- She was a super fluffy kitten.
- She looks like a loaf of bread. It's the best.
- She isn't afraid to help you with your work (I telecommute).
- She has a little white mustache.You will never un-see that mustache.
- She likes to play video games.
- She has a nom nom nom box and she knows you be creepin' on her.
- She will help you stay on track with your workout regimen.
- She will keep your place for you when you are reading.
- She will remind you that you did not go on vacation to put together a stupid 1000 piece jigsaw puzzle.
- She likes to play dress up.
- She does a mean Don Corleone impression.
Nona is about to make you an offer you can't refuse. - She makes this hilarious face around knitting needles.
- She will remind you that sometimes it is okay to take a break from work (to give her pets).
- She will investigate your water for you just to make sure it's not poison.
- She is so tiny she fits inside this shoebox.
- She will investigate your treadmill to make sure it is safe.
- She will help you with laundry.
- She likes to hang out (and sit like a hooman).
- She enjoys a good book.
- Seriously, she digs literature.
- She likes to play fetch.
- Like a lot.
- She is a fluffybutt. Seriously, so fluffy.
Thursday, February 20, 2014
23 Reasons Why My Cat is More Awesome than Your Cat
This is Nona. I adopted her in April 2013. She is the cutest kitty ever and she is the best. Here are 23 pictures to prove it.
Wednesday, February 19, 2014
The 1200 Calorie Myth
Anybody who has ever dieted knows about the 1200 calorie myth. There are multiple variations of this myth, but here are the most common two I come across in fitness forums.
I've heard this myth and parroted #2 a few times myself. However, after calculating my BMR and realizing I needed 1491 calories just to exist (as in to just lay in bed all day doing nothing) I started to doubt the 1200 calorie myth.
The first thing most of these forums don't tell you is where this myth even came from. Some of them site the American Medical Society for Sports Medicine (AMSSM), so I started my search there. And I found nothing. Well, not nothing. I just found some super complicated formulas. No magical explanation about the 1200 calorie myth.
So I turned to Google and tried to find the 1200 myth's connection to AMSSM. What I found was a connection to the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM). I found one article with no citations and no author. It references the ACSM guidelines, but gives no link to them. I also couldn't find them after scouring the web. Nevertheless, I had my first source outside of public forums quoting the myth. It also added to the myth including men need to eat at least 1800 calories per day.
I turned to Google again to try and find the root of this myth and I finally struck gold. Here is the direct quote from the article:
This blows the 1200 calorie myth out of the water. Very rarely have I heard an argument for a net of 1200 calories; usually I see diet plans that account for 1200 calories exactly as well as an exercise regimen. Thus, anyone who is actually working out while sticking to 1200 calories exactly is most definitely throwing themselves into starvation mode.
Not only that, but the 1200 calorie diet is meant for the average person who is purposely trying to lose the maximum safe amount of weight per week. But what exactly does average mean? I don't own the book by the physiologists cited above; however, I can guarantee you the average person is not busting their butt in the gym every day.
This is where your Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) comes into play (check out my post on the Biggest Loser fiasco, I get more into how it is calculated there). I included links to a few different equations for determining daily caloric need. Using the Harris Benedict equation, my daily caloric need came out around 2300 (using all the various equations I got a range of 1900-2300).
According to the Harris Benedict formula, I am 200 calories over the suggested average. 200 calories may not seem like a lot, but after a week that is 1400 calories. Imagine how out of whack my diet and metabolism would get if I continued that deficit unknowingly.
Also, in general, leaner bodies will need more calories. For example, two women who are the same height and wear the same clothing size, but have totally different body composition will have different caloric needs.
To sum it up for those who don't like reading:
Myth 1: You must eat 1200 calories per day in order to lose weight quickly (2 lbs per week)
Reality: You need to calculate your BMR to determine your daily caloric need. Then you subtract 1000 calories from that in order to lose 2 pounds a week. You also need to take into account calories burned through exercise (ex: 1300 calories/day to lose 2 lbs + 300 calories burned through exercise = 1600 calories total for the day).
Myth 2: 1200 calories is the minimum caloric intake a person needs before they go into starvation mode
Reality: 1200 calories in the minimum caloric intake for the average woman who does not exercise. Again, you will need to calculate your BMR, daily caloric needs, as well as calories burned from exercise in order to determine what your minimum is.
Samantha Bookwalter is currently Associate Web Content Manager for Health Supplement Wholesalers. She specializes in web editing, copyediting, SEO, HTML, CSS, and other web-related acronyms. Samantha has an affinity for health and fitness; in her free time she enjoys working out with her husband and researching recipes that are not only healthy but delicious too.
- You must eat 1200 calories per day in order to lose weight quickly (2 lbs per week)
- 1200 calories is the minimum caloric intake a person needs before they go into starvation mode
I've heard this myth and parroted #2 a few times myself. However, after calculating my BMR and realizing I needed 1491 calories just to exist (as in to just lay in bed all day doing nothing) I started to doubt the 1200 calorie myth.
Mmmm delicious burger...aaaaand I'm not eating again for three days.
The first thing most of these forums don't tell you is where this myth even came from. Some of them site the American Medical Society for Sports Medicine (AMSSM), so I started my search there. And I found nothing. Well, not nothing. I just found some super complicated formulas. No magical explanation about the 1200 calorie myth.
So I turned to Google and tried to find the 1200 myth's connection to AMSSM. What I found was a connection to the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM). I found one article with no citations and no author. It references the ACSM guidelines, but gives no link to them. I also couldn't find them after scouring the web. Nevertheless, I had my first source outside of public forums quoting the myth. It also added to the myth including men need to eat at least 1800 calories per day.
By the way, this is what a 1200 calorie diet looks like.
I turned to Google again to try and find the root of this myth and I finally struck gold. Here is the direct quote from the article:
So where did the 1200 and 1800 calorie floor numbers come from? Those are generalizations based on average caloric maintenance levels (TDEE), as determined by exercise physiologists. According to Victor Katch & Frank Mcardle, the average female between the ages of 23 and 50 has a maintenance level of about 2100 calories per day and the average male about 2800 calories per day.
Based on the maximum recommendation of two pounds of weight loss per week given by organizations like the American College of Sports Medicine, these "calorie floors" are based on 1000 calories below the average person's TDEE (2800 calories per day average for men, minus 1000 calories equals calorie floor of 1800 calories per day. 2100 calories per day average for women, minus 1000 calories equals a calorie floor of 1100 calories, and most health organizations round up that number to 1200 since 1000 calories under maintenance is a larger relative deficit compared to men.)
