Discussion Board

Now wouldn't THAT be fun -- a group ASW video marathon!

Wow, I'd heard that hospital food wasn't good, but experiences like these are appalling! I am beginning to realize that our so-called health care system isn't about health care at all; it is about sickness care. It is scary how little most health-care practitioners actually know about achieving and minting good health.

Glad to hear the pain is ebbing, Michelle. I know that pain, especially chronic pain, can really sap energy, so perhaps as the pain decreases, your energy will increase. I hope it happens for you SOON!

Nicole & Colleen:

No kididng and ASW marathon would be fantastic! Every presentation was of huge value and I know I'll be watching it over and over. I really do wish I could have some other McDougaller's see this I have no one to talk to about how excited I am about these segments.

One that got me super jazzed was the one by Dr. Lederman ( as seen on FOK) and John Mackey of Whole Foods. Lederman and his wife Dr. Pulde have been working with Mackey to design the new WF Healthy Eating Plan.

Looks like all our favorite doc's are on the WF advisory board too - they are combining forces in a big way to mainstream this WOE through WF. So they now have like 5 WF locations that have training areas in the stores - health and cooking classes - oh, and support groups. It sounds like this forum with an actual locational aspect. So far there is only one of these training areas on the West Coast - it's in Oakland. I could go visit that - it's not that far from me.

Anyway, I got so excited because I think this is the next tipping point after FOK to possibly get people seeing this as more of a mainstream way to introduce people to this WOE. They also plan to have docs at these locations for actual appointments in future- so really this is the complete package a la McDougall on a different level.

I laugh at the though of screening these video for anyone though. I just started a huge project, the on-going one of moving into this house. I am in the house I grew up in after my Mother passed away a few years back. The house was jammed full before I brought my stuff here and because of the fibro moving in has been a really slow process. I have two rooms to go to make the house mine - ( well three but lets just not count that one yet) - the living room and the office.

So, I went on this diet and started feeling full of energy and like I could tackle the project again, so the living room is currently completely full of over flow from the office, which I am sorting and taking slowly to Goodwill. This means two couches and 4 chairs and all the floor space are taken up with half full boxes of stuff. The old TV was the first to go and I have no idea how to recreate a new entertainment area - it's going to take a really smart electrician to get this sorted for me.

Of course at the height of messing up the living room, the gall bladder went hay wire, the surgery happened and my Aunt came to stay with me. With the office pulled apart I had no guest sleeping area, the poor dear had to clear off a chair and sleep upright in the living room. I had an inflatable bed for her but she declined that and slept on the chair amidst all the half packed stacks of boxes.

So my point is that I am watching all these videos streamed over my laptop, in my bed every night! So ladies bring your jammies and come on by we can have a McDougall slumber party. Pass the popcorn!!!!

It's Friday weigh-in day and here I go proving that I am the slowest of weight losers. Sigh....


January 01, 2012 - 212.0
January 06, 2012 - 210.5
January 13, 2012 - 209.5
January 20, 2012 - 208.0
January 27, 2012 - 210.0
February 3, 2012 - 207.0
February 10, 2012-207.0
February 18, 2012-208.0
February 24, 2012-207.5
March 02, 2012 - 206.0
March 09, 2012 - 205.5

Down - just .5 this week.

I have gotten back to exercise and have done 3 hours of aqua aerobics this week already. Dissolution made a comment about something he read on weight loss and the thermal effect of swimming - so I asked my trainer what kind of calorie burn I can expect from out classes. His estimate is between 400 and 600 calories a class. It really depends the level of effort each individual is putting into it. He says I am a consistent 600 calorie burner. I wish that would show up on my scale. On the other hand it is showing up in melted inches: my legs and butt are shrinking visibly this week this week. Also three of my pool buddies have asked me how much weight I have lost now because it's finally really showing. So no discouragement over the scale now that I really think about it.


My Weight Chart:
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OK, so the only thing more fun than a group ASW marathon would be a pajama party ASW marathon! You are too funny, Michelle!

And you aren't slow, you're steady. You have a new lifestyle that has you feeling better with lessening pain, and the bonus is that you weigh a little less each week, too! Seriously, you are doing great, and your determination is a real inspiration. KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK!

Exactly, Quinoamania! I'd love to be able to do that, too. <sigh>I have to move back up north, that's clear Now I just need to convince my husband....

Michelle, I don't know if this will help at all, but there is nothing to be discouraged about regarding the rate you are losing weight!

There are people who drop, then plateau forever, people who keep at an even pace, people who lose, then gain, then lose more than they gained in a cyclical fashion until they are all the way down, and people who are slow and steady, and you know who is supposed to win the race?

Well, it isn't a race, but you know what I mean

Clearing out a house is a lot of work! take your time, live in the nest you have created and keep watching all those fun videos (wee bit jealous)

Nicole

Nicole & Robin:

You guys (and everyone here) are such great cheer leaders and I have completely incorporated what you both have said into my thinking. Kudos to you both for being such supportive, wonderful folks. Even my new morning mantra before meditation is now "slow and steady, slow and steady & one more time slow and steady".

