Discussion Board

Hi blondie,

I am glad your Sister has you to be with and take care of her. Our Cousin Dick had Downs Syndrome, he was the sweetest, most gentle person and pretty clever in his own way. The family misses him dearly and we have many favorite stories about him. This one is mine:

When I was in high school I used to help his Dad, my Great Uncle Delos with his accounting, as he was loosing his eyesight. Cousin Dick, his son, lived with him. Whenever Uncle was busy and had to be really focused on something, Dick had various "assignments" he would do at that time.

Afternoons when I was there, Uncle had him read the Bible. One day when Uncle was in the kitchen and Cousin Dick was reading; I was watching & listening to him, he always read aloud. Then I noticed he wasn't looking at the page, he was actually looking out the far window, yet he was saying the passages perfectly.

When my Uncle came back in the room, I whispered to him "Uncle Delos do you know that Dick has memorized his Bible passages, he is not even looking at the page now?" Uncle didn't know, as he had always been busy doing his own work. So he stopped and listened to Dick too. I could see that he was very proud of his Son, for figuring out how fool him all that time, when in fact he was daydreaming out the window!

I imagine it's hard having a permanent 5-year old some days, but I bet there are similar rewards too

As for not budging weight-wise, well you're doing it all perfectly, both eating and exercise. I see from various journals that people hit plateaus and this 218 thing has plagued me for years. I swear I psyche myself up for failure as soon as I see that number, and today it was starring me in the face again! I walked and ate right today, so maybe tomorrow!

I am going to see if I can foil it with my new trick. Hmm, let's see how I can put this delicately. I noticed that reducing to just two fruits a day slowed me down a bit, things just weren't moving the way they used to. Last night I switched my morning apple to my after dinner dessert and that helped lighten things up before bed. It also helped the morning weigh-in, I do believe

What a wonderful story about your cousin. Thank you for sharing.
I loved how you put that delicately. Very well done.
What do you have planned for today

TY Vanessa,

Our Uncle and Cousin were wonderful people

Hmm, planned for today morning meditation, chores, swimming, errands, chores, some volunteer work, chores. Hmm, too many chores

What are your plans? - Hope it's way less about chores

The scale says 217.5, but I have bounced back to 218 6 times this year. so until I hit like 210 - I am still a skeptic that I have seen the last of 218, hehehe.

Hi blondie:

Thanks for asking, I had a great day. Beautiful fall day here! I went to swimming 2nd time this week - after missing for over a month. Then for a haircut and a pedicure. I had to have the haircut but the pedi is never in the budget. But I decided to splurge because my grocery bill is SO low. And I will learn your tricks for savings!

My best news is my swim trainer Nathan is going to read "China Study", check this site out & get the "Forks Over Knives" movie as soon as he can. He says he can see the big changes in me and he is now really curious.! I haven't lost much, but it's clear to him that I am moving much better and have more energy. I am so excited because he is like 20 something and if he chooses to do this - he could avoid all the troubles we are going through in his future!

So pretty wonderful day for me - and you, did you have a good day too?

Michelle,
I think it's wonderful that your actions made Nathan want to read the book. It is next on my list too.
My daughter who is 23 watched Forks Over Knives this past week and has changed her eating habits also. It's great when you get them young..I wish i had known all this at 20.

You know Blondie i use to be just like your trainer. Protein shakes for breakfast,hard boiled eggs for a snack..thinking about that now makes me ill.

Hope you have something fun planned for the weekend..do you get many trick or treaters....

This week
Last Friday - 218
Ending weight - 218

I did loose a pound this week but it was one I gained over the weekend so drat zero !

Grr - the curse of 218 continues - I just bounced from 217.5 BACK to 218. This after and hour of swimming and perfect eating the day before. And blondie I didn't make our 2 pound goal for this week, dang!

But I am cheered I have a good haircut and I think the .5 pounds is all the nail polish on my totsies, hehe. Note: the 3 inches of hair on the floor didn't play into this equation!

Vanessa also cheered by your daughter's commitment to healthy eating and blondie I am jealous of $6 haircuts and inexpensive pedicures. I don't know of a beauty college around here, but I'll be looking into that!

