It's Week Fourteen, are you more lean??

[LittleDudesMom]

Okay, Okay, I know it's lame, but I have 6 more weeks where I have to rhyme something with "teen"!!!!

So team, how's the last week been going? We've added two more to our ranks with JJJ and Michelle (loving abby 2) beginning their lifestyle change this week. Good luck you two!!!!!!

easy child and I each lost 1.8 pounds at weigh-in last night. So my total is now exactly 27 pounds. I'm thrilled.

I spoke with the lady that sits next to me a little after the meeting last night. She has lost 85 pounds and will have been a member of WW for one year on May 1st!!!!! She carries a "before" picture in her purse. She walks five miles every morning. The thing she enjoys the most is shopping in a different department at the store! Wow, what an inspiration. As I laid in bed last night I wondered, "where will I be on the second week of January 2009 at my one year mark?"

​

Ok ladies, 'fess up - how was your week?

Sharon

 

[Marguerite]

Can I come on board too? It's about week 6 for me, five weeks since starting Reductil (Meridia in the US). I can't just rely on diet pills, they won't work if I don't diet and try to exercise. So I'm dieting drastically. It's not sustainable, but it's all I can do. I have six months to lose what I can, after that the pills apparently stop working.

They're supposed to curb my appetite (they don't) and also stop my metabolism from going into "she's starving, we'd better conserve energy" mode. I think THAT might be working. I'm also trying to exercise, which isn't easy with a body with muscles that simply stop working far too soon.

This week - I saw the neurologist on Monday. He tried to lecture me on how to diet and got a lot wrong. I'm afraid I got a bit cranky with him. He also looked at me and said, "Your thyroid is enlarged. That can't be helping your weight loss." He's ordered blood tests, he'll ring me when he gets the results.

On Tuesday (yesterday) I saw the GP. She checked my files and noticed I've not had my thyroid checked for probably years. So it COULD be out of whack. Just what I need - first my bladder is in trouble, then my liver, then pancreas, now thyroid?

About the bladder - I saw the urologist last week. He said if I get one more infection I go to hospital to be catheterised. They will pour antibiotics in one end and constantly rinse out the bladder over three days, at the other. Choice. Plus, even on a light diet, I always gain weight in hospital.

Over the last few days I was noticing how fast I was losing weight - I was 97 Kg when I first started, then over the next few weeks I seem to have been dropping a kilo a week. Suddenly I seemed to be losing half a kilo a day, bringing me down to 89.5 Kg on Sunday. I checked and re-zeroed the scales and it still said 89.5, so I was happy. When I wore my jeans they kept falling off my hips so I had to borrow a belt from mother in law.

I cut husband's hair on Sunday night, so he had to move the scales. On Tuesday morning I weighed myself, re-zeroing the scales as you should whenever they've been moved. The scales said 93 Kg. WHAT? I weighed myself again. 91 Kg.
husband weighed himself. He then cleverly got a large plastic bottle and filled it with 2 litres of water. He weighed himself again, holding the water.

I tried that trick as well, and found that 2 Kg of water apparently weighed half a kilo.

At the GP, I weighed in on her scales. Fully clothes, after having had breakfast, I weighed 91 Kg.

So it seems the apparently miraculous half a kilo a day was a figment of my bathroom scales' fabrication. I will probably have to use a tape measure from here.

What I'm using for willpower - the gastroenterologist who put me on these pills gave me a scare. I've got to lose weight to help my liver and to ward off diabetes. He said the pills were a perhaps better alternative (for now) to gastric bypass.
So knowing that is what he has in mind if this doesn't work, I decided to eat as if I've already had bypass surgery, but to drink water as if I haven't.

Goal weight - I can dream, I guess. Any loss is a bonus, for me. If I can lose more, I'd love it. But I don't expect to go below 70 Kg. But then, at 70 Kg, I can look good in a bikini. I'd look even better at 65 Kg, but anything lower is pre-adult weight, for me. And at 65 Kg I was always an average-to-slim adult, in my 20s. After four kids, I think 70 Kg will be the lower limit of feasibility.

Hey, for now here's hoping I can get below 90 Kg!

I'd better get my boots on and go for my walk now, before bedtime.

Here's to packing more of us into more concentrated packages!

Marg

 

[scent of cedar]

I wrote a piece on the week thirteen thread but lost it to cyberspace. I was going to let that be and just sneak my cigarettes in private , but here we are onto week fourteen already.

Not doing so good, this week.

Isn't there something about that three month mark with cigarettes, though?

It isn't even that I want a cigarette so badly as it that it seems, when I look back on it, that my entire life used to be so much more fun when I smoked cigarettes.

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr......

Barbara

 

[trinityroyal]

Good morning everyone,

Sharon, congratulations on continuing to make progress with your weight loss.

Marg, sounds like the Reductil is working well for you. I always find the tape measure to be a better indicator than the scale. I can get 3 or 4 different weights at different spots on my bathroom floor, so it's hard to tell sometimes.

Barbara, I think you're right about the 3 month mark in quitting smoking. I remember being fine for the first few months after I stopped, and then all of a sudden I desperately wanted them again. Keep plugging away, the feeling will pass. I'm coming up to my 15 year smoke-free in a few months...you CAN do it.

This week, I feel like things are starrting to come together physically and spiritually.

Dance class is going like gangbusters. I've been practicing all of the "Diva" moves they have been teaching me (hands on hips, now flick your head. Arm up, and strut!)

and now my instructor is teaching me...ack...dips!

