How is weight loss for people over 50?

[BJean 16]

I still take HRT and haven't heard that it thickens your blood and that's why there is a danger of blood clots with estrogen. I am afraid to get off of it, although I am way past the menopause age range. I had a hysterectomy many years ago. If I thought getting off HRT would cause me to lose weight, that would certainly be incentive to try it.

Both my mom and my sister died from breast cancer, however neither of them took HRT, so go figure.

[IndioGirl55 32]

Hi Gang

I haven't posted in a while - been really busy - trying to get my desk cleaned up before 7/17..

Lets see did i tell you all that i had my shrink visit and it went find - she said she would say i was ok ... I think i told you guy this already - but you know we are on the 50+ board so I think ya'll will understand my repeating myself..

Ok i don't think in reported this... On Friday i had my stress test - do you wonder how i did... How do you think a fat morbity obesty 52 yr old couch potato who smokes did runing up hill on a treadmill... Well, the answer is - I didn't run long enought (to me it felt like 5 minutes but i bet it was only 1 minute) so now i have to go to a nucluar stress test on friday.

I haven't smoked for 2 days - Sat midnight last cig....

It's 8 p.m. and i gotta go fix something to eat.... but wanted to ck in and say hi to everyone..

[leedorr 0]

Good for you! On the smoking. Getting healthy is no easy task but it certainly is worth it! Keep up the good work, you can do it! I quit 33 years ago and am so glad I did. It takes preparation to get ready for the rest of your life!

[LadyHR 0]

Hi, everyone:

I'm 4 days post-op now and doing well. The gas pressure has just about gone away and I can raise myself from a prone position without much discomfiture now. I am noticing that my energy level is not back to normal so I take frequent breaks. I was off work through yesterday, back "on the clock" today but able to work from home through tomorrow. I think by Thursday I'll be fine to go to my office.

It is so interesting to read the different approaches doctors take. I take HRT but was not told to stop them before surgery. They did give me a shot in the tummy which I was told was a blood thinner so maybe that compensates.

I didn't have to go through all the tests many of you do. I went to a seminar, had a consultation with the doctor, had a chest x-ray, blood work and EKG. I did a two week pre-op diet (high Protein, low carb). It was all done in one months time! It may have something to do with being self-pay but I'm glad it's already done.

Good luck to those of you about to undergo banding!

[marywalker20 0]

I hope that my comment about stopping the HRT meds before the lap band procedure hasn't scared anyone. I just meant that you might want to run it by your doctor because my doctor warned me about it and told me to stop mine prior. It just might be that my doctor is extra cautious. Sorry if I worried anyone.

[Oregondaisy 2,021]

I didn't stop my HRT before surgery. I think that's the reason that I am having so much trouble losing weight. I keep wondering if the HRT is slowing down my weight loss. I don't want to go off of it though because without it, I can't sleep.< /p>

[marywalker20 0]

I understand what you mean. I have gotten off the HRT when I had my knees replaced and I went through the night sweat thing all over again. What a pain!

[IndioGirl55 32]

Ok Gang - I need to vent....

I am about to cry, and start smoking again- I am SICK SICK of all these doctors appointments.... I work and trying to fit all these fricken docotrs in is a b... - I live about 20 miles from all these doctors execpt for the cardio. Have my pulomanry appt @ 1:30 - then just got a call from the sleep center - gotta go get fitted for a sleep machine (cap) FFFFFFFFFF. So that means i am gone for the rest of the afternoon - i think i need some xanxa valuium or something... i can't drink cuz then i willl want to smoke... i want to cry... I hate sitting in doctors offices and them telling me what i already know and what i am working on. I feell going to this pulumonary doct is a waste of time - the only thing he can tell me is if i have lung cancer and if i do - i won't be getting surgery. well gotta go.. need gas - there we go more $$$$ cuz now i am driving to palm springs 1 - 2 times a week - and @ $3+ it adds up.

Talk to you all tonite... Wish me luck... oxoxox and thanks for letting me vemt....... i am supprise my keyboard still works as hard as i am hitting these keys..

[marywalker20 0]

Hang in there. I know it's insane that we have to jump through so many hoops to get this procedure, but keep your eyes on the prize. I have to get a CPAP machine too, and if you think about it, it's a good thing. From what I read on this message board, if you use it, you will be twice as rested. So maybe all this running around testing, fitting, and don't forget about the endless paperwork is all worth it in the end. I know that 2 months ago I had no idea I had sleep apnea, and was borderline diabetic. So thanks to all this testing I at least know what my problems are and can work to improve my health.

I will be keeping my fingers crossed that you get some good news from your pulmonary doctor.

God Bless

[HarleyNana 10]

When the announcement was made HRT did NOT prevent heart disease, I tossed my meds in the trash. My grandmother died at the age of 96, never took it, so I decided to follow her footsteps. I think it's a personal choice in most cases....JMO.

