Aimee, if your throat swells and you have difficulty breathing, that's a classic allergic reaction. It's important you don't use anything with the ingredients that do this to you; allergic sensitivity increases with exposure and you may find yourself going into a full anaphylactic shock. Keep Benadryl on hand and if you have any of those symptoms, take it right away.

My mom got itchy hives after eating Jasmine rice. It happened three times and each time was progressively worse, so she was able to piece together what did it to her. Her doctor said food allergies like that can come on suddenly and, with increased sensitivity to the allergens, be fatal very quickly.

I love the calorie-saving benefits of aspartame, but it scares me. A high school friend of mine had severe reactions to it. I found an article at About.com which explains some of the pros and cons of aspartame.

On a sidenote, Howie had his wisdom tooth pulled today. He only had one, and because it had no partner below it, it just kept growing. Funny thing is, we just watched Finding Nemo for the first time last night, complete with the dentist scenes. LOL The dentist took molds of my teeth so he can make a custom splint (night guard) for me. The athletic mouth guard just is too bulky and isn't doing me any good. I read about certain vitamins and minerals being helpful to stop bruxism (tooth grinding/clenching). This site lists the ones I read about, plus more.

Whaddaya think, Aimee the Supplement Queen?

Kimberley - definitely a cal/mag, especially since we are women, and we exercise. I take 2 mal/mag in the morning and 2 at night, they will also help you sleep better! Definitely a Vit B complex, and DEFINITELY Vit C, you'll also notice they'll aid with weight loss, not tons, but 1/2 - 1 pound a week-ish. I'd definitely invest in the above. Aspartame scares me a little too, but mostly because of the reactions I've had to it, I avoid it at all costs now. It's funny, we were at a restaurant and I ordered a coke, well they brought diet coke, and I had to send it back saying I was allergic, the waiter looked at me funny. Poo on him!

Jen - if I had thought you were ONLY drinking liquids and not eating a meal a day, I'd be a little worried! I was going to do this liquid cleanse a while back, 10 days no food, just this drink, it was a mix of fresh squeezed lemon, organic maple syrup, and cayenne. I made it thru one day, the drink tasted like crap cuz I put too much cayenne in it, and I was at work the entire day... your body can do amazing detoxing without all the crap we put in it!

On that cleansing note, my brother and I discussed doing a colon cleanse, not the food kind, but the hydra-therapy one, basically, they insert a tube and flush your colon out. At the end you are given flora to ensure the proper bacteria returns... I'm not entirely sure how I feel about this, I like the idea but worry about it hurting etc.. Also when I was reading on a local site they wanted to do it multiple times, and I'm not really here long enough for that. We may ditch that idea.

MY walk this morning kicked my ***, I walked for 55 minutes, and I realllly wasn't sure I'd make it home, I was a little light headed and spacey. I guess increasing by 10 minutes was too much today after the sleep I had. But I'll keep plugging away, I hope to work up to be able to walk an hour and 30 minutes, I think this is how long the 10km walk/run we have will take me to complete if i just walk it.

I'm going to have lunch.. ttyl!

-Aimee

Man, that must have been scary, Jill!! One of my biggest fears in life is not being able to breathe....whether it be drowning, choking or being suffocated.

Aimee, I think calling the diet a liquid diet is a bit of a misnomer now. I guess they still call it that because about half the diet is liquid.

Speaking of liquid, I have really upped my water, and my trips to the potty have sure shown it!

Jill - I definitely don't do detoxing for weight loss, it's generally for a health factor. I know that Ihave a lot of "stuff" built up in my system, I can feel it if that makes sense? I am firstly going for the veggies and fruit, no milk or wheat, and staying away from obvious sugars. The first time I did a detox was on a recommendation from a doctor, I have some stomach issues from earlier.. "eating problems", and my stomach gets off balance really easily. It really helped, and I never spent so much time in the washroom, and the other problems I was having cleared up. I had a yeast infection for months, and a bladder infection which wasn't showing up as a bladder infection on any tests. It all went away :) and most never returned! I know I'm more likely to think detoxing, and cleansing is a good idea because people around me have done it for years. Who knows if it makes a difference..

Yah, thats a VERY scarey experience! Phew, I cannot imagine.

Jen - I with you on the drowning thing, scared the crap outta me. As for those bathroom breaks, omg, the first few days I was here I was peeing every 2 seconds, it was just downright annoying.

4 more days until I weigh in.. I sure hope all this is doing SOMETHING, I'd like to say I feel better.. but I'll report more on Monday, gotta at least give this over a week to settle in. That walk is still kicking my arse! I suspect its from lack of sleep. I spent the afternoon watching old recording of Celebrity Fit Club, the 3rd one. I may have to look up how it ended, the recordings stopped with the second weigh in with Gunner Nelson.

-Aimee

I saw Fit Club 3 all the way through....it's kind of like watching a train wreck, isn't it? I wouldnt say it was particularly inspiring weight loss wise...except maybe Kelly LeBrock and Gunnar Nelson. Everyone else kind of half assed it.

It's my last day, it's my last day *doin' a little dance* :carrot:

New job Monday--WOOHOO!

Geoing away party at work was yesterday--pizza and make-your-own ice cream sundaes :devil: It was FABULOUS!

