I gave my kid a computer. And...

Paula Deen Loses Two Sizes Since Announcing Diabetes Diagnosis

I promised I wouldn't say a word about Paula Deen, diabetes and weight loss.

So I won't say it. I'm not saying it.

Nope.  Nope.  Nope.

And, you aren't searching for it either.

Nope.  But!

"I've dropped two pant sizes and I feel great!" Deen, 65, tells PEOPLE.  Her new healthier regime includes walking 30 minutes every day – and now having portions half the size of those she used to eat. 

Nope.  Not saying it.  But, I did make a bet.

Related articles

• Paula Deen: 'I've Dropped Two Pant Sizes!' (people.com)
• Paula Deen. I will not snark. I will not snark. (meltingmama.net)
• A blood sugar meter that tracks your patterns? The OneTouch Verio (meltingmama.net)
• Paula Deen Touts Recent Weight Loss (thehollywoodgossip.com)

Intervention - Julie - Alcoholism After Weight Loss Surgery - Gastric Bypass

On last night's Intervention -- Julie.

 

A gorgeous 40 year old mother of two, who happens to to be about seven to eight years post gastric bypass postop.  She also, happens to have a little big problem in her smaller body.

"Julie often turned to food and alcohol to find comfort in tough times. She had gastric bypass surgery when her weight ballooned, but now she spends her son's child support money."

On alcohol, a lot of alcohol.  You see...

First thing you must note, Julie started drinking at six months post surgery.  

This is extraordinarily dangerous.  Your surgeon told you to be careful for a reason.

Alcohol + early gastric bypass = possible brain damage and Wernicke's encephalopathy.   Wernicke's can occur even without the aid of drinking heavily, do not help it along.

Gastric bypass triggers impaired vitamin intake in the best of situations, and pairing this with alcohol abuse can increase the risks of things like thiamine or Vitamin B1 deficiency.  Typical people have a hard enough time metabolizing, removing nutrient intake and adding alcohol is a very bad idea.  Don't do it.  Don't take advice from internet peoples, but don't do it.

 

Also note that alcohol really messes you UP post op -

 If you aren't one of the gastric-ally enhanced like your super enhanced *sarcasm* blogger here, let me explain something to you:  

• Diet coke and rum, and I'm on stage.  
• A few sips of a martini and I'm holding walls.  
• I'm pregnant in one half-glass of wine.  

Alcohol is a different beast with a short gut.  Your mileage may and should and will vary, but for most of us, alcohol hits our systems FAST, HARD and feels like it leaves just as quick, even if it doesn't - - which can lead "us" to drink more.  

It can be a sick cycle, and the longer I live with my own super enhanced system, the more I realize how much it's all quite interconnected.  (Hello, carbohydrates, let's get shitfaced!)  I'm not an expert in any way, I just live with it, watch others deal -- and read about it daily.  (And, damn it if my opinions aren't changing.)

• Gastric Bypass Lowers Alcohol Tolerance 
• Gastric Bypass Increases Risk of New Onset Alcohol Abuse
• After Gastric Bypass, Women Battle Alcoholism

I'm not really blogging about Julie here, you see.  I feel like I/we can't judge.  Because, you know what, she is any one of us.  It would not take much to jump on that slip and slide of transfer addictionfor any of us, and who are we to judge that?  (As I sat with my heavily buttered toast and ATE FOOD during this episode, right?)  

Transfer addiction can hit ANY OF US if we aren't dealing with our triggers...

...To over eat, drink, compulsively shop, gamble, ludicrous hobbies that suck up ALL time and money,  taking off to do stupid shit, (Yes, I Am Talking About You, CUT IT OUT, what you're doing is totally destructive though you don't see it, and you probably won't see this anyway...) overusing the internet *coughIknow,* obsessions, sex addictions, etc...so forth, so on and yadda yadda yadda, this list, really has NO END...  And, we all know someone who has a problem.  And, yeah.  

My Name Is Beth And I Am Addicted To Caffeine, Simple Carbohydrates And Online Gratification Via Instant Results Via ADHD Brain With A Side Order of Seizure Disorder.

Also:  who's to say what addictions and compulsions are truly destructive vs. not?  I mean?  Sure, I use the net too much, but... what if I was knitting so much that my house was full of yarn?  <g>  There are things to consider here.  Also: addicts will rationalize everything to make their addictions seem okay for THEM.  *beam*  Am I NOT right?Any of us who ever used food to deal with emotional reasons or anxiety is at risk to transfer to something else, or continually cycle back to heavily buttered carbs.  We substitute WHAT-EVER we can to get the same effect in our BRAINS.  It's just a cycle of fail until we can fix what's broken to begin with!  If you have ever said, "As soon as I lose the weight, things will be better -" that's a sign that they won't.  Start working on it yesterday.

