It's Friday again!!!!

Great minds think alike I started doing that yesterday thanks for the congratulations on the 2 pounds...gotta get the weight offfffff!!! I want to lower my pressure *nods*

Hello skin & bones challenged people,

This is the first time I read this thread which was just after the recent almost Friday post. Not sure if I should be posting here or somewhere else. I sure don't want to be left out of a weight conscious group especially what happened to me this week.

Well maybe not just this week as I recollect it has been going on since I was in grade 6 or 7. Thats when the biggest guy in our class, a good friend and quite popular, pinned me in a friendly wrestling tussle. Tough guy I was, I blamed it on the fact he was quite a bit heavier than I was so really had no chance. Kind of made a bad decision at that point as figured if I gained a bunch of weight I would be able to beat him and be really popular at the same time.

Well, I gained the weight all right, but we never wrestled again and my popularity never really took off. Not sure if fat just went out of style or my acne had not yet cleared up. Whatever, it stuck in my mind that being somewhat overweight was not really a bad thing. Which brings me to the news I got this week, and maybe you guys can help me, although I doubt it because am having trouble helping myself.

I have been off work for about a week and a half. In the past three years or so this has not been too uncommon as have had health problems. The most significant was the Aortic heart valve replacement & some minor complications. Passed out at work a couple of times and they had to trundle me the hell out of there. Just hate stretchers with all the fellow workers gawking at me. I do work for a really great company but it's a bit of a pain when they ask how I am feeling at all times and seem to be waiting for me to keel over.

So anyway, this week my family MD got blood & urine results and asked if anyone had told me I had diabetes. This guy has been my family doctor for 30 years and the same one who 3 years ago asked if anyone told me I had a heart murmur. This just after he figured out I had congestive heart failure because I couldn't breathe and almost died.

Astute little fellow he is, I am now off to Weight Watchers, as prescribed, to combat my adolescent yearnings and get rid of the diabetes. Well, he also is sending me to my cardiologist and some diabetes clinic. I think he knows I am writing an expose on waiting rooms pertaining to time passage, decor, numbers of chairs and oldest copies of Reader's Digest.

Sorry for all the babbling. feeling a little out of sorts The gist of it is I have to lose a bunch of weight and this is not by choice. Kind of a have to sort of thing. Probably 75 to 100 pounds (34 to 45 kilos for the metric crowd). I think I'm about 268 pounds right now - have gained a lot recently.

If this is a weekly thread, and I hope it is, I will let you know if I make any progress weight wise. If any of you have any info on Weight Watchers or other tips I would really appreciate it.

Bob F

unclebob,
I know you're still an adolescent, but take a look at these two, both from the Tufts University Nutrition.

Strength Training for Older Adults (Program built with the help of the CDC)

Lift weights to control type 2 diabetes

The following is quoted from the second reference:

Sixty-two older men and women were randomized into either a strength-training program or a “usual care” control group. After sixteen weeks, the men and women in the strength-training group experienced significant improvements in glucose control, had reductions in blood pressure, became stronger, gained muscle, and lost body fat. In addition, most of the volunteers in the strength-training group were able to reduce their intake of diabetes medications. The results were even better than we anticipated!

O.

Unclebob....

Oh my do I ever know Weight Watchers. Joined for the first time in the 70's.

There is a lot of good information on the internet. Weightwatchers.com is really good. You can join the web site for a small fee each month and keep track of your points there, keep track of weight, there are message boards and lots of recipes. I believe another great site was called Dottie's Weight Loss Zone...try googling that for the address. Actually just google weight watchers....tons and tons and tons of info. You can get lost on the web for hours and hours and hours reading all the info.

Actually I need to get back into WW....maybe you and I can be buddies.

I was supposed to get bloodwork done today for possible diabetes also---backed out because I have some GI track virus combined with a headache and just didn't feel like a field trip to the hospital today. My doc flipped out because my pre-surgery (hysterectomy this summer) bloodwork showed a glucose level of 105 and it is supposed to be under 100. Well, shoot. That isn't valid unless it was a FASTING glucose and by the time she called me all flipped out, weeks had gone by and I can't remember...but I think I had that bloodwork done after lunch one day. It was not a fasting bloodwork, I'm sure of that. So now she has "pre-diabetes" written down as one of my growing lsts of diagnoses. GRRRRR. I've got enough things on that list without her making up new ones! I'm out to prove her wrong.

So now I'm going to get a hemoglobin A-I-C drawn...that shows my AVERAGE glucose level for the past 2-3 months. If that is high, THEN I'll get concerned. Also my uric acid level to see if this dang swollen sore toe of mine is from gout or just from tennis. Also a C-reactive protein to see how my arteries are doing. And last but not least....full thyroid panel, iron levels, folate, B12 and magnesium levels. That's all to check out my restless leg syndrome status....apparently my legs wake me up 20 times an hour and it could be affected by vitamin/mineral deficiencies?

Oh, and a chest x-ray to see if the right side of my heart is enlarged because we are sure I've had this severe sleep apnea....untreated...for at least a decade and probably two decades. Hubby is feeling guilty that he didn't have me treated before this so he wants to re-assure himself that my heart isn't damaged. It is my nature to try to learn everything I can about stuff and talk to people to hear their experiences....so I've talked to everyone I personally know who is on CPAP....and guess who their sleep doctor is??? MY HUSBAND! Oh, yeah. I was getting madder and madder and madder and finally put a REALLY good guilt trip on him! Geez loueez!

