There is real hope on the other side of menopause my emotional sisters! I'm here to tell you. The hot flashes are over. The night sweats are over. The emotional highs and lows are over. I feel absolutely marvelous most of the time. You too will perservere to see the "afterglow."
Peg

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"Live the questions and some day you will live along into the answers."
Rainer Marie Rilke

Atkins since 2003
5'8" 206.4/197/175
64-3/4 years young

Peg, right at the moment, when I sit here at work with my hair soaking wet, and my clothes stuck to me, and after having very little sleep because of night sweats.....I find it really hard to believe you. This has been going on for 2 years now and I think I have tried every remedy on the market and nothing helps. I've switched to decaf tea, and decaf diet coke and I don't eat spicey food. Nothing helps. So, I've decided I'm just going to go nude....no not really. Sometimes, I'd just like to sit in a corner and scream and other times I figure I can make it through this. It must have been a man that said these were our golden years....I'd like to strangle him!!! Gee, do you think my emotions are on an all time high right now? lol

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Donna
238.5/166.4/150
I will see my goal weight again!

See the light Donna.....HRT. I sleep all night, quit sweating, and feel like myself. I am slightly afraid though that the 4 pounds that seem to have stuck themselves to me might be related. Sometime soon I've got to get myself back on the straight and narrow. I just haven't reached for the switch yet. Why oh why does this have to be a continous battle?

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Judy
highest = 180, goal = 140
Every single time I put food in my mouth, it matters. No more fooling myself!

Good morning, everyone. I'm here! Like Peg, I have an encouraging word from "the other side." HRT free, and everything else free. And here's something else: Thinner thighs.

I was quick to attribute this benefit to my excellent exercise habits and weight loss. However, someone on a fitness forum I visit mentioned that menopause depletes hormone-related fat--the reversal of puberty--which would account for thinner thighs--and saggier breasts. Ah well.

I believe that HRT--with the use of compounded bio-identical hormones--is a safe and effective temporary means of managing symptoms.

The best anti-aging, anti-depressant technique IMHO is still daily exercise.

Glad ta meetcha!

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Barb L.
Atkins since Jan 2003
Maintenance as of 4/05


My Fitday Journal

Welcome Barb!!

I think that its time that we all introduce ourselves to you so you will know a little about who we are and why we say the things we do at times. (Not that I make any sense most of the time! )

I'll start: I'm a 61 yo UCC interim minister yearning toward retirement. I'm currently serving a large church in New England (near Boston) where the Sr. minister has cancer. He was expected to die more than a year ago, thus my time here. I have been here almost two years, which is a long time for an Interim. The Sr. pastor is still living and on his second bout of chemo for this cancer. It is his third round with cancer. This one is a mestasis (sp?) from his pancreas and is tumors in his liver. He is amazing. Keeps going. I love the church. Love what I'm doing. Just want to go home and make a nest. I'm married to a minister who is coming to his third reitrement on Jun 1st! He is 71. Starting in November this year, we are going to be bi-coastal. The current plan (DH is waffling) is to buy a second home in SoCa where our grandkids are (well, 4 of them) and spend the winter there. We live on a big pond in New England and love the spring and summer here. We plan to drive across country stopping in Dallas to visit with our kids and two grandkids, and then through the deep South and on to AZ and CA until the end of April 2006. BIG TRIP. I love to putter; crafts, knitting, reading, sewing. I don't cook. DH does. We both follow LC pretty closely, though he eats more carbs than I, and can stand them without gaining. He is an exerciser. I have more trouble getting out there. More about that later. I have Fibromyalgia, but have been "flare-free" for almost three years. Other than a little arthritis, I'm pretty darn healthy. I may be one of the vainest people on this thread. Still to be determined. I don't mind aging, but I'm not embracing it yet, except for the wisdom parts.
Peace, Peg
1/1/03
205/177/165
5'8"

__________________
"Live the questions and some day you will live along into the answers."
Rainer Marie Rilke

Atkins since 2003
5'8" 206.4/197/175
64-3/4 years young

Judy: I know that HRT would stop the sweats and flushes, but, after being on it for 5 years and thinking I was going crazy, I had to stop taking it. Panic attacks were just terrible. Since stopping it, the attacks have stopped. So, I guess I'll just have to live through this. Time heals everything.

Barb: Welcome to our little group. My name is Donna and I live in Canada. I've been doing low carb for almost 2 years now and reached my goal weight a couple of months ago. Now, I'm struggling to stay within 5 pounds of it. I work full time as a secretary for a trucking company where I'm the only girl with 13 guys. Not so nice sometimes being the only female, but I do get away with murder like bringing my two little dogs to work with me where they sleep on my desk all day. I have 4 kids, a boy and girl of my own and 2 stepsons. We were also foster parents but haven't done it for a long time....it's hearbreaking sometimes. I've just recently started doing walk aerobics and taking apple cider vinegar everyday. The exercise is good for me and the vinegar is gross but is supposed to be good for you. Hope you enjoy the people in this group as much as I do. Lots of inspiration here.

BC: Hope you're feeling better. Take care of yourself.

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Donna
238.5/166.4/150
I will see my goal weight again!

