Hi,

My name is Kitty, I'm 53 years old, single, overweight and I know a lot of things that don't work when you are trying to lose weight. I had triple bypass heart surgery 4 yrs ago & lost a bunch of weight, but sadly, I have regained all of that and more. It took 4 years to do it, but I worked at it very hard and got the job done. LOL

Now I have 2 bulging discs in my lumbar spine and I am on medical leave from work for at least a month. Good time to start working to lose weight and try to get healthy at last. I also suspect my blood sugar may be going into the diabetic range, since I have been warned that I will probably develop diabetes if I don't start to eat right and lose weight. So, I can only blame myself for the state I am in.

So...I have decided to eat the right things in the right amounts, and get as much exercise as I can with the condition of my back. I have a lot of pain and have been referred to a neurosurgeon; so hopefully something can be done, but I'm not sure I'm up for surgery. I had back surgery previously in 1988.

So far today, I have ate the right things; went to the YMCA and did a half hour of walking & stretching & paddling around in the heated pool. I'm a little bit sore, but hope it will work out by tomorrow. I also walked back & forth in the Wal Mart supercenter today, because I kept forgetting things I needed & had to walk the store a couple of times. So I'll count that as about 20 minutes of walking.

So, if anyone wants to be my diet buddy, please come on in. I will be happy with all the help I can get.

Kitty

Hi Kitty,

I am new here also. I just started a journal myself. I don't have any medical problems, but I need to loose weight. I am counting calories, but have not started an exercise program yet. I am having motivation problems.
It sounds to me like you are on the right track, keep it up. Amy

hi Kitty and welcome to DT. The joy to this website it everyone is your diet buddy. So just set up a journal, and absolrb all the well wishes and helpful info. As far as the medical problems some people have them, and some people don't --yet--, but we all know what that added weight does to our bodies. I know I had bad knees, and was anemic, and had a handful of problems... which I am happy to say are all gone. So many people just focus on the aestetic part of dietting, and not the actual important reason we should all shed those unneeded --and unwanted-- pounds.

What is your plan for sucess, diet, excercise, water intake. Setting specific goals helps us acheive them, and helps us appreciate when we accomplish them.

Once again welcome!

Thanks Amy and Elsie for the welcome and encouragement. Yes, I have noticed that everyone is very supportive and encouraging. I guess we help ourselves when we encourage others.

Yesterday was kind of a ho-hum day for me; but I woke up this morning looking forward to some exercise today in the pool at the Y. My daughter gets home from work around 2 pm & she wants to go with me. Between you and me she could use some exercise too, since she shares my genes & already has borderline high colesterol.

My daughter is soon to be 31 (July 12). I live with her and 2 dogs and 2 cats since the open heart surgery. I don't think I will ever get any grandchildren, but I do have the "grand" dogs. lol

Staying pretty much OP today with the healthful eating; I'm trying to eat healthier things and I'm tracking the calories with Fit Day. I want to stay around 1800 cals per day, but its not a hard and fast rule. I/m going to do all the exercise I can without hurting my back. Mostly in the warm water pool & I may try several 5 minute walks thru out the day.

Later,

Kitty :)

Kitty,

I also want to welcome you here!!!

Sounds like you have a great plan. I also use fitday and my goal is to keep below 1800, but some days are higher and some are lower. Right now I am trying to see how many days I can post my food in the months of July and August. I have a tendency to miss too many days, and that doesn't help. I have found consistency is the key.

I look forward to getting to know you better. Keep up the good work.

My boyfriends parent love their "granddog." I want kids, but at this rate I think they are giving up on kids. Its nice that you have your daughter to excercise with you, but remember to not count on her being there. I know everyone I have always buddied up with on excercising has ditched me. Their loss... no wait, I was the one to lose, weight :)

Did pretty good today. The calorie count came in at 1711 & I'm sure I'm done eating for the day. I also was good & went to the Y to the pool for 30 minutes. Did walking in pool, leg lifts, squats, push ups on the wall & some stretching & did back stroke a couple of laps. (its the only swim stroke I can do!!)

