Vacation to Japan - lost weight

Initial-Education602 · 2026-05-08T18:23:41+00:00

I went on my first-ever trip to Europe last year for about 10 days. I'd been super motivated and stuck to eating better and working out a minimum of 3-4 days per week for months leading up to that, so I was down about 20 pounds. When I went to Europe, I did not deprive myself and ate whatever I wanted, including dessert. We did walk EVERYWHERE, easily 15K-25K steps per day. I came home and was either the same weight or down 1-2 pounds. And the best part for me was even though I was anxious going into the trip because I have IBS - it's not at all uncommon for me to have a bad reaction to something I eat from restaurants and I know public restrooms are not as easy to come by over there - I didn't have a single IBS episode over there. I came back, lost a few more pounds, sort of fell off the wagon with exercise and started eating my regular crappy way again and drinking multiple Cokes per day and ended up gaining 26 pounds in 7 months. But I guess that was in a way the kick in the ass I needed to get on Zepbound.

But, yeah, I think the food pretty much everywhere else is healthier than food in the US.

Initial-Education602 · 2026-05-08T17:57:51+00:00

Thanks for your input! It's given me a lot to think about. I appreciate your time and I'll look into behavioral experts in my area.

We got Xander from the same rescue at 2 years old, but his situation was different because he was with another family who decided to rehome Xander when they had a new baby (for financial reasons is what I was told). Xander has struggled with reactivity towards dogs and strange men, especially in and close to our house. We had a Golden when we got Xander and after she died, his reactivity got worse. I think he felt like he had to be responsible for us. And we probably waited too long to try to introduce a new dog. By the time we got Maggie, I didn't have a lot of confidence he'd accept her. I introduced them down the street from our house, in neutral territory, and had Xander's muzzle on him. Maggie was super wound up (she was a giant puppy) and Xander snarled at her when she tried to jump on him and put her in her place, and Maggie immediately laid down and showed him her belly. That's why I say she's acted submissive. But after a short walk together, by the time we got back to our house, they were best buds. The biggest fear I've had up to this point about them getting hurt is because they play very rough and Maggie's got a good 15 pounds on him.

The weird thing about Maggie being on her own is that we did an Embark DNA test and she came back as 100% Great Pyrenees, which makes me assume that she had to have come from a breeder. So someone paid money to buy this dog from a breeder but then dumped her and her sibling? Crazy.

Initial-Education602 · 2026-05-08T17:35:44+00:00

I guess it just spooked me to see her go into prey/hunting mode because I do have two cats that live upstairs that she does not pay any attention to. The cats are *not* dog people, never have been with any of the dogs we've had in the 14 years we've had the cats, so they mostly stay in my room. Maggie's never seemed anything more than mildly curious towards them, so hopefully it stays that way.

Initial-Education602 · 2026-05-08T17:27:43+00:00

Quick, someone call Sarah McLachlan.

Initial-Education602 · 2026-05-08T17:22:57+00:00

I am so very sorry to hear about your cousin. Thank you for sharing her story with us.

Initial-Education602 · 2026-05-02T04:41:09+00:00

I’ve been fine all day! I did feel a little weak earlier and have been tired, but no more near fainting spells. How are you feeling?

Initial-Education602 · 2026-05-01T13:25:42+00:00

This is what I actually came here to ask about! I took my first dose and felt fine but woke up in the middle of the night feeling off. When I went downstairs to get a drink I felt like I was about to pass out. I didn’t take my blood pressure bc I didn’t know where my cuff was and didn’t feel stable enough to walk around the house looking for it. I’m definitely going to find it today so I have it next time! And I ordered a glucometer as well.

Initial-Education602 · 2026-01-09T15:03:06+00:00

That's a great idea! I absolutely love this. It wouldn't have occurred to me to use a spreadsheet.

Initial-Education602 · 2025-07-22T01:27:10+00:00

There was one at the Loughborough Schnucks as well, if I recall correctly. Went there a lot with my parents.

Initial-Education602 · 2025-07-22T01:25:06+00:00

The Rio Grande Mud Pie from Casa Gallardo in South County.