[green 6]

Take a good book or a magazine with you and try to relax. The appts are a pain in the a$$ but these physical tests are in order to insure that the surgeon won't run into any trouble with you while you are on the operating table. The operating team wants to make sure that you will have a safe and uneventful operation. Soon you will be banded and you will be free of all these appts and entering into the next phase of your life.

[Ms Jen 1]

IndioGirl55

I had to go through the same thing. In fact my stress test was taken on a Monday and had surgery that Friday. Just think about it ... you will know where you stand with your health and find out what your strengths and limitations health wise are as you begin your new life in "Bandland".

If tears make your feel better and they do, just let it all out!!!:cry

A little note on tears I found interesting:

Why Do We Cry?

No one is quite sure. Humans and animals produce two kinds of tears: Basal, or continuous, tears moisten the eye, and reflex tears spring into action when the eye is irritated by some foreign object. But it is the shedding of emotional tears, weeping, that seems to be uniquely human—and little understood.

Researcher William Frey suggests that emotional crying actually relieves the body of harmful and excess substances, much as do kidneys, colon, lungs, and pores. His book Crying—The Mystery of Tears describes his study that compared tears caused by an irritant (an onion) with tears caused by emotions (from watching sad movies). The emotional tears contained higher concentrations of protein—about 24 percent greater. The reason is not yet clear, but evidently the body produces a kind of tear in response to emotion that is different from the kind in response to irritation.

"I am weeping as a woman. My eye, my eye is running down with waters," wrote the prophet Jeremiah. (Lamentations 1:16) Do women truly weep more than men? Statistically they do—about four times as often (5.3 times a month versus 1.4 for men). According to Frey, in infancy boys and girls cry about the same amount, though it may be days or weeks from birth before a baby will shed tears of emotion. In the teenage years, however, the difference begins to develop. This might be due to social influences. But the hormone prolactin (the milk-producing stimulant) is equally present in youngsters of both genders until the teen years. Somewhere between ages 13 and 16, the level rises in females.

Prolactin is found in tears. It also builds up in the body under stress. Hence, women would be subject to even greater levels of the hormone than men when stressed. Could this be why women cry more easily and frequently than men? Dr. Frey believes that emotional crying is the body’s effort to regain chemical balance. The hormones may actually stimulate crying, and he theorizes that this is why we often feel better after we cry.

Another study, by psychotherapist Margaret Crepeau, found a link between holding back crying and a "significantly higher rate of stress-related internal disorders like ulcers and colitis." (Seventeen, May 1990) Other researchers found evidence to the contrary. Health magazine reports that Drs. Susan Labott and Randall Martin examined frequent criers and infrequent criers. Their findings showed that stress was not lessened by weeping and that more frequent criers "were more prone to anxiety and depression." Their conclusion is that crying is not useful when it "merely distracts us from the problem." However, weeping can be an important part of accepting a traumatic experience, for example, the death of a loved one.

Suffice it to say, the cause and purpose of emotional tears remains elusive.

The Other Tears

We know much more about the function of continuous tears, the ones you have in your eyes right now. They do much more than Water your eyes. Let’s chart the course of this marvelous Fluid as it is produced, spread, and expelled through the lacrimal system.

The main tear gland is found in the depression just above the outer corner of your eye. This spongy gland, along with 60 others, creates a precision film made up of three layers—mucous, aqueous, and oil.

The inner layer, the mucous, makes a smooth surface so the lid glides across the exposed eyeball. The aqueous layer is the thickest of the three, containing many important ingredients including oxygen, vital to the cornea. Also add a dose of lysozyme and 11 other enzymes found in tears. Lysozyme is a bacteria fighter par excellence. It keeps the eye white and clear.

The finishing touches on this tear will be supplied by 30 Meibomian glands, those little yellow dots lining both lids in single file behind the lashes. The glands secrete the oil layer, so thin that it doesn’t distort your vision, yet keeps the tear film from evaporating and causing uncomfortable dry spots on the eye between blinks. In fact, some people have an inadequate supply of oil, and their tears evaporate much faster than normal.

In the Blink of an Eye

So here comes the lid, sweeping down in a flash, drawing out just the right blend of ingredients, and spreading them evenly across the eye in three layers. The lids meet perfectly so that the entire surface of the exposed eye is bathed in this soothing wash.

What happens to the used tears? A close look at your eye will show a tiny hole in the inner corner, the punctum, that drains the excess tears into a channel leading to the tear sac. From there the tears pass down the back of the nose and throat, where the tears are absorbed by the mucous membranes. Blinking causes the tear sac to act like a pump, which propels the tears into the canal and downward.

When you start to cry, you may instinctively blink faster, operating that pump faster to carry away those excess tears. However, when a real flood of tears begins, the pump overloads, the tear sac in the nasal cavity overflows, and your nose runs with tears. And you might as well reach for your handkerchief because by now the rest of the tears just spill over the lids and down the cheeks.