Walked around in the grocery store shopping for about 15 minutes. Hey, I'll count it as walking, because sometimes I can't walk on dry land for more than about 10 to 15 min at a time.

Good nite, all, I'm done for the day.

Peace,

Kitty :wave:

Did everything I wanted to today, ate 1853 calories, exercised in pool for 30 minutes & played with the dogs in the back yard for about 15 min.

Whew! My back is getting sore, I may have overdone it a little since I was feeling so good today. Being off work is helping keep my pain away; but I know when I go back it will all start over again. Sorry.. didn't mean to start whining.... :c(

The kitchen is now closed...Everyone have a good nite.

This is your journal. the place you are allowed to whine, so whine away. Soon the weight will start coming off and I am sure you will see big differences in your pain and ability to walk. Keep it up!

thanks elsie for reminding me that I'm allowed to whine. I don't like to whine, but I do my fair share of it. Usually no one wants to hear or read it. lol

did pretty well today; only ate 1685 calories of healthy food. Walked for about 10 minutes and needed to take pain medicine. Oh well, some days chickens, some days feathers.

Well, good nite. It's only 10:50 pm on a Saturday nite. I'm going to bed.

(I'm such a party animal!! :hippy: )

Been lurking around the boards tonite & reading a lot of the other posts. Learned a lot and got some inspiration, too.

Wonder why I was fooling around and not posting to my journal. It seems like such a chore. Self discovery can be a pain. lol

But anyway, did pretty good today and yesterday on eating. Weekends can be so dangerous to healthy eating, eh?

I think I am missing work after only 1 week off. Only 3 more weeks to go if I'm lucky. I'm hoping that the rest will do me good and possibly heal the back.

My DD said that I am good at losing weight. Yes, I am good at losing it, but have never been very good at keeping it off. I guess that is really the problem. I hope this time that I will learn better eating & exercising habits finally. I don't want to work to get this off again.

Later,

yeah its no fun. Better to lose it and keep it off. Thats why you cant necessarily see it as a diet, but as a lifestyle change.. so they say. I know I wont have to eat 1200-1500 to maitain, so in some senses it is a diet, but I have also become much more aware of what I am eating and how much I am eating. Even when I wasnt dietting, and so I was able to keep it off.Just tell yourself this is the last time, you have learned your lessons, and practiced... but this time you will do it.

Last nite i decided to get out all my old Weight Watchers books and stuff, and use WW for a while. Seems I need the structure of counting points. I don't know why I try to lose weight without WW, because it has worked for me twice. I alway lose weight with it.

Anywhoo- started doing that today. Maybe some of this weight will go away. I seem to be kinda depessed today, what with being off work, no income to speak of at this time. The doctor's office is taking their own sweet time to get my FMLA paperwork and disability insurance forms filled out. I'm kinda aggravated at them. I had to change my PCP this year because the Dr. I had been seeing for 9 years left her practice and moved about 50 miles away to work with Hospice patients. So, had to start with a new DR & I'm not at all impressed with her office staff. I feel like they don't have time to fool with my paperwork, etc. I guess I'm spoiled from my other dr.'s office staff. they were really on the ball.

This doesn't have much to do with diet, but in a way it does. I'm just sitting here stressing out about all this and trying not to find comfort with food. Had to take pain medicine since back hurts so much, so it's not a good time to exercise right now. I plan to go the Y and get in the pool in a couple of hours. Maybe that can help de-stress me.

So, I'm not going have any cheese with my whine today. :D However, I had a big bowl of zero point vegetable soup. It's actually pretty good. It's a WW thing.

Ok now, I'm going to plant my big ole butt in front of the TV and watch re-runs of "Roseanne". Very constructive!! :c(

as long as you arent eating junk food while watching Roseanne it oks. We are all allowed to whine, and have our cheese sometimes. I went on workers comp a couple years ago and my finances have not been the same ever since. I know all about the paperwork and BS you have to go through.

