# Dipping my toes into the water



## dosthouhavemilk (Oct 29, 2004)

Hello! Some of you may have seen me on the Goats and Cattle forums, or not.

I've been having trouble with my weight since I graduated high school. I was 170 throughout high school and very comfortable with my weight and physical fitness. I have sports induced asthma and very weak ankles so running, jogging, etc, are not things I do.
However, I live and work on a dairy farm. We use bucket milkers and so that means carrying and dumping buckets of milk. We also pasture our cattle, so when I am working I get a lot of exercise. Exercising isn't my problem. My eating habits are my problem.
I am assuming that being on Depo for a year and a half after graduating high school didn't help. But that is not entirely to blame. After graduating I started buying a lot of my own food and it was mostly junk food. I no longer had the stable three round meals a day that I did in high school (I attended a local boarding school). I was no longer doing sports every weekday afternoon either. I loved field hockey, volleyball, soccer, etc. now I don't play sports excpet for sprinting across fields after cows and tackling goats.  
I do not eat regular meals. On occassion I eat a solid round meal once a day but rarely more than once a day. I snack..constantly.
I am an emotional eater and have Bipolar Disorder. I am a Moutain Dew addict (easily drink over 2 liters a day).
I can recognize all these factors, I know I need to work on eating real meals, cut out the Mountain Dew, the sweets, the constant snacking, question why I am reaching for the food when I do, and yet, I cannot find the will power to do anything about it, or to stick with it.

There is one thing I have noticed though. I lose weight in the winter time, even with the SAD I can safely assume I deal with. I realized the other day it is because I don't snakc as much. If I get up to get food, I lose my body heat and our house is kept quite cool. I also have to work twice as hard with the snow and hauling buckets of water.

I am currently at around 210 pounds and have been constant at this weight for about a year now. I want to change but can't figure out where to start. What little easy thing to do first.
I tried cutting out the Mountain Dew. At least cutting back and I have at times but it just takes care of so many of my issues I cannot stay away.

Anyways, hi, I'm Roseanna.

















Nope, not my baby. My neice. I don't have children of my own.


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## mammabooh (Sep 1, 2004)

Welcome!

I don't really have any advice for you (not really sure you were asking for any anyway!) other than to wean yourself off of that Mt. Dew and drink as much water as you possibly can. That might just make a huge difference for you.

Also, I wanted to tell you that you don't look like you weigh 210! Either you're pretty tall, or pretty muscular. I would have guessed 180.

As I said, welcome...hopefully we can inspire you to get into the shape you'd like to be in!


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## tinetine'sgoat (Aug 4, 2005)

my .02 about the mt. dew. I was a serious addict like you, I got up in the morning, hiked to the fridge and grabbed soda. Drank it all day every day, well I ended up getting the most horendous bladder and kidney infection I could fathom. Peeing blood, stabbing pain in the back, just plain nasty. Guess what had caused it...about 13 years of constant Mt. Dew. I decided then that I couldn't handle another one of those so I gave up the dew. I dealt with the headaches for about a week and they got better. I dropped 20 pounds real quick. I then switched to Diet Vanilla Pepsi, which only helped because it had no sugar, until I was having alot of body aches and couldn't remember anything. Someone told me it might be the sweetner in the soda so I quit drinking it. Amazingly enough alot of the stuff that had been affecting me went away when I quit the soda. I now drink unsweetned tea or tea with stevia, and coffee!! I love my coffee. I don't know if this helps at all, but I've been there with the dews and it's rough, but you will feel so much better after you just "dew" it.  OH and you gotta love wrasslin' with a good milk goat for exercise. I LOVE IT!!!


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## mpillow (Jan 24, 2003)

Switch to diet pepsi or coke....than go to diet sprite or diet sierra mist....I find that sierra mist has a very clean flavor...maybe even pepsi with half the sugar?

Mt. Dew must be highly addictive because anyone I know that drinks it has to have it....my SIL has been letting her boy drink it since age 5....what an idiot!
And she wonders why he is hyper....

Soda is very bad for you, an unecessary expense, and fattening.....but it sure tastes better than water


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## TexCountryWoman (Jun 22, 2004)

Roseanna, My Goat Girl friend! This is the first time I have come to this weight lose forum and here you are! I am on that goat forum most always. I am Bipolar too. That is why I come and go on the goat forum, my mania and depression. I have wondered and wondered if there is anybody at all like me on that board and I have been so afraid to ask, to out myself like that. People sometimes don't understand. Bipolar is why I no longer work or drive (heavy meds) and have to stay on the farm. It's funny how I feel comfortable talking about it here but was hesitant speaking of it on the other forum. I worry that some of my posts come across like a crazy goat lady for real! 

