wow Pipsicle, that's impressive. I suspect some of the loss will go away, but hope if makes the fasting feel worth it. After eating yesterday, I am just up 1/2 pound and fasting today, so hoping to be below 150, without being dehydrated tomorrow. Figuring out my eating for the rest of the week. I have a work thing on Friday night, so was planning to do early eating Thursday (breakfast and late lunch) and be done eating at 2 pm, then fast until the work thing. I feel I have to eat there, since the business I own is paying for the party and the caterer, whom I made sure was making a majority of gluten free foods. So I better eat what I ordered. I will offer to be the designated driver and avoid the alcohol.

Also will be visiting younger DD on the weekend, and that usually involves a meal, so ideally I see her Saturday and make that an eating day and fast again on Sunday. I know it sounds a little obsessive to plan my life and eating, but unlike tracking, preplanning seems to really work for me.

Carol, I am glad you feel trusting and comfortable with your docs, as this means a lot in your decisions. As I read about the TAVR, while there are risks, of course, in comparison to the risks and long healing times of open heart valve replacement, its relatively safe and significantly fewer risks, with most of the benefits. I wish it had been available for my Dad when he had his valve replacement. But he had also developed an aneurism that had to be repaired and it may not have been appropriate for him. I hope if you need it and have the procedure you will feel good about the decision and the team caring for you, it means better things for healing.

Sticking with my fitness plan. I did both a little yoga at home in the morning and had a good walk yesterday, and planning the same for today. After having such a blue day on the weekend where I really didn't get off the couch, I feel like I am doing much better.

Have a good day everyone!

Slept long again. I slept for 2 hours when I went to bed then laid awake for a long time but when I fell back to sleep I slept til 8:30. I was going to go for bloodwork this morning but changed my mind and will aim for tomorrow. I was going to get up to read but changed my mind and I'm glad because I fell back to sleep.

Mad, a lot of the books I'm reading recommend fitting your fasting in around other things you're doing in your life.

I always assumed that I would need open heart surgery for my valve. I had a relatively easy recovery from my open heart surgery so I feel more comfortable with that. TAVR is newer so I'm more hesitant. They have opened it up to more people. My BIL did not fare very well. I also worry about being on Coumadin the rest of my life. My neighbor had a brain bleed from Coumadin. But I just hope I have a noticeable improvement if I go through this. I don't want it to be a waste.

I just checked my online portal. My dr appointments are Mon and Tues, not Wed and Thursday. Good thing I checked, but they usually call beforehand to verify.

I think I ate pretty good today, except I found out that I really, really like the glutenfree bread toasted. That's not good news, because then I'll eat too much of it. Guess I'll have to try something else. I want something that's edible so I can eat it with my eggs, but not so good that I'll want more and more of it. LOL

For dinner I made stuffed peppers and I only ate half, with some broccoli and cauliflower. Anymore I'm finding that half a stuffed pepper is enough. I really don't want to eat any more tonight because I want my blood sugar to be down when I get my bloodwork done. It's too late to help with my A1c. I will just have to set my mind to do better next time. This was a really bad quarter for candy and sweets for some reason. Lots of high spikes compared to last time. I have to look online and see what time the lab opens. I don't like to go really early because the people who have to go to work all go then. It's rather empty if I go around 9 or so, but then I have to do without my coffee. That is really hard for me, especially when DH had that big pot of coffee sitting there.

Well the day seems to have gotten away from me. DS and BIL leave for their DD again in the morning. She was in an accident a few weeks ago. A kid ran a stop sign and hit her car from the front left side and she was driving. MRI shows her back is messed up and they are trying to figure out how to help her and decided to do a steroid shot and see if that will help with the pain she is constantly in. DS and I haven't seen each other since before Thanksgiving because they went and spent the week of Thanksgiving with her helping clean up her home. They want to be there to be sure she handles the shot okay. Plus the fact that she doesn't know anyone in that town and her DH works out of town. He has the opportunity to work for a company in that town but he has to work for the company he is with for 2 yrs because they paid for some of his training. Any way DS and I spent a long time talking on the phone today which threw my time off. But it was worth it.

Pipsicle It looks like your hard work is beginning to pay off. I'm sure you will be able to keep a lot of those lbs at bay. Congratulations on your fasting.

Carol Sue I'm sure you are praying about the surgery and when you have to make the decision then the Lord will give you peace either way.

Mad I think it is so wonderful the way you use your fasting around your plans of eating with friends etc. This is how you have been so successful. It is nice that there will be GF friendly foods at your Friday night event and I know you are looking forward to visiting with your DD.

Trish, I am sorry to hear of your sister's accident and the pain she is experiencing. She is in my prayers for a complete recovery. I am getting your sisters mixed up. Is she the one who is losing weight? I think you have 2 sisters, or is it 3?

