Santa Delivered

[Carol Dee]

Carol, losing that much weight in a year is outstanding. I am so proud of you.

Aww thanks Bay , everyone's encouragement has helped.

 

[digitS']

You deserve it, Carol Dee.

You may have just started on the pushups but you have been pushing back the food all this time! Super Human!

It is sad that so many people are disabled by weight. And yet, "lifting" that weight can only be done in a couple of ways. Many folks simply fail.

Steve

 

[ninnymary]

Steve, one of my good friends is very overweight and has knee issues. I just know that if she were to lose some weight she wouldn't have to hobble so much. But sadly she doesn't listen.

Mary

 

[Gardening with Rabbits]

Fatigue is one symptom of an overworked immune system. Chicken pox just can't be a short term thing.

It's kind of funny to think about good muscle tone helping with fatigue but I think it just has to be true.

I'm talking through my hat but the rheumatoid arthritis flareups were such a big part of my existence years ago. I guess that it was a good thing that they were most serious when I was young.

Steve

I had a lung infarction, like heart attack only in lung. I think I know when it happened. I bent over to pick something up and pain just shot through my back. If it I been lung pain then I would have gone to the ER. When I went to lay down to go to bed. I could not lay down. I had breath just right and get my back to relax. So, stupid not to go to the doctor right then, but I thought it was muscle pain. If you have rheumatoid arthritis then you had a positive ANA test? DS tested positive at about 2 because of a swollen ankle They thought he had rheumatoid arthritis, but turned out he had just hurt his ankle, but still he had the positive test. Also, DH, who has Raynaud's disease and psoriasis, and now cancer. DD wanted to get the ANA test. She got the results this week and positive and she is freaking! She has psoriasis on the back of her neck in a small spot. She is going to go see a rheumatologist soon for more blood work. We are going to start making kombucha tea, kefir, fermented vegetables. I did this when DS had his positive test, which it cleared up the psoriasis on DH. He smoked and never did get over the Raynaud's. DD was told to start taking vitamin D3. It will be interesting to see if this clears up on her neck. She tested positive for lupus and rheumatoid arthritis.

 

[Gardening with Rabbits]

What do you think made the difference in your rheumatoid arthritis? Exercize?

Mary

And also the psoriasis? Diet?

 

[Gardening with Rabbits]

You're being active by walking and that's what counts. Start out light with weights for a week. After that you can go up by 5-10lbs. It takes time, like a couple months, to build up your strength and endurance. I'm so glad your son is getting interested in exercising too. You will feel better not only physically but psychologically. In a few months you will see and feel the difference. You will be able to do little things that you haven't been able to before. Just keep plugging away!

Mary

I saw a story where a 57 year old woman lifts weights. I have also seen the 80 years and things like that, but I am 61 and what the 57-year-old can do showed me I am just being lazy. A few years ago I could lift a lot of weight and DS and I are getting all the weights out and starting each our own exercise program. He wants to turn DD's room into an exercise room when she moves out. She is getting married in June.

 

[Carol Dee]

You deserve it, Carol Dee.

You may have just started on the pushups but you have been pushing back the food all this time! Super Human!

It is sad that so many people are disabled by weight. And yet, "lifting" that weight can only be done in a couple of ways. Many folks simply fail.

Steve

Thanks Steve

 

[ninnymary]

I saw a story where a 57 year old woman lifts weights. I have also seen the 80 years and things like that, but I am 61 and what the 57-year-old can do showed me I am just being lazy. A few years ago I could lift a lot of weight and DS and I are getting all the weights out and starting each our own exercise program. He wants to turn DD's room into an exercise room when she moves out. She is getting married in June.

This makes me so excited and happy to hear! Good for you! I'm 62 years old and do Crossfit. Last year I was ranked #127 in the world from about 800 women my age who did the Crossfit Open and #18 in Northern California. I am stronger now than when I was younger. You can build strength no matter your age.

Mary

 

[digitS']

I knew you had the spirit of a champion, Mary

!

@Gardening with Rabbits , the diagnosis was over 40 years ago. I don't know what tests were done. (I could say that I don't remember but apologizing for my forgetfulness is becoming a habit I'm trying to break .)

With the back, other problems of regular old osteoarthritis became involved. That was later but the RA can be blamed (at least, by me) for setting me up. I also blame hearing loss on RA but there were other things involved there also - like noise. Improvement to my health from the low point was fairly steady but it took years from the time when flare-ups were monthly to every other month to a couple times a year, to once every couple of years. Minor rashes still occur but respond very well to steroid creams.

I was also fairly responsive to anti inflammatories but I, and the MD's, quickly learned that my stomach couldn't deal with them for any amount of time. Oral and injected steroids didn't seem to do any good.

As for diet or any other thing, I don't know. Never did the health professionals give me any food advice. I've been aware of various ideas that popped up for a few years. Uncooked fruits and vegetables good. Nightshade vegetables bad and apple cider vinegar good. Coffee bad while red wine good. If there was some consistency to the claims, clinical trial confirmation, something other than chatter - maybe I would have taken some of these seriously. It's rather humdrum of me to just say that slogging along made me feel better and curling up in a ball made my health worse. I've tried to eat healthful food and that took several turns through the years. I've mentioned how my son once thought he might have diabetes so I went right out and bought 3 cookbooks. He didn't have diabetes but I looked at that diet and couldn't help but thinking, "this is just eating healthy food!" About that time I was discovering stir-fries - I mean, beyond what I was enjoying at Asian restaurants. My veggie consumption went up! Finally, trying to control weight gain while having that "most important meal of the day" (breakfast), I began eating more fruit, 3 serving/morning. There's nothing radical about any of this. Nothing radical about my diet unless it's having no problem getting 5 plus servings of fruits and vegetables each day while limiting red meat. Middle of the Road and Moderation, I suppose.

Steve

 

[Gardening with Rabbits]

This makes me so excited and happy to hear! Good for you! I'm 62 years old and do Crossfit. Last year I was ranked #127 in the world from about 800 women my age who did the Crossfit Open and #18 in Northern California. I am stronger now than when I was younger. You can build strength no matter your age.

Mary

Wow Mary, that is wonderful! I just looked at a Crossfit video to see what it is all about and my gosh! #127 in the WORLD! Thank you for telling me this. I was wondering how old you were when you said how much weight you used for the squats. So many strong women. I watched them even climb ropes. I saw several named Mary and my name is Mary too. Strong women of the 1950s. I am slacking!