Good morning..will get to personals later..im just going to be heading to the pool for my workout here in a bit.
Wanted to pop by and say that im doing better. I was happy today to step on my scale and see it go down to 226.4 According to my tracker i am only 1.4 lbs away from my goal of 225. Somehow..inless i lose water weight from my TOM still, i am not sure that its possible to make my goal for tommorow I wish i could but i guess not..Dumb period!

Anyway.. going to swim and feel better and then make a gluten free sugar free feaux apple crisp out of chayotee squash. Should be interesting.

Take care all.

Good evening...

Well its been a day of one crisis after the other. My day started well and then it got worse and worse. Not my day per say...but dealing with other peoples stuff. I spent 3 hours listening to a friend vent his anger and bitterness and confessing "sins" that are rather private. Then the Pastor of a church here in town showed up at my door because a mutual friend was in crisis. Found out as the night progressed that the friend's husband was arrested for assault. This was not the first time. I knew about the first time and should have reported it and this time the pastor was confided in and he chose to report it. So now my friend and her husband can not see or talk to each other for a month. This of course makes circumstances challenging since this friend is on disability and husband doesnt work. Friend has severe form of cerebral palsy and is in wheelchair and husband is sole caregiver for their 3 kids. 2 of their kids have autism. Friend does not drive either. Youngest is 2 years old. So yah...what do you do? Furthermore what do you do when your nearest family is a 9 hour drive plus a 2 hour ferry boat ride away? So i have spent the night trying to help her get her kids to bed..clean up the house and now i am sleeping over because of safety concerns. Husband now has a criminal record and has been released on bail but is in town with no food, no money, no clothes and no where to live for the month. So yah....one crisis after another..The question as to what will become of there marriage..it beats me..i have no idea.

I just find it amazing that the moment i put my application in to medic school, i got called personally by people every time there was a medical issue. Since ive put my application in for the college of professional counselling, it seems like everyone is coming to talk to me about there probems. Really i dont mind listening but now i see why there is a conflict of interest in counselling friends and family..you cant be as objective or cant see things a certain way..your biased because of what you already know of that person. But also it hits closer to home. I actually felt more emotionally drained from listening to them but its cause i have a deeper concern..its not a shallow relationship..they are deep lasting friendships.

Anyway its officially my birthday..im now 30 as of 4 minutes ago..so lets try and have a good day shall we?

HAPPY BIRTHDAY PORTHARDYGURL! I hope you have a fantastic day with much less drama!

Oh....don't you just hate it when you have typed for ages and you lose your post!
Port...what a burden for you! Don't lose yourself in trying to help this lady. Abusive marriages are incredibly complex. I am involved in an organisation that works with abuse victims and the only thing that really works is a multi-agency and long term input. You are a lovely friend to this lady.
Fi...your mobility sounds like it is improving. I know you are having bad days as well as good days...I hope the latter outnumber the former!
Hi to everyone else....board is quiet today!

Oh I had a bad night last night! You know I told you I had a fall and landed smack on both knee caps?? Well I think the incident has come home to roost. I was awake for a good deal of last night with really quite awful pain in both knees....my left one in particular. Not the usual ache but a real sharp pain that wouldn't ease despite painkillers. I avoid anti-inflammatories because they can aggravate asthma symptoms, but today I resorted to them and the pain has eased. I have rested today as I haven't wanted to push the knees. I am still a very heavy frame to be moving around on arthritic knees! Food has been good though.
Really enjoyed the concert last night.......having a social life is a new experience for me!
Hope everyone is doing OK
Donna

Good morning everyone. It's a gorgeous day here and the skiers are thrilled as there was 18" of new snow on the mountains yesterday. Glad we didn't get any of it down here in the valleys.

Cindy -- Tried to find your FB group, but there are several groups with that name. What's the profile pic look like? I love it that you think you can train a cat! Sorry you got scratched in the process -- especially upon wakening. I realized when I read that all you wanted to do was eat and sleep that every day seems to be filled with thoughts of "what can I eat now." Even when I'm super busy. I definitely need to work on training my brain!!!!

Porthardygurl -- Happy Birthday Hope you were able to have some of the day to celebrate you. It sounds as though you've got your hands full with helping others. I understand your going over to your friend's house and staying the night. But I'm be at that clergyman's door telling him to get the church members organized to help out for the next month. Are there any facilities or agencies that can provide assistance long term because it sounds as though her husband will continue to abuse her?

Donna -- I'm so sorry about the knee pain. Hope they continue to get better, but falling on arthritic knees hurts for a long time. If they're still in such pain in a day or so, maybe a doctor's trip is warranted to make sure that nothing got too badly damaged. And you're right that we're putting our knees (and hips, ankles, and back) through a lot carrying this weight around. Glad the concert was good for you. You're inspiring me to get out and about more.

