I don’t know how familiar you are with “Alli”, the wonder drug for dieters that came out a year or two ago? Everyone was so excited for this drug to hit the shelves. Then came the stories of anal leakage, etc. It still boiled down to watching what you ate and exercise. When you look at the stats on how much Alli really helped people lose, they’re really not very impressive. I can lose more faster using the herbal supplements I have and not put up with bad side effects.

This morning I read about a new drug trying to make it’s way into the US. Not only is it supposed to be another “Weightloss Miracle” drug, but also a smoking cessation drug that keeps you from gaining weight when you quit. The name of the drug is “Rimonabant”. The manufacturer who currently sells the drug in the UK applied to the FDA a couple of years ago, but the FDA said their studies of the side effects of this drug were inconclusive. When they couldn’t make it into the US as a weightloss drug, they tried as a smoking cessation drug. Thank God that didn’t work either.

Now in the UK it comes out that they are having a second look at Rimonabant. It appears that not only does it raise lipids (cholesterol and  triglyceride levels), but it turns out it causes deep depression and is being linked to suicide in its users. And, the bottom line is, you still have to watch your diet and exercise! The depression affects 1 in 10 patients. That’s pretty often. In fact depression was great enough in a number of participants, they dropped out of the study.

What is super scary to me is if you google “rimonabant” you get a ton of ads to buy it without a prescription online under it’s generic name Acomplia. They’re saying it’s the safest weightloss wonder pill. No doctor, no supervision. The one site I went to says you can read what people have to say about it, but they have the comments turned off and just a bunch of entries trying to sell it.

I, as much as anyone else, would love to have a magic pill to take the weight off. Get real My Dears. It’s not here yet and trust me, “Big Pharma” doesn’t give a damn about who they hurt on their way to the big bucks they earn from someone’s misery. What ever you decide to do besides changing to a healthier lifestyle, make sure you do your research and get all the facts. Many times I have asked the question “Why would I want to take a cure that is worse than the disease?”

I try to pay attention. I know that with dieting you have to be careful about losing muscle instead of fat. I’ve heard about that forever! I know that as we get older we lose bone mass which can lead to osteoporosis. I didn’t realize that dieting could slow closely also result in bone loss. Where the heck was I during that class?

I also didn’t realize what an astounding effect a sedentary lifestyle has on bone mass density (BMD). As I read more, the opposite is also true. Excessive exercise also can lead to a lower BMD. I’m sure I won’t have to worry about that being a problem in my case. What I do need to worry about is making sure I do some sort of weight bearing exercise and strength training, as definite results were shown in greater BMD after just one year.

My mother has osteoporosis. One year she fractured her back 3 times and spent most of that year in the hospital. I don’t want to go there.

Other things we were not made aware of, and I still don’t hear about and I have 2 daughters, is how teenage girls involved in athletics and also frequently diet, are at high risk for osteopenia (low bone mineral content), stress fractures and broken bones. It also puts them at risk for early osteoporosis. This isn’t only common in teenage girls, but men and boys as well who frequently diet.

These are things that seem to help prevent or help cause osteoporosis. First let me say, with all the hype about soy products, there doesn’t seem to be enough evidence of it really doing any good to warrant using soy for treating osteoporosis. There is the suggestion that vegans, etc. use soy milk as a substitute for cow’s milk for calcium and vitamin D.

We all know how important calcium is. That is a given. Luckily there are many ways to get the calcium we need, but remember that vitamin D is necessary for absorption. If you’re getting your calcium from sources other than milk fortified with vitamin D, it’s probably essential to be taking a vitamin D supplement. We should be getting between 1300 and 1500mg. of calcium per day.

Too much Vitamin A may contribute to Osteoporosis. In Norway and Sweden they fortify low fat milk and margarine with retinol. They have seemed to find that the added retinol is at least partly responsible for osteoporosis in these two countries, along with cod liver oil. They advise people at risk of osteoporosis to limit their intake of pre-formed vitamin A (retinol) to the RDA level of 800 RE or 0.8 mg of retinol per day. This means food supplements with retinol should be avoided, as should supplements of cod liver oil. Now there is a slight conflict here in the way that most dairy products also contain retinol. A better way of getting your vitamin D is to go get some sunshine every day. 10-15 min. should be enough and not to much to harm you.

