Hi Geojackie! Good to see you here again! That's great that you lost when you didn't even realize it. I am aware of every lb, as mine don't come easy.

April, what do you do at work that you walk so many steps and do so many stairs? My husband never had a weight problem. He worked in a warehouse for a chain of variety stores, similar to Walmart, and when I met him their procedure was you took an order, and walked all over the warehouse to the different departments and picked out what the store was ordering and when finished, you took it all to the shipping floor. After years of that, the company changed the procedure. Each person was assigned to a department. They would get the order, then go around just their department picking out what the store had ordered from the department, then send the order on to the next department. They didn't walk more than 15 feet in either direction after that and go a lot less walking in each day. He did put on a little weight, and some of his co-workers put on a lot of weight. Getting all that walking in is very good for your health.

Hi Carol Sue:

I'm a LPN, I'm on my feet pretty much for eight straight hours. I park my medication cart at the far end of the unit where there is a west facing door that is mostly glass (sometimes I catch a bit of the sunset, but I always get a little sunshine there if it's shining) and I walk back and forth from there instead of moving my cart from room to room. I usually accumulate close to 10,000 steps in a shift. I try to get in a walk before work as well. I'm thinking of starting to ride my bike in the mornings instead just to mix it up a little. I went out in the garage and looked at my bike and DH's bike to see if either is trail-worthy. Both have two flat tires, are rusty, and one of the brakes on DH's doesn't work. I like his better because it has a nice, wide, soft seat (that I bought him), and it's bigger, and I'm a big girl. I couldn't get to the front of mine to check the brakes because it's behind a bunch of junk. I'm going to see if he can air up the tires on his and fix the brake. I don't care what it looks like if it is rideable. I have to buy a helmet. I've never used one. Better safe than sorry.

I hope you have a nice Easter!

April

Good morning Girls!

I'm taking a day off from weigh-in due to Easter yesterday...will drink lots of water to help flush all the extra salt from my body! We did a huge dinner at my house and since the weather was absolutely great, went outside and played cornhole and soccer in the yard. Lots of fun and too much food, but I'm back in the (healthy-eating) saddle this morning.

April, I'll do the friendly competition with you, but I certainly can't match your steps because I sit at a desk all day. If the weather cooperates, I'll try to get in a walk outside every day.

Hope everyone has a great week!

Andi

I hope everyone had a nice holiday. I did. I know I ate too much of things I don't normally eat, and I know my weight up will be mostly water weight and hopefully won't stay around too long.

April, I figured you must be a nurse, getting in all those steps. It's sure good for you! I have been in the hospital a few times in the past several years and know how hard the nurses and aides work. I don't know how they do it as most of the ones in our hospital work 12 hour shifts.

Good Monday Morning:

Carol Sue: I've often wished I could do 12 hour shift, because then you only have to work 3 days a week instead of 5. They are long days, granted, but still nice to have more days off. I used to work what we called "Baylor Weekends" in Colorado. I worked 16 hours every Saturday and Sunday, then was off Mon-Fri. They paid a "Baylor Differential" which partially made up the difference between working 8 less hours a week. Sort of an incentive to never have a weekend off to do things with your friends and family who work normal schedules. I'm trying to do something like that now, to be home with DH more, but here you just get your 32 hours and have to pick up shifts to make the difference.

Andi: I think it's great that you will try and get in a daily walk. I don't think the number of steps is as important as doing something your body isn't used to. My body is used to all those work steps for the past 22 years. They are start and stop steps, however, not sustained steps. I had to add sustained walking to what my body was used to in order to see a difference. I'm not convinced it's the best thing for my knees however, considering how much I'm on my feet already, which is why I'm trying to get DH to fix one of the bicycles for me. Did your son go back to college this weekend? It's chilly out there today, but I got in a walk. I also ate more carbs than usual yesterday.

Just a thought: a good friend of mine is having surgery today and most likely will lose a good amount of her small bowel. There is a possibility she may have to have a colostomy. She had gastric bypass surgery a few years ago and has had to have several surgeries for hernias, etc, since. I've known many co-workers as well as patients over the years who have had severe complications. One patient even died. Anyone considering such a drastic procedure should do thorough research and sober contemplation before going forward. My humble opinion spoken in love.....

God bless you guys,

April

April, My thoughts and prayers are with your friend who is having such complications....

I agree that current TV shows seem to glamorize gastric bypass surgeries as a fast fix and minimize the risks (like a magic pill!). I had a friend go through that -she was not overweight enough to even qualify but was overweight and wanted it - and then had to go through the skin surgery about a year later. 2 years later she gained most of the weight back(!) and then lost about half of it again. Now she is requesting that her co-workers donate sick leave to her because she is experiencing peripheral neuropathy...
Although I symphasize with her condition, she was never especially nice to me, and shouldn't have had the surgery in the first place, so I will respectfully decline.

My son did go back to school yesterday, and I'll probably not see him until graduation in May (sad yet happy) :-) :-(

I actually took my bike into a shop last month and had them do a tune-up, which was on special. .. that way I know all the gears and brakes are working properly, and the tires are also in good shape and inflated. Costs a bit more, but I'll feel safer if 20 miles from home :-)

Andi

Kettering Bike Shop is excellent...

April, may your friend recover and get normal living after bowel surgery. Scary!!!!

