Posts by butterflymed

hi Sarah!  I've been really busy, and am about to go away for the weekend, so I'm going to be MIA for a while longer.  Just peaking in to reply!

The scale has been good to me the past few days, so hopefully it will continue while I'm away again, and I will come back and see a beautiful number!

Sarah - I'm totally into starting C25K again.  I'm planning to get back into the routine on Monday when I return.  I'm also really excited, because I got a gift certificate from a family member to my old, really really really expensive yoga studio.  So I'm going to get one unlimited month there.  Which means I will go EVERY DAY.  I love it there so much.  I'm going to wait to activate it until mid may, because I have a pretty calm schedule then.  But then I'm gonna kick butt!

Have a good weekend everyone!

Good Morning Everyone!

I just read all of the posts I have missed over the past week and a half, and now I'm completely caught up in all of your lives!  I wont reply to everything, but I have a couple of responses:

Tori - I'm so happy to hear about you getting back on track!  I honestly feel so good hearing that you are doing well, and I can't even imagine how amazing it must feel to go from the 200's to the 100's!  Congrats!  

Ali - I'm 5'4.5''.  I've never really big a really heavy drinker (I typically have been the one telling my friends it's probably time to stop), but I do drink socially, be it wine at home with friends, or beer/liquor out on occasion when out.  Since I've started trying to lose, I've almost totally eliminated alcohol.  It's just calories I can't afford.  I did have a glass of wine last night at a friend's birthday gathering, but that was only 100 cals or so, so not too bad.  I haven't missed it so much.  I'm pretty busy and don't go out too much anyway, but when I do, a diet coke in my hand feels fine.

Roger - I'm so proud of you! Great job with your loss!  20lbs is amazing!!!

Tanya - 3lbs in one week is amazing!!  You made some great choices.  Congrats.

ekai - Great job with the 2lbs!  I would recommend just throwing out anything from Easter that is too tempting.  My family had a whole 3/4 of a huge, very rich, flourless chocolate cake from Passover left, right before I went away for my trip, and it just went right into the trash.  There is no reason for that to be sitting around, getting eaten by everyone.  Sure, there was a tiny bit of guilt because we were "wasting food," but really, no one needs that.  It was probably 2000 calories a bite!

brenda - welcome to the group!

Sarah - Those few lbs gained from holidays suck!  Stick with it!  Mine seem to be coming off.  Although, I do still feel "behind schedule" in my loss.  But there is nothing I can do about it.

Me - I am hearing a beautiful bird chirping from the tree outside my window.  It really must finally be spring!  I hope to take a long walk with a friend today, although if I can't get her out, I'll just go myself! (although, the forecast does say rain, so I'll see what it's like when I'm ready to go.  It may just be a gym day).  

On a gym note, I totally have gone off track with C25k, so my goal this week is to start up again.  I'm a bit worried that it will be hard to get back into it, but hopefully it will be okay!!!

Anyway, I'm in a pretty good mood.  The academic year feels like it is coming to a close, and I'm getting excited for the new one to start (med school is year round).  I'm excited about the nice weather, and my 3 best friends are coming to visit in a few weeks, which I've been looking forward to for months!

Otherwise, everything is the same!  My vacation was wonderful, and I feel rested and ready to get back to studying my bum off.  Which is pretty much what is on the menu for today!

Sarah - You must have replied while I was typing.  I agree that the things the teens say on this site are really scary.  I feel, though, that at least they are on a forum where there are lots of people watching and making sure they aren't telling each other really unhealthy things, and are giving correct information.  I honestly try to avoid reading those threads, because they do make me upset.  I too had an ED as a teen, and I also am trying really hard now not to restrict too much in this weight loss.  I've now worked with a lot of teens in the hospital for their EDs, and it's not any road you would want any kid to go down.  On this site, though, I've never seen anything explicitly pro-ana/pro-mia, which, all things considered, means overall things are pretty okay on the whole, and it's a much healthier place than it could be.  Maybe you could start a post in the YCC forum about what you just said here?  Saying that as someone older, this is what you have learned, and this is what you notice reading their posts?  Most probably won't pay attention, but you might get to some of them.

