Posts by artskyblue

First thing, see a doctor about it to rule out anything serious.  It might be something called Labrynthitis.  Basically, it's vertigo caused by some unknown thing.  It could be a fall or injury from the past or caused by a virus that bothers the inner ear.  We all have crystals in our inner ear that keep our equilibrium steady.  When something disrupts that, we get dizzy.  My BF suffers from Labrynthitis, he gets so dizzy that he has to lay down, he says that the room seems to spin.  All doctors can do for this is give him an anti-emetic, which makes him tired.  The dizzy spell passes and he can go on with his life.  It isn't life threatening, it's just annoying.  But, do go see a doctor to see what is wrong with you.  That's always the safest bet.  Good luck, hope that you feel better!

Any time your kidney hurt you should see a doctor ASAP.  I had kidney pain about ten years ago, at first it seemed like a sore back but the next day I couldn't sleep.  I knew it was my kidneys.  I didn't have insurance and had to go to the emergency room.  The took me right away because my kidneys were involved, I had an infection that required some serious antibiotics.  They helped me with the pain pretty quickly, too.

The last time (a few years ago) that I had kidney pain it was a stone.  It was incredibly painful.  Emergency room again.  I was dehydrated, and that can cause stones.  Have you been drinking enough water?  I would imagine that you'd have to be ingesting huge quantities of cayenne to cause kidney pain or ulcers.Get to a doctor right away, you don't want to cause damage to your kidneys.

Flu can make your lower back ache, feels like the kidney area but I don't think that a cold can do that.  

I bought the book at my grocery store last week and have been reading it.  I did my first workout today.  I didn't think that it would be that challenging as I am fairly strong and have used weights in the past.  I followed the book's recommendation and I have to say, I'm whooped!  The step-ups and prone jack knife are killers.  I'm not so hot at doing push-ups, either.  I'm looking forward to getting stronger.

I am working out at home with free weights, bar bell and bench.  I have a swiss ball and an elastic resistance band for rows.  I can see that I am going to need more weights.  I'm going to try to stick to the meal plan as well as I can.  I already use whey powder in my morning kefir shake, which will be my after workout shake as well as breakfast. 

I missed last week due to a vacation.  Ate a lot of sugar and salty foods, totally ate whatever I wanted.  I expected to have done serious damage to my progress but it wasn't as bad as I thought.

Today-117 lbs. up a little from 115.5 lbs two weeks ago.

Hi!  I fall into the D.I.N.K. category.  Live with my BF (7+ yrs.), two cats no kids.  I'm 5'2", 115-116 lbs. down from 127 in a year.  I've been on CC since April 08.

Love hiking and travel, too.

Maybe you could suggest an activity that both of you might enjoy doing together.  Propose it to him in a way that simply suggests that you want to include him in this activity because having him there would be fun for you.  Something that the whole family could enjoy, like hiking or walking, biking.  Make a weekly trip to a new park nearby or a nature preserve.  In time he'll begin to feel better and want to exercise for himself hopefully.  By including the whole family maybe he'll realize that he needs to think about his health for the sake of you and the kids.  

6/23-115.5 lbs.  It's TTOM so maybe I actually weight a little less than this!:)

I make a single serving smoothie every day for breakfast.  One cup of plain low-fat kefir (has protein and is a pro-biotic), one cup of fresh fruit, one half scoop of vanilla protein powder and one tbsp of agave sweetener.  I use an immersion blender and mix it right in the drinking glass.  Just stock up on the ingredients that you'll need and use an immersion blender.  They aren't expensive.  I know that when I've used the regular blender I've either made too much and then consumed too many calories, or if I try to put the rest in the fridge it kind of separates and ferments.  Yuck!