I'm going to groom Toby today so that means that this afternoon will be spent vacuuming and chasing little stray wisps of hair all over the house. He's pretty good about letting me do this other than he refuses to stand so I have to work around him. He's just got a lot of hair!

I gained back .8 of a pound yesterday and that was with staying on track on day. Not too surprised since a 2.5 pound loss in one day meant that I was probably pretty dehydrated. I'm having a higher protein/lower carb day today. Lower carb for me is to keep it under 75 g for the day.

Guess I'd better get it in gear. Hope everyone has a good day.

Just wanted to sneak back in and say hello! I haven't been on the computer in MONTHS (probably because I spend so much time on the computer at work!) I passed my 5% weight loss goal at my WW meeting this morning, and I'm feeling great! I hope everyone is doing well!

What a day! Taking care of 2 kids with autism plus a third smaller child and there mother who is used todoing nothing and making the father do everything..its a stretch for her. She has what is termed as "learned helplessness". She has had people baby her and do everything for her including her husband and now she doesnt know how to take care of herself or her kids. This situation is a mess and sadly the burden falls on me cause she doesnt know how to reach out and ask for help from anyone else. I am thankful for social workers and victim services and police but she doesnt know how to advocate for herself or her family and what she needs. Its extremely frustrating watching rhs all take place. Im not sure yet what kind of boundary to set..still thinking it through.

Definitely on a roller coaster: I crashed into pretty bad depression early yesterday afternoon, and ended up taking a Seroquel, which helps ease the dysphoria but is very sedating. I can't take Geodon anymore, because of how it makes my leg muscles have bad dystonias—like small cramps that are wicked painful. I tend to fall into a very deep sleep when I take Seroquel, which is a problem because my legs don't do well at all if they are immobilized for a long time. Gotta keep them moving, or they get very balky. Pain in my legs is a constant problem—not just my knees but my thighs and lower legs as well.

Today has been better, but I had a few hours of being very angry—at nothing—just more of the anger that goes with this fits-and-starts recovery from depression. I was able to meditate, though, and that helped a great deal. Bob had a helpful suggestion: find something absorbing to read. I enjoy crime novels, and it didn't take me long at all to find a terrific one. It sure is handy to be able to download books and read them on my iPad!

porthardygurl— The situation with your friend with CP sounds awful. I wish I had something useful to say. Can you get the pastor to recruit more people to help out?

Donna— Sorry to hear about your knees! Is there any chance you fractured one or both of your patellae? Maybe you should get an X-ray...

Hi everyone just checking in quickly. Didn't want you guys to worry since I've had a pretty steady track with posting daily as of late.

DH has been very sick vomiting and all since yesterday. His show got cancelled since he was so ill. He's been doing better today..no vomiting but still queasy and a lot of bathroom runs.

I got home very late from work last night and I had aleady planned not to workout because of DH's show so I called it an early night. I was so busy at work there was no time to do anything...I didn't even get to eat lunch and I always make sure I eat. By the time I got home it was so late that DH and I were both starving so we ended up getting chinese. I ordered something half way decent and considering I didn't eat lunch I still did good nutrition wise...just had a little more carbs than usual.

My TOM finally came late Thursday night so I've been not in the greatest of moods. Didn't get much sleep last night because someone decided to shoot off fireworks at 2 AM and then I was having a hard time staying comfortable since I always feel like I can't move much in bed when it's TOM.

Went and visited my grandma today. She wanted to go out for lunch so I took her to her favorite place...Olive Garden. We had soup and salad for lunch. I ordered the minestrone but didn't eat the pasta in it and didn't even eat ANY breadsticks!! Can't believe it lol!

Anyway DH and I are about to watch a movir after he finishes cleaning out the turtle's tank. No personals but wanted to say hi! I doubt I'm going to weigh in tomorrow with this lady issue hanging around so maybe next week.

Talk with you beauts tomorrow!

Hi everyone! Just checking in to say hi. I have my Week 4 weigh in tomorrow, including weight and measurements recorded; I am feeling nervous! I know I have been good on my diet, but I just worry how I would go mentally if I had done plenty of exercise, ate really well and managed to gain weight?! I hope everyone is having the best weekend, I will post my results tomorrow. Eeek!

Hi everyone.

Porthardygurl, happy belated birthday! I just realized I never posted yesterday. The situation with your friend sounds just awful. You are such a good friend to help her through this, but I do think she needs more help than you can give her. If she won't advocate for herself perhaps you could make some calls for her. I know that's one more thing for you to do when you're already doing so much, but if she is able to get some other help that would relieve some of the burden on you.

Donna, I hope your knees are doing better today.

