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Hi Ladies-
Well, this has been quite a week so far.
My stepbrother passed away a few days ago from a cerebral hemorrhage. I barely knew him, as he lived in another state and we were both adults when our parents married 20 years ago. Sadly, he left behind a wife, 2 sons and 5 grandchildren. He was morbidly obese and an alcoholic, but had all the outward "trappings" of a successful life. Nice house, cars, boat, career, etc., but he didn't value his own health enough to change his lifestyle. He had a minor heart attack about 2 years ago, lost a lot of weight and quit drinking, but then reverted right back to his previous bad habits. While his death really doesn't affect me personally, I worry about my stepfather, who I really love and am close to. He is in his 80's, so losing his eldest son is quite a shock. A shock at any age, but more so I think when you are elderly. I also mourn for his family and especially his grandchildren who will never get to know him.
Yesterday, my father-in-law had a terrible fall and hit his head on something. We're not sure exactly what happened, but thank God he was at the medical clinic when it happened. We think he was there at the pharmacy to pick up a prescription when he lost consciousness and hit something on his way down. He has a purple goose egg on his head the size of a baseball! We spent all day yesterday at the Emergency Dept while they did CT scans and MRI's. Apparently, they also did CPR on him at the clinic because they didn't feel a pulse, so he is bruised all over his chest and his heart is enlarged. They have him stableized now, but we still haven't heard the results of his last MRI. He has a lot of health problems already and was scheduled for bladder cancer surgery mid-November. Now everything is up in the air. I'm very torn about whether to let my sons know about this. My oldest son and family are in NYC on a work/vacation trip. I hate to make them worry if everything turns out to be OK. My youngest son is not speaking to us, but he has been close to his grandfather in the past. I don't want to use this event as an avenue to initiate contact between us, but I also don't want to keep it from him. I'm just so torn. What a freaking mess.
To add to the fun, I have had this awful gastrointestinal thing going on for nearly a week. Pain and discomfort in my stomach, which I thought might be pancreatitis (right upper quadrant area radiating into my back). I really haven't wanted to go to the doctor about it. I had some gastric issues about a month ago (pain on the other side) and went to the doctor who put me on a bunch of meds. Then I had a very serious reaction to one of the meds and almost went to the ER thinking I was having a stroke! This time I am going to wait it out and see how I do. Of course, to add to the confusion, my mother and I ate at Chipotle (a healthy Mexican chain restaurant) about 10 days ago. Now they have shut down 45 of the restaurants in Oregon and Washington due to a widespread e. coli outbreak. The one we ate at was one of the 4 in Oregon with confirmed cases. I haven't had any vomiting or diarrhea, but my mom did for 2-3 days about a week ago. I don't know if it's possible to have "mild" e. coli? I've heard it is horrific, so maybe we were lucky to not get it. I don't know. I just know I'm tired of having tummy troubles.
SO, the only slightly good thing to come of the gastric issues is that I have lost weight. Not a good way to do it, but I have had to eat very light the past week. Since last Friday when I was about 161, I'm now down to 158. I'm starting to eat a bit more last couple days so we'll see if I can hang onto the 150's.
Lin- Glad to hear that your test results came out well. That's good news!! Your doctor is just looking for a reason for your Afib events. Since the tests were all negative, I would venture a guess that it is entirely stress related. I have had similar episodes in the past, was on the heart monitor, echocardiogram, EKGs and all that. More than one time in my life, actually. Seems like each time it was always following some stressful event (not during). I am always calm in the face of chaos and emergencies, but then have physical symptoms afterwards. Even yesterday, I was fine through all the craziness of rushing to the hospital, waiting for test results on my father-in-law, comforting my sister-in-laws, etc. Then last night as we were heading home I started having chest pains. I have a feeling all the stress with your daughter might be behind these events. Once you get started exercising again (don't overdo it), that might make you feel better. My gastro issues are probably related to all the stress from the situation with my son and his wife. The mind/body connection is a strong one and we don't really pay enough attention to it (in my opinion).
Aliza - re: the calorie burn. When I first started on MFP, I kept comparing the calorie burn on my treadmill to the one on MFP. I was kind of obsessed with it for awhile. One day I even wore two different pedometers while on my treadmill, then compared all 4! (Kind of silly, but I wanted to see the difference.) Then I got a fitness tracker (Vivofit) and did the same when I would go for walks (fitness tracker on my wrist, pedometer on my waist, and the MapMyWalk app on my phone). They were ALWAYS different. Sometimes WAY different! Mostly now, I just wear the Vivofit to give me an idea of my step count and I enter the time into MFP and just go with that. It was kind of fun to keep track of it for awhile, though. You and I are hovering around the same weight, it seems. I'm sure you'll be back in the 150's very soon! Just curious, how tall are you? I am 5'5".