Also - I must mention it.  I notice the chatter - "OMG HOW MUCH WEIGHTED DID SHE GAINED?!"

The woman was on Intervention because she's drinking herself to death.  Her weight regain is of zero importance.  Priorities:  #1 - Live.  #2 - Stay Alive.

At the close of Intervention last night, we were told that Julie is attending AA and was sober as of September.  I wish her the very, very best.  

Are you out there, Julie?  

PS.  The realization that the individuals on these shows WATCH themselves on TV and how does THAT feel?  *thud*

• Increased Alcoholism Rates Seen in Gastric Bypass Patients (meltingmama.net)
• Tis The Season To Transfer Your Addiction - WLS and Alcoholism (meltingmama.net)
• My 600 Pound Life - Henry (meltingmama.net)

On Dooce, Divorce and The Hate of McHaters.

I'm a very casual Dooce blog reader (meaning:  I forget to open my RSS Feedreader, and open it to 1,000 new articles every so often...) but a fan nonetheless.  

I was a bit stunned when I read the news of her break up, but that's not why I write this post.  It's that Holy Crap The Hate That People Have For Her.  One Google search yields hoardes of bloggers with the angry and comments on genuine articles that also have the angry:  

"Oh my gosh, is this woman *still* whining about her life??? Give it a rest, sister!"

A few moments later I found myself reading comment after comment (after comment, comment, comment...) and realizing how close these bits of hatred come to things I've read about me.  Surely, my love-notes are on a much smaller scale, considering I am a baby blogger in comparison, but it's the same type vitriolic spew from angry women!   

You'll even find pros blogging about it!  

http://clas-pages.uncc.edu/anitablanchard/2012/01/23/dooce-and-divorce/

What I have learned -- or Do Not Blog If You're Going To Do This, Or -- Not Be Willing To Get The Shit Kicked Out Of You For it:  

#1 - Do Not Have Any Type Of Relationship Issue Ever -- Publicized -- On Your PERSONAL BLOG.  

Yes, I know it's your blog, your place to write about YOUR-SELF, and it's the choice of other people to not read it, but, damn it if they don't bring them selves into your life and invite their opinions to stay.  People are inherently curious, they cannot help it, and they luuuuuurve them a good train wreck.  

Dooce says, 

"The level of my fame is so minuscule in comparison to actual celebrity, but that does not make it any less strange to read the words of strangers who are publicly delighting in my pain, strangers who are actively rooting for me to break down. I've known to avoid reading it, but then the amount of it became so abundant that it bubbled up and spilled over into my lap, and wow. There it was. I politely wiped it to the side, but then another wave hit. And in the middle of that next dump someone said that they were going to make an anonymous call to try and get my kids taken out of my custody."

Now that I've been there (...am there currently...) -- I feel for her.  No amount of personal success fixes the pain of reading shit like that about yourself... over and over.   It doesn't even MATTER if she's rolling in cash and living in an IKEA sponsored living-space -- or ANYTHING.  It HURTS.  Money doesn't = any sort of happiness if you're being torn apart.

Dooce is the shit.  Fuck y'all jealous bitches.  You only WISH you could do what she has done.    She'll tell you off in those post here.  LOL.

Related articles

• That time I was called a Munchhausen Bitch - and more! Now with monetization! (meltingmama.net)
• 2012: It's not the end. It's the beginning. (meltingmama.net)
• A story. (meltingmama.net)

Shots and giving a MOJO. Thanks, BTV.

I have to.  I gigglesnorted.  Not everybody knows about a MOJO.  

• Be sure to check out Bariatric TV weekly!
• Get you some SHOTS! SHOTS! SHOTS! 

FDA Backs Qnexa. o-O !!

Image via Wikipedia

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Oh. wow.  That is all.

Via LA Times -

A panel of medical experts voted overwhelmingly Wednesday to endorse the controversial weight-loss drug Qnexa, clearing the way for the Food and Drug Administration to approve a new prescription obesity medication for the first time since 1999. The FDA will issue a final ruling later this year, but the agency typically follows the recommendations of its advisory committees.

The 20-2 vote in favor of Qnexa was a surprising reversal from 2010, when the same advisory committee decided that the drug's riskss outweighed its weight-loss benefits.

In a clinical trial involving 4,323 people, Qnexa — a combination of the anticonvulsant drug topiramate and the appetite suppressant phentermine led to an average loss of about 10% of total body weight in the first year of use. 

According to the clinical trial data and previous studies, the risk of having a baby with a cleft lip is two to five times greater in women who took topiramate.

"The simple reality is, if you're pregnant or planning on getting pregnant, it's not the right drug for you," said Joe Nadglowski, chief executive of the Obesity Action Coalition, a patient advocacy group that supports approval of Qnexa.

 

My 600 Pound Life - Ashley - And Why Do I Like This Show?

