Posts by andyclara

I have a question.  I just brought the book, should I watch the movie first, or read the book?

Your GF sounds just like my husband.  He says he wants to lose weight, but he does not want to exercise or change the way he eats. He must be hoping for a miracle.  We started a weight loss competition in January last year, with the first person to reach a healthy BMI gets $2000.  Since then I have lost 70lb, and my Beloved has put on weight, lol.  I had 120lb to lose, and my Beloved has only 60lb to lose, so he started out in front! That money is mine!

The thing is, your GF has to make the decision for her self that she wants to lose weight.  No mater how supportive you are, if she has not made that mental commitment, it will not happen.  I was overweight for 12 years before I reached the final straw, before I was finally ready and 100% committed to losing weight.  Before that, I had tried to go on diets before, and I had never made it past 2 days before I started cheating.  I could not even stick to a diet to lose weight for my wedding, I was an fat ugly bride.  It was not until my Dr told me I had cancer, that I finally was committed enough to make a permanent change to my lifestyle.  My cholesterol has gone from 5.5 mmol to 3.3 mmol and my triglycerides have gone from 4.1 mmol to 1.8 mmol

As for cooking your GF different foods, gosh, just tell her that either she eats what you have made, or she can made her own dinner.  There is a risk then that she will have unhealthy take-away food, but she has to take responsibility for herself.  I put a lot of effort into making sure that my Beloved has a well balanced diet, and you do as well.  I wish I had someone who would get up and make me breakfast every day when I was working full time!   One thing I have learned with cooking, I cannot tell him that something is 'low fat', 'diet' or 'lite', he will instantly turn his nose up and say that he does not like it.  If he does not know, then he will gobble it down, and tell me how yummy it is. What is really funny, is that my Beloved lost a heap of weight 7 years ago not long after we met, and now the situation is reversed!  At least he has proved to himself that he can lose weight, he has done it before. 

You are setting a good example, and doing everything in your power to support her, there is nothing else you can do.  The rest is up to her.

There is only one way to calculate your BMI, which is your weight in kg divided by you height in cm squared, and when I put my stats in on this site I get the same as if I calculate them myself. So either you have put on weight since your BMI was professionally read, or they didn't do it right, or they used their own formula, in which case they should not have called it a BMI.

That being said, the BMI isn't the be all and end all.  It does not take into account your body composition, you could be 130lb with no muscle and a higher body fat percentage.  Muscle weighs more than fat, and it sounds like from you life style that you would have more muscle than fat.  If a body builder put in their stats, it would say that they are obese, which of course would be as far from the truth as could be. I was thinner at 140lb when I was swimming competitively than what I was at 120lb and doing no exercise. 123lb would be to thin for you if you have a lot of muscle.

Anyway, the whole point is that you feel good about yourself, and you should! I understand exactly what you are saying.  Don't let anyone tell you anything different! You are an inspiration because you have a positive attitude, and more people should be like you. Personally, you made me feel better about myself, and confirmed what I was feeling!

Same here.

I have lost 70lb as well, and I find I am always standing with my arms crossed around my body, which looks really stand-offish.  I try not to do it, and all of a sudden I will realise that I am doing it again, and try to stop it, only to be back in the same posture a few min later.

Cant help you with any tips on getting warm.  I am heading into summer now, and I am looking forward to a summer where I am not so hot and sweating like a pig all the time.  As for how I managed winter, it never got below 2C, I have never even seen snow :(.

Ooo, I to have an idea! Come to Australia for the next few months! lol. 

Well done Beth, a great explanation.  I remember when I was a student midwife sitting in class trying to figure out the 9 month, 40 week dilemma.  I actually wrote out a chart so I could figure out when someone said that they were 5 months, how many weeks they were.  Its like pounds and ounces.  I don't know about America, but here we have measured babies in kg since before I was born, but everyone still wants to know how much they weigh in pounds and ounces, and how long they are in inches!  I once had a student who refused to work in kg until I asked them to quickly calculate what 10% of the birth weight of a 8lb 2oz baby was to see if its weight loss was within normal limits.  They soon came around to metric.

Anyway, that's boring Midwife stuff to anyone but us.

What drew my attention to this post was a due date of 1/11/09, which to me would be impossible, and therefore a serious miscalculation. Then I realised that it was using the US method of stating the date.  In Australia, we state day/month/year, which seems to make most sense going from smallest to biggest. So I read it as the 1st of November 2009, not as 11th of January, lol! Imagine being pregnant for over a year!

Well done! You must feel amazing! Having a baby and losing weight must be one of the hardest things, balancing needing enough calories to maintain breast milk and energy and maintaining a calorie deficit to lose weight.  Let alone the effort required to look after a child!  My sister had her baby in April, we just got photo's of Riley having his first solids - so cute!.  I spent 2 weeks with Riley a few months ago, there is no way I could do what she does.  I was exhausted after 2 hours.  Mind you Riley gets bored if he is in the same room for more than 20 min.  He requires constant stimulation!

