Here's my story.....q

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Here's my story.....q

Postby grannylut » Sun Jan 15, 2017 2:38 pm

I am not sure whether to claim this as a success or a cry for help. I have been following this program on and off for several years now. In October of 2015, I found out a needed Knee Replacement Surgery. Late in November, right before Thanksgiving, Desperate to get better, I followed the advise of a doctor that recommended I eat a high protein (i.e., animal protein) before and after surgery to help in healing. Well, about 2 weeks before the surgery (after about a week after I started with the regular diet) I developed a cough that would not go away. They almost didn't operate and ran all sorts of test to make sure I had no infection before surgery. When I got out of the hospital, the cough continued. Finally, about a week after surgery, I was so miserable that I decided to go back to MWL. Within a week the cough went away. I should mention that, prior to surgery, I had lost 30 lbs on this way of eating.

Since the surgery, I have lost another 20 lbs. Sounds good, right? Well, it turns out I developed a bone spur and scar tissue which required yet another surgery in December. The recuperation is not as bad, but it has thrown me for a loop. I am back to having to do Physical Therapy. The pain has not let up since before the first surgery and I am limited as to the exercise I can do.

Now here is the cry for help. In the last week, I find myself reaching for the food that has not been in my diet in a long, long time. Not animal products, but fats such as almond butter and humus, and bagels. I am almost 69 years old and am surprised at myself. I would still like to lose another 15 lbs or so (I am 4'10" and still feel fat no matter what everyone tells me.)

So....an going to commit sharing on this group. I hope to offer as much support as I plan on taking from it.

Thanks, all,
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Re: Here's my story.....q

Postby plant_eater » Sun Jan 15, 2017 3:19 pm

Eat the bagels and humus, just keep it as a treat for yourself. The body will always seek balance, so really food is fuel. If you eat some fat based products such as nut butters, hummus etc, it will burn it for fuel as long as the body needs to produce energy.

In regards to exercise have you considered swimming? Don't know what you have available in your area but it might be something to ask your PT therapist.

Congrats on the weight loss and many well wishes on your road to recovery. :-D
Robert the Triathlete
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Re: Here's my story.....q

Postby amandamechele » Mon Jan 16, 2017 7:27 am

Hi Grannylut,

You've had a tough year; I hope you start to feel better soon. This is definitely the right place to come for support!
You can continue to post right here in the thread you've started and let everyone know how you're doing and people will come in and comment and offer tips and virtual hugs. You are also more than welcome to join the January weigh-in thread (and all future ones) for weight loss support. We'd be happy to see you there. :)

You've done really well so far, please be proud of that. Now it sounds like you need to figure out a strategy for dealing with the higher fat plant food items. I struggle with those items too and have found it best to keep very few of them in my home (I'd keep none at all, but I have children who enjoy them). Another thing that I do is keep containers of pre-cut sliced veggies like carrots, peppers, celery, etc., for when the desire for night time snacking hits me. Sometimes just having something to crunch on is satisfying enough to get through that evening craving feeling. Another thing I do is have a pot of green tea on in the evening for the same reason, sometimes its enough to get me through. As you can maybe tell my desire to snack on the higher fat items tends to happen in the evenings, but these strategies could work at any time during the day too.

My best wishes to you for this next week,

Amy
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Re: Here's my story.....q

Postby amandamechele » Mon Jan 16, 2017 7:28 am

Grannylut - I just noticed that we joined the forums at around the same time! Very cool.
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Re: Here's my story.....q

Postby grannylut » Mon Jan 16, 2017 6:05 pm

Way cool. Thanks for the kind thoughts.
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Re: Here's my story.....q

Postby grannylut » Thu Jan 19, 2017 2:06 pm

Not a terrible week, considering -- I have been feeling sorry for myself. The physical therapy I have been receiving for my knee is extremely painful. Everynight this week, I fought myself not to eat a bagel. I have known for a long time that flour products of any kind is my "drug of choice" - I might as well melt it into a srying and shoot it up my vein. HOWEVER - the difference is I have finally gotten to the point where I am not going to beat myself up over it. I am not giving myself permission to keep on eating (I also get a terrible allergic reaction to eating flour) but I decided that I can go on and not give myself permission to go on a "bender". My wish to follow MWL is not just weight loss - if I stayed where I am in wouldn't be the worst thing in the world, but rather I know how my body reacts to eating the allergans Dr. M. talks about in all his books.

I feel better having shared.

Thanks for listening.
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Re: Here's my story.....q

Postby amandamechele » Thu Jan 19, 2017 7:57 pm

I'm sorry to hear about the pain you've been experiencing this week. Will you be in physical therapy for a long time?
I understand how you feel about bagels, I have a whole list of foods that can lead me astray if I let them. Good for you for choosing not to let them lead to further away from your goals. :)
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Re: Here's my story.....q

Postby grannylut » Fri Jan 20, 2017 11:27 am

Thanks for responding. I am not sure how long the PT will be for. I go back to the surgeon on February 21. When I had the knee replacement, it was a 4 month stint. Supposedly, this should just be a few more weeks. What a pain - literally and figuratively.
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