The MakeMeThinner Support Forum

[DogMa]

131.0. Intervals today.

[bikipatra]

131.0. Intervals today.

Congrats on the loss!

[Tawanda]

131.0. Intervals today.

YES!! Congrats!!

[Out*With*The*Old]

Congrats on the loss!!!

[DogMa]

Thanks, guys, although it's not so much a loss as just dropping back down to where I was a week earlier. I'm hoping to have an actual loss this week. It'd be so nice to be below 130 before my Thanksgiving trip.

I was even good yesterday (and today only up a bit from salt), despite eating at TWO all-you-can-eat places with my visiting friend and her mom. But I actually chose well at both, drank all my water, etc. And when they wanted to share some fries as a snack, I ate three and then just drank my water. So yay for that. It was really a good maintenance day; at brunch buffet, I ate the leanest stuff I could find and had what few vegetables they offered. Made only one trip, then returned for a small amount of fruit and half a small slice of one of the desserts. No sampling several, no full servings, etc. I left feeling like I'd indulged, but without the guilt. I figure that tiny dessert serving was probably the caloric equivalent of one of my 100-calorie packs. Maybe not even that much (it was like a cookie pie, and I basically had the equivalent of half a chocolate chip cookie).

[bikipatra]

Good job!

[DogMa]

This may be a stupid reason, but after spotting quite a few bees at the Botanic Garden last weekend and having a horrible and very vivid dream last night (in which I was sitting on a bench before tomorrow's race and got stung by some fire ants and had to not only inject myself but go to the hospital), I've decided to run at home tomorrow and not participate in the race.

There's another race next month that's downtown, which I think would be a lot safer for me, so I'll consider that one.

[bikipatra]

Sounds like a good plan! Safety first!

[DonnaS]

If your allergic to bees it's certainly not a stupid reason. Good job at the all-you-can-eat restaurants Robin.

[Lizabette]

ROBIN, Sorry about the bee allergy. I have the same problem and usually carry Benadryl with me.
Thanks for your post in my journal. Appreciate it.

[DogMa]

Thanks, Lizabette. I have to carry epinephrin with me and wear a medical bracelet at all times. The one time I was stung, I went into anaphylactic shock, lost consciousness and had to be taken to the ER by ambulance. So it's a pretty serious problem.

I did end up skipping the race. Then later when I went to meet my friend for the Greek Festival, I saw plenty of fire ants outside her apartment, so despite the season apparently it's still a danger. I've decided to do races only if they're downtown and in the winter, when there's minimal risk. And I'll probably only do races when someone else can go with me, because part of my dream involved people trying to reach my family and friends to let them know what was going on. The one thing that would have made my previous incident worse would have been if I had been alone (my brother was with me that day).

[Sojourner]

I have to carry epinephrin with me and wear a medical bracelet at all times. The one time I was stung, I went into anaphylactic shock, lost consciousness and had to be taken to the ER by ambulance. So it's a pretty serious problem.

The one thing that would have made my previous incident worse would have been if I had been alone (my brother was with me that day).

I, too, carry an epi-pen at all times, but I (foolishly) do not wear any Medic-Alert jewelry--they're right in my backyard, too! They're less than a mile from my school, so how hard would it be to just stop by and order a bracelet?

It's funny about the bee thing... I was stung several times as a kid, with no reaction. Then one day, as a sophomore in high school, I had the whole severe reaction you wrote about. At least it was just your brother with you! I got stung AT school, so there was the whole fat tongue, bulging eyes, being loaded into an ambulance thing to have to be teased about. Eh...the teasing wasn't that bad, I think I really scared everybody more than anything.

But you know, I've been stung 4 times since then (30 years), with varying degrees of involvement. One was pretty bad, but the other three haven't been SO horrible. I guess it depends on where you've been stung...that one in hs was on my neck, just below my ear--but I've been stung on the calf and barely needed a breathing treatment after the shot of epi.

Once...I got stung by a wasp and thought I was gonna' die, 'cause I was out in the boonies (in Arkansas) and it took us about 45 minutes to get to a medical facility. But I had no reaction at all, 'cause I'm not allergic to wasp venom, which is a little different than bee venom. The two don't always go hand-in-hand. Is it the same with fire ants? Can you be allergic to one but not the other? I guess, if I ever come in contact with a fire ant, I should just be at the ready, huh?

[DogMa]

I'm not allergic to wasps, either. But fire ants and bees are in the same family, and they actually are pretty sure I developed the allergy when I was stung by fire ants, because I had never been stung by a bee before (you have to be stung at least once for your body to develop the allergic reaction; no one is allergic the first they're stung).

I could be OK after another sting. But there's a 60 percent chance that the next reaction will be worse than the last one, which would be, well, pretty darn bad. I couldn't even do the allergy shots afterward. They tried twice and I reacted both times. After that, the company that makes the stuff said they couldn't lower the concentration any further, so I wasn't able to continue.

My tongue and throat swelled, but I have no idea about the eyes. I was too busy being unconscious. Ha. All I know is I came to eventually, and then my throat started to swell shut, and maybe 15 minutes or so later, my whole body was covered in hives. And for maybe a month after that, I was allergic to EVERYthing. I'd use shower gel, and break out in hives. They brought a Christmas tree into the newsroom, and I'd start sneezing and tearing up the second I walked off the elevator. It was crazy, and it's just not an experience I want to repeat.

[Sojourner]

I'm not allergic to wasps, either. But fire ants and bees are in the same family...

That's good to know, thanks.

My tongue and throat swelled, but I have no idea about the eyes. I was too busy being unconscious.

Yeah, I came to as I was being loaded into the ambulance... surrounded by the entire school, it seemed!
I never had the sensitivity that you experienced. The only other things I've ever exhibited an allergic reaction to are seasonal schmutz (I do live in the San Joaquin Valley ), and the flaxseed that caused hives last summer. That was pretty bad. I'm sure you don't remember, but one of the things we thought about the hives was that I was still reacting to a bee sting I'd had just prior to the appearance of the hives. I wonder now if I reacted so strongly to the flaxseed because the bee sting made me more sensitive? Hmmmm. And why didn't my doctor tell me any of this???

So, thanks Dr. Robin!!
I will definitely be wary of fire ants!

[DogMa]

It's totally possible, Sojo. They didn't tell me that, either, until after I started reacted to everything. THEN they all said, "Oh, yeah, that's perfectly normal." Umm, thanks for the warning, guys.

And I finally got my heart-rate monitor working (needed a new battery, as I suspected). So how bad is it that I'm consistently working out ABOVE my supposed maximum heart rate? Not above the target zone. Above the actual maximum. Oops. Not that I plan to give up on my intervals or even scale 'em back. But I was starting to do more interval days than walking days, and maybe I shouldn't. Because just my lowest jogging speed gets me to the top of my target zone.

OTOH, it feels so good to do it. And it was so cool the other day at the Greek fest. I was there with my friend, who is under 30 and works out with a trainer - lifting weights and walking or doing the elliptical, but never running or jogging. And walking back to the car, which was a bit of a hike AND uphill, she was huffing and puffing like crazy - and I wasn't breathing hard at all.