So whatever prompts them—a heartfelt compliment or a stinging insult, fits of laughter or bouts of depression, a crowning success or a keen disappointment—a ready supply of tears waits to speak your feelings.

[green 6]

I still take HRT and haven't heard that it thickens your blood and that's why there is a danger of blood clots with estrogen. I am afraid to get off of it, although I am way past the menopause age range. I had a hysterectomy many years ago. If I thought getting off HRT would cause me to lose weight, that would certainly be incentive to try it.

Both my mom and my sister died from breast cancer, however neither of them took HRT, so go figure.

I think that I already mentioned that I went through a really early menopause. I was 41 and this seems to be a family thing because my mum was 39 when she went through hers. I used to have very, very bad menstrual problems and so I resisted going onto HRT until I was close to 50. Soon after that the results of that big study came out and my doc took me off estrogen immediately. My skin tone is really good, especially for someone who drinks and smokes. :faint:This is probably a combination of the fact that I have spent my entire life avoiding the sun and the luck of the genetic deck. I do have osteopenia which isn't osteoporosis but is in the neighbourhood and so I opted - it was my choice - to take an osteoporosis drug along with bumping up my consumption of vita D and Calcium. (It was probably my lack of vita D which messed up my bones in the first place since I live in the north and I don't spend much time in the sun in the summer due to my very white skin and my over sensitivity to heat. :rolleyes ) Anyhow, I sleep with a fan on and I use Zopiclone, a prescription drug, when I am having problems with falling asleep. I have been doing this for years.

I don't know whether HRT makes it more difficult for us to lose weight or not. This would be a good question to ask an endocrinologist, I guess. I do know that I was banded last Sept and I am pretty much at the target they set for me at the time. Now they have dropped the target by another 5 lbs or so.

I am curious to know why so many of you are on HRT. Is this for strictly medical reasons or is it because you feel that you will be suddenly thrust into old age should you quit HRT? I guess I am asking you because we are all over 50 here and we are all dealing with another shared set of issues apart from our problems with weight.

[crabcake 0]

Ok Gang - I need to vent....

I am about to cry, and start smoking again- I am SICK SICK of all these doctors appointments.... I work and trying to fit all these fricken docotrs in is a b... - I live about 20 miles from all these doctors execpt for the cardio. Have my pulomanry appt @ 1:30 - then just got a call from the sleep center - gotta go get fitted for a sleep machine (cap) FFFFFFFFFF. So that means i am gone for the rest of the afternoon - i think i need some xanxa valuium or something... i can't drink cuz then i willl want to smoke... i want to cry... I hate sitting in doctors offices and them telling me what i already know and what i am working on. I feell going to this pulumonary doct is a waste of time - the only thing he can tell me is if i have lung cancer and if i do - i won't be getting surgery. well gotta go.. need gas - there we go more $$$$ cuz now i am driving to palm springs 1 - 2 times a week - and @ $3+ it adds up.

Talk to you all tonite... Wish me luck... oxoxox and thanks for letting me vemt....... i am supprise my keyboard still works as hard as i am hitting these keys..

IndigoGirl, hope you're feeling better. Maybe this will help you put things into perspective.

I quit smoking (after 36 years!!!) 3/17. It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, but lately, I've been wanting a cig a LOT. I don't want to stink like cigs though and I want my family to be proud of me. Most of all, I want to be proud of myself.

I had my first fill 6/12. I've pb'd about 5 times since then; a really bad one last night. I called the dr's office this a.m. and went in this p.m. for a .25 unfill. Last night I filled my tank up to the tune of $40. This p.m., I drove for 2 hours to the dr's office (and of course...2 hours home!), using up about half my tank, so I could get the unfill. I spent 20 mins. at the dr's office. All that gas and all that driving for 20 mins.

So, let's see...

Smoking 36 years @ a pack/day @ $1.5 /day (I wish!) = $20,000.

4 hours sick leave + half tank gas = $70 (multiplied by however many times I need to go back to get my band adjusted properly...)

Banded for life...priceless!

Would I do it again? In a NY heartbeat!

This time next year, all those dr's appts and all that fat will just be a memory and the dr's appts will seem a cheap price to pay! :clap2: Hang tough!

[LadyHR 0]

Green,

I have chosen HRT because I have night sweats, insomnia and serious mood swings if I don't and with my current, very stressful job, those things are not a good mix! I told myself I would only take them for five years and I'm in year four now. I don't have any family history of breast cancer or heart disease so for now I think this is the right choice for me. However I always have the risk factors in the back of my mind.

Congrats on your weight loss success!

I, too, am curious if HRT seems to have inhibited anyone's weight loss. I haven't read anything about it - anyone?