Posts by joekame

Hey. I know I'm a man and everything, but just thought I'd put in my 2 cents. Hope you ladies aren't offended or anything. My fiance had the IUD put in after she had our son. It was pushed out the first time, so she went back to the doctor, and he put another one in, and it was push out, again... We were having unprotected sex the first time. Well, the first time it was pushed out she had had it for about 2 days, so not much went done during that period, if you know what I mean. The second time, the doctor said he was going to put another one in because the first one "might have been defective" and that if it was pushed out this time then she would just have to find another form of birth control. Well, after about a week and a half of no sex, we figured that the IUD was fine. It fell out again about 2 weeks after we started having sex! I don't know wheter it was copper or not so I can't help you there. Now she is on the pill (I have no idea which one) and everything's cool. Good luck!

Looks to me like the only reason she moved the car was BECAUSE she scratched your door! Lol.

Original Post by chblacks:

Another possibility other than kidney problems, is liver problems. one of the metabolites that makes your pee yellow comes from the liver, if there is too much of this metabolite (bilirubin) your pee will look brown. You should also try to see if you can tell if it is cloudy or foaming both point towards kidney issues. Other common causes could be myoglobin from muscle breakdown if you are working out too much, blood from your kidneys or bladder, or a metabolic disorder where you dump certain amino acids in the urine inappropriately (urine will turn brown after exposure to air for a few minutes in this case). also check your ankles for swelling (press firmly over the bottom of your shin bone - if it leaves a dent you are swollen) and check your eyelids for morning puffiness, both signs of kidney problems.

PS diluting it with water does NOT rule out blood.

I understand the difficulty of the insurance thing but please see a doc as soon as you can. Most likely it is nothing serious but waiting too long can be dangerous if you are sick with kidney or liver problems.

Yea, my urine is foamy. It's been foamy for quite a while now. I'm talking months or years. Was that a sign of kidney problems back then? And I've had back pain for a few years too. Damn.

Original Post by downingsm:

I am a nurse.

Take it from me-this is not something you should take lightly. If you have a urinary tract infection, you should also be feeling pain with urination and should be going more frequently. Unless you are noticing these things, this is most likely not the cause. I know you feel fine, but most people don't have major symptoms of kidney disease until 75% of kidney function is gone, and this whole time, your body can be damaged. Once your kidneys start to go, it is just a road to organ failure throughout your body. And acute renal  failure can show up immediately. It doesn't have to be over a long period of time. What you are describing can be signs of kidney failure. Another sign of kidney disease is flank (back) pain. Are you having back pain that you attribute to working out? It might be a bad sign. Creatine usually causes kidney disease in those with existing problems, but again you could have problems with your kidneys for years and not know. The Creatine could have been the straw that broke the camel's back.

Are you taking any other medications? Many medications and supplements can turn the urine fluorescent yellow, orange/red, or even green. Brown is not as commonly seen as a side effect of medications. B vitamins tend to turn urine orange or dark yellow, but not usually brown. Brown can be a sign of blood in the urine or bile in the urine, which are often caused by kidney or liver disease.

Another possibility is that you are dehydrated. That is a common side effect of Creatine. When you take Creatine, you need to drink much more water than usual-- and not just when you are thirsty. If you are thirsty, you are already starting to become dehydrated. Don't take dehydration lightly either; without enough water, your kidneys WILL fail.

Here is my advice:

Start by drinking a LOT more water. If this is the cause, you should see a very quick change in the color. If there is no change, you should see a doctor as soon as possible. The urinalysis that they will perform is not very expensive. Make an appointment with your doctor. If you tell them your symptoms, they will try to get you in asap. If you have more or worsening symptoms between now and then, go to the ER.

I know you have no insurance right now, which puts you in a tough spot. Keep in mind, however that there are many hospitals that are required to give care regardless of ability to pay. It could be nothing or it could be something very serious. You just have to ask yourself if you want to take the chance.

