South Beach Dieters Group Meet Here!

[nosnobunny]

Week-ends are real tough for me too. We're very social creatures and are either eating out or with friends. I can't always be saying that I can't go here or I can't go there because of the menu. Italian is the absolute worst. The favourite in my circle of friends hasn't got a single thing on the menu that's legal for me, so I just go nuts and say "What the h*ll." Then the spiral starts. Right now I'm in a stall. Bummer! :(

Beth

[adoptmom]

Beth, that used to be a problem for me too. But since I lost the 30 pounds I've recruited 2 of the women we do our socializing with so now it's easier to pick SB friendly places. Doesn't always happen, but it does make it so we have no excuse when we do eat off WOE. ;)

Italian would be my downfall though. I love it and you're right. There's almost nothing to absolutely nothing on the menu. One of my places has grilled chicken and porkchops but who wants to go to an italian restaurant and have pork chops? :(

Tami

[nosnobunny]

Now that's resourceful thinking Tami. :) Unfortunately I'm the only fluffy one out of our group. Some are downright skinny. I refer to them as the skinny bi*ches. ;)

Beth

[WeirdEyes]

[quote name='nosnobunny']Now that's resourceful thinking Tami. :) Unfortunately I'm the only fluffy one out of our group. Some are downright skinny. I refer to them as the skinny bi*ches. ;)

Beth[/QUOTE]Beth, I LOVE your sense of humor!!! :D I have a few friends who are thin (size 6 or 8) and talk about how fat they are. I say, "If you want to see fat, look at this." I then grab the flab that covers my abs and start jiggling it! That normally shuts them up. ;)

[nosnobunny]

Sheila we are sisters! :D

Beth

[mellow]

I had to share. I just finished cutting up the onion and peppers for Steak au Poivre for supper. It is from the South Beach Cookbook. Does anyone else love this dish as much as DH and I? My mouth is watering already. I like to get the prep work done earlier in the day so that cooking is not so much work at supper time (yes, I am WAY too lazy). If you have the cookbook and haven't tried this receipt I really, really recommend it! :) I think I have food on my mind today........ probably not a good thing.:o

[nosnobunny]

I haven't made that one yet but I'll have to try it soon. We had steak last night. Instead of a gravy, I made a sauce of sour cream, red wine, garlic and fresh cracked pepper. Worked pretty well.

Beth

[WeirdEyes]

Beth, I don't have any sisters, so I need one! ;)

Mellow, that recipes sounds great. Beth your sauce sounds good also. I'm getting hungry. We're having shrimp tonight in a mustard sauce...yum! yum!

[adoptmom]

[quote name='nosnobunny']Now that's resourceful thinking Tami. :) Unfortunately I'm the only fluffy one out of our group. Some are downright skinny. I refer to them as the skinny bi*ches. ;)

Beth[/QUOTE]

Beth,

Most of us in the homeschool group are a bit on the heavy side and everyone's following some food plan. A couple are doing the Raw Diet. Ugh. I'm thinking that would be a killer. There is one lady however, who drives me nuts! I love her to death because she's so nice but she just had a baby 2 months ago and by the time she left the hospital you couldnt' even tell she'd been pregnant. I look like I've had 8 kids and I've never even been pregnant. :rolleyes:

Tami

[WeirdEyes]

Tami, I know what you mean! I still look 3 months pregnant and my son is 16! One of my friends just had a baby 7 weeks ago and she is back into her skinny clothes...size 8! Not fair!

[nosnobunny]

I have to think way back to my last pregnancy. My baby is 29. I was in good shape right after the delivery and they were all C sections. It was the middle-aged 40s that got me. Up til that time, I never had to worry about my weight. But I didn't like things like whipped cream, pies, Chinese food. Then I grew up and realized what I'd been missing. :D Now I need to lose 30 lbs. How did that happen? :rolleyes:

Beth

[mellow]

Well, I am fortunate (?) I guess - if one wants to look at life with the glass half full. I had breast reconstruction after cancer 13 years ago and had a tram (abdominal) flap done. The effect on the tummy is the same as a tummy tuck. So I do have a flat stomach - even when I carry extra weight it goes to hips and butt. And now that I am at target weight it is really flat. Not that I would recommend the route I chose to achieve the end mind you...... :)

[nosnobunny]

