Hi Melody,

Two things come to mind in terms of Alan... one is that the holistic M.D. I saw tries to keep her patients' B12 level above 1200. But I realize that if Alan doesn't want to take it, he won't.

And second, I've lost ten inches around my waist on 3 minutes of exercise a day... which is either on my Gazelle or walking around my garden. So the huge amounts of exercise time people on telly tell us we need, well they may not be correct.

Hi Consider:

The day I lose 10 inches around my waist from only 3 minutes of exercise a day, I'll call up Richard Simmons and take him out to dinner.

Your results are absolutely mind boggling.

Years ago, (and I mean years ago), I went on this diet, really really strict. Gave up everything for one month. I just walked at night with my neighbor who was 50 lbs overweight.

We walked and we walked for one hour every single night.

I ate protein, lean this, lean that. BUT!!! I was also on oral diabetes meds. Lots of them.

I didn't lose a darn thing. Got so frustrated, I went back to chips and dips at night.

Very frustrating when you do what you are supposed to do and nothing works.

But ever since I am on the Lantus and I eat extremely healthy, no refined sugars, no sugars at all, well, I dropped the weight. My body also changed.

Heavy people really never look at their bodies by the way. All these Angelinas, and Jennifer Love Hewitts, well, they can do their bra commercials and put on their bikinis and look at themselves in the mirrior, but heavy people don't. They just put on clothes, hope that nothing is bulging and mostly, concentrate on their face and makeup. All my friends are like this, and so was I. I would pass a mirror and never look into it. Because I knew what I would look like.

I can laugh about it now. Oh, this is a funny story. When I was 24, I lost 85 lbs. My first successful weight loss story. My first serious boyfriend, my first everything. But I did this in 5 months. I went from being really overweight, to looking like Elizabeth Taylor in Cleopatra. Really changed my looks.

So there I was one day, walking past a storefront with a mirror and I said to myself "oh who is that girl, what a nice outfit she has on". Guess who it was?? ME!!! I had no idea what I really looked like because I never paid attention to my body. So when I lost all the weight really really fast, and put some outfit on that my mother had purchased for me, it still didn't click in my head, that I was the person in the mirror who just walked by. This is not an uncommon thing among formerly overweight people.

And one day, I was laying on the couch, and I felt a bony something. I started to go "oh my god, what is this thing?" It was my hip bone. I had never felt my hip bone before.

And shortly after that I went to my doctor for a checkup. I will never forget his face. After listening to my lungs he goes "very good, very good, how do you feel? and I said 'well, I have this hard thing in my torso, what is this thing?" and he goes "what do you mean, you have this hard thing on your torso?" and I put his hand and he burst out laughing and he goes "melody, that's one of your ribs".

You see, I had never felt my ribs before.

This happend years ago. I have gained and lost millions of pounds since I was 24. But now, I believe I have a mental handle on my over-eating.

I'm feeling lots of things these days.

lol
Melody

lol

For one thing, I bet you weren't as heavy as me.



For another, I bet you were able to be more active. I was in bed for nearly two years ... and now I'm up more but not all the time by any means.

I think the trick is to do three minutes more than you were doing before.

And I think it's ridiculous to push to the limits in the beginning and that way the body sets that as the norm...

I like my body having a low norm for exercise... and I'm glad it works.

Now... to read the rest of your post.

lol again...

re your strict diet and sitting with your friend... it proves my point.

LOL

Did you ever look at my weight loss pages... they describe an almost identical thing.

What happens, I think, is our metabolisms are way tuned in to inertia : objects in motion tend to remain in motion, and vice versa.

So when we jump right into a strict diet and masses of exercise, our bodies don't change our metabolism nearly as fast. So it's disappointing.

So, 3 minutes a day works fine till our bodies get settled in, I think in the diet world it's called reaching a plateau.



As an aside, where were you going to get Richard Simmons' phone number? Does he advertise?

lol re the bones...

I remember similar experiences... though I knew they were my bones and didn't have to ask a doctor.

I think another thing that's a problem with weight loss is... I don't know exactly how to categorize this, but when I was getting my solar in, for instance, I did a lot of work... I painted a lot and straightened the house up... with a lot of rest between minutes of work.

But mostly I noticed that when I was painting I'd sort of force myself to stick with it a minute past the beginning of the pain... etc.

And so I thought that with all the time out of bed and working I'd lose masses of weight.

Nope.

Not at all.

So I think that when we do things where we are forcing ourselves to complete something despite pain, that we somehow turn off our metabolism as we try to ignore the pain.

And when our metabolism isn't working, we aren't losing weight.

Three minutes a day, Melody.

If the people you described in the cranes did three minutes a day, and I realize they'd have to work up to that much, the way that I did, they'd lose the weight too.

But when someone is as overweight as I was, two pounds a week doesn't make a visible difference for months and months.

On the other hand, my body has the time to firm up my skin and not leave me with a bloodhound body (full of loose skin).

Consider:

Almost 35 years ago, my friend Diane had the first gastro-bypass operation. It was the original one. She weighed almost 600 lbs. We used to go into work together on the express bus. We became friends. She told me "people think I have a thyroid condition, but no, it's all eating" and I said 'what do you mean it's all eating?" and she said "when you go to a birthday party, you eat one or two pieces of cake, me??? I'll eat the whole cake". I said "Oh,"

She couldnt find socks to fit her in the winter. She went to work in anklets. I never forgot her. She married a man named Rick and had a child. No one knew she was pregnant because you couldn't tell.

So she finally had the gastro operation and she lost weight. She lost over 200 lbs. I will never forget the day I met up with her on the train. Do you know what a person who weighs over 500 lbs, and then loses 250 lbs. Well, do you know what the skin looks like? She was so happy she lost the weight that she wore pink pants and a sleeveless top. Of course I knew why she wore it. Because she never could wear that color before. But all the people were staring at her and at me because I'm hugging her and saying "Oh my god, you look terrific" and all they were seeing was the skin. I was just so proud of her.

Well, unfortunately, over the years, she gained it all back. I never knew this could happen. I thought, once you had this surgery, that was it. Thankfully, they have improved it in 30 years and now they have lap band surgery and various others. Thank god, because for many super obese, it's a life saver.

So you keep eating healthy and I will too.

I wish I could find some of my old photos. You'd die laughing.

Mel

Yes, when someone's stomach is reduced to the size of a walnut, it makes for rapid weight loss.

The kind of weight loss I experienced from 3 minutes of exercise a day, and I doubt I will do it today because of the stress, and how that affects my balance for the worse, was very slow. Because it was so slow, my body seems to be firming up my skin.

I had to lose 100 pounds. Before I started losing my skin was nice and tight, it actually looked younger.

I still have another ten inches to lose, and more if I want to eventually get into the outfit I ordered as an inspiration.

I am soooo tired. I haven't been sleeping properly because of the stress, and I'm soooo tired.

Still, it's fun writing.

Karen:

Nice talking to you too. Get some rest. And I hope you get into your outfit.

Tonight I am invited around the corner to one of my neighbor's house. They are throwing her a 75th Birthday Party. Wow, 75 years young.

And she weighs 300 lbs. I never talk about her weight. My weight is my concern and everybody elses weight is their concern. She looks great, no wrinkles, nice face. Hope she makes it to 100.

Melody

That sounds like fun!

Yes, weight is a very tricky subject.

I haven't even taken the outfit out of the bag yet. It's been a year since it arrived.

I feel as if I'd fit into it, but that's a delusion.

I just have to stick with this... and it really helps that I can't go out and buy anything else to eat.

A lot of people are really pretty and beautiful even though they are heavy.

I'm not one of them, I looked like such a truck. You are beautiful and I bet you've always been. (You look better than Elizabeth Taylor.)

I need to go have a B12 shot, because my tinnitus is starting up and in addition it's getting a bit hard to see. not as clear.

Stressful day... good grief I hope I can keep my house!

Well, it makes me smile to think of you going out to a party this evening.

--you goys starting talking about other things.

The short answer to Mel's questoin about the inevitability of prostate trouble is no, it's not something always found in men as they get older, but, like so many conditions, it's more likely the older one gets.

Most men do experience some enlargement of the prostate, especially after 60. This probably wasn't noticed so many generations back, as far fewer people made it to that age. But for most, the enlargment is benign, and often asymptomatic. The most common symptom by far is a change in urinary habits--going more often, and having a more difficult time getting a strong "stream" that completely empties the bladder to start. This can be embarrassing--especially for men who've been teasing women about the common female tendency to go very often (women tend to have smaller bladders to start with)--but there are treatments.

There are sometimes sexual effects of an enlarged prostate--this can be more distrubing than the need to go to the bathroom often. Often, treatments (such as surgery or certain medications) may have more sexual side effects than the condition itself, and that can make men nervous about the treatments.

Here are a few good summary sites:

www.prostatedisease.org

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/pro...027/DSECTION=1