This blows the 1200 calorie myth out of the water. Very rarely have I heard an argument for a net of 1200 calories; usually I see diet plans that account for 1200 calories exactly as well as an exercise regimen. Thus, anyone who is actually working out while sticking to 1200 calories exactly is most definitely throwing themselves into starvation mode.
Not only that, but the 1200 calorie diet is meant for the average person who is purposely trying to lose the maximum safe amount of weight per week. But what exactly does average mean? I don't own the book by the physiologists cited above; however, I can guarantee you the average person is not busting their butt in the gym every day.
This is where your Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) comes into play (check out my post on the Biggest Loser fiasco, I get more into how it is calculated there). I included links to a few different equations for determining daily caloric need. Using the Harris Benedict equation, my daily caloric need came out around 2300 (using all the various equations I got a range of 1900-2300).
According to the Harris Benedict formula, I am 200 calories over the suggested average. 200 calories may not seem like a lot, but after a week that is 1400 calories. Imagine how out of whack my diet and metabolism would get if I continued that deficit unknowingly.
Also, in general, leaner bodies will need more calories. For example, two women who are the same height and wear the same clothing size, but have totally different body composition will have different caloric needs.
To sum it up for those who don't like reading:
Myth 1: You must eat 1200 calories per day in order to lose weight quickly (2 lbs per week)
Reality: You need to calculate your BMR to determine your daily caloric need. Then you subtract 1000 calories from that in order to lose 2 pounds a week. You also need to take into account calories burned through exercise (ex: 1300 calories/day to lose 2 lbs + 300 calories burned through exercise = 1600 calories total for the day).
Myth 2: 1200 calories is the minimum caloric intake a person needs before they go into starvation mode
Reality: 1200 calories in the minimum caloric intake for the average woman who does not exercise. Again, you will need to calculate your BMR, daily caloric needs, as well as calories burned from exercise in order to determine what your minimum is.
About Samantha Bookwalter
Google+Samantha Bookwalter is currently Associate Web Content Manager for Health Supplement Wholesalers. She specializes in web editing, copyediting, SEO, HTML, CSS, and other web-related acronyms. Samantha has an affinity for health and fitness; in her free time she enjoys working out with her husband and researching recipes that are not only healthy but delicious too.
Tuesday, February 11, 2014
Baby Blues and Miscarriages
I wonder if it is possible to have the "baby blues" or postpartum depression if I don't have a corporeal child? It certainly feels like it.
My husband and I have been TTC since November 2012. That may not seem like an overwhelming amount of time to a lot of people. After all, I'm only 25. I get a lot of "You're so young, you don't need to worry!" or "It'll happen when it's meant to happen!" and I want to punch each and every one of these people. These are actually the least offensive of the comments I get. These comments I can understand to a certain point. These people are just trying to be positive, trying to help.
What most people don't realize is my time to get pregnant is much more limited than others. My husband is set to deploy and we have a (now) very brief window to get pregnant if he is to be present for the birth. I want him with me for obvious reasons. We originally felt like we had all the time in the world (over a year) to get pregnant. We are now down to 6 weeks.
The biggest problem is I have highly irregular cycles (after 11 years of normal cycles, my body up and decided now that I'm trying to get pregnant it can just stop working). I went from 28 day cycles to 35-45 day cycles. This makes predicting ovulation difficult.
I tried to use charts but the results made no sense. I tracked my temperature and physiological signs but they were all over the place. My temperature would jump multiple degrees from day to day. My doctor was boggled. I started using OPK kits literally every day of my cycle to see if I ovulate at all. I do. Usually 11 days before my next cycle, for example day 25 of a 36 day cycle. This defies all logic.
For those not in the know, most cycles start 14 days after ovulation. Based on my LH surge and subsequent ovulation. that particular example cycle should have been 39 days. My doctors contributed this to part of the problem. Irregular cycles paired up with irregular ovulation times was causing me to misjudge my most fertile window.
After a year we were officially in the realm of fertility problems. I was put on clomid and told to continue with my daily OPK kits and to not have sex more than every 72 hours (72 hours because then all the little sperm dudes have resupplied to full numbers by then). In case you couldn't tell, this is about the most unsexy thing in the world. "Hey babe, look at that, I finally ovulated. Sorry we both have colds, it's time for some mouth breathing intimacy because the pee stick says so."
Not fun. it also destroyed my self esteem. I have no way to explain why fertility problems when I am this young kills me, but it does. This is the one thing my body was most definitely built to do. Sure it can do lots of other things, but I am a woman. I am supposed to be able to make babies if I want to. It's hard to explain, but I'm sure other women in the same boat are familiar with the feeling.
I knew I was pregnant pretty much the second it happened. I have no way to tell you how. So many women I know will say things like "Oh, I was 8 weeks before I knew!" which amazes me. How do you miss a period and not immediately take a pregnancy test? Perhaps it is a testament to how absorbed I was with getting pregnant.
I stopped taking the OPK kits once I had ovulated for that cycle. I also stopped with the highly regulated 72 hour intimacy nonsense. When my husband noticed the abrupt change in schedule, he started asking questions. I finally admitted I was pretty sure I was pregnant. He looked at me like I was insane. I probably was as there is seriously no scientific basis for being able to tell the second you get pregnant. I just knew.
I tested two days before my missed period as my husband was going to go into the field for two weeks. I didn't want to find out one way or the other without him. I figured the box said I have over a 90% chance of getting an accurate read so I went for it.
And there it was. A positive test, and a strong one. No super faint line, no confusion as to what I was seeing. I was most assuredly pregnant. I took three tests in total from two different brands just to be sure. When dealing with fertility issues, you begin to doubt everything.
We were ecstatic. We told our parents and one very close friend who has a lot of background in pregnancy (L&D nurse, NP, teaches childbirth classes, etc). But those were the only people we told initially. I was terrified of miscarrying as my family has a pretty strong history of it on both sides.
My husband went into the field the next day and 4 days later I had my first doctor's appointment to confirm the pregnancy. My quants (the test to get your pregnancy hormone levels) were 421 for hcg and 55.7 for progesterone. I was told those numbers were good and indicative of very early pregnancy. My doctors were surprised that I knew so early. I was four weeks and four days.
That Saturday I noticed very minor spotting. I knew this was pretty typical, but I wanted to get it checked out anyway. I called Monday and went in again on Tuesday for another quant test. My numbers came back Wednesday 602 for hcg and 46.9 for progesterone.
I knew, in that moment, that is was over. Very few people (other than OBGYNs and L&D nurses) know much about hcg and progesterone when it comes to pregnancy. Some nurses will tell you it just needs to be going up, but that is not quite true.