 

 

 

 

 

Well I didn't take any supplements today and drank a LOT more water (usually I drink 1 liter bottle, today I probably drank close to 3) and my urine almost instantly changed color, first to light yellow, then *almost* completely clear. There is s very lite tint, but I can't tell if it's yellow or brown (to me, it looks yellow). I'm going to add back in the supplements one at a time over a period of several days and see if my urine changes color again. Once my insurance goes through I still plan to see the doctor for a physical, and to check my urine. Thanks for all the advice everyone.

Original Post by jlk3924:

If you haven't already done so, try applying about 15 mins of ice to the swollen area every few hours.  If the pain subsides to a dull ache, you can alternate 10 or so mins of ice followed by 10 mins of heat to relax the muscle.  You should see some reductions in swelling if there isn't any major issue going on other than post exercise inflammation. 

If you haven't worked out this hard in years, its not uncommon for your muscles to be sore for as long as a week after an intense workout.  More conditioned people will respond faster than deconditioned so just pace yourself a bit and allow your body to adapt to the new stimuli that its receiving. 

Thank you! Yeah I slept with ice on it last night. The pain has almost went away completely and the swelling went down a lot. I put more ice on it this morning but the swelling didn't go down as much as last night. It's still swellon, but looks and feels a lot better. So, in your opinion, do you think I pulled something? Orwas it just standard muscle soreness? And why was my right tricep swollen and tender but my left wasn't? Thanks!

I feel fine. Better than usual, actually. I have a lot more energy and all that. I plan to see a doctor soon, but not for a few weeks.

Okay, so here's an update. I mixed 2 cups of 1% milk with 2 scoops of the body fortress chocolate protein (I don't know if I mentioned that I was using chocolate flavor before) and about 1/4 of a large banana. I left the ice cubes out altogether. It tasted way better than the first time, it wasn't nearly as think, and it was only enough for a glass and a half. But I still can't imagine having a protein shake that tastes "delicious" as some of you of have described.

Thanks. Might that make it taste better, too? What if I add an egg? That'd probably make it taste worse.

Hey! I start the X today! Chest and Back. Wow, is really all I have to say. I underestimated this workout. I was spent by the time the Ab Ripper came along and I wasn't able to give it my best. I'm thinking about tackling it again when I get home from work.

Original Post by warbler02:

My only motivation for going down further from 105 is that I want to get rid of the excess body fat I am holding. I have quite a bit of jiggle for someone as small as me, and it just looks silly. I don't think it's unreasonable for me to want to become lean and toned. Wouldn't you want to do something about it if you could barely do 30 crunches or hold a plank position for 10 seconds?

I'd love to be 110 lbs and look fit and all that, but I'm sorry, that's just not how I am built. Sometimes I wonder if BMI charts are actually accurate for the way other races hold fat/are built (I am not white).

Just as lalabanana said, if you want to get rid of those jiggles and get fit and "toned" then it is still possible to do that without being focused on losing 5 pounds. Losing just 5 pounds isn't going to tone you up, unless you do some strength training. It's possible to get toned and fit and look better without losing weight at all. In fact, you may even gain a pound or two of muscle, but you will still LOOK better. So I agree with lalabanana. Don't focus on the number on the scale,  just do some weight training and if you drop a few pounds okay, if not, it's all good.

This is going to sound kind of harsh, but when I see very obese people, I just think of it as motivation for me to NEVER end up that way. I have a friend who I used to work with, who got me into losing weight and eating healthier. He kind of started as my motivation, because he lost almost 100 pounds. When I asked him what his motivation for losing weight was, and why he started dieting, he pointed to an obese person that we worked with and said "Him. I never want to look like that." Mean, I know, but true.

