I did a mile long walk yesterday and my knee survived. It was a little bit tight at the end but I made it. It was also another mile to and from the car. I hope to avoid knee replacement surgery for a while yet. I have been using the elliptical for the last couple of weeks. It is good because there isn't any impact. I am hoping to get back to spinning classes soon too. I might try taking my bike out this week. It is supposed to warm up quite a bit. I planted most of my herb garden yesterday. I wanted to plant my flower pots but they didn't have the plants I wanted yet. Hopefully we are finished with frost here. Technically it is 2 more weeks.
We have tons of spinach from the garden so I guess I will be eating a lot of that. Our asparagus isn't doing as well as it should, hopefully the snow a couple of weeks ago didn't ruin it.
Pat

I have decided to challenge myself this month to complete all the hikes in the local parks "Spree For All". There are 13 hikes in all, none over a mile. Officially you only need to do 5 during May and June to get the pin.

Hi Ladies! I thought I would pop in and see how y'all are doing. Congrats to the losers! I am sadly sitting with the 'gainers' group but hey life happens. I hope to get back in the pool this week & start working out. Keep up the good work, Ladies! I'll pop back over as the month goes on.

Hi all, I can't believe I got through the weekend without too much trouble. I'm finding it hard to be on WW for the, hopefully, last time. I'm a widow and haven't done much cooking in the last 5 years, just having myself a ball with eating everything and anything. WW says you could do that but with portion control. Boy was I out of control! LOL Wishing everyone a good week, let me know if I can help in any way. I'm a better cheer leader than a dieter.

Count me in for this month. Meanmom, You and I seem to be in the same boat when it comes to knees. I had arthroscopic surgery about 8 weeks 9 weeks ago and although I didn't have any knee problems prior to the injury, since there were arthritic changes found with the MRI and part of the Meniscus is now gone, I am feeling the effects. That is one of the reasons I need to get this excess weight off. My surgeon has been very kind and has never said anything about the excess weight and I did tell him today that I have made that a priority since I know that the less weight I have on this joint the more time I will buy. I have read that for each 5 pounds of weight lost, it's like taking 15 pounds off of the impact on the joint.
Good luck everyone. I am going to continue with one day at a time and keep tracking on My Fitness Pal. By the way if you have a 5S I phone and you use My Fitness Pal, you can now download a new program to track your steps without any loss of battery power. I know that there may be other phones that the program is also compatible with but I am not sure which ones.

I am waiting to hear from someone and then I will post the winner for April. I hope I have remembered to PM everyone my address to mail their FQ. If not send me a reminder please.
I meet with my health coach tomorrow. Hopefully she will have some good advice for me. It is going to be a tough month. It is teacher appreciation week this week. I came in this morning to a lounge full of donuts and a new Kurig machine for us. I ate about 1/4 of a donut. I can usually avoid those. Wednesday the principal is providing lunch, Thurs we are having a party for our student teacher who is leaving and Friday the PTA is buying us lunch. I am supposed to go to Olive Garden on Wednesday night for a retirement party. We are also celebrating all of the summer birthdays this month so that will be more fancy lunches. I always pack my lunch. I have a really hard time behaving when we order lunch in. I hope the health coach has some good advice.
Yes I know getting the weight off will help my knee. That is one of the reasons I am here. The surgeon can't fix my meniscus because I will have nothing left if he does I have been getting Uflexa shots( no idea how to spell it) for several years. They have been working pretty well until the last month or so. I'm not due for another one until the end of June. I can feel my knee clicking on the stairs and I am losing flexibility lately. I am doing exercises etc. Hopefully I can avoid the surgery a little bit longer. I told the surgeon when it starts keeping me from doing what I want to do he can fix it. It is getting close lately.
Pat

Are the shots painful to the knee? My surgeon is talking about doing an Ortho Visc. injection in 4 weeks unless there is vast improvement. It's strange that I had no pain in my right knee until the radial tear to the meniscus and only found out about the arthritis because it was found on the MRI. Oh well, one day at a time.

I wouldn't call the shot painful but they are definatly uncomfortable. Ortho Visc is the same thing that I get. It makes your knee feel too full and tight. It is usually tight the rest of the evening and it is fine the next day. It helps me tremendously. The last shot was the only one I would call painful. I assume this is because he added cortisone to it. I could barely walk to my car. As long as I didn't walk it was fine. Usually I am able to stop at the grocery or something on the way home. I often ice it the day of the shot. Mine have been lasting about 6 months up until this one. Part of the problems now i am sure are the fact that I haven't been exercising. The other thing that I think has agrivated it is the walking program at work. When we would walk in the parking lot the whole thing is slanted and it put a lot of pressure on my knee. I am hoping to get it back in shape to avoid surgery a little bit longer. I am up to 12 minutes on the elliptical. I am giving it a few weeks and if it doesn't shape up I'm calling the surgeon. Good luck.
If you had part of your meniscus removed that is part of the cushioning in your knee. That is why the arthritis is bothering you more.

Thanks for the input on the Ortho Visc injections. Apparently there is now a one time injection that can be used instead of the three or four injections. It has been FDA approved but they are working out the details to be able to have it paid for by the insurance since it is so new. At this point I just want to feel good again. I have come a long way since this I tore my meniscus at work on Jan. 29th but would like to gain back as much mobility and flexibility as possible.

I have arthritis, too, but thankfully not many injuries. My knees click going up and down stairs, my hips hurt, my back hurts chronically, and sometimes my ankles and wrists hurt. Everything definitely feels better when I exercise regularly but don't over do it. Lately, I've been waking up feeling more stiff than normal. I think that means it's time for a new mattress. I hate shopping for a mattress!!

I did ok with food on Friday and Saturday, but Sunday went a little crazy. Trying to make good choices today. Yes, Pat, there are going to be a lot of temptations in school this week. We had our staff meeting yesterday and I only had 3 Starbursts!! I was very happy with myself because there was a table loaded down with sweets. I feel good about my choice not to eat it. I just stuck with the lunch I brought from home.