http://weightlossinternational.com/newsletter/topamax-as-weight-loss-drug.html
http://www.drmirkin.com/nutrition/N117.htm
interesting stuff.
Damn hamsters are slow today. Couldn’t get back in for the longest time.
Thanks Ginger, Wesley. I admit I went pretty hardcore, which is easier to do when you live alone–there’s no-one else putting stuff in the fridge or kitchen cupboard to tempt you. That said, I honestly surprised myself with having self-discipline I never knew I had.
As for the walking, it really should be described as “marching.” I have always been a fast walker, and as I lost weight, I really began to go faster, and try to maintain an unbroken cadence at about 120-140 paces a minute. (I had to work up to this, and started from a very short duration, and work towards a 40 minute march). I based this on the quick march of British rifle regiments, by the way!
The metformin is apparently to tell my liver “enough with the glucose production, already,” and is related to combatting the diabetes; it also cuts down LDL cholesterol (although in rare cases it can trigger lactic acidosis). The topomax is used as an appetite suppressant, although the dosage I am on is pretty low–just enough to take the edge off: I actually prefer a little hunger. It reminds me of what I’m doing and why.
And yep, keeping it off will be the big challenge. But having been 320 pounds, and shown myself that I can do this, I will never let myself go back. Besides, I kept my 50" belt, with 12 extra holes I added as I shrank, as a trophy–and a reminder.
As of this morning, I’m down 30+ lbs since June.
I joined Bally, and have been working with a trainer. She’s my hero.
I never thought I’d have this much energy…this morning, I did my 20 minutes on the eliptical, ran 3 laps, 15 pushups, 30 crunches, weights, and about 50 lunges. And that was all before breakfast!
I love this.
Well, I can now wear size 38 jeans, (36 too, but I can’t sit down in 'em) so I ordered a pair from Land’s End to wear to Germany in November.
Well, I got to thinkin’: If I stay on this diet and keep losing the weight, pretty soon those 38’s aren’t gonna fit, so then what? Into the closet till the next time?
LE has what they call Guaranteed. Period, so I decided to chat with them and ask if it included my too-big jeans, and it does. All I gotta do is hold onto the paperwork and send 'em back and they’ll send me the next size down!
I have jeans from size 30 to 44 hanging in my closet (not bought from LE)! If I had bought just one pair from them when I was heavier, I’d conceivably own only one pair now! 
I doubt that if I tried to take a pair of jeans that had been worn back to Kohl’s because they didn’t fit anymore, that I could exchange them. They’d prob’ly laugh me right outta the store!
BTW, I am in no way affiliated with LE, okay? Just a very satisfied, cost-conscious customer who loves their quality.
Thanks
Q
I just realized that I have been at 38 waist before, so I decided to re-read all of my posts in this abd the prior thread, and I have decided that much of my problem has to do with my emotions.
I’d be sailing along watching the pounds melt away, then I’d have love problems or health problems and down I’d go. At first, I posted every day and sometimes several times in a day in this thread. Then there’d be weeks without a post.
So I would have to say that I’m one of the “test-tube babies” who proves weight gain can be an emotional issue.
It has really helped me to read some of what I wrote and try to re-capture what I was feeling when I wrote it. It’s kinda like a diary, this thread.
No great revelations in my post, I’m afraid, but I would like to say that I think all of us are champs for hanging in there as we are.
Q
Hello, checking in after 2 weeks, a mere 1.5kg down but it’s a start.
Chefguy, your approach sounds really sensible. But I do weigh myself every da - the thing is, I am not paranoid about it. I have a palm pilot, and a free program (google for the Hacker’s Diet) which shows a moving average. So any given day is not important, it’s the overall trend that counts. And that’s going well so far. I find it quite motivational because I can see quickly that it’s working,
well if were doing updates im at about 262 & a 43-43.5" waist. I had pizza and whiskey for dinner tonight (this is that 20% calories in crap thing i was talking about).
