It's time to stop the dancing

On February 17, 2009 I was at my lowest weight (in about 10 years) of 154.6. Last Sunday I was 156.0. A gain of 1.4 pounds in the last four months. Basically I've been doing maintenance.

I've been dancing around 155 for months. I've gone up and down a few pounds. In March I was even up to 166.4, but I always settle back to around 155. This is not my goal weight, and it will not become my goal weight (it's 135).

I'm not exactly happy about this maintenance thing. I want to get to goal, I really do, but I don't seem to be willing to make the extra effort that is needed for me to get there.

Some days I wonder if I can even get there from here. Is it possible to lose another 20 pounds? I honestly don't know because I really haven't been trying. Every day I'm a failure at weight loss. The reason is simple. I eat too much. I exercise really hard, five to six times a week, and that's the only reason I'm maintaining.

I'm still doing the Missouri 60 challenge, but this morning I found another challenge that's perfect for me. I found it on Amy's Quest to Get Skinny, the challenge is for 15 weeks.

My personal goal, that I copied from Krista, is to lose 15 pounds in the 15 weeks. I can totally do this. That's one pound a week. Seriously, who can't lose one pound a week? Okay, that would be me for the past four months, but I fully intend to change that starting right now.

This is week one, and I'm using Sunday's weighin for my start, 156 pounds. If I make the 15 in 15, that will put me at 141. Very close to my goal weight. I'm going to change things up a bit to do this, so I need a plan. A real plan I can follow. More on that later, right now I'm just excited I'm even thinking about making some actual progress.

Let the challenge begin! If I make it, or should I say, when I make it, then I'll really be dancing!

Day 181 - The Fast Food Choice

An interesting thought came to me last week. (We just finished two weeks of swim lessons that were at noon) The girl's did wonderful with learning to swim, but the timing was horrible!! (I wasn't thinking when I made the appointment a few months prior) Besides being incredibly hard on Ethan's routine, the timing killed lunch. We couldn't have lunch prior to lessons because you just don't go to swim lessons with full tummies, and we all know why! So many times this past week we grabbed something fast because we could eat it as soon as we got home at 1:30. The days we made lunch we were eating around 2, and that time just messes with dinner.

So, here I am consuming in a week as much fast food as I typically get in 2 months, seriously. The observation I made was that in small amounts, fast food will not put on weight. But there still is a consequence in eating such a poor choice in food groups, nutrition. Eating fast food will get rid of the hunger pains, and that is all. Fast food provides the macro nutrients; fats, carbohydrates and protein, and this will keep you from physically starving, but it's the micronutrients, the vitamins and minerals, that bring health and vitality. You only get these with healthy, living choices of food, unless you count the fortified bun as a good source of vitamins.

There are unavoidable times were the drive through is a must, it's just is when you have kids and busy schedules. But more often then not, it's a choice. What I am trying to remember is that when I have the choice, I would rather spend a little extra time preparing a meal that brings nutrition and vitality-a PB&J (one with just ground nuts and "just fruit" jelly on whole wheat bread) would even count - is better than to have a meal that does nothing more than fill the tummy. When respecting fast food as such, it's easier to make that choice.

Losing Sixty Pounds After Pregnancy

Andrea weighed 207 pounds eight months ago after the birth of her second child. Today she weighs 145 pounds. She's tall, at 5'10".

She was motivated to lose the weight by wanting to enter a beauty contest for Mrs. West Virginia. She's worked out every day since October and has kept to a strict diet. She's been able to work out even though she works as a nurse and has two kids under the age of 2 at home. Check out her story and some larger pics here.

LDL Calculator

Commenter Kiwi Geoff kindly wrote a program that calculates LDL using the Friedewald equation and the equation from this paper, which may be more accurate for people with a total cholesterol over 250 and triglycerides under 100. For people whose triglycerides are over 100, the Friedewald equation should be relatively accurate. You can plug your total cholesterol, HDL and triglycerides into the program (in mg/dL), and it gives you both LDL values side-by side. Here it is:

LDL Cholesterol Calculator

Thanks, Geoff.

LDL Calculator

Commenter Kiwi Geoff kindly wrote a program that calculates LDL using the Friedewald equation and the equation from this paper, which may be more accurate for people with a total cholesterol over 250 and triglycerides under 100. For people whose triglycerides are over 100, the Friedewald equation should be relatively accurate. You can plug your total cholesterol, HDL and triglycerides into the program (in mg/dL), and it gives you both LDL values side-by side. Here it is:

LDL Cholesterol Calculator

Thanks, Geoff.

2 Pounds Removed From Me Carcass

Weighbridge went well. Considering the chocolate-a-thon, and having the painters in too - 2 pounds off has me well chuffed.

I came home and celebrated with a nice smoked salmon salad and the omnibus edition of Neighbours. I'm now off to sun my sleeker self in the garden and have a splash in the pool. 28 and a half degrees here in Sunny Cambridgeshire :o)

My Sunday in pictures

Today's weighin:
My starting weight was 239.2, current weight is 156, making a total loss of -83.2.

Here's my Missouri 60 Challenge picture (Tony/anti-jared's challenge). Since I don't have anything nice to say about my picture I won't say anything. It's obvious what I need to work on. I'll post a similar picture in 60 days. Hopefully there'll be an improvement. You can click on the picture for a larger view (if you dare).

I biked to my Weight Watchers meeting at 8:30 a.m. I saw a lot of cool stuff on my way there, but I didn't have time to stop and take pictures. I was flying like a bat out of hell to make it on time, a record 5 miles in 20 minutes (big hills), 203 calories burned one-way (almost the same on the way home). Heart rate high of 159, average 137 (resting pulse is 48).

Here are pictures of what I saw, but these aren't my pictures (from the web).

Lots of these cool yellow butterflies, they were everywhere.


Willow Goldenfinch, which is the Washington State bird, I saw several of these. So pretty.


A bunny stopped on the trail in front of me (which made me stop). My bunny was actually prettier, with stripes on his side and a beige colored tail.

A lady with platinum blonde hair and pink stripes in it. She was wearing a pink shirt. Actually looked kind of pretty. Perhaps my next hairstyle (?).

The coolest thing I saw was a lady in a bright red sporty-looking wheelchair. She was being pulled by a very large dog. I'm not sure what kind of dog he was, but huge, with curly blonde fur. The lady was tiny, maybe 110 pounds, and about 35 years old. The dog was on some kind of harness thing pulling the wheelchair. The lady was videotaping the dog and her surroundings. They were on the dirt trail that runs along the paved trail that I was on.

I wanted to ask the lady if it was okay if I took their picture, but I was in a hurry and I wasn't sure how she'd respond to a stranger approaching her (or what the dog would do). I kept on biking, but it was a memorable scene.

It was a great bike ride, perfect weather today. I LOVE riding my bike. It's my own little piece of heaven.

Except one thing. Lately, I've been plagued by a recurring dream/nightmare. In my dream I'm riding my bike downhill, really fast (which I do a lot). I try to brake to slow down but my brakes don't work. I look down and can see the brake line is cut and the frayed brake wires are hanging loose. I can't stop and I'm going faster and faster. I'm scared. Then I wake up. I wonder what would happen if I didn't wake up. Die?

Another Fatty Liver Reversal

Just to show it wasn't a fluke, reader "Steve" replicates the experiment:

I had a similar problem as what Sam described, and it just happened to coincide with my discovery of and commitment to a new eating plan (based on low/good carb, high in good fat and omega 3, and good protein--basically a mix of paleo, primal, low carb, whatever they call it). I consider myself lucky to have had great fortune in my timing of finding out about my fatty liver.

My ALT and AST [markers of liver damage] had been at 124 and 43 respectively, and then still at 80 and 30 in a follow up a few months later. I weighed in at about 205 (I'm 6'1.5" on a slimmish frame), which was my heaviest. I had been on a basic American (bad) diet. The whole thing shocked me, especially after a CT with contrast showed the fatty deposits on my liver (and prior to that, when the muddy ultrasound revealed a fatty liver and a possible pancreatic mass, later ruled out by the CT). Like Sam, though I was surely overweight, I was not fat or heavy. (Most people have noticed I look leaner, but are shocked when I disclose how much weight I have lost since they say "I cannot believe you had that much to lose.")

At about the same time I found out about my liver issue, I had been getting into reading about diet and health (something I had done once when I read the Zone stuff from Sears many years ago). I practically dove through Taubes, Eades, Cordain, and a bunch of blogs (including yours), and I made a commitment to fix my problem.