Did better today, foodwise. Using the WW core program. Stayed on program today and I'm feeling better about everything.

Stayed on the core WW plan today. Exercised around 40 minutes in pool today.

Pool excercises have to be much better for you. I know my dad used to walk in the pool --he is in a wheelchair-- but now he cant becasue his lung capacity is too diminished. Keep up the good work.

Thanks elsie for the encouragement.

Since I have changed to WW core program, the eating has been going a lot better. I'm still counting my calories with Fit day (I have the software) to be sure I get enough to eat. (That's usually not a problem. lol) I am eating all that I feel hungry for, and am averaging around 1300-1400 cals a day. I'm also doing 40 minutes in the pool, doing some structured exercises and some paddling around. I only seem to be able to do a back stroke now, because when I try to swim in the normal position, it hurts my lower back. So I stopped doing that one...

I have 2 more weeks on my medical leave and I'm not looking forward to going back to work because I think that when I do go back, the severe pain will start again. I do assembly work, and stand most of the time. Our HR department told me to go back to the dr before I come back to work and have give me some restrictions of things not to do. They are really good where I work at finding you something to do that fits in with your restrictions. It really is a family owned and oriented manufacturing shop. We make parts for Honda, Toyota, GM, etc.

I switched from being an accounts payable co-ordinator for another company about 5 years ago because it was way too stressful. But to make a long story short, still had the heart attack & triple bypass surgery. So, the assembly work is a lot less stressful & our shop is a little bit laid back. Good atmosphere.

I tried the skinny cow ice cream sandwiches today...yum :) Will definately buy those again.

My boyfriend doesnt eat anything "healthy" and even he will eat skinny cow. As for the work, just make sure you are ready. I was on worker's comp for a while and the company would only allow the specific restrictions that the dr stated, and they really tried to get me.

Had a good diet day today. However, the Pringles chips were calling my name. I had some, but only the 1 oz serving shown on the can. Usually, I keep eating them after the can is open. But I stopped and ate cantalope instead. Yay, me!!

I've had a pretty low fat day today. Per Fit day, my breakdown for the day is 19% Fat, 60% carb & 21% protein. Little high on the carbs, but still good.

Did no exercise today, but did go grocery shopping, so that is a little bit of walking. Also, I have taken the dogs in and out a zillion times today, so a little exercise there. My dogs are pretty good sized - one is a German Shepherd mix & the other is a Great Dane mix. (And I wanted a little frou-frou dog. lol) These guys give me more of an upper body work out than anything. Altho, the shepherd is responsible for some of my back pain. He pulled me down & dragged me a little way thru the yard several weeks ago. It wasn't his fault, for some stupid reason I did not let go of the leash when he tried to take off. Now if he shows any signs of running, I let him go.

Thought I'd better write in here some more. Been busy & didn't feel like sitting down to write. Been doing really well at sticking to my program for the last couple of days.

Did not get much exercise, tho. I am going to Y this afternoon to get in the pool. When I weighed in this Monday morning I was down 3 pounds. :) So, I guess it is working. I am doing better since I started back on the WW core plan. I recommend it to anyone who gets tired of counting everything. I do count the calories on Fit Day, but I don't obsess like I once did. I figure as long as I eat at least 1200 cals per day, but less than 2000, I should be ok for slow 1-2 lb per week wt. loss.

Congrats on the weight loss. Just keep it up, and you will continue to lose...ofcouse the more excercise you can get, the better off you will be... but you are doing great.

Did go to the pool yesterday and swam, paddle around actually, Stayed on plan food wise until last nite. I made spaghetti and I usually use whole wheat pasta, but my DD was eating too & she doesn't like the WW pasta, so I used regular. So, it didn't bust me calorie-wise, but I would rather eat whole wheat. So anyway, not as healthy as I would have liked. It's funny, but when DD was a lot younger, I ate mostly vegetarian, so we've always eaten whole grains. When she was a kid, I think she was the only one who ate whole wheat stuff, I would even buy whole wheat hot dog buns. lol So not cool for a kid. So she is grown up now & wont eat ww pasta.

