I am celebrating. I am now below my High School weight

[YosemiteSam]

Where'd get that picture of me? :laugh2:

Google searched for Yeager and filtered by Diva. :laugh2:

 

[Yeagermeister]

Google searched for Yeager and filtered by Diva. :laugh2:

damn

 

[Cajuncowboy]

salad is fine but the dressing is what kills you, your 150 calorie salad ends up about 450 after the dressing

it's like that Applebee's ad where the guys are ripping a guy for only having a 550 calorie dinner and all happy about the calorie dinners but they have huge beers at the table which are probably 1000 calories

I had to curb my dressings when I started. So it was a process for me. But if I am going to have one of those regular salads from somewhere like Panera Bread then that is my whole meal, 450 calories is good.

 

[Ren]

I had to curb my dressings when I started. So it was a process for me. But if I am going to have one of those regular salads from somewhere like Panera Bread then that is my whole meal, 450 calories is good.

Make your own with yogurt, i usually use yogurt some lime juice and fresh cilantro

 

[Cajuncowboy]

Make your own with yogurt, i usually use yogurt some lime juice and fresh cilantro

That's different. I may try that.

 

[rynochop]

I'm 42R suit, 16.5 neck for dress shirts, 34 waist for most pants/shorts although a pair of Hollister shorts I have are a 33 waist.

Hollister shorts, what are you 18?

 

[rynochop]

Make your own with yogurt, i usually use yogurt some lime juice and fresh cilantro

Hmm, i love cilantro...but that sounds really weird. Do you put it in a blender?

 

[CanadianCowboysFan]

Hollister shorts, what are you 18?

Just because I am 43 does not mean I have to wear clothes from the Arnold Palmer collection

 

[LeonDixson]

There is presently lots of confusion regarding the role of intensive exercise, "casual exercise" and diet in the role of weight loss and weight maintenance.

We do know the body likes to maintain its weight. For up to a year after a significant weight loss your body's appetite will gear up inducing you to eat more to return to your previous weight. This impulse begins to die down a bit after a year.

Another thing we know is that diet is by far the most important aspect of weight loss and is very important in weight maintenance.

Regular amounts of low intensity exercise dispersed throughout the day (like walking lots at work but not necesssarily for 45 minutes in a row or intermittently going up and down lots of stairs) can burn a fair number of calories without correspondingly increasing your calories consumed.

Right now I'm 170 pounds and trying to get back to my normal weight of 155. Darn back problem got me depressed, inactive and unable to sleep leading to lots of late night calorie consumption. I've now have my artificial back and can now exercise again. Hopefully I'll get there in about 3 months as I'd managed to stay that weight the past 18 years before my back flared up.

Intensive exercise will make you fitter and is good for your health but may not play that important of a role in permanent weight loss for most people as it tends to induce an almost equal increase in calories consumed compared to calories burned.

Weight loss is difficult for humans IMO because it has been so evolutionarily disadvantageous to us throughout our history. If you get too thin you may just be a bad crop away from the grave. If you have some extra thickness you can withstand this. It is also important in hydration as the metabolism of fat generates tremendous amounts of free water which protects you in drought conditions (all jokes about fat guys sweating in the buffet aside).

Tell me more about the artificial back. I have a bulging disc in my lower back and the pain has severely limited my activities. Just mowing the lawn is a devil.

 

[Jon88]

Tell me more about the artificial back. I have a bulging disc in my lower back and the pain has severely limited my activities. Just mowing the lawn is a devil.

I think I have torn ligaments in my back. Happened a long time ago. Anytime I get startled and jump it hurts. A bump in the road hurts. It doesn't hurt all the time, but it's definitely something to consider getting fixed later on.

 

[Eskimo]

Tell me more about the artificial back. I have a bulging disc in my lower back and the pain has severely limited my activities. Just mowing the lawn is a devil.

The main types of artificial joints available right now are for the discs of the low back. There is a separate type of device for the facet joints which are small joints located behind the spinal canal but these are purely experimental.

