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(ahem!) belly fat

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  • Maire67
    Maire67 Member Posts: 418
    edited July 2010
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    ,

  • judewrites
    judewrites Member Posts: 5
    edited March 2009
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    LOL, please may I join the waiting list for the vacuum cleaner. 

  • Unknown
    edited March 2009
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    Morning girls....

    Antibiotics are kicking in thank goodness!!  Enough to fight the chemo without the crud on top of it.   lol    Heck of a way to lose the weight but I'll take it anyway I can get it!  Funny..... my stomach and apron....(don't you love that word)  just don't look any different but my pants are loser!   Who ever came up with apron anyhow...Embarassed?  

  • Marple
    Marple Member Posts: 10,154
    edited March 2009
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    Me too Jo........actually I've lost 4 or close to it.  We don't have digital scales, ours isn't so accurate.  I've been eating way smaller portions and no snacking.  The first few days I was ravenous but that has past and it's become a lot easier.  I suppose it's all coming off my remaining boob or my face but at this point I don't care........it's coming off.  Keep up the good work!!

  • Marple
    Marple Member Posts: 10,154
    edited March 2009
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    Hey Jo, we'll get there girl. 

  • barbe1958
    barbe1958 Member Posts: 7,605
    edited March 2009
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    Well this just frustrates me! I have cut out all alcohol for the past 3 months and not lost an ounce. My husband and I used to share a LARGE bottle of wine every night! I also don't eat Jello and graham crackers and don't even have cookies in the house. What am I doing wrong?

  • Marple
    Marple Member Posts: 10,154
    edited March 2009
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    I don't think you are doing anything wrong.  Like you'd mentioned before, different meds, different side effects, and we are all different.  I'm really not eating much and absolutely no snacking. 

    I weigh myself first thing in the morning starkers, before eating or drinking anything and hopefully after I've....(well you know, don't want to be too graphicEmbarassed).  I also exhale deeply lol. 

  • Marple
    Marple Member Posts: 10,154
    edited March 2009
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    Hahaha, tomorrow morning I will spit too.   Thanks for the helpful hint JoSmile
  • susan_CNY
    susan_CNY Member Posts: 64
    edited March 2009
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    I am the queen of colonoscopies here I think (had a tumor blocking my colon removed 6 years ago). I do have to say that the biggest symptom was the runs and being super skinny. After the surgery and menopause and bc (and of course age) I am not as thin and sure do have a belly, its like I have chicken legs now! Your stories are so funny, I have been lol reading this thread. I have great cholesteral scores but my dh has super high, the not drinking helps alot for that even if you aren't losing weight, so praise yourself for that, and best of luck with the weight loss ladies. My oldest girl is heavy, she lost 50 lbs once doing weight watchers, the support seemed to help her, cost me alot but I bought her only weightwatchers frozen meals and kept all her trigger foods at bay.

  • crazy4carrots
    crazy4carrots Member Posts: 624
    edited March 2009
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    JO-5:  I had VERY high cholesterol levels after I finished chemo, and had to change my diet -- reduced animal fats (okay, I was an ice cream junkie!), more fruits and veggies, more daily exercise and 1 tbsp flaxseed a day.  I was also prescribed crestor.  Within 3 months, my cholesterol was back to normal levels.

    Flaxseed  has been shown to reduce chol levels and there are probably other things that will do it as well.  Am sure others will come up with them here.

    I'm going to go off crestor soon, to see if the other things I've done are enough.  Interestingly, 2 of my sisters (ovarian cancer survivors) also experienced elevated cholesterol levels after chemo, took lipitor for a few months, changed their diets and now their levels are normal.

    BUT - even with all of this, belly fat (while reduced) i still lingers.  Femara is the culprit, I think!

    Good luck,

    Linda

  • theredhead
    theredhead Member Posts: 2
    edited March 2009
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    Barbe 1958 someone on another post said you might be of help to me. She thought you had some info on Fibromyalgia. I have been reading the belly fat posts and chuckling.  My doc  medicine belly fat is the hardest to lose. If you gained the weight when you started to take a medicine it is 3x harder to lose. My son went on Zoloft and ballooned up 30 pounds in 2 months. He is having a heck of a time. I gained about the same over time with medicines and never changed my eating habits, even eating less and healthy gets me nowhere. With the fibro I exercise as much as I can with a trainer and they are amazed that it takes so long to show even the least amount of progress. I am having an L-Flap with my mastectomy 3/24 so the belly fat will be gone but I will have to work on the fat above the navel and that will be a unique trial and some time away. I am concerned about the chronic pain added to the reconstruction pain. As of now they are saying no radiation which would be a blessing. I have found no one in all my groups who have had reconstruction like this and FMS/CFS.