Boy, Donna, I would sweat it out, too if I had had your reactions to the HRT. Actually, I was sweating it out until the doctor did a bone scan. He told me it was either HRT or Fosamax. I figured I'd just go with the HRT for a while and fix lots of the problems if I was going to have to take something anyway.

Barb, welcome to the group. How cool that you are a Hallmark card writer. I'll have to look for your cards the next time I am in a Hallmark store.

Here's my 411: Married for 33 years to the same guy, two kids both living in Dallas. DS, 27, is getting married in September. DD, 23, is single and staying that way for a while, I hope. I teach regular and AP economics to 12th graders, as well as coach the Academic Decathlon team. This is my 31st year to teach. DH is "retired", although he does some computer repair jobs for individuals, working from the house instead of a store front. He was a stay-at-home Dad for a number of years. Although we look pretty traditional, I guess it is sort of different that the stay home parent was him, instead of me.

I returned to this WOE about 2.5 years ago. At that time I weighed in about 180. I had tried and been successful previously, then got sucked in to the low fat ideas. It took way too long to get my mind right again. What I do know now, is that this is the way "I" am meant to eat. (Of course it wouldn't hurt to do a better job if it since I have gained back a few of those hard lost pounds.)

Peg, I'll reduce the size of some of the house pictures and try to post them later this evening.

__________________
Judy
highest = 180, goal = 140
Every single time I put food in my mouth, it matters. No more fooling myself!

Inside of the new house --- check the closet in the master bedroom! (Of course, true to most things built in 1956, the bathrooms are tiny, as are the closets in the other bedrooms. The renovation guy did a great job redesigning some of the floor plan and then moving the hot water and HVAC to the garage and attic so that there would be more closets to compensate for the tiny ones. I think they got a great place.

Attached Thumbnails

       

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Judy
highest = 180, goal = 140
Every single time I put food in my mouth, it matters. No more fooling myself!

Oh, I hate to do a drive-by, but I need to get back to bed. I admit I'm coddling myself, but I do still have a temp and feel somewhat entitled after nursing DH through his cold last weekend, LOL!

Barb, welcome! I'll introduce myself tomorrow, by which time I bet Judy will have started a new thread

Judy, the house looks just wonderful! How many young people could start off in such a nice place? Great wood floors--about the color of min and I love that clean white kitchen. Lucky kids, they are.

Peg--you, vain???? NOT! Get over it, lady, it's ok to want to look your best. Really, the humility police are not coming to get you, ok?

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BC
LC Since 1998
Highest Weight 172
Current 104-108

Judy, it looks like a great house - especially for a first time buyer. I love the wood floors, and the kitchen looks really cute, too.

I wrote a long post this morning and lost it when my PC froze. Don't really remember what all I said, other than I'm back in my goal weight range (albeit at the top of the range). Now, I must see if I can stay there more than 10 minutes this time!

We went to the tax preparer today and the news was not quite as bad as I expected. I still have to pay quite a bit, but less than I thought. So, I'm relieved to have that under control.

DH had the day off (Ceaser Chavez BD), so he played golf early in the AM. THen the two of us walked up to the shopping avenue and had cappuccinos and did a little shopping. I worked like crazy in the yard for a couple of hours trimming back the undergrowth around the redwood tree. I actually broke my trusty old Fiskars pruning saw. I guess I put too much torque on the blade while sawing at an awkward angle. I've already ordered a replacement. Fiskars make - far and away - the best cutting tools for gardening.

As an intro, I'm 53 and I've been with my 2nd husband since 1979. He works for the county hospital, supervising the trades. I'm a tech writer - mostly non-commercial software manuals. My project transferred to Scottsdale, and I elected not to follow it. Last year, the project migrated to Malaysia and they brought me back to fix what was broken and help the Malaysian writers get going with the product. That contract was extended until mid-way through 2004. I was sad/glad when it was over, as the WHOLE THING was totally falling apart - sorry, but the Indian and Malaysian programmers were just shameless about delivering inoperable program modules and refusing to fix them. Since then, I don't know if I've retired or if I'm just taking a long break. Or, maybe I want to do something else now. At the moment, I'm tackling lots of deferred maintenance around the house. The neighborhood is full of ongoing rebuilds where they take a cottage, knock it down and replace it with a monster house. As soon as one project ends, another starts and it's getting worse. There are 4 major projects within 100 to 300 feet of my house. I just can't take living in a construction zone anymore. I'm hoping to get the place in shape to sell by summer. DH and I don't have human kids, we have feline kids: Boomer, Bumble, and MeToo. MeToo is a special needs kitty in that he has a congential malformation of his spine and shoulders. He's doing fine, even so. In fact, as special needs kitties go, he's quite low maintenance. I've cared for other some special needs kitties in the last couple of years. It's very time consuming and very hard to let them go when it's their time; but I've loved them dearly. As for my weight management history, I was a Lifetime Weight Watcher on and off through most of the 80s and 90s; but when I was well into perimenopause it just seemed to quit working for me. I think I hit my all time high of 176 in 2002. I started low carb in Jan. of 2003 and reached my goal weight (137) in August 2003. Still "discovering" how to do maintenance.

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~~~Teelbee
Back to GOAL!!!
start weight: 176/goal range: 137-134/now: 138
Reached goal in Aug. 2003 - 4rd year of maintenance.