Betsy, I had no idea my FB group name was so unoriginal, so I had to go check that out for myself. There isn't a profile picture (it just shows the combined pics of the members) but it is the group that only has 6 members. The others have more.

Fi, I hope you have a better day today.

Sam, I love Chinese. I have found several dishes at my local take-out place that I can have without gaining anything as long as I don't have the rice. They are still probably too high in calories, fat, salt and sugar, but it isn't something I have often. I hope DH is feeling better and TOM isn't making you too uncomfortable (or making you want to eat everything in sight.)

Caldawg, good luck with your weigh-in. I hope your hard work shows on the scale.

Well, I managed to lose another pound and I even had potatoes last night. Go figure. I know, potatoes are not the enemy, although in my life they can be lol. I figure as long as I track everything I eat and still have enough room left for something I really like (as in something with a lot of carbs) then I will let myself have it, just not every day, and as long as I can keep losing. If I stop losing I will have to rethink that strategy but for now it's working. My food is already tracked for today (yes I am obsessed) and I'm just waiting for DH to wake up so I can make us omelets for breakfast. No toast for me.

I hope you all have a great day!

Calda— Good luck with your weigh-in and measurements today! Are you doing WW? What I'm asking is, does this event happen privately, or with other people around? I think it's great that you've chosen to go with periodic weigh-ins, instead of obsessing abut the scale on a daily basis. If you are doing it in a public setting, I think you're very brave! A couple of times I've done weight loss programs (I'm almost 61, so that's a lot of yo-yo-ing) where you weigh yourself in front of someone else, and I've had a hard time with that aspect of it. It doesn't matter whether I'm losing or not, I get so stressed out by other people, even just one person, commenting on my progress or lack thereof. So now I weigh myself privately, once a month.
Sam— My sympathies with your TOM... do you get bad cramps? When I was in my 20s I had terrible cramps. When I went to med school and worked in labor & delivery for three months, I learned that the pain of labor itself, even w/o any anesthesia, is actually more bearable than bad monthly cramps. Why? Because labor has a predictable pattern, a smooth increase and decrease, and then a break before the next round. Cramps, on the other hand, are usually highly irregular, without predictable breaks. Just something to think about if you reach that happy day... =smile= And when you get to my age, you're mercifully free of all that fuss. Because your baseline is no longer wandering all over the map each month, it's a lot easier to make sense of any emotional fluctuations from being bipolar. And, if you take care of your bod, you've got thirty more years to live!
Porthardygurl— Please know that I'm thinking about you, in your difficult situation with your friend who's in crisis. Let us know, when you get a chance, whether any other people are pitching in to help out. Please don't wear yourself out with someone else's stressful life!
Betsy— Way to go with stickin' to the lower carb diet! Recently you said to Cindy, "I love it that you think you can train a cat." I know you don't have a cat, but I can't help saying that yes indeed, cats can be trained. For those of you who may want info on how to do so, I highly recommend Starting from Scratch: How to Correct Behavior Problems in Your Adult Cat by Pam Johnson-Bennett, a "certified behavioral consultant." As for your relationship with Toby, Betsy, I definitely get the sense that you're doing a great job. Training and tending to a large dog is not easy, but what a sweet, playful companion you have! Bob and I chose long ago to have our family be the two of us primates plus (usually) two felines—a nice species balance in which we're always learning from each other. Animals can be so stress-relieving! (And they've done studies proving that.)
Donna— I sure hope your knees are getting better! I want you to know that you're a big inspiration to me in using the pool to help out arthritic knees. I need to get to the point where I can park my wheelchair against a wall or something and then walk to the pool. What would be even better is if I could drive myself there, climb the outside staircase, and walk the whole way through the women's locker room to the pool... but I don't know when that will be. =sigh= Our local pool does have regular aqua-aerobic classes and a nice big hot jacuzzi, so I'm dreaming....
Cindy— Thanks so much for your supportive comments! (That goes for all of you. =smile=) Let us know how your Facebook page comes along, whether you attract a group of helpful allies in your weight loss journey.
Ubee— I miss you!!! =pout=

My goal for today is to walk! It's time for me to park my wheelchair at one end of the downstairs hallway, and see if I can walk the whole length of it and back. That would be about 4-5 times as far as I walk in the bathroom. Even if it hurts a lot, I need to be sending the message to my legs that they are designed for walking, so no more slacking off and pretending to be useless appendages. =grin=

And guess what: tomorrow is my 61st birhday, and it falls on a full moon! Lots of energy at that time of the month... My great-niece Grace and I get a kick out of the fact that she turned 16 in February 2016, and I will turn 61 that same month: side by side, we form a palindromic number! =big smile=

