40+ Club: Spring Fitness Challenge

Good Morning!

gbryant, don't worry about the 1/2 Mt. Dew right now. Just keep your focus going forward. We all take steps backward every now and again, but the key is to keep the general momentum in the direction you want to be headed. I'm definitely an emotional eater. What I try to do is ask myself before I eat something if it is going to make me feel better or worse in the long term. In other words, am I going to be beating myself up for it in two hours? I find if I answer 'yes', then it isn't worth the immediate gratification of eating it....so I don't. But sometimes that answer is 'no'. And when it is 'no', then I enjoy what I'm eating. But I really try to be mindful about it.

LadyPersia, glad you were able to get outside and enjoy the weather. We had a bit of rain last night, but we're supposed to have a big bout of spring for the rest of the week. YAY! I'm ready for that.

KimKelly, good luck on the walk this Sunday!! I have no doubt that the health improvements you've made over the past number of months will make a HUGE difference during this walk. Have fun!

tron, Happy Belated Birthday!!! Glad you did something fun to celebrate.

All here is well. My eating remains clean (despite the cravings), and I'm enjoying my last week of the first round of P90X. Today is Shoulder/Arms, and I'll add on a Turbo Fire cardio as well.

Hope you all enjoy the day.

Well, I spoke too soon. The edema came back the day after my Sunday post and is actually worse than it was before. NO change in diet or exercise (or anything else). Headed to the doctor for more blood tests on Monday to see what's going on. Has anyone had this in their ankles and feet so bad that your feet are cold and numb all the time?

Aside for the temporary weight gain from the edema and the elephant looking ankles, the hardest part is reconciling how this can be when I have been healthier than ever. My weight, eating and exercise habits are the best they have ever been for a sustained period of time and I haven't had caffeine or sugar since the summer. hopefully will get answers soon that are health problems but have some easy or plausible explanation.

BUMMER!!

Happy St Patrick's Day to everyone......whether you're blessed with Irish blood or just Irish for the day!!

An Irish blessing for all of you......
May the roads rise to meet you, may the sun shine upon your face each day, may the wind be always at your back, and may you be in heaven half an hour before the devil knows you're dead!!:laugh: :drinker: :drinker:

WARM (73° at 2:30pm):happy: :happy: and windy today - headed out for a walk with a co-worker to enjoy this gorgeous weather!!!

Marla

Victorious_one

You are right about the protein and albumin as they already tested those and while the albumin is normal, the protein IS a problem. However they can tell that it is not dietary protein (which I get plenty of). For some reason my body is not making/absorbing protein. That is part of what is causing the "profound" anemia and edema - they just do not know why. I originally though that celiac or gluten intolerance could be part of the problem although I have been completely off gluten now for a month and no improvement and the antibodies they test for celiac came back negative. I know you mentioned that you suffered from protein issues after your surgery. Was there any resolution as to why or how to treat? Thanks for your concern. Hope you have success with the Mexican restaurant!

This week my exercise has been 0.... I've been so busy but thats no excuse. Next Sunday is month 2 of my re-dedication to exercise and I am also gonna clean up my eating. Hopefully next month I will see even better results.

My daughter left today to go back to Louisiana. Gosh I'm gonna miss that girl.

Where did the time go??? Havent been here since Sunday!!!! I havent had time to read posts. I can see that a lot of you have posted and that is great!!!! I have been very busy with work and family activities. My diet has been great. I have also been fighting cravings but so far so good. I have gotten into a little habit of eating nuts after I come back from teaching Zumba. It needs to stop though. Exercise wise, just Zumba. I keep thinking about starting some abs work or just light resistance program but nothing. If I dont do it early in the morning, and it would have to be at 5am, I dont get it done. So that is what has happened in a few weeks now. For some reason I just cannot get motivated to do that. Too many things in my head.

Have a great weekend everyone!!!!! :flowerforyou:

Just a quick weigh in...I'm down 2.2 this week! I CANNOT WAIT to be under 220! It's been a tough week with TOM and all but I fought the battle and exercised (even when I really didn't feel like it) just so I could have the extra calories because I was hungry, hungry, hungry. Gotta love those hormones. :grumble:

Hang in there gbryant! Sunday starts a new week and you can do this! Maybe bring some rice crackers to work for a snack when the others are eating cookies. I love the caramel ones...they are so satisfying and you can eat them and not feel too guilty!

Hubs came home after being gone for 3 weeks on a job and hasn't said anything about my weight loss. I haven't told him I'm "dieting" because I'm not. I'm simply making better choices, watching my calorie intake, and adding some exercise to my life. I should add that he's not very supportive of my weight loss endeavors. The last time I did a fad diet he said, "why bother...you'll quit like you have all the other times..." so I don't say anything about my new lifestyle. My new lifestyle began on February 1, by the way, and since that time I've lost 12 pounds. Just a little disappointed I guess because, for crying out loud, I am absolutely swimming in my jeans. Oh well. This is for me; no one else. Sorry...grumble, grumble...I know. Gotta love those hormones...

Victorious_one

You are right about the protein and albumin as they already tested those and while the albumin is normal, the protein IS a problem. However they can tell that it is not dietary protein (which I get plenty of). For some reason my body is not making/absorbing protein. That is part of what is causing the "profound" anemia and edema - they just do not know why. I originally though that celiac or gluten intolerance could be part of the problem although I have been completely off gluten now for a month and no improvement and the antibodies they test for celiac came back negative. I know you mentioned that you suffered from protein issues after your surgery. Was there any resolution as to why or how to treat? Thanks for your concern. Hope you have success with the Mexican restaurant!

Hey, Altushe!

My weight loss surgery is a malabsorptive surgery, which means that my body doesn't' absorb all of the nutrients (and thus all of the calories) that I take in. I malabsorb about 40% of my protein (my body only absorbs about 60% of the protein grams I eat). What happened was that I was so very nauseous and I vomited a lot after surgery. It is a very unusual side effect of the particular kind of surgery I had, so no one could figure out what it was from. This went on for six months. In that six months, I wasn't able to eat a lot of anything. I never got up to being able to eat the 100+g of protein that I need per day. Over time, my prealbumin, albumin and protein levels got freakishly low. They had to put me on TPN (IV nutrition), and I've been on it for about 7 weeks. My numbers are now normal, and they're weaning me off the IV slowly. My goal every day is to take in at least 100g of protein by mouth because that's what it takes to keep me alive. My body does absorb a good amount as long as I can get the grams in.

The TPN I took to resolve this issue is not likely to help you if you're already taking in enough protein by mouth, but your body is not absorbing it. I'm not sure what would cause your body not to absorb the protein. If you're seeing a gastroenterologist or an endocrinologist, they may be able to help you pinpoint the issue.

Please let us know how it goes for you! This is a serious issue, but all the reading I've done says that when the cause is found and treated, the edema issue will be resolved.

Hi all. Spring is definitely here! I spent almost three hours this morning raking leaves that fell last fall. Also clipped back the dead lantana branches. New lantana is growing. The vine my hubs mowed down last fall has lots of new growth on it and looks so much more healthy than it did before it got accidentally pruned.

The "I am not going to plant very much this spring" hubs has left the building. He has already planted yellow squash, tomatoes, four kinds of basil, parlsey, two kinds of oregano, two kinds of chives and is itching to get his giant pumkins seeds germinated. And he is looking for an eggplant for me (he does not like it but plants it for me.) And "mild" jalapenas for me to pickle. So much for not planting much...

We still need to get our lawnmower back from the lawnmower spa. the weeds are starting to get high. Take care all! TxMs