One I was surprised to hear about that isn’t widely publicized is Vitamin K, or the lack there of contributing to bone loss. Unfortunately if you’re on blood thinners, this is probably not a good solution for you. A recent meta-analysis examined 7 studies in which elderly subjects were given either 15 (one study) or 45mg of vitamin K2 or a placebo. Remarkably those taking the supplements of vitamin K had reductions in hip fractures of 77% compared to those given a placebo. Fractures of the vertebrae were cut by 60% and all other fractures were reduced by 81%. If you’re following a good healthy diet, you should be getting vitamin K from all those green leafy veggies you’re eating.

Tomorrow I’ll go into the minerals etc. for preventing osteoporosis. It’s amazing to me how young I should have been paying attention and what I’ll be telling my daughters now that I know.

Disclaimer: I am in no way a healthcare provider of any kind and the stuff I pass on here is only from my own research. You should always consider consulting your physician if you plan on making dietary changes.

Nothing makes a fat girl say “shoulda, woulda, coulda” like really hot weather.

I “shoulda” stuck to eating right and exercising.

I “woulda” been small enough to fit into some bitchin’ summer clothes.

I “coulda” been there by now.

I had pretty much forgotten how much I hate hot (90 to 100 degrees) weather when I’m overweight. I’ve gotten old enough that I tend to run on the “cooler” side most of the time, so the hot weather when I’m thinner, doesn’t seem so bad. This year I remembered when the temps reached 102, why I usually diet in the fall or winter to be thinner by spring and summer.

One thing the hot weather has done for me is make my attraction to the fruits and vegetables in season much stronger. It must be working, because I’ve actually lost about 5 lbs. in the last week or so. Cookies, etc. just don’t have the same appeal when I’m sweating to death, looking for a way to cool off.  So it’s obviously not due to being post-menopausal, but my crummy eating habits that are keeping me fat. Hate facing that one! LOL

The strawberries have been just beautiful by me this year. They’re huge and so sweet and juicy. Usually at least one store by me (I’m lucky enough to have about 5 different grocery stores all in a circle close to where I live) has a 4lb. clamshell on sale at a really reasonable price. The blueberries not such a great bargain, but I love them in my yogurt and even tho the containers are small, I can still usually find them on sale. I bought a beautiful pineapple the other day, and I’ll probably cut that up for snacking today. To me, the can will never have anything on fresh when it comes to pineapple. When I went to Hawaii, my late husband couldn’t sit me at the bar next to a waitress station because I couldn’t keep my hands out of the pineapple. LOL.

The truly great thing about all this is that it is such a healthy way to eat. I’ve always said “if I truly ate everything they want you to eat when you’re on WeightWatchers, I would never be able to snack on anything else!”

Thank goodness for the hot weather to reteach me how to eat right. I’m drinking a lot more water also, of course, which I’m sure has helped with dropping a little of this excess weight. See, you just never know where help is going to come from. LOL 

is now only 2 months away vs. 10 months like it was when I first started this blog. Evidently my reason wasn’t motivation enough. I just got the dates yesterday for the reunion and here I am, the same size if not a pound or two more than I was 8mos. ago. So now I will be walking etc. like crazy, cussing myself out for not getting serious sooner, and still stuffing something into my face that probably doesn’t belong there! No matter what I do, I still am no magician with the magic formula.

I have known about this for a yr. I actually thought it was in April. Thank God it wasn’t! But why have I been so self-sabbotoging? Or why I haven’t I been stronger? Or if my health and this reunion aren’t important enough, what in the hell would be?

I don’t know, I don’t know, I don’t know. I better do myself a little sole searching and find out what’s going on in there. Looking over past posts, I thought I had the answer a few times. NOT. Guess again. I know when I truly make up my mind I can do it, so why not now? Am I using it as a crutch while I’m working on my new life? I know I should be doing better than ever now that my schedule, etc. is completely in my hands. Instead I am so stressed and focusing on the new business, I’m not getting anything else done, including stuff with deadlines. Have I just become self-destructive to a certain point? I mean, I’m not going to jump the bridge or anything, but something definitely isn’t right.

Any insights would be appreciated. LOL. My weight is actually a symbol I think of all the kaos in my life right now. One step at a time I guess. It just would be good if I would actually take the steps.

