yes - it still works, but not as well as it did at first.

1200 is really low for me. But I weigh more than you and may have a different body composition. I maintain on 1600 calories. To lose weight, I drop down to around 1400. I can't go lower than that - or for more that a couple of days, anyway. I know I'd lose weight faster that way, but it's just not sustainable for me. I could do it the first week or two on this med, but now 1400 is about as low as I can go and sustain for a long period of time.

remember that photo I posted of myself when I weighed in the low 140s? Even though that is in the middle of a normal BMI scale, I looked way too thin. My fat percentage was also 21%, which is really low. I think i must have a high percentage of muscle or something.

here's the pic again...me when I weighed in the low 140s:

that is one big fish!

when I was a couple years out, one of the teens who checked people into my gym accused me of not being me. They had a picture of me in their database from when I weighed well over 300 lbs, and at the time I weighed in the 130s. I had to show him my drivers license to prove it was me. That's when I decided I'd better have them take a new photo....

I have RH, so I'm supposed to have protein every 3-4 hours. If I'm not hungry, I just have a protein shake or thing of L&F yogurt

Mornin' All!

today's the day we find out if MIL is healthy enough for open heart surgery. She's been in the hospital for nine days now. First to deal with the issue at hand, then to go through a bunch of tests so the medical team could decide what to do about the aneurysm they found. A few days ago, they decided that even though her aneurysm is 6 cm (the usual "thing" is to treat it medically if it's 5 cm or smaller, and do surgery if it's over 5 cm) that they'd try to treat it medically and scan it regularly to make sure it wasn't getting any bigger, because they feared she wasn't healthy enough for open heart surgery. But they did more testing on some of her other issues (like shortness of breath, because they weren't sure if that was due to her COPD or her anxiety disorder) because they were a little afraid NOT to operate on the aneurysm, too. So all the results are supposed to back so they're going to meet this morning to decide whether or not it'll be safe to proceed with the surgery. If so, she'll be in the hospital for another day because they'll do all the pre-surgery clearance stuff while she's there, rather than having her come back for all that. So I'm going to hold off on getting plane tickets to Sweden. I want to make sure she's safely through the surgery (if she has it) and at least a week or two afterward before forging ahead with our travel plans (we plan to go the first half of July).

besides waiting to see what MIL's future is, one of my cats has an EKG scheduled for this afternoon - but that's pretty much it for the day. Besides exercise. No class since I'll be at the vet clinic then.

QOTD: exercise. I've been super great at getting some exercise every day ever since I set MFP to do negative calorie adjustment. Because now instead of awarding me some exercise calories only if I go over and above what it expects I'll do over the course of a normal day (which seems to be at least 3000 steps or 30 mins of cardio), it starts deducting calories from my baseline if I don't get that much. So if I don't get off my butt and get at least those 3000-ish steps or 30 mins of cardio, it'll tell me I can have some ridiculously low (for me) amount of calories, like 1200. Ah....no. So I get at least that much exercise in - and usually a lot more than that.

B: not hungry at all. May swap my breakfast for my protein shake (my usual MS). I've already had coffee (with half & half)

MS: if I do the aforementioned swap, then plain skyr with strawberry compote

L: salad with diced ham and light dressing

AS: protein muffin or Ratio yogurt

D: two vegan meatballs with marinara sauce and 1/2 C pasta (ended up not having this last night because I had too many calories during the day, so I couldn't "afford" this. I'll have to be more careful today...)

have a great day, everyone!

I might do that...send me the info again if you have a minute.

Mornin' All!

MIL might be discharged from the hospital today; if so, I'll need to pick her up and take her back to her apt. If not, I'll stop by to see her before my class at 4:00. I usually get off the bus at the hospital anyway and then walk the rest of the way to my building - because that gives me lots of extra steps. Otherwise, not much on the docket for today other than catching up with class readings, since we're back at it again today (last week was spring break). I'll also go to water aerobics in a few minutes since I doubt they'll discharge her before 10:00. It'll probably be more like noon.

QOTD: biking. I bike as much as humanly possible when the weather cooperates (i.e., above 50 degrees F and not too windy)

QJB - I started listening to the second season of "Bear Brook" last night...is this the one you were referring to when you originally told me about it? I think I remember that you said something about feeling sorry for the kid (who's now like 50 years old)...so this might have been the story you were referring to. I loved the first season's case - but so far this one is really interesting, too!

B: crepe with 1/2 C plain Greek yogurt and strawberry compote, coffee with half & half

MS: protein shake

L: maybe a salad

AS: protein muffin

D: not sure - maybe spaghetti with 1/2 C pasta and 2-3 vegan meatballs

have a great day, everyone!

G'afternoon!

