Hi Theresa! Welcome! I hope to reach my goal by December 2006 so I understand about longterm goals. I've been shedding about a pound every 10 days or so by adding a lot more activity. I retired in January and that has helped me a lot. I used to have a desk job and was a workaholic on top of that so more than 40 hours per week. Add a long commute and I didn't have much time left over to have much of a life except relax so I could go back to work again. I've lost 25 pounds since January 2, 2004. Your questions: - How much have you increased your activity? A whole bunch on most days but I don't track it with regularity. I now have the luxury of gardening. Also, cleaning house can really be a workout and I didn't really have time to do this before. If you work at an office job, I think you may need to face reality and try to plan some type of regular physical activiy. This was something that probably really caused me to gain the most weight. I should have realized that some form of "working out" if I wasn't moving much on the job was absolutely necessary. I didn't want to believe that. Now I do. - How do you handle breakfast on the run? My breakfast is 1/2 to 1 cup of yoghurt (brand White Mountain which I have learned to love but didn't initially. This stuff helps your digestion also. I don't use the fat-free or low-fat stuff. I try to avoid artificial food whenever I can.) I also add 1 to 2 ripe avocados (depending on how hungry I am) along with my cup of yoghurt, I eat these with a spoon right out of their shell. It makes breakfast very quick and easy and almost gourmet since I love both of these. This can be portable if you put the yoghurt in a containter with a lid and don't leave it in the heat. This helps me to hit the ground running and I haven't gotten tired of it yet. Been having this breakfast (most days) since I retired in January . - Do any of you use Leanne's meal planner from FlyLady? Does it help? I have thought about Leanne's meal planner but haven't subscribed. I did try some of her test recipes and liked them. My husband and I are vegetarian so though she has options, it wasn't quite a good fit. Also, part of my retirement is trying to learn to cook good food largely from scratch where I can. I know everyone doesn't have this luxury. Sometimes I wonder if cooking from scratch has helped me lose weight? I've heard that smells can be very satifying. I find that I don't really over eat at the meals that I prepare, only ones that I eat when I go out to dinner in a restaurant. Strange? some significance there, I think. - Please tell me what keeps you going. I need to keep going too! I do feel so much better. And it is wonderful to see my weight on the scale drop. I'm going to have to be more rigid about things probably before too long but not having easy access to a vending machine like I did at work has helped tremendously. I love Snickers and haven't had one since January. I have prayed as has already been mentioned. Never hurts to pray, whatever your religion or meditate if you're not religious. I plan to do some regular swimming since I love that even if it is healthy. Find something you really enjoy so it will feel like you are pampering yourself even if it helps you lose weight. - How do you "unlearn" bad portion sizing? This is my toughest problem. I finish everything on my plate when I go to a restaurant. Restaurant portions are getting bigger and bigger, if I don't succeed losing all that I want to lose, this will be the reason. But one funny thing I have learned is that nuts really help me lose my appetite quickly. I have bought all kinds, brazil, walnut, cashew pieces, pecans and almonds. Not the salted kind and not peanuts since I itch and think I'm allergic to them (and they aren't really nuts but are "legumes"). Anyway, if I find myself wanting to eat something after I should be full, if I have a couple of handfuls of nuts, it seems to really help the ole "hypothalmus gland(sp?)" shut down. Mine seems to tell me I need to eat all the time unless I really struggle to counteract these messages. Raw is best if you can get them. I like the raw walnuts the best but I vary them because diversity is usually good in most things. I buy them at "Whole Foods" grocery, a health food store not too far away. Walnuts are also supposed to help lower cholestoral. Even though their calorie count isn't that low, I highly recommend. I seem to lose weight on those days I eat the most nuts, strange... Another trick I've found is that a piece of fruit about 30 minutes or an hour before dinner will keep back the munchies really really well for just the right amount of time. Otherwise, I may eat too large of a "snack" and then eat dinner too which is just too many calories. Also, I try to keep from becoming famished because terrible things happen when I do. Bananas are a real treat and I've eaten two of them before to keep from eating unhealthy. I try to always have bananas around since they are such a treat, even though they are one of those fruits you are supposed to be careful of. Much healthier than ice cream and they don't seem to be as addictive to me as snickers :). Sounds like you don't have as much to lose as I do. All I can say is please, please take care of it now. It is so much worse if you let it continue. Have as your goal to quit gaining at least. Then worry about losing. Don't bury your head in the sand like I did. But also don't beat yourself up. It seems like the easier I take this, the better I feel and am not so negative about this losing weight thing. I'm also taking a bunch of vitamins. Not sure how they affect losing weight. One supplement I take that may be related, I think, is Chromium Picolinate. (not positive so I don't want to get into a serious discussion on which vitamins are best:) Everyone is different of course. Hope that some of my personal information can help you. Bottom line, take care of yourself, nurture yourself as best you can and I think it will help you hang in there for the long haul. --Alice

