Hey everyone, good morning. Looks like many of us are doing well on our plans and learning some things in the process. I walked/jogged for 5 days last week. Walked leisurely yesterday to rest my aching legs. I weighed myself yesterday, and it said that I gained weight. This was after making certain that my calories and water were in check all week as well. I weighed myself this morning, and I'm at 278.6, which is where I was.

My spouse and I have been doing some friendly competition trying to get more steps in each day than each other. We walked during a movie last night, and we were laughing. It was fun.

I'm having a crappy day so far. I made a mistake in setting out all my morning medications and accidentally took two capsules, instead of one, of the main culprit in this serotonin toxicity business—still not a diagnosis, just a strong working hypothesis. We (my shrink and I) have recently reduced the daily amount of that drug (venlafaxine/Effexor) by 25%—which is a lot, believe me, because it's a very difficult drug to withdraw from. This morning, I erred and took the old amount.

Because of this little mistake, half an hour later I entered the hellish domain of Cramp City. Cramps in my shins, my calves, the bottoms of my feet, individual toes (!), the ligaments of my knees, my thighs (front & back), my upper arms, the tops of my forearms, and the ligaments of my elbows. We're talkin' severe pain here—thumbscrew pain, Spanish Inquisition pain, screaming-so-loud-your-throat-gets-hoarse pain. (I wish... actually, I have to suppress my screams because Bob is trying to sleep off a respiratory bug.) And it's not like the cramps come just one at a time: we're talking a whole symphony (or is it a dysphony?) here.

This went on for two and a half hours. Now, as I write, it's mostly abated. It will probably come back, off and on, all day long.

Now I have had no comfort food in the house for several days, because I can't walk and I can't drive. (Leg cramps tend to limit those two activities quite a lot. When I try to walk, I usually fall down. Mostly I don't try because it hurts so frakkin' much just to stand up. As for driving, I've had two car accidents—mild damage, no one hurt—due to the influence of psych meds, and I very much wish to never have another one.)

Here's the part where you know the next steps in this story:
• What happens when you put a lifelong sweets junkie into a situation such as what I describe above, and you take away all means of access to their chosen comfort foods? Yes, you are right. That's exactly what is happening.
• To twist the knife in the wound a bit, what happens if the sweets junkie's spouse is very resistant to anything that resembles a demand, or a command, because he had to deal, when he was growing up, with a bossy imperious domineering oppressive tyrannical mother? (He tunes out all pleasantly and politely worded explanations of why, in this circumstance, I am allowing myself a cookie or three. He literally doesn't listen if he thinks whatever I'm saying is connected somehow to an order. Everyone who knows Bob even briefly knows that you cannot order him to do squat.) So once again, you know the answer to what happens in that situation.

That is my day so far, in a nutshell: severe pain for hours on end, no comfort foods, access to comfort foods blocked by a MAJOR control freak (or perhaps I mean no-control freak). I hope your day is infinitely better.

Ouch Fi. There is some good coming out of your situation... You may have to learn a new way to cope given that your usual comfort method isn't available, ie the food... Leave it to me to find a rainbow in this horrible storm. That being said, I still hope that your situation improves and that you remember the correct dosage. Maybe label the bottle with a giant note? I have family members that forget dosages as well. You take something for years, then it becomes habitual... So forgetting a dosage is not uncommon at all.

Hey everyone...

Doing some Sunday prep so I thought I would check in with everyone.

This weekend was great...my best friend came down and we had a great relaxing weekend. We went and got pedicures on Saturday and went shopping for different makeup stuff. She went home this morning but it was great to catch up with her.

My house is pretty much back to normal and it's been decluttered. I still need to go through my clothes drawers and clean my closet but that'll be a good project for next weekend.

Tomorrow I am going to be back to my exercising and continue my journey 100%. I am starting to feel crappy from not being able to work out so I need to get back with it and I'm feeling much better other than a stuffy nose from allergies. Going to go back to basics and start back doing Chalene Johnson't Turbo Jam.

I'm prepping my lunches for the week now..I made a creamy cilantro lime dressing from a recipe I found on Pinterest but made it my own...it is so good I'm going to have that with grilled chicken with peppers and onions on a bed of lettuce with some avocado. I'm really excited about it lol...this is just what I need for me to be back on plan. I'm slowly heading back in the right direction and have in my head to make my goals possible this year.

I gotta get back to prepping and finish up dinner. We're having grilled pork loin with herbed potato salad and cucumbers with vinegar. I bought some strawberries and whipped cream for a little something sweet for dessert.

Hope everyone has enjoyed their weekend and Happy Easter for those who celebrate!

Sam: Congrats on getting things back in order.

Good morning everyone. Just read everyone's posts, and it sounds like we are all one busy group -- with some ups and downs thrown in!