The discs started being implanted in Europe in the mid-80s and the first series of discs were called Charite. They worked well when placed correctly but this was always a challenge with these discs. Later came ProDisc and Maverick.

All these disc replacements are done through an anterior approach (meaning they cut through your stomach to get to your spine). There is no cement involved. ProDisc is a hybrid metal and plastic disc but Maverick is pure metal. In either case, the artificial discs if placed correctly are expected to last your lifetime as they wear very slowly (this is unlike knee and hip replacements which often need to be revised in young people). You're usually in hospital 1-5 days depending on the number of discs replaced. You are typically off work at least a month depending on the nature of your job.

Overall, the technology is still pretty young, not many surgeons are presently trained in the procedure and insurance companies often balk at paying for it as they claim it is experimental. There have been a few randomized trial showing efficacy in the short-term (2-5 years) but good long range data isn't readily available yet. However, experience suggests those who have good early outcome tend not to run into much in the way of problems later on. The procedure can be paid for privately but costs around $30-50K, I think. The main places it is done are US, France and Germany. If you are a bit more adventurous there are a number of centers in India that do it as well, too.

The question becomes who is the surgery for? It is mostly for people with intolerable low back pain which is thought to be due to degeneration of one or two lumbar discs (most commonly L5-S1 and/or L4-L5) that severely limits activity and QOL. They don't like to do the surgery if the pain has been present less than a couple of years. They don't like to do the surgery unless there is good evidence the pain comes from discs (based on history, physical examination, xray, MRI, provocative discography). They often don't like to do the procedure unless the disc has lost about half of its original height. They don't like to do the procedure if you have significant arthritis of the facet joints as that is a confounding factor in determining the origin of your pain.

My own personal experience was that I had the aMav disc placed at L4-L5 and L5-S1. My surgery took 3.5 hours to complete and I was in hospital for 3 days. I returned to work 2 hours/day at 1 week post-surgery, 4 hours/day 2 weeks post-surgery, 6 hours/day 4 weeks post-surgery and 8 hours/day at 6 weeks post-surgery. My range of motion is actually better now, my pain is decreased about 80% and I can do things like sit on a couch, sit more than an hour and pick up moderately heavy objects (20 or so pounds) for the first time in a couple of years.

I don't think this procedure is a panacea, it is not without risk and I wouldn't trust anyone but a great surgeon with a lot of experience in the procedure to touch me. I would also suggest getting it done by a surgeon who lives reasonable close to you to allow appropriate followup (I saw my surgeon at 1 month, am scheduled to see him mid-June at 4 months and probably again at 1 year) and management of any potential complications.

If the procedure fails, the "salvage" procedure would be a lumbar fusion. I would usually suggest that young people avoid this procedure due to the translation stress above and below the level of the procedure which tend to beget accelerated degeneration at these levels.

Anyhow, I hope that helped a bit.

I think I had pretty bad low back pain for about 18 years before the procedure but it only got so limiting that I considered surgery about the last two years.

The future for early disc degeneration in the future will hopefully be stem cells. They are currently working on this but it is hard to say how long it will take the researchers to figure it out. The idea being that your stem cells have the genetic information in them to simply recreate your original disc which should be pain-free. It is just a matter of figuring how to get them to differentiate into the right set of cells and build the proper environment for them to recreate and integrate a new disc into your body.

 

[Kevinicus]

Thats what skim milk is. Milk flavored water. uke:

It's all a process. I grew up with 2% milk and in my late teens my mom started getting Skim to help lose weight (I needed it as well). For a long time I couldn't stand it, and the only way I could handle it was if I added a lot of sugar to my cereal. Eventually though it became the norm and now even 1% is just disgusting to me, and I can't even fathom having to drink 2% or whole. I have milk all the time and go through about 4 gallons a week.

That said, it hasn't helped me, or her, lose weight at all.

 

[Kevinicus]

The main types of artificial joints available right now are for the discs of the low back. There is a separate type of device for the facet joints which are small joints located behind the spinal canal but these are purely experimental.

