Hi Margaret!

Been having a wee catch-up on your diary and I'm as awe-inspired as ever by your commitment. Not only were you far more restrained than me with the Xmas goodies but you've kept the walking going through this horrid weather, and that I really admire. I'm just such a wimp in winter. It's all I can do to drag myself out for a couple of miles once a week at the moment...shame on me

Well done for hitting yet more milestones. I have to thank you for talking about the BMI thing. I had no idea whatsoever that being over 30 BMI could mean being denied operations/medical treatment! I've not long passed that milestone myself so it horrifies me to think that for years I was in such a precarious situation without even knowing it! So much for our wonderful free health service, eh?

I sympathise with your comment above about your doctor. Mine is one of those who seems to want rid of you as quickly as possible and therefore her diagnostic skills are somewhat compromised in my view. But still, I would get someone to take a look at that hard area you mention because it doesn't sound quite right to me. I've seen programmes about people who've been left with hard, fused fat deposits after losing a large amount of weight and the only way to remove them was surgery. That may or may not be the case for you but definitely something that ought to be investigated I would think.

Anyway, keep up the good work! (...and I know you will!)

Auburn and Avenue - Thanks for visiting. I certainly appreciate both your thoughts on the same subject.

The problem with GPs is probably as follows.

I am possibly hyper-critical in that I had a couple of very poor GPs who were either incompetent or lazy (or both) - but one way or another did not do a very good job. After that I had one that was unproven when we lived at our last house. We returned back to the original area and I didnt want to return to either poor one. I have only been with the current GP a couple of years and she is certainly better than the earlier two but she also certainly has her off days. Whenever I go and see her I am never sure of her attitude.

The last time that she weighed me I was 18st 7lbs. On that visit she was enthusiastic about my weight loss so far.
I saw her again at 14st 9lbs and amonst other medical issues I asked about the fact that my weight loss had come to a standstill despite me doing everything right. She told me that if I was being good I would be losing weight and it would stop when I had lost all my fat. She didnt put me on the scales and had no enthusiasm for my continued weight loss.

She is also adept at the stop-watch attitude to appointments, and all UK GPs seem very keen to send you away with a prescription for amoxycillin written almost before you sit down.

I suspect that the fact is that I have lost much of the confidence that I ever had in just about the entire profession. I will probably see what she says and look into some sort of private consultation to verify facts and options. I just dont trust them.

I will be going to see her in a couple of weeks time as I have recieved my happy smear test invitation (lucky me!) so I will see what she says about why my waist is such an odd shape. Directly under my bust measures 34.5 inches, my waist is 38.75 inches. My waist nips inwards all around apart from the bulge which really sticks out and is about 4 inches wide at the centre front. I have turned into a very odd shape.

I have been hoping that it would get to look more normal - but it hasnt really.

Take care
Love
Margaret

Monday 07/01/08

Spoke on my walk to a lady called Elaine who is thinking of going to weight watchers. I wonder if she will. I am still thinking that I might join when I am nearer goal to help me towards maintenance.

General Data:

Morning walk = 6.3 miles
Round the block = 7 times (on two laps my husband came too)
Extra exercises = keep fit class
Weight = 12st 1.6lbs (i.e. 169.6 pounds)
Steps = 32,414
Distance = 12.53 miles
Remembered to take normal vitamin / supplements
Continued my creaming regime – missed one bio-oil massage.

My Food / Drink:

1 banana
3 weetabix, sweetener, 350 ml skimmed milk
1.5 large handful honey Shreddies
roast lamb, swede, carrots, onion, cauliflower, broccoli, green beans, mangetout, brussel sprouts, celery, gravy
2 large handfuls of raisins
2 litres of cold water
some diet cola

PCOS. Something in the hormone imbalance causes some women with it to carry their weight atypically, so they have an "apple" shape rather than the more-typical "pear" shape. I'm guessing that 4 inches is between the bottom of your ribcage and the top of your hips?

I'm another one who mistrusts doctors. I only go if I need something I can't get for myself, and I try to go in with a fairly good idea of what I hope to get out of the visit. The few times I've gone in with an "I'll just go with what they give me" attitude (which I've been scolded by various people for not doing more often), I've later found that what they give me has been inappropriate. The shining exception has been our current pediatric practice (the one before them was awful in comparison). My daughter's doctors are really excellent, and their suggestions are always helpful.

Hi Phoebe

My body is just really wierd!

I am pleased that you have found a good group of doctors for your daughter. It is wrong that you can seldom trust professional advice.

Take care
Love
Margaret

Weight Watchers is a great program, my sister lost 70 pounds on it, and she loved it. The food is good, and it's the points system, so it's easy to follow. She only walked for exercise and it was perfect for her. I would tell anyone to try it if they wanted to, it's worked for many people I know, so what better proof right.

Have a great rest of your day, I'm heading over to the gym, even though I'm EXHAUSTED, hope I make it!

Hi Kim

I know that if you go to the gym you will get such a burst of energy that you will do a ton of exercise. That has just got to help the pounds / inches come off.
Mind you - you will be really exhausted when you finish - but I am sure that there is no surprise there.

I have this theory about WW. I think that I will stick with what I am doing to lose weight - but I have an eye on the future and the problems of maintenance. My pedometer displays how many WW points I have earned from walking - and I do earn quite a lot each day. Yesterday I earned 9 points and today I have earned 8. I also think that it could be very useful to head off to those WW meetings to try and keep me aware of my weight. It could be really cost effective to have that as an option if I join not long before I am at goal. It would be a way to sanity check that the goal weight that I think is right is not too fat or too thin. When you get to goal they give you a sort of lifetime membership where you can go to as many meetings as you like for free as long as you stay within about 5 pounds of goal and get weighed 5 times a year. There are other advantages too - as the meetings can be a way of meeting people. This could be quite a bonus as we are seriously considering relocating back to the north east at some point in the future.

