ksylvan's Friends

The secret to survival in the evil world is to pretend very well that you are evil. Protect your gentle heart lest it be damaged.   Cajunrider 11/12/09  

assless chaps never get old...          Kathygator 11/13/09  

Melkor:Hmpfh- I can't see -could that be because I've not friended Bex? Naughty me....

abbey hunter:  dont you love it when melkor refers to himself as naughty! ;) thesuperbex: oh... why yes...

 melkor:  Hmm. So my rhyming skillz are wasted on you two.   I'm guessing

"chick style" is that little "shimmy...shimmy, wiggle, wiggle, act like you're rubbing your hip" move that tries to get gravity to assist in wedgie removal.  "Dude style" is just reaching back there and pulling.  Justlaura 11/12/09  

You'd probably have more success if you made him change out of the school girl uniform. The fuzzy ponytail holders should probably be removed as well.     Kathygator  

*peels face off* *cleans out sinuses with a pressure washer*  *reapplies face with Gorilla Glue*  Pavlovcat  11/12/09  

The thought of a c section doesn't squick me out very much, but the epis-thing where they cut you from your whoha to your no-no freaks me out.  Sharpshootinstar  

Uh, what's a no-no? Do I want to know this?  Melkor    

No not there.  NO NOT THERE!  See?  A no-no.     Runesplendor   I

'd like some coitus and a whiskey, neat, pleeeze.  Sharpshootinstar  

I took this week off work, so haven't been online much.  I'm totally in for the Secret Santa - I've been saving my urine in Mason Jars since August in preparation!  Splitrail  

i have a soft spot for the lameness that is csi miami.  Starlitocean 11/13/09  

I dig pretty and he's pretty FU-WINE!    Shnitzel 11/13/09  

you don't know the language of the Assinine Pigheaded Unlearned Tribe.  I'd teach you, but I can't communicate with the fekkers either.  Crazydiamondchrysalis 11/17/09  

No, but she wore mumus all over the place and her dog would sleep under them, on her lap...Runesplendor 11/17/09  

It's not really chat until someone's peanut butter meets someone elses chocolate.  Kathygator 11/18/09

For Epiphany, a once popular weight loss supplement didn't bring the results he wanted. He then embarked on a healthy diet and a fitness regimen bringing his weight down by 75lbs and he couldn’t be more thrilled about it! Having the right mindset has given him the physical and psychological benefits that come with following a healthy lifestyle.

He contacted us through our Share Your Story feature, and provided the following answers to our questionnaire.

1. What made you decide to lose weight this time?

While on vacation I used my sister's scale to measure my weight and was shocked to see it saying 235lbs. I had never been that heavy before and always thought I was 215 at the most. This is when I told myself enough is enough. Time to get healthy!

2. What other "diets" (programs, products, plans, or services) had you tried in the past?

A year before I started I tried Hydroxycut with walking 5 miles a day 3 days a week. Big mistake. The Hydroxycut made me sick and I actually gained 20 pounds.

3. What changes did you make to your usual diet, activity, lifestyle, and attitude?

I started eating healthier versions of usually high fat, high calorie foods. For example, instead of deep frying chicken and fries I would bake the chicken and the fries completely cutting out the extra added oil. I started walking 5 miles a day 6 days a week and gradually worked up to running 7 miles a day 4 days a week. Before I started I had the worst outlook on life but now it's like nothing bothers me. I'm always smiling, always trying to make other people laugh and keeping an open mind about things in my life. Anytime someone asks me how I'm doing I always reply "I'm excellent". It's all about the self-fulfilling prophecy you know.

4. How did Calorie Count help you to lose weight?

The tools here on Calorie Count are a godsend. You will almost never reach a goal unless you know how you are progressing towards that goal. I now use Calorie Count to check the nutritional values of every single "new" food I eat so I can be sure I stay well within my daily calorie and nutritional goals. Calorie Count also has some of the most amazing people that share their stories of success and failures that help to motivate others and help them stay on the right track.

5. What was most challenging about losing weight?

Actually I found weight loss to be a very easy thing. It's just that I feel it takes too long. But if I was to say something was challenging I would have to point my finger at the people around me in my life. While losing weight I was constantly put down by people saying I can't do it and I would fail.  Even after losing 75 pounds I still have people trying to put me down and telling me I will gain all the weight back and more.

6. How long did it take you to see results?

Looking in the mirror I never saw results. Even up to today I still see the same person I saw a few months ago when I look in the mirror. But after about 2 months and 25 pounds lost I started noticing all my clothes getting bigger and baggy and for some odd reason I started having more energy for my workouts and started running instead of just walking.

7. When did you realize that you were a success?

I thought "I'm finally succeeding at this" when people started telling me it looks like I'm losing weight. I've had people come up to me and ask me if I was sick or something. I even had a mini intervention from a few people that didn't know I was actively losing weight to address my "drug problem". I've had complete strangers come up to me and ask me how I did it and people stop me while on my road run almost every day to congratulate me.