Went to dr yesterday & she has taken me off work for 6 months now. She asked me if I wanted to go back, but I told her that I could probably work a couple of days at a time, but usually after 2 days, the back pain & nerve pain would be severe and I would need to be off again. So she said well nothing is probably going to get a lot better until you have surgery. So they are trying to get a rush consult with surgeon. So I guess I'll see. I get the feeling they are not real happy about it at work, but they told me I can probably get short term disability for 6 months. And also that after my 3 months of FMLA I will have to pay full rate for my health insurance. So, don't know if I'll try to go back before that or not. I really don't feel like I can at this time.

My DD bought a house a few years back, so I live with her. She told me to go ahead & ride this out & see where it goes. I told her that after all this time, she finally has a "stay at home mom".

I know this isn't totally a "diet" journal, but all this does have an effect on the way I eat. I was feeling so depressed about all this today. I really wanted to go on a binge, eating everything in sight. But I didn't do it. Didn't even overeat, but the day isn't over yet. Wish me luck. I'm gonna need it for more than the weight loss. But while I'm not working, I'm gonna try to stay with my program. It would be real easy to just stay in bed because some days with the pain it is really hard to make myself get up and take care of things.

Okay Journal,

Gonna give you new life again. I'll try to post every day if possible. I haven't stuck to my program in the last few days. So, no weight lost, but none gained either. Have to get back on it absolutely starting tomorrow. :sigh:

I now am scheduled to see the neuro on Aug 24. I've heard that he is a really good surgeon. Hopefully, that is true. So not going back to work for now, will have to wait & see what this dr. says.

Things are about to get really busy around here. My daughter's step brother (on her dad's side) and his wife and 2 children are moving in with us. They just moved back to Ohio from Washington State last week. Their living arrangements right now leave a lot to be desired, so we invited them to move in here. We have 2 spare bedrooms not being used right now, so what the hey? Trying to stay OP may be a challenge, I don't know. But my almost DIL is a vegan & the kids (6 & 4) don't eat meat & I am almost vegetarian. So this should give me a chance to practice that style of eating not just by myself. So I guess I'll see what happens.

Today went pretty well food-wise.

Today's menu:

Oatmeal & 1/4 C FF milk
Coffe with creamer

1& 1/2 C Fiesta Bean Soup (this is good, has black beans, corn, salsa)
1 oz White Corn Tortilla chips
1 oz FF cheddar cheese

Subway Club Sandwich w/provolone cheese & Oil & vinegar & a ton of veggies
Diet Cola

For snack tonite I'm planning 1 cup Cheerios w/FF milk.

All this for about 1300 calories. And I've stayed full all day. I bough a bag of Lays potato chips with my sandwich, but I didn't eat them. I though I would save them until I'm craving them, but told my DD to take them with her to work tomorrow. I didn't want them. If I open them, I will eat all of them. I can't leave any chips in a bag. :(

Didn't post yesterday, I was so tired I went to bed at 8:00 and slept clear thru till 8 this morning. I had babysat the kids. I will refer to them as Almost-grand kids while their parents were cleaning & painting their bedroom & bath b4 they move in. I still have to move my bedroom downstairs so the kids can have the room next to their parents. Lots to do in about 2 weeks. So on Friday I didn't stay OP but I didn't eat so badly at all.

Friday breakfast - Cheerios & FF milk
Lunch - 2 pcs of small frozen pizza & a few tortilla chips & diet pop
Dinner - Chinese-General Tso's chicken, fried rice, egg roll & couple of Fried Won Tons. & Diet pop (No calcium to speak of today) :(

Today (Saturday)
Breakfast - cooked oatmeal w/ FF milk
Lunch - Morningstar Vegetarian Fajita burger on Hi-fiber WW bun, 12oz FF milk, ripe peach
Dinner- Turkey Italian Sausage with boiled potato and cabbage. Spray Parkay margarine on potato, 12oz FF milk

My back was pretty well done in from babysitting Friday, although I didn't really think I had done too much. I did lie down this afternoon for about an hour. I-)

Did pretty well today. Cleaned kitchen, mopped, cleaned out drawers for about 40 min today. Gonna take that as a little exercise. The pools at the Y are closed until Aug 16 for annual maintenance, etc. The other branch of the Y is too far for me to go, so I'll try some more extra cleaning that I don't normally do all the time for exercise, or I'll do a Walk Away the Pounds video everyday.

