Posts by jensin4

My symptoms started last winter. AT first I just thought my wanting to sleep so much was due to the cold weather and being stuck inside all the time (I hibernate in the winter). Then I started notcing that my finger tips were turning white and going slightly numb. Still didn't think much about it.  A month or so later my foot started hurting, and got worse and worse till I could barely walk sometimes, I also had a stiff neck and swollen glands. Finally broke down and went to see Doc. She ordered bloodwork and when we got results I had all kinds of inflammation, so she referred me to a Rheumatologist. In the meantime I went to Chiro to see if he could do anything to help. He did physical therapy on my foot and within two weeks I was able to start running. Rheumatologist ran some more bloodwork and after getting results, she believes that I have Mixed Connective Tissue Disease (MCTD). Our symptoms sound similar. I have the migratory pains, one day here, next day there. Some days I can hardly function I feel so tired and other days I feel "normal". I feel better in the mornings but by evening when I sit down to watch TV, I start to tighten up and get stiff and sore. I have found that for me staying active all day helps and taking a walk at night instead of watching TV helps keep some of the soreness to a minimum. I am glad that I found out that I have this early on so that if it progresses we can treat it early on. So please do not hesitate to go to the Doc.  There are many different auto-immune disorders that have similar symptoms but they can rule some out just by doing bloodwork. It's worth it to know and maybe you will get lucky and it will be something they can correct (possibly an infection or minor inflammation).

I'm right there with you. Whenever someone asks me how I lost  31 pounds and I say Diet and Exercise they look at me like I'm crazy. Like they wanted me to say I took these 40 pills a day and it just melted off. Ha-ha- but we will show them when we get healthy and thin and they stay fat and bloated from their magic pills, hehe

Congrats and keep up the good work!!

I'm down to my last 6, does that still count? I started at 156 and am now down to 126, which is farther than I intended to go when I started but as I reach each goal, I see that I can still stand to lose some more fat. So for now my goal is 120 and I will re-evaluate at that point. Then I am going to tackle building some muscle to keep it off, hehe

2500mg is 100% of daily sodium. I try to stay under that to avoid water retention and bloating. Drinking water throughout the day will help if you go over.

In addition to cutting calories you should try to add in some exercise. This doesn't have to be 3 hours at the gym each day. That is unrealistic for most of us, even stay at home moms. I am a SAHM and I know everyone thinks we have all this time to do stuff and that all we do is sit around and watch TV all day- RIGHT!! I started my weight loss with an oldie but a goodie- Richard Simmons-Sweating to the Oldies. It's fun, not difficult and gets your heart rate up. My 5 and 2 year olds even got into the act occasionally.  Also if you have stairs in your house, walk up and down them. Not very exciting but again gets your heart rate going. Jumping jacks are a good one also. Note these are all things you can do right in your home while baby is sleeping and they don't require expensive equipment or a gym membership. If the weather is nice, get the baby into a stroller and go for walk or if you live in area where weather is really nice you could even try a baby carrier- get more of a workout carrying 10-15 pounds on your back, hehe. Just start slow and watch your calories, the weight will come off. As for the tummy thing, I had two 10 lb babies and I carried it all out front so I know where you are coming from. I am still working on that one. But I am also 37, so you have an advantage there. Good luck!!

You could be working out too hard. Do you monitor your heart rate cause if you go over your target heart rate, then exercise backfires( I believe its called anaerobic exercise). I found that I lose more when I do small workouts, maybe 10-20 mins on elliptical, 10-15 on stationary bike and 10 mins weight lifting. I don't even do this every day now that it is nice outside I am doing more walking and playing with the kids. I also found that for me the 1000 deficit was too much. I dropped it down to 700 a day or sometimes even less and I am losing a pound a week. I have lost 23 pounds so far so I feel this is working well for me. Try changing things until you find what works for you. No one diet plan works for everyone the same.

My sister swears by substituting applesauce for oils in cookies and cake recipes. This helps make them lower fat and more nutritious and for the most part you can't really tell a difference. Just thought I would throw that out there.

To satisfy my chocolate cravings, I buy the 100 calorie Hostess Chocolate Cupcake packs. 100 calories, like 5-6 grams of fiber, and a small amount of protein. Makes me feel better about indulging knowing I am getting a good amount of fiber in return for all that chocolately goodness, hehe

Let's be patient together. I am in the same boat. I have lost 5 inches off my hips and not a single inch of my waist. 18 pounds lost and not one single bit of it came off my tummy. I'm convinced that when I had both of my c-sections, they shoved the fat up to get it out of the way and forgot to spread it back out, hehe so now it's all right below my belly button. I have heard that belly fat is the last to go so i guess once i get rid of all my other fat then I will begin to make progress. Sure hope that happens soon, going to Florida in a month and really wanted it to be gone before I had to put on a swimsuit. Hang in there and keep plugging away at the cardio and calorie counting, hope we both see some progress soon. :)

I was having chest pains in the area of my left shoulder but mine was more of a constant ache with a sharper pain when i took a deep breath. After three days of this I went to doc and was diagnosed yesterday with pleurisy, an inflammation around the lungs that can cause pain when breathing. They gave me anti-inflammatories and told me to rest a few days. This could be what you have but whenever chest pains are involved it is best to go see your doctor just to be on the safe side.

From what I have found online for me it says to try to keep carbs around 50%, protein 30% and fats 20% of daily calories. I try to eat 180 grams of carbs each day and adjust the others to try to get the right percentages. Also if you place your cursor over the date towards the bottom of the analysis page it will show you a breakdown of your nutrition for that day. Cholesterol, sodium, vitamin A, vitamin C, iron, that sort of thing is shown there. I use that to watch my sodium intake therefore reducing water retention. It can be a bit overwhelming trying to get it to all come out right and some days I think I will go crazy and some days I just revert to just calorie counting cause my brain is fried. I also find the analysis page helpful for planning meals, if my protein % is low then I know I need to fix something with chicken or beef for next meal. This way I can also plan it so that I have a few carbs left at the end of the day for my bedtime snack, either Fire Roasted Tomato Triscuits or a Fiber One Caramel Bar, hehe. Hope this helps.

Fat free yogurt, wheat toast with reduced sugar strawberry preserves, and 8 oz of skim milk is what i have every day, puts me around 300 calories for breakfast. Reduced fat string cheese makes for a good snack, just enough to take the edge off or Triscuit has some really good new flavors that are a good source of fiber and whole grain. Popcorn, if you get the right kind can be a very filling snack and low cal/fiber. Hope this helps some.

Ok, people laugh when I tell them this but we used the "Sleep Fairy". My daughter was getting out of bed several times a night and I was pregnant with baby #2 and did not want to be getting up with both of them several times a night so we called in the "Sleep Fairy". I explained to her when I put her to bed at night that if she stayed in her bed all night like a big girl that the Sleep Fairy would bring her a surpise and it would be under her pillow in the morning, but only if she stayed in bed all night. We used small pieces of wrapped candy, but cheap little toys would work also. We had to be a little creative on getting it under her pillow in the morning without her seeing us, but kids are pretty gullible. One morning of not getting that candy and she decided it was worth it to stay in bed. I know, not the most healthy but its not long term, once she gets used to staying in her bed all night you can wean her off the Fairy, hehe. Hope this helps.