Baywatch babe battles bellicose butterfly

I've discovered a new place to go for the latest celebrity pics and articles, and found this one last night about "Baywatch" actress Gina Lee  Nolin.  Turns out she has been battling thyroid disease since her teen years.

Pamela Anderson, Yasmine Bleeth Gina Lee Nolin

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2020557/Baywatch-actress-Gena-Lee-Nolin-tells-diagnosis-took-years-I-battled-thyroid-illness-Baywatch-bathing-suit.html

I was never a fan of "Baywatch", and I don't think I ever watched one episode.  However, I did see pics of the skimpy red bathing suits over the years, and I now think this woman should be given a gigantic medal of honor.  She was battling an underactive thyroid and Hashimoto's,  and had to get into that bathing suit every day, and go on film??  How she did not have a massive mental breakdown is beyond me.  Just the thoughts of putting on a bathing suit invokes a PTSD response in me at the start of every summer or winter vacation that involves heat and sun.  (See February posts before we went on our cruise.)  And I have figured out which brands, in my mind, seem to hide a multitude of sins, bulges and rolls.  That "Baywatch" suit doesn't hide much of anything.  I don't know why she's coming out with the story now, but I'm glad she did.  Seeing someone like her and actress Sofia Vergara give me a little hope that it might just be possible to keep the weight issues under control.  Some of the details that Nolin gives seem strange to me, like she felt better three days after starting thyroid hormone replacement meds--no, it takes 4-6 weeks for that.  And that she was able to get pregnant and carry to term with an underactive thyroid.  Still, I could relate to her description of symptoms and responses from doctors.

And I'm making progress!  I have done some form of exercise EVERY DAY (except for one) out of the last 18 days.  Every day!!  I've walked, ridden the stationary bike, used my little weights...and I've been using caloriecount.about.com to keep me fairly honest about food intake.  That has made a difference.  But even better is that I am starting to feel a difference in some of my clothes, and that is huge.  I think my bathing suit that I bought in February was a little gappy in places.  Even if it is in my mind, it feels a hell of a lot better than before.

Also, Good Housekeeping apparently published an article about a woman with thyroid difficulties, and all of the thyroid support websites are up in arms that the article was full of misinformation and a  "blame the patient" viewpoint.  I haven't read the actual article yet because I don't buy Good Housekeeping (why?  I'm an excellent housekeeper, better than good.  Ha. ) and I couldn't find it on their website.  The DearThyroid site had some info and responses to it on their site.

I'm back home to tackle the two condos after a nice break with Sis in NH.  We went to the beach, ate lots of farm food and hung out.  It was really nice to spend time with her in her corner of NH paradise.  She says her garden isn't doing as well as last year, but it looks pretty good to me.  She planted all kinds of red flowers, so there were hummingbirds all over the place.  I didn't see any bears, but I did see a fox running through the backyard with a chipmunk dangling from his mouth.

Can't believe today is the last day of July.  Mr. Wonderful is off playing with his fire truck for the day, so I'm on my own to clean out more stuff.  Have to go pedal for a half hour first.  Busy reading "The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao" by Junot Diaz--loving it!