I had to take my mom to urgent care this morning because she said her legs were tingly and her blood pressure was too high. She tends to be kind of a hypochondriac, so I'm never sure. Anyway, went over there and she had a log of her blood pressure readings this morning - she's been taking it every hour. I've seen those logs before when I've been over there. Today wasn't that unusual in that dept - maybe more often than other days, but I'm getting the sense it's not unusual for her to take her blood pressure several times a day. Systolic was high but not crazy high, diastolic was consistently below 90. It's been that way before when she's been at a medical appt and they never say much about it, and I was sure they wouldn't this time, either, but I took her to urgent care anyway. It's no use arguing with her. So...of course she's fine. She did tell the nurse - and then afterward, the doctor - that she had an abnormal EKG two weeks ago at the hospital. I told the nurse she might want to check the notes from the hospital, because I was there with her at the hospital and I heard them say she had a NORMAL EKG. The nurse looked on the computer but didn't say anything. Later Mom told the doctor about her "abnormal" EKG, and I started to say that she (doctor) should check the hospital notes, but she waved her hand in a way that I knew the nurse had filled her in already. Normal EKG. So Mom was pronounced fine and sent home. Sigh. Until the next time...

I've had fun messaging a newly-found 3rd cousin over the weekend. I'd messaged him a couple of weeks ago because I noticed an error in a family tree he'd created online, so I just wanted to give him the correct info. He finally saw the message and messaged me back. And then I wrote him back. And so on. And so on. He seems like a fun guy - my age, his wife went to school here in Madison, and we have several common interests. They live outside of Minneapolis, so maybe one of these days we can meet for real. And a related topic. About three years ago, a woman from Sweden emailed me to let me know her grandmother and my grandfather were cousins. We had some back and forth emails for a couple of days, and that was that. Well I started thinking about her again this weekend since we might be going to Sweden in July. I thought maybe we could meet up if she still lives in the same area as my ancestors did - or at least not too far from there. But I hadn't gotten around to emailing her yet. BUT...when I got home from urgent care, I noticed a message from some Swedish person in my email inbox. Turned out it was this woman's mother - out of the blue, three years later, and on the same weekend that I was planning to email her daughter - how bizarre! The mother is working on their family tree and wondered if we could work together. Well, of course! But I also told her I might be coming there this summer. Unfortunately, I checked facebook and discovered she now lives up in Lapland, so that's pretty far from the places I was thinking we'd go - so maybe not. Although I did ask her where the daughter lives - maybe I could visit her, depending on where she is. Anyway, what a weird coincidence!

QOTD: probably "Go Your Own Way" (Fleetwood Mac)

B: protein bar (on the way to urgent care), coffee with half & half

L: crepe with plain yogurt and strawberry compote

AS: I just had a couple of Wasa crackers - but I need to have some protein - maybe a Ratio yogurt

D: I'll probably make spaghetti if DH is back from visiting his mother. Otherwise, whatever I can find. Maybe a salad

have a great day, everyone!

Mornin' All!

I did OK at the party last night until it came to the dessert table. I only had two - but wow are those things calorie-laden. I need to watch it this weekend. Luckily my grasshopper pie was completely devoured, every last crumb, so no worries about having the remainder lying around here (although DH would have eaten it if that were the case, as I'm not a huge fan of such things). It was the hit of the evening. So many compliments. So funny because I usually come up with some interesting, offbeat item to bring to these things - or else something not-so-offbeat, yet from a recipe that appeared in some high-falutin cooking site or magazine, like some fantastic oat/cranberry bars I made once, and they only get half eaten. But this pie sounded like something straight out of the 1950s (found it online - I just wanted some super easy, no-bake item) - something I would otherwise never make - made from Oreos, whipped cream, cream cheese, sugar, mini chocolate chips and chopped Andes mints - and people go nuts. Hmmm. Well, now I know. This is definitely not the gourmet-type crowd.

today would have been my late father's birthday, and every year since he passed, we've been going out for reuben sandwiches on this day, since they were one of his favorite foods, and it's right after St. Patrick's Day (not sure if reubens are a big thing in Ireland, but corned beef is). I wasn't planning to do it this year since my sister and her husband no longer live here, and reubens aren't a part of my life anymore (except on Dad's b-day), but my mom brought it up again the other day, wondering where we were going to go for reubens this year. So...I guess it's on. Besides that, I'll be reading all weekend. Book discussion group on Monday morning.

QOTD: in the summer we were outside pretty much from sun up to sun down - biking, playing hide & seek (although that was usually after dark), just general running around (sad how a lot of kids don't do this anymore!). In colder weather - hmmm....I remember liking Millbournes, Monopoly, Yahtzee - I guess of those I liked Yahtzee the *******so used to love Trivial Pursuit, but I wasn't a kid when that came out - I was in my mid-20s - so that wouldn't count here.

B: skyr with compote, coffee with half & half

MS: protein shake

L: salad with diced ham and light dressing

AS: L&F yogurt or protein muffin

D: reuben (??)

have a great day, everyone!

I haven't done AMAW or CAMAW (although I would have done CAMAW if I'd done it). But from what I've heard, be sure to stock up on Miralax before you start...

I loved that museum, too!