As for the clothing, that is a real problem.  I have lost 70lb in the last 2 years and gone from a size  16 (20 Au) to a size 8 (12 Au).  My life style does not require a great variety, I tend to wear jeans and t-shirts most of the time, with a nicer outfit for church and special outings.  I tend to buy everything on sale.  I found T-shirts for $5 (very good here, normally you are looking at $30) and last seasons jeans for $12 (normally $40-$50).  I have a nice pair of dress pants which have an elastic waist that I can adjust, and that has seen me through many size changes, although now its looking like I am wearing a curtain.  I then pair the dress pants up with a nice top, and that is generally fine for church and other special occasions.  Don't think of buying a new wardrobe every 4 months, look at getting a few key pieces to keep you going until you are at your ideal size - then go crazy!  I did have a look at the thrift store, but with the prices that I got on sale, I found much nicer stuff.  With summer starting, I am looking at buying a few nice dresses for the hot days coming up.  In hope last year I brought some smaller sizes at the end of season sale, unfortunately I have lost more weight than what I thought I would, but they will be easy to adjust.

And just think, there are hundreds of women out their who would say "Boy, I wish I had your problem!"

Original Post by chelseafeilen:

yeah i would also recommend going to a specialist or someone that does them all the time.

 Absolutely.  I don't know about where you live, but in Australia we have health nurses at various community centers who are the best people to go to.  They do this sort of thing all day every day, so they are quick and efficient.

Every woman who is sexually active needs to have regular Pap tests regardless, but you should start having Pap tests when you turn 18.  They can use a pediatric speculum which will leave the hymen intact.  I always thought that you could wait until you have sex before you had to start having the dreaded pap test, but its not true.  Unfortunately one of my friends found out the hard way.  She was a 'good girl' and didn't have sex until she was married at 24, when she had her first Pap test at 25, they found she had advanced cancer of the vagina.  If she had started having tests a few years earlier they would have found it.  Unfortunately she had to have a hysterectomy.  It was such a shame, all she wanted to do was have children.

I hate having a Pap test and I am a midwife, and do far worse things to women! I delivered a friends baby once, and years later she was talking about a birthmark that she had.  I said "What birthmark?" she said "You know, down there!" expecting me to remember what her vagina looked like.  Poor thing, she thought that her vagina was burned into my memory.  It isn't.  When I have my test every two years, I see it as my penance for what I have done to hundreds of women.  I can assure you that it means nothing to the person doing the test, they may be examining your ear for all they care.  We also don't sit around discussing the occasional odd one that we may come across, or any interesting piercings either, it really is not a big deal to people who do it everyday.

Just think that you are doing something really good for yourself that may save you life one day.

Try chelated iron (if you haven't already).  I had a lot of trouble with iron, in a 'normal' person it makes them constipated, where as for me, it irritated the hell out of my bowel and had severe diarrhea with further bleeding.  That was great, the whole reason I was having the iron was because I was really anemic, to the point I had to have 3 units of blood.

Having chelated iron stopped all that.  Also try different brands, types etc.  You will know really quickly if one is not working for you.  Make sure you take your vit C with it, and don't have it with a cup of tea. 

In general, the human body doesn't efficiently absorb most pure minerals, so the minerals typically have to be bonded with something else.
In the case of most products, the Iron is bonded with a Sulfate molecule because your body absorbs the Sulfate molecule easier than the Iron molecule. However, with Chelated minerals, the pure mineral is broken down with an Amino Acid complex that makes the mineral's molecule easier for your system to absorb so it doesn't need to be bonded with something else.

Hope you feel better soon.

Update.

Start Weight: 250lb

Current Weight: 186lb

Weight loss: 64lb

Weight loss this week 600g

Well I have been off my diet for a few weeks now.  I had my gallbladder out 2 weeks ago, and have just enjoyed not being so vigilant in my diet.  To my surprise, I lost the 2kg that I gained over the few days I was in hospital.  It was TTOM and had a lot of extra IV fluid with the operation.  I was really surprised at how little pain there was.  I was pain free after 2 days, compared to how I was after having the gastric tumor removed, and gall bladder operation had 4 stab sites compared to 3 for the tumor removal.  I think being 60lb lighter was the biggest help.  Having the surgery was the whole reason I was pushing myself to lose weight, I had hoped to be under 90kg (198lb) so I was really pleased to get to 85kg (187lb).  My Dr was really pleased, and she said that I am now her inspiration! how cool is that!

To tell the truth, I am really happy with how I look, I now fit into a size 12 (8 US) and I would be happy staying here, but I need to lose the last 50lb because it is the best for my pelvis.  Either lose the weight, or have a hip replacement at 35, some choice aye.

