Oh Janette - you poor thing. I feel so bad for you having to go through this. But, let's just all pray that within the next few weeks you will be feeling so much better and on your way back to a healthy weight. Are you gaining weight now that you have the PICC line in? Are you at least feeling better in that respect? I will continue to keep you in my prayers - please be sure to let us know how you are doing. Hey, I'm waiting for a call!!! Hugs and sending positive healing thoughts, Nancy

Accelerated Weight Loss: Dos and Don'ts! By Glenn Mueller eDiets Senior Writer Updated: August 16, 2006 http://www.ediets.com/news/article.cfm/cmi_2204323/cid_1/code_24730/ With summer in full-swing, practically everybody wants a bikini-ready body. The problem is that many people also seem willing to try just about anything to obtain it. In fact, well-intentioned consumers spend billions of dollars each year on an assortment of pills, potions and unusual gadgets that promise to help zap off the fat and keep them fit. Unfortunately, most of these products only end up slimming down the wallets of shoppers willing to hand over their hard-earned cash to buy them. Nobody understands what it really takes to turn your weight loss dreams into reality better than internationally renowned fitness guru and best-selling author Brad Schoenfeld. As owner and operator of the exclusive Personal Training Center for Women in Scarsdale, New York, Brad knows that there is no such thing as instant gratification when it comes to slimming down or shaping up. He has personally devised a revolutionary system of training designed to help his clients simultaneously shed body fat and increase muscle. However, Brad will be the first one to tell you that it takes hard work to accomplish these goals. "It never ceases to amaze me how many women ignore exercise when they are trying to lose weight," Brad tells eDiets. "Rest assured, if you don't exercise, you won't reshape your body. It's that simple. Only by combining exercise with a sensible nutritional program can you reap optimal benefits." Brad also stresses the importance of adding variety to your exercise routine. Since the human body adapts to repetitive stress, Brad explains that your muscles become immune to exercises that you perform over and over again. "Variety is the spice of fitness," Brad says. "This is a motto I live by and one that I'm constantly preaching in my books and seminars, and to my private clients." To help you get in the best shape of your life, Brad has an important list of Dos and Don'ts to share. If you want to accelerate the weight loss process, do the following: Do consume at least 1,200 calories a day. When you consume less than 1,200 calories a day, Brad says your body develops a starvation response, which will slow down your metabolism. Actually, he believes that 1,200 calories should be a bare minimum. Many women will need to consume even more than that. Do consume frequent, small meals throughout the day that are well-balanced. Eating frequent, balanced meals can help you to avoid hunger and fatigue by keeping your blood sugar stable. If you go for long periods of time without food, Brad says you are more likely to end up binge eating. "When you go without eating for more than a few hours, your body senses deprivation and shifts into starvation mode," Brad warns. "The importance of frequent feedings is even more pronounced when you're trying to lose weight." Do boost your metabolism by doing the following things: Drinking green tea. According to Brad, green tea has caffeine and other compounds that can increase your body's metabolism by up to 4 percent per day. You can either consume green tea in pill form or by brewing green tea leaves into a beverage. If you do consume green tea as a beverage though, Brad warns advises refraining from cream and sugar. Exercise beyond your comfort zone. When it comes to working out, Brad firmly believes that nothing is more important than intensity. Since the human body strives to maintain stability, Brad says it is essential to push your muscles beyond what they are used to lifting. Consume healthy omega-3 fats. These important fats are found in coldwater fish (salmon, tuna, trout), flaxseed and walnuts. According to Brad, you will slow down your metabolism if you avoid them. Schedule the occasional cheat day to keep your metabolism stoked and your cravings in check. Believe it or not, Brad is a firm believer in the "cheat day." He believes that scheduling cheat days for yourself is a great way to keep from feeling deprived. Now that you've learned the golden rules of accelerated weight loss, keep in mind that there are certain things that can also sabotage your efforts. If you are trying to lose weight quickly, don't do the following: Don't avoid strength training. Many women avoid strength training, because they are afraid that it will slow down their weight loss and bulk them up. However, Brad says weight training is actually the most important thing a woman can do to achieve a