Some cheese with my whine
 

I'm venting and ranting :mad: in this post so don't read if it'll upset you.

OK! I'm depressed :(, fat, sick of winter, dieting, eating, TV, my boring life, et cetera and so on and BLEEEAAGHHH!!!

There, I'm done :p.

Some retail therapy is in order I think. Been checking out Banana Republic's spring stuff online and I have spent a good $2000 in virtual money ;) there so far.

Since they don't deliver outside of the U.S. I will have to go to my local store here in Canada. Not to spend $2000 of course but there are a couple of sunny yellow items that I think will add that much needed something to my spring wardrobe. Sunday is the day.

I feel so much better already. Thanks for listening and have a great weekend everyone!

Dagmar :cool: (skinny wallet)

Whew - I am finally under 140. Atleast that's what the scale has said the last 3 days so I am going with it. Yea!! Now I just have to behave over the weekend and keep it there. It sounds like I am going to be solo for most of the weekend. Hubby and son have tickets to a basketball tournment. I will not eat out of boredom. (I think I had better get busy planning because even I don't believe that statement.)

Please remember that I adore you all and can't imagine living a day without my featherweights at 3FC. Now ...

This subject is far too complex to simply ask 'is your system better than ours'. There is no good answer to that question. Both systems have their pro's and con's.
I am only familiar with Ontario's health care system.
Having said that, I'm going to qualify it by stating that since it's government run ... who the heck knows how it really works?! You'd grow old trying to weed thru the documents and dictates and waiting for someone to return your call ...
And that is probably why you'll hear lots of empirical evidence. People don't know much but they do know what happened to them and theirs.
I have never had drug coverage. We paid for all the pediatric medications, glasses, chiropractic visits, dental work etc for three kids and so do many Canadians.

It is well documented that we have a horrifying shortage of doctors and nurses.
When I went to school, I went for one year, my team leader went for two. The student I've been helping to mentor has been in school for two years and will have approx 45 times the debt I had upon graduating.
Same scenario for my team leader? Four years university and I can't imagine what that costs.
Both these girls will go to the city and take on 3 or 4 casual positions, drive their old cars back and forth to hopefully pay off that debt. The government is thinking about signing bonusses.
Every year the local papers publish a list of the folks around who make well over $100,000 a year. There are some who work for the same healthcare system as I do ... they are neither doctors nor staff nurses.
As soon as folks learn that yes nurses do know your a$$ from a hole in the ground ... and many times you're better off seeing a nurse practitioner anyway ... the better.

In Ontario, I am confident that
... if you are sick, you will be seen in a timely fashion. It may not necessarily be by your own doctor in his own office but a healthcare professional will help you.
... if you become pregnant ... and keep your appointments ... you will be monitored on a regular basis. Preventative medicine, health teaching, ultrasound for health/size/dates, blood work and vs monitoring, referal if necessary. Your child will be monitored on a regular basis until he/she is in highschool. Preventative medicine, health teaching, immunization, vision and hearing testing.
... if you suddenly become perilously ill, you will bump someone who has been on a waiting list and it does not matter how long they have been on that list
... and there will be no bill.


stepping off my soapbox cuz you don't want to get me started on if you think you are sick

i just came on to the featherweights forum - i suppose if i have only 15 more lbs to lose this is a good place for me to be!

anyway, i was excited to see the above post from Susan on healthcare in Canada. I'm a future physician in the US and have been working with others on healthcare reform here. the biggest thing people who oppose universal single-payer (aka gov't) healthcare in the US say is long anticipated wait time to be seen or sub-par care once they are seen. I've referenced some common grounds, like the movie "Sicko," but michael moore is a bit of a propagandist, so it's nice to hear from a citizen who works in healthcare!

Thanks Dagmar and Susan B for your insight into National Healthcare. I appreciate it. I'm still not sure which I prefer, National Healthcare of paying an arm and a leg, but I'm sure the Government will decide that for us as they decide everyting else for us. Oh well, enough politics.

I seem to be doing much better on my diet at home. At least I'm not having fast food everyday for lunch and that's a good thing!

Have a great day!

I definitely would not be for the testicograms... yikes!

If it's any consolation, men are advised to get digital prostate exams, which means doctors fingers up the behind! I hope a better method comes up before I hit that age (same for colonscopies)... I prefer my GI tract to be a one-way street.

I'm a little bit surprised that for my height weight and activity level, health calculators said I can eat up to 2,400 calories to maintain! But that means at my 1,600 calories I should be dropping 1.5 pounds a week -- which is certainly not happening. Oh well, I'm pretty close to goal (and content maintaining now) so not particularly stressed about it -- still a bit pleased knowing that I can have a considerable splurge w/o too much a weight gain.

Also made a nice little discovery on the Web - MSN's Fit List blog ( http://fitlist.msnbc.msn.com/ ) where various high-profile trainers make weekly posts on fitness tips. Most are pretty obvious but there are lots of interesting tidbits and little gems of knowledge in there.

Anyhow, hope you all have a Happy & on-track St. Patty's weekend!

Testicograms!!!

You know, I'm probably in the minority here but my mammograms (didn't hurt at all) Not even minor discomfort, perhaps because I got digital ones? What did hurt was the needle localization before my biopsy, despite local they did give me.

Back to working out. It feels so awesome.