Breakfast - Oatmeal, FF milk, 1 cup fresh blueberries (yum), coffee with creamer

Lunch - Salad with tomatoes, cucumbers, lettuce, pickled peppers, 2 oz of Tyson precooked fajita chicken strips, LF Italian dressing made w/olive oil.
diet pop

snack - nectarine

Dinner - leftover Gen Tso chicken with big-assed glass of FF milk (24 oz) there...that ought to take care of the calcium... :1stprize:

Kitty likes milk thats for sure, LOL

Yes cleanign is excercise, thats hy I dont do it, I just go to the gym instead :)

Good luck with the enw living arrangement. Its nice of you to help out, but always such a stress to have other people living with you.

Hi Elsie, haven't seen you in while. Thanks for stopping by. Hope all is well with you.

Yesterday's menu:

B- 3 sl turkey bacon, 1 egg fried w/Pam, polenta fried in Pam

S- nectarine

L- Can of water packed tuna, chopped tomato & cucumber, chopped green olives, 2 La Tortilla Factory low carb wraps, Lite Olive oil vinaigrette. May not sound good, but the tuna/veggie wraps are great tasting.12 oz FF milk.

S-nectarine

D-Eggplant Parmesan, with tomato sauce & diced tomato, basil & garlic & whole wheat spaghetti
This was so good I ate way too much. 12 oz of FF milk. I think there was about 2 oz of mozzarella cheese & some LF Parmesan on the eggplant I ate. So good. :)

According to FitDay 22% Fat, 43% Carb & 34% Protein.

Will only post my menu today. I am so tired, literally wiped out from watching kids, going to store and a dr. appointment. And DD and her step bro did bring most all my stuff downstairs to my new bedroom, so I'm puttering around tonite a little bit trying to put it together. Need some rest.

Breakfast-1 egg scrambled with Morningstar veggie sausage crumbles in a La Tortilla Factoary low carb wrap.

I went shopping & got more fruits & veggies. BTW, my tomatoes are getting ripe now. I have about 4 I brought in to finish ripening. Can't Wait.

Lunch- 1 piece leftover meatloaf with leftover whole wheat spaghetti w/diced canned tomatoes

Snack - one large peach

Dinner- large salad with 2 oz chicken, 1 oz feta cheese, cucumber & one of my ripe yellow tomatoes with lite olive oil Italian dressing. 12 oz glass of FF milk.

May have a 94% FF mini bag of Act II popcorn for snack later, since I've been running around like a crazy woman today and haven't had time to plan out my meals alll that well. I've been eating on the fly. I don't think I got enough calories today; but tomorrow is WI and I'll try to force myself to eat!! :laugh:

Hi kitty,

I don't think I have posted in your journal before, I've read it but never posted only sent you a PM. I just wanted to say keep up the good work, and keep drinking that milk. I read an article about how lowfat milk can help you lose weight in problem areas faster, and I even think they have it in the milk ads, and I think it was mentioned on oprah.

Anyways, I'll keep checking in and posting, and if you want to send me a PM to vent privately go right ahead. Keep doing what you're doing this time around you have DT for support, we've all gained and lost before, but the difference this time is that we have TONS of support from people who really understand. Thanks for the encouragement.