I realized why I dig this show, just as it came to an end last night.  It figures.  You have to understand, I don't "do" weight loss shows.  Typical weight loss makeover programs make me want to throw things while I count the product placements and analyze the commercials.  I can't deal, here have some Extra gum with me?  

On My 600 LB Life, the weight loss surgery patients followed a similar time line as I did.  I had the same surgery, in the same year.  It's likely we had similar education and similar support options, aside from the whole "you're on a documentary" part.

The patients featured on the program start with much more difficult situations than I could ever imagine, but I am left wondering about them.  I apparently GET IT at some level and I'm wondering way too much about their current situations...

• Where are they now?  
• How are they?  Are they okay?  Are things good?  
• Did anyone ever tell them about their vitamins?  Diet?   How are you eating now?
• Did they get better aftercare than we did in the same time frame?  
• Have things gotten better for post ops since 2004?  
• How's the family?  Did you move out?  Please say you did?
• And, are they still getting support?  

The show glazes over and skips integral parts of the post-op process.  Any of us know that we're missing about 99% of the story here.  However, the bits and pieces we do see give us a glimpse of "whys..."  It would be much more responsible to show more of each patient's realistic post op experience.  There's so much we don't know, don't see, and there's seven years of a few minutes of footage here.  

The show feels a lot like a post op check up.  Quick and not thorough enough.  That said, it's already over.

I'm sure that people like me, peers, are looking way too closely at it because we have lived it.  We are waiting to see details about the "whys" -- and the general viewership probably doesn't care -- according to the comments on Twitter this morning -- they just want to be jerks.  

I just want to find Ashley, you know?  

HuffPo's Review of Ashley's Episode -

Her mother, who is overweight herself, was inexplicably cruel and teasing to Ashley, even as she appeared to be on hand to support her daughter. It was a dynamic and a relationship that was very difficult to understand, but it was very clear that her mother's cruelty hurt Ashley. It may well have helped lead her to the dark place that saw her put on so much weight in the first place.

The episode chronicled her seven-year journey toward a healthier life and body, including multiple skin removal surgeries along the way. But even at 500+ pounds, Ashley started dreaming of getting back to one of her childhood passions. As a girl, she'd played softball, until it became too physically exhausting for her to do so.

Once she'd managed to shed most of those excess pounds, she signed up to coach softball to be close to the sport that had brought her so much joy. She shared her story with the kids on her team, serving as inspiration that anything is possible and it's never too late to take the reigns of one's life. Her ultimate dream is to own a childcare facility where she can maybe reach out to those struggling kids like she was and provide a helping hand before they find themselves living their own 600 pound lives.

Related articles

• My 600 Pound Life - Henry (meltingmama.net)
• My 600 Pound Life - Melissa (meltingmama.net)

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Confessions and Topamax

Image via Wikipedia

You may have noticed that I was food journaling for a brief time, and I quit.  I told you before, I hate food journaling with an undying passion.  It makes me want to eat more calories and play games with my calories, and I truly do not enjoy putting myself in diet-brain.  When I am food journaling and see 1000 calories on the board, I may unconsciously just go to the kitchen and get a snack, because I've got room to spare, and so on and so forth.  

It fails me.

Well, it worked at first.  I lost weight.  I lost a few of my regained pounds.  I did.  But.  It stopped working.  I stopped working.  I am now maintaining without changing a damned thing, and it is frustrating to say the least. 

So -- what's the difference?

I was taking Topamax previously.  And?  I was easily maintaining my (lower) weight.  I stopped taking it, oh... just about the time I GAINED WEIGHT!

DOH.

Apparently that shit works.  Why did I stop taking it?  I ran out of my prescription -- and my appointment for the my neurologist wasn't until March -- now it's bumped to April.  I called and begged for a refill.  I take Topamax as it's an anti-convulsant, but it's also known for it's anti-appetite components.  I didn't know if it helped me maintain my weight at all -- but I think that's my clue.  

I got a refill today, took half my daily dose and it kicked in immediately.  I am in a brain cloud at the moment, please do not ask me anything important at this time, or maybe you should.

Related articles

• THROW YOUR SCALE. Throw mine. Please. (meltingmama.net)
• It's time for Food Guilt. (meltingmama.net)
• Should I have weight loss surgery? (meltingmama.net)

Children's Healthcare of Atlanta Strong4Life ads opposition

FOX MEDICAL TEAM: Weight Wars: MyFoxATLANTA.com

Come sail away, come sail away...

I'm out of here. Well, soon. Sort of. Soon enough.

 

Facebook Parenting: For the troubled teen.

I think my mother has ideas about this. Just sayin'. My kids: take note. I have broken electronics before, I will do it again.

Vlog Entry - About seizures

I found this online after my last post - OMG.

It's my dad. I SWEAR TO DOG.  Because, LOOK -

 

 

I've got a case of the...