Hi everybody!
Fi...thankyou for saying that I inspire you! There is not a day that goes by that my knees don't hurt but it usually a deep and mild ache with stiffness rather than the sharp pain I would associate with significant injury. They have eased considerably since the awful night on Friday but I have been taking Ibuprofen which I will have to wean myself off before they start having chest side effects...they increase wheeze in asthmatics so I have to be careful! Happy Birthday for tomorrow....Penblwydd Hapus....!
Cindy......hey..take the pound weight loss! Oooh I do love an omelette! In fact I love eggs full stop!
Sam...I didn't have my Chinese the other night...the evening was cancelled. I know that we need to learn to "cope" with the threat of eating out or takeaway without panicking but I was glad it was cancelled so as not to challenge my equilibrium!
Caldawg....good luck with your weigh in. Tomorrow is my weigh in day too
Port....I am thinking of you and the responsibility that has landed on your doorstep. I hope you have been able to share the responsibility with others from your church or in the community? Take care of yourself.
Well...a quiet one for us today. Church this morning....it was my turn to sing in the band which I love. I have so much more confidence now than even a few months ago. The same dog escaped the park this afternoon. I had risked letting her off the lead in a bit of the park that I thought was safe but she managed to find a hole in the fence. Luckily she was wearing her name tag with my mobile number on it for the first time (she is microchipped) and a lovely man rang me from the carpark of the supermarket that backs on to the park and brought her back to me in his car. He was so nice! And a fellow dog owner. Well she stays on the lead from now on !!
Have a great day chickens.
Big Hugs,
Donna

My internet bandwidth is throttling right now so going to keep it short so I don't lose my post...ahh the joys of living in an apartment complex with everyone having internet lol...

Filed my tax return today. I need a new A/C and breaks for my car and a few other cosmetic things that need repair so hopefully it comes soon enough. I also want to get my wedding ring resized finally and hopefully have enough left over to have the baby cat spayed.

Having a few bad cramps today. I think it's a mix of gas and TOM. UGH! Not bothering with weighing in or measuring this week. I'll wait until this passes.

Have a great day all! Hoping for a better week next week

Good morning all. Winter decided to reappear here -- cold, wet, and windy with temps in the 30s. That's freezing cold for us as we normally don't get below the 40s.

Maecrochet -- So glad to see you back here and congratulations on meeting your 5% goal. Great news!

Porthardygurl -- You are a saint to be helping your friend and for you own sake hopefully some solutions are found soon to ease you out of being such a central part of this. I know a few people who have learned helplessness who don't have CP and it can be "unlearned." Hope that you get through helping this friend without any emotional or physical trauma to yourself.

Fi -- Glad that the depression pain was doing better and I am impressed that you're working on walking down the hall. Hope it went well for you. I did chuckle over the book reference on training an adult cat. I have seen them trained to respond to the shaking of the treat box (Pavlov had nothing on our pets!), and have even seen them trained to walk on leashes. But I love the independence that cats show. I've just always gone with dogs since I live alone I like the thought of having a barking dog if a stranger comes to the house. They don't know that all of my dogs would have then licked them to death.

Sam -- I hope DH is doing a lot better and even more I hope you didn't end up catching whatever he has. That type of illness seems to be so easy to pass on to someone else. Hope you enjoyed your visit with your grandma.

Cindy -- Well FB and I are not cooperating on connecting with your group. Probably something I'm doing wrong! Good for you on the weight loss. And I totally agree with you that as long as you account for something in your daily tracking then allowing in foods on an occasional basis is a good thing. Actually, I've found that when I do that I am able to stay on plan for longer stretches of time.

Donna -- An escaped dog does add that element of excitement to our walks. Toby is just beginning to understand that he needs to walk beside me and not pull on the leash. He's so big and strong that he can pull me over! And that's a lot to pull over. Glad you got your doggie back. I know what you mean about not being that upset when some social events are cancelled. I miss the event, but don't miss the trying to figure out what the heck to eat. And there's always someone who will push you to just try a little. How is the work on the house coming along?

My younger nephew is coming out today so I can get his taxes done and then we'll go over to Bill's house and I can do his as well. Yippee! (That was sarcasm.) I've ordered a bunch of stuff for Easter for the kids (young and not-so-young) and have decided that instead of having a lot of candy, I'm going with the usual quarters in their plastic eggs, some toys, glow sticks, etc. I'm making some homemade chocolates and cookies to put in glassine bags, but that's going to be it.

On the diet front I am totally confused as to what happened yesterday, but I'm up over 3 pounds this morning. Now obviously I must be walking around sloshing with that much weight gain, and I can't for the life of me figure out what I ate to make me retain that much water. Discouraging but I'm not giving up.

I'd better go get dressed and get a cup of coffee in me before my nephew arrives. Hope everyone has a great day.