My Recovery from Obesity

Hey Don, I have seen you took some days off from "dieting" - but still you did a good job eating the right foods. Well done!

As for the BP - The closer you get to your normal weight range - the better your BP will be especially if you continue with your healthy food diet - you are on the right track.
I usually have my blood work done every year - just out of curiosity. There is a value that indicates the inflammation in the body & for me it was high last time. they explained it to me - that it's gonna be high as long as I m overweight/obese - i m putting pressure on my body - regardless how healthy I eat/exercise.
 
That's awesome you're getting so many compliments.
I don't ever cut out any foods from my 'diet'. I eat anything I want, but I can see wanting to take some 'days off' if you have heavily restricted things you used to love. Good job still on keeping it in your cals.
 
Thanks, Mands! I enjoyed that brief flurry of vamity! :D

Thanks, Mystic. When I get to within, say, 80 pounds of what I would like to weigh, I'll begin adding more of those foods back in my diet. In my case, I needed to lose around 210-240 pounds at the start of this process (and I still have 130-160 pounds to go now) so I opted to cut most of certain foods (primarily simple carbs) to increase the speed of this process. A side effect of doing this was that I discovered that I may be a little gluten-intolerant, as I noted some positive effects in a week after beginning.

Hi Justina! I'm not really taking time off from dieting as I am just a little fried from the level of intensity I've been investing. All day every day has been about eating, exercising, hydrating, blah, blah, blah. I just needed a break from doing that part. I stayed the same weight (roughly) for about 4 days. Yesterday was better as I was more "invested". I did a morning yoga, afternoon walk, and night time bike HIIT, ate pretty well (7/10), drank pretty well (9/10) and snacked only very lightly at night. Today I am down 1.2 pounds to 375.8.
 
I'm on day three of just cutting back on my carbs, and I'm about ready to go insane. haha! Congrats on the 1.2 lbs! :)
 
Thanks, Jen! After the first 2 weeks, the only carb cravings I've dealt with have been sporadic and for certain comfort foods... like gravy and rice or something like that. The bigger problem for me is that when id get these cravings is often at night! The worst time to eat them and the worst time to be weak when it comes to cravings.

Oh well. It's a process, not an event, right?
 
It certainly is a process. A long, tiring, draaaaawn out process. But we'll look damn fine at the end so worth sticking with it :coolgleamA:
 
It certainly is a process. A long, tiring, draaaaawn out process. But we'll look damn fine at the end so worth sticking with it :coolgleamA:

LOL. Ok, that made me laugh. :D

Some days it seems so easy and on others it seems so unattainable. I'm trying to get my head into the "I'm trying to eat, drink and exercise perfectly for one day" mode.
 
Well, we didn't get fat overnight so we sure as hell can't get fit overnight. The one day at a time approach is the best, I think.

Have a good day, Don xx
 
Hello my fellow diet-fatigued friend ;)

Hope you are doing well...fantastic that you are still losing weight despite feeling burnt out! That is a true testament to how far you have come...that even on your 'off' days you manage to lose weight! That is incredible!
 
Thank you Mystic and Camila! :)

Today's update: Down 1.8 pounds to 374 for a total loss of 83.0 pounds.
Yesterday I ate pretty well, skipping a traditional lunch and opting instead for loads of fruit from around 11 am until 6pm. Could've drunk water better.
Still fussing with poison oak, which now inhabits most of my left forearm. I'm dosing up on allergy meds to control the reaction and the itching. It seems to be working.
 
Nice drop Don!

I deal with lots of poison ivy/oak in my line of work. There is no magic fix, but witch hazel is very soothing and speeds healing. You can find it at a drug store (with the alcohol and peroxide usually) and it's cheap (~$2 for a pint or more). It's an astringent so it may burn a little at first, but that fades quickly and it really takes the edge off of the itchiness. I have a little Toxidendron radicans (poison ivy) on my hands right now from handling soil and boots. I put witch hazel on last night and this morning and it is drying up nicely. I'm no longer terribly sensitive to it after years of repeated exposure, but the witch hazel has always helped whether it was mild or severe. It also works well on chaffed skin and heat rash as well as to wash oily parts of my face like my nose and forehead.
 
Right on, thanks Q! I am off to the store to get witch hazel.

I've been exposed a few times in the past and NEVER had an issue like this one. Started in one small spot but now covers my entire forearm on the soft underside.
 
If it feels/looks more like a burn than a rash you may have gotten into giant hogweed. If so, it is phytotoxic so you have to keep it out of sunlight/UV light or it will get worse. I know it is invasive in the pacific northwest. It looks like a giant Queen Anne's lace. Poison ivy and oak doesn't usually spread, but it can take a couple days for the irritation to fully develop or a histamine response to the irritation can cause a spreading rash.

My image thing isn't working, but you can search Heracleum mantegazzianum.
 
Dude, you may be a life saver. I did a quick search for the plant you listed, immediately identified it as something I've seen in my yard, then did a search for a rash cause by it and found ... which looks EXACTLY like my rash on my arm. Splotchy, angry red, no blisters, lots of hives... etc.

By the way, for the last week, I've been exposing the rash to sun because it felt better and I thought maybe it would help. Doh!

Now I need to search for how to treat it.

Thank you, sir. First round at the tapas bar is on me.
 
Yikes! Keep it out of the sun for sure. Phytotoxins sensitize your skin to UV, so it is an actual burn if you got hogweed sap on you.



This fact sheet includes identification and treatment.



This one has a good ID key and lists plants that are similar. Keep in mind that some smaller related plants like wild parsnips can also cause a reaction.

If you have it be super careful. You don't want to get it on you more. If you get it in your eyes it could blind you and inhaling the smoke from burning it can damage your lungs.

Oregon has a toll free hotline if you think you have it. They might even remove it since it is a noxious invasive.
 
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