I started a pretty severe regimen at first, which included only protein and good fats with a minimal amount of non-starchy fruits and vegetables. Almost immediately, I started losing weight and body fat (as measured by an electrical impedance scale). I have always supplemented with fish oil, but I added krill oil and I also started eating grass-fed beef and pastured eggs and pastured pork as much as possible. I have added some coconut oil and pastured butter to my diet as well. I have dropped almost 40 pounds, I am down to about 10-11% body fat (from 24%), and my ALT/AST on my last test was 24/14 [normal]. I am getting another test soon, and I expect similar results.

And a later comment:

I can add to the story that I first found out about the fatty liver on a routine new patient blood screening when I moved to a new town. I can also add that it took a bit of initiative on my part to get to the right diagnosis. The first doctor suspected hepatitis, but when blood work ruled that out, he ordered the imagining tests. Once I was referred to a GI specialist, it was a quick diagnosis. Still, I had to undertake myself to figure out the best diet. The GI recommended eliminating white bread, rice, pasta, starches, etc. but also recommended lowering fat intake. Having done some of my reading on diet and health, I knew to follow the former advice and to modify the latter to be "get plenty of fat, but make sure its the right kind."

Steve took the initiative and fixed his damaged liver. He modified his GI doctor's advice based on what he had read about nutrition, with excellent results. I suspect his doctor will be all ears next time Steve comes into his office.

The liver is a remarkable organ. Besides being your "metabolic grand central station", it's the only organ in the human body that can regenerate almost completely. It can be 75% obliterated, and it will grow back over time. Fatty liver and NASH are largely reversible.

Roast dinner

Hi all. Today we had the pleasure of DH's Dad and his mistress for Sunday Luncheon. It is always a most unpleasant experience and today was no different.

I honestly don't get the bloke - as I have said many times before.

Today they drove up in their new Freelander and hopped down. He was wearing his usual Farah slacks and nylon shirt, but with a stunning belt accessory in a waterproof camouflage design with the logo 'sport style' emblazoned on the front in a crazy font for his blackberry to go in.

I want to vomit just recanting this diabolical tale of cringeworthyness.

Personally I think freelanders are fine. Nowt wrong with them. DH's Dad having one though is just hilarious. The is some white haired, pot bellied, jumped up, shoulder chipped, small penis'ed little man trying to make people think he is someone special. It's glaringly obvious he's never been to charm school as he has the social graces of a mute vole.

His mistress was nicely attired however, although it was a shame she forgot to wash her hair this year, and we scurried her into the house before the neighbours saw. No, I am kidding in a way because I seriously don't give a hoot what people think of us. We are bog standard brits living Bogstandardville. Infact it would be great for the neighbours to see the 'odd couple' and then we could all laugh at them. The reason I write this stuff about them is to make myself feel better for the way they hurt me, DS and DH every time we see them. Also it helps to emphasise that they REALLY have tickets on themselves (smothered in them) and they look like something the cat dragged in. People like them deserve to be picked apart; in fact, they are positively inviting it!

Anyway, Dad stands in the porch for 15 minutes because he is a social leper and it takes DH calling him over for him to join the party. Mistress has already roamed the house and gardens and looked me up and down 50 times by the time he has actually overcome his retarded embarrassment of being outside his own house/car/ comfort zone.

They brought with them their dog called Brandi. So Geoffrey and Brandi are happily licking each others bits on the lawn and I am cooking Lunch and making tea etc.

DS is excited about the up and coming piano recital that he will play in and wants to show Grandad... Grandad promptly ignores him. He does this kind of thing a lot. He ignores you and looks like he is trying to dream up something clever to say and then the moment is gone and it leaves an uncomfortable silence and him looking like a prick and DS upset and me wanting to ram his head through the wall behind him.

Then DS asks him to sponsor him. After reading through the sponsor form and picking holes in it and being stupid and being a complete prat about everything to do with everything, 2 hours later he makes a BIG HUGE show of giving DS and tenner for it.

He sits snorking and talking through his three rotting front teeth about how he is doing this with his 'company' (tin pot effort), and how they have to spend £1000000 pounds doing this and that and £1000000 was spent on this dinner or that event or some other complete rubbish. I must admit I wasn't taking much notice, but its always about how much money this has cost or whatever. At its always £100000000000000000000000000 if you know what I mean.

Then they TELL us about themselves and how wonderful they are and their neighbours and how funny they are and how their neighbours have a friend who has a dog who has a auntie who has a brother who built a house and its fabulous and amazing and has four double 'beeeeardroooms' (because he likes to say things wrong on purpose because he is a stupid C***) and thinks this is very impressive. Its so tragic because they are trying sooooooo hard to impress people all the time and actually they fail because the things they are trying to impress people with are just run of the mill anyway! Talk about small dick syndrome.

Then we hear about these people who he knows who are the head of some company or other, and the MD this, and the chief exec that, and how they are 'really nice guys'. I dont know why, but the bloke makes me CRINGE and want to eat my own ears off when he says this. 'They are really nice guys' with his stupid stumpy toothed little chuckle of self improtance to himself - *WRETCH*

Oh my days. I am just glad that DH feels exactly the same way.

Then we have a great tirade of abuse about their next door neighbour because he commits the crime of having 2 cars and a camper van on the drive. Apparently he will be emailing the owner of the house (its rented) and ask them to move them. Oh sweet mercy.

Thankfully. one of the things we didn't get today was some kind of lawsuit pending against someone. He absolutely loves talking about suing this person or that company or whatever for £1000000000000000000. Again it apparently sounds impressive. Ummm No.

Then I made them all sit at the table and called over "Dad, do you want parsnips" which he completely refused to answer until Mistress nudges him and he snorks and then goes "no fankyoo" in a weak pathetic dumb voice. (remember he doesn't talk properly, and snorks or sighs before every word he does get out. Hardcore)
so I serve up roast beef, roast potato, green beans and carrots with a lovely gravy and they all tuck in heartily. Then we had strawberrys and cream and the cream got passed around to everyone and then we realised he hadn't put some on his... he just passed the jug around. This was so he could pour ALL the rest of the cream on his food - the cheeky bastard. So no one got a little extra and there was none left for the cats or anything else that I might have wanted to do with it!

I picked up all the plates and the bloke never even muttered a thank you. Mistress can only talk about her daughter and how her daughter has this and that and the other and its always twice as big or bad as what you have or have done or... well you know what I mean.

They spoke nothing but bullshit for the whole afternoon and when we were waving them off with gritted teeth (hoping that he would scratch his precious penis extension of a freelander) we realised that he had not once asked us how our holiday was, told us how well DS played his piano piece, wish us luck for the recital, asked how DH's job was going, asked what Ds was up to with his home school or looked at any of his projects, commented on the garage conversion ( even though he went in there today with DS to see the dog - last time he came he completely ignored the fact that it was there) and he had ignored every subtle little subject leader that we brought up about our lives - DH running the badminton club, DS doing drama etc

They couldn't give less of a shit about us if they tried.

I wish I was one of those writers who could sum up a persons character completely and really get across how this guy is, but I can't. I know there must be a word for this type of wannabe old fart who is self centred to a fault and has to invent this make believe world of wealth which he simply cannot pull off because he is an ill bred peasant. The fact that he has to do this with his own SON though... that is the tragedy of it all. What kind of person cannot be themselves with their own offspring?

Sometimes I wonder how the hell DH popped out of his Mum and Dad, or even how his sister can be so completely different to him. Its like they got this special person that dropped out of the sky or was swapped at birth because DH is the complete antithesis of his father. Thank GOD!

Bandwise, well its being very good. I am eating everything still which is good but not needing to snack. I am finding that Slimmingworld, doing it properly this time around, is actually very easy. Its not like this for me without the band though, so long may things stay the way they are.

I had a slice of beef, some green beans, 2 roast potatoes and carrots with gravy today for dinner and strawberrys with a mullerlite on. Not cream as you all probably thought!! Naughty naughty!! No, I was a good girl and I had vanilla mullerlite on my strawberries and so my dinner was about 1 syn (for the gravy). All the potatoes and parsnips were roasted with fry light, so it was great. The extra easy diet is so easy its unreal.

I got the dreaded curse on Thursday, so I have no idea what that will do to my weigh this week. I am still hoping for a loss because if I gain I will be devastated. I will try hard to remember that if it is a gain, its just fluid retention. Its so hot too, that I am taking on a lot more water this week Its been so hot and muggy and yucky. I know I had that dodgy day where I ate the chocolates, but I have been so good the rest of the week that I think it will be fine.

So off to the weighbridge tomorrow am. Will keep you posted.

When Friedewald Attacks

I don't get very excited about nitpicking blood lipids. That's not to say they're not useful. There's definitely an association between blood lipids and certain health outcomes such as cardiovascular disease. The thing that tires me is when people uncritically interpret those associations as evidence that lipids are actually causing the problem.