Hi Kitty. I've read through your journal and it seems like you've got everything in hand. Wonderful that your Dr. appt is not to far off now so you can find out what can be done to help you. My mom has had 4 surgeries on her back, so I know it's a major decision - despite the pain. Hang in there. If it's okay, I'd like to pop in now and then to check on you.
Kerri

I just need to whine today. Yesterday my dr.'s office calls & says they are releasing me to go back to work; come get the note from the dr. My dr. is on vacation until Monday & this is a new partner who has never seen me b4. All because I called earlier in the week & told them that my disability insurance needs a call from the doctor to approve me for disability pay after Aug 11. The dr originally has me off work for 6 months. which would not be up until January 2006. I think maybe this guy never looked at my chart.

Anyway, I go over & pick up the note. I had to get there b4 5pm. I also needed to go to grocery to pick up can of coffee. So of course they have a deli where the glorious smell of fried chicken is wafting thru the store. So I tell myself, keep walking, ignore the deli, step away from the chicken; roasted chicken would be better, etc. But they put it in those hot displays at the checkout, you don't have to stand in line at the deli...Do you see where this is going?

Can you say "chicken binge"? I was feeling so frustrated over the dr thing & knowing I'm not really able to work at this time; feeling deprived, depressed, and deserving of fried chicken. Anyway, after I got home and ate 4 pieces of "FRIED" chicken, I felt so bad. I'd like to say I just saddled the horse up and got back on, but it was not to be. Before it was all over, there was a bag of popcorn & 2 peaches involved. I told DD, "I'm pretty sure I'm done, now". I've been a lot better today, but I ate a chicken breast & leg today & took the meat off the bones of the last 2 pieces and gave it to the dogs.

So, I'm on the WW Core plan, but I just ate all my WPA & must stay strictly on Core all week. Thanks for listening. I would ask you for cheese with my whine, but make it fat free, I don't have any points left for this week!!!

Rough days are going to hit us now and then, Kitty. I just had one myself. The important thing is that you are trying to get back on track. Hope things get settled with the Dr. note stuff soon. Interesting that a partner does a note for you when they've never seen you before and while "your" Dr. is away and can't be reached. Hang in there. Just get up and going again.
Kerri

I took the release from the dr to my human resources dept yesterday. Dr. released me to work 5-6 hr. a day with 20lb lifting restriciton. I told HR mgr that I didn't think I would be able to do that & explained about the other dr. to her. She told me to wait till Monday & call my dr. & have her fax something in to her. She was kinda amazed that they would want to send me back to work, after not being allowed to do anything much for 6 weeks & my dr. excusing me for 6 months, or until recoup from possible surgery. She is our family dr & DD has appt with her on Monday & she suggested I go with her & talk to nurse or secretary & see if I can get them to understand that they need to call disability ins. co & furnish them what they need so I can get paid. Geez, I hate this bureaucratic crap...

Of course everything around here is all crazy and disorganized. My DD's stepbrother Jon & his wife Shelbi & 2 kids are moving in with us today. We have 2 extra bedrooms & they moved back here from Wash state due to Shelbi's being very ill. She's on her way to recouperating now. They wanted to get back closer to family for moral support with their situation. We'll see how that goes. I'm hoping for the best.

Eating went better today than the other day. Today's menu:

Breakfast - 4 sl turkey bacon, eggbeaters & a large tomato from my garden.

Snack - watermelon

Lunch- large salad with 2.5 oz of turkey, 1 oz Feta cheese (with basil & tomato), green olives, yellow & red tomatoes & Olive oil vinaigrette. FF Milk
Some leftover whole wheat pasta with diced tomatoes. (Every year, I just about OD on my fresh tomatoes.)

Snack - Watermelon

Dinner - French Onion soup, (no croutons or cheese :( )
about 1/4 Cup Hummus with a few bite sized Tostitos, FF Milk

Snack - Mini bag of 94% FF popcorn

I'm done eating & everything for the day. Everyone sleep well. I-)

Oh, I'm having some problems staying OP these days. I've been cooking meals for my ready made family that moved in last weekend. I do love to cook and feed people, tho. The meals I'm making are healthy, I just think I'm eating too much right now. I'm doing WW core plan, but I think after WI this week, I'll go back to counting points. I've eaten a lot of things that are not core this week. So need to get OP from now on.