The discs started being implanted in Europe in the mid-80s and the first series of discs were called Charite. They worked well when placed correctly but this was always a challenge with these discs. Later came ProDisc and Maverick.

All these disc replacements are done through an anterior approach (meaning they cut through your stomach to get to your spine). There is no cement involved. ProDisc is a hybrid metal and plastic disc but Maverick is pure metal. In either case, the artificial discs if placed correctly are expected to last your lifetime as they wear very slowly (this is unlike knee and hip replacements which often need to be revised in young people). You're usually in hospital 1-5 days depending on the number of discs replaced. You are typically off work at least a month depending on the nature of your job.

Overall, the technology is still pretty young, not many surgeons are presently trained in the procedure and insurance companies often balk at paying for it as they claim it is experimental. There have been a few randomized trial showing efficacy in the short-term (2-5 years) but good long range data isn't readily available yet. However, experience suggests those who have good early outcome tend not to run into much in the way of problems later on. The procedure can be paid for privately but costs around $30-50K, I think. The main places it is done are US, France and Germany. If you are a bit more adventurous there are a number of centers in India that do it as well, too.

The question becomes who is the surgery for? It is mostly for people with intolerable low back pain which is thought to be due to degeneration of one or two lumbar discs (most commonly L5-S1 and/or L4-L5) that severely limits activity and QOL. They don't like to do the surgery if the pain has been present less than a couple of years. They don't like to do the surgery unless there is good evidence the pain comes from discs (based on history, physical examination, xray, MRI, provocative discography). They often don't like to do the procedure unless the disc has lost about half of its original height. They don't like to do the procedure if you have significant arthritis of the facet joints as that is a confounding factor in determining the origin of your pain.

My own personal experience was that I had the aMav disc placed at L4-L5 and L5-S1. My surgery took 3.5 hours to complete and I was in hospital for 3 days. I returned to work 2 hours/day at 1 week post-surgery, 4 hours/day 2 weeks post-surgery, 6 hours/day 4 weeks post-surgery and 8 hours/day at 6 weeks post-surgery. My range of motion is actually better now, my pain is decreased about 80% and I can do things like sit on a couch, sit more than an hour and pick up moderately heavy objects (20 or so pounds) for the first time in a couple of years.

I don't think this procedure is a panacea, it is not without risk and I wouldn't trust anyone but a great surgeon with a lot of experience in the procedure to touch me. I would also suggest getting it done by a surgeon who lives reasonable close to you to allow appropriate followup (I saw my surgeon at 1 month, am scheduled to see him mid-June at 4 months and probably again at 1 year) and management of any potential complications.

If the procedure fails, the "salvage" procedure would be a lumbar fusion. I would usually suggest that young people avoid this procedure due to the translation stress above and below the level of the procedure which tend to beget accelerated degeneration at these levels.

Anyhow, I hope that helped a bit.

I think I had pretty bad low back pain for about 18 years before the procedure but it only got so limiting that I considered surgery about the last two years.

The future for early disc degeneration in the future will hopefully be stem cells. They are currently working on this but it is hard to say how long it will take the researchers to figure it out. The idea being that your stem cells have the genetic information in them to simply recreate your original disc which should be pain-free. It is just a matter of figuring how to get them to differentiate into the right set of cells and build the proper environment for them to recreate and integrate a new disc into your body.

I was looking at cervical disc surgery last year and I was told replacement wasn't an option because I required work on more than one disc. Do you know if it's the same for lumbar discs?

Thankfully I didn't get the surgery, and have been to a chiropractor for 6 months or so now and I'm a lot better off than I was a year ago. I still have problems, but I'm functional and can make it through more than 20 hours a week at work (just finished 5 weeks in a row without missing time). My main problem now is chronic strain of my neck muscles.

 

[Eskimo]

I was looking at cervical disc surgery last year and I was told replacement wasn't an option because I required work on more than one disc. Do you know if it's the same for lumbar discs?