Emotionally, I had a breakthrough this week. My therapist is very pleased with my progress. It seems that last week's realization that I needed to let myself feel the fear rather than fighting it made all the difference. I have done a lot of soul searching and a lot of crying...but it's about time. I've been holding all of this stuff in for decades, so it's such a relief to start letting it go.

The affirmation I've been working on this past week has been, "My parents did not love me, but I'm worthy of love and must look for love within myself" Intellectually I've always known this, but believing it is a different matter. I feel like I'm starting to believe it.

Wow. It's hard, but I'm getting stronger.

Congratulations everyone on your achievements this week. I'm very proud of all of us.

Trinity

 

[LittleDudesMom]

Marg, congrats on your weight loss, even thou it is less than you thought ! But a loss is a loss no matter how small (hey, seems a guy named Horton said something like that). I never weigh on any scale other than the one at WW. I don't use mine anymore, nor do I use the one at the gym. I let them measure me, but not weigh. They say you should always weigh on the same scale.

Barbara, I've been thing about how your quit smoking change was doing. I can't speak to the three month mark, but I honestly think it will be harder to quit than to change my diet! A couple questions, you said something about being happier when smoking. Were you a social smoke originally? Were there others around you smoking and laughing? Why do you think you equate smoking with happiness? Have you been using any quit smoking aides? If not, do you think you could try? I know I've looked and they are expensive (but not as expensive as cigs!!!!). I guess if you go slowly, take a week and just cut back a couple cigs every day that week. Then the next week, but back another one. Eventually you may only be at one or two a day. Then perhaps the levels will be lower in your body and a habit of not smoking will have developed. Just an idea.....


Trinity, ok, get someone to use their cellphone and then download us a video of your dance moves ! You know it's nice to share. Glad you are coming to terms with some emotional issues. Your all around health is improving so much!

Ok, what about the rest of you - come on let's hear from you.......

Sharon

 

[Wiped Out]

I did well on my weigh in on Saturday but have been struggling again this week with eating. I think I am back on track with the exercise although I did take yesterday and today off due to my back and busy schedule.

Congrats to all who are doing well and if you are struggling right now remember we're here and check out Fran's article-you don't have to do everything at once. Hugs.

 

[Loving Abbey 2]

Hi Everyone,

It's week 5 and 1/2 for me. And having just realilzed how long, I lost track and had to check my calender, I am so proud of myself for sticking with this new healthy diet and walking and hand weights. I give up things very easily especially when it comes to dessert.

I have lost a total of 12lbs as of this morning (but since I am in PMS mode, I bet there's an extra pound of water). I haven't been doing the exercise this week. With difficult child in the psychiatric hospital I haven't gotten the motivation to get back to walking yet, but I'm planning on doing it soon. I would like to lose another 36 lbs, but 46 would be ideal.

Everyone is doing a great job!

Barbara, I had to just stop smoking. I tried the cutting back slowly, I always found some reason (stress, party,ect) to smoke more just when I was making progress. I think it's close to a year now and I can finally say I don't crave them anymore. What really helped is that everyone I was around knew I had quit and I made them promise to support this choice. So even the girls at work would help. I also had to not be around anyone who smoked for a bit. I still loved smoking (it also helped with meeting new people) but I loved Abbey more and I decided I didn't want to smoke. You could try putting up notes here and there listing the reasons why you quit.

 

[LittleDudesMom]

Sharon, glad you got back on the exercise track - I know how important it is to you!

Michelle, congrats on your weight loss!!!!! Here's a little push to help you get walking again!

Sharon

 

[scent of cedar]

I am using a nicotine patch. I have one on, today.

And you are right ~ we DID have dinner with friends who smoke and I knew it was coming AND I SMOKED CIGARETTES THAT DAY AND YESTERDAY, TOO.

Ewwhh....

They certainly were tasty.

One of us posted something to the effect that she had quit over the course of a year. That idea was very helpful to me.

Thank you!

Even if I slipped up and smoked this time, maybe next time I will get through it without feeling like I am missing out on something by not smoking.

And whichever of us it was who asked whether smoking has always been a social occasion thing for me was right ~ I started in college, like so many of us do.

So maybe, even though I am 56, smoking makes me feel more grown up?

Three months is the longest I have ever stopped smoking (unless I was pregnant or nursing).

So I am actually doing well with it ~ now that I know I put that patch back on, that is!

Close call.

It is wonderful to have this thread.

Thank you so much, Sharon.



And there is a little lesson in my failure for all of us, I think. It's taken us a very long time to develop our comfort mechanisms. Even if we slip time and again, we needn't change our long term intentions to make positive change in our lives.

Looks like I am back on the wagon.

Wishing everyone well.

We can do this.

Barbara

 

['Chelle]

Well it's the end of week one for me, and I'm doing ok I think. Have cut out sugar, fat, less breads etc., eating lots of veggies and fruit. I don't actually miss the sugar, that wasn't too much my problem, I have to watch my cravings for salty stuff, like chips. Am waiting on an appointment with the diabetic consultant, and thinking of rejoining a local TOPS chapter (for weight loss support) Had been a member years ago, then had difficult child, husband started working nights, so quit as it was too hard to get to meetings. Had lost 50 pounds as a member before, and after I quit and had easy child have gained that back +++.

Haven't started the exercise yet. I find it easier to change one thing at a time, so getting the diet thing in order, then going to start walking. easy child loves to go on walks and the dog is getting a little "hefty" too, so will have company.

 

[LittleDudesMom]

Barbara, glad you had a chance to kind of "think it over" and are back on track. You know I am watching you closely!!!!!!!!

Chelle, glad you had a good first week! I did the same as you. I began the eating part of my life change first, and then about 8 weeks later I started the exercise. Good luck!

Sharon