  • barbe1958
    barbe1958 Member Posts: 7,605
    edited March 2009
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    Fibromyalgia can be helped by Lyrica or Neurontin. Both of them can cause weight gain as much as a POUND a week!

    The FM is why I didn't do further surgery for reconstruction. I do take Zoloft too, as well as Welbutrin! I also take blood pressure meds, heart meds and arthritis meds. And my kidney specialist just keeps nagging me to lose weight...........sigh.

  • ritajean
    ritajean Member Posts: 4,042
    edited March 2009
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    I had my onc appointment today and we discussed belly fat!  LOL  He told me it was safe to go ahead and try the Acai Berry products..........that some people had great results with them and other got no help at all from them.  I think I'll go out next week and get some and give it a try.

    As for the cholesterol, I keep mine lowered by walking.  When I stop my walking routine, the cholesterol rises.  I also try to eat balanced meals but I don't always do so well with all the fruits and veggies!  Chocolate cake turns my head much faster than a carrot stick! 

    Rita

  • mzmiller99
    mzmiller99 Member Posts: 220
    edited March 2009
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    Rita - I've always wondered why, with all of our technology, they haven't figured out how to make carrot sticks taste like chocolate cake?!  I suppose carrot cake was the closest they could come!!

  • susan_CNY
    susan_CNY Member Posts: 64
    edited March 2009
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    Isn't it a pain in the butt to find jeans that fit the belly and still fits the rest of you? I am 5'7' with skinny legs, hardly a butt, small boobs, long torso with a belly, still young enough to wear jeans, but where do you go to get them?

  • crazy4carrots
    crazy4carrots Member Posts: 624
    edited March 2009
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    Susan: 

    S-T-R-E-T-C-H DENIMWink made just for us!!  And finally the manufacturers are getting wise and making the waistband stretchy too.

    I'm the same -- long, skinny legs, small butt with a waist that's just a couple of "tads" bigger than it should be!

  • Maire67
    Maire67 Member Posts: 418
    edited July 2010
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    .

  • theredhead
    theredhead Member Posts: 2
    edited March 2009
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    I tried Lyrica and it was awful for me. It didn't help the pain much but my equilibrium was so bad I almost cut my index finger off slicing into a frozen stick of butter , 7 stitches. I was driving and thought, My Gos I feel drunk! and if I felt it I was probably driving like one. Scared me t Hades so off the Lyrica. There is something new called Savilla coming out this month but I hate trying things anymore and with this surgery facing me, I am waiting to see ho0w other people do. I am just worried that the Fibro and the chronic fatigue will hit me hard as I have developed such an immunity to pain pills and some docs don't umderstand fibro at all. I can't stand wearing an underwire bra so this should nbe interesting...

  • mzmiller99
    mzmiller99 Member Posts: 220
    edited March 2009
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    Jo -5 Way to lose, baby!!

  • flannelette
    flannelette Member Posts: 398
    edited March 2009
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    Hello - I'm 61, and also have belly fat, and my new dr recommended the South beach Diet. She says it worked for her! I hate 'diets" but will give it a shot. What I AM doing that seems more fun is going for 10 sessions with an exercise rehab. specialist at the Y, as really I need to MOVE.

    But may I jump in for a minute & ask here if going on arimidex can cause a wired feeling, cranky, impatient, & a few anxiety attacks? (not over bc, over being interrupted or overwhelmed) in short, much the same urge to kill as in menopause? I'm 6 weeks into arimidex, and have been very calm all throughmy whole bc treayment - surgery, chemo, rads, - till now. Estrogen falling?

    I, and my DH, who is on the receiving end, would love any info. thanks!

  • barbe1958
    barbe1958 Member Posts: 7,605
    edited March 2009
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    Souad, I think breast cancer causes a wired feeling, cranky, impatient and anxiety attacks! We have the right to be angry....

    (I do know some meds cause these symptoms too....) 

  • Marple
    Marple Member Posts: 10,154
    edited March 2009
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    Mood swings........yepper, got 'em here too.

  • mzmiller99
    mzmiller99 Member Posts: 220
    edited March 2009
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    Squad - yup!  And, I just went off Arimidex due to the pain factor!  And, upped my Effexor, and still feel like taking heads off at the shoulders on a regular basis.

    Even starting to feel angry about the whole d*mned cancer thing, which I hadn't really done before.  Scared, sad, upset, fatalistic, etc.  But, not really down right angry the way I am now.  I hate how it has dumped my whole life upside down. 

     I had 5 appointments after school this week, four of them were health/ mental and cancer related.  It has taken over my life.  Not to mention my fear for my daughters' lives.  If inflamation  and stress are a cause of cancer, I'm doomed!!!

    With that, I'm going to get ready for my riding lesson and hope I come back all cheery, not teary!

  • coonie
    coonie Member Posts: 2,582
    edited March 2009
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    Hey ya'll....I'm another "belly fat" person :)  I also have fibromyalgia. I haven't read the threads real close, but I did see someone mentioned Lyrica. I had asked my regular doc about Lyrica, and he said to NEVER take Lyrica while on Arimidex. Not sure why, but he was very serious about it. I've noticed that through the surgeries, chemo, etc. my fibro has gotten worse....the pressure points are much more sensitive than before. I can hardly touch my elbows :)  OK...enough rambling...just my thoughts.

  • barbe1958
    barbe1958 Member Posts: 7,605
    edited March 2009
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    Coonie I took a 10 week course on Fibro at our local hospital who has a world-reknowned specialist. FM is brutal! I may have mentioned Lyrica but I gained weight so I can't afford to be on it. I sense there's some bad news about Neurontin as well. I saw a thread on the Alternatives fourm but didn't dig into it.

    I didn't go for further recon due to the fact I'm glad I am mobile after just my double mast. You ladies that do the 10 hour surgeries and months of fills, etc are my heroes! I just couldn't physically do it. I find sleep to be the best medicine.

  • coonie
    coonie Member Posts: 2,582
    edited March 2009
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    Hey Barbe....I totally agree. I didn't have reconstruction either after my mastectomy just because I didn't want anymore pain! And if I don't get my sleep.....I hurt much worse. My doctor once told me that sleep was one of the most important steps in treating fibro.

  • my3girls
    my3girls Member Posts: 1,291
    edited March 2009
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    Hanna...sorry..you asked me questions about Acai..and I just got back to this thread.

    I didn't feel any real side effects from it. Not sure about less hunger..because the Arimidex does that for me. I was NOT jittery..at all.  I hate that feeling. Just be sure to take it before you eat about 1/2 hr prior and with allot of water. I did seem to have more energy. It was a pill form..just like taking a vitamin. No taste.

    I hope that helps you!

    Lisa

  • barbe1958
    barbe1958 Member Posts: 7,605
    edited March 2009
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    Hmmm, a lot of water... Sounds like that "miracle rose bush" pill. You put one at the base of the rose bush and washed it in with a gallon of water every day. Your roses were guaranteed to grow HUGE. And they did! Then it was found out that there was nothing in the pill. It was the gallon of water that did it!

  • samedaynurseJan
    samedaynurseJan Member Posts: 162
    edited March 2009
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    Susan.....

    The whole time I was reading your post I was nodding and feeling so empathetic.....I have some of the same feelings and issues you do.....instead of waiting for my days off for fun things I first have to make sure all my appts related to bc are in order.....I had 3 appts after work this week and all were MD , bc related.....it does suck. You and I look to be about the same in diagnosis although I think I am a few years older.....I think it will get better for us.....I look to people like JO who are 5+ years out and who have great attitudes and great health.....that will be us too.....Im sure of it. I am only 3 months out from treatment and you are not even a year yet....we are still digesting this unexpected unfair turn of events but I honestly believe that time will make things easier and better.....*laughing* my Arimidex certainly wont ! At least here on the *boards* we have the kind of empathy we need.....not people who say I KNOW how you feel when they really dont.....I think you read my long post about the girlfriend I lost over this disease and she had been my roomate 40 years ago in Nursing School....we lose lots and we gain more....honest.

    Hope you enjoyed your ride......

    Love

    Jan

  • mzmiller99
    mzmiller99 Member Posts: 220
    edited March 2009
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    Jan - Well, I did come back much cheerier!!  My "boy" was teaching me how to canter.  Too bad I was such a slow learner!  I made sure to brush him down for a really long time to make up for it. 

    Then, I went for my second fast walk in two weeks!!  I think I see a trend!  I walk like my pants were on fire!  Play lots of disco and 80s tunes in my MP3!

    My best friend was one of the young ones years ago.  She was stage lV when she was dxed.  My really only best friend.  I dream about so often and every time I find a penny on the ground, I know she's sending me a "penny from Heaven".  And, honestly, after my dx, I swear I found a bunch of pennies!!