Your hcg needs to double every 48-72 hours for normal pregnancy. My hcg would need to be much closer to 1263-1684 after 96 hours for me to feel safe.
I was surprisingly calm at first. I called my mother-in-law, who is a doula. I called my friend. I called my mother. They all tried to reassure me and for about 20 minutes it worked.
And then something in my brain clicked into place. I knew what was happening. Just as I was 100% certain I was pregnant before taking the test, I was just as sure that I was going to lose it.
I remember my knees buckling. I remember collapsing to the ground screaming. It was a guttural sound; I could not reproduce it if I tried. It was sheer and utter heart break. I remember clutching my lower stomach like I could hold this child in; like I could keep this from happening if I just held on tight enough.
And I was alone. My husband wouldn't be out of the field for another couple of days.
I heard some unfathomable comments at this point. I think my favorite was "If you stay positive, positive things will happen!" I just took this as because I cannot be positive about the numbers (which are scientifically proven to be way too low) then it is obviously my fault that I am miscarrying. Negativity begets miscarriages. Never mind the fact that my hormones just weren't where they should be. This is my fault.
My husband got out of the field in time to go with me for yet another quant test. He was upbeat as was the nurse. I told her my concerns, primarily an ectopic pregnancy or eminent miscarriage. She brushed it off, told me not to worry, but that she would let the doctor know my concerns.
On Friday January 24th I got my quants back. In 48 hours my hcg had only risen from 602 to 679. My progesterone continued to fall from 46.9 to 35. Life moved at a hectic pace at this point. It was Friday, we needed to get an ultrasound stat. We needed to check for an ectopic. So my referral was rushed and at 1:30 I got a transvaginal ultrasound, which was awful. The tech couldn't tell me what she was seeing as she is not qualified to do so.
But she knew. I knew she knew and I just burst into tears. I have never been hugged so hard by a stranger.
Things proceeded to get utterly insane. My ultrasound was complete by 2, my doctor had the results by 3. I was five weeks four days, which is extremely early to see much of anything in an ultrasound.
What they did see was an inflamed right fallopian tube and "fluids" in the tube. No sac, which was a good thing. They were relieved that they had caught it before a sac could form. I wanted to bludgeon them all. I caught it. I demanded the repetitive tests, I voiced my concerns over the numbers just to be told I was being a worry wart. But I digress.
My doctor was now in full blown panic mode. I needed to be seen by an OB immediately. I needed to be given a shot of methotrexate (chemo drugs) to dissolve the ectopic pregnancy before it progressed and burst my tube, threatening my life. I needed, I needed, I needed but apparently the OB I was assigned too was just too busy. It was Friday, you see, at 3:30 and there were just simply no more appointments. He could have worked me in, but it was just getting a little late. The weekend and all that...
His receptionist instructed me to go to the ER. I guess my GP knew something like this might happen. She told me to call her back if they wouldn't see me. So I did. Her receptionist put me on hold and called the OB's office. She picked the line back up and I could hear full blown WWIII happening in that office.
I heard my GP get on the other phone and start threatening hell and high water. My tube could explode, he was endangering my health just so he could go home on time on a Friday. She informed him the she called over to the ER and they would not do anything for me. They would take me in, do my quants, perform another ultrasound and refer me back to my OB. The ER deals with emergencies, and I was not yet an emergency. They would prefer for me to see my doctor.
The OB continued to refuse. Then my GP tried to schedule an appointment for me for Monday, and he refused again. My referral was for pregnancy and he seemed to think I would no longer be pregnant on Monday. My GP then laid down her biggest card: refusal of care. She told him she was going to recommend that I file a refusal of care claim with TRIcare. He changed his tune and said if I was still pregnant on Monday that he would try to "work me in."
My GP told me if I start to bleed heavily or experience intense cramping to go to the ER immediately. She apologized over and over. The receptionists put together a packet with all of my tests for me to take to the ER just in case something did happen.
That Sunday I started bleeding. It wasn't heavy, just steady, and there was no severe cramping. I was on the alert to go to the ER, but that never happened. I was finally seen on Monday, January 27th, in full swing of what I believed to be a miscarriage. Now I just needed to know if my tube was in danger.
The OB's nurse would not listen to me when I got there. She kept asking for the first day of my last cycle. She was trying to determine where I am in the pregnancy. I tried telling her over and over, I have irregular cycles, I do not ovulate as I should, I am not as pregnant as you think I am, I know what day I ovulated, I know my conception date. After a lot of vapid smiling and repeat demands for the first day of my last period, I just told her. She used this utterly stupid wheel with dates written on it. It looks like this:
After spinning it around for awhile she looked up and said brightly "You are 6 weeks and 6 days pregnant!" I just stared at her and flatly said "No. I'm not." I would have been 6 weeks exactly.
When my OB walked in he had clearly not read my file as to why I was there. He just assumed this was a standard pregnancy visit. He smiled at me, saw Josh and immediately walked up to him,
"Oh, are you the father? Congratulations, you're going to be a dad!"
I lost my mind. Josh brought him up to speed and he proceeded to ask me a bunch of obnoxious questions,
"How do you know it's an ectopic?" LOOK AT MY ULTRASOUND YOU DICK.
"How long have you been trying?...Wow that's a long time! And this was your first? Wow, that's sad!" NO SHIT YOU MORON.
He smiled the whole time. He laughed frequently. He performed an unnecessary pelvic exam and never once told me what he was doing. Just, whoop here's my hand in your vagina poking around!
After repeating the ultrasound he said this a lot,
"Well, you made some smoke! Maybe next time you can hold on and make a fire!"
I have never felt more enraged, more devastated, and more degraded in my life. Then he wanted to perform invasive surgery to cut open my tube to extract any tissue. At this point he shrank under what I can only assume was my withering glare of death and he then suggested the much less invasive shot. I didn't want any of it.
I was bleeding, I was cramping, and had been doing so steadily for the last 36 hours. I was clearly miscarrying and the second ultrasound showed there was no longer inflammation of my tube or an "fluids" present. Clearly, it was no longer an ectopic issue. I asked for another blood test first, which he agreed to, mostly because he wanted to know my blood type (which he incidentally never told me). He told me it might be too late to give me the shot today since it would be close to closing by the time they got the test back. I told him like hell was I taking that shot the next day, if I even needed to take it at all. He had made me wait over the weekend, I was not waiting another day.
It took two hours to get the test back. By that time, my hcg had dropped to 50. I was passing this on my own and would not need the shot.