I love spicy foods, always have.  I do find, however that the cleaner that I eat the spicier I want my foods to be.  Some favorites: crushed red chili pepper in pasta dishes or eggs, red or green thai curry (hot!), sriracha red pepper sauce (very hot!) and I use pureed, canned chipotle peppers in everything.  My BF makes a killer black bean/turkey chili and we use chipotle peppers to spice it up.  We also order our chili powder from New Mexico (Leona's).  It's way better than grocery store chili powder, not too expensive, either.  Definitely not a bland chili!

Eating clean is so important but lets face it, it can be bland.  Spices and herbs can make it more exciting and keep us interested in the food.  

My probiotic of choice is drinking kefir every day or nearly every day.  I tried Nancy's brand, which is fantastic but buying it at the store is expensive.  I now make it after buying kefir "grains" online.  

I starting drinking kefir after reading about how good it is for one's digestive system and general health.  I tend to get a lot of colds and I could certainly use the immune system boost.  I feel great since starting the kefir.  Since making my own smoothies I eat far more fruit than I used to and am getting my calcium. I add a little protein powder to them and sweeten with agave sweetener.  It makes a great, healthy breakfast and keeps me going until lunch time.

I've found that drinking kefir smoothies for breakfast has helped me lose weight.  They help me to not overeat at lunch or to have sugar cravings.

I'm also 5'2" and currently at 117 lbs, down from 125.5 lbs.  When I first started CC I was eating  around 1300 cal.  I also set my burn meter at sedentary and log my activity.  I do this because my schedule is erratic.

 I was working out 3x week, 20 min. cardio and weights.  I lost 5lbs of water weight pretty quickly.  My weight kept going down and then up for a few weeks and I tweaked my meters.  I tried upping my calories to 1500 while still exercising and It didn't really change anything so I lowered my cal. back to 1300.  Lately I haven't been exercising at the gym at all, just going for long walks and my work is pretty physical.  I have been steadily losing weight, at least a lb a week for two weeks now.  I think that it's beginning to stall so I'll probably hit the gym again and do my old routine again.  I want to make sure that I don't lose muscle.

Basically I was trying to lose as much fat as I could through diet alone and when that stalled do diet/exercise.  I'm very close to my short term goal of 117 and if I can, I'd like to reach 110 ultimately.

I'll try it again, otherwise cut and paste it into the URL window.

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I was interested in this topic.  I don't know about wedding dress sizes but I wear a size 6 and I weigh 116 lb. right now.  I read all over this forum where people weigh about 20 lb. more than me but wear a small size.  I am a pear shape, hence the bigger size, I hate it!!  I wear a sm/med in tops.  My arms are very muscular so I wear a med in fitted sleeve tops.  Otherwise I'd burst the seams like the hulk!

I find that greek yogurt is much thicker than other kinds.  I like to cook with it.  I have a recipe that I found on Epicurious that is a fave in the warmer weather.  Take a pork tenderloin and butterfly and season it with salt/pepper.  Mix up the greek yogurt, some cumin powder, salt, pepper and a tablespoon of olive oil.  In separate bowl mix some canned chipotle peppers (I puree mine first with a stick blender) and smear a couple of tablespoons of the chipotle puree onto the butterflied pork.  Roll up the tenderloin lengthwise so it looks whole again.  I often tie it up with kitchen twine, it'll hold together better on the grill.  Brush the yogurt/cumin mixture over the whole rolled tenderloin and let it sit at room temp. for about 10-15 min.  You can refrigerate it too, for longer, maybe 20 min.  This is to marinate it and let the flavors mix.  Heat your grill (I use gas) and grill it until a meat thermometer says it's done.  Cut the string off and slice it into 1" slices. It's quite spicy and totally delish. I serve it with guacamole on the side. Yum!

6/2/08 update:  I weighed myself again this afternoon (just curious) and found that I I'd lost another half lb.  Total loss since last week is 2.5 lb!  

I'm trying to stick to around 1300 calories (down from 1500) and have been walking more.  I have had some slight hunger pains between meals and have added Fiber One cereal as a snack.  Must be working!