8. How do you prevent relapse?

My plan to prevent relapse started two years before I even started actively losing weight. I felt that to stick to anything you have to have good training. I trained myself to accept healthier food that I never liked (veggies), I stopped eating fast food and made the change from mostly fried to mostly steamed or baked foods. I did it slowly over the course of two years so my mind and body would become accustomed to this new lifestyle.

9. How has your life changed now that you've lost weight?

It's amazing the hardships overweight people have to endure. I was constantly made fun of when I was fat. There was nobody in my life that I felt truly close to because everybody focused on my weight, and because of that my attitude was horrible. Now that I'm at a normal weight I've gained more self-esteem, people are much nicer to me and my attitude has made a drastic change for the better.

10. What five tips do you have for other dieters?

• Respect your body, it's the only one you have.
• If you mess up don't be hard on yourself. The only person that
  never made a mistake has not been born yet. We all mess up once in a
  while and it's what you do after you realize it that counts.
• Don't call your diet a diet. Call it a new way of life. Diets are temporary. A change of life is permanent.
• Don't be secretive about it. Let others know so that if something
  arises because of your changes to life it won't be a shock to them.
• Use your tools!!! By tools I mean Calorie Count. Use the food log,
  the weight log, the activity log. Use your journal, read other
  people's journals. Read the forums, post messages in the forums, reply
  to messages in the forums, and make friends.

Art of the Season - Canadian, Emily Carr

Autumn Woods ~ Emily Carr, 1911

Tuesday went pretty well.  Lesley stayed all morning and the visiting nurse came and did my evaluation.  I now have fluid in my lungs so she called my doctor who knows this routine, we've been through it so many times.  So now it's more pee-pee pills for a few days.  I knew I was retaining yesterday morning when I saw that my weight had jumped 10 pounds in 5 days.  We all know that's impossible, but there it is - wonder why I don't slosh when I walk.  Any more of this and my back teeth will be floating.  I did manage to stay up all day so I should sleep well tonight.  My lovely neighbor brought me a platter - slices of roast chicken, fresh steamed broccoli and brown rice pilaf with cranberries in it. 

Plan for today:  Coffee this morning in the community room.  I might go just to break the monotony.  I could wheel my spare oxygen tank on its little wheels.  I'll get a friend to walk with me. 

Menu for today: breakfast - banana strawberry yogurt frozen smoothie.  Lunch - homemade chicken soup with ditalini and maybe salad.  Supper - I think it wll be roast chicken again with potatoes and brussels sprouts.  Lesley is bringing me some of her supper of last night.  She makes the best stuffing.  Snacks - fruit or triscuits with cheese.  Yesterday it was very small servings of everything.  No appetite.

Something strange is going on in the building.  The office is closed for no reason.  The marketing guy, brother of the owner of the building, showed up.  My friends tell me he said that he was there for a meeting about grounds upkeep and was quite annoyed to find that the office was closed and he couldn't raise maintenance on the phone.  Also, the Sheriff has been here and I'm wondering if there will be an impending eviction.  Of course rumors are flying!  This place is like a living telegraph - you find out all that's going on in short order but it's not always accurate. 

More on this as I find out!  Stay tuned for the next episode of Trinity House, The Soap Opera.

K called me a little while ago.  He found chrome nerf bars for the jeep for like $220 dollars.  That's really great.  So even though I wanted to wait until I knew what our bonuses were going to look like, he ordered them.  Normally I'd be pissed at him blowing a couple hundred dollars without discussing it first, but, well, he's just trying to be awesome.  Which he already is.

So. Anyways.  Can cross nerf bars off my wish list.  And for quite a bit less than what I thought we were going to have to spend.

Thanks for all the suggestions yesterday for my grandpa; I think I will do a big basket of food, stuff that he can just freeze and heat as needed.  Cookies, probably some good sausage from that shop I like.  I should make him a loaf or two of Teresa's one hour bread too. 

Thanksgiving is creeping up on me faster than I would like.  We'll have to go to K's grandparents.  They're eating sometime around 130pm, then Mom's apartment for our family dinner, and I'd like to swing by my grandparents' too.  Hmmm.  I think I need to borrow  Hermione's time turner.

Random: K keeps getting propositioned by prostitutes.  You'd think they'd be off the street more now that it's cold.

Time to get back to normal.

Art of the Season by American Impressionist Frank Vincent Dumond

Autumn in Lyme ~ Frank Vincent Dumond, 1925

That was a rough patch I just rode over.  I've had an unplesant few days feeling the worst I've ever felt.  Finally after a good night's sleep (thank you TempurPedic) this morning I'm feeling pretty good.  Now it's just a matter of nasty pills and following doctor's orders, and I should be back to myself in a few weeks, maybe a little the worse for wear.  I have bruises from needle sticks from my knuckles to my elbows on both arms. Looks worse that it is.

Sheila called me in the hospital and read me all your responses here in my journal and caught me up on CC doings.  It kept my mind off awful things.

