English: Cheeseburger 20 years ago had 333 calories well a modern cheeseburger contains 590 calories. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Someone posted a comment and mentioned they missed my posts. It made me realize it had been awhile since I had posted something. Well, I tend to go in spurts. My interest is somewhat like a child’s. I will focus on one thing for a time and then switch to something else for a time and then to something else again.
Since I’ve been released from home health care and physical therapy, I’ve felt somewhat like I have been left on my own with not many resources left to look into. With help from my son, I’ve started the diet drug Qsymia and will try it about 2 months and decide if I can tell a benefit from it or not.
I went to the orthopedic surgeon about possible double knee replacement surgery. He told me, “Boy your knees are bad. Your knees are really bad, wow your knees are really bad.” Interesting, since I can only walk a few steps in a bent-knee position also having knee spurs this was something I already knew. What I also expected but was surprised to hear is that for elective surgery, I weighed too much and no hospital in town would want to accept me as a patient. ( I weighed about 335.) I realize I am overweight/obese, have been most of my life, but hospital surgical beds have a weight limit? Interesting…
The surgeon decided to refer me to a gastric bypass/bariatric surgeon. I am between a rock and a hard place so am willing to try almost anything. I am still waiting for the referral phone call…it’s been a couple of weeks. Meanwhile, I have tried to cut down on my weight, as usual. I lost 1.8 lbs. the first week and 1.6 lbs. the 2nd week. The 3rd week, my daughter got a new color Nook for $50 from a friend. On it there was an app we noticed called Lose It. We looked at it and were instantly intrigued and both of us joined.
It is an online program that gives you so many daily calories to eat depending upon your weight and how many lbs. you want to lose each week. The program will keep track of everything you eat, subtracting the calories from your total. You can add calories back to the total by doing exercises. If you have an android or iPhone you can use your bar code scanner to scan foods to get the nutritional information and calories etc. That is very cool! As a longtime fast food junkie it is shocking to find out exactly how many calories are in fast foods. It is also interesting to discover how compelling it is to try to stay below my daily limit and in the ‘green’ and away from the ‘red’ side of my chart. Last week I lost 4.6 lbs. so boringly enough…watching calories and adding a few exercises actually work.
Now, realize my exercises are my normal therapy exercises and they don’t count for much, but they do count. If you can walk around the block, you can burn a lot more calories than I can and add them back into your daily total. Here are two great charts to look at.
http://www.prohealth.com/weightloss/tools/exercise/calculator1_2.cfm
http://www.acaloriecalculator.com/calories-burned-calculator/
Some of the things on the charts are just to look at and are interesting…for instance…if you start counting the calories you burn every day on your day to day job, and start eating extra to compensate for that…you will start gaining weight…the chart is for NEW things you start doing, not the things your body is already accustomed to.
Anyway, I am newly hopeful and excited about losing weight again. I had lost 25 lbs. and had been maintaining and losing and gaining and losing and gaining that same 25 lbs. for the past year and a half. It’s good to move forward again.
I also added to my daily routine some of the wii fit routines. I can’t do a lot of them from a sitting position, but there quite a few I can do and they all add a few exercise calories I can burn and they are fun to do while strengthening my legs and knees.
The whole family is getting involved now in the Lose It program. Daughter and I have been doing it for a week now and son and daughter and law just started and sister and brother are looking into it as of today. Who knows where it will all lead? As for me…losing any weight is going to help my mobility and keep me at home working toward better mobility and out of a nursing facility. And so…the journey continues…
Estherlou's Blog 
I really like the My Fitness Pal app, personally.
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I don’t have a smart phone so am not used to apps, so this is new to me.
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It is also online. http://www.myfitnesspal.com
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Ok cool…thanks for the info.
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You didn’t add that daughter lost 4 lbs and son lost 3, all in our first week!!
It helps because being so hyper-aware of that green line that creeps toward the limit with everything we ingest makes me want to avoid the ‘expensive’ foods. And if I really want my Dr Pepper, then I can workout 30 min to get it!
And after a 30 min workout, I REALLY ENJOY that Dr Pepper! 🙂
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I wish you well, EstherLou! It sounds like you can do it!
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So good to hear from you.
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I may have a suggestion for you. My partner is a diabetic with high blood pressure and overweight. We found a book called “Protein Power” written by a husband wife Dr.’s where you get put on a whole lifetime food change. Where you are eating mostly protein and very restricted carbs (by the by you’d be shocked how many things have carbs). I set him up on their suggested diet which required some math which told me per meal he needed to eat 1/2 pound of protein per meal and no more than 7 grams of carbs, now if the carbs are from fiber you are allowed them. Things like raw cabbage,raw spinach, raw kale, and raw radishes are freebies (fill up on them). Everything is given in full fat amounts (whole milk and butter) You have to watch what kind of oils you use as well. He had a hard time eating everything he was permitted in a single meal (by the by you are allowed 3 meals and 2 snacks,and are permitted to cheat if you want just go back to the correct diet after). For breakfast he would have a omelette, 3 eggs, 1/2-1/4 pound of sausage 1/4 cup of onions 1/8 of a bell pepper and a handful of spinach with 8 oz of cheese. For lunch and dinner he’d have grilled chicken strips over a large salad covered in a creamy dressing and cheese shreds, your salad is mostly greens 1/2 of which were spinach. Half the time he could not finish his salad, but you have to finish the protein. He started dropping pounds, enough his waist got smaller and his blood sugars off his meds were in the normal ranges. Also his blood pressure went down to normal. It might be worth the effort to find that book and try it.
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I wish you the best of luck!
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