Back to diets. I think you look real pretty. I was heavier than I wanted to be for a good part of my youth. I had 4 babies by c-section and was always recovering from them. Then i would work out in a gym (when i lived in Houston) and really get fit. Then I would get over 225 lbs again. Now I am down to 140 at 5'7". I will be 50 yrs. old next month and look and feel great. My joints hurt less, my back doesn't give me as much trouble and my feet hurt less. Just because you have weight issues now, with Bipolar, does not mean you will always be unhappy with your present state. You are young with ambition to be your best self. I have read many, many of your posts on the goat forum and feel like you are a really cool gal. I can't wait to be 50! I've come a long way! Best wishes to you! We will both stay on track this new year!...Diane (TexCountryWoman)


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## ellebeaux (Aug 18, 2004)

Hi Roseanna!

What a sweet girl you must be to get all these sweet responses from people! I'm tired of being overweight myself. I've just let all these bad habits creep up and take control of my life.

Please think seriously about giving up the Mountain Dew! Like mpillow, I have seen little children horribly hyper and addicted to the stuff. It has so much caffeine and sugar. My old neighbors had these two sweet little boisterous boys that just turned into out of control robots sucking down the dew. It was scary! Just going off of it will ease your cravings for sugar and junk food tremendously! Try really being in the present and feeling your feelings as they come up. So many of us stuff our feelings because we feel uncomfortable with them. Even the threat of having a bad thought is enough to make us run for food. What sort of alternatives have you come up with for comforting yourself if you're not reaching for Mountain Dew?

My goal for the new year is to start exercising regularly. And eat better! I'm going to post a new thread looking for cheap healthy meal ideas...

take care,

Beaux


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## TexCountryWoman (Jun 22, 2004)

Me again.

What really helped me and still helps me is getting off the sugar. I try to think of sugar as a bad drug. I used to drink sodas and use honey in my coffee or plain white sugar in my coffee. I used honey in my coffee because we have bees on our land (not our bees, a "bee man" puts 100 hives out here each season and in return we get honey). Anyway, I thought I was being natural and wholesome and good. All I ws doing with all that honey and sugar and soda was getting FAT! Now I use Splenda in my coffee and tea and drink ONLY diet sodas, never cheating on any of that. It is amazing how many calories a person can consume in one day just in their beverages! Just making that one change can have a huge effect. If you eat salads all day long and still are drinking regular sodas, you will still have a very difficult time losing weight. Also, you cannot be a beer drinker and expect to lose weight. Beer has carbs. If a person must have that occasional drink, according to the Atkins plan I follow, there are no carbs in something such as bourbon and diet soda. I am not encouraging anyone to drink. I have known people who don't realize that their drinking sabotages their diets. Drink tons of water. And keep on the move! Don't overdress, being slightly cool allows your body to burn calories to heat itself. Walk a bit more each day, do streches and warm ups, and do abdomenal excercises everyday even if you do nothing else in the way of excercise, it will pay off in the long run. I do my ab work everytime I am fixing to shower, as a habit. Boy how I ramble!...Diane


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## Wolf mom (Mar 8, 2005)

If you are on meds for bi-polar, I would believe one of the reasons you are drrinking so much Mountain Dew is for the energy boost it gives you. 

When I ws on Effexor I felt very flat and drank more pop, mainly Mtn. Dew & Dr. Pepper for that reason. 

I don't know what the answer is. Maybe your Doc can help you with your meds.


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## dosthouhavemilk (Oct 29, 2004)

tinetine'sgoat, that was a great kick in the pants! i know what the Dew is doing to my body but I was able to ignore it..hadn't heard of anyone with bad repercussions from it.
Mt. Dew is the place I get my caffeine. I can't stnad coffee or tea, so I drink pop. Bad, I know and I am working on it. I've been drinking more water recently. In the summer the Mt. Dew gives a kinda cold sensation when I drink it at that the barn. Otherwise, I get warm water. I don't like the taste of the water at the barn and really only like the water from the house (both city water but there is a difference).
Sprite and Sierra Mist may be what I end up drinking in the summer. Diet sodas kinda scare me health wise. And I usually can't stand the taste of them. 

Diane,
I tend to be open about my bipolar because of past experiences. I had trouble in high school with my younger sister (early-onset bipolar, mine is normal onset) and the faculty not knowing about or understanding bipolar. Since then, after writing my 20 page Graduation Essay on Bipolar, I am open to discussing it because it is so prevelant and it is real and serious. I haven't been as open about it recently because I haven't really been in situations where it called for it, but in the case of my eating habits it does play a role.
You are quite inspiring! I would love to have the energy to do everything on my mental list each day. 

Beaux,
Getting off the Moutain Dew is the first step. The times I have been off of it I have felt pretty good, even when it was just a gulp once a day for the caffeine hit ( :viking: )
I haven't come up with any alternatives to comfort eating.
The bipolar makes my emotions fairly extreme at times.
I keep busy once I am at the barn or out in the fields it is getting myself out the door and not getting stuck in front of the TV that slows me down.
I know I need to work on my mental health this coming year. Get outside earlier in the light to help everything.
Cheap healthy food doesn't seem to go together for some reason. If I want healthy it tends to be expensive. Maybe I'll try a garden this year.