Yep. I finally joined a challenge on one of the diet sites. I thought “okay. 30 days. I can do this.”

There’s a new workout routine every day. It’s all laid out for me. No boredom. The “exercise queen” that did the workout videos was actually quite good. They’re considered “medium impact”. Little did I know at the time I definitely should have started in the “low impact” department. The very first day I threw myself into the routine. A little marching in place, a little big marching in place, a little side to side marching in place. All that was good. Then came the jumping jacks.

I knew my left arm was sore and I did not have the range of motion I should have. Due to some “sleep” issues with the BF, I’ve been sleeping for extended periods on my left arm and feeling it slowly get worse. (Read the article “Is Sleeping With Your Spouse Killing You?”) LOL. I did my jumping jacks. I did the “punch to the front”. By Wednesday morning I could not move my left arm. By Wed. afternoon I was in tears and looking for drugs. I evidently tore or damaged my rotator cuff. It is so friggin’ painful! I am starting to do a little better as of today. In the mean time I don’t have the patience to type one handed, so I didn’t do much of anything. Now I am doing range of motion exercises, and as it starts to feel better, I will start working out with a resistance band to get my arm back where it should be.

The moral of the story: Keep moving. I’ve known for a year I was falling out of shape sitting in front of the computer day in and day out. I kept saying “tomorrow”. Well I’m here to tell you, tomorrow came and went, and it was painful. I should have been doing a little something every day. No matter what size you are, what you do for a living, you must make time for your body in there somewhere. I’ve spent the last few days finding out how many things are either excessively hard one handed, or I can’t do at all. I’m really lucky if this doesn’t end up permanent.

Guess what I ran across this morning? A casting call site for more Reality TV shows. I guess after the success of the “Biggest Loser”, they have decided there’s money to be made on the obese.

The first one is for one of my favorites. They are now casting for “How To Look Good Naked”.  I thought this was a terrific show. For once it wasn’t a reality show where people tear each other apart or backstab each other to death. Many of us who struggle with weight, have self esteem and body image issues. According to Dr. Phil (who I heard his wife walked out on him), these issues should have nothing to do with your weight. I for one cannot see how they would not be intertwined. My self esteem definitley rises as my weight goes down.

The second casting call that got my attention was for a new Reality TV show about pretty women who have always wanted to be a model, but their weight has prevented them from making it. They are looking for women 18-25 yrs. old, 5′7″ or taller, who are willing to lose weight (obviously on national television) and go on to become a model and win $100,000.00. The show is supposed to be a 3 month bootcamp-like show that has the potential to transform you into a healthy, self-confident, high profile fashion model!

If anyone is interested, the descriptions and applications etc can be found at

http://www.realitywanted.com  Good luck to you.

Since I started this da** blog back in Sept. with so much motivation and hope for a skinnier future, I have started and started over more dieting and exercising, etc. and I just have not been good about keeping up with any of it. And now I haven’t even been good about posting here, because I haven’t been good enough doing the other stuff that I have anything worth posting. I have not been utilizing WeightWatchers nearly enough, even tho I pay for meetings and online every month. I find the website motivating which is even more reason why I should visit more often. I also love this website called SparkPeople. It too is very motivating in combination with WeightWatchers and is also an excellent tool. It’s Spring now, and I want to do more things and be outside more. By now I should have reached my goal or been darn close. So as of today…

1. I am journaling EVERYTHING I put in my mouth (which in itself ticks me off because it keeps me honest)
2. I will quit stressing over the fact that I’m not doing an exercise routine, but will make myself do something physical every day. Today I am going to be pulling weeds etc. out in the yard. I haven’t gardened for years.
3. Every morning I will start out with the message boards at WW and Sparkpeople to help set me up for the day.

That seems easy enough and enough steps for now. I am taking a page from LadyShanny’s book and going to start with photo’s for my journey. I also have one photo that I will post to keep my frightfully aware of where I am headed, and what I don’t want to look like when I go to the high school reunion in July.

I received this in an email titled “Bacon Grease Will Make Your Feet Look Small” While I admit they all seem to have self-pride, I don’t want to be there.

Wasn’t the whole reason for the Boston Tea Party to get rid of taxes? Sorry, I just couldn’t help thinking that the whole time I’m trying to beat the clock yesterday. Talk about added stress. Thank goodness I only mindlessly munch when I’m bored, because usually when I’m stressed I don’t have time to eat. LOL.