The next day, January 28th, I turned 25. I spent my birthday miscarrying my child and hiding from a social world that had no idea. I spent the week iced and snowed in drinking wine and breaking down frequently.
I was inconsolable. I cried constantly. I was told this was because of my hormones rapidly changing. I'm sure that played a part, but I really just wanted to scream I think it has more to do with my dead baby. I also started having nightmares that I don't really want to discuss. So I stopped sleeping. After 40 hours of no sleep, I slept for 4 hours. Then I was awake for another 20 and so on and so on. I sleep now, but I wake constantly.
I feel more or less human again. Now that the bleeding has stopped and the doctor visits are over I am much more calm. I cry less, but I have a hard time on Mondays. Mondays were the mark of a new week in my pregnancy. Today I would be eight weeks one day.
I have a hard time seeing Facebook posts about babies and new pregnancies. I have a hard time when people say things about god and faith. About "his plan" and the "right time." I have a hard time listening to anything at all because mostly I take it as judgement (whether it was meant that way or not). I know people usually mean well, but that doesn't seem to matter to my heart.
I am bitter and I am exhausted. Each day gets better, but I'm still in some unknown ring of hell. I am determined to claw my way out of this cesspit but I am certain I have left more of me than my child behind. I don't know what to do with the pieces. I feel them floating inside me as if my skin is the only thing holding me together. Who knows, maybe it is.
Samantha Bookwalter is currently Associate Web Content Manager for Health Supplement Wholesalers. She specializes in web editing, copyediting, SEO, HTML, CSS, and other web-related acronyms. Samantha has an affinity for health and fitness; in her free time she enjoys working out with her husband and researching recipes that are not only healthy but delicious too.
My husband and I have been TTC since November 2012. That may not seem like an overwhelming amount of time to a lot of people. After all, I'm only 25. I get a lot of "You're so young, you don't need to worry!" or "It'll happen when it's meant to happen!" and I want to punch each and every one of these people. These are actually the least offensive of the comments I get. These comments I can understand to a certain point. These people are just trying to be positive, trying to help.
What most people don't realize is my time to get pregnant is much more limited than others. My husband is set to deploy and we have a (now) very brief window to get pregnant if he is to be present for the birth. I want him with me for obvious reasons. We originally felt like we had all the time in the world (over a year) to get pregnant. We are now down to 6 weeks.
The biggest problem is I have highly irregular cycles (after 11 years of normal cycles, my body up and decided now that I'm trying to get pregnant it can just stop working). I went from 28 day cycles to 35-45 day cycles. This makes predicting ovulation difficult.
I tried to use charts but the results made no sense. I tracked my temperature and physiological signs but they were all over the place. My temperature would jump multiple degrees from day to day. My doctor was boggled. I started using OPK kits literally every day of my cycle to see if I ovulate at all. I do. Usually 11 days before my next cycle, for example day 25 of a 36 day cycle. This defies all logic.
For those not in the know, most cycles start 14 days after ovulation. Based on my LH surge and subsequent ovulation. that particular example cycle should have been 39 days. My doctors contributed this to part of the problem. Irregular cycles paired up with irregular ovulation times was causing me to misjudge my most fertile window.
After a year we were officially in the realm of fertility problems. I was put on clomid and told to continue with my daily OPK kits and to not have sex more than every 72 hours (72 hours because then all the little sperm dudes have resupplied to full numbers by then). In case you couldn't tell, this is about the most unsexy thing in the world. "Hey babe, look at that, I finally ovulated. Sorry we both have colds, it's time for some mouth breathing intimacy because the pee stick says so."
Not fun. it also destroyed my self esteem. I have no way to explain why fertility problems when I am this young kills me, but it does. This is the one thing my body was most definitely built to do. Sure it can do lots of other things, but I am a woman. I am supposed to be able to make babies if I want to. It's hard to explain, but I'm sure other women in the same boat are familiar with the feeling.
I knew I was pregnant pretty much the second it happened. I have no way to tell you how. So many women I know will say things like "Oh, I was 8 weeks before I knew!" which amazes me. How do you miss a period and not immediately take a pregnancy test? Perhaps it is a testament to how absorbed I was with getting pregnant.
I stopped taking the OPK kits once I had ovulated for that cycle. I also stopped with the highly regulated 72 hour intimacy nonsense. When my husband noticed the abrupt change in schedule, he started asking questions. I finally admitted I was pretty sure I was pregnant. He looked at me like I was insane. I probably was as there is seriously no scientific basis for being able to tell the second you get pregnant. I just knew.
I tested two days before my missed period as my husband was going to go into the field for two weeks. I didn't want to find out one way or the other without him. I figured the box said I have over a 90% chance of getting an accurate read so I went for it.
And there it was. A positive test, and a strong one. No super faint line, no confusion as to what I was seeing. I was most assuredly pregnant. I took three tests in total from two different brands just to be sure. When dealing with fertility issues, you begin to doubt everything.
The first test.
All three tests.
We were ecstatic. We told our parents and one very close friend who has a lot of background in pregnancy (L&D nurse, NP, teaches childbirth classes, etc). But those were the only people we told initially. I was terrified of miscarrying as my family has a pretty strong history of it on both sides.
My husband went into the field the next day and 4 days later I had my first doctor's appointment to confirm the pregnancy. My quants (the test to get your pregnancy hormone levels) were 421 for hcg and 55.7 for progesterone. I was told those numbers were good and indicative of very early pregnancy. My doctors were surprised that I knew so early. I was four weeks and four days.
That Saturday I noticed very minor spotting. I knew this was pretty typical, but I wanted to get it checked out anyway. I called Monday and went in again on Tuesday for another quant test. My numbers came back Wednesday 602 for hcg and 46.9 for progesterone.
I knew, in that moment, that is was over. Very few people (other than OBGYNs and L&D nurses) know much about hcg and progesterone when it comes to pregnancy. Some nurses will tell you it just needs to be going up, but that is not quite true.
Your hcg needs to double every 48-72 hours for normal pregnancy. My hcg would need to be much closer to 1263-1684 after 96 hours for me to feel safe.
I was surprisingly calm at first. I called my mother-in-law, who is a doula. I called my friend. I called my mother. They all tried to reassure me and for about 20 minutes it worked.
And then something in my brain clicked into place. I knew what was happening. Just as I was 100% certain I was pregnant before taking the test, I was just as sure that I was going to lose it.
I remember my knees buckling. I remember collapsing to the ground screaming. It was a guttural sound; I could not reproduce it if I tried. It was sheer and utter heart break. I remember clutching my lower stomach like I could hold this child in; like I could keep this from happening if I just held on tight enough.