DH's beloved sister Jennie had emergency bowel surgery today. Luckily she was in hospital already when severe stomach ache had her bent double. Scan showed perforated bowel and immediately they took care of it. She is in ICU now.
She was there and scheduled to be moved to a nursing home in a few hours. What a miracle she was still at hospital!!! She also has a brain tumor - not cancer - that is receiving radiation, too. Prayers, please.

Andi, I don't blame you for "declining". Glad you got the time with your son. I certainly value any time with mine.

Our EASTER was the best ever!!! DD#3 and friend with us at Easter Mass (That was unusually great, also relaxed and lots of glorious music, great sermon, too.) At home DH#2 when to her Church, and Son & family to theirs. Finally we all were at our home with DH cooking delicious roast Lamb, Asparagus with toasted Sesame oil sprinkled, and Polish Potatoes (Mashed potatoes with peeling, saute' onions in butter.) DD#2's great and healthy salad and dressing and my usual grated carrots, with pineapple, raisins and yogurt salad. Not a lot left after 10 very hungry people tackled it.

DD#2 had moved her studio stuff to garage and had the living room ready for normal conversation, looked great! She also enlarged the table and had it set for 10 with even cardtable up with chairs.

I could relax and go get youngest daughter and her friend to go with us to Church, then back here. We had great weather, spent hours outside as a family with plenty of sitting places until almost dark. Fantastic day.

Today is cloudy and cold. How fortunate we were for yesterday outside with family including 3 year old great grandson, too. (He ate as much as the adults)

Sandy

Greetings fellow Chicks!

Andi and Sandy: It sounds like you both had spectacular Easter Celebrations! How wonderful! Those Polish Potatoes sound FANTASTIC! It's after 2a.m. and after reading your posts, I want to go and raid the refrigerator. I need some of Dee's Willpower Dust....

Sandy: I hope your DH sister's recovery is still going well. My friend is recovering and will have to spend several days in the hospital, and may need to go to a nursing home for rehab before she goes home.

Andi: Our bikes were inexpensive, and now they are inexpensive AND dilapidated. Sort of the bicycle equivalent of Fred Sanford's old pickup truck. It would probably cost more for a tune up than the bikes are worth! I had thought about investing in a nice bike for myself since, realistically, DH probably won't be riding with me, but we are considering moving to KY in the not too distant future, and there is absolutely no place to ride there. I really need to drag one out of the garage and get a good look at it.

God bless you both,

April

P.S.

20,727 steps, 9 floors, 9.71 miles, 103 active minutes, 2,944 calories burned.

April, is there a Goodwill store near you? DH has found a couple nice bikes there, $20 or less. He pumps up the tires and gives them to family members who want them. He does it just for something to do.

I have known several people who had bariatric surgery and none have kept the weight off long term and some have had complications, and one has died. Sometimes just losing a small amount can do wonders for your health instead of taking such a drastic measure.

Lisa Jersey You talk of e hormone replacement therapy. Is it to prevent bone loss after menapaulse? I did so for 4 years and LOST nothing. Of course I was working, hoping to prevent bone loss so didn't think anything about it.
I stopped when scary reports came out on what physical cost I could be paying to my body.
Did you take hormone replacement therapy?

Lisa I did as you did. Hormone replacement therapy till news came out then stopped, it was about 4 years while I was still working at advice of my gyn. Actually Bone Scan showed good bones and Last scan over 2 years ago. No weight loss nor did I expect any. Sit down job had left little time to do my normal 4 mile walks and I actually gained.

Sandy

Hi Ladies! Glad to hear you all had a nice Easter. I had a nice time visiting with family. Back home now and miss them already. The scale shows no weight loss for me this week. Holding steady is good though too. A big congratulations out to April (8 lbs) and Geojackie (6 lbs).

Good Morning Everyone:

I was too tired to post last night. Yesterday's stats:

steps: 19,305
floors: 6
miles: 9.01
active minutes: 81
calories burned: 2,938

Carol Sue: Great idea about Goodwill and bikes! My husband likes to go there and look for books. I will ask him to watch for a bike for me if he goes in the near future. Regarding gastric bypass surgery: Besides regaining weight, another thing I've noticed is that immediately post procedure, those who are diabetic no longer need insulin and their blood sugars are normal, but over time, the diabetes returns. I don't know if this is true for everyone, just a general observation based on people/patients I've known over the years.

Lisa Jersey: My Gynecologist says it's better to get through menopause without hormone replacement if you can. I thought I was in menopause, but now am having a what seems to be a full cycle, water retention and all. So, now I'll have to start counting all over again as menopause is supposedly official a year after your last menstrual cycle. Really weird, since I hadn't had a cycle since August. I don't know if stress can reignite your hormones.....it seems like you would either have them.....or not.....

Corinna: Thanks for the congrats and encouragement. I'm glad you had a nice Easter and that you didn't gain any pounds in spite of the Holiday.

It's beautiful out there. Going to try and hit the trail and soak up some of that vitamin D. I felt kind of irritable at work last night, and one of my nurse's aides said, "April, I think you need to eat some carbs!" It made me think of that commercial where the person has turned into whiny, cranky Roseanne Barr, and they give her a snickers, because, "you're not yourself when you are hungry..."

God bless you guys!

April