Melting Mama - Bariatric Bad Girl

And what then?

“In case you never get a second chance: don't be afraid!"

"And what if you do get a second chance?" "You take it!” 

― C. JoyBell C.

 

I am wondering if someone out there is holding a voo doo doll of me and hastily stabbing pins everywhere but in me. Quit it.  You're missing the target.  

We are wrapping up the end of March over here with the third (..fourth?) major life-changing event of 2013.  

I thought that if I did not blog about the first (...as much as I have wanted to, I was told no and I have been SCREAMING on the inside!  Still.  AM.  :x) or second (more?) that these things would not occur in threes or more but they do.  I still haven't written, much at all actually.  

Because stop.

Currently - my father is sitting in the Beth Israel Deaconness Medical Center in Boston, MA awaiting a Triple Bypass Heart Surgery on Friday morning after two RED FLAG WARNINGS that landed him in the ER.  

11 years ago, he had a stent placed after a mild heart-attack.  These warnings (DO NOT IGNORE YOUR HEART, PEOPLE!) happened just after he lost his job and likely stress was of no help.

What is a Triple Bypass?  

When one of the heart's arteries gets blocked and a person has a heart attack, one common procedure is to perform heart surgery and sew in a new piece of blood vessel to bridge over (bypass) the blockage. In many cases, the surgeon will fix not only the immediate problem, but also other arteries on the heart that are starting to look blocked. If the surgeon repairs three of the arteries, it is called a triple bypass. If four arteries are repaired, it's a quadruple bypass.

The positives?  

He's losing weight rapidly while in the hospital.  He had lost weight in a medically-supervised plan with his physician's office just prior to this event, but now he's busted into the 200's.

He's off the nicotine, and mentioned that the nurses kept trying to slip him nicotine-patches and he doesn't crave them.  It's been nearly a week, smoke-free!  This is a huge deal.  Hopefully after surgery and rehab he can maintain living smoke-free, he's done it before.

He can rock this.

He appreciates your well-wishes.

• "What is a heart bypass operation?"  01 April 2000.  HowStuffWorks.com.  27 March 2013.
• http://www.heart.org
  

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Melissa McCarthy Is Not A Hippo. Weight Bias.

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

I have been itching to see this movie since the preview showed just before I saw Les Miserables.  I adore Melissa McCarthy, and her body has ZERO to do with her sense of comedy.  The woman oozes funny.  

I do not particularly enjoy jokes that play on fat, body-size, or jokes written specifically to poke at the person of size.  I do appreciate a decent self-deprecating joke now and again as a person who has been there and lived the life.  

We get it, and it's okay that not every single thing is socially acceptable one hundred and ten percent of the time.  

But what is not okay are things like this jerk-wad of a reviewer calling Melissa McCarthy a hippo.

It is 2013:  we are not allowed to make jokes at the expense of a person's gender (among most EVERYTHING else...) but we can do it about their physical appearance?

Ridiculous.

To combat weight-stigma, the OAC needs YOU to help us BUST weight bias and stigma! Do you have an example of weight bias or stigma that you would like to share with the OAC?  If so, please email biasbusters@obesityaction.org.

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Top 50 Emotional Eating Blogs - cue thud and human puddling.

The Great Blog Loss of 2013

I got a comment via email yesterday and I couldn't respond to it because I have no internet connectivity.  

The commenter posted that my blog sucked lately and that Why Was That and did I plan on it sucking long time?  Well, that sounds ... dirty.  Is that better?  Innuendos help make a blog better long time?

I apologize.

I will tell you again (which I started to do so in the previous-but-now-deleted-post-which-abruptly-ended-and-was-posted-when-I-didn't-know-it-was-posted-because-I-had-a-seizure-mid-posting... Please excuse the previous three sentence post which is NOW GONE.) that I have been without any connection to the outside world since the Blizzard of 2013 and that's been more than a week. 

Shout out to Verizon!

• I have NO landline PHONE.
• I have NO INTERNET aside from what I see scrolling on Facebook and what loads on Teh Googles when it wants to via phone cell tower.
• I forced Mr. MM to buy a cell-phone hot-spot so I had internet access at all inside the house.  It doesn't work so well.  But, here I am.  It's worked for 300 words so far.  *hits save again*
• I have NO cable TV, nor satellite, nor much of a DVD collection.
• Did I mention there are four children here?  O-o
• This IS the mini-apocalypse.  Forbid what happens when we have REAL WEATHER here.  9-10 days of power loss and communication fails for snow?  REALLY, 2013?
• We have had ONE HALF DAY of school in the last 10 days, and now my kids on on VACATION.
  