Low-density lipoprotein, or LDL, is the cholesterol fraction that typically gets the most attention. High LDL associates with heart attack risk in Americans and some other groups. Statins reduce LDL and reduce heart attack risk in a subset of the population, and this has been used to support the idea that elevated LDL causes heart attacks. This is despite the fact that lowering LDL via diet doesn't seem to reduce heart attack risk (typically by reducing total fat and/or saturated fat). Statins may in fact work because they're anti-inflammatory, rather than because they reduce LDL. But both explanations are speculative at this point.

The fact remains that if you want to know if Mr. Jones is going to have a heart attack in the next five years, measuring his LDL will give you more information than not measuring his LDL. This association doesn't seem to apply to all cultures or to Americans eating atypical diets. Then you can get into the fractions that associate more tightly with heart attack risk, such as low HDL, high triglycerides, small dense LDL, etc. Triglycerides vary with HDL (that is, when trigs go up, HDL generally goes down) and the ratio also happens to be a predictor of insulin sensitivity. Total cholesterol is virtually useless for predicting heart attack risk in the general population. This is something I'll discuss in more detail at another time.

When you walk into the doctor's office and ask him to measure your cholesterol, the numbers you get back will generally be total cholesterol, LDL, HDL and triglycerides. All of those except LDL are measured directly. LDL is calculated using the Friedewald equation, which is (in mg/dL):

LDL = TC - HDL - (TG/5)

Low-carb advocates have known for quite some time that this equation fails to accurately predict LDL concentration outside certain triglyceride ranges. Dr. Michael Eades put up a post about this recently, and Richard Nikoley has written about it before as well. The reason low-carb advocates know this is that reducing carbohydrate generally reduces triglycerides, often below 100 mg/dL. This is the range at which the Friedewald equation becomes unreliable, resulting in artificially inflated LDL numbers that make you have a heart attack just by reading them.

I had a lipid panel done a while back, just for kicks. My LDL, calculated by the Friedewald equation, was 131 mg/dL. Over 130 is considered high. Pass the statins! But wait, my triglycerides were 48 mg/dL, which is quite low. I found a paper through Dr. Eades' post that contains an equation for accurately calculating LDL in people whose triglycerides are below 100 mg/dL*. Here it is (mg/dL):

LDL = TC/1.19 + TG/1.9 - HDL/1.1 - 38

I ran my numbers through this equation. My new, accurate calculated LDL? 98 mg/dL. Even the U.S. National Cholesterol Education Panel wouldn't put me on statins with an LDL like that. I managed to shave 33 mg/dL off my LDL in 2 minutes. Isn't math fun?

*This equation was designed for individuals with a total cholesterol over 250 mg/dL.

When Friedewald Attacks

I don't get very excited about nitpicking blood lipids. That's not to say they're not useful. There's definitely an association between blood lipids and certain health outcomes such as cardiovascular disease. The thing that tires me is when people uncritically interpret those associations as evidence that lipids are actually causing the problem.

Low-density lipoprotein, or LDL, is the cholesterol fraction that typically gets the most attention. High LDL associates with heart attack risk in Americans and some other groups. Statins reduce LDL and reduce heart attack risk in a subset of the population, and this has been used to support the idea that elevated LDL causes heart attacks. This is despite the fact that lowering LDL via diet doesn't seem to reduce heart attack risk (typically by reducing total fat and/or saturated fat). Statins may in fact work because they're anti-inflammatory, rather than because they reduce LDL. But both explanations are speculative at this point.

The fact remains that if you want to know if Mr. Jones is going to have a heart attack in the next five years, measuring his LDL will give you more information than not measuring his LDL. This association doesn't seem to apply to all cultures or to Americans eating atypical diets. Then you can get into the fractions that associate more tightly with heart attack risk, such as low HDL, high triglycerides, small dense LDL, etc. Triglycerides vary with HDL (that is, when trigs go up, HDL generally goes down) and the ratio also happens to be a predictor of insulin sensitivity. Total cholesterol is virtually useless for predicting heart attack risk in the general population. This is something I'll discuss in more detail at another time.

When you walk into the doctor's office and ask him to measure your cholesterol, the numbers you get back will generally be total cholesterol, LDL, HDL and triglycerides. All of those except LDL are measured directly. LDL is calculated using the Friedewald equation, which is (in mg/dL):

LDL = TC - HDL - (TG/5)

Low-carb advocates have known for quite some time that this equation fails to accurately predict LDL concentration outside certain triglyceride ranges. Dr. Michael Eades put up a post about this recently, and Richard Nikoley has written about it before as well. The reason low-carb advocates know this is that reducing carbohydrate generally reduces triglycerides, often below 100 mg/dL. This is the range at which the Friedewald equation becomes unreliable, resulting in artificially inflated LDL numbers that make you have a heart attack just by reading them.

I had a lipid panel done a while back, just for kicks. My LDL, calculated by the Friedewald equation, was 131 mg/dL. Over 130 is considered high. Pass the statins! But wait, my triglycerides were 48 mg/dL, which is quite low. I found a paper through Dr. Eades' post that contains an equation for accurately calculating LDL in people whose triglycerides are below 100 mg/dL*. Here it is (mg/dL):

LDL = TC/1.19 + TG/1.9 - HDL/1.1 - 38

I ran my numbers through this equation. My new, accurate calculated LDL? 98 mg/dL. Even the U.S. National Cholesterol Education Panel wouldn't put me on statins with an LDL like that. I managed to shave 33 mg/dL off my LDL in 2 minutes. Isn't math fun?

*This equation was designed for individuals with a total cholesterol over 250 mg/dL.

Farrah and Michael

Michael. I danced to his music. Even my mother bought his Thriller album when she was in her 60's, for herself. She loved pop music.

Farrah. I wanted to be her. I had her hairstyle when I was in college. I never had a body like hers, but it was my goal (still is).

I saw Farrah's documentary about her battle against anal cancer. It was painful to watch. I thought she was brave. I cried for her, for her family, even for Ryan.

I remember Farrah said she wanted just one thing. She wanted to live.

It puts it all in perspective. My battle against obesity versus Farrah's battle against anal cancer. It makes my problem look trivial.

On a lighter note
Yesterday I Googled "how to not feel hungry". I was having another day of ravenous, insatiable hunger. After I read several web sites that said "drink lots of water", I found my favorite answer on wiki.answers.com:

How to not feel hungry?

Eat.

I fought the binge and the binge won

The truth: I didn't even try to fight the binge. That's how it won.

Yesterday was my first day of counting calories. It was a big freaking disaster. I was perfect up until 9pm, my bewitching hour. I swear if I could somehow go from 9pm to 6am without entering the kitchen, I could get to my goal weight.

At 9pm I had eaten 1550 calories, and was doing great. Since I had burned 600 calories in two hours of exercise yesterday (walking and the gym), I thought 1600-1700 was a good range of calories for me. Then it happened.

I was putting away leftovers in the freezer, when I spotted my most favorite thing. Skinny Cow mint ice cream sandwiches, 140 calories each. I did the math and thought that would only put me up to 1690, I'd still be okay.

After eating one ice cream sandwich, the mindless eating thing happened. I ate the entire package, six ice cream sandwiches for 840 calories. After that I ate two handfuls of pecans for about 400 (?) calories. I don't even know what I was thinking. I guess that's the problem, I wasn't thinking.

I woke up this morning with regrets. My first thoughts almost every morning are what did I eat yesterday, was my eating good or was it bad? It's pathetic. I often wonder if this is how an alcoholic feels after a drinking binge. The remorse, the self-hatred.

To make matters worse, I skipped the gym this morning. I'm extremely sore from some intense workouts the last few days. I'm walking at lunch, and I'll hit the gym on my way home tonight.

I realize last night was just one night, but this is how it starts, my path back to obesity. Will I ever get control of my binge eating? Why is it so easy to lose control? Why do I do this to myself? Is it some form of self-hatred to eat like this? Of course, the biggest question, can I stop this in it's tracks right now? As usual, I don't have the answers, just the questions.

Today is a new day, a new fight. Hopefully, I'll come out a winner today.

2 hours

Just done a long walk in 26 Degrees. We were out for 2 hours and walked roads, fields of grass, dirt tracks, linseed fields and country paths and allotments around the village. Been to places today I didn't know existed and saw how beautiful some of the places here are when the sun is shining.

Feel better for doing that and must have burned off a few of those naughty calories too.