Hi everyone: I am 149.5 today. I don't usually get excited about fractions, but being below 150 is so wonderful, since I am neither sick nor dehydrated to get here.
Yesterday's fast was the hardest I have had in a while, with feeling hungry frequently during the day. I have not had to take salt or pickle juice for a while and did both at times yesterday. Also kept very busy. I also was doing research about NAFLD (non-alcoholic fatty liver disease) and am pretty freaked out about it. Reading several research papers I decided on the dexascan. I had not yet booked one because I wanted to look closer at the science but have now decided its the right thing for me.
So feeling very good about that. Also continued on my good habits and both walked and went to a yoga class yesterday.

Trish, is it you niece who had the car accident? I hope insurance is paying for everything so she doesn't have to worry about that aspect as she works to get better.
Carol: remember with gluten free bread, it may also be higher in carbs. Go back to high fibre or high protein breads if you can.
I found I do like toast too with the GF bread, because once I put the peanut butter and jam on it, a shingle would taste good. I am bad that way. I have been wondering what else I could put the peanut butter and jam on that would be low carb and GF. Have yet to come up with an idea for that.
I can understand your reluctance about any surgery, and the repercussions of this one, especially if you don't feel bad. My father was quite symptomatic unlike you.

Trish, thanks for the validation about timing of the fasts. I was considering extending my fast for all of today, but don't think I can do that. I will see about 10 am when I would plan to eat. I have a bit of a headache this morning, and unless that gets better with my tea and the caffeine it contains, i would eat because we are not supposed to continue fasting if we feel crummy as a result. It seemed a great plan yesterday, but not so much today.


Have a great Thursday everyone

Trish, I read back and see that I misunderstood and it is your niece who was in the accident.. Hope she is ok.

Went for bloodwork and peed in the little cup. Then to McDonald's for coffee and breakfast then to Goodwill.

My concern about having the heart procedure is "What if I get complications?". That would be terrible considering I feel fine now. The other procedures I had were necessary.

We are going to the casino. He said we will eat the free buffet and spend our free play and then leave and go to the other casino. See will see how that goes.

Carol Sue Yes it was my niece who had the accident. Thank you for your prayers for her.
Is the other casino he want to go to after the free play and food the new one? I hope all goes well.

Mad My niece has insurance however, the father of the boy who hit my niece said they have good insurance, but she said she thinks she my have to get a lawyer to get the insurance company to pay for the medical bills. They totaled her car and already settled on that, but seem to be dragging their feet on paying the medical. She is only 35 yrs old and I hate to see her have these back problems so young.
A big CONGRAGULATIONS on 149.5. I can honestly understand the joy of seeing even a fraction under the 150 because you have really worked hard to get there. I actually think it is wonderful how you have learned to work your fasting around your functions as well as learning how to know when you need to eat rather than fast. You have come a long way and I compliment you.

I had the strangest experience yesterday. I started my day eating only 2 eggs and 2 sl of turkey bacon and I really stressed the protein foods. I had bought some cottage cheese for a recipe and decided to just eat some of it last night with a tomato cut into it, but decided to eat the small slice of beef roast that was left over from the other day. I guess what I've heard about protein is true because I went way over my calories by adding the beef and I thought man I'm going to gain weight, but this morning I'm back down to 211.8. I can see that protein is very important to weight loss. You know this diet plan with bariatrics is supposed to be high protein. However, it is also low fat, but I just don't want to go to low fat because we have learned the importance of fat. So I'm trying to eat more moderate fat. I also read in Dr. Fung's cookbook I bought where he says if you drink milk use whole fat. I just trust Dr. Fung that we should not use low fat although I did purchase low fat cottage cheese but that is just because I like it better. However, I don't like eating low fat foods because they are so full of sodium.

The nice thing about the 211.8 weight this time is that I feel like it is really weight loss. I am not taking any fluid pills any more. I decided not to use them any more because I think meds I took as well as the shots (I don't know about the pills) some how work like fluid pills. I read that the shots cause the weight to come off through breath and peeing. So I don't want to tax my kidneys any more than they are with the weight loss.

Pipsicle I know you lurk some during the week. So just want to say you are doing very well and starting to be rewarded for your hard work. So you go girl.