• The day after the blizzard, we had a death in the family, my kids had their first wake experience last night and funeral today.  (All is well, they did wonderfully...)
• Are we having fun yet? 

I can only claim the tall one. LOL.

I don't know what is going on in the world other than what I hear on NPR while cleaning my kitchen because that is where the non-internet radio IS.  

For example, during a post-wake gathering last night, my children and I surrounded a television that was on the local news.  

We saw an EXPLOSION IN THE SKY and thought the world was ending. WHAT IS THIS?!  WHAT WAS GOING ON!?  It was just the sky over Russia imploding, and very old news, but new to us. 

 We might be losing it.  

Stress triggers eating problems - WHATSTRESS?!?!??!?!?!?

Huffington Post - 

While the holidays typically come with a great deal of celebration and joy, they can also bring up feelings of loss, regret or depression. And that's the problem: no matter the emotional response, an emotional eater will often turn back to food.

"Many people use eating as a way to cope with difficult emotions, not only bad ones, but also happiness, excitement and celebration, for example," says Alexis Cona, a clinical psychologist in private practice and a researcher at New York Obesity Research Center.

Researchers believe that many emotional eaters turn to food to numb emotions that are too painful or difficult to process. As Cona explains, it can be a mindless cycle in which an emotional eater suddenly finds himself in front of the fridge, not quite knowing how he got there.

Family time during the holidays can be a particular challenge, as many disordered eating habits begin with poor boundaries between family members, Cona says. Preparing oneself for difficult and triggering interactions might be an important aspect of getting ready for the holidays.

What's more, during this season, food is more plentiful. Many people have favorite, traditional treats that they only eat during this time of year.

"There are all sorts of memories associated with family favorites -- these foods are imbued with expectations," says Ellen Shuman, president of the Binge Eating Disorder Association and an emotional and binge eating recovery coach. "That feeling of deprivation can make an emotional eater feel like they have to eat their fill in that moment. They become forbidden foods -- and that brings out the rebel in many emotional eaters."

Instead, Shuman counsels patients not to have once-a-year foods. If they love a certain dish, they should make it occasionally all year long to avoid that panicked feeling of scarcity.

So what's someone with a history of stress-based eating to do as the holidays loom large?

First of all, work on mindfulness. Cona asks her patients to check in with themselves before they eat anything. Do you feel physiologically hungry? Rate your hunger on a scale. And if you aren't actually hungry, but you want to eat, think about what you might be feeling and what underlying desire is at the bottom of the impulse to eat.

Cona also recommends practicing kindness to oneself, especially in the aftermath of an overindulgence. "Trying to find acceptance can be challenging, especially in a society that condemns us for having eaten this way; especially if our bodies don't look the way society says they should. But it's important not beat ourselves up over it. If this happens, try to learn from it. Don't shame yourself."

But Shuman adds, you may not be the only person you need to forgive. Letting go of painful family history could help prevent the emotional eater's cycle. "Keep in mind that you don't have to spend the holidays with your history with Mom -- just with Mom in that moment."

 

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Infertility in obese women may be due to damaged eggs, Brigham study finds

Infertility in obese women may be due to damaged eggs, Brigham study finds

Obesity has long been associated with infertility as well as lower success rates with in vitro fertilization, and now researchers think they understand why: Obese women are more likely to have abnormalities in their eggs that make them impossible to fertilize.

Brigham and Women’s Hospital infertility researchers examined nearly 300 eggs that failed to fertilize during IVF in both severely obese women and those with a normal body weight.

They found that severely obese women were far more likely to have abnormally arranged chromosomes within their eggs compared with women who weren’t overweight, according to the study published Wednesday in the journal Human Reproduction.

 

MM Takes A Gym Tour And Blogs About It And Suze Orman Slaps Her In The Face

Mr. and I took the kids on a tour of a local gym this morning.

Gasp!  A...gym?  I know, I already heard about it via Facebook...  "No. way. you. did."  We really did! 

"What's wrong with you, Beth?!"  

I know.  Two wild and crazy things in the span of one week?  Are you mad?

No, not really.  Not... much?

I realized when we were on the Obesity Help Cruise that I don't mind exercise -- when I'm in a gym.