And I was alone. My husband wouldn't be out of the field for another couple of days.
I heard some unfathomable comments at this point. I think my favorite was "If you stay positive, positive things will happen!" I just took this as because I cannot be positive about the numbers (which are scientifically proven to be way too low) then it is obviously my fault that I am miscarrying. Negativity begets miscarriages. Never mind the fact that my hormones just weren't where they should be. This is my fault.
My husband got out of the field in time to go with me for yet another quant test. He was upbeat as was the nurse. I told her my concerns, primarily an ectopic pregnancy or eminent miscarriage. She brushed it off, told me not to worry, but that she would let the doctor know my concerns.
On Friday January 24th I got my quants back. In 48 hours my hcg had only risen from 602 to 679. My progesterone continued to fall from 46.9 to 35. Life moved at a hectic pace at this point. It was Friday, we needed to get an ultrasound stat. We needed to check for an ectopic. So my referral was rushed and at 1:30 I got a transvaginal ultrasound, which was awful. The tech couldn't tell me what she was seeing as she is not qualified to do so.
But she knew. I knew she knew and I just burst into tears. I have never been hugged so hard by a stranger.
Things proceeded to get utterly insane. My ultrasound was complete by 2, my doctor had the results by 3. I was five weeks four days, which is extremely early to see much of anything in an ultrasound.
What they did see was an inflamed right fallopian tube and "fluids" in the tube. No sac, which was a good thing. They were relieved that they had caught it before a sac could form. I wanted to bludgeon them all. I caught it. I demanded the repetitive tests, I voiced my concerns over the numbers just to be told I was being a worry wart. But I digress.
My doctor was now in full blown panic mode. I needed to be seen by an OB immediately. I needed to be given a shot of methotrexate (chemo drugs) to dissolve the ectopic pregnancy before it progressed and burst my tube, threatening my life. I needed, I needed, I needed but apparently the OB I was assigned too was just too busy. It was Friday, you see, at 3:30 and there were just simply no more appointments. He could have worked me in, but it was just getting a little late. The weekend and all that...
His receptionist instructed me to go to the ER. I guess my GP knew something like this might happen. She told me to call her back if they wouldn't see me. So I did. Her receptionist put me on hold and called the OB's office. She picked the line back up and I could hear full blown WWIII happening in that office.
I heard my GP get on the other phone and start threatening hell and high water. My tube could explode, he was endangering my health just so he could go home on time on a Friday. She informed him the she called over to the ER and they would not do anything for me. They would take me in, do my quants, perform another ultrasound and refer me back to my OB. The ER deals with emergencies, and I was not yet an emergency. They would prefer for me to see my doctor.
The OB continued to refuse. Then my GP tried to schedule an appointment for me for Monday, and he refused again. My referral was for pregnancy and he seemed to think I would no longer be pregnant on Monday. My GP then laid down her biggest card: refusal of care. She told him she was going to recommend that I file a refusal of care claim with TRIcare. He changed his tune and said if I was still pregnant on Monday that he would try to "work me in."
My GP told me if I start to bleed heavily or experience intense cramping to go to the ER immediately. She apologized over and over. The receptionists put together a packet with all of my tests for me to take to the ER just in case something did happen.
That Sunday I started bleeding. It wasn't heavy, just steady, and there was no severe cramping. I was on the alert to go to the ER, but that never happened. I was finally seen on Monday, January 27th, in full swing of what I believed to be a miscarriage. Now I just needed to know if my tube was in danger.
The OB's nurse would not listen to me when I got there. She kept asking for the first day of my last cycle. She was trying to determine where I am in the pregnancy. I tried telling her over and over, I have irregular cycles, I do not ovulate as I should, I am not as pregnant as you think I am, I know what day I ovulated, I know my conception date. After a lot of vapid smiling and repeat demands for the first day of my last period, I just told her. She used this utterly stupid wheel with dates written on it. It looks like this:
When my OB walked in he had clearly not read my file as to why I was there. He just assumed this was a standard pregnancy visit. He smiled at me, saw Josh and immediately walked up to him,
"Oh, are you the father? Congratulations, you're going to be a dad!"
I lost my mind. Josh brought him up to speed and he proceeded to ask me a bunch of obnoxious questions,
"How do you know it's an ectopic?" LOOK AT MY ULTRASOUND YOU DICK.
"How long have you been trying?...Wow that's a long time! And this was your first? Wow, that's sad!" NO SHIT YOU MORON.
He smiled the whole time. He laughed frequently. He performed an unnecessary pelvic exam and never once told me what he was doing. Just, whoop here's my hand in your vagina poking around!
After repeating the ultrasound he said this a lot,
"Well, you made some smoke! Maybe next time you can hold on and make a fire!"
I have never felt more enraged, more devastated, and more degraded in my life. Then he wanted to perform invasive surgery to cut open my tube to extract any tissue. At this point he shrank under what I can only assume was my withering glare of death and he then suggested the much less invasive shot. I didn't want any of it.
I was bleeding, I was cramping, and had been doing so steadily for the last 36 hours. I was clearly miscarrying and the second ultrasound showed there was no longer inflammation of my tube or an "fluids" present. Clearly, it was no longer an ectopic issue. I asked for another blood test first, which he agreed to, mostly because he wanted to know my blood type (which he incidentally never told me). He told me it might be too late to give me the shot today since it would be close to closing by the time they got the test back. I told him like hell was I taking that shot the next day, if I even needed to take it at all. He had made me wait over the weekend, I was not waiting another day.
It took two hours to get the test back. By that time, my hcg had dropped to 50. I was passing this on my own and would not need the shot.
The next day, January 28th, I turned 25. I spent my birthday miscarrying my child and hiding from a social world that had no idea. I spent the week iced and snowed in drinking wine and breaking down frequently.
I was inconsolable. I cried constantly. I was told this was because of my hormones rapidly changing. I'm sure that played a part, but I really just wanted to scream I think it has more to do with my dead baby. I also started having nightmares that I don't really want to discuss. So I stopped sleeping. After 40 hours of no sleep, I slept for 4 hours. Then I was awake for another 20 and so on and so on. I sleep now, but I wake constantly.
I feel more or less human again. Now that the bleeding has stopped and the doctor visits are over I am much more calm. I cry less, but I have a hard time on Mondays. Mondays were the mark of a new week in my pregnancy. Today I would be eight weeks one day.
I have a hard time seeing Facebook posts about babies and new pregnancies. I have a hard time when people say things about god and faith. About "his plan" and the "right time." I have a hard time listening to anything at all because mostly I take it as judgement (whether it was meant that way or not). I know people usually mean well, but that doesn't seem to matter to my heart.