Isn't getting older just grand? By the way, your doctor and my hubby sound a lot alike...just a little slow on the uptake! I wish some of my stuff had been diagnosed earlier also! (Hint, hint...it would be a little easier for you to dump your doctor than it would be for me to dump my hubby!)

And here I am needing sleep when my 17 year old comes to me at 11:30 PM and tells me he has to bring a dessert to serve 40 for a retreat tomorrow. And he has to leave for the retreat at 6:45 am.....YIKES! so I'm baking brownies and talking about diets...sigh. NOBODY in my family is very helpful! lol, lol....

Jan in Colo.

unclebob...you can do it. I have also used weight watchers a couple of times with great results. If you follow it, you will lose weight. I was told recently from my doctor that I too needed to lose weight. Nothing makes you feel worse then knowing it is not your own choice to want to lose it...but that a doctor says you have to. It will be hard the first week or so, but once you see that first few pounds come off...you will want to keep going. So good luck to you...

Readers Digest....one of my favorite books...good bathroom reading material...

Hi Uncle Bob.....go for it...weight watchers has definitely been the best plan I have ever been on.....but it helps to stay with it I haven't been too good about that!

I share with you the Aortic Valve Replacement, the CHF and the diabetes (and RLS/PLMD with Jan) so there is a lot of understanding here.

Exercise will help your diabetes greatly...but if you have CHF you need to clear it with your doc and also watch your breathing etc. Perhaps a supervised exercise program? Or even walking, probably the best exercise there is. Swimming for some reason isn't great for weight loss.

You sound like you are in the midst of life changing events....but you also sound like you are "taking the bull by the horns" and taking control as best you can.

Keep us posted with how you are doing.


I know it is early but I will post that I lost 2 pounds this week!!!! I should have lost more, one of my issues is the RLS/PLMD as when I get frustrated at night I get up and eat. Really counterproductive. Need to work on that.

Uncle Bob (or UB, as I call my REAL Uncle Bob),

I lost 39 lbs. on WW after my third child, when I ate everything in sight while pregnant. It is great as it is a way of life and not a diet. You will do great if you play by their rules. And I didn't go to meetings, just weigh-ins (the humiliation factor was all I needed each week not wanting to get on the scale and have gained).

Uncle Bob,
Here's sending you my best wishes too! I think this is the most amazing thing about this site; that we can share issues like these and we all have similar issues and EVERYONE is so encouraging. It's wonderful to feel that can kind of encouragement.
I recently had my blood sugar tested because I was borderline before, but this time it was down. (Personally i don't see how, cuz I gained 20 lbs this summer)
But all the good results on my bloodwork took away all my excuses to lose the weight and the doc said I should lose 25 lbs, but best would be 40 for optimum OSA treatment (easy for skinny little him to say) So I will be right in there with you trying to lose excess lbs. Good luck!

Jan, I just re-read your post.....the restless leg, periodic limb movement could also be impacted by your sleep apnea....your body kicks to wake you up just enough to breathe...you may or may not be aware that it is happening....but your husband should be aware of your kicking.

Not that the other vitamins/minerals etc....especially iron levels and transferrin levels aren't important. I just started taking iron 2 weeks ago and there has been a noticeable improvement in the RLS/PLMD.

Hope the A1C shows NO diabetes....105 as a non-fasting glucose reading is actually very good! Also hope your toe is better and that there are no cardiac problems looming.

Take care of yourself.....and hope your husband is also beginning to help you with all of this. Sounds like he has had a "wake up" call (sorry about that terminology!)

Hope those kids enjoyed the brownies.

Hi all,

I wish I oculd say I lost a couple of pounds, but I gain a couple. I think it really has to do with the natural fluctuation that we all have from day to day. At least thats what I keep telling my self!

I guess the pizza i had on tuesday didn't help much!

Teri

Teri......don't be discouraged. We do go up and down in weight....especially woman. I know sometimes I can get weighted and be up two lbs, and then the next day back down again. So keep trying. I stayed the same this week...we'll both have to try extra hard next week.

I think this is where we posted our weight last week....there seems to be two going.

Think I may have to go for a sex change operation or a least buy a wig and get a better razor.

Went to the Weight Watchers meeting tonight as a guest. Perhaps some of you can help me with interpretation of the statistics as I see them.

There were 25 females and I was the only male. Does this mean I am the only fat man here or do overweight women out number overweight men by 25 to 1?

Pretty sure I am going to sign up (doctors orders and all) but maybe just do the on-line web version.

Bob F

Bob,

No, that means you are one of the smartest men with weight to lose. I say congrats are in order for you taking such an intelligent approach to your weight loss. I lost 39 lbs. once on WW after having a baby. No need for the meetings, but thought the humiliation of the weekly weigh-ins was enough to keep me honest all week. Didn't ever want to see the weight go up. So the weekly weigh-ins were enough for me. And once the lbs. start to come off, you won't care who is in the room; it's so rewarding.

I say you should feel great and not worry about the fact that you are the only man right now in a room full of women. Most men would find that a positive thing...Best of luck. You're going to do great.

unclebob wrote:There were 25 females and I was the only male.

Bonus! .

Bill, I don't know if I'd consider that a bonus or not....after all, remember why those ladies are there!!!! LOL