One thing about the new job that I am looking forward to is a new routine. I won't be able to use "job stress/transition" as my excuse for eating way of plan anymore :p

Aimee--I guess my thing with these detox ideas is that if we didn't eat the crap that bothered our bodies in the first place, then we wouldn't have to detox! I know that's not always possible, though :^:

It really is a train wreck! They cast a weirdo in every series, someone they know will go over the edge at some point. In a way it's kinda sad, these mostly washed out celebrities being portrayed however the producers see fit in the cutting room.

Yay Jill!! Just a few more hours and you will be outta there!

Kimberley: The saddest this year was watching Jeff Conaway crash and burn. I hope he is doing better.

I hate hate my one student loan, they don't take online banking! Who doesn't do that?!?! I dunno if it's possible, but I'll see if I can take out a loan to pay them, I'd rather deal with my OWN bank, at least they aren't moody teenagers. Everytime I call I get a *****y person. Annoying!

I think the core of the show is a good idea... I didn't get to see Jeff Conaway on the shows we had recorded, doesn't sound very good. I can't find any results, how did Young MC do? He had lost quite a bit of weight!

I am starting to prepare myself incase I don't lose any weight on Monday, I imagine if I don't I'll cry all day long.. how do you prepare for that btw?

i am off to eat some oats and apple with soymilk.. ttyl!

-Aimee

Aimee, I bet you'd love yams. They're creamy and sweet. I love them. You know, I can't eat brown rice, it gives me horrible gas. I've heard news reports that getting interrupted sleep can be worse than getting no sleep. I believe that, when Chloe (our cat) goes into high geer and wakes us up a couple of times a night, it's horrible. Hey, don't get too obsessed with the numbers on the scale. You're doing a lot to improve your health. Give yourself credit.

Wow, Howie's lucky to just have one wisdom tooth, Kimberley. I thought I was lucky to have 3. I remember telling the dentist to give me as much drugs as they could, heh heh. I'd be interested to hear if the supplements help with the Bruxism.

that is a scary story, Jill. Do you (or do you need to) wear some sort of medical bracelet saying that you're allergic to that now? I know when I went from being a junk food fiend to Jenny Craig it felt like I was detoxing. My skin actually went through a lot of changes. I'd have to agree with you about the colon thing, sounds pretty awful. I had a roommate years back who started her health regime by not eating for three days. That's a long time to go without food, but she did end up losing weight (healthily) and getting into a good exercise routine. Congrats on your last day. :carrot:

Jen, my brother (who's 10 years older) used to put a pillow over my face when we were kids (he thought it was funny!). Nice way to give me dreams about being suffocated.

I got my New York driver's license today, they don't put your weight on it, heh heh. My hair looks a little mane like, but the pic isn't too bad, ha. I thought I'd lose all the TOM weight this week, but I didn't. :( I was hoping to get down in case I went overboard while my friend was here. I'm just going to have to rev up the will power and not splurge eating wise. Kind of a drag.

Have a good night.

Marge - I'll get Josh to cook me yam's when he's here.. I gotta be willing to try new things! No weight on the NY license, I could handle that. I can't really wait until I can get a new license pic, the one I have now is SO horrible, doesn't really look like me either. Well in my opinion anyways. Don't worry about that weight, just concentrate on more veggies and fruit! I w on't get too obsessed with the scale.. infact, if it gets bad I might get my bro to hide it, heh. I am obsessed with measurements though!

Well I wasn't going to go for a walk today, but its so beautiful out that I couldn't resist. I ventured off my regular pathway, found some GREAT neighbourhoods. Wow there are some beautiful houses around here, I'm thinking its a fairly wealthy area of town.

I am off to watch some movies... ttyl!

-Aimee

i think I know why I've never really fully dedicated myself to weight loss, it's fricking HARD! You almost have to think about it 24/7! I am eating a lot better, exercising, and I'm noticing a loss in inches.. these are all really great things. But how do people stay on this for so long? I feel borderline obsessed! And plateau's? I don't know that this is something I'm REALLY prepared to deal with, in the past it's been easy to blow off a plateau because I wasn't giving 100%. I am enjoying the hard work, and its easy to do all of this here, I really hope that I break some barrier so that it becomes easy to do at home. I am just talking.. and on that, I don't think we are really holding eachother accountable. I don't know if this was something you all are interested in.. I don't fully know how to do that. I want my heart to literally jump when I hear one of you loses a pound! This could totally be my own thing, you may all feel this.. I feel the need to get more involved. Let me know if you don't want me to get TOO involved, I know this can be a private process..

That was a little drunken rant... now if only I was drunk on more than vitamin water ;) Have a good night..

-Aimee

Aimee, I love walking through new neighborhoods. I like walking through my neighborhood at night, then you see all the apartments and houses with their lights on, and it's cozy. There are some fancy mansions on the other side of the slope.

I agree, weight loss is hard. For me, I try to get into a pattern that's conscientious but not obessed, it can be easy for me to get obsessed with it. If I get too obsessed, then I start to drive myself and Rob crazy. But if I don't pay enough attention, I let myself slide too much and the weight loss starts to stall. Routine can be a good thing :) .

I wouldn't even worry about plateaus. Just my opinion, but I find it's much easier to deal with what's on my plate now, and worry about what's down the line once I get to it.

Feel free to get as involved as you want in my process. I know I could be doing a better job at this.

I'm off until Wednesday or Thursday. Have a good week, everyone.