Oh, yes, I remember... One of my friend's is always telling me how he misses the "Old Joe". He says "I remember when we used to go to McDonald's for lunch EVERYDAY! And you would order a Big Mac meal, large size, and 2 extra double cheeseburgers!" Yeah, that was me. Now, like many of you, I can't put anything in my mouth without at least THINKING about how many calories it may have. For example, right now, I'm kind of on a break from counting. Still trying to eat healthy, but lately I have been cheating. Even though I'm not officially counting, I STILL add the calories in my head, and usually come up with an estimate of my calorie intake at the end of the day. But, unlike most of you, I still love my fast food, sorry. I mean, I don't eat it NEARLY as much as I did. But I couldn't imagine my life without Taco Bell. Seriously. I will always love fast food.

I'm in the same boat as you. I've lost over 50 pounds but I still feel fat, and still think I'm fat. This is kind of weird, because I'm a guy, and most guys tend to not really care if they are over weight (I know I didn't before). I also have about 20 more pounds to lose before I'm where I want to be. Initially, my target was 220, well I reached that, and now I don't think it's enough! So now I want to get to 200. What scares me is, what if I get to 200, and THAT'S not enough? What if the cycle continues where I just want to lose and lose?

I started a thread giving my tips for playing Wii Fit a few weeks back. I don't know how to link to the thread, but here is a quote of mine from the post:

"Since I'm been active on the forums, I've notice a few topics mentioning Wii Fit. A few (not a lot, but some) were negative. This kind of bums me out because I love the game, and wouldn't be where I am today with out it. It inspired me to do something about my weight (before Wii Fit, I really didn't care that I was 276lbs). Now I'm 50 pounds lighter, and it's mostly thanks to Wii Fit. So, here are some tips for getting the most out of the game, because Wii Fit is like any other form of exercise- you get out of it what you put in.

1. First and foremost, play everyday! This game was designed more as a introduction to exercise, so playing everyday will ultimately want to make you seek out other forms of exercise (as I did). It's been 84 days since my first day playing the game, of those 84 days I've missed 5, for a total of 45 hours and 20 minutes of total work-out time.

2. Be patient. All the best exercises and higher repetitions aren't going to be available to you right away. I think that many people understood this, because I heard a lot of complaints like "I barely broke a sweat" on peoples first day of playing.  This is a "casual" game at its heart but it has one feature that is very "hardcore" which is unlocking content. It probably took me about 2 or 3 weeks of playing a half hour a day to unlock every exercise and all repetitions. If you want to unlock content quicker just play longer. An hour a day will unlock exercises twice as fast.

3. Don't cheat yourself. Don't play a half hour of balance games and call it "exercise." You'll only be cheating yourself. Instead concentrate on the exercises that actually make you break a sweat, and that you find the most difficult. I completely ignore the balance games, and work on strength training and Yoga, with some aerobics thrown in every now and again.When doing exercises like advanced step or boxing exaggerate your movements and really get into the game.

4. Find another form of exercise. Go walking for an hour, then go home and play Wii Fit. Wii Fit is best when mixed with other forms of exercise. As I said before, the game is just designed to get you active, and thinking about your health. And last but not least...

5. Listen to the Wii Fit tips. There is some pretty good information to be obtained from this game.

And that's it. These tips should help you get the most out of Wii Fit. I hope this helps those who were previously complaining that Wii Fit wasn't a good work out."

Original Post by brokenbones84:

Your friend should at least have something in his stomach before he starts pounding those beers. I learned that you pack those extra pounds with what you eat after you've been drinking, which in most cases, is what people do. I eat before I drink and not one thing after, and I haven't gained a pound off of beer.

In other words; there's no such thing as a beer belly.

Well, I have a friend who would disagree. Here is a quote of his from another post of another site:

"[With the] beer, here's the issue. Alcohol doesn't digest in your system like other foods. Even "Light Beer", low carb or whatever, still has the alcohol in it, which acts as a poison to your body. Your body will stop processing everything else in your system until it burns off the alcohol. This is why its effects hit so much faster than regular foods.

If your body needs x amount of energy, and it gets that by burning off the alcohol, EVERYTHING that is left in your system will be stored in your fat cells. That's how guys get that solid, big, beer gut."