Thankfully I didn't get the surgery, and have been to a chiropractor for 6 months or so now and I'm a lot better off than I was a year ago. I still have problems, but I'm functional and can make it through more than 20 hours a week at work (just finished 5 weeks in a row without missing time). My main problem now is chronic strain of my neck muscles.

They can do up to 3 lumbar discs in one patient. I'm not sure if anyone has done more than that or how commonly that would be done.

About chronically strained neck muscles, you can accomplish only so much with neck ROM maintenance and deep neck muscle strengthening. The underlying problem the vast majority of the time is degenerative changes in the discs and/or joints which causes secondary irritation and/or referred pain to the muscle around the neck and upper back.

It is also true that neck pain is often more diffuse than low back pain and is probably due to high amount of mobility at all levels of the neck. Statistically, most problems are at the C6-C7 level and C5-C6 level where the spinal curvature undergoes its inflection (same as true in the lower back at L4-L5 and L5-S1). It is an inherent biomechanical weakness in our design.

 

[Temo]

I've gained 30 lbs since high school and I don't intend on dropping any of it.

Of course, I'm 6'2" and I weighed 140 lbs in high school. Bit of a late bloomer, I guess heh.

 

[Temo]

I don't know if you guys are ubertall but damn some of you weigh a lot. I thought I was fat at 194 so I dropped down to 183 and am pretty happy about it.

I do the treadmill at about 13% grade and 4.5 speed 2x a week, skate with my son once or twice a week.

I would probably like to go to 175 but that is probably not possible without severely reducing food intake.

I'm 42R suit, 16.5 neck for dress shirts, 34 waist for most pants/shorts although a pair of Hollister shorts I have are a 33 waist.

It's all relative man. I know guys who are way more fit than that and they aren't ever happy.

I'm 170 lbs, with a 30 inch waist, bench my body weight and run a mile (outdoors, not on the dreadmill) in 5 min. 30 sec. And I workout with guys who say I'm out of shape (not fat, I just don't have a ton of upper body strength).

And I do feel out of shape because I realized the other day that for the first time since freshman year of college I can't dunk anymore. I used to have a ton more time to be active than I do now.

 

[TellerMorrow34]

I had gotten up to almost 250 lbs back in January. So I decided to try to lose some wight. I don't have a lot of time to exercise like I wanted so I cut my calorie intake down to 2,000 calories per day. I am also restricting my sodium to under 2,000 mg per day.

With that said, My weight in 12th grade, 27 years ago was 220 lbs. Today I am at 219. First time since then.

I want to lose the other 19 lbs by the end of June and have decided to add three days of exercise per week. Gonna do the tread mill thing and see how that goes. My gym just got extended hours so now I should be able to do it.

I know this doesn't effect anyone else but I wanted to brag on myself for this. I'm really jazzed about it.

Congrats man. That's awesome. Keep up the hard work and you'll get to exactly where you want to go.

Congrats, i've lost a lot of weight this year too my new years resolution was to get back in shape and for once i actually stuck to it.

I was 198lbs back in January i'm down to 169lbs now. I will never be highschool weight again though i was really skinny back then like 140 lol

You'd be surprised what weight you can get down to if you're able to cut your body fat percentage down with hard work and clean eating.

Nice work. I got down from 245 to 212 once upon a time, now back over 250 and wondering what happened...

I know the feeling of the roller coaster of weight loss and gain. I feel for ya.

Yup, especially if you're name is Jeffery, and you're from Wisconsin.

LMAO! Ok as sick as that is it was still pretty darn funny.

 

[Jon88]

Like I said, I got up to 220, then I started hitting the exercise bike for 33 minutes at a time several times a week. I think that has been the main thing that's gotten me down below that. I also lift weights about 3 times a week.

I fluctuate between 212 and 217, but I don't have a gut anymore.

 

[Hoofbite]

Just because I am 43 does not mean I have to wear clothes from the Arnold Palmer collection

Hollister

Dyed Hair

Now I understand why that border agent gave you such a hard time.

 

[Bob Sacamano]

LOL at any 25+ year old man wearing anything with Hollister on it. CCF, you are such a ******bag.