I’ve lost 30# so far and I made a very interesting discovery this past weekend. I think my stress reaction has changed. Used to be I’d head for the ice cream when I was dealing with “bad things” - but when I went into the crisis management mode last weekend, I completely lost my appetite. Weird.
I’ve about reached a critical point in my wardrobe - the majority of my jeans are way too baggy to be comfortable. I need to hit Goodwill and see if I can get some interim pants.
Yay for all of us losers!
FCM - congrats on the baggy jeans! Isn’t that a great feeling? (Knowing they’re baggy because you’ve lost weight, that is; the wearing of overly baggy clothes is, in and of itself, a bit of a nuisance.)
One of the two belts I wear to work decided this week that I needed to pull it in another notch. That was a bonus, because my weight has been hovering in the 175-176 range for about 10 days now. But all the bike riding I’ve been doing since late July has rearranged some of the weight I’ve still got. Went on a 40-mile ride in Anne Arundel Co. with my Delaware friends and their teenage daughters when they came down last weekend, and that’s helped to nudge the body in the right direction.
cajela - I’m with you on the daily weigh-ins. If one can stay emotionally detached from the local fluctuations, it gives a better picture. It’s particularly helpful for me in sorting out the effect of different foods on my diet: if every time I eat something, the scale always moves in the same direction, that’s useful to know. (Trader Joe’s stir-fry dinners are good this way, especially their shrimp stir-fry. But I really eat them because they’re yummy.)
I weigh myself daily. Just after I’ve gone to the bathroom, and stumbled downstairs to make breakfast for my son Matthew. My scale is measured in 1/4 of a pound gradients, so seeing that 1/4 down is a real boost and starts my day of right. I post my results at a Weight Watchers message board (hoooo boy let’s not talk about them) on Fridays, so I only really ‘count’ that day.
That being said: I stay the hell away from sodium-heavy foods on Thursdays, and drink extra water.
By the way, 48 lbs gone.
Go, Ginger! You’re really doing great! I have to wonder if I’ll recognize you next time I see you…
I’m starting to lose again now that the term has started. Nothing like grading on the treadmill to pass the time.
Ben & Jerry’s has a new sugar-free blueberry ice cream made with Splenda.
A (blind?) woman at Wal-Mart today said she needed other ID when I used my credit card, because my drivers license picture doesn’t look like me. I think she’s dumb.
I bet y’all didn’t know I knew about that, huh? Yup, there are certain times of day when you weigh less than at others, so post your weight and time (and where you are, if that’s important) and let’s see where we all stand.
It’s time for a huddle, some high-fives and back-slaps, 'cause we are heading into the “party-season” and don’t we all wanna look sexy this time of year?
I will be going to a “big-deal” ER party this year, and I have already (mentally) ordered my “holiday-duds”. I’m gonna also be doing the “tanning-bed” thing as well as getting in some gym-time, and even though I may not look like Brad Pitt, I will be the best-lookin’ Quasi I can be. The weight loss is gonna play a major role in that for me, because I am otherwise a “purty ugly guy”, as the band Dr. Hook used to sing! 
It’s gonna be “The Year Of Da Quas’”! May it be your year as well!
See you fellow- little heathens tomorrow with the weight, okay?
Q
Weight The Least! :rolleyes:
I’m an English major! I went to West Georgia College. Apparently the humanities have bumped aganst the brain of the Piltdown Man!
But I do know all of the words to Mountain’s Mississippi Queen, a song that I believe they still play on the Student Center jukebox at WGC!
Q
Well, Quasi, it’s what’s on the inside that counts, in which case you are Brad Pitt, Colin Farrell and Antonio Banderas all rolled into one! (In which case, I guess you’d better stop losing so much weight, or there won’t be enough room in there to be all those hot guys at once!)
nori, honey: You’re making me sigh… Quit it sometime soon, okay?
Q
OK, but not too soon, alright?
Weighed 174.5 when I got home from work; hopefully that’ll hold up until morning.
I really want to be on the low side of 175!
I’m not weighing in tomorrow, because I’m using some flex points tonight and enjoying every fat-laden bit. Today’s weight is 48.75 lbs down from when I started.