her about 5 minutes before the RN called her.

I'm headed to bed. Just counted calories today and ate late not sure how my FBS will be. It was a lot better today. Calories were less than 1500. Funny thing is that this morning I decided to start tracking on MFP again and I ate a good breakfast which is good because that was at almost noon and we didn't get home tonight until 9:30 so was almost 10 when I ate dinner.

I'm headed to bed because I will be going out to the hospital in the morning and DS will come out there in the afternoon and stay until her DH gets there and then I will come home sometime after she gets there.

Good night.

Trish, I am so sorry you are going through all this with your Dad. You two are such good caring daughters and I know you want him to have the best care possible. I'm glad he didn't have another stroke. He really does need to get as much therapy as possible to get his strength back. I agree that his room mate is being very helpful.

Maybe you should buy some bars that you can carry with you for days like this when you might not be near a food source for a long time. We now know that going without food for a long time is not bad, but it might be better to have something with you when it's unplanned like this. You cannot let your own health suffer because of this.

I have found myself getting into the candy too much again. I made it through 6 weeks of Lent without it but I was able to stick with it since it was a religious matter, but I can't seem to do it otherwise. I really thought 6 weeks was long enough to make me lose interest but I guess not. I have to find something else that will make me want to stay away from it. It's only the chocolate. Milky Way Fun Size. It sure is fun eating them. LOL I wish I could get DH to stop buying it, but if I tell him that, I think it will make him do it more. LOL

I tried to buy another bag of the kale and spinach mix but Aldi's didn't carry it and we didn't have time to go to Walmart. I really like that mixture and believe it is very healthy. I like to put it in a pita and also mix with iceberg lettuce for a salad.