I am bitter and I am exhausted. Each day gets better, but I'm still in some unknown ring of hell. I am determined to claw my way out of this cesspit but I am certain I have left more of me than my child behind. I don't know what to do with the pieces. I feel them floating inside me as if my skin is the only thing holding me together. Who knows, maybe it is.
About Samantha Bookwalter
Google+Samantha Bookwalter is currently Associate Web Content Manager for Health Supplement Wholesalers. She specializes in web editing, copyediting, SEO, HTML, CSS, and other web-related acronyms. Samantha has an affinity for health and fitness; in her free time she enjoys working out with her husband and researching recipes that are not only healthy but delicious too.
Wednesday, February 5, 2014
Biggest Loser Taking Things Too Far
I've had gripes in the past about the show The Biggest Loser. I always enjoyed the premise, and really there is nothing wrong with the basic message of "Get healthy" or "Get your life back" or all those other trite things every contest on the show says.
I am a Biggest Loser addict, I will admit it up front. I'm a health and fitness junkie and I cannot tell you what it is about the show that keeps me coming back week after week, season after season. I would like to think it's because I enjoy watching people discovering a new, healthy life style but my dad has an alternate theory. It goes something like this:
Spandex, spandex everywhere.
If the problem is not with us, then there is something clearly wrong with the show. I've always been bothered by the obscene amount of weight these contestants lose in a week. I know they throw up that disclaimer that all the contestants are monitored. I know that they are isolated on that ranch with nothing to do but work out probably 8 or more hours a day. I also know there is no way that losing that much weight that quickly is good for them.
Has anyone else noticed how almost all of the previous contestants gain some if not all their weight back? They brought multiple contestants back in season 15 alone to discuss how difficult it is to maintain that weight loss and how unrealistic their environment is at the ranch compared to the real world. Other contestants have come clean on how they would take pills or starve themselves to lose the weight. Somehow, I think the show has gone astray from it's original intent.
Then there is the advertising. I'm aware no television show can exist without sponsors; however, the only sponsor that doesn't make my skin crawl is Brita. Cleaner water, all right I'm on board with that. But Lara bars? Yoplait smoothies? Progresso soup? Subway?
You may be shaking your head at this point. Let me break it down.
1. Larabars. Great for energy and a healthy lifestyle, so the show would have you think. Go ahead, chow down on one of those bad boys...if you want to be in a sugar coma until next Wednesday. The cherry pie variant has 23 grams of sugar. There is a lot of debate on the recommended daily recommended (RDA) allowance for sugar, but in general most sources say around 50g max.
That one Larabar is 46% of your RDA for sugar. You may think you can balance this out with your other meals, but everything has sugar, even in minute amounts, and let me tell you it adds up quickly. I actively try to pay attention to my sugar intake. I do not have a sweet tooth whatsoever and yet I often have a hard time staying below the 50g mark.
My other beef with Larabars? Where's the protein? If you are going to seriously try to sell me something as a health food, it had better bring something to the table. That cherry pie Larabar? 5g of protein. That is pathetic and so not worth my time.
You want a real protein bar sans all the sugar? Check out pure protein soft baked (double chocolate vanilla and double chocolate peanut butter). They have 190 calories, around the same as the cherry pie Larabar, but with 17g of protein and only 5g of sugar.
So many Americans (well probably the entire world honestly) know so little about nutrition. So many of the people I know focus solely on calories and then don't understand why they aren't losing weight.
"But I'm only eating 1200 calories a day!!! Why can't I lose weight?"
Possibly because the 1200 calorie myth is parroted across the web without any research to back up its claim. It is also known as the bare minimum. If you want to learn more about its origins, check out my blog post here.
If you exercise or have an active job/lifestyle you will need a heck of a lot more than 1200 calories. First, you need to calculate your BMR to see how many calories you need just to exist. You can find a calculator here. My BMR is 1491. That is 291 over the very basic minimum everyone talks about.
Once you have your BMR, you need to calculate your daily caloric need based on your activity level. There are some pretty basic equations for this with the Harris-Benedict method:
Now let's say I wanted to lose weight, in general you need to burn 3500 calories to lose one lb. Thus, if I merely wanted to do this from diet, I would cut 500 calories per day from food resulting in a total of 1500-1800 calories. This would burn around a pound per week. Of course this is all very basic and there are other factors.
So why am I telling you all this?
Because think how many calories these contestants must be burning and/or not eating to drop 10+ pounds in a week. I don't count the first week on the show as I am a firm believer that a good chunk of that weight loss is water weight. So let's say week two or five or whatever a contestant pulls the coveted double digits. This means they would have burned 35,000 calories more than they consumed. That is insane.
But whatever, there are doctors monitoring their health and meals being planned for them...it's totally ok, right? Sure.
2. Yoplait smoothies. I won't go into the sugar rant again since I just got derailed from Larabars getting all angry about it. At first glance it does not look like the end of the world. It has fruit it in (albeit frozen, but better than no fruit at all) and 10g of sugar (not nearly as bad as the Larabar). However, that is for half a pouch. Show of hands, how many people eat the whole pouch because you can't easily dump out half of it and reseal it for later? That's another thing I see that tricks people.
"But it only has 70 calories!!"
Wrong. One serving is 70 calories, one serving prepared has 110. The whole pouch is 220 calories, which really isn't a lot at all if you are using it as a meal replacement (I personally do not see a smoothie as a meal; I've tried and I am hungry again within the hour). However, that whole pouch has 20g of sugar.
People also similarly misunderstand other nutrition labels as well. They very rarely pay attention to portion size and even when they do, how many do you think actually stop to make sure they're only getting 2/3 cup of whatever they are eating out of a container with 2.5 servings? Not many is my guess.
So many people get caught up with counting calories and nothing else or strange fad diets requiring you to cut all carbs or all dairy or all something. Pro tip: If the diet calls for extreme measures, it will not work for the long term. If you want to get serious about your health, you need to be serious about your nutrition. Does never eating bread again sound normal to you?
Basically, extreme diets are crap as is only paying attention to calories. At the very least, you need to watch sodium, sugar, and fats (especially what kind of fats, as some are necessary and others not so much). Yes, it is more difficult; however, this is your life. You only get one. Don't throw years of it away because it's easier to ignore the nutrition label.
Now about that sodium...