fit body. Though participating in aerobic exercises may help trim body fat, only strength training can help you develop muscle tone. "Although any type of exercise can be beneficial to losing body fat, resistance training is by far the most important activity in the shapeover process," Brad says. Don't go on a severely restricted calorie diet, or a nutritionally limited one. Severely restricting calories or limiting your nutritional intake is very unhealthy and will ultimately make you more likely to regain any weight you do happen to lose. Brad also says that whether people realize it or not, eating healthy is an integral part of the weight-loss equation "In addition to playing a role in whether you gain or lose body fat, what you eat also fuels exercise performance and promotes the development of lean muscle tissue," Brad says. "If you don't supply your body with the proper nutrients, you'll seriously compromise your workouts and results will suffer." Don't let your diet and exercise program end the day of the big event. Brad says too many people just use dieting and fitness as a way to get in shape for a special event like a wedding or high school reunion. He stresses that your exercise regimen and healthy eating plan should be a part of your lifestyle -- not just a temporary fix. "The unfortunate thing with many people is that they don't continue their exercise program after they reach a certain goal," Brad says. "Fitness is a never-ending endeavor. You can look as fit at 70 as you did when you were 20." In good health! Denise

Good morning... I'm struggling to get back on track again. I had a fabulous weekend in New York. I strayed a bit eating wise, but I did exercise a lot. My mom is here from Maryland (and yes... she's cooking again... hard to resist southern cooking)... I had fried pork chops yesterday and loved every bite. Today, I'm a going to try and resist and behave myself. I'm holding steady at 222 lbs. I must get to onderland by Christmas. That will be the best present I can give myself. So here's today's plan (WHAT'S YOURS?): Breakfast: Tilapia Applesauce Snack: AchievOne Lunch: Grilled Chicken Lettuce Lite Dressing Snack: Sugar free popsicles Dinner: AchievOne Snack: Sugar free popsicles Nutrition: 1005 Calories 28 Fat 29 Carb 118 Protein Exercise: 75 minutes - water aerobics - DONE! 30 minutes - walking 25 minutes Pilates Have a great day!! Denise

Why Do We Eat So Much? From Harvard Health Publications It's simple: Blame the environment! A nice, cozy atmosphere, big helpings, the way the food is arranged -- seemingly small variables like these may go a long way toward explaining the American penchant for overeating. Research into bad nutrition is almost limitless, but there's also a smaller pool of fascinating studies on how food consumption is influenced by the "eating environment," whi*****ludes factors like ambience and the number of people at a meal. Experts have also studied the effects of the "food environment" -- the way food is provided or presented. Many of us spend an awful lot of time fretting about what's in our food; these environmental studies suggest we should pay more attention to the cir****tances in which we eat. Crowd appeal Dim lights and soft music can make for a romantic meal, but according to some research, these amenities also encourage overeating. Yes, to eat fast food is to court nutritional disaster. But an unhurried meal can also add calories by way of desserts and extra drinks. When we linger over food, we are likely to eat more of it without even noticing. And if you settle in and get comfortable, you become less self-conscious, less inhibited, and more likely to keep on eating. Obviously eating has a social component; so many social occasions involve a meal or a snack. Studies have shown just how influential a little company can be. For example, researchers at Georgia State University in Atlanta have found that when people eat with others, they consume 44% more food than when they eat alone. They've shown just how much meal size increases depending on the number of people present. A meal eaten with one other person tends to be 33% larger than a meal eaten alone. With two, it is 47% larger and with three, 58% larger. If these studies are right, when you have Thanksgiving dinner, you're likely to eat nearly twice as much with seven or more companions as you would if you were by yourself (we're not suggesting, though, that anyone should eat Thanksgiving dinner alone). Who you eat with also makes a difference. People tend to eat more with spouses, family members, and friends than they do with strangers. And for women, though not for men, food consumption varies with the gender of their companions: Women eat 13% more when eating with men than they do when eating with other women. See-food Just seeing food whets the appetite. Brian Wansink, a researcher at the University of Illinois, found that people gobbled Hershey's chocolate kisses at a 46% faster rate when the candy was kept in a clear jar rather than an