Why?  Because, I've got distractions galore:  via TV, music, and Other People Around Doing The Same Thing.   Certainly the fact that we were staring OUT INTO THE CARIBBEAN helped a little itty bitty, I am sure.  Even walking the track outdoors was no trouble at all.   Again -- I was distracted by pretty things.

At home -- I rarely follow through with exercise via treadmill because I start zoning out at the wall -- and think about Getting Off Of This Thing and ... ANYTHING to GET OFF OF THIS THING -- HOW ABOUT LAUNDRY?  You said the toilet is clogged?  I'll be right there!  SQUEE!

And I do.  I'll make it 15 -20-30 minutes and quit.  But, in the context of a gym where you're surrounded by folks trying not to quit -- it's easier.  Maybe it's just me!  (I know it's not.)  

This means we've been tossing around the idea of signing up the whole family for a gym membership.

 As much as I would like to just get up and go early in the morning by my SELF, it will never happen since I am not driving anymore.  We were members of one or two gyms years ago -- right after we both had weight loss surgery -- but at the time we were living with family for a while and it was easy to take turns going.  Now, not so much.  We would have to go as a group (which can be a big freaking deal...) because there isn't any swapping off anymore -- and we don't have babysitters.

We would have to go at night or on the weekends -- which will end up being whatever teenagers that will GET UP AND GO and somehow wrangling the younger two into a class at the same time.

I pretty much realize that it's impossible AND totally worth it, simultaneously.  

My ten year old was bouncing off the walls in there:  "I SO want to DO THIS, I could take swimming lessons, and I could do THIS and then we could do THIS!"  My 13 year old didn't complain, and I saw him eyeing the weights like "I could do this."  

The frugal MM says it's a waste of money, because she is all too realistic and know what happens when people buy gym memberships.  And those who buy memberships that can't really get to the gym more than 1-2 times a week?  Huge waste of disposable income.  Suze Orman would SLAP YOU IN THE FACE.  "Go play outside you morons."  I know she'd say it.

But as Dr. Phil says, "How's that working for you?"  

Um.  It's not.  It never really has.  I have a hard time just getting up and going because my preferred exercise is walking outdoors -- and since I have random seizures -- I'm fearful of walking alone.

The sometimes Motivated MM knows it's worthwhile if it GETS US MOVING because moving is the goal, and what matters and who cares if it's $$$.$$ a month?  And she also saw herself in the full-body mirror without Slimpressions AT THE GYM and wanted to jump on the treadmill immediately.   Then I realize How Motivating It IS -- if I came home and posted about all the good things I would do - and the benefits I'd get from working out - and how many potential people might be motivated too?  

PS.  And the bizarrely analytical  MM already did the math and realized that it's about .88 cents to $1 per day per person in the family for such a membership, and that doesn't seem like much at ALL, but when she considers that might only be used once a week some weeks -- it seems like a lot more -- and WHAT IF WE DON'T GO AT ALL?!  Yes, I have to make it worthwhile or I won't bother.  So there's that.

Oh, I suppose I should add the cost of the protein shake I HAD TO have on the way out?  That would really... uh... add up.

Related articles

• Today - Should teens have weight loss surgery? (meltingmama.net)
• From the archives - Hoarding, Hoarders and Inside-Outness (meltingmama.net)
• Carnie Wilson has weight loss surgery. Again. (meltingmama.net)
• Eight Years Post Op - And I may NEVER QUIT. (meltingmama.net)

Hit the slopes on MM - Family Four Pack to Killington Resort, VT

Allow me to live vicariously through you?  Go skiing.  On me and Killington Resort.  A family four-pack of tickets to Killington could be yours!

Killington Resort, known as “The Beast of the East,” is open for the 2011-2012 winter season and ready for skiers and riders! Nestled in the heart of Vermont’s Green Mountains, Killington’s elevation delivers optimal temperatures for snowfall, whether from Mother Nature or made by 2,000 snow guns across the resort. Terrain is expertly groomed, providing riders of all ability levels a choice of diverse skiing areas, including wide-open or narrow runs, moguls, steeps, and 16 tree skiing areas. Killington also offers multiple terrain parks for snowboarders and freeskiers, as well as off-mountain activities like the all-new, lift served Killington Tubing Park; dog sledding; cross country skiing; snowshoeing; ice skating; and snowmobiling.

To enter for the family four-pack of tickets -

• Please tweet @KillingtonMtn and @meltingmama
• Share this post on Facebook
• Make SURE to leave a comment below.  

Thanks and good luck!  

2012: It's not the end. It's the beginning.

"What the eff, Beth?  2339 words?"  Yes.