HI folks! Sorry to go MIA.  I was super busy.

Sarah - Congrats on doing well with the open bar! I log my weight every day, and the trend line still stinks sometimes.  But I like logging and having the full history right there.  A clean house feels so good, it doesn't matter how many cals you burn! 

Pook - Good luck on keeping the cals down! You can do it!

Tanya - I too wish I could afford a personal trainer.  Even better if it were every day.  Someday maybe?  That, and someone to clean my apartment.

Ekai - Welcome!

Roger - Glad to see you! You're doing great!

Mia - Love the waxing story with your son.  So cute.  Your breakfast sounds awesome.  Probably way too many calories for me though.  My low-sugar oatmeal and berries is about all I can swing in the morning. :(  Hope your hubby gets back soon!

Me - Big new for me today.  I'm at 142.8lb and wearing a size FOUR pair of jeans!  I think that is fairly crazy as I still feel pretty fat, but cool nonetheless!!

I hadn't told my mom I'd lost weight until today when she wanted me to go buy something for her to bring home when I go visit, and I had to say there was no way it would fit me anymore, so she probably shouldn't use me that way.  I kinda wanted it to be a surprise.  Oh well.

I drink almond milk because I'm extremely allergic to both milk and soy.  It's a no brainer - if I want to have cereal, or bake something, or... we'll eat like a normal person... it's either Rice Milk (pure sugar, tastes bad), Hemp Milk (very expensive), or Almond Milk.  There are a few other choices out there, but they are pretty expensive or hard to find.

I like the taste of almond milk, and the low calorie content is simply a perk.

Also, to whoever said it is unnatural - people have been drinking almond milk (or really, almond juice) since the middle ages.  Cow's milk would spoil easily, and it was typically immediately used to make cheese.  People also drank it during fast days and during Lent since it was not an animal product.  It's not milk any more than soy milk is - it's almonds blended with water, and then strained.  And it's certainly not unhealthy, whereas, for me, cows milk or soy milk could literally lead to fairly immediate death without medical intervention.

Sarah - Have fun at Lucky Strike! Open bars can be a caloric nightmare.  Hope you find that line between fun and moderation!

Mia - Your kids are so cute! So you liked the PB2? What's it like exactly? Powder you say? Does it feel like peanut butter?  I've seen it, and am curious if I'd like it.  The decimal thing on the BMI is just a math quirk - 24.98 is 25.0 if you only use one decimal place (since you have to round up the 100th place, and that is still overweight).  But 24.89 is still 24.9 - healthy weight - at 1 decimal place.  Yippie.  Oh, and it's a good thing you quit smoking recently ... today the federal tax just went up to 60-something cents a pack.  think of all the money you are saving!!

Me- Went shopping for clothes that actually fit me this evening after work - and it felt soooooo good to be trying on 6's.  I haven't worn a 6 since high school.  Since I still have more to lose, I didn't want to spend money on particularly nice stuff, so went to Old Navy and Plato's Closet (it's a teen/20's used clothing store... good suggestion Pook!).  Spent more than I wanted, but got a bunch of tops that will fit as I get smaller.  It was a lot more fun than I've had in a long time trying on clothes.

Now I'm waiting for my butternut squash to finish baking, and the smell of the cinnamon I put on it is a bit like torture.

Hi everyone!

Sarah: if you are just going to use a bike to commute, or really casually ride, it makes sense to spend as little money as possible.  Walmart is worth a shot.  I hope your tummy feel better!!!

Pook: I wish I had a spot to store my bike inside work.  Lucky duck.  I get emotional watching tv all the time.  I'm such a freaking sap when it comes to TV shows.  I swear, I cry every time I watch Extreme Makeover Home Edition.