Oh don't think for a minute that I haven't thought of a tummy tuck. I have, especially after a good friend had one done last year. But first, I have to get my weight down. Then snip away. :D

Beth

[adoptmom]

Mellow- I feel you on that non- recomendation. My MIL had breast cancer (along with her mother, aunt, grandmother and all her sisters.) My DH has 3 sisters who are nearing their 50's and sometimes I feel like the phone is going to ring and someone's going to have it. We're pretty sure that they have the familial type. If that's the case they have something like an 85% chance of getting it. They refuse to be tested though. I don't get that. If it were me I'd want to know and if it came back positive I'm 99% certain that I'd have them removed and some nice small implants put in (I'm down to a 38 D from a 44 DD with dieting.) But then after my crohn's experience A) the less time I spend in hospitals the better and B) I've learned to be VERY aggressive in avoiding major illnesses.

BTW, I also don't reccommend active crohn's as a way to lose weight. It's extremely effective (I got down to 86 pounds) but the consequences of that were not something I'd wish on my worst enemy.

Tami

[adoptmom]

Ok, Ya'll,

can you explain this to me? Yesterday I was so bad! I did get 12,000 steps in but no formal exercise. For breakfast I had a low carb bar which was ok, but lunch was taco bell (with the shells.) Dinner was salmon and raw veggies which were good but we also had fried apples which I used 50% splenda but also 50% brown sugar in. I ate at least a cup and a half. I also had low carb ice cream with some real carmel sauce for snack. Bad most of the day right? So how in the heck did I lose a pound instead of gain one? :confused: I'm not complaining, just confused.

Tami

[mellow]

Tami, my family is indeed BRCA1 positive. That is the gene that carries high risk of ovarian as well as breast cancer (so needless to say, since I was done having my children, the ovaries went bye-bye too). My mother and one of her sisters died of breast cancer in their late 30's or early 40's and another sister died of ovarian cancer in her early 40's. So I was not surprised really when I got breast cancer at 39. And I did get the gene test a couple of years after - mostly for my daughters. The older DD is married and she was tested 2 years ago and unfortunately carries the gene also. But at least she knows and they are following her very closely with frequent screenings. She plans to have her ovaries removed after she has her children and thinks there is a good chance she will have breast surgery with reconstruction after she has nursed the children. But she is still waiting final decision til she sees what advances are made in treatments and detection before that time. The younger DD is in college and so has not been tested yet. I decided they needed to be old enough to make the decision to test or not on their own.

As far as Crohn's Disease, I remember when I was in nursing school and doing my surgical rotation and taking care of Crohn's patients who had had to have parts of the diseased bowel removed. It can indeed be an ugly disease. I certainly wish you well in your management of the process!

[nosnobunny]

Don't worry Tami. I'm sure that pound will find you. If not, count yourself lucky for dodging a bullet. :D

Beth

[mellow]

Beth, either she will find it or one of the others of us will! :D You know, one of those physics things - matter can never be created or distroyed, it just changes form. Translation - fat floats from one set of hips to another with WAY too much ease!

[WeirdEyes]

Beth, you have 30 lbs to lose and I have 20 lbs to lose before we snip, snip. I'm actually saving up for my tummy tuck. Right now, I have $5300 saved. I don't actually know how much it is going to cost though. I'm also thinking about a breast lift. After I get the 20 lbs off, I'm going for a consult just to find out how much it is going to cost. It might be :eek: and then I'll forget it. Also, a lot of people are starting to tell me how vain I must be if I want a tummy tuck. It is not being vain; I just want my pants to fit right. Is that too much to ask? So, when I have the procedure done, I'm not telling hardly anybody and then when they see me, they'll freak! :D

Also, Beth, I recommend that you watch the show "Body Works" on TLC. I saw a lady who lost over 100 lbs get a tummy tuck & breast lift and the results were amazing.

[nosnobunny]

So what if they think you're vain? You have to live in your body not them. That sort of comment really ticks me off. Pure jealousy that's all it is. :mad: I'm lucky because DH is completely supportive in my decision. He's such a sweetie! Besides, he wants to have a little work done on his neck. Maybe we can get a group rate. What do you think? :D

My girlfriend had hers done by the best Dr around here and it cost $5500. That's Cdn $$$, so you should already have enough saved up. Then again, our Drs don't charge the same fees yours do. Since this is purely cosmetic and elective, our gov't. plan won't pay for it.