Bad Girl

It was my Friend's daughters Prom yesterday, and I said that I would do her nails for her. She came over on Monday and I did her a flash set of pink and whites and they looked awesome. She gave me a bunch of pink roses which were gorgeous, and then

a

BIG

box

of

Cadbury's Heroes

They sat like a giant elephant on the piano all Monday, all Tuesday, and all yesterday and this morning I ran downstairs and grabbed them after DH went to work and sat in bed and stuffed half a box. I feel like a nasty little sneak and a horrible cow because I told DS that he couldn't have any and that I was going to give them away to someone as a pressie. Now he is eating the remains and then we are going to go out and have a really really REALLY long walk because I feel so bad and sick just thinking about my disgusting fatness and hopefully will lose some of those pointless calories I ingested. Anyone know how much walking burns?

Doing the happy dance over my RMR!

I had my resting metabolic rate (RMR) measured this morning at Swedish Hospital in downtown Seattle. They used a little machine called a MedGem. It somehow figures out your RMR by your breathing, how much oxygen your body absorbs indicates your metabolic rate.

When the test was done, the dietitian looked at my number of 1900 and said, "Wow! That's a great number!" Remember my 29-year old friend, the skinny one that eats all the time? Her RMR is 1700, and that was considered really good.

I was literally doing the happy dance around the room. My metabolism is better than a 29-year old that's training for a marathon. Woohoo!

Factoring in for my sedentary job, here are my base calories to maintain my current weight.

My RMR: 1900 X Lifestyle Factor: 1.2 = Daily Energy Expenditure: 2280 Calories/Day

That number is based on me sitting still all day, no exercise. Considering I usually burn at least 400 to 500 calories (or more) a day in exercise, I probably need to eat a little more than has been my goal of 28 Points or about 1400 calories to lose two pounds a week, maybe around 1600-1700. This might explain why I feel so starved when I only eat 28 Points.

The dietitian asked me about my exercise and if I strength train. I told him I do 30-40 minutes cardio and 40 minutes of strength five to six days a week. Technically I probably only lift weights for 30 minutes a day, considering rest time between sets. He said that's why my RMR is so high, the strength training.

The dietitian told me about a woman my age that had been in his office a few weeks earlier. She had been working out for six years, but only cardio, no strength. Her RMR was 1200 calories. He said she was really disappointed it was so low (almost in tears). He told her to lift weights. He said I was proof that it works. That thrilled me beyond words that I'm an example of someone doing something right.

I'm counting calories today, which is really different. I haven't done this in years. Even pre-Weight Watchers I was doing South Beach and before that it was Jenny Craig. Does anyone have a good website they use where it keeps track of your calories? I'm using CalorieKing.com to look up the counts, but I miss the online Points tracker. I feel like I'm back in the dark ages writing in a little notebook.

I'm thrilled over my RMR. I was really afraid my metabolism had been broken from years of dieting and starving myself, then gaining and losing hundreds of pounds. It appears with hard work that damage was reversed. Still doing the happy dance!

Letter to the Editor

I just got a letter to the editor published in the journal Obesity. It's a comment on an article published in October titled "Efficiency of Intermittent Exercise on Adiposity and Fatty Liver in Rats Fed With High-fat Diet."

In the study, they placed rats on a diet composed of "commercial rat chow plus peanuts, milk chocolate, and sweet biscuit in a proportion of 3:2:2:1," and then proceeded to simply call it a "high-fat diet" in the title and text body, with no reference to its actual composition outside the methods section. We can't tolerate this kind of fudging if we want real answers from nutrition science. Rats eating the "high-fat diet" developed abdominal obesity, fatty liver and hyperphagia, but this was attenuated by exercise.

As I like to say, the problem isn't usually in the data, it's in the interpretation of the data. The result is interesting and highly relevant. But you can't use terminology that tars and feathers all fat when your diet was in fact high in linoleic acid (omega-6), low in omega-3 and high in sugar and refined grains. Especially when butter and coconut oil don't cause the same pathology. I pointed out in the letter that we need to be more precise about how we define "high-fat diets". I also pointed out that the study is highly relevant to the modern U.S., because it supports the hypothesis that a junk food diet high in linoleic acid and sugar causes metabolic disturbances and fatty liver, and exercise may be protective.

Letter to the Editor

I just got a letter to the editor published in the journal Obesity. It's a comment on an article published in October titled "Efficiency of Intermittent Exercise on Adiposity and Fatty Liver in Rats Fed With High-fat Diet."

In the study, they placed rats on a diet composed of "commercial rat chow plus peanuts, milk chocolate, and sweet biscuit in a proportion of 3:2:2:1," and then proceeded to simply call it a "high-fat diet" in the title and text body, with no reference to its actual composition outside the methods section. We can't tolerate this kind of fudging if we want real answers from nutrition science. Rats eating the "high-fat diet" developed abdominal obesity, fatty liver and hyperphagia, but this was attenuated by exercise.

As I like to say, the problem isn't usually in the data, it's in the interpretation of the data. The result is interesting and highly relevant. But you can't use terminology that tars and feathers all fat when your diet was in fact high in linoleic acid (omega-6), low in omega-3 and high in sugar and refined grains. Especially when butter and coconut oil don't cause the same pathology. I pointed out in the letter that we need to be more precise about how we define "high-fat diets". I also pointed out that the study is highly relevant to the modern U.S., because it supports the hypothesis that a junk food diet high in linoleic acid and sugar causes metabolic disturbances and fatty liver, and exercise may be protective.

Yesterday

I felt horrible yesterday.

At 2:30 we had a phone call from the RSPCA man. Sue's cat Felix had been run over and was badly injured. Now, it is Sue's cat, but it obviously lives here, was born here, and his parents are our pets. Felix is our cat too in that respect.

The poor animal had an eye hanging out of its socket, was pouring blood and couldn't walk. Sue has him insured as a result of not being insured this time last year when the dog savaged him and having to pay £700. The person who ran him over was apparently distraught, and sat with him for over an hour and a half waiting for the RSPCA man to turn up. They saved his little life, because they kept him still and warm.

RSPCA man took him to our Vets and Sue pulled her curlers out and bombed down after him. When she came home they had made a quick summary and said that he would lose the eye, was not responding to light with the other one and also had a fractured jaw. There could be internal injuries too, but they didn't know yet, put him on a drip and sedated him and calmed him down.

Later in the day they phoned Sue and said that he needed intensive care treatment and needed to be transferred to The Queen's Veterinary School, which is part of Cambridge University. I took her whilst she sat in the back with Felix and we booked him in. What a place. Its really state of the art and I guess he is in the best place possible.

So they anaesthetised him fully yesterday to do tests etc and the whole diagnosis is that he has very very badly broken his jaw and its in pieces. They wired it shut yesterday whilst he was under anaesthetic to keep him from damaging it further, and they will repair that with wire etc tomorrow (Thursday). He had his left eye removed yesterday too and the other is blind and not in particularly good shape, so they are going to monitor that and its possible they will remove that one tomorrow as well. His Left leg is shattered too. They will pin, repair and cast this tomorrow when they do the jaw.

Today he is having a break from surgery and resting under heavy sedation in preparation for the main surgery tomorrow.

Our cats are not insured, so they would have been put down. Felix is, so Sue is doing all she can to help him. I am not sure that I would have made the same decision, but its up to her. He will be a blind house cat which we shall all have to adapt to, so we shall have to see how that works out and how he does with his recovery.

If a Human was in a RTA and had multiple injuries, we wouldn't put them down, and I would rather be blind and alive than dead I think... but that's about the only way I can justify fixing him up. My heart would have made me put him out of his misery I think, but then the vet says that he isn't in pain and will hopefully make a full recovery... but is that true?

I don't know. I just feel so so so sorry for the person who ran him over. It turns out it was one of my very good friends who lives a couple of roads up. Out of all the cats it had to be Felix, and out of all the people it had to be my friend. At least I know why the person sat with them for 1 and a 1/2 hours now. She adores cats and is such a lovely caring person. I think she is more devastated about it than we are.

So rubbish Tuesday. I hadn't eaten anything all day due to the drama's and about 6pm I was struggling and needed sugar. I got a Fridge milkshake and some yogurt coated banana chips and some kiddies sweets. I was going to get a Chinese on the way home too but stopped myself. I had some left over chilli con carne that I made the other day instead and then a few fishfingers.

Not the best, but they way I as feeling I could have eaten chocolates, crisps and ice cream and pigged right out, but I didn't.

Back on track today and feeling much better as things seem to be looking up for little Felix.

The boys are at the cinema, and I am home alone having a chill out. Great stuff.

For lunch I made 1 slice toast with baked beans and a poached egg. I managed half of that and then had to admit defeat. My band is not great at eating early on, so will leave it until dinner now.

What the hell is wrong with this woman?