You can.

Cupcake Necklaces!

These adorable cupcake necklaces are handmade by one of my BBGC members, made from rolled bottle caps with a design inside that reads "I heart cupcakes", complete with the cherry on top! The design has a lacquer finish inside for durability.

The chain is a dog-tag style "ball chain" that is about 11.5 inches long. It comes in your choice of several colors: black, gold, red, pink, blue, green and purple.

Get yours now.  

 

Qnexa has safety risks

Image via Wikipedia

The weight loss drug Qnexa has some safety risks.  Um, duh?

It's PHENTERMINE + TOPAMAX.  

Sure, it can can work to help you lose weight, but your heart gets cranky and you forget what you were blogging about.   The FDA says the effects can get worse over time.  Super.

Did I mention that although I couldn't feel my feet or remember my underwear -- I heart Topamax?  Because, since I quit taking it?  I have gained weight.  And, what's this about getting worse over time -- I -- still can't remember anything.

Send Qnexa.  I don't care.  

 

• Qnexa drug helped patients lose weight - FDA staff
• Qnexa tied to heart, memory problems and birth defects
• FDA staff say long-term safety with Qnexa unknown

Feb 17 (Reuters) - Vivus Inc's obesity drug Qnexa helped people lose weight but may cause long-term health problems in overweight and obese patients, U.S. drugs reviewers said.

Food and Drug Administration staff will ask an advisory panel to consider whether the drug's benefits for obese patients will outweigh its risk of birth defects and heart problems.

The FDA staff, in documents posted online on Friday, said patients taking Qnexa during a clinical trial lost more weight, and kept it off for longer, than patients taking a placebo, or sugar pill. These patients also had lower levels of problems associated with obesity, such as issues with blood pressure and blood sugar.

However, the FDA staff said patients taking the drug had more safety problems than patients on a placebo, including memory loss, and these problems could get worse over time. They also said exposure to one of the ingredients in Qnexa has been linked to a higher rate of birth defects in other studies.

Shares of Vivus rose 2.4 percent to $11.45 in pre-market trading.

An advisory panel of outside experts will vote Feb. 22 on whether to recommend the drug, and the FDA is due to make its final decision by April 17.

Qnexa is a combination of appetite suppressant phentermine and anti-seizure drug topiramate.

A company study in December showed topiramate caused a higher rate of oral clefts in infants of women taking the drug during pregnancy, and the company said it would limit Qnexa to women who are not pregnant.

The FDA already rejected Qnexa in 2010 because of safety concerns -- including elevated heart rate in some users and the potential for birth defects if pregnant women used the drug.

Vivus resubmitted its application in October, proposing to limit the drug to only women who cannot have children. In January, the company broadened the label to just limit pregnant women from taking the drug, in response to an FDA request.

 

Related articles

• US to Review Diet Treatment Once Rejected - New York Times (nytimes.com)
• FDA Reconsiders Weight Loss Drug Qnexa (webmd.com)
• Vivus weight loss drug faces FDA concerns - CBS News (cbsnews.com)
• Weight-loss drug works but has safety risks, FDA says (msnbc.msn.com)

ELLE France, thank you.

 

 

Of course.  She's not inside out.  Love this.  Via Huffpo.

My 600 Pound Life - Henry

"TLC's My 600-lb Life follows four individuals--Melissa, Donald, Henry, and Ashley--over the course of seven years as they struggle to go from weighing over 600 lbs. to being at their ideal weight. Their journeys begin with gastric bypass surgery, which allows them to start losing weight."

Last night, a man named Henry was featured.  Henry is a super-sweet man in his late 40's.   Henry has been obese since he was a child, and gained up to 715 lbs.   Henry had gastric bypass with Dr. Younan Nowzaradan in Houston, who has done all of the surgeries for this television show, and many other documentary-style shows.  

After Henry loses hundreds of pounds, he has a panniculectomy (skin removal of the lower abdomen) and later, a brachioplasty and removal of the skin on his chest.  This is hard to watch, but realistic.  Henry flat-lines after his second round of plastics, and has to be resuscitated.

Henry's transformation is long and arduous, though we only see bits and pieces of it, you get the impression that we are missing out of A LOT of his post op life.  We see him struggle with family who eats poorly in front of him, and he knows it, he knows that he can't handle being in the moment with that food.  Henry mentions that his family keeps asking him to "go to the buffets," and we see him, instead going to the gym.  He eventually reaches his weight loss goal, but it takes years.  I wondered how much we didn't see -- while watching the show.  

This is where I'd be inserting photos -- but -- curiously there aren't any online yet.

By seven years, as the show wraps up, he's got his girlfriend back, his body back and things appear happy.  I hope it continues for him.  

• Read here for my thoughts on the first episode.
• Follow #My600lblife on Twitter.  But, be warned, people on the internet can be jerks.