Oh please, that's no consolation at all. This is a part of the standard gynecological exam for women which most of us have every year. And I won't even mention all the other stuff they stick inside women during the exam. ;)

I also had my first mammogram when I was 18, but I don't remember it being that bad. I guess that's one advantage to being flat-chested. :dz: I also don't remember having to stand on my head (or even bend over) for it. Luckily I haven't needed one since then.

Hmm... just turned forty and haven't had one yet. I know I need to... I've had the prescription for 2 years!

Susan - thanks for sharing your experiences and thoughts... I do think there must be a better way than what we are doing here (not that it's bad, but the costs... and so many people are uninsured - I see sick kids all the time teaching who cannot go to the dr. or get glasses, etc. because their parents cannot afford it).

I weighed in at 145.25 today... finally a little bit of loss. Maybe it was the stressful week that did it.

TGIF!

Welcome Iris
 

:wel3fc:

We're a healthy bunch (despite all of the recent posts about health care). And chatty too, although I'm off sulking about winter this weekend.

And that is an absolutely gorgeous sheperd you've got!

Dagmar (retail therapy is the best medicine)

Good Morning!

Oooo I smell sooo good this morning! In fact I feel light and bright and happy today!

Margaritas are frightful in the calorie load but oh so delicious

I too log my exercise and diet. It keeps me steady - but steady so far has not meant any weight loss or size loss - more to go but

Excellent effort all around, featherweights!

I'm happy for you Susan B. ;)

It is wonderful to get out of the shower and smell so clean and actually be able to smell your shampoo in your hair. Every thing smells so much better.

I swear you are just about to make me give "quiting" another chance. It's just so hard, but I know it is so worth it.

I'm very proud of you :hug: Keep up the good work!

Oh, I forgot to mention that I lost 1 lb. in the last few days. I guess I work harder at home than I did at the office :lol:. At least I'm not 1 lb. over my ticker now. I guess I'm starting from scratch and hope I can continue down the scale ;).

Abbyin? Did you ever read Allen Carr's book about quitting smoking? It's fabulous! I can get you a link to it on-line. It's only about 110 pages and 10 of them are preface.
Anybody? just pm me and I'll ship it along to you. Serious!

hi all! thanks for the welcome, dagmar. that shepherd was my dog when i was a little girl (actually the girl in the picture is me, from years ago).

abbyin, for what it's worth, i quit smoking for the last time a couple of months ago, and for the most part i really feel fantastic now! i was convinced that smoking was helping me to keep my weight at bay (if i'm smoking, i'm not eating, right?) but actually i lost a few pounds when i quit.

You're doing it!
 

That's terrific SusanB! And it just keeps getting better.

Congratulations again on quitting!

Dagmar

Another thing that will happen Susan is that your skin will get pinker and you will look healthier... I think it's because more circulation is getting around your body plus you're not always in a yellow haze of smoke... YAY for getting your smell back :carrot: I am sooooo proud of YOU :hug: ...

Sniff ... what's that lovley smell? It's Susan!

Well praise the Lord for the skin thing! I'm getting so grey-ish sallow lookin'. Even a tan does not help.

Well, I'm back to the Six Week thing tomorrow morning ... when I will confess how blasted fat I've rebecome. It's horrifying.

I wish I was erudite enough to put into words what's been going on in my head for the last few months. Perhaps another day, perhaps the depression forum ....

Hmmm ... gotta get to church. Be good everyone!

We're always good . . .
 

. . . and sometimes we're careful too :D.

I don't know what comes over me on the weekend :devil: but it was party time at our house last night. Wine (which I never normally drink), popcorn, cheese, pretzels (did I mention I don't drink 'cause it makes me eat :o), and whoohoo carb'n'fats frenzy!

The I went clothes shopping today. Can you say
"I look fat in this" 15 times? Did buy a t-shirt and fit into a bunch of size 6 stuff at Banana Republic but it all looked weird :dizzy: on me.

I'm really not looking forward to getting on the scale tomorrow morning. Can you say large dose :p of Metamucil? Definitely on the menu for tonite.

Dagmar (aka Lardmar ;))

Oh, Lardmar, you're way too hard on yourself :rofl: :rofl: ( you crack me up :lol3: !! )

Lardmar - sister Lard-san here.

I'm not sure why, but I seem to keep buying cashews. When they are in the house they scream at me from the cupboard.
That coupled with 8 weeks without cardio....and TaDAaa - it's Lard-San?

aka susan

Lardene here :wave: ..... I cannot have cashews in the house anymore sister Lard-san ....

Sorry to be MIA for the past few days - hopefully I'll be back and posting regularly now.

I started reading The Beck Diet Solution on Thursday, and I absolutely love it. Even if you don't follow it exactly, it has lots of neat tips and tricks that I think will help me to *finally* lose the weight, instead of going up and up like I've been doing since January. Isn't that the opposite of how most people do it? I lost during the holidays and have been gaining ever since. I blame the travel project I started.

Will post more tomorrow...

Steady on there my lard sisters ... get all this crapola out of our systems before we start a new thread!

I find it disarmingly creepy that we all have struggled throughout the last few months. I mean, I know about SAD, holidays, winter vacations ... we do have a lot in common. But we really are pretty different too ... geographically, age, home life, job situation ....

I stopped typing to go fill my water bottle and I have no idea where I was going with that thought. Must be time for bed.