MagpieIt sounds like you had a great weekend! Congrats on the more than 10,000 steps -- and those hills will definitely get easier. Loved your comments about the joy of seeing your dad in a setting where he's happy. Sounds like a special relationship you two have.
Terra Glad you enjoyed the crawfish and crawdads. And you're right -- leave off the butter, and they're a good selection.
Rabidstoat Really! One team was looking up answers! It sounds like fun and you may find that over time you actually prefer getting a side salad.
Cindy Yay! "new" clothes without the expense. Not to mention the boost to yourself from being able to get into them. Good for you.
Ubee You're welcome. Sounds like you had a happy Easter. I didn't have to worry about having too many leftovers as my nephew took home about half of the 9 pound ham and the rest of the potatoes and the cake. Bill took home the ham bone, more of the ham, some of the salad, the rest of the asparagus, and half the biscuits. They won't have to cook for a couple of days, but I'm pretty much cleaned out!
Tootsie Having your hubby join in the weight loss and exercise effort is such a gift. Laughing through it moves it into the miracle category!
Fi Oh Fi -- just describing all the cramps made me have sympathy pains for you. Since Bob is in some sort of mood (we'll chalk it up to being sick), is there a way you can order in something and have them include some cookies? Or are there any grocery stores that deliver? Not trying to sabotage your dieting efforts here, but I do understand. The drinking a lot of water seems to be helping a little. If you have some lemon juice in the house, squirt some in water and add some of your liquid stevia.
Sam Your post sounds like the "old" Sam. Glad you had a great weekend with your friend and that you're finding new and interesting things to fix.

The tulips are in bloom up in the Skagit Valley, and I'm thinking about calling a friend whose birthday is tomorrow and seeing if she wants to spend the day seeing the tulips and then having dinner. Or Bill and I might drive up, grab the boys, and have dinner with everyone.

Time to go to the gym and then the rest of the day will be spent putting away the stuff from refinishing the chairs and table, installing new hoses on both washing machines, and beginning to put down the tape to be able to do some touch up painting on some of the windowsills and baseboards in the house. Always something!

Betsy— I've been meaning for some time to thank you for all the nice things you said about me with regard to my being colorful. I'm not sure all of them are true, but they made me blush with pleasure and modesty all the same. I have been very fortunate, in my life, to have had ample opportunities to be an autodidact—that is, someone who teaches themself. For example, I have never had an art class since high school.

Anyway, you mentioned cravings (for sugar, salt, whatever): I thought I'd put in my two cents on the subject and also answer what Tootsie said about learning new things that are comforting—not just food. (Are cookies and candy and donuts really food? I go past the literal answer to that question, and say, "They are not things I eat for fuel, and not things I eat when I am hungry, so in my book, they're not food.")

Whenever I get hit with a craving for some of those non-food items, the first thing I do is the maneuver described in Kathryn Hansen's Brain over Binge, which I've already described numerous times on this thread, (Read her book! It's not just for people who binge: all of us can learn from her story, and most of all, her solution.) The brain-over-binge approach puts me in the calm, cerebral mood I need to be in to go through two mental checklists—one for "what else might this be?" (e.g., dehydration, lust, need to spend time with a kitty) and one for "what else will I do (note use of the word "will," as opposed to "might" or "can") instead of procuring those items?" Usually what happens is I get sidetracked by something else I'm interested in (e.g., collage) and go do that. My list of alternative ways to be comforted is very long, believe me! =smile=

On the rare occasions when the craving persists, I ask myself, "Is this one of the times when my desire for those non-food items is prompted by a seriously horrible life experience (e.g., the episodes of painful muscle cramps I've been having lately)? or conversely, by a wondrously happy experience (e.g., Hallowe'en, my birthday)? If the answer to that is "no" I don't eat the sweets. I go back to my list of comfort activities, looking for one that will strike the right chord. If the answer is "yes" I structure the occasion very carefully, buying no more than I need for the comfort or the celebration., and eating it very slowly, paying a lot of attention. I'm a big fan, I might add, of cookies that come in one-cookie-only cellophane wrappers. The smaller the amount of the non-food item in question, the better. After I eat that item, I declare to myself that the episode is over, and go back to whatever I was doing when the craving hit.

And it goes without saying: I never keep any of my craving-type non-foods in my house. Bob buys a few from time to time, but he keeps all his special foods, foods bought for his use only, in a high cabinet that I cannot reach without a step ladder.

I've read posts on the site before, but this is my first time jumping in and committing to getting healthy. This is not my first attempt to lose weight, by any means, but the first time I'm committing to making healthy changes since I lost weight for my wedding 8 years ago. Now at 300+ and a toddler in tow, the game has certainly changed. Haven't decided on a plan, just needed to put my commitment out into the world first. Will return later with a plan!

Betsy: Good job!

Fi: Sorry if I had offended you. I don't remember who posted what very well. I just respond to recent comments. Thanks for mentioning your book, yet again. I will check out that book. I haven't had a binge for a while, but that doesn't mean that I never will.

Healthmamma: Congrats on taking those first few steps.

Fiona: I've been EffexorXR for about 10 years now, since it's giving me no problems (and doing good) I can't imagine ever going off! I was at 225 for a while, then cut back to 150, and I've been there for about 5 or 6 years. I've heard that tapering off of it is not fun.