Beth

[WeirdEyes]

Beth, my DH is very supportive of my decision to have the tummy tuck also. It is just my co-workers and a few family members that make the comments. Yep, they'll all be jealous when I look better than them. ;) Good idea about you and your DH getting a group rate! On Body Works Sunday night, a mother & daughter both got breast augmentation. I bet they got a discount, but they were in Miami.

[mellow]

It is really nice when you can finally look as good as - or better - than those that you have envied for years. My dearest friend in the world (who has never been anything but supportive of me whether I was fat or thin, dieting or pigging out) has always been thin as a rail. Finally as we hit 50 she has managed to climb from about 105 to 118. We are both 5'3". Even during my "thin" times I was bigger than her! And now, having hit my target of 120 (I am 119 today) we are the same size. It was like the Twilight Zone shopping with her last week. We were actually trading size 6 Petite pants across the dressing room as we tried the same things on! Talk about modivation to keep up my WOE.............;)

So hang in there everyone. It is definately worth the effort. And as far as plastic surgery as a reward for the effort, I say do whatever will make you happy. And if vanity were the worse "sin" anyone could manage, then the world would certainly be a much kinder and better place. IMHO. :)

[adoptmom]

[quote name='mellow']Tami, my family is indeed BRCA1 positive. That is the gene that carries high risk of ovarian as well as breast cancer (so needless to say, since I was done having my children, the ovaries went bye-bye too). My mother and one of her sisters died of breast cancer in their late 30's or early 40's and another sister died of ovarian cancer in her early 40's. So I was not surprised really when I got breast cancer at 39. And I did get the gene test a couple of years after - mostly for my daughters. The older DD is married and she was tested 2 years ago and unfortunately carries the gene also. But at least she knows and they are following her very closely with frequent screenings. She plans to have her ovaries removed after she has her children and thinks there is a good chance she will have breast surgery with reconstruction after she has nursed the children. But she is still waiting final decision til she sees what advances are made in treatments and detection before that time. The younger DD is in college and so has not been tested yet. I decided they needed to be old enough to make the decision to test or not on their own.

As far as Crohn's Disease, I remember when I was in nursing school and doing my surgical rotation and taking care of Crohn's patients who had had to have parts of the diseased bowel removed. It can indeed be an ugly disease. I certainly wish you well in your management of the process![/QUOTE]

I think that it's wise that you had them take your ovaries too. My Grandmother and ovarian cancer and it was really horrible. She didn't get it the way it normally happens because she didn't have it until age 80. She'd had a partial hysterctomy when she was in her 70's but for some bizarre reason the surgeon left her ovaries. My husband is under strict instructions that no matter what my age if I ever have to have an emergency Hysterectomy that they are to take the ovaries too.

As for the crohn's, I've not had the "normal" run of things. I showed symptoms for about a month and when they did a biopsy they perfed my colon. I've had an ileostomy since 1986. I still have some bowel left and could be reconnected BUT I'm holding out for a cure as opposed to treatment.

Really, I've been extremely lucky. I had reactions to both prednisone and azulfadine which were the only two treatments when I was diagnosed so they decided to keep me off all meds and "wait and see." I've not taken a med or had a crohn's related symptom since. The ostomy is such a minor annoyance at this point that I'll take it over any of the side effects from any of the new treatments too.

Tami

[mellow]

You are making me feel lucky, Tami. I certainly know that medical mishaps can and do happen but yours was definately a biggie! Sounds like you have a very good and positive attitude. I am extremely impressed.......

[WeirdEyes]

Linda, I totally agree with you about what you said about Tami. She has suffered a lot, handles homeschooling her kids, and she is always positive. I also think she probably has one of the biggest hearts of anybody I "know." You are in a size 6, huh? That must feel fantastic! I will never be a size 6. Even in high school when I was a cheerleader and worked out religiously, I only wore a size 7. Now, I'm in a 12 or 14 and am trying to be in an 8 or 10. I know size isn't everything so I really just want to look good in my clothes and not be disgusted when I look in the mirror. I had a baby when I was 23 and he weighed 10 lbs 14 1/2 oz and my tummy has never been the same. I've also had 3 major abdominal surgeries so I will never have a flat stomach without a tuck. It doesn't have to be flat though; I just don't want it to pooch out when I sit down and make me feel uncomfortable.