Naturally I am not telling all this to anyone that goes to WW as people could think it wrong to make use of an organisation like that. WW makes the rules - I am just seeing if I can turn the situation to my advantage.

Take care
Love
Margaret

Howdy Margret,
I though about WW but it is simalar to calorie counting
I do eat alot of there deserts and a couple of their meals.I wish
you the very best with it,it is a gr8 plan.Have a nice day Tammy

Hi Tammy

I definitely have the WW thing in mind for maintenance - but I am happy with losing weight the way that I am currently. I dont want to pay for too many meetings so I certainly wont be thinking of joining them until I am down to about 10 stone (140 pounds). There is still a long time to go until I get there.

I hope that you have a great day too.

Take care
Love
Margaret

Hi Margaret,

I think most doctors have very little training/education regarding diet and nutrition. These days it seems most of them are little more than glorified drug pushers. However, there are exceptions.

There are still a few more days before weigh in. There is time for the scale to go down. I still don't think that being up a pound or two will hurt you this week.

I was pleased to see that your hubby did two trips around the block with you yesterday. That must have pleased you.

Hi Kimberly

I must say that I am pleased when hubby comes round the block with me. I like to see him getting a reasonable stepcount. It naturally means that I have to slow down to his speed on those laps - but this is a price well worth paying. I have always done all my "exercise laps" earlier. He is always telling me to slow down when I think that I am going slowly!

I have got him to often wear a pedometer and he often gets up to about 6000 to 7000 steps if he comes twice round the block. They say that the UK average is 5000 steps. Obviously it would be better if he got up to 10,000 but we have to be realistic. I would be quite pleased with a consistent 6500.

Unfortunately his weight is still up on his pre-Christmas weight. He probably has that in common with 99% of the population though and I am hoping that he will lose a few pounds if he keeps doing laps.

Take care
Love
Margaret

I have friends at SW who do the same thing, go for the weigh ins but follow their own plan. I even had a consultant once who admitted that she wasn't following the plan but doing a Carol Voderman detox... she didn't stay in the job much longer than that!

I used to find doing laps really easy when the boys were smaller, but unfortunatly the eldest is now too big for the double buggy and is walking so that has kicked that into touch, but I have just ordered the new Rosemary Conely dvd which is broken down into 10min chunks which will fit in with the kids a bit more.

Have you seen the girl who used to be in Casualty? She's lost over half of her body weight and now looks amazing and doesn't appear to have any loose skin at all.

Hi Tabitha

Thanks for visiting.

I am surprised that a SW consultant admitted that! I must admit - the more that I mull over the idea - the more it has potential on a lot of different levels. I will need to develop a definite plan to deal with maintenance because I dont want to pile it all back on and try to face doing this again. Also - it can be hard to meet people - especially in a new area.

I am sure that you will find a solution to your exercise problems. The DVD could be really good. I love my keep fit classes. If you wear your pedometer anyway all day long like I do - it will give you an idea of how many steps you are getting in from a number of sources. My Monday steps were higher than normal - because I have keep fit on Monday and the aerobics section boosts my steps nicely.

I havent seen that girl since she lost weight. I will look out for her. It must be amazing to lose half your body weight. I still have another stone and a half to go to get there. I am basically at 12 stone and started at 21 stone. I celebrated a lot when I hit 14 stone and had lost a third of my body weight. I think that just about everyone on the forum will hear about it when I hit ten and a half stone.

I have to admit that I am pretty pleased with my weight loss so far and have to say that I have some loose skin but that it is honestly less than I expected to have if I got to this stage and also that it is less than I deserved to have at this stage. There are some people on this forum who have lost what I would consider to be an amazing amount of weight. Malificent and Wishes come immediately to mind - but I am sure that there are a number of others. These are the people that I think of when I wonder if I am being greedy wanting to drop my weight further.

My worst bit for loose skin is my boobs - they are virtually all skin.

I am greatly inspired by Charlie Walduck who lost 30 stone in conjunction with the This Morning tv program. He went from 44 stone to 14 stone in 2 years.

Take care
Love
Margaret

30 stone is loads to lose. I was handing out the new packs at sw last week and they now routinely send the consultant award stickers that go upto 25 stone!

One thing about going to a slimming club is that you get some lovely stickers that you can show off and be proud of, it's a little thing but amazing how good they can make you feel.

I'll start to celebrate as soon as my weight ends in a teen!

Right then I'd best be off as my sons are attempting to kill each other... death by hairpulling!

Hi Tabitha

25th March last year was the day that I became a teen girl. I certainly did celebrate it. I loved the fact that my weight was nineteen stone 13 and didnt start in 20. I also celebrated on the 24th November because I stopped being a teen girl by getting under 13 stone.

So what weight are you? says I, asking the very rudest of questions to ask a lady. I ask because your BMI is a lot less than I started and I know that you said that you were a size 28 which is a smaller dress size than I was. Clearly you are taller than me and I am guessing not to far above the 20 stone mark. I dont want to miss knowing about a big celebration coming up.

You cannot allow your children to kill each other. I understand that the police make you fill in an amazing amount of forms if that happens.

Take care
Love
Margaret