Sorry for the long post, but this is a nice place to come and share life's trials and (hopefully soon) triumphs!
Have a good day ladies!
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UPDATE: My father-in-law had a stroke and a seizure. He is now awake and recognizing family, but the doctor also said he is exhibiting signs of dementia. He might need to go to a rehabilitation facility for awhile. We will go back to the hospital this afternoon and assess the situation ourselves. His daughters are there with him right now.
I called both my sons to tell them, so that was a big step for me (for the younger one, that is). It wasn't something I felt we should keep to ourselves, as they do love their grandfather. My younger son and his wife are going to stop by and see him sometime today.
My husband had to work today. He was off Monday and Tuesday and at the hospital most of Wednesday, so he had to go in or risk his job. Since I will wait to go back to the hospital until he gets home, I decided to take myself to the pool and work off some of the stress. It was a very good decision and I feel much better for it.0 -
It is nice to be able to come here and share what's going on in our lives, isn't it?
I already said this....but sorry about your step brother. It's sad that he couldn't change his ways permanently and now leaves behind a wife, kids and grandchildren way too early.
Hope everything works out with your father-in-law. My husband lost his dad last year, and his mom the beginning of this year. They were both in their 90's and did have good long happy lives. My husband was lucky though because one of his sisters is a nurse who never married and lived up near the parents. I also said she kept them alive all those years taking them to doctors appts, etc. But when Ron's folks did get sick......she was the one who took care of them. Is your mother-in-law still alive? You didn't mention her.
I'm glad you talked to both of your sons. Even though he wasn't talking to you before, I'm sure he appreciated the call about his grandfather. Hopefully this will open the door and he will start talking to you again.
Hopefully you and your mom were not suffering from e-coli and it was just a stomach bug. Luckily the worst of stomach bugs doesn't last long....but your tummy can be sensitive for days afterwards. Congrats on making it into the 150's! I'll cross my fingers for you that you stay there too and don't see those 160's again.
It is amazing what stress can do to a body. Oh...and evidently my son-in-law had a fight with his girlfriend and moved his stuff back home last night. But....my daughter told the 15 yo granddaughter that dad will probably make up with the girlfriend and he was only staying for the 1 night. My granddaughter texted me all that. I told her keep me posted. In the meantime I ended up with Mickey and her brother Colten anyway. They came over for girl scouts and ended up staying overnight and all day with me. My daughter picked them up at 4:30 this afternoon. She did thank me for watching them but didn't say much else. I pretty much ignored her when she was here..but she was in a hurry anyway because the kids have karate tonight. I felt bad for not talking hardly at all to her, but I just don't know what's going on with her anymore and I really am trying to avoid stress at all costs.
We'll see what happens next.
Ok...so I have my son's 2 littlest kids here overnight. Just fed them dinner. I ate a can of progresso light soup for dinner and a salad. Wasn't really hungry at all today. If kids go to be early, I may have time to get some exercise in. I'm thinking about doing a WATP video. I have some of them....but you can find them on youtube also.
Later, everyone!0 -
Wow! Rae, I'm SO SO sorry for all the family sadness. Hang in there!
Maybe your younger son will take this opportunity to re-new some kind of relationship with you. That would be good, right?
I'm in a rush. Hope to get back here soon to get caught up with you guys. I've been barely finding time to read your postings and haven't had time to reply. But I"m here and feeling for you both!
I lost the pound I gained but still solidly at 160.
Cheers!0 -
Morning ladies!
My father-in-law is doing better. Sitting up and talking to people. When we saw him last night he seemed to recognize us. He thinks he was in a car accident and that's why he's in the hospital. To your question, Lin. My husband lost his mother and his stepmother within the past few years, both from cancer. Surprisingly, they were the best of friends, so it was doubly sad. We helped to provide hospice care for both of them. My father-in-law has now survived 3 wives and he's always been the one with the worst health problems. My husband, who is just a rock emotionally, really had a rough time last night. I know this is super hard for him.