I'm so lucky.  My daughter, son in law and a car buff friend repaired my car and even took it through a car wash, so it's ready to drive when I'm able. My daughter (who is very professional but takes no crap) stopped in at the office to tell them that if the Crazy Lady makes one peep to disturb me we will take action.  My neighbors are on call and one has already made me soup and my favorite pepper & eggs (fried peppers with scrambled egg) which are good in a sandwich.  Lesley will be here this morning to do my laundry, clean a bit and make me lunch and dinner.  I'm well cared for. 

Plan for today - rest.  Make my follow up doctor's appointments.  Eat, sleep and get well.

Menu for today - breakfast - cereal with strawberries.  Lunch - pepper and egg sandwich and salad.  Supper - Lesley is making roast chicken with all the trimmings and we'll eat together.  Snacks - fruits.

I was so happy to come home on a sunny warm day.  Sarah opened the window for me and Bubba and I basked in the sun.  The fresh air felt good and smells like autumn - that sort of wine fragrance with overtones of apples.  I think it comes off the fields and woods on the breeze.

Today:  I'm thankful for all my wonderful CC friends.  You've comforted and cheered me up.  How can I thank you?

Boosting her self-esteem was what prompted Cellotlhicks to lose weight. Along the way, she learned many things about the importance of mental discipline. After losing 35 lbs she not only looks better, she feels better as well!

She contacted us through our Share Your Story feature, and provided the following answers to our questionnaire.

1. What made you decide to lose weight this time?

I have struggled with the same 50 lbs or so since I was about 13. A few years back I managed to lose those 50 lbs and was in excellent shape. I taught fitness, had a six pack and wore a size 2-4. A depressing summer, and a more sedentary life in grad school coupled with bad food choices caused me to put on 49 lbs from my low weight. I hated feeling like a failure. I was very low on myself and I am sure I was making things miserable for those around me. I decided to turn it over to God, prayed about it, and stumbled upon this site a few days later. I knew right away that tracking my food was exactly what I needed. Exercise was not my problem as much as food was.

2. What other "diets" (programs, products, plans, or services) had you tried in the past?

I grew up in Tae Kwon Do (received my black belt at 14), and was in ROTC in high school. I credit those two things with giving me lots of discipline and a high tolerance for exercise. In the past when I did lose weight, it was through eating less and moving more, but I never had tools to track it.

3. What changes did you make to your usual diet, activity, lifestyle, and attitude?

My attitude was number one. I had to realize that the guilt, low self esteem and self sabotage were taking deep root and affecting my daily choices. That beating myself down was not producing weight loss. I never called myself fat again after starting this. I put my energy into coming up with different plans and goals, and got excited about them. I would set goals, like 3 days of weights and walk 20 miles this week, and would reward myself when I did that.

4. How did Calorie Count help you to lose weight?

The supportive community has given me a wealth of knowledge. I love my friends here. they are almost better than my real life ones. Writing in my journals has been therapeutic, and reading them over helps me to see how far I have come.  The analysis and other tools have helped me to learn to make much better food choices.

5. What was most challenging about losing weight?

In the beginning, I was shocked at what I was eating, and had to spend lots of time reviewing my choices and reading labels. That has become more second nature now. Also, I hurt my hip and knee, so I have not run in while. I really miss that. Aside from weights and occasionally the elliptical, I can only walk.

6. How long did it take you to see results?

I did not weigh in for a month. Instead of focusing on results right away, I wanted to focus on my mindset and habits, and not allow the scale to control my mood. But I did lose 8 lbs when I weighed myself later, and about 1 month after that I had lost 20 lbs and was halfway to my goal. I'd say that was the moment.

7. When did you realize that you were a success?

There have been many different moments where I have been proud of myself. For example, earlier this week I did 125 push ups (military style, some diamonds). I felt the same way when I was able to lose weight and not get off course even though I was in pain. Not reverting to over-eating again and being able to fit back into old clothes makes me proud as well.  I also realized I had not called myself fat in months, or felt guilty for eating less than perfect food here and there.

8. How do you prevent relapse?

When I start to think that I can pig out, I have to remind myself, that food is not just meant for enjoyment and that all the work I have put in can be reversed. Also, I want to continue logging, until I get the hang of intuitive eating (I do this weekends currently).

9. How has your life changed now that you've lost weight?

My confidence in all areas of life has soared. I know how to forgive myself and love myself for deeper reasons. I no longer have as much knee pain. I feel strong, and love the way I look.

10. What five tips do you have for other dieters?

• Know that forgiving yourself and focusing on your goals instead of your failures gives you more power.
• Often, there are other things we have let fall to the wayside along with our weight. Occupy yourself with getting other things back
  on track too so that it does not consume all your thoughts.
• Don't worry about how long it will take. The time will pass by
  either way. Spend it productively.
• Do not try to cheat your body. It will beat you at your own game. Don't eat less than what you need to be healthy.
• Give what you want to receive. The more people you cheer up, the
  more people you give kind advice to - the more people you will have in
  your corner.