Thursday. April 4th

Good Grief! Out of a deep sleep have just woken up ( as has the rest of the house)( and likely the neighbourhood) to our neighbour cutting the grass. It is nearly midnight for goodness sakes. Complete with a head lamp to guide the way. Noise by- laws be darned.

A good food day and when counted all the inside walking was 5.1/2 hours. Very weary.

do anyof us use compression stockings and if so do you find they help?

night eating eh! Oh, I do know all about that.

Enjoy the fact that hopefully your neighbours are not gardening at 12:01am.

Carbon, I use Rx and over the counter compression stockings, as well as more restrictive four layer wraps, to manage lymphedema. I often choose to wear compression stockings for flying or long trips. They provide immediate relief when water retention has begun, and limit it. Often people don't realize the pressure, discomfort and pain related to excessive fluid retention.

Shel ...I loved hearing about your bowl experiences ! It is interesting how perspectives change regionally and experientially. Chakra work, Nia, acupuncture, gyrotonics etc. are not considered "hippy dippy" in this area. Alternative medicine and natural healing are common explorations in this area.

Weight at the top of my range, but stable. Lots of stress dog sitting for a friend's ten month 90 pound lab shepherd mix. He has NO social skills, and NO manners. Sadie is doing her best, but he apparently has had no routine or boundaries, and is finding it challenging to acclimate to our pack

Hope I didn't offend with my hippy dippy comment, I really do find it interesting! Your are correct - regionally, alternative medicine is not as common.

ooooo, new vocab words.....Nia, gyrotonics.....must google later. I don't know how many naturopathic/etc schools there are in the US but Bastyr University is nearby and they keep the local area well stocked in alternative medicine providers.

Alternative and Eastern Medicines and healing practices are like micro climates here in the Bay Area. Some areas have many services, while others have absolutely none. There is even an area in our county that has a little enclave of veterinarians that practice acupuncture, chiropractic, and Chinese herbology. While I tend to rely on western medicine, I do believe that eastern practices allow a focus for treating our most honest, primordial selves. In other words, western medicine tends to treat the symptom and illness, while the eastern practices tend to treat the person and our inner beings.

WOW! Is this neighbor a nut or just rude? Did anyone in the neighborhood ask him to stop (or call the police)?

It is 5:15 am here in Chicago again, but you guys beat me to it! Still no weight of course, but calories were 728. The meeting lasted until 8 last night (9 if I were in Eastern time)! I had to eat a protein bar when I got back to the hotel room to boost my calories/protein intake. At dinner I was so hungry I ate a couple more bites past when I should have and didn't feel too well for a bit (I guess my sleeve is working well). Last time at the similar meeting in NJ they had great afternoon snacks like sushi, but this time there was only fruit. Breakfast was almost entirely carbs and fruit except for hard boiled eggs which I did have. Again, last time there were more options for breakfast too: One day they had scrambled eggs and the other day they had smoked salmon along with hard boiled eggs. Today I'm bringing my protein bars with me. There is a chance that I will be eating them for both snack and dinner as the meeting is supposed to last until 6 pm, and my flight is at 8.

Tomorrow it would be nice to relax, but DH has the in-person pre-screen for the clinical trial in Boston, so we need to leave by 7:30 am. Good thing it is the weekend after that. Next week I will have to deal with the many emails marked "important" which came in... I am unable to do it during these meetings.

Have a great Thursday!

136.6. Down another .4, again not by anything that I have done. In fact I ran in to a little trouble last night from poor choices. I know VSGers are not supposed to "dump" but I sure had a reaction to what I guess was sugar load last night. I made a chocolate malt - about 1/2 the size of my personal smoothie blender container. Within 1/2 hour of drinking it I was feeling nauseous, hot and sweaty and felt like my heart was racing (but it was only in the 90's - higher than normal but not really racing)! Tried unsuccessfully to make myself throw up so I could feel better and ultimately just decided to lay down and go to bed for the night. Only positive outcome from that was I have no desire to have a chocolate malt anytime soon! I hope the next time the urge hits I will remember how poorly it made me feel!

Day off today but have PS follow-up appt. and hair cut. More house cleaning on tap too!

I have had similar experience when over sugared. I don't know if it's "dumping" or not. It is certainly unpleasant. Luckily, it does pass relatively quickly.

204.8. Almost 4 lbs. less than yesterday. I have been stuck at 208 for a long time even though I have been eating well, drinking lots of water, walking and tracking. Hopefully it is starting to make a difference. I had a major bathroom episode yesterday, which was very difficult, i.e., South Park Bono difficult, but effective.

Greetings Hard Working Maintainers

Jeez Carbon I hope you or someone speaks to that neighbor about lawn mowing at midnight. No excuse for that!

As to hippy dippy, where I live everything is hippy dippy so its no insult. Its a way of life. There is lots of alternative medicine which I haven't used much but wouldn't hesitate if I felt the need. There is even a native american health center that combines both western medicine and native american practices. They also have a huge garden and give veggies to those eligible as diabetes is so rampant in native american communities. There is also a strong trend toward organics and non gmo products and locally grown stuff. Great farmers market. Its illegal for stores to use plastic grocery bags and some charge for paper ones or give a a few cents off if you bring your own. I always have cloth bags in the car and we recycle like crazy. All part of the culture and its a good thing.

Well 135 today post poop. Only in this group can we talk about this stuff LOL!

Gotta get the food plan for tomorrow's opening.

Well Liz, hope you get through the next two days ok and then get some rest.

Made egg foo yung last night with chicken, eggs, bean sprouts and scallions. A bit of soy sauce and its quite good and easy. Going to make more egg and veggie dishes.

Hope those who need it are getting some rain relief.

Well gotta scoop dog poop today. Deck looks like a feed lot. Then its off to the studio to goosh around in clay. Onward friends. Diane S