As the woman stood in the dressing room, in front of the three-way mirror, she stared at her reflection. She was wearing low-rise, size 11 blue jeans and a black sleeveless, v-neck top. She looked at the blue jeans, hanging on her body, about ready to fall off.

Her friends were right, she needed new jeans. These looked awful on her, the butt was saggy and hanging down below where it should be. There was loose fabric around her hips and her thighs. From the waist down she resembled a homeless person wearing ill fitting jeans. Her shoes were cute, red high heels, but they didn't detract from the jeans.

She turned and looked at the pile of jeans laying on the chair and the jeans on the hangers. She had six pairs, two size 12 and four size 10. One pair of size 10's were slim-fit. She knew jeans tended to run small so even though most of her clothes were size 10, she hadn't dared try on size 10 jeans. The fear of rejection by a piece of fabric was more than she could bear.

First she pulled on the size 12's. Too big. She let out a sigh of relief. Next were the size 10's, they fit, and they weren't tight. They hugged her butt, but that's what jeans were suppose to do.

The last pair was the size 10 slim fit. She knew this was ridiculous, but maybe. She easily pulled them up over her hips. The real test was if she could zip them and not have flab hang over the top, the dreaded muffin top.

As she zip up the size 10 slim fit jeans, with no muffin top in sight, she had a feeling of elation. All those hours at the gym, all that deprivation of eating whatever the hell she wanted, it was all worth it.

The woman leaned against the wall in the dressing room, staring at her reflection. She still didn't like what she saw. Her hips were too big, her thighs too heavy. She found herself being critical of every part of her body. Her arms too flabby, her waist too thick.

Then she stared at her face, looking into her eyes. The thoughts whirling in her mind, thinking about the size 10 slim fit jeans that were on her body and how that conflicted with what her mind was telling her.

The woman thought back to 17 months ago, when she weighed 240 pounds. She remembered her size 18 jeans had split open in the butt while she was at work. The fabric tearing because of her excess bulk. She remembered buying her first pair of size 20 jeans. It was one of the most memorable and humiliating moments of her life.

She couldn't help but think, "what the hell is wrong with me?'

Yes, the woman is me, and this happened last night. I'm still wondering why I think I'm so fat. Why can't I truly accept who I am and what I look like? I'm not asking for compliments. As kind as you are about my appearance I honestly don't see what you see. I keep telling myself I've accepted it but it's a lie. A big fat lie.

Being the best I can be

My skinny girlfriend, Cindy, had her metabolism measured last week at Swedish hospital. Her base calories are approximately 1700, with no activity. She's been doing some serious marathon training for the November Seattle marathon for the last three months. She's 5' 2" and weighs 112 pounds (and yes I kind of hate her for that).

This explains why she can eat like a horse and not gain an ounce. Plus the fact she's only 29 and she's all muscle. She's the one with the crane and cherry blossom tattoo running down her side under her arm. It's gorgeous but she has a gorgeous body.

Tomorrow I'm going to get my metabolism measured at Swedish. I have a sinking feeling they're going to tell me my base caloric intake should be 800 or some other horrible deprivation level.

I have a lot going against me, I'm freaking old, almost 54 (I know Ida, that's not old!). I've yo-yo dieted my entire life. I'm pretty sure my metabolism is wrecked. Things in my favor are that I work out consistently and have done so for 17 months. I eat pretty healthy (is sugar-free mint chocolate chip ice cream a health food?). Of course, a lifetime of bad eating and exercise habits probably aren't going to be wiped away with 17 months of being "good".

I'm really curious about the results. I'm going to start counting calories for the next 60 days as part of the Missouri 60 Challenge. I'm so close to goal. I just need to bust past this 155 mark I've been hovering around. Don't worry, I know I'll never be 29 again and I'll never have Cindy's body. I've come to terms with that and I'm totally okay with it. I just want to be the best that I can be.

He kicked my butt!

I thought I was a fast walker. My friend, the one with the diabetes, royally kicked my fat butt during our walk today. He jogged while I race walked. Now everyone is telling me, "you WALKED with Alejandro! Didn't you know he never walks, but he runs?" Um, no, I didn't know that, he never told me. I said we were walking, not running. So I race walked.

Have you ever race walked three miles in 30 minutes? It's where you're walking so fast that you're almost jogging, but you have to keep one foot on the ground at all times. I read the race walking rules and that's one of them. Arms bent at the elbows.

I know you've seen little old ladies doing this and you've laughed at them because they looked so goofy. I looked goofy, but my heart rate was up around 140 and the sweat was pouring off of me. My friend was barely breathing hard.

This wasn't what I expected. I was suppose to kick his butt, not the other way around. Tomorrow he wants to go on the hill that goes down to the water. I'm already worried about it. Downhill no problem, but uphill it's torture and that's walking at my regular pace. Walking like a bat out of hell is probably going to kill me.

This is going to challenge me. Which reminds me, I'm going to do Tony's (anti-jared) Missouri 60 Challenge. I took a picture this morning but it looked too horrible to post. It was after my workout, and I sweat a lot. So maybe tonight or tomorrow I'll get a picture up. Sixty days. Maybe I can kick my own butt during that time.

Running on empty today

I'm exhausted today. I had a weekend resolution to get eight hours of sleep every night, that lasted all of one night. I got about four hours of sleep last night.

Dinner and a movie with my best friend got me home around 11pm (we talked a lot).

Then I was up at 3:30am checking on a software distribution. Normally not my thing but the regular guy is on vacation. It was software that if it wasn't distributed properly would shut down the airline, so I was a tiny bit worried. Everything went well, except my interuption of sleep. Since I couldn't go back to sleep I just stayed up. So tired.

Great workout this morning, in spite of the lack of sleep. The miracle of caffeine, although I'm sure I'm going to crash and burn this afternoon.

I'm walking at lunch with a guy that use to be on my team. I ran into him and his wife a couple weeks ago (she's the one that didn't recognize me). This guy was diagnosed with diabetes about a year ago. He's only 39 years old and needs to lose about 60 pounds.

I told him I walk really fast and he had to keep up with me or I'd leave him behind. He said he likes a good challenge. He's a really fun guy so I'm actually looking forward to walking with him. I gave up on all my other walking partners because they're too slow (or rather, they told me they won't walk with me anymore because I walk too fast for them).

Okay, this is the world's most boring post ever. I just don't have anything interesting or fun to say. I feel like I'm writing stuff just to be writing. Did I mention I'm really tired?

From Fat to Healthy

Roni Noone is 5'9" and she weighed 225 after giving birth to her child. Thirty-two weeks later she was down to 145 pounds. She's got a very inspiring blog. Check it out here.

Fatty Liver Reversal

On April 15th, I received an e-mail from a reader who I'll call Sam. Sam told me that he had elevated levels of the liver enzyme ALT (alanine transaminase) in his blood, which indicates liver damage. ALT is an enzyme contained in liver cells that's released into the bloodstream when they rupture. Sam also had fatty liver confirmed by biopsy.

Liver damage with fat accumulation is very common in the United States. According to the NHANES health and nutrition surveys, in the time period 1999-2002, 8.9% of Americans had elevated ALT. Just 10 years earlier (1988-1994), the number was 4.0%. Fatty liver is a growing epidemic that currently affects roughly a quarter of Americans. Sam told me he had been trying to reverse his fatty liver for nearly a decade without success, and asked if I had any thoughts. He was not overweight, and from what I could gather, his diet was already better than most. I believe Sam knew intuitively that the right diet would improve his condition. With the usual caveats that this is not advice and I'm not a doctor, here's what I told him:

The quality of fat you eat has a very large influence on health, and especially on the liver. Excess omega-6 is damaging to the liver. This type of fat is found primarily in refined seed oils such as corn oil, soybean oil, and safflower oil... Sugar is also a primary contributor to fatty liver. Reducing your sugar intake will go a long way toward reversing it. Omega-3 fats also help reverse fatty liver if an excess of omega-6 is present. There was a clinical trial using fish oil that was quite effective. You might try taking 1/2 teaspoon of fish oil per day.

On May 11, I received another e-mail from him:

The day after your recommendations, less than a month ago, I started a regimen of 1200 mg/day of fish oil concentrate.

At the same time, I significantly reduced or even eliminated all forms of sugar from my diet. I did have a half glass of orange juice for breakfast every few days or so, and some fruits, and maybe a taste of dessert or a small candy bar here and there. I never exceeded the 30 g/day sugar limit you suggested.

I completely eliminated any and all fried foods and avoided most oils. I also avoided high glycemic index foods to some degree, e.g. white bread and potatoes. I did eat quite a bit more protein, including red meat, eggs, fish, chicken, and pork.