Hope everybody has a great day.

way to go friends: Hope everyone is doing well.
Got my veneers on today, so am officially done with the dental work. I go back on Monday for the new retainers now that the veneers are on my front teeth. They look "right" . Finally , I am happy with my smile.
I went to yoga but did not do my walk today. I wound up babysitting for my neighbour, her son was a little bit sick and couldn't go to school, but she had no notice for her job, so I had him for the morning. He has ADD. I knew he was sick because he was so quiet and still. He came to the dentist with me, I was encouraging him to look, and "think about a career in dentistry" and he was quite interested. He's a bright little guy.
They are looking for a new kid friendly dentist and he said he liked the dentist, which is nice, because they were very nice to him there. So I suspect they will have a new family of patients.
Trish: the protein is great, but according to Dr. Fung, the unused protein will (slowly) convert to carbs, which is why he promotes the higher fat so you stay satisfied and get calories that won't affect blood sugar. So keep doing what you are with the higher fat to your tolerance, its clearly working. When do you get the next shot?
Carol: hope the casino trip(s) go well and you don't get too frustrated. But if all the blood work got done, and the meds refilled, you can think of it as a reward for DH getting all that done.

And Pipsicle, I agree, I hope you are able to keep going on the right track. You can feel good about what you have accomplished. Sure hope your scale was not broken.
Have a good night friends.

No, Mad, DH did NOT get his bloodwork done. He refused. Just i did. Whatever.

We went to the old casino to eat and use our free play. DH won $200 and I won $300 with our free play but I did not tell him I won. I will put that money away til we need it. Then we went to the other casino. They really fixed it up since we were there a couple years ago. All new, new machines. But pretty is as pretty does. We ended up coming home with $396 plus the $300 DH doesn't know about, so it was a successful trip. They are not all like that but I am thankful when we get a good one like this.

Mad, glad you are done with dental work and you are pleased with it.

Trish, yay for weight coming back down. I always lost well when I ate high protein.

Good morning. Sleep was ok. Had a reflux episode. Too much rich food at the casino. I haven't had that in ages! Better eating needed. I forgot to test BG this am.

Maybe I will bake some Christmas cookies this weekend.

Carol Sue I'm glad your trip to the casinos were profitable. Sorry DH wouldn't get his blood work done. It seems like he doesn't want to know if anything is wrong. I have tendency toward that myself but don't really think it is very wise. Sorry about the reflux episode. I experience that some but think mine is more stress related. However, I've learned I too can't eat some of the rich foods I used to eat. For one thing some of the foods we used to think was good for us wasn't. However, now I've come to the place that some of the foods that I think I miss doesn't taste as good as I thought it would when I do eat it.

Mad How nice of you to take care of the sick child. You are so sweet.
I get my next shot Tuesday. Thanks for reminding me about eating too much protein. They do limit the protein according to how tall you are. Mine is 70 to 80 grams per day. I actually couldn't ever eat too much protein because when I ate too much, I would have indigestion. So my body let me know when I ate too much protein.

Weight is stuck at 211.8 so I guess that is ok. At least I'm not gaining. FBG was 129. I read an article yesterday that normal FBG is 80 to 130. I was surprised at that because I thought it was lower than 130. I always heard that it needed to be lower than 120 to keep from damaging organs. I'm wondering if the ADA has raised it again.

Headed out to beauty shop and grocery store. Don't have a lot to get at the store so hope I won't be out too long. I'm really becoming a home body which is so different for me. I used to love being on the go, but now would rather be home. I wonder if that represents "maturity". LOL

Y'all have a nice Friday everybody.

Trish: there are often two normals. one for people without diabetes and one for people with diabetes. The blood sugar 101 site talks about the diabetic values being too high, because damage to blood vessels is happening then. Is so of like accepting a higher A1C for diabetics, instead of having the goal to be below diabetic levels.
As you lose weight, I think your goals should be more normal. However, if fasting is high during your loss cycle, if its dumping stored glucose to empty your body of that, its all good, on a temporary basis. Mine settled after I hit 150 and stayed there. I am going to get more sticks and start testing again I think.

Carol, congrats on the money win, hope you can enjoy it for a while! Having that just before the holidays is nice!
I had a small gain today, as expected. I will fast until the party tonight and fast tomorrow again. I think the Sunday comparison to tomorrow will be the better comparison. I will be happy with 150 or just below again.
Continued with walking today, DH and I had a good 50 minute hike.
Blessings for a fun Friday

Trish, DH's bloodwork is for lipids. He has repeatedly told doctors that he does not want to take a statin and God forbid that they recommend he change his diet.. Getting it checked is only going to reopen the conversation so he doesnt want to do it. It is a family thing. His mother started it and DH and 2 of his 4 brothers are just like her. 2 other brothers see doctors regularly and take meds. I should have married someone who is more like me. LOL. Too late to change now!

Hey friends: good party last night, but I am not happy with the caterer who did not cater well to my needs. But I was there for the company.
There was lots of sparkling water for me to enjoy, so I didn't miss the alcohol at all.
Found out that there are fatty liver complications that go with celiac, which might explain why my ALT went up in spite of maintaining my weight loss.
I am going to ask my doc about this and see if she will order the dexascan so I don't have to pay out of pocket.

Hope everyone has a nice weekend.