3. Progresso soup. Low fat, low calories, what's not to love? Sodium. Holy crap, all the sodium. Their light chicken noodle soup? 690mg of sodium in one serving. How many of you only eat half the can? If you're like me 70 calories and half a can of soup does not a meal make. If you slurp down that whole can, you just had 1380mg of sodium. The RDA is 2300mg. In other words, that soup is 60% of your RDA for sodium and, much like sugar, sodium is in everything. The Center for Disease Control reported that Americans over the age of 2 consume on average 3436mg of sodium per day.
Check out that link to see the dangers of excessive sodium intake, then get back to me on if it now annoys you that the Biggest Loser pushes Progresso as healthy.
4. Subway. And Jared. But mostly Subway. I get it, out of most of the fast food options, Subway is probably the healthiest one out there. That by no means makes it healthy. Being the best of the worst is not usually something to brag about.
So what's my beef with their Fresh Fit menu? Once again, sodium. The 6 inch turkey breast (assuming you get it exactly as advertised and don't put any condiments on it) has 670mg of sodium. The Black Forest Ham? 800mg. The Sweet Onion Chicken Teriyaki? 770mg of sodium and 16g of sugar. And these are just the 6 inch subs. Obviously, this doubles if you got a foot long. I could go on but I think you get the point. Oh wait, did you pick up a bag of Doritos as well (as a treat since you were being so healthy by going to subway)? Add on an additional 180mg of sodium.
5. This is a brand new issue I have with the Biggest Loser. Never in my life have I sat so horrified as I watched the final three reveal themselves.Bobby looked great and David looked fine. There was something a little off about his skin, but that could just be chalked up to massive weight loss in a short period of time. Often times, the skin just doesn't snap back. All the same, he looked a little too thin in the face.However, he looked an absolute vision of robust health compared to Rachel.
Now let's take a closer look at her face
This girl is 24 years old...so why does her skin look so taut and dry? Why has she seemingly aged dramatically? Some are making claims of malnourishment, others defend her saying it is simply because of the dramatic weight loss.
This was how Bob and Jillian reacted to her transformation:
Shock and horror. Bonus, check out Tanya's face in the upper right. Those were pretty much all of my reactions.
Rachel went from class III obesity to underweight. She is 5'4. At 105 that puts her BMI at 18; 18.5 is the bare minimum to be in your healthy weight range. I don't put a ton of stock in BMI since plenty of people can have a really high BMI but be incredibly healthy. BMI cannot distinguish between muscle weight and body fat weight. However, it is clear from just looking at her that something is very wrong.
So where were the doctors who supposedly monitor the contestants? The experts? I'm guessing once the semi-finale is over the contestants go home and the doctors say sayonara.
You can watch her big reveal below.
UPDATE: Bob and Jillian have posted the following message to their facebook:
What an utter load of tripe. Not her trainers? I'm sorry, did the contestants not all go back to singles? Were you not all working with each and every one of them? Do you not have eyes? If you even saw her after the semi-finale then you are culpable.
That being said, I don't think they saw her. I think once the semi-finale is over, the final three go home to take a crack at it on their own where they can engage in horrific tactics. Apparently they are allowed to do pretty much anything short of taking drugs. Check out this article for a full report on excessive dehydration, urinating blood, and more.
Samantha Bookwalter is currently Associate Web Content Manager for Health Supplement Wholesalers. She specializes in web editing, copyediting, SEO, HTML, CSS, and other web-related acronyms. Samantha has an affinity for health and fitness; in her free time she enjoys working out with her husband and researching recipes that are not only healthy but delicious too.
I am a Biggest Loser addict, I will admit it up front. I'm a health and fitness junkie and I cannot tell you what it is about the show that keeps me coming back week after week, season after season. I would like to think it's because I enjoy watching people discovering a new, healthy life style but my dad has an alternate theory. It goes something like this:
"A producer sat down one day all excited. He had the idea for the next big hit reality television show. 'Get a bunch of over weight people, put them in spandex, then make them run and cry, at the same time if at all possible. America will love it!' There is something clearly wrong with us."
If the problem is not with us, then there is something clearly wrong with the show. I've always been bothered by the obscene amount of weight these contestants lose in a week. I know they throw up that disclaimer that all the contestants are monitored. I know that they are isolated on that ranch with nothing to do but work out probably 8 or more hours a day. I also know there is no way that losing that much weight that quickly is good for them.
Has anyone else noticed how almost all of the previous contestants gain some if not all their weight back? They brought multiple contestants back in season 15 alone to discuss how difficult it is to maintain that weight loss and how unrealistic their environment is at the ranch compared to the real world. Other contestants have come clean on how they would take pills or starve themselves to lose the weight. Somehow, I think the show has gone astray from it's original intent.
Then there is the advertising. I'm aware no television show can exist without sponsors; however, the only sponsor that doesn't make my skin crawl is Brita. Cleaner water, all right I'm on board with that. But Lara bars? Yoplait smoothies? Progresso soup? Subway?
You may be shaking your head at this point. Let me break it down.
1. Larabars. Great for energy and a healthy lifestyle, so the show would have you think. Go ahead, chow down on one of those bad boys...if you want to be in a sugar coma until next Wednesday. The cherry pie variant has 23 grams of sugar. There is a lot of debate on the recommended daily recommended (RDA) allowance for sugar, but in general most sources say around 50g max.
That one Larabar is 46% of your RDA for sugar. You may think you can balance this out with your other meals, but everything has sugar, even in minute amounts, and let me tell you it adds up quickly. I actively try to pay attention to my sugar intake. I do not have a sweet tooth whatsoever and yet I often have a hard time staying below the 50g mark.
My other beef with Larabars? Where's the protein? If you are going to seriously try to sell me something as a health food, it had better bring something to the table. That cherry pie Larabar? 5g of protein. That is pathetic and so not worth my time.
You want a real protein bar sans all the sugar? Check out pure protein soft baked (double chocolate vanilla and double chocolate peanut butter). They have 190 calories, around the same as the cherry pie Larabar, but with 17g of protein and only 5g of sugar.
So many Americans (well probably the entire world honestly) know so little about nutrition. So many of the people I know focus solely on calories and then don't understand why they aren't losing weight.
"But I'm only eating 1200 calories a day!!! Why can't I lose weight?"
Possibly because the 1200 calorie myth is parroted across the web without any research to back up its claim. It is also known as the bare minimum. If you want to learn more about its origins, check out my blog post here.
If you exercise or have an active job/lifestyle you will need a heck of a lot more than 1200 calories. First, you need to calculate your BMR to see how many calories you need just to exist. You can find a calculator here. My BMR is 1491. That is 291 over the very basic minimum everyone talks about.