I have to say when it comes to exercise and losing weight, one of my pet peeves is people who say “muscle weighs more than fat”. My answer to that is “a pound, is a pound, is a pound”, but the other day I was reading an article that had a very good analogy in it. It said that “a pound of feathers could fill a bathtub, but a pound of lead you could hold in the palm of your hand.” I thought that was an excellent visualization on the difference between a pound of fat and a pound of muscle. Obviously I will not ever be small enough to fit in someone’s hand, but I am working on being easier to hold than a bathtub of feathers.

I don’t care what we are doing to lose weight, you have to admit that we all still keep looking for that “something magic” that will make it disappear faster and easier. I for one cannot help but notice the ads, etc. even when I know most of them are bunk, and some I even go for.

I ran across a magazine while in line at the grocery store a couple of days ago, (exactly why they put them there), and the main story on the front was “Walk Off 96% More Fat” “Lose 43 lbs. by Memorial Day”. This is the walking plan used by Kim, the fitness guru from the “Biggest Loser”. I have tried just about everything when it comes to exercise, but I really didn’t have a workout plan, so I end up not doing much. This has a definate 3wk plan, and it includes weight or circuit training, so I am giving it a shot. After the first day of walking 30 min. with “steam engines” in between, I could definately feel it where I was supposed to the next day. Here’s hoping this is one I can stick to, at least for the 3wks. and then decide what to do from there.

My next “new thing” is, I am not one for “cleanses” even tho I am so toxic I could be the next waste dump. I smoke (damn it), I drink a bit of wine, I have mercury in my teeth, and I’m obese. There’s probably more, these are just off the top of my head. I could never stand the thought of going without food for 2 days, having only water or fruitjuice or whatever liquid. I also didn’t like the idea that when my body flushed all these toxins, more than likely it would be at a very inopportune time when I was miles from the nearest bathroom, so I just didn’t really consider it.

Lately I have been reading so much about the benefits of hydrogen peroxide. It does everything! From killing mold and mildew in my shower, to killing all the bacteria in my kitchen, to lightening my hair, it does it all plus some. What I’ve been reading more of lately is the benefits of ingesting it. They make a food grade hydrogen peroxide which when heavily diluted, adds oxygen to your bloodstream, cleanses out toxins, and returns your whole system to a ph balance. (Disclaimer: This is not to be misconstrued as medical advice. Speak to your personal physician before doing anything).

I have been taking it for 3 days now, starting at 3 drops 3 times a day and building up 1 drop every time each day from there. Today is my 3rd day, I’m up to 6 drops in 5 ozs. of water 3 times a day, and already I am sleeping better and my joints aren’t nearly as sore as they have been. This whole thing ends up being quite a process, but if I’m seeing results already, I’m looking forward to it. I’ll have to let you know how it goes as I progress, but I am very concious of when I eat due to how you have to space this out between food, which has also made me more concious of what I eat.

I think 2 new things are enough for one day. LOL.

Anyone see the “World News With Katie Couric” night before last? Yep, tore apart another widely held belief in our self-help healthcare. I’m talking about the fact that we really don’t need 8- 8oz glasses of water a day after all. This news spread almost as fast as “Mammograms Don’t Save Women’s Lives”.  What’s funny is one of the newsletters I get from a doctor who believes regular medicine is just for getting regular doctors more money, and regular doctors say he’s a Quack, has been saying this for ages. He too, says it’s really only neccessary to drink when you’re thirsty, or doing some kind of exercise where you are excreting water. He also says you can tell if you’re getting enough by the color of your urine.

The thing we need to remember, those of us on the weightloss trail, is that we don’t drink water just for hydration. We drink it to help flush the fat from our bodies. Obviously that wouldn’t work if we didn’t drink. Water like many other things, is a tool for us to use.

The other thing I wanted to bring up is the “Sutter Health TV” website. They had an excellent special on the other night about Women’s Health that I thought was excellent. They are a great resource, but I was especially interested because it had a lot of interesting info concerning exercise for women in their 20’s thru 60’s. Which kinds of exercise were most important based on age, etc. If you’re interested at all, you can visit their site at http://www.sutterhealthtv.com.

Have a great weekend everybody!