Wolf mom,
Luckily, or not, I am meds free. I actually do not like the idea of medication as a general rule. My bipolar is enough to make life difficult at times but I am very aware of my moods and adjust life to try and deal with it as naturally as possible. Getting off the Dope Provera (never a good idea for woman with bipolar) has helped my energy levels, which is why I replaced fat with muscle, but overcoming the habits I picked up when I was on it hasn't been easy.

Thanks everyone for your words of encouragement and your thoughts!

Maybe this will be the year it all falls into place.


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## Melissa (Apr 15, 2002)

Maybe if you take the money you save from quitting the mountain dew and put it into something special it will give you incentive. If you are drinking two 2-liters each day, that is at least $2 a day, which would be over $700 a year. Is there some hobby you can fund, or something nice you would like to have with that money instead? 

We have county water also, and I bought a PUR water filter that mounts right on the sink faucet. It is very convenient and one filter lasts about 6-8 weeks. If you buy the three pack, they are about $9 each, that is not much for 6-8 weeks of good tasting water and your entire family will appreciate it.

I hope you can kick the habit. I think that if you quit drinking the Mountain Dew, the weight will drop off quickly for you.


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## TexCountryWoman (Jun 22, 2004)

I use to have the same feelings about drinking diet drinks, that the artificial sweetners would kill me or make me sick. Then I realized that being fat was more likely going to do me in. Many drinks are sweetened with "Splenda" now...it really tastes good and I cannot tell the difference. It is supposedly a sugar devirative, don't know if that's true, but it has sure helped me drop the pounds...by blood pressure is now normal and my blood glucose levels are now normal. 

As far as my Bipolar goes, I am more open about it in real life, what I meant was, I haven't discussed it on the Goat forum. I just thought it was weird. But since this Weight Forum is about health, it seemed a bit more appropriate. My weight influences my mental health and vice versa, and so do my meds. I have to take meds or I will die. I am a severe case. I also have a seizure disorder from a skull fracture meaning more meds. Can't win for losing! So I retired from nursing early and no longer can drive a car. But enough about me! 

Back to dieting. I will lecture again: Can't drink sodas and lose weight. Just the facts. As for a garden, that is a terrific idea. You will have all that wonderful produce and it encourages excercise. I can nibble in mine and it keeps me from nibbling in the house. You mentioned the light. You sound like you really are eduacated about the workings of the human mind and depression because you mentioned getting more light. Working in that garden will certainly do that. Go for it! Start planning now, you have me enthused already!...Diane


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## Miz Mary (Feb 15, 2003)

WELCOME !! My dear hubby is bipolar !!! He takes Lithium, which is a salt....he likes taking it, as it doesnt give you the medicated feeling...... anyhoo, glad your open to honesty - I thinks thats the key to anything we want to change about ourselves !!

I have a Brita water pitcher...just got it....hated drinking water....now I drink the whole pitcher in a day !!!! You just fill it up, it does its filter thing and gives you clean, tasty water !!! 

Oh yea, you dont look bad like you think you do - we are our own worst critic !!!! I am short - 5'3" .....and 147 lbs. I look fatter because I am short !!! Hee Hee !


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## Buffy in Dallas (May 10, 2002)

Hi! My son has Bipolar disorder(early onset, 11yr old) and is now 17 yrs old. Before the bipolar he had about 15% body fat and a washboard tummy. The meds that they put him on made him gain so much weight so fast that he started having trouble breathing. After 5 years and many med changes we found one that works for him and doesnt cause weight gain. Hes back down to a normal weight. He was totally addicted to sodas. Thank goodness he inherited my intestines. I am allergic to all soft drinks. If you have lactose intolerance (like me) you know what happens when you drink milk...soft drinks have the same effect on me. My allergy to them came on around age 15. So did his.  

A lot of people here talk about using artificial sweeteners. DON'T!!! Splenda and those others (pink and blue stuff) Made me SO sick. I mean feeling on the verge of death sick. I would rather be fat than fill my body with toxic chemicals. Of course you don't have to choose between the two.

Right now I'm fighting a coffee addiction. Trying to get down to 1 cup a day then quit all together. It's hard!

I have lost 30 pounds so far on adkins. I highly reccomend it!!! I'm never hungry and it doesn't make me a cranky #*$^@ like lowfat diets did! :happy: 

I wish I had some goats to chase!


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## steff bugielski (Nov 10, 2003)

soda bad- try adding water to the soda as you drink it. The bottle will stay full but you will be drinking more water les soda each time.
Stick with us we can all be very inspiring.
Steff


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