She was taking a B complex for a while and she may have stopped. She said "the bottle says to take two but I thought more might be better so I take three" -- that's another thing that stands out because she is a retired RN and always was very sensible and conservatibe about taking medications. She was taking a multivitamin for a while, but may have stopped that too. My dad is a health fanatic and tends to nag and correct her when she starts to take vitamins -- "did you take your vitamins?"; "don't take those together...", etc. I told her to take them in private when he's not around, but I suspect she stopped taking them altogether. She makes such a big deal about eating a regular sized meal of moderate portions -- "I can't believe I ate all that!" etc. when everyone else ate the same amount or more. Or she passes around her plate at the table at social functions to share her food, saying how full she already is and "I can't eat all this food!" when everyone else is enjoying their full plate (how do I politely stop her from passing around her plate like that? I wish she would just stop eating and not say anything to bring attention to herself). I don't understand what that's all about, but I think if she is so full with half a plate of food when she hasn't eaten for hours, then she is probably undereating (dieting) and her metabolism has slowed down. But whatever I say will go in one ear and out the other -- especially now that she has successfully lost weight and is thinner than ever. I don't know if she'll ever let any of us do anything for her unless she is totally helpless. Jen

Well, my first thought was that it was thyroid because that was how I felt before I had my low thyroid diagnosed. Make sure you have your levels checked every six months because they can change during menopause. I hate it, but I have my blood tested every six months now, down from every year when I was in my mid 30's. Also, really try to get a full night's sleep. This can be a challenge during menopause and later in life. Exercise definitely helps. I find doing yoga before bed helps me relax and fall asleep. I also take a mix of calcium and magnesium (twice as much calcium as magnesium) and try and find calcium citrate or at least take the calcium with vitamin C for better absorption. I used to take 1500 mg. calcium as per the old recommendations but now I think it is something like 900, so I take less. I also have good luck with melatonin but I take the lowest dose possible and also don't take it for weeks at a time. Just occasionally, it works better that way. Also a glass of chamomile tea or catnip tea can be helpful. Just don't take it close to bed time. My biggest challenge to a good night's sleep nowdays is getting up to go to the bathroom! I have tried valarian too, before and it does work although again, not for everyday use. Catnip and chamomile are mild and relatively safe as far as I know. Also be sure to go to bed the same time every night and sleep in a dark quiet room with no distractions, if possible. Hope this helps. A short walk every day does help with tiredness. Also ramping up the protein and minimizing refined carbs in your diet, which it sounds like you are doing. My tiredness comes and goes.

We almost lost our 15 month old Cockapoo and we fear it was due to this drug 'Metacam'. We brought our dog to the vet with a slightly sore paw, nothing we were overly concerned about as he was putting weight on the foot and in good spirits. Reluctantly we agreed to our dog being given an antibiotic and an injection of Metacam (we felt this was a bit unnecessary but we trusted the vets opinion and that we were doing the best for our dog). That same day the dog was groggy and lethargic. By that same night our dog was groaning with pain so we gave him half a painkiller prescribed by the vet. The next morning our poor dog couldn't move, he lay unresponsive and couldn't lift his body weight upright. He wasn't eating or drinking a thing! If we touched any part of his body he was in severe pain. Our dog is very energetic with a great appetite and we were very worried! We returned to the vet and found our dog was running a very high temperature. The vet was adamant that this was as a result of his sore paw and possible bone infection and was very critical of the dog breed. Our dog was kept in over night and medicated with paracetamol and an IV antibiotic. Within 24hours our dog was returning to normal. The vet insisted we do an x-ray and nothing showed up. Thankfully we were able to discharge our pet after two nights but found the vet very reluctant to talk about what and how much medication he had prescribed our dog. We have no way to ever know for sure the reason our dog fell unresponsive within a couple of hours but we can't shake the feeling that it has a strong connection with the Metacam he was administered on first meeting the vet. We have also noticed our dog's weight is not correct on his medication label - it is double his weight! Finally, when leaving the vet practice with the prescribed medications, the vet had to call us back as he has prescribed double painkiller doses. The vet carried out a blood test without our knowledge and still has not disclosed the result of this blood test. When asked to discuss our concerns the vet became extremely defensive and condescending towards us. We would love to put our minds at ease and find out if any other dog owners experienced this reaction to Metacam or if it sounds like a over dosage of Metacam?