opaque one. Other experiments show that sandwiches in transparent wrapping go much faster than those in wrapping that you can't see through. Not surprisingly, putting food within easy reach also promotes consumption. A study of the office candy bowl, also using chocolate kisses as bait, found that administrative assistants ate 5.6 more of them each day when the bowl was on their desks instead of two yards away. In cafeterias, milk consumption shoots up when the dispenser is nearby. People drink more water if the pitcher is put on the table. Variety spices our lives, but it can also induce us to overeat. People eat more yogurt if they have a choice of three flavors instead of one. In another candy experiment, people given a mix of 10 colors ate 43% more than those given a mix of 7 colors. (Maybe this explains why M&M's are so appealing.) In a similar study, researchers offered jars containing six flavors of jelly beans in either an ordered or a random arrangement. Randomness gave an impression of variety, causing people to eat 70% more. This same psychology can be used to promote healthy eating. Salads are a great way to induce people to eat more vegetables. More galore Package size can have a surprisingly strong influence on how much a person eats, no matter how unpalatable the food inside might be. In a study in a Philadelphia suburb, moviegoers were given popcorn in two different-sized buckets. People with the larger buckets ate 33% more, even though the popcorn in both buckets was two weeks old. The wholesale stores of the world have made it much easier to stockpile food. The gargantuan packages they sell may cause people to eat more, partly because overflowing pantries and cupboards leave an abundance of food in plain sight -- or, as researchers term it, "visually salient." Wansink and a colleague monitored the food consumption of families for two weeks after their homes were stocked with eight different types of food. The families tore through the ready-to-eat food, but after eight days, consumption leveled off, partly because the food was now less visible, say the researchers. Family members might also have gotten tired of the taste. Plate, bowl, and cup size are important in this context because they help us judge how much we are eating. In one experiment, researchers had people eat soup from bowls that were secretly connected to a hose that added more soup while they ate. They ate over 75% more from these "bottomless bowls" than from normal bowls. Six tips for controlling how much you eat Recognizing the environmental factors that can encourage overeating may help you rein in this problem. Here are some practical suggestions: Move on. When you eat out, go elsewhere for after-dinner coffee so you are less tempted to segue right into dessert. Play hard to get. Put the most tempting foods high up in the cupboard, at the very back of the fridge, or in other inconvenient spots. Replace the cookie jar and candy bowl with a fruit bowl. Downsize. Many small containers are better than a few large ones, because they provide convenient stopping points. Never eat directly out of a large package. Plan ahead. Decide how much you're going to eat before an event and do your best to stick with that plan. Set some limits before you go to the movies or watch the Sunday afternoon football games. It's so easy to mindlessly munch when you're in front of a screen of any kind. Be a copycat. Look around. Who's eating the least? Who has the healthiest food on their plate? Model your eating habits on that person's. Keep it the same. Don't put out too many different varieties of the same kind of food. You'll be tempted to sample from each one and eat a lot more than if you were faced with fewer choices. It's been well documented that portion sizes are increasing in the United States. The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute has put together a Web site quiz, aptly named Portion Distortion, which challenges you to guess how calorie counts in the 1980s compare with this decade's. The Web address is http://hin.nhlbi.nih.gov/portion. We'll give away the answer for the once-humble bagel. The 1984 version was a mere 3 inches across and contained 140 calories. In 2004, the average bagel is 6 inches across and contains 350 calories, which is the number contained in 31/2, 8-ounce servings of a soft drink. http://www.ediets.com/news/article.cfm/cmi_1630887/cid_7/code_24720/

Oh Janette, you poor thing! That's what I had ~ a PICC line. It really freaked me out. Luckily I only had it for a couple of weeks until the ulcer and stricture eased up. I feel so badly for you ~ how are you holding up emotionally? This has got to be very tough for you to deal with. Have you got a good support system? If there's anything I can do for you or if you need/want to talk, email me and I'll give you my phone number or you can give me yours. Thinking about you and praying that this all resolves itself in the easiest way possible. Hang in there....things will get better!!! Love ya!! Nancy