Staying the Course -- 07-10-2017

[Superbob]

Bonjour, chers amis. Bienvenue à l'autre restant la semaine de cours !

Superbob breaks into French. Superheroes can speak all languages, you know! : ) And we have global reach here (something I need to remind myself when I start breaking into "USA, USA!" here. : ) We welcome folks from all over the world.

So anyway, welcome dear friends to another Staying the Course Week!

With their steely resolve, Superbob and Superdawg II just finished another morning walk laden with ridiculous humidity. In the middle of last night, all that buildup of moisture cut loose and poured from the heavens -- a not unwelcome happening except where there was flash flooding. (Not right here, but not too many miles away). Anyway, same thing is supposed to happen tonight.

Tonight also brings the Home-Run Derby segment of the All-Star Game being played this year in Miami. Anybody here get excited about that? Yesterday I got my photo taken here in MB with Dale Murphy, two-time National League MVP ('82, '83) for the Atlanta Braves. I cherish the photo and Dale's kind autograph, but the photo of my bloated self reminds me that no amount of walking or planking is making me svelte or is likely to do so. At 75, should I just quit and eat boxes of doughnuts? (I ask because a brand new Krispy Kreme factory is opening tomorrow here in our 'hood. Appropriately, I do have a PLANKING FOR DONUTS teeshirt to wear to exercise class tomorrow. My sweet teacher has taken to expecting a laugh from me each class. Don't know, however, if she will agree to adjourn our class and go to Krispy Kreme. Thought I would offer to treat -- one box of a dozen for me, one box of a dozen for them for share. That's called sweet talk. lol I AM bad!

Last week brought lots of discussion, comments, observations, philosophical discourse et al. here at our good ol' STC home. Would love to hear from any and all this week.

I've got to get my bathroom scales back in working order and figure out a way to handle the temptation of HOT Krispy Kremes. Oh my!

Cheers all,

Superbob

 

[dornole]

Hi all. Turning over a new leaf today with BOTH my hubs and my sister in law as DAILY accountability buddies.

No dozen donuts now, SuperBob. How about some delicious peaches and raspberries with a dollop of whipped cream instead?

I hope everyone loves your shirt though!!

 

[Superbob]

Hi all. Turning over a new leaf today with BOTH my hubs and my sister in law as DAILY accountability buddies.

No dozen donuts now, SuperBob. How about some delicious peaches and raspberries with a dollop of whipped cream instead?

I hope everyone loves your shirt though!!

dornole, great to hear from you! -- sounds like you have a great accountability plan!. I need one, too. Probably eating peaches and raspberries instead of doughnuts and pizza would be a good start. We had an April freeze around here that decimated the local peach crop but I think supplies are recovering now.

 

[MartinF]

Superbob, just say NO. Keep repeating to yourself "Krispy Kremes taste bad" and you can get through this.

Seriously, I'm sure we will get a review of the new "restaurant" soon.

Remember moderation. Leave some for others. Martin

 

[epstns]

Accountability buddies? Wow, am I at a disadvantage there. My wife (dearly loved) is an enabler! She is the one who says that I hardly eat anything anymore. Yeesh!

Of course, she has been out East with our daughter for a couple of weeks now, and I'm not losing any weight. Might have even gained back the pound or so I lost a couple of weeks ago. I'm sure it is all that restaurant food I eat when she is gone for short trips like this. Some years ago, she was temporarily "detailed" out of town for a couple of months, and during that period I was actually able to lose a couple of pounds by careful/simple home cooking and menu design. This time, since her trip is so short (she will be home this Friday), I haven't set up "alternate housekeeping." Oh, well. I will have to manage somehow.

SB - we have had those major rainstorms the past two nights here, so it makes sense that you may get them soon. The weather seems to take a couple of days to get from the Midwest to the East Coast.

I'm still digging out from the backlog at work. It is funny how taking one day off (July 3), if it is the "wrong" day off, can put you several days behind. Very busy time of year coming up for me.

Hang in there, everyone. Remember, when it comes to exercise, if you can't "do it all" then do as much as you can.

 

[dreamy885]

Hi everyone! I'm curious about these Staying the Course posts; are they mostly about eating healthy and exercising? If so, can I join?

 

[Superbob]

Hi everyone! I'm curious about these Staying the Course posts; are they mostly about eating healthy and exercising? If so, can I join?

Oh sorry, meant to reply sooner -- of course, we would be delighted to have you here in Staying the Course. We probably talk about exercise, healthy eating/weight control more than anything else, but we are very informal and also talk about the weather, work, kids, grandkids, just anything going on in our lives. So we would love to have you join us, definitely!

