The Journey begins with me page 221

[demuralist]

ok, one stress gone just a few more to deal with, You can do it!!

[athomeontherange]

Hanging on until January.. its hard when you can not afford to shop for fresh veggies and such..waiting until January 15th..

[Pebbles67]

Hang in there lady. Is there anything we can do? My boys would love to Secret Santa your daughter. They never get to buy for girls.

[athomeontherange]

Paula- that is such a sweet gesture but I think she will be fine for Christmas. The good news is I plan early (throughout the year actually). **hugs to you and your boys**

So this is my check in..as I eat a hershey kiss (yup, I did). Still mega stressed out as well as exhausted. Have I ever mentioned my dislike for the holidays? Anywho..I have been researching this whole menopause thing.. everything I read is " your body shape will change, learn to love yourself and the changes blah flippin blah). Yeah, so it all says weight gain is inevitable. It also says that HRT does not keep the weight off or necessarily cause gain either so I am like, I ain't taking them. No flashing or night sweats but I get the occasional headache, muscle aches and sleep issues. Hormones wont help much there from what I read anyway. So while I am eating some sugar and grain, for the most part its meat. My veggie count is seriously low and I do not know whats worse. That or just not caring at this point. I have been on the run for the past few days. Hopefully it will slow down a bit as school is winding down. Tomorrow is the last day with kids and I go for a few hours on Friday.

Chris- FYI.. I am SO MAKING that olive cream cheese doo dah.. and stuffing my face with it and celery asap. By the way, I have been craving cream cheese isn't that wild?

[demuralist]

Honestly you might consider jumping onto our bandwagon. Very low veggie, high fat, moderate protein, work your way down to VLC.

the cream cheese doo dah, was amazing!!!!!

[RMS123]

We're here for ya. I do second Chris's suggestion, though. Okay, I'm only on Day 2, but I feel so much better. If nothing else, it's an easier way to navigate through the holidays!

[athomeontherange]

ok I "thought" I was following what everyone was doing but as I read the above comments a big huh comes out. Low veggie I like (tough to get those suckers in). Can I get a summation of it?

[marcadav]

Paula- that is such a sweet gesture but I think she will be fine for Christmas. The good news is I plan early (throughout the year actually). **hugs to you and your boys**

So this is my check in..as I eat a hershey kiss (yup, I did). Still mega stressed out as well as exhausted. Have I ever mentioned my dislike for the holidays? Anywho..I have been researching this whole menopause thing.. everything I read is " your body shape will change, learn to love yourself and the changes blah flippin blah). Yeah, so it all says weight gain is inevitable. It also says that HRT does not keep the weight off or necessarily cause gain either so I am like, I ain't taking them. No flashing or night sweats but I get the occasional headache, muscle aches and sleep issues. Hormones wont help much there from what I read anyway. So while I am eating some sugar and grain, for the most part its meat. My veggie count is seriously low and I do not know whats worse. That or just not caring at this point. I have been on the run for the past few days. Hopefully it will slow down a bit as school is winding down. Tomorrow is the last day with kids and I go for a few hours on Friday.

Chris- FYI.. I am SO MAKING that olive cream cheese doo dah.. and stuffing my face with it and celery asap. By the way, I have been craving cream cheese isn't that wild?

Karin,
HRT is a personal choice. I am just providing information that helped me.

I don't recall how old you are or if you had a total hysterectomy, but Dr Elizabeth Lee Vliet in her book, Screaming To Be Heard, states:
"If you've had a hysterectomy with removal of the ovaries, then it is even more crucial that you have adequate hormone replacement. The younger you are when you have the uterus and ovaries removed, the more important it is to be sure you are on the proper replacement hormone amount. In this situation, it truly is replacement therapy because your own ovaries were prematurely removed."

My own experience, having started HRT around age 44, while still having periods with undetectable estradiol levels, is that it helped my muscle/joint pain, severe insomnia, and brain fog. I had developed osteopenia and after HRT my bone density greatly improved and is now stellar.

I've only had a few hot flashes but did, and still do, have night sweats. The night sweat are worse if I eat sugar/grains/crap.

I found Dr. Vleit's book, Women, Weight and Hormones, to be very educational, enlightening and helpful.
Women, Weight and Hormones: A Weight-Loss Plan for Women Over 35: Elizabeth Lee Vliet: 9780871319326: Amazon.com: Books

She also has a website: Welcome to Dr. Vliet's Home Page

[RMS123]

If someone doesn't beat me to it, I'll get you a summary later (on my iPad now...hard to type much!).

[athomeontherange]

Karin,
HRT is a personal choice. I am just providing information that helped me.

I don't recall how old you are or if you had a total hysterectomy, but Dr Elizabeth Lee Vliet in her book, Screaming To Be Heard, states:
"If you've had a hysterectomy with removal of the ovaries, then it is even more crucial that you have adequate hormone replacement. The younger you are when you have the uterus and ovaries removed, the more important it is to be sure you are on the proper replacement hormone amount. In this situation, it truly is replacement therapy because your own ovaries were prematurely removed."

My own experience, having started HRT around age 44, while still having periods with undetectable estradiol levels, is that it helped my muscle/joint pain, severe insomnia, and brain fog. I had developed osteopenia and after HRT my bone density greatly improved and is now stellar.

I've only had a few hot flashes but did, and still do, have night sweats. The night sweat are worse if I eat sugar/grains/crap.

I found Dr. Vleit's book, Women, Weight and Hormones, to be very educational, enlightening and helpful.
Women, Weight and Hormones: A Weight-Loss Plan for Women Over 35: Elizabeth Lee Vliet: 9780871319326: Amazon.com: Books

She also has a website: Welcome to Dr. Vliet's Home Page

I am 42 and they took the ovaries, uterus and the cervix. They had me on a low level estrogen but I am like do I really need this? I will check out the sources you provided. I think I also need my meds checked as in upped or changed as I am not sure prozac is doing it for me. Oh and they told me I need to take calcium so I am.