I do very little physical activities myself. I like to believe that I got to the gym every week, but I don’t. I do walk, but not much. Two nights a week with my patients. We go two miles. It’s a decent pace, but that’s it. I promise you, if you get in the pool for 45 minutes twice a week, and change the way you think about food, you will lose weight. You don’t need a diet at this point, you need to think differently. I had to stop thinking in terms of “a diet”. That sort of thinking is not sustainable. I had to think in terms of nourishment, “will this really make my body feel good?” “Will I be happy with myself after I eat this?”. It has saved me from “diet” fads. We eat well! I love food, and love to make good food. We still have treats like bread and pasta, but it’s served with so much other good filling things that it’s no longer the focus of the meal. Anyway, until you really seek to change the way you think about your diet (cause it’s a personal thing) you will always feel like this is a war. It doesn’t have to be.
You eat like I eat, grumpy! It’s the only way.
I actually considered weight loss surgery once. They turned me down flat. they didn't buy the I lost it now I don't want it back argument. (I had recently lost 100#s) I've gotten some of that back the last few years. When you get into your 60's and moving rapidly towards the next decade your metabolism changes. I am very active. This weekend we had two of my teen grands staying with us Fri nite we did 20 miles on the bikes, pedal bikes, (granted it was to an ice cream stop) Sat was a Hot Springs swim day Hiked about 9 miles back for "crystals" Rotated till early evening between hot pools and swimming pool. Spent the early evening Fly fishing and then I took the girls dancing. Sunday we went to Phillipsburg for shopping (yes we hit the brewerie, soda fountain, and candy store) and then went mining for sapphires. We panned several hundred pounds of gravel. Then we went to the REZ for their fireworks show (they show everything they have for sale, my number 1 grandson has a pyro license and shoots a lot of it off.) I am very cognizant of what I eat and watch pretty carefully. It was a great weekend. As I laid in bed in pure misery last nite I realized I had forgotten my disease. All that said time is my enemy The weight is creeping on despite my best efforts. Yeah the ADA diet is next. I'm up 40 pound in the last year I blame the surgery, but its aqe and changing metabolism and natural loss of muscle We are equally acticve most weekends. We have given up 100's of thousands in income to live here, so we miss nothing. I did quit dpwnhill skiing a couple years back. My wife and run a quilt/vacuum shop together since she retired, I do some part time teaching and still do some work for the NIH folks up the road.
I pretty much do ADA, but with slightly reduced carbs. No struggle at all, doesn’t feel like a diet, it’s just the way I eat. Since I’ve started feeling better, my weight is already down slightly. But slightly isn’t going to get me to where I think I need to be. To do that will, at this point in my life, take restriction. And that will feel like a diet. Getting old isn’t for sissies, is it?
Sounds like you had a fabulous weekend, Lamb! Find any sapphires that will make you fabulously rich?
If you are dropping weight naturally without restriction or special exercise, I’m sure you can get quite good results if you add in exercise and do the portion control thing.
I know its hard, and not always much fun, but boy the limitations of the WLS you are stuck with for life sound worse from what others say…
If swimming doesn’t hurt (very much) then you really need to see if you can find a pool you can get to that’s warm enough. If you slowly increase your time swimming, the pain from getting in and out of the centre will start to feel worth it.
I’m going to the gym in the morning. It’s 2am and I can’t sleep because of pain (even after tramal -yuck), but I’ve found a gym with a beautiful hydrotherapy spa, and it will be worth getting up at 5.20. I’ll make myself get on the rowing machine for 10 or 20 minutes first. It doesn’t sound like much, but its better than nothing!
Tenacious is a word I’ve always associated with you 
You can do it!
You know, if you do some restrictions and study the glycemic index a little, you will go far in dropping some extra kgs. Also’ you can taper back up to a maintenance diet after you lost what you want to. Try cutting 200 calories a day which is, usually, once snack. See what happens. Spoiler alert: You’ll lose weight. slowly, but surely. That’s the best motto.
This is SO weird. I've been wondering how the heck I can get more exercise to help with the weight and as if the universe has replied I just got an email from my local physio (where I used to whack everyone at pilates before PsA) and they are now doing weekly hydrotherapy at a local private pool AND aqua pilates. I say ask the universe for help Seenie .... when all else fails ....... xx
Oh, Jules! That’s it, I’m coming to your place! No need to make a fuss: I will just stay in one of your cages. Meeeoooowwww. Then I can go with you to hydrotherapy and aqua pilates.
Hey, I can do a spare room (no stairs) .... although the cats accommodation is often the warmest with the best outlook!!!! Got five of my friends cats here this week and yesterday they were all sitting outside in the sun watching a flock of mummy, daddy and loads of baby Starlings in the garden all fighting over the bread and seeds we put out. If you're a cat this is the place to be!
Think I'm going to give this hydrotherapy and aqua pilates a whirl. If it's awful I don't have to go back.
And anytime you want a trip across the pond .......
LOL, thanks! It sounds lovely!
I hear you Seenie on the pain of getting to the pool. I dress in the morning with my suit under my clothes when I am going to the pool that day. I put my undies in my swim bag for after shower. I wear swim shoes from LLBean so my feet are well supported and I don't have to go into the bathroom bare footed (YUCK!) My pool has a stair case that is easy to walk down and I take my cane right to the stairs. After I exercise I use the hot tub then shower than to my car where I park right next to the building with my handicap tag. And once I have been doing it weekly it gets lots easier.
Make sure the pool is 88-92F I am not sure what that is in C.
I am not sure what they would call these pools in Canada. Here they are called Program Pools and therapy Pools. I found mine by googling arthritis classes.
To lighten the mood .......
............ for everyone wondering what we are talking cats for, I have a boarding cattery and here is elderly Monty this morning snoozing on his cool pad under an improvised reflective sun shade ..... his owner described it as 'glamping' which, I think, means glamorous camping?
Oh yes, that’s my pool routine too. I just checked with the local pool and their water is 85 (we still use F degrees for that, for some reason). Really not good enough. Then there is the municipal therapy pool in Ottawa. It’s a yummy 90, but it is a 2 hour drive away. No other warm bodies of water here in the Canadian hinterland! But that’s OK cuz I’m going to Jules’ place. LOL
Maybe you need to invest in one of those endless pools. You could keep the temperature exactly where you want it. You might be able to deduct the cost on your taxes. I will admit to entertaining the idea myself...
Oh, believe me, it’s a notion that I have entertained myself! The cost of those beautiful things is way above my budget, especially because in Canada, anything like that is not tax deductible. Amazing but true – anything that anyone else could use as well is regarded as a recreational item. Even if the doc says you need a hot tub session every day, it isn’t deductible. Go figure!
Another alternative you might look at is Therapools. Still too expensive for me, but it’s a nice item.
OK, folks, this thread has gone waaaaaaay shaggy! From my ex-dilemma re WLS surgery we have now got into diet advice, catteries, changerooms, pools and home spas. Fun, but you know what they say … “The trouble with trouble is that it begins as fun.” LOL Where are those mods when we need them?
So I’m going to close off discussion on this thread. Why? As Bill Clinton once said, “Because I can.”
Just to be oppositional it got reopened (and reclosed.) See how much you are loved longest thread in days?????
Yes Lamb, and I’ll say again how much I appreciate the kind and concerned and thoughtful responses that people posted. It has meant a lot to me.