The balance of my diet and lifestyle was largely unchanged. I do drink a couple of beers every two to three weeks, but never more than three drinks in day. I have been doing more yard work, simply because of the season. Other than that, I don't get much more exercise than a typical inactive office worker.

In the same e-mail, he sent me his new ALT test results. He had been getting tested since 2002. The latest result, reflecting his progress since adopting the new diet, followed the previous test by less than a month. Here's a graph of his ALT levels. Below 50 is considered normal: The latest test was 52, just on the cusp of normal. That's nearly 50% lower than his next lowest result over the past 7 years, in less than one month of eating well. I suspect that his next ALT test will be well within the normal range, and the fat in his liver will gradually disappear, if he continues this diet. When I asked him how he was feeling, he said:

I did feel different after adjusting my diet. It's hard to describe, but overall I just felt better. I wasn't as tired when I woke up in the morning and I became a little slimmer, not a lot, maybe 3-5 pounds [note: he was not overweight to begin with]. I figured it was a placebo effect, but I think the fish oil has made a real difference.

Yesterday I had a few potato chips, corn chips, and some others. I didn't like it at all. Today I had half of a brownie for an afternoon snack and I completely crashed after an hour or so. I had a hard time keeping my eyes open. I no longer have much of a craving for snack food, I prefer to eat a full meal with more protein, e.g. beans, meat etc.

Fatty liver is a serious problem that responds readily to diet. I believe the main culprits are excess omega-6 from industrial vegetable oils; insufficient omega-3 from seafood, leafy greens and pastured animal foods; and excess sugar. The liver is your "metabolic gatekeeper", so it pays to take care of it.

How to Fatten Your Liver
Excess Omega-6 Fat Damages Infants' Livers
Health is Multi-Factorial

Fatty Liver Reversal

On April 15th, I received an e-mail from a reader who I'll call Sam. Sam told me that he had elevated levels of the liver enzyme ALT (alanine transaminase) in his blood, which indicates liver damage. ALT is an enzyme contained in liver cells that's released into the bloodstream when they rupture. Sam also had fatty liver confirmed by biopsy.

Liver damage with fat accumulation is very common in the United States. According to the NHANES health and nutrition surveys, in the time period 1999-2002, 8.9% of Americans had elevated ALT. Just 10 years earlier (1988-1994), the number was 4.0%. Fatty liver is a growing epidemic that currently affects roughly a quarter of Americans. Sam told me he had been trying to reverse his fatty liver for nearly a decade without success, and asked if I had any thoughts. He was not overweight, and from what I could gather, his diet was already better than most. I believe Sam knew intuitively that the right diet would improve his condition. With the usual caveats that this is not advice and I'm not a doctor, here's what I told him:

The quality of fat you eat has a very large influence on health, and especially on the liver. Excess omega-6 is damaging to the liver. This type of fat is found primarily in refined seed oils such as corn oil, soybean oil, and safflower oil... Sugar is also a primary contributor to fatty liver. Reducing your sugar intake will go a long way toward reversing it. Omega-3 fats also help reverse fatty liver if an excess of omega-6 is present. There was a clinical trial using fish oil that was quite effective. You might try taking 1/2 teaspoon of fish oil per day.

On May 11, I received another e-mail from him:

The day after your recommendations, less than a month ago, I started a regimen of 1200 mg/day of fish oil concentrate.

At the same time, I significantly reduced or even eliminated all forms of sugar from my diet. I did have a half glass of orange juice for breakfast every few days or so, and some fruits, and maybe a taste of dessert or a small candy bar here and there. I never exceeded the 30 g/day sugar limit you suggested.

I completely eliminated any and all fried foods and avoided most oils. I also avoided high glycemic index foods to some degree, e.g. white bread and potatoes. I did eat quite a bit more protein, including red meat, eggs, fish, chicken, and pork.

The balance of my diet and lifestyle was largely unchanged. I do drink a couple of beers every two to three weeks, but never more than three drinks in day. I have been doing more yard work, simply because of the season. Other than that, I don't get much more exercise than a typical inactive office worker.

In the same e-mail, he sent me his new ALT test results. He had been getting tested since 2002. The latest result, reflecting his progress since adopting the new diet, followed the previous test by less than a month. Here's a graph of his ALT levels. Below 50 is considered normal: The latest test was 52, just on the cusp of normal. That's nearly 50% lower than his next lowest result over the past 7 years, in less than one month of eating well. I suspect that his next ALT test will be well within the normal range, and the fat in his liver will gradually disappear, if he continues this diet. When I asked him how he was feeling, he said:

I did feel different after adjusting my diet. It's hard to describe, but overall I just felt better. I wasn't as tired when I woke up in the morning and I became a little slimmer, not a lot, maybe 3-5 pounds [note: he was not overweight to begin with]. I figured it was a placebo effect, but I think the fish oil has made a real difference.

Yesterday I had a few potato chips, corn chips, and some others. I didn't like it at all. Today I had half of a brownie for an afternoon snack and I completely crashed after an hour or so. I had a hard time keeping my eyes open. I no longer have much of a craving for snack food, I prefer to eat a full meal with more protein, e.g. beans, meat etc.

Fatty liver is a serious problem that responds readily to diet. I believe the main culprits are excess omega-6 from industrial vegetable oils; insufficient omega-3 from seafood, leafy greens and pastured animal foods; and excess sugar. The liver is your "metabolic gatekeeper", so it pays to take care of it.

How to Fatten Your Liver
Excess Omega-6 Fat Damages Infants' Livers
Health is Multi-Factorial

Is the baby getting too fat?

With today's focus the obesity problem, peoples are starting to ask if a little baby
fat showed that infants were getting enough of the right nutrients or maybe there is problem with his/her health.
Is the baby growing properly? Is the baby getting too fat? How do you know between overweight and healthy/normal growth?

One doctor at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia believes that the problem of obesity starts as early as the first few months of our life. He has been combing through records of thousands of babies born in the early 1960s and has found that the amount of weight that children gain in the first four months of life is linked to childhood obesity at age 7, regardless of birth weight or if they were overweight at a year old.

“You can't predict overweight in kids in the first six months," says Frank Greer, professor of pediatrics at the University of Wisconsin and chairman of the American Academy of Pediatrics' committee on nutrition. "We don't want mothers calorie-counting." So if the baby looks fat doesn't mean that he needs to go on a diet. Furthermore, putting a baby on a diet would be dangerous. Because cells, especially those that surround budding brain cells, need fat to support and nurture them. As long as your baby is gaining both height and weight, weight gain shouldn't be a problem.

If your child's weight begins to increase faster than her height, though, you should immediately discuss it with your baby's doctor.
The doctor will compare your child's height and weight with standardized norms for children in the same sex and age. The doctor will also look at your child's weight in relation to his/her height on the growth chart.

Until you get a professional opinion about your infant's growth, don't make any changes to his diet. You need the expert to know the difference between normal and overweight.
Be aware about medical consequences for childhood with obesity.

Week 1 for Ben- 5 lbs!

I'm down 5 lbs. for the week! I had a good start with a whole body cleanse from GNC and a generally good diet this week.

Day 173 - Motivations For Change - Reason 1: Eat real food in single portions.

The reasons I will post are not in order of importance but rather how they came to my awareness. I have spent a lot of time pondering and analyzing the "why" in this weight loss journey. As reasons come to mind, I will post them.

Today I was thinking about the foods we eat when trying to loose weight. All previous success in weight loss was because I following a certain plan, a certain way of eating. Eating certain foods, measuring, weighing. The thought of putting forth this much effort this time was tiring. I have 4 kids. I home school these kids. I have church responsibilities that take time. I AM BUSY! Most people are!! I do not have time to put a lot of time and thought into what I am going to eat, which is why I have a weight problem! This time, I knew measuring, following a specific plan and eating specific foods wouldn't work for me this time. I had two choices, either find a way to make it simple OR accept the fact that I was a plus sized individual and be happy with it. Option two was way to exhausting to accept! The idea I had was to keep eating regular food. Unfortunately, foods with the least amount of processing tend to have the most fat and calories, but on the plus side, they also have real ingredients. Pick up a jar of regular mayonnaise. Read the ingredients and you will recognize what is used to make the stuff; oil, eggs, vinegar, salt...things you could pull from the cupboard and make yourself-if you had the time! Now pick up some fat free mayo and look at the difference in ingredients-looks like it was made in a lab! We live during a time where we are taught that if we are going to loose weight, we have to eat fat-free, sugar-free, carb-free, to be successful. This time, I decided to prove them wrong--at least I had hoped!