Ana: I hate guys that do that.  It's awful.  Honestly, it scares the **** out of me.  I always try to go into a store or something when that kind of stuff happens.  I'm glad you and your baby were safe.  Good for you for going to the gym even though you had family pressure to stay home.  You are doing great!

Sine: It's sooooo hard to eat well in the academic pressure cooker!!!  Just keep trying, and as long as you are not going over maintenance, everything will be fine.

Me: Fantastic news on the sale this morning - I am officially not overweight!  Scale showed 145.4 which is a BMI of 24.96! Yes, I know you have to go out 2 decimal places to get to a normal BMI, but I don't care! Who knows if I'll gain tomorrow, but for today, I was not overweight!

Otherwise, I've been really busy, and really bad about working out.  I need to get back on that horse.  The days are longer and it's getting warmer, so I'm in a pretty good mood overall.

I also made a deliciously low cal stir-fry for dinner tonight. Yippie!

Mia - So good to see you back!  My guess is the weight is just a fluke.  Don't worry about it if you stayed on track.  And congrats on the smoking!  So awesome that you haven't had a hard time.  If you are at 6 days, you've passed the physical addiction withdrawal stage, and so now any cravings should be purely emotional/habitual - which means you can beat them more easily!  Also, most cravings last only 10-15 min, so if you can sit through it and distract yourself, it will be over soon.

Pook - sucks to have a bike stolen.  You just feel violated!  Mine was pretty expensive.  I'm thinking of getting 2 bikes now.  One good one for fitness/fun rides, and another one to commute.  I just don't want another 1000 dollars to get ridden away when i park it somewhere. Walmart/target/somewhere is a good idea to get the cheap one.  I've been searching craigslist, but most of those need a lot of work, or at least a tune up, which cost sometimes more than the bike itself.  And yeah, the farmer's market was awesome!  This one is year round, but it's so much nicer when the weather is good and people are happy, and there is tons of good stuff!

Sine -is it true that denmark has the happiest people in the world?!

Sarah - congrats on the weight today! You are beating me to a pulp!

I had an AWESOME day today.  The sun was out, the day was long, I got the afternoon off!  Had a fantastic outing with some friends.  Life is good.

Mudcake - being on the drugs can be life changing for people.  It really depends on your doc if they give you adderall or concerta.  The one pro as a prescriber for concerta is that it can't be crushed and abused (which they worry about with college students).  It also can more easily be combined with old fashioned non time-release ritalin (say, if you only want to take something that will last 4 hours or so in the evening to do work). 

Make sure you work closely with your doctor to figure out the right dose/dosing regimen for you... which means you should really pay attention to how you are feeling throughout the day.  If by 5 o'clock, you're having trouble sitting down and reading something for school, that means you may need to take another dose at noon, for example.  Only you will know when it wears off, so make sure you communicate it!

There are three things to look out for.

1) Tics.  If you've never had them before, and since you aren't a 5 year old boy, this shouldn't be a problem.  If you do get a tic, so off the drug immediately.

2) Appetite suppression.  This usually goes away after the first few weeks.  It also actually doesn't lead to weight loss in most people, because once the drug wears off, people eat a decent amount.  If you notice a lack of appetite, just eat throughout the day as you normally would have, which also will help bring your appetite back.

3) sleep disturbance.  This is caused by the drug remaining in your system too late at night.  If you are going to take the med on a different schedule every day, it's important to be aware that it can keep you up if you take it too late.  In situations like this it is best to have a few different doses at your disposal.  Or, just take the same dose at the same time every day.

I'm feeling really un-fat today (I wouldn't go so far as saying skinny or thin, but it's a start!).  I had a hard time finding pants to wear this morning that didn't look horribly baggy!  I finally found an old size SIX in the back of my closet that fit.

I'd say it was time to go shopping, but since I have more weight to lose, I'm hoping to wait it out a bit, because I don't think I can afford a new wardrobe x2.  Maybe just wash everything on really high heat hoping they will shrink down and wear everything once before washing/drying again to avoid the inevitable stretch-age? (I don't know about you folks, but I wear jeans and dress pants a few times before re-washing, normally).