Tonite for dinner I cooked corn on the cob, made a chilled couscous, bean & veggie salad. Of course the kids, my DD & Jon didn't like the couscous, but I had anticipated that and heated up a can of Bush's baked beans for them. Shelbi cooked fresh apples & peaches together with some brown sugar, margarine, cinnamon & nutmeg. That was really tasty!!

Shelbi has had trouble eating & keeping it down for the last several months. She lost weight from about 180lb to like 115 or so. I think a lot of it was stress, she was tested for every kind of GI trouble, infections, etc. I hoped that she wasn't becoming anorexic. I'm still not sure that's not the trouble, but she has gained up to 123lb now. I've watched her eat, she does eat, not just play with the food on her plate. Any insights, anyone?

OK, gonna take off now.

You've got a lot of changes going on right now and that can make being OP harder than usual. You've got it in you to get back on track and I'm sure you will soon. Measuring is always helpful, I think. Just keep remembering the less you weigh, the less your back will hurt.

I don't know about Shelbi. Are you sure she isn't throwing up what she's eating? It could be stress, though. Some people eat and gain and some people can't eat and lose.

Here's hoping your next post is all about how you stayed on track!
Kerri

Kerri,

Thanks for stopping in here. I have buddied up with Janet|32 in another journal "Janet & Kitty's journal to success" . Stop by there, too. I think I'll still keep this journal going, but I'm gonna post my menus in the other one.

This journal seems to be more about feelings, etc. I guess I still need a place to talk about things like family, etc.

I have gotten semi back on track. I made stuff for tacos last nite & everyone made their own. That was fun, but I think I ate a little too much. But that's what I have Flex points for, huh? Other than that have had a good couple of OP days.

Its been a few days since I posted in here. I did go to the appointment with the neurosurgeon on the 24th. He's not in any hurry to do surgery, wants me to try physical therapy for three weeks and continue my own exercising in the pool. He said that I may have to learn to live with this because I have spinal stenosis caused by bone spurs in my lumbar spine & that the rest of my spine is not in much better condition. Since I have had surgery before, this would be a fusion. Said it was a major surgery, so I think he would only want to do it as a last resort.

After the 3 weeks of physical therapy, wants me to return to work with no restrictions to see if therapy helped. I go back to see him on Oct 20.

But anyway, have lost 3 lbs this week. I've been trying really hard to stay OP. Most days I make it, but some days not. Will go back to my routine in the pool; it has opened back up. I also enjoy my time in the pool. It's the one time that I can actually exercise without a lot of pain.

Hi Kitty,
I wondered if the Kitty of Janet and Kitty was you, also. I'll start popping in there, too. Glad you saw the Dr. and I think it's good to try everything before the surgery that may work. Have you tried crunches? Not the type you get on the floor for but the ones Billy Blanks of Tae Bo does. You stand up, put one arm across your body (really to just feel that you are using the correct muscles) and the other above your head. On the same side your arm is up, place your foot on the tiptoe and then using all the muscle you can, pull your arm downward as you lift your hip upward. They work amazingly and no getting up and down on the floor. Strengthening your abs might help your back a lot. It has for me.

Hi Kerri-

Yeah, its the same Kitty. You can stop by there instead. I'm pretty much just posting in that journal. Although my buddy hasn't been posting very much lately, but I'm gonna try to stay with it.

One of the teachers of aquatic exercise class at the Ymca has shown me how to do ab exercises in the pool. They work pretty well, too. But I have yet to get back into my routine in the pool. The Y offers an exercise class for arthritis and I have gone to it a few times, but it doesn't really seem to be what I need. It doesn't help the back much. When I go to PT they will probably exercise me in the pool. I went 3 yrs ago to PT & that's what I did and it helped alot with the sciatic nerve pain.

This time I don't seem to have a lot of sciatic pain. It's my back itself that is bearing the brunt of everything.

OK, nuff of my whinin. Stop by Janet & Kitty's journal, we could use the encouragement. :hippy: