neveragain

Here's the thing. It's 100% mental. It's one of those things that you need to push yourself to be able to get through. I know that's tough right now. I remember. Having said that, you know yourself better than anyone. If you think that it's too much to handle, you're smart to not go. KEEP AT IT!!!

I lost about 100lbs about 3ish years ago...and then I met my wife. Since then, I've gone up and down, but as of recently, I've packed about 70lbs back. Arg. I wish I had the motivation to convince myself all the time. Alas...it will come back full-force sometime. Strangely enough, people have to vent sometimes, though, yes?

It truly feels like living healthy is the hardest, most emotional rollercoaster-y thing ever. Am I the only one who feels this way? haha.

I'm jaboyak on there.

So, I have gout, as well. If it is gout, you have to get on medication. No question about it. Go back to your doctor and have him check your uric acid levels. Even if you don't get an attack, if your uric acid level is super high, it will do serious joint damage over time. Weight loss will help a little, but diet is king for prevention. Also, it's not SO much that you have to stay away from meat. It's more that you need to stay away from organ meats. High Protein diets are okay, but I would steer clear of Atkins and diets like that. Cherries are also said to benefit the lowering of uric acid. If you have any other questions, message me and we'll talk more about it.

Hello everyone, I'm John! I was banded 5 years ago and I was 300lbs at my heaviest. I got down to 200lbs 3 years ago and since I met my wife, I've found myself back up at 270 again. I'm trying to get back down again. Some support in this city would be awesome. haha. John

bump for my old name! haha.

Mine was like that for a while, but if it starts to actually hurt more, go see your doctor to make sure it's not infected or inflamed for any other reason.

Is there anyone who is willing to be a gym buddy here?

Like everyone said, KEEP AT IT! You'll be in sore, but it really is "no pain, no gain"!!

Having a lap-band makes you a cheap date. haha. I also order off of the appetizer menu and do the half-order thing most often. I try not to go out all that much, though.

So, here's my two cents: I agree that these rules aren't "absolute", per say. They aren't the absolute cardinal laws of healthy eating. If you want to have a cheeseburger or a vanilla cone every now and again from McD's is it going to kill your attempt at weight loss? ABSOLUTELY not. Every once in a while, you should indulge yourself. I, personally, am a fan of whole foods and a huge fan of the culinary world, so I'm not against the idea of a pure whole foods diet. I also like to believe of the calories in/calories out concept, but a lot of people don't understand that there's MUCH more to it than that. In theory, you could eat 1200 calories of pure sugar per day and still lose weight, HOWEVER, the lack of amino acid intake is a huge problem, not to mention the lack of Vitamin intake that help our enzymes work. Alternatively, though, if you were to eat 1200 calories of pure Protein and nothing else for a few weeks, it would kill you. No bull. Ask a survivalist. haha. The take-home here is that you need a diet that covers the bases: veggie/fruit, protein, carbohydrate, and fat. How you do it doesn't really matter all that much, keeping portion size in mind. I think the gist of what I'm trying to say is that if you can follow the "four golden rules", good for you, but if you're like the VAST majority of us, we take things in stride and adapt it to our own way of eating that works for us. My only suggestion of a strongly suggested rule would be for EVERYONE to take a multi-vitamin every day. The lack of Calcium and Vitamin D in our diets are being connected to cancers and other major somatic problems. Plus, you know you can trust a suggestion from an allopathic(MD) background. haha.