Once you have your BMR, you need to calculate your daily caloric need based on your activity level. There are some pretty basic equations for this with the Harris-Benedict method:
- If you are sedentary (little or no exercise) : Calorie-Calculation = BMR x 1.2
- If you are lightly active (light exercise/sports 1-3 days/week) : Calorie-Calculation = BMR x 1.375
- If you are moderatetely active (moderate exercise/sports 3-5 days/week) : Calorie-Calculation = BMR x 1.55
- If you are very active (hard exercise/sports 6-7 days a week) : Calorie-Calculation = BMR x 1.725
- If you are extra active (very hard exercise/sports & physical job or 2x training) : Calorie-Calculation = BMR x 1.9
Now let's say I wanted to lose weight, in general you need to burn 3500 calories to lose one lb. Thus, if I merely wanted to do this from diet, I would cut 500 calories per day from food resulting in a total of 1500-1800 calories. This would burn around a pound per week. Of course this is all very basic and there are other factors.
So why am I telling you all this?
Because think how many calories these contestants must be burning and/or not eating to drop 10+ pounds in a week. I don't count the first week on the show as I am a firm believer that a good chunk of that weight loss is water weight. So let's say week two or five or whatever a contestant pulls the coveted double digits. This means they would have burned 35,000 calories more than they consumed. That is insane.
But whatever, there are doctors monitoring their health and meals being planned for them...it's totally ok, right? Sure.
2. Yoplait smoothies. I won't go into the sugar rant again since I just got derailed from Larabars getting all angry about it. At first glance it does not look like the end of the world. It has fruit it in (albeit frozen, but better than no fruit at all) and 10g of sugar (not nearly as bad as the Larabar). However, that is for half a pouch. Show of hands, how many people eat the whole pouch because you can't easily dump out half of it and reseal it for later? That's another thing I see that tricks people.
"But it only has 70 calories!!"
Wrong. One serving is 70 calories, one serving prepared has 110. The whole pouch is 220 calories, which really isn't a lot at all if you are using it as a meal replacement (I personally do not see a smoothie as a meal; I've tried and I am hungry again within the hour). However, that whole pouch has 20g of sugar.
People also similarly misunderstand other nutrition labels as well. They very rarely pay attention to portion size and even when they do, how many do you think actually stop to make sure they're only getting 2/3 cup of whatever they are eating out of a container with 2.5 servings? Not many is my guess.
So many people get caught up with counting calories and nothing else or strange fad diets requiring you to cut all carbs or all dairy or all something. Pro tip: If the diet calls for extreme measures, it will not work for the long term. If you want to get serious about your health, you need to be serious about your nutrition. Does never eating bread again sound normal to you?
Basically, extreme diets are crap as is only paying attention to calories. At the very least, you need to watch sodium, sugar, and fats (especially what kind of fats, as some are necessary and others not so much). Yes, it is more difficult; however, this is your life. You only get one. Don't throw years of it away because it's easier to ignore the nutrition label.
Now about that sodium...
3. Progresso soup. Low fat, low calories, what's not to love? Sodium. Holy crap, all the sodium. Their light chicken noodle soup? 690mg of sodium in one serving. How many of you only eat half the can? If you're like me 70 calories and half a can of soup does not a meal make. If you slurp down that whole can, you just had 1380mg of sodium. The RDA is 2300mg. In other words, that soup is 60% of your RDA for sodium and, much like sugar, sodium is in everything. The Center for Disease Control reported that Americans over the age of 2 consume on average 3436mg of sodium per day.
Check out that link to see the dangers of excessive sodium intake, then get back to me on if it now annoys you that the Biggest Loser pushes Progresso as healthy.
4. Subway. And Jared. But mostly Subway. I get it, out of most of the fast food options, Subway is probably the healthiest one out there. That by no means makes it healthy. Being the best of the worst is not usually something to brag about.
So what's my beef with their Fresh Fit menu? Once again, sodium. The 6 inch turkey breast (assuming you get it exactly as advertised and don't put any condiments on it) has 670mg of sodium. The Black Forest Ham? 800mg. The Sweet Onion Chicken Teriyaki? 770mg of sodium and 16g of sugar. And these are just the 6 inch subs. Obviously, this doubles if you got a foot long. I could go on but I think you get the point. Oh wait, did you pick up a bag of Doritos as well (as a treat since you were being so healthy by going to subway)? Add on an additional 180mg of sodium.
5. This is a brand new issue I have with the Biggest Loser. Never in my life have I sat so horrified as I watched the final three reveal themselves.Bobby looked great and David looked fine. There was something a little off about his skin, but that could just be chalked up to massive weight loss in a short period of time. Often times, the skin just doesn't snap back. All the same, he looked a little too thin in the face.However, he looked an absolute vision of robust health compared to Rachel.
Now let's take a closer look at her face
This girl is 24 years old...so why does her skin look so taut and dry? Why has she seemingly aged dramatically? Some are making claims of malnourishment, others defend her saying it is simply because of the dramatic weight loss.
This was how Bob and Jillian reacted to her transformation:
Shock and horror. Bonus, check out Tanya's face in the upper right. Those were pretty much all of my reactions.
Rachel went from class III obesity to underweight. She is 5'4. At 105 that puts her BMI at 18; 18.5 is the bare minimum to be in your healthy weight range. I don't put a ton of stock in BMI since plenty of people can have a really high BMI but be incredibly healthy. BMI cannot distinguish between muscle weight and body fat weight. However, it is clear from just looking at her that something is very wrong.
So where were the doctors who supposedly monitor the contestants? The experts? I'm guessing once the semi-finale is over the contestants go home and the doctors say sayonara.
You can watch her big reveal below.
"Bob and I want to take a moment to congratulate all of the BL contestants on their hard work. We're not comfortable commenting on Rachel’s journey because weren't her trainers and weren't given an opportunity to work with her at any point. Any questions about the contestants on the Biggest Loser should be directed to the show’s producers."
What an utter load of tripe. Not her trainers? I'm sorry, did the contestants not all go back to singles? Were you not all working with each and every one of them? Do you not have eyes? If you even saw her after the semi-finale then you are culpable.
That being said, I don't think they saw her. I think once the semi-finale is over, the final three go home to take a crack at it on their own where they can engage in horrific tactics. Apparently they are allowed to do pretty much anything short of taking drugs. Check out this article for a full report on excessive dehydration, urinating blood, and more.
About Samantha Bookwalter
Google+Samantha Bookwalter is currently Associate Web Content Manager for Health Supplement Wholesalers. She specializes in web editing, copyediting, SEO, HTML, CSS, and other web-related acronyms. Samantha has an affinity for health and fitness; in her free time she enjoys working out with her husband and researching recipes that are not only healthy but delicious too.
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