I see the family this Thursday, I cannot wait to see their reaction, I am nearly 30lb lighter than the last time I saw them, and they don't know I have continued on losing weight.  Wish me luck!

LOL, I always take off all my jewelery before I weigh myself.  Just out of curiosity, I did weigh them one day, and the normal jewelery I wear every day, (wedding, engagement, eternity and dress ring and a locket with a fine chain) and it came to 100g, so it does make a difference.  My wedding and engagement ring are surprisingly heavy, I remember when I was first engaged being constantly aware of the strange weight on my finger.

Anyway, one day, I was nibbling on some dried fruit, and decided to give my cats one of their treats. I was not paying much attention, and accidentally ate one of the cats liver treats. First thought "I wonder how many calories are in that". Silly I know.  Actually, once my sister and I did try cat food (I think we were 8 or so), it smelled really yummy, but it did not taste it, LOL.

OOo we are planning on going on a cruise at the end of next year! We are hoping on going to Fiji (where I lived as a kid) or Vanuatu.  Where are you going?

This issue comes up all the time, how to stay on track when we are in a very different situation.  I was reading a thread from a few months ago which woke me up, and has helped me a lot.  What it said was

'You're not 5 years old. You have some self control. Stick to your diet and exercise and you'll do well'

Talk about tough love! but its right!and it has helped me.  Of course it is not as simple as that, gosh, if it was, I would not have a weight problem at all! But it is something to keep in mind.

Hope you have fun!

Original Post by rasmom:

Aoifek- haha - I already know what you mean about the blind fear in people's eyes when they try to pronounce Aoife's name (pronounced "ee-fa" for anyone who's curious).  We almost didn't name her Aoife for that exact reason but we absolutely loved the name and figured people would get over it.

 Can you believe it! I was just logging on to ask you how Aoife's name was pronounced!  I love all the Celtic names, my sister just called her little boy, 'Riley Finn' in honour of our Irish heritage.

I do understand, I have been both ends of the scale, I have had BMI's from 16 to 41, I know what it is like from both ends.  I just wish that I could go back and tell my 'thin' self that there is a hell of a lot more to life than worrying that I had gained weight and I now weigh 130lb. But experience comes with life, and I probably should not be posting in young calorie counters anyway, I  just understand completely what palipride is saying.  Back when I was thin, yes I would have liked to lose weight when I started going over 125lb, and I did obsessively think about it, but I didn't cry myself to sleep every night, or think about it constantly like palipride is talking about when we think about being overweight. Unless you have been really overweight, or obese, it is hard to understand why it upsets people like 'us' reading about girls wanting to have unhealthy BMI's.  So yes I am being harsh, as I said I do have issues, and no-one should take what I say personally.  I just wanted to let palipride know that I understand how she feels. 

Palipride I am with you in this one.  I do understand that there are some people who would like to lose a few pounds and keep within a healthy BMI, but I am sick to death of people who are asking for help in losing weight when their BMI is already under 20.  Having been morbidly obese myself, I understand where you are coming from, and it does sound harsh to the 20-25 BMI people who worry about 10lb, but I understand your frustration.  However, to the 20-25 BMI crowd, it upsets them just as much when they have difficulty in losing the last 10lb, and feel just as bad as we do. I think they should have their own forum topic "People who's BMI is under 25" that way, we won't visit that section.  Its like on yahoo answers, I get fed up with people constantly asking "Could I be pregnant" in the pregnancy forum.  Anyway, I am being judgemental now, but sometimes I think that anyone who asks for help in losing weight to take their BMI under 20 should have their post deleted, and referred to psychiatrist.  It seems that some people do this because they want other people to go "Oh no, you don't need to lose weight, your beautiful" but its an annoying way to get attention. Sorry, I am being really harsh here, and I know I have issues as well.

Mashenka, people dont gain weight just because they are "unwilling to control yourself" overeating can be caused by a mental disorder just as anorexia is, and it is unfair to label people that way.  I had a similar discussion with my boss once, who said "Why would you let yourself get that big?" but no matter what I said, she would not understand that it wasn't a lack of self control that caused some people to gain weight.  Of course, there are a few people out there who did gain weight because they are lazy, but not everyone.

Original Post by cellulitedelight:

Nobody would also know little things, like my distaste for narcotics and nursing students...

 LOL I love that!. I was looking thru my BIL phone, and came across my sisters name and number and beside her name he had WIFE.  We started making fun of him, saying that he cannot remember his wife's name, and he has to keep a reminder in his phone.  He then told us that it was in case he was in an accident, who ever looked at his phone, would know who to call.  My sister and I both went "Awwwww that's so sweet" and immediately felt bad about teasing him.

Like Juliemae, I have ICE on my mobile phone.