 

[FredW]

Geez, Heather, were we suspose to ask to join? I never asked. It would be wonderful to have new, young, fresh, and kind people here. That is assuming you bring your sense of humor with you.

Steve, you have your own version of a "wife-away" diet? Those women do spoil us. You do appear to work too hard. Sometimes I get envious of those of you with regular jobs. Then I sit a while and think about it until the feelings passes.

Martin, I can honestly say I have not had a donut, of any kind, in over a year. Kirsty Kreams are deadly.

Finaly, I have been doing research on the long term effect of taking beta blockers like Metoprolol, and one effect is possible weight gain of 3 to 5 lbs. The theory is a slower heart rate can change ones metabolism. It also makes it harder to reach strenuous excerise. Have anybody else read about that?

Staying the course - kind-of...

 

[MartinF]

Fred, I've been on beta blockers almost 5 years now. Heart rate after my OHS was 43 until about a year ago when it went up to 48. I think it was around the mid 40's before surgery. Now my max heart rate is around 130-140. A couple years ago I did a fast walk up a steep hill until I was in oxygen debt and then measured my heart rate with a watch. It was low 130's. Not exact but close. I also can't run fast anymore. When I race a 5K I usually skip the Metoprolol for a day or two. It does help. On the weight gain, I'm not sure about that. My weight was pretty stable after surgery, then I got laid off and my weight went down and was stable, and now that I'm working again it's back up to maybe 5 lbs more that post-surgery. I think I just am eating too much.

My wife-away diet is not always the best either. Sometimes it's good, sometimes it's not so good. It's a work in progress.

Still hot here in So Cal but did walk/run 20 miles last week.

Welcome to the group Heather.

 

[Paleowoman]

Hi Heather - I occasionally join in 'Staying the Course' threads. This is a wonderfully informal, welcoming, place

 

[jcgtok17]

Back in Canada for the summer which was a needed break from the Tokyo heat and a chance to see family in Canada. My 1st week back I stepped on a board with a nail in it, not an ideal fact pattern 9 weeks post op, but a trip to outpatients for a tetanus booster and all should be fine. My wife is ready to duct tape me to a chair! Resting heart rate 58 at present. Mainstay exercise is still walking at present given I'm so far away from my medical team in Japan. The fee for the ER visit for the nail was C$865 (tetanus bill to follow by mail) so not interested in return visits. Blue Cross travel insurance covers the cost (glad I purchased that!). JCG

 

[honeybunny]

FredW, I'm going with your research and the 3-5 lb. weight gain.
dreamy885 , welcome! Like Paleowoman said, this is a great forum and SB is so good about keeping it up.

No news on my weight front but I did get a standing desk at work, which is helping with myswelling. I alternate between sitting and standing every hour. In fact, it's time for me to get up again.

Leaving Friday to visit my brother in Brooklyn over his birthday weekend. And I'm bringing back rye bread, carbs and calories be damned!

 

[Superbob]

Love all the comments here. So far Martin, I am just saying no to doughnuts. But the new Krispy Kreme store opens in our 'hood tomorrow. Maybe I should wear blinders when we go past it.

For now, just a quick reply to Fred's interesting post about beta blockers and weight gain. By googling (all I know anymore emanates from Google) I found this informative article on this subject from the Mayo Clinic, a reliable source.

http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-...ure/expert-answers/beta-blockers/faq-20058385

The darn-it for me is that I'm on Carvedilol as my beta blocker, so evidently I don't have an excuse for weight gain. On the positive side, you could say it's good I'm not on Metoprolol 'cause I might have another 5 unneeded pounds on me if I did. : )

Anyway, thanks for bringing this to our attention, Fred. Always a good idea to check into side-effects of our multifarious meds.

 

[epstns]

I am sure I did gain weight when I started metoprolol. That is really when my battle began, but this is the first I remember of seeing any research or publications to tell me why. Now that I know. . . can't do much about it. I doubt that doc will change the meds, as they seem to be otherwise working.

As for how the beta blocker affects me, I will try to abridge my BB history. Immediately post-op I was given metoprolol extended release, 100 mg/day. As long as I wasn't trying to do anything physical, it was tolerable. Once I was up and around more, I felt like I was dragging a sled full of rocks behind me all day. While I was in rehab, I convinced my cardio to let me reduce the dose to 50 mg/day. That helped quite a bit, but I was still hampered. Eventually, I convinced him to let me drop the dosage to 25 mg/day, where it now stands. I still cannot work out to full intensity, and can only get my heart rate to a max of about 140 BPM. Prior to heart surgery, I was able to get to the low 160's when running, with no issues.