So, instead of weight loss, this week I am just going to be too proud of myself for getting back into the exercise and for doing all 4 days at the pool.

That is huge, as unbeknownst to me, the gall bladder symptoms were making me headachy and nauseous mornings, along with the worst of the fibro pain - all that was just not conducive to running out the door mornings and jumping into the hot pool. But now - all of that is gone and the pain truly is down - though I feel it pretty bad today as a bunch of weather systems are ganging up on the Bay Area right now.

All of this said - day after weigh in I dropped a pound from yesterday

Wouldn't you know, golly gee whiz!

BTW, Nicole you should absolutely ought to move back here's why for instance Robin and I are in the planning stages of a meal out together - too much fun!!! Need to narrow down the choices though, as Robin points out the one with the really pretty food pictures, might not be completely oil and nut free. As the oil and nuts at Cafe Gratitude in Santa Cruz put me in the hospital - I must say Robin is a good scout to partner with on this adventure. See Nicole wouldn't this be too much fun

Today: speaking of fun: I am going to do something I haven't done since I have been back in this house, play in my garden. I have a great gardener now and he just knows everything to do next without a hint from me at all. As soon as he finished pruning the whole yard, he started clearing and digging flower bed areas that have been neglected. Last week he also cleared out abandoned containers. This week I bought a hugely expensive amount of beautiful flowers, succulents and grasses for two of the big containers.

Even with a storm coming in, the pain is half what it used to be and my energy is way up again. This kind of stuff is doable now because of this WOE.

HOW FLIPPIN AMAZING IS THAT

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Makes life worth living, doesn't it?

Hi blue:

Yes, absolutely, the WOE makes life worth living -- and so many, many other things -- like the support of folks on this Forum!!!

Stuff in general:

Yesterday I did something I haven't done since I moved back to the Bay Area 5 years ago - I worked in my garden for over an hour. I wasn't like digging ditches, just planting flowers and plants that I bought in prepared containers. My gardener (bless him he is so wonderful) cleared several out for me and I get to plant them, yay. I was completely incredulous that I could do this at all, but especially as a storm is brewing here.

The storm brewing angle is that my brand of fibro is very much effected by weather, mostly by weather systems that are setting up. I have had a theory that as the barometric pressure changes - starts going down from the 30 range into the 29 range my fibro spikes hugely and it does on the way up as well.

Until the WOE, I was always in flare at about an 8 to 9 on the pain level scale during the winter and probably a 6 to 7 during the heat of summer. Now I am usually around 5 no matter what, until the weather starts changing up - like fog or a storm coming up. That will spike my flare right up to a 9 fast and put me in bed for sure, regardless of exercise, drugs, or diet - there is no getting around weather for me, YET. I still have hope though

If, I had my own weather station (and I do but it's still packed in a storage unit miles from my house) it would be easy to figure out if this drop from 30 inches to 29 inches in baro pressure is a real correlation with the fibro activity. But yesterday, completely coincidentally, I realized that Weather Underground online utilizes local weather stations and posts all the data from those.

How cool is it that one of those weather stations in my area is the Firestation at the end of my street. That is where the nice and very handsome Firemen, who took care of me the day of my not a heart attack incident, hang out!

Anyway, I have always surmised that it's the actual going down and coming up of barometric pressure that makes the fibro exponentially harder for me. So, yesterday I wanted to know just how long I could stay out and garden - as a test of how well the WOE is treating me. So, I checked the clock and went outside at 2:10 PM and came in at 3:15 PM. By 3:15 the fibro was beginning to scream - I don't ignore that ever. Well, more like I can't ignore it

Last night I was checking Weather Underground to see where the barometric pressure was going, as I wasn't getting a break. As I expected, it was going up and down all over the place and that would be consistent with my pain level. What I did not expect was that between 2 and 3 PM yesterday it completely flatlined at around 29 inches. As long as it isn't going up or down I am OK and because it was stable I was able to be out and doing! this is a new revelation for me!

So the whole time I was out feeling pretty good, the barometer wasn't moving at all. So this long ramble is just that I have proved my theory and will watch this a bit to make sure I know for certain. And even better I know something new - if the movement stops, I have windows where I can rush out and get stuff done for a change!

I hope I can get an ap for my phone that links to stations so when I am out - I'll know when it's time to head to the barn. Often I get caught out when I go into a spike now. Before the WOE this didn't ever happen because I was in too much pain to even be out at all because driving/sitting gets too hard at the higher level of pain.

Really, this is HUGE for me to be in my garden and out in the world. Well, not today the barometer is plunging and I don't need to check that. The Siamese Twins (felines) and I are in bed, with the laptop and about thirteen gardening books. If I get tired of those I have found a bunch of FREE videos on YouTube.