I have a bag of clothing I was going to donate sitting in a closet for the past few month... I'm thinking it might be time to look through it and make sure there isn't anything in it that all of a sudden fits me! (and then add in all of this huge stuff!)

What a crazy morning!  I can see that 145 in the near distance... and that's a BMI of 24.9 ... normal! It's like it's taunting me!  I'm so curious if my parents will notice my loss when I see them.  I haven't told them that I have been trying to lose.

I wish I could fast forward through the next two weeks and just be there already! (and hopefully there will be a parental offer to pay for that new wardrobe...) ;)

if you fully want to understand how fats, carbs, and proteins are used and stored, take a biochemistry class... or just start reading a textbook.  If you want to get a sense of how complicated it is take a look at this schemata of metabolic pathways (click to zoom in).

http://www.raymondcheong.com/Year1/molecell/M etabolic%20Pathways.jpg

It's important to point out that this is a simplified version without many many additional pathways.

Here is a schemata with most of the major pathways (you can zoom into this one too):

http://www.sigmaaldrich.com/img/assets/4202/M etabolicPathways_6_17_04_.pdf

so today is my birthday and i think all in all i did a pretty good job on the food.  no cake or cookies or anything like that.  just a nice meal out with some friends... i'm sure I went over cals, but i don't think it was too crazy.  and honestly, with weigh-in day tomorrow, I'm sure I gained, but that is okay! it was my birthday after all.

I'm back!  And I didn't gain weight this weekend!

Sarah - You lost 2.5lbs this week?! AMAZING!  I still don't quite believe I'm in the 140's.  I wish I were a few inches taller like you are, then I wouldn't still feel so fat!  Awesome job with the increase in steps.  I would love to have known how much more I was walking this weekend - running after kids outside all day!  Otherwise, there isn't much I can do to increase my steps, so other than curiosity, I don't think a pedometer is really for me.

Ana - welcome back to the wagon!  It's good to have support from your friends too.

JLT - I have the same calmelbak water bottle and I love it.  Although I do feel a bit infantile when I am sucking on it!  I think it's great when I'm working out because it doesn't spill!  And crazy job with the spin class.  That is a ton of calories to burn (and to eat back!).  I really should try spinning.

Pook - I agree with Sarah that people will come back during the week.  At least i hope they will! You are doing so well, you totally deserve a meal off to not think about counting.  We all do.  Especially if you don't go crazy and order deep fried bacon wrapped lard or something!

Amber - Awesome job this month!

Me - So I had a fantastic weekend, ate some great food, and staying good wasn't as hard as I expected, although watching everyone else eating some of the goodies was a bit challenging!  Didn't count calories at all, but I think I made good choices on the while.  Came back and was 147 this morning, which means I actually LOST weigh there!  Probably all the activity, because I'm sure I ate more than usual calories.  So I'm feeling really good.  145 is a huge benchmark in my head, and I think once I'm past that I will feel a lot more relaxed about the whole weight loss thing.  I'm very hopeful about my next weigh in though!

As for pooks challenge - I'm pretty adventurous with food, and lived abroad most of my life eating weird ethnic dishes, so there is very little healthy food I haven't had! I did eat a new dish that I got the recipe for, that was fabulous and healthy though!

as a New Yorker, my guess is that you aren't going places that have nutritional information available like most people suggested (I actively avoid those kinds of places... chains aren't real food.  Anyway, in NYC it's the law that those kinds of restaurants need to have calorie information on the menu itself). But, I do look at menupages.com or the individual restaurant's site to get a general sense of how easy it will be for me to order low calorie.  Then you just have to be smart with your order.  Lots of veggies, ask for things to be substituted, don't order that cream sauce, don't finish if the serving is huge, etc.  I don't count cals when I eat out because it's not possible, but I do generally estimate based on what i have learned from my own cooking.  And I do tend to leave more room in my calorie budget if I am going out to eat.