Hi everyone.
Just a quick buzz by.
Betsy I did have a good Easter and you did better then I did getting leftovers out of the house. The tulip trip sounds so refreshing.
Welcome healthmomma!
Sam, Betsy is right you sound like our old Sam again. Welcome back!
tootsie I like how you observed Fi's situation as a way to find new coping skills.
Fi I guess part of what I need to do is slow down and think before I shove non foods in my mouth.
I know that Easter candy is half off at the store today. Chocolate has taken over my daily life again...
Have a peaceful day.

Hi Everyone!

Just a quick check in before I have to take DH to band practice...

Today was a good day...stayed 100% on plan so far ...I had oatmeal for breakfast with chia, strawberries, & raspberries. Lunch was the salad I told you guys about yesterday...I had a snack of baby carrots and hummus in between breakfast and lunch and when I got home today I made a smoothie with 1 banana, 3 strawberries, 2 scoops of chocolate nutritional powder, a spoonful of peanut butter and some coconut/almond milk. It was really good and satisfied my sweet tooth.

My boss gave me some clothes that her friend who is about my size didn't want anymore. I went through them and most of them fit except two pairs of jeans. If I can lose about 10 pounds they'll fit better. I can get them buttoned and zipped but I look like a sausage in them...So those are some goal pants for the next month or two. Not sure how fast the weight is going to start coming off but my head is in the game and I'm ready to get back to work.

After I drop DH off at band practice I'm going to do a Cardio Party with Turbo Jam at home....Then maybe tomorrow I'll go walking and try and get DH to go with me...We had a great time last year going on our many walks, and he has completely fallen off any type of healthy eating wagon...way more than me so I gotta get back in the game to make him want change too....It's easier said than done but I'm kind of doing this for the both of us now. His weight and health issues are way worse than mine and I don't want to see him have a heart attack at 34. Maybe if he sees me eating right again he'll fall back into eating right too like he did when I was consistent with how I eat and exercised.

That's all for now....Betsy & Ubee Thank you for the love...I'm starting to feel like my old self and it's great to be back!

Hello everyone.

Healthmomma, welcome! And good luck to you.

Fiona, I am going to have to check out that book. Thanks for mentioning it.

Tootsie, I am hoping I can get my spouse motivated to lose some weight too. We laugh all the time so I could definitely see us having friendly competitions.

Betsy, good job on getting all the leftovers out the door.

I hope everyone who celebrate had a happy Easter. Mine was quiet and I still have leftovers. I did well at dinner avoiding the things I had planned to avoid, but I did have a couple small pieces of candy and managed to eat an entire 8 oz can of cashews between yesterday and today. Other than the nuts I was back on plan all day today, so it could have been worse.

Ubee ~ Thanks, I had a feeling it was healthy so I'm glad I was right.

Betsy ~ Craw Fish and Craw Dads are the same food. Some people call them Craw Fish and other people call them Craw Dads.

HealthMomma ~ Welcome to 3FC and to the 300+ Chat Thread for April, Its nice to have another new member join our chat thread.

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Woke up at 9:00 a.m. this morning and I was out the door waiting on the bus by 10:10 this morning and I didnt get back home until 4:45 today. My friend and I went to lunch at Red Lobster and then she and I went to the movies from Red Lobster. We saw Unfinished Business, It was a good movie but while we were waiting to go home I told her it was a good movie but it wasnt a kid movie but some parents bring their kids to Rated R movies. I know if I had kids I wouldnt do that.

Good morning. Toby just came by and gave my ipad a big lick, so considered yourself loved by my big furry beast.

Fi What a sweet post (and colorful!) from you. Made me feel good. And I appreciated the hints, tips, and techniques on getting control over the mindless eating. I've read her book and immediately afterward lost about 12 pounds just from following her techniques. I need to find it on my Kindle again and review it. The main thing I realized from reading your post is that I need to be more mindful. The two questions that I need to ask are: Is it worth living with all this weight to eat this right now? and Will it make me feel any happier in 30 minutes? Since the answer to both is in 99.9% of the cases going to be no, I'm hoping that will help. Again, thanks for the feedback and the suggestions.
HealthMomma Welcome. I hope you continue to post and offer insights from your journey.
Tootsie What's going on with you? Hope all is well in your neck of the woods.
Ubee First, sorry about Wisconsin losing the NCAA finals -- I was rooting for them. Just once I'd like to see all Big Ten refs for the final game. Basketball in the Big Ten is a contact sport! And chocolate is not half off today for the Easter candy. There is no such thing as good chocolate. Chocolate is the Darth Vadar of our diet plans.
Sam Love you back, Sweetie. I think that in addition to your many talents, you should create a channel on You Tube and create interesting menus for people trying to lose weight. You have realistic meal plans and they're creative.
Cindy Understand about the cashews......I no longer am allowed to buy the big jars of them at Costco.
Terra I thought they were the same thing, but wasn't sure. I agree with you about parents that take small children to R rated movies.

Time to get cleaned up to get my hair cut. It's raining down here, so I need to check the weather report for weather up north before I drive 200 miles today just to slog through mud. I love tulips, not so big on being ankle deep in mud and having it suck the boot right off your foot.

Hope everyone has a great day!