These are from "The Vegetarian Society of Hawaii" and many of our favorite Docs and even at least one Star McDougaller - Mike Teehan have given talks there (his talk is great and you just have to love this guy - he is like the most sincere person on the planet - I swear). I am pretty sure Dr. McD has given lectures there too!

Here's the link:

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_q ... 0.2.1l13l0

Life is good indeed blue

Hi Michelle!
Very interesting that you can predict your windows of opportunity by keeping track of barometric pressure. Hopefully that will enable you to do more gardening this spring as well as other things you've been missing out on!

Is there any more fine tuning and tweaking you can do with your diet to bring your pain baseline down even more? I can't remember if you followed an elimination diet.

THe siamese twins lol how cute!

This bug I caught has really delayed the spring gardening that I meant to start a couple of weeks ago. I still have dead dried up vines and stuff from last year that need clearing out! I hope to at least get some some easy stuff like morning glories planted soon.

Take care, BLue

January 01, 2012 - 212.0
January 06, 2012 - 210.5
January 13, 2012 - 209.5
January 20, 2012 - 208.0
January 27, 2012 - 210.0
February 3, 2012 - 207.0
February 10, 2012-207.0
February 18, 2012-208.0
February 24, 2012-207.5
March 02, 2012 - 206.0
March 09, 2012 - 205.5
March 16, 2012 - 206.0

Up .5 this week.

This is such a bummer and it's so fibro related. For some reason when there is stormy weather ( and the barometer goes down) I swell up. Before the storms here I was at 204.5 on Sunday and shot up as far as 208 this week, with no change in the menu at all. How weird is that - I have water retention BECAUSE it's raining


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Hi blue:

I have tweaked the diet pretty much for everything anyone ever told me would help. Haven't dome elimination diet but did get really bare bones on food when I first started being vegan - kind of a rice and greens mary's mini for a week. I could tell after that when I started a new food and boy can I tell when I go astray now!

But this is a weather thing I don't think I'l ever be able to shed this aspect. But I am not saying NEVER. It's just a wait and see.

This is just a short journal note because I know some thing for certain now that I had't paid strict attention to before or even known. I know weather gets bad I get big pain, I also retain water big time and get cravings for ice cream like I am an addict.

So now that the storm systems have stopped building here for awhile I lost two pounds - OVERNIGHT. That's nice and I can get my rings off too, also nice. Also as I have now read and heard that dairy contains a morphine type substance I feel better about that particular craving - I know what it is and when it happens and I can avoid it. some sorbet called to me instead - and while obviously not MWL I called it a fruit and eat on it over 4 days and still lost weight. Hope I can get rid of this crutch too at some point. I better the dang stuff had corn syrup. Note to self: Must always read labels!

My Weight Chart:
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Michelle - your barometric sensitivity is fascinating! Kudos to you for figuring it out! I do hope that it eventually resolves as other tings heal. It could be possible! Here's a thought:

High blood pressure and water retention are related to kidney malfunction, which is frequently caused by congestion of the arteries supplying blood to the kidneys. Dr Klapper taught me that is this video.

So water retention could be affected by the barometric pressure/humidity levels, but be less of a problem as you lose weight and clear out your arteries.

BTW - humidity can also cause me to have more joint pain and overall bodily swelling. NOw that I live in the desert, it does not happen much, but when I lived in humid NY during the summers...ouch!

Hi Michelle
I think the barometric pressure has got me this morning! There's a storm rolling in and it's at 29 now. There may be some other factors contributing to my pain flare this morning but is it just coincidence that it started up this morning as soon as the wind changed directions and started blowing hard from the north? Not much of temperature change, just stormy, dark and windy. I will keep an eye on the reading and let you know if my pain fluctuates as yours does.
Hope you are having a good morning!
BLue

January 01, 2012 - 212.0
January 06, 2012 - 210.5
January 13, 2012 - 209.5
January 20, 2012 - 208.0
January 27, 2012 - 210.0
February 3, 2012 - 207.0
February 10, 2012-207.0
February 18, 2012-208.0
February 24, 2012-207.5
March 02, 2012 - 206.0
March 09, 2012 - 205.5
March 16, 2012 - 206.0
March 22, 2012 - 204.0

Down 2

Thank goodness for the sunshine today. I retain water in bad weather and tomorrow I'll pop back up. but finally not today on a weigh-in day, yay!

blue:

OMG you too - that's exactly it for me when it hits about 29, morel like when it's trending down. when it gets stable at any level I seem to be OK but when it's on the move down boy do I feel it.

I kind of like Nicole's theory that it's related to clogged arteries and kidneys and so forth. Still you blue are at the right weight more or less and it's getting you too - so I think there is possibly a different explanation.

My other thing is I wonder if a actually have what you have and not fibro as most of the fibro people I have meant are not as badly effected by this barometric change like I am. Hmm, stuff to ponder.