When I decided to start paying attention to what I was eating, I decided to by all means reduce or eliminate some of foods that have no nutrients for our bodies. Ice cream, cake, brownies... (Chocolate is good for the soul so that isn't one I was going to cut out, but I certainly needed to reduce the amount I consumed!) Changing the way I cook so that I can loose weight in a manner that my kids will still eat is quite a time challenge as well as a budget challenge as well. Who has time to cook multiple dinners or money to buy fancy specialty foods so you can make a meal taste better than it really is? I remember cooking items when I did WW that had ooodles of ingredients so that the food would have the same taste and texture as the full fat version. This is fine if you have tons of time, but who has that when the full fat version only had a few, common, household ingredients and was guaranteed to be yummy? The only solution I could find was asked in a question, what if I just eat the foods I cook already, that the family likes and just eat smaller amounts? So that is what I have been doing. We make strogganoff with full fat cream of mushroom and sour cream, bean burritos with real cheese, casseroles full of potatoes, cheese and sauce. I just eat a portion and then fill up on salad that has olive oil and vinegar on it or some other vegetable. The fat is what fills us up and good fat helps our body have healthy skin, shiny hair and strong brains, not to mention helps us utilize the fat soluble vitamins A,D, E & K.

So in summary, make sure you are cooking foods that are full of real foods, get rid of that chemical "diet" food. Find recipes that are easy to make and that your family enjoys because that will make your life simple. When you go out, don't be stressed about what you are going to eat, just eat a portion of whatever is being served. If you are going out, where portions are typically bigger, eat half of what you are served and save the rest for the next day or share with another. At home, eat a portion of whatever you make and add a vegetable. Sometimes, you might not be full, but you won't be hungry. Physically, it doesn't take a lot to kill the hunger pains and if you are hungry again in a few hours, have an ounce of your favorite nut and some water. In the evenings, which is my trigger time, I love a mug of herbal tea with a splash of milk. Most of the time though, after eating regular portions of food, we aren't physically hungry, our appetites are. It's the control of our appetites that we have to mentally deal with. Some people with distract themselves with other activities, others will try to analyze why they want to eat, for me, I just had to not focus on it. The more I focus on my appetite, the more I think of food and we know where that will lead us, back into the kitchen and I don't have time for that. I found that I LOVE books. Getting wrapped up in a good book at the end of the night kept my focus on the storyline instead of my appetite.

5 Day Pouch Test Starts Today!

Greetings Neighbors & Happy First Monday of Summer to you!After many consecutive days of rain the sun is finally shining and it does seem Summer has arrived. So for me it is the perfect time to refresh and restart. I'm doing the 5 Day Pouch Test in part to test some new recipes, but also to give myself a clean start to summer eating and grilling season. Today started with a protein shake (Atkins

4 POUNDS GONE - Slimmer of the Week

I am pretty darn chuffed with myself.

Went to see Wendy yesterday at the Clinic in Harley Street, London. I had gained 11 pounds since seeing her last time. I was glad to be able to tell her that it would have been 18 POUNDS had I not been doing the Slimmingworld plan for the last 2 weeks. I jumped on the scales there and weighed in at 17 stone 1.5 so I knew I had lost about 3 and a half pounds this week as a sneak preview before today's official weigh in at slimmingworld.

We had a good chat about things. I told her that I do feel restriction, and that I can eat basically anything. I told her my concern over being able to eat too much, and that I thought the amount I was consuming was too large, and she asked me a couple of good questions back. Do I stop during the meal and think 'Am I full?'? Am I eating a wide variety of foods and mainly protein and vegetables? Do I snack when I don't need to?

I gleaned from our conversation that my band is doing its job well, I just need to open my ears more. I need to put less on my plate, and think during the meal about how I am feeling. Doing slimmingworld is now the thing I need to do to keep in control. I need the weekly weigh in and to follow some kind of advice.

So when I went today I decided to stay to class. I was really glad I did because I was slimmer of the week! I got my half stone award too, and all the fruit (not that much of it will pass my lips as I find fruit difficult to eat with all the skins... too much chewing needed!)

So this weeks loss was 4 pounds, taking me to 17 stone 1, and I have an extra 0.2ml in my band taking it to 7mls in total.

I am just about to have lunch - new potato and vegetables. I know that there should be protein in there, but I don't fancy it and I am having a roast tonight, so will make up for it then.

Rock on weightloss!

Childhood obesity: Medical Consequences

Because of the dangers associated with childhood obesity, early intervention and family support is critical.

Childhood obesity is associated with a variety of adverse effects on psychosocial function, skeletal growth, and cardiovascular risk factors. Although several periods in childhood appear critical for the development of obesity, it is not yet clear whether these periods are also associated with an increased risk for the complications of obesity in either childhood or adulthood.

PSYCHOLOGICAL CONSEQUENCES
The psychosocial consequences of obesity are among the most widespread adverse effects of the disease. Children in kindergarten have already learned to associate obesity with a variety of less desirable traits, and rank obese children as those they like the least.
College acceptance rates for obese adolescent girls are lower than those for nonoverweight girls of comparable academic background. Adult women who are obese as adolescents or young adults earn less, more frequently remain unmarried, complete fewer years of school, and have higher rates of poverty than their nonobese peers.
Few of these effects occur among obese men. These results persist when controlled for the income and educational level of the young women’s parents, their IQ, or their self-esteem at baseline. The social effects of obesity in young adult women therefore appear related to an extension of the discrimination that begins in early childhood

SKELETAL GROWTH AND MATURATION
Obesity has multiple effects on growth and function in children and adolescents. For example, obese children tend to be taller, their bone ages are advanced, their fat-free mass is increased, and menarche in girls occurs earlier than in the non obese.
The origin of these effects is unclear. Increased height, advanced bone age, and earlier menarche may reflect the auxotrophic effects of increased food intake, whereas the increase in fat-free mass may result from both the increased muscle mass to support the increased weight and the nuclear mass of adipocytes. Because of their larger size, overweight children are frequently perceived and treated as older than they are, much to their confusion.
Furthermore, the increased stress of weight may cause bowing of the tibia (Blount’s disease) or femur and predispose young children to slipped capital femoral epiphysis.

CARDIOVASCULAR RISK FACTORS
As in adults, obesity affects blood pressure, lipid levels, and glucose tolerance in children and adolescents. Sixty percent of overweight children as young as 5–10 years of age have at least one of these cardiovascular disease risk factors, and more than 20% have two or more.
Obesity appears to be the leading cause of hypertension in children. Lipid profiles are similar to those in adults: low density lipoprotein levels are increased, and high density lipoprotein levels are low.
Increased rates of type 2 diabetes have followed the rapid increases in the prevalence of childhood and adolescent obesity. In some settings, type 2 diabetes now accounts for 30–40% of all new cases of diabetes. Although the prevalence of type 2 diabetes in the general population is low (0.5%), among some Native American groups the prevalence is close to 5%. Pediatric cases of type 2 diabetes generally occur among those 10–19 years of age, with a positive family history of type 2 diabetes, and more frequently among obese females or individuals with acanthosis nigricans.
At presentation, cases of type 2 diabetes in children and adolescents may resemble type 1 diabetes, suggesting that the actual prevalence of type 2 diabetes may be somewhat higher than it currently appears.
The most important factor related to the likelihood of obesity-associated hypertension, hyperlipidemia, and glucose intolerance in adults appears to be visceral fat. The few studies of adolescents that have controlled for total body fat have demonstrated an independent association of visceral fat, with unfavorable levels of systolic blood pressure and low- and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol.

PSEUDOTUMOR CEREBRI, SLEEP APNEA,
HEPATIC STEATOSIS, AND POLYCYSTIC OVARY DISEASE
Two of the most malignant consequences of childhood onset obesity are pseudotumor cerebri and sleep apnea. Obesity accounts for a significant proportion of pseudotumor cerebri, although the mechanism remains unclear.
The diagnosis is established by a history of headaches and the presence of papilledema. The most important sign of sleep apnea is daytime somnolence. Apnea is rarely mentioned spontaneously by parents, despite their apprehension and clear recognition of the difficulty that their child has breathing at night. If the tonsils are enlarged, a tonsillectomy may cure sleep apnea.
However, either unremitting sleep apnea or pseudotumor warrant the aggressive use of a restrictive hypocaloric diet in conjunction with vigorous family therapy.
Recent data from several studies indicate that 5–10% of overweight children and adolescents have modestly elevated liver enzymes. Ultrasound studies of these patients demonstrate increased hepatic fat deposition. Liver biopsies in severe cases have demonstrated steatohepatitis. Alcohol use appears to increase the likelihood of these changes.
Liver enzymes normalize with weight reduction. As in adults, polycystic ovary disease (PCOD) in adolescents is associated with obesity. The pathophysiology of PCOD is complicated; hyperinsulinemia is frequently associated with the syndrome, and hyperandrogenemia may contribute to increased fat-free mass and a male distribution of body fat.