Exercise toady swimming



So I am officially back to swimming, I made 3 days this week, which is my standard pattern, but I hadn't been well enough much of the summer to do this, well that and they moved the session to an earlier hour. My fibro does not like early: this is not unusal - we sufferers usually wake in more pain then we go to sleep with - but I really can't move well in the morning so it's a struggle for me to get to early classes, if at all.

However, my favorite instructor, now has classes everyday at 10:15 which I can make. some of these days are water aerobics and some strengthening. I really miss doing weights, but that causes massive pain even with one lb weights. Physical therapists have warned me off of them too, as if the pain wasn't enough warning!

I am exhausted today though and don't know exactly why, exercise - lack of sleep - well, it's not the lack of nutrients. My sleep patterns have completely changed, as of day three on the diet. I was a 12 PM or 1 AM go to bedder and woke up at about 6 AM. but now I can't barely hold my eyes open past 9:30PM and will wake at about 4 or 5AM. Dr. M has written on sleep and says 5 hours is about all we need - so I am getting that, but boy am I tired today.

I hope your Fibro gets feeling better like mine has been since I've been McDougall'ing. Only time I have a flair up now is if I let oil or gluten back in even 1 meal.

Hi Rosey:

Thanks for stopping by and for your comment. When I opened that fibromyalgia thread, you said that this has really been working for you and your post has been on my mind since day one! Because of your statement I am being as vigilant as I can be about the gluten and not one drop of oil! Then I realized that a rice mix I have been just sprinkling over salad for a little crunch has barley in it. Live and learn, but shucks always the hard way

It's so good to hear from you - it really gives me hope this will help. I think it is too: my swim trainer noticed this week that I am moving much better. I hadn't even realized that yet.

Glad your starting to move better. HUGS!!!

Finally, day after the group weigh in a 1.5 overnight loss. I am at 216.5. Hopefully, I have seen the last of 218!

BP down too -- 118/74 PR 68

Watched McD video that says <110/70 is true normal. My HMO says 120/80 is fine, but I see ppl here have much lower BP's than that, so I expect my will be dropping with the weight. I guess the HMO means that level is OK, until it elevates above that and they put you on BP meds

Things learned this week:

Dr. McD recommends 10 glasses of water per day. Since I swim in a hot water pool I know that I actually need even more. It made a big difference switching to 12 a day when swimming and at least 10 per day when doing regular exercise.

Breakfast: New favorite oatmeal and bananas from blondie. No almond milk, oops there is fat hiding in my milk! Add my flax meal tho & cinnamon & ginger. Mmmm. Also, freezing bananas the Mike Teehan way. Still haven't found a fat free cocoa for his banana cocoa dessert. I'll keep looking though Also coffee is now Teehino which is chicory based. I'll buy online in future as my sample was not gluten free. I am even more diligent on the gluten, since Rosey believes that loosing the gluten & oils is why she has experienced a remission from her fibromyalgia!

Dinner: Made a new MWL recipe that I like a Mediterranean Garbanzo Bean Tomato recipe. Herbed up to my taste buds, this will be a keeper & lots of leftovers from it. Now have a pumpkin soup and this dinner on my list of keepers!

Congratulations on the weight loss and the lower BP too. My BP has always been low. Sometimes they have to take it twice to find it. I think i might be a zombie...lol

Swimming in a hot pool sounds so nice right now. It was chilly today...

Hi Vanessa:

Well, if you are a zombie, this is the month for it. My BP was always really low too, so was everything else, especially my weight until the fibro. For years I was underweight and you won't believe this, but the medical solution was to eat all the ice cream I could just before bedtime!

No one knows what causes the fibro, but they do know that it means we never get into the lowest level of sleep and for some of us that means huge weight gain. I could gain on occasion a pound a night - this on a restricted calorie diet! I am definitely sleeping better now and I am thrilled not to be counting calories, being able to eat until I am full and loose weight. Having my numbers for things like BP heading back down seems just miraculous.

I think I'll be more consistent with the weight loss when I learn this program better. So I should read the book right now

Exercise a 40 minute walk in the neighborhood. Usually I do 30 but the bird life was fantastic. I am afraid there was a foray into tracking some Western Bluebirds - so, I added a 10 minute speedy interval at the end, hehehe.

b-oatmeal + banana +1 teaspoon flax meal + cinnamon & ginger, herbal coffee
l-Pumpkin Black Bean soup + corn
s-grapes
d-Pumpkin Black Bean soup + corn & 2 tortillias
s-herbal tea