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Posted by MN~Sue on 4/25/2005, 1:25 pm, in reply to "bit of an update" YES! That IS good news!! You are so right - if you are down at this time of the month that is very encouraging There are always up and down days - both in weight and emotions when it comes to trying to take off weight! I looked back at my food journal and it was on April 12th that I had written down that I had lost 20 pounds and that actually came a bit before I wrote it down. THEN it went up a few pounds and back down and back and forth and now here it is the 25th of April and I still am holding at 20 pounds. I have increased my calories some, as I wasn't really eating quite enough for the first month+, but I have also increased my exercise, so I don't think the slightly increased calories would be hindering the weight loss. SO, as you can imagine, I am anxious to see some more weight come off again. Twenty pounds is only a drop in the bucket for what I need to lose, haha, so it sure better not stall out for too long! The RD told me that even a 20 pound loss makes a big difference for diabetes and I told her I sure better lose a lot more than that and her reply was, "everyone always says that when I tell them just losing 20 pounds will make a big difference, but it really can be hard for it to come off when diabetic and in your case, being in menopause too." She also explained that when in menopause women are losing muscle and gaining fat. That is why she also really encouraged me to think about adding strengthening exercises with weights or using elastic bands for resistance. I am definitely thinking about it. I am concentrating on the walking at the moment, but hope to add strengthening exercises on the alternate days. I have chronic muscle problems in my back and rib cage area, so I have to go slow about adding that type of exercise. I am hoping that once I get in better condition from the walking that my muscles will improve so that I don't end up setting myself back with injuries from straining those tight atrophied muscles in my upper body. I used to go to PT for it, but it was just so bad that I never got the spasms to lessen to be able to stick with any kind of stretching and strengthening exercise program. The PT often made it worse Now today is my day to walk again and I am experiencing heel pain on my right foot. I hope it doesn't keep me from walking. Hopefully it will get better as the day wears on. Since I couldn't walk any faster on the treadmill without changing over to a jog, I decided to use the incline the last two times I walked to intensify the workout a bit more. The first time I raised it to 1.5 % incline and the 2nd time to 2%. I wonder if that has anything to do with the heel pain now. Maybe I pushed it too far and should have used the incline for less of the sessions. It is going to be trial and error Well, I have blabbed on long enough.......keep in touch, Kendra! Love,
Hi Kendra! 
Keep up the good work. Keep checking in so we can encourage one another to stick with this 
SO, I have to be very careful about adding that type of exercise. My problems all began after I broke my upper arm and was laid up for an extended time with that. My muscles on that side of my upper body went into spasm when I started to use them again and have never recovered. I still can't lie on my right side, due to it. They will not tolerate the stretch that puts on them and they go into terrible spasms. They are always tight and won't give much, so I have to be so careful 
Sue
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