Of course, what complicates matters is that ever since surgery, I have pacemaker. We suspect that prior to surgery I had undiagnosed bradycardia, as my resting heart rate was in the 40's. After surgery I had many rate and rhythm issues, finally culminating in the implantation of my pacemaker. The pacer is set to a minimum rate of 60 BPM and a maximum of 160 BPM - which I can never seem to hit.

So, between the valve surgery, the pacemaker, and just getting older (almost 70 now) I have just adjusted to my "new normal." It is still far better than where I would be had I not had the surgery.

 

[jwinter]

Is it already Thursday? Last winter I would have given anything to see time go by this fast. What a busy crew here and that only proves what staying that course does for us.

We are in an official drought year here. Hardly any rain at all and the farmers are rolling what is left of their wheat fields into hay. So sad to see. We continue to seed grass on our lots and watering and weeding have become a large part of my days. The time has come to start moving inside in the afternoons as the temps have been hovering around those triple digits for last couple weeks. Whew........it IS a warm one.

No luck staying the course with that dang scale. No donuts, just eating a bit too well. Portion control, portion control, portion control! Oh that, and my INR being down a bit last week, I am not overdoing those salads like two weeks ago and enjoying a couple adult beverages. Calorie wise they do add up.

Good to see the discussion with all those posting, It does encourage me. Have a great weekend!

 

[Duffey]

Reading through this week's posts, it seems that all is going well. Same for me. Tomorrow we celebrate my mother in law's 90th birthday at an open house we are hosting. The open house will be followed by a surprise baby shower for our son and his wife. The circle of life proceeds as we stay the course.

 

[epstns]

jwinter - Too bad we can't send you some of our rain. The rivers in Wisconsin and Illinois are overfilled, and they predict some flooding over the next week or so. Some major roads are closed, too, making it difficult to plan errands. It is either too much or too little.

Otherwise, we are staying the course. Getting to work, the gym and home, and that's about it for the last week and a half. My wife returns from MA this afternoon, so my diet may get a chance to return to its usual healthy direction soon. I think the quick meals and restaurant food have contributed too much sodium of late, and look forward to getting rid of that, along with the water-weight it probably brings.

Duffey - Congratulations on the coming new addition to the family. The newest addition to our family (grandson #2) is the reason my wife has been out east in MA - helping out with the newborn. I spent the July 4th weekend out there, "meeting" him.

 

[Paleowoman]

Snakes - I had a CMR this morning (cardiac MRI). It was really funny as whenever the machine did it’s scanning ‘'bangs’' my tummy vibrated inside and started to gurgle like mad and ‘my intestines 'wriggle’'. After, I asked the radiographer after if she’'d seen a snake in there LOL They gave me a copy of the CD which is fascinating. I can’'t begin to understand it, but I can clearly see my heart and see it ‘pumping’ the blood through my valve, and I can see my aorta, plus several internal organs like my liver, plus all the bones in my upper spine and sternum, shoulders and upper arms - oh my arm muscles look great [IMG2=JSON]{"data-align":"none","data-size":"full","src":"http:\/\/i33.photobucket.com\/albums\/d100\/Seminoffskiviche\/Nexopia-KhronicHandz\/weight_lifting.gif"}[/IMG2]

 

[dreamy885]

I've gained weight since my symptoms started before surgery and more after my surgery. I thought for sure the weight would come off effortlessly after surgery, but I'm over 2 months out now and the scale hasn't budged. I also got an IUD a week before surgery and I have gained weight from birth control before. It's so frustrating! It's hard to diet when veggies are bad for you and vodka is good for you. My INR has been below range for the past like 6 or 7 weeks. I love veggies but I'm steering clear until I get into the upper part of my range. I'm doing cardiac rehab also, I only have 4 more sessions left. I've been pretty good at getting some type of exercise in on my days off from CR, despite the ridiculous heat and humidity here in Iowa. Luckily my kids keep me kind of active, we like to ride scooters around the neighborhood and enjoy swimming at my grandpa's pool, even playing dancing games on the Wii.
Anywho, I have my echo on Monday and a follow up with my new cardiologist, hoping everything looks great! If I don't talk to you before then, have a great weekend everyone =)

 

[Superbob]

So great to have you with us! Weight loss post-surgery was also my expectation 12 years ago, but instead as best I recall I had to keep close tabs on daily weigh-in to be sure I wasn't gaining too much. Fluid retention, as opposed to my usual food retention. lol I remember my CR fondly -- had a lot of fun, and got some good motivationand great tips for trying to stay fit into my senior years. Do let us know about your visit with your new cardio!