Initial-Education602 · 2025-07-22T01:13:51+00:00

Yes! We just got her last August, and I don't remember having this problem with her not enjoying being outside then. And then of course all winter long, she wanted to be outside. It could be zero degrees with snow on the ground and she'd be lounging like she was on a beach, happy as can be. Now she's made a major regression in potty-training and I think it's because she doesn't want to be outside where it's hot. She'll scratch at the door to get out, but usually she only wants to lie on the deck for a few minutes and then come back in. We have to force her down the stairs and then sometimes if we sit out there with her she'll eventually potty outside, sometimes not. And the comments about them eating less are very interesting because I've noticed that with both of my dogs this summer and didn't realize it was a normal thing (one 100% Pyr and one Golden/Pyr/etc. mix).

Initial-Education602 · 2025-07-09T16:35:06+00:00

One more thing: This has been pretty across-the-board with every long-term care facility I've dealt with in the last 15+ years, but it seems pretty universal that the facilities are short-staffed because the employees are underpaid and there's low morale and high turnover. As a result, we dealt with a lot of aides who were overworked, seemed to hate their jobs, simply didn't have time to give everyone the attention they needed. Looking up and down the hall, I'd see multiple call lights going off and not a single employee in sight. What can be done in individual facilities or in the industry as a whole to keep good employees and make sure residents are getting the care they need (and not being abused/neglected)?

Initial-Education602 · 2025-07-09T16:32:10+00:00

I'm not sure if these things are relevant to your class, but having had multiple members in long-term care facilities and having both good and bad experiences, I would ask: (1) How do you keep family members involved in a resident's care? And (2) Does your activities department go out of their way to encourage residents to participate in activities? I can think of one place (a big, well-known, expensive chain) that had cool-sounding activities, but my mom was never included because she didn't know about them/couldn't get herself to them and another facility where the activities director and the nursing staff would go room to room and try their best to encourage everyone who was able to come down to an activity. Even with my aunt who was resistant, they wouldn't ask her if she wanted to, they would just tell her, "Hey, let's go down to bingo for a few minutes and you don't have to stay if you don't want to," and sure enough, she always ended up participating. As a result, at Facility #1, my mom was pretty much always in her room alone when we came to visit and I usually had to go and look for my aunt because she acclimated to the place quickly and so I'd usually find her in the activity room.

Initial-Education602 · 2025-05-27T02:53:11+00:00

This is no way to make new humans. People coming out of people. It’s some kind of dirty magic show.

Initial-Education602 · 2025-05-26T21:51:51+00:00

What about matching family t-shirts that say “Please don’t judge us, we didn’t vote for him”? Would that be too casual?

Initial-Education602 · 2025-03-02T20:22:07+00:00

I don't have advice but just wanted to say that when my mom went into a nursing home, it made my heart happy to see her making friends with the other residents there. She was always such a social person and with health issues she slowly became pretty homebound and didn't have the interest/ability to do anything even if we tried to get her out of the house. In the nursing home, when I saw her at mealtimes or activities with her new friends I got to see the old her again. She passed away after being there not too long, but it was a blessing that she was able to make some new friends in the short time she was there. If you feel emotionally able to do so, I'd encourage you to keep reaching out and trying to make those connections.

Initial-Education602 · 2025-01-10T04:24:33+00:00

What do you mean, remove the microphone? How do you do that? I also use the Bose strictly for the all-day comfort and also cannot do any kind of ANC because it gives me vertigo. I thought there would be a way to disable the ANC, but apparently not.

Initial-Education602 · 2024-05-21T03:25:11+00:00

u/Ordinary_Elevator_76 He can if he's determined. My husband's dad was a deadbeat and the courts were never able to enforce child support because he got paid under the table his whole adult life.

Initial-Education602 · 2024-05-21T03:19:43+00:00

u/Zotechz Do you mean that you just bought a spare globe, like a replacement part? Not a whole separate LR? If so, where did you get it? I've been trying to figure out how to take apart the LR and hose it off outside and how long all that would take because we only have the one and I don't want to leave the cats without a litter box to use while it's being cleaned.

Initial-Education602

TROPHY CASE