EFFECTS OF CHILDHOOD OBESITY
ON PERSISTENCE INTO ADULTHOOD
The likelihood that obesity present during childhood will persist into adulthood rises with the age of the child, independent of the effect of parental obesity. Several studies have indicated that approximately 70% of overweight adolescents become obese adults. Age-of-onset effects of obesity in childhood or adolescence on either the severity or complications of adult obesity remain uncertain.
Obesity in adolescence appears to entrain a variety of morbid consequences. For example, in a cohort of adults originally studied from the time of their enrollment in elementary school through high school, all-cause and cardiovascular mortality rates were higher among men who were obese in high school, but not among women. The risk of diabetes and subsequent atherosclerosis was greater among both men and women who were obese during high school. Except for diabetes, the risk of death or subsequent morbidity was only modestly attenuated when controlled for the effect of adolescent obesity on adult weight. These results suggested that the effect of adolescent obesity on adult morbidity and mortality was not mediated by the effect of adolescent obesity on adult obesity. Either adolescent obesity had a direct impact on adult morbidity and mortality,or a third factor predisposed individuals to both adolescent obesity and adult disease.
Body fat distribution may represent the mechanism whereby obesity present in adolescence affects morbidity and mortality. Body fat distribution is more strongly centralized in adolescent males than in adolescent females. Therefore, one possibility is that the regionalization of fatness that occurs in obese adolescent males may increase the risk of later complications of obesity.


Based on book : EATING DISORDERS AND OBESITY Edited by Christopher G. Fairburn and Kelly D. Brownell

Obesity : Medical Complications for Adults

Obesity is of public health concern because of its association with serious medical complications that lead to increased morbidity and mortality. Being overweight is a problem in the United States. A third of all adult Americans are overweight.

If you are overweight, you are at high risk for obesity. And even if you don’t become obese, you are at a higher risk than a person with a healthy weight.

The most common complications associated with obesity are insulin resistance, diabetes mellitus, hypertension, dyslipidemia, cardiovascular disease, gallstones and cholecystitis, respiratory dysfunction, and increased incidence of certain cancers.

DIABETES MELLITUS
There is a strong positive correlation between the average weight in a population and the presence of type 2 (non-insulin-dependent) diabetes mellitus. In a male population divided into groups with BMIs of 25.0 to 26.9, 29 to 30, and greater than 35, the risk for diabetes (compared to a population with BMIs less than 21) increases 2.2-, 6.7-, and 42- fold, respectively.

The severity of the obesity is a determinant, as is the length of time obesity has been present. The pathogenesis of the diabetes is related to the insulin resistance caused by the obesity, which tends to increase in severity as BMI rises.

HYPERTENSION
About one-third of all obese persons are hypertensive. Epidemiological studies have demonstrated that for every 10-kilogram rise in body weight over normal, there is an average increase of 3 mm Hg in systolic and 2 mm Hg in diastolic pressure.
The longer the duration of obesity, the greater the risk of developing hypertension. Using data from the U.S. National Health Examination II Survey (in which obesity was defined as a weight for height above the 85th percentile of that of men and women in the third decade of life), the prevalence of hypertension in persons 20% or more overweight was twice that of persons of normal weight.

STROKE
Directly linked to the increased prevalence of hypertension in obese persons is an increased risk of stroke. In the Framingham Heart Study, for instance, there was a steeply rising curve of stroke with increasing weight.
For example, in the male group under 50 years of age, the risk of stroke rose from 22 to 30 to 49 per thousand as relative weights rose from 110% to 129% to higher than 130%, respectively.

DYSLIPIDEMIA
Obesity is associated with three particular abnormalities of circulating lipids:
1. Elevation of triglyceride levels,
2, Depression of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) levels, and
3. Increased presence of small, dense low-density lipoprotein (LDL) particles.

CARDIOVASCULAR DISEASE
Coronary heart disease is usually described epidemiologically as cardiovascular disease (CVD), which includes angina pectoris, nonfatal myocardial infarction, and sudden death. These conditions occur more frequently in obese persons.

GALLBLADDER DISEASE
A number of changes that occur with obesity predispose an individual to gallstone formation. As cholesterol excretion from the liver increases, the bile becomes supersaturated with cholesterol.
Also, the motility of the gallbladder decreases, so that the sac is emptied much less efficiently. Whether this condition is due to a decreased sensitivity to the cholecystokinin released with each meal is unclear. The net effect is to increase the formation of predominantly cholesterol-containing stones.
These stones enhance the propensity to gallbladder inflammation, so that acute and chronic cholecystitis is much more common in obese persons. The incidence of this condition is higher in women than in men, partly because the prevalence of obesity is higher in women, but there may be other, as yet undiscovered reasons.
The need for surgery to remove diseased gallbladders is much more common in obese persons, and more so in women than in men.

RESPIRATORY DISEASE
The increased weight of the chest in obese persons leads to poor respiratory motion and also decreased compliance of the respiratory system, so that both vital capacity and total lung capacity are often low.
As the overweight becomes more severe, ventilation–perfusion abnormalities impair adequate oxygenation of the blood, even though carbon dioxide escape is adequate. With continued and persistent obesity, sleep apnea, either peripheral or central, may occur. Peripheral apnea is manifested by obstruction of the airway, caused by excess fatty tissue and the relaxation of the pharyngeal and glossal muscles. Central apnea is the result of a cessation of the signals that initiate inspiration.
The mechanism for this cessation of signals is unclear but apneic episodes may occur many times during the night, causing significant hyperventilation. The severity of all these abnormalities may lead to progressively more severe hypoxemia and hypercapnia, which in turn may lead to pulmonary hypertension, right heart failure, and cor pulmonale.

CANCER
The relationships of obesity to various forms of cancer are somewhat unclear, and more data are required. However, there is an association between some cancers and overweight.
It is not known whether the association may be due to other relationships, such
as a high-fat diet, elevated total calories, or other specific dietary components. However, the associations, leaving causality unclear, have been well described.
In women, higher rates have been described for endometrial, gallbladder, cervical, and ovarian cancers. For breast cancer, premenopausal women who are obese are less at risk, while postmenopausal women are at greater risk. It is possible that some of this postmenopausal effect on breast cancer is related to the increasing estrogenicity that occurs with increasing obesity as women age. This increased estrogenicity is the result of estrogen production in adipose tissue from sex hormone precursors that are soluble in fat and converted there to active estrogen. This combined estrogenicity might affect breast cancer incidence. An increased incidence of colorectal and prostate cancers has been found in obese men. The mechanisms of this effect are unknown, although recent evidence suggests that the increased insulin levels resulting from the insulin resistance of
obesity may have mitogenic effects.

ARTHRITIS AND GOUT
Because of the increased stress on the weight-bearing joints caused by increased weight, degenerative disease of these joints is quite common in obese persons, particularly as the duration and severity of the obesity increases.
There is also an increased incidence of gout in persons who are overweight. Such an association has been found repeatedly in cross-sectional studies. This association of gout and overweight is manifested to a much greater degree in men than in women, in whom higher levels of excess fat are needed for the disease to develop.

EFFECTS OF FAT DISTRIBUTION
Epidemiological data from many countries have established fat distribution as an important determinant of disease risk. As a result, not only the degree of obesity but also the location of deposited fat are important. Results of available studies suggest that intra-abdominal, or visceral, fat is crucial in this regard. The pathophysiology may be related to the increased lipolytic activity of fat cells in this region, which release large amounts of FFA to the liver and the periphery. The combination of hyperlipacidemia and hyperinsulinemia leads to increased VLDL production, with resultant hypertriglyceridemia. The lipacidemia also inhibits glucose transport and oxidation in muscle, increasing the insulin resistance and the propensity for diabetes. The hyperinsulinemia leads to increased sodium absorption and increases the risk of hypertension.

The medical complications of obesity are considerable. It must be realized that diabetes mellitus, hypertension, dyslipidemia, cardiovascular disease, and stroke—aside from cancer, AIDS, and violence—are the leading causes of morbidity and mortality in the developed world. If cancer, a condition in which obesity often plays a part, is added, obesity is a large contributor to the burden of disease affecting industrialized countries.

Whether the effect of these diseases is direct and independent or indirect, through enhancing other risk factors, is essentially irrelevant from a public health perspective. If obesity could be prevented, a very significant and positive impact on chronic disease and mortality would occur.


Based on book : EATING DISORDERS AND OBESITY Edited by Christopher G. Fairburn and Kelly D. Brownell

This posting about medical consequences for childhood with obesity