Re: my son - when I talked to him yesterday I did ask him whether or not he had any intention of speaking to his family anytime in the near future. He said, "this will all be over soon", so I'm not sure exactly what that means. That they're almost ready to talk to us again and we're supposed to be grateful???? Frankly, I'm so mad about the situation I'm not ready to just come running whenever they decide they want to let us back into their lives. I think we have some hard roads ahead of us and they will also have to work on rebuilding relationships with us. I have always done everything in my power to be good to this woman and I've given her way too much power in the family - always catering to her whims, etc. He did say, "I love you mom" before he hung up. I know he does love us, but his wife is such a controlling you-know-what, that he is willing to risk his relationships with his family in order to keep peace with her. He and his wife did go see my father-in-law at the hospital, brought flowers and food for everyone there. Nobody knows about this rift, so they all just think she is SO wonderful! She's a wolf in sheep's clothing, is what she is. Oh well, this too shall pass eventually.
Lin - I just want to punch your son-in-law in the throat! I don't even know him, but he sounds like a real piece of work and is taking such advantage of your daughter's love (obsession) for him. What a jerk!
Aliza - good news on the pound loss!
Today I am spending the day with my sister. She's had some weird neurological things going on (numbness in her head and face), so I'm going with her to the University hospital in Portland for an MRI. It's about an hour away from here, so we're going to make a day of it. Go to lunch, then MRI, then shopping at the outlet mall. She's going to drop me off at the hospital when we get back, so I'll meet my husband there.
Hope you ladies are having a good day!0 -
I usually weigh every Saturday AM even though I weigh myself during the week sometimes. Well, this morning I am 176.7. That's 3.1 pounds down from last Saturday. Surprised but happy about that.
So...the cardiologist office called me yesterday afternoon. Seems my recent bloodwork showed I am low in iron. I have to go get more bloodwork done this week to check it again...and I think they are going to want to do a stool sample also since I went through menopause over 10 years ago so having your period and having low iron wouldn't apply to me. I also rarely eat red meat...and I really haven't been eating much that would be considered high in iron. The doctor doesn't have me on any iron supplements yet. So today I when I go food shopping, for starters I will pick up some spinach and maybe some iron fortified cereal I can eat for breakfast.
Update on my daughter and her husband. And this is going to be long but thanks for letting me vent...
So last Wednesday he brought all his stuff home from the girlfriend's and my daughter even drove him to the girlfriend's apartment in the evening (45 minutes away) so he could ride his motorcycle home. However, my daughter did tell my 15 yo granddaughter that he had a fight with his girlfriend and he is only staying for 1 night. Thursday he went to work and didn't go back to the house that night. My 11 1/2 yo granddaughter heard her mom talking to him on their way home from karate and my granddaughter said, and I quote "mom was counseling him on how to make up with the girlfriend." Can you believe this or what? Anyway....the 11 yo granddaughter and her 10 yo brother spent Thursday and Friday with me because they had no school. However, my daughter didn't ask me to watch them...she had my granddaughter call me and ask me if I could come pick them up so they could come to my house. My daughter did call me Thursday around 4:30 to tell me she was coming to pick up the kids (for karate) and she did thank me for watching them on Thursday. However yesterday......the kids were here again as I did pick them up again Friday AM when they called me and said their mom said they could come over again. At 4:30 I heard the garage door opening and I assumed it was my husband coming home from work. NOT! It was my son in law the jerk. He let himself into the garage (he punched in the security code to open to garage door) and just came in without knocking. My daughter never called me to tell me he was picking up the kids. He walked in with such an air of arrogance. He was being loud and acting like everything was fine. Then he picked up my 21 month old granddaughter (my son's daughter) and said "Hi Lucie, it's Uncle Lenny! Can you say Uncle Lenny!!" I was so angry my daughter didn't warn me he was coming to pick up their kids. He also has no right to just walk into my house uninvited and without even knocking. I told him to just get the kids and leave. He says "What's the matter, Lin-da?" in his very condescending voice. So....I told him to just leave because if I never have to see him again that would make me very happy. He then told the kids that they'd better go "before grandma had another heart attack", and he told them "you probably won't be seeing her again." Then he went into the next room and started talking to my son's 4 year old boy. By this time I was furious. I walked up to him and told him that we all know he failed at his relationship with my daughter, but evidently he is also a failure at his relationship with his girlfriend. I said that since I knew he had fought with her and returned home Wednesday, even though I knew he was back there Thursday and I didn't know if he and the girlfriend had made up or not.
Well....that really hit home with him because he just said to the kids "let's go" and he left immediately. I did hear my granddaughter ask him how come he was picking them up on Friday. She asked him this since during this whole time he was only seeing the kids on Tuesday evenings and Saturdays while he's been with girlfriend....except when my daughter found reasons or made them up to get him to the house and away from the girlfriend. I heard him say that "mom was going on with friends tonight."
So...my stress level was kind of high at that point. I called me youngest daughter since I was pretty positive that he would go home and tell my daughter what I said to him and she will probably be mad at me. But my youngest daughter said she was proud of me for telling him to get out. She said her sister should have told me he was picking up the kids, then I could have had him call when he got here and I could have sent the kids out. She also liked the barb I threw at him for being a failure.
Then husband came home. I told him what happened. He said I did the right thing...and he doesn't want the guy just walking in our house uninvited. He thinks our daughter is out of her mind...and he can't stand my son-in-law. He knows my son in law has always been rude and was always making sarcastic remarks to me all these years.
Then my mom called. So I told her. She said she wouldn't have just told him to get out. She said she would have thrown something at him. lol My mother has never thrown anything at anybody. She can't stand the guy either.
Then my daughter in law showed up to pick up their kids. She can't stand him either and also agreed my daughter should have told me he was picking up the kids...and that we do not have to allow him in the house if we don't
want him here.
The only thing I am worried about is that my daughter will decide to not let the kids see me because of the way I feel about their father. However, the rest of the family said not to worry about that. They said she knows how her husband has always treated me because she has always made excuses for him such as "he's just trying to be funny."
Well....I'll see the 15 old granddaughter tomorrow at girl scout function....so I will take a few minutes to just find out if he is back again for now (as in he is on the outs with the girlfriend). Also....she may have heard them talking and she might know if they still plan on going through mediation or what.
One other thing.....remember just last week my daughter was telling me to buy her a house and rent it to her....and she was planning on just giving their house to her husband and sharing custody with him so he doesn't have to pay child support. Well....15 yo told me that they are now planning on renovating one of the bathrooms. My daughter wanted to do that for years, but her husband always refused to. Now he offered to do the renovations with her. They are crazy.
But.......despite all the stress....I felt good after talking to the rest of my family. I guess we all feel the same about what is going on. My daughter also hasn't contacted me yet and yelled at me for the way I treated her "husband." But when the time comes and I do talk to her, I will tell her that from now on if he is picking up the kids we (her dad and I) want a phone call to tell us he's coming and when he gets here we will send the kids out.
So today I have some laundry to do...and ironing of husband's shirts....but first I'm going to head to grocery store and somewhere else to pick up some rubbermaid bins for material and felt I have that won't fit in the bins I do have.
Be healthy ladies! Talk to you later. And...thanks for letting me vent. It's like therapy for me.
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After eating way more at lunch yesterday and deciding not to eat ANY dinner as a result so |I could be within my calorie goal number, I weighed in today at 158.6. I'm thinking it's an anomaly and I'll be back up to 160 next time I weight in no matter what but it's nice looking at that number for a few minutes.
So I've been struggling with how to respond to your stories. I trained as a couples therapist in grad school and practiced for awhile. Then, after getting certified as a yoga teacher, I went on to get certified as a yoga therapist and practiced that for awhile. My outlook on family behavior comes from all that training and practice. It's so much a part of who I am and how I look at relationship behavior that my interactions with my husband, my kids, grandkids and the world just naturally come from there.
But I try to keep my therapist self outside my friend self.
I think I'm going to prefer not to comment too much other that to genuinely empathize with all you're going through. Families are so complicated. Children inspire the very best and the very worst of our emotions.
If there's a good family therapist around you, maybe you could give that a try. Just to get a different perspective.
Seems like we're all losing weight! That's so great. What are your goals? (I probably knew that once upon a time) Mine is 140 (for now)
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Hi ladies-
Well, it's Monday and the start of a new week. My tummy troubles seem to be back as of last night. Not as bad as before, but still causing me a bit of annoyance. I'm pretty sure it's mostly due to stress. I've never been a "stress eater" as a lot of people are. During times of difficulty, I usually lose my appetite and struggle to eat enough. I used to jokingly say I was either "fat and happy" or "skinny and sad". This is really quite accurate, although I don't really want to be that way anymore. I want to be fit and fabulous!
Lin - I really feel for you and your situation. One thing I would do if I were you is to change the security code on your garage door (if you can) so he can't just waltz in without notice. I think it's a good idea for you to let your daughter know she needs to call you if he is coming to pick up the kids. That is setting reasonable boundaries that they both should respect. I wouldn't really worry too much about your daughter not letting the kids see you. They are old enough to reach out to you on their own, so any attempts by your daughter to restrict them from seeing you would probably not work. Especially since you are involved in the girl scout thing with your granddaughter.
I would seek some counseling for yourself, as Aliza suggested. I am seeing a counselor right now and it is helping me deal with the current situation with my son and daughter-in-law. I am just trying to be patient and let them figure things out, but I do miss having a relationship with my son. We have always been a close loving family, so being shut out of his life has been pretty painful.
My father-in-law is doing better. He is in a rehab nursing center right now that is really close to our home, so we can see him often. My husband works only about 2 miles away, so he is stopping in a couple times a day. While he is there (estimated 2 weeks at least) we are going to clean out his house, with his permission, of course. His wife passed away 3 years ago today. Since then the family has helped with basic cleaning, but things have gotten very cluttered and the house needs a deep cleaning. I am hoping he will also let us take his wife's clothes, shoes and personal items to charity. We haven't discussed that specifically, but I'd like to use this opportunity to do that if he will allow it. The house is still filled with her things. I did this for a friend about 10 years ago. His wife had passed away and he just couldn't bring himself to get rid of her things, so I did it for him one day while he was away from the house.
Aliza - congratulations on continuing to see the lower number on the scale! I know how good it feels to be in the 150's again. I had asked you how tall you are, but didn't see your reply.
For myself, my original goal when I joined MFP was to reach 155. I started MFP at about 180. I was thinking about MFP for about 2 weeks before I finally got around to weighing myself and was 178 the day I first weighed-in. I weighed this past Friday and I was 156, so I have lost 22 pounds. I have not seen that number on the scale in at least a decade. Although I recognize the recent loss is mostly because of the tummy troubles, hopefully I can stay in the 150's once I'm back to normal eating patterns. About the goal weight - now that I'm nearly at the weight I had originally wanted, I'm thinking I may want to re-assess. At 155 I'm still technically "overweight" according to the BMI calculator, so I may try to get down to 140-145, which would bump me down out of the "overweight" category into "normal" for my age and height.0 -
I'm kind of a news junkie - although my oldest son tells me that is unhealthy. Whatever. I like to know what's going on in the world. Today I saw a video on CNN of a Palestinian woman attacking an Israeli security guard with a knife! On the video, she was just calmly talking to him and when he looked away for a second, she reached into her purse and grabbed the knife and started stabbing at him. He was not severely injured, and other security guards shot her. I believe she was injured, but not killed.
Made me think of you, Aliza, and what a scary world you are facing right now. This recent event was near Beitar Illit. Is that anywhere close to where you live?0 -
Hi there,
I'm 5'2" so 158 is a lot to carry around on my joints and frame. I'd love to be taller but there you go.
Many of the terrorist knife attacks and attempts to run people over have been not too far from us. Israel is about the size of Rhode Island - tiny - so nothing is too very far. I live about 10 miles north of Jerusalem.
Today two 13 year old Arab boys jumped a train security guard with knives. One was killed and one was seriously injured. I just don't understand terrorist organizations using young boys to carry out terrorist attacks and especially against security guards who are armed! The results are so obvious. They're encouraged to carry out these kinds of things - their families are given a monthly income if someone in the family is a terrorist who's been killed or jailed and there are parades in their honor and even streets named after them. Crazy, crazy, crazy.
I'm home sick today. Scratchy throat, stuffy nose, cough and general achiness. Not getting on the elliptical today so I'm trying not to eat much. Have some sweet potato and carrot soup on right now. Surprisingly, it doesn't have all that many calories.
Changing the locks - GREAT IDEA! Since he came in the garage door, though, I'm guessing it was open. Good time to lock up.
Had a binge last night. A way too long day feeling crappy. I'd been feeling a binge coming on for a couple of days and just let my guard down. Ugh! Back on the wagon today.
I remember being in the low 130's and liking it a lot. But I also remember being in the high 130's when I was 48 years old and looking just fine in my opinion. So I'm aiming for 145 by mid February when we're going to India for 5 weeks (but will be happy to be 150) and 140 when bathing suit weather rolls around again. If I see 132 again in this lifetime, that'd be nice, but I have a feeling that it wouldn't look all that good on me anymore.
Not planning a weigh in until Friday a.m. if I can hold on til then.0 -
Well good morning ladies! It is a drizzly day here in NJ. Continuing to do good with watching calories. Haven't been exercising much.....but I have been busy because I decided to tackle my attic. Woah.....what a mess up was up there! Our house doesn't have a basement....so everything not being used (or only used seasonally) ends up in the attic or the garage....but mostly the attic for stuff we want to keep. It started on Sunday when I decided to purge a bunch of stuff from my craft room and laundry room.....and the logical place to put some of the stuff I didn't want to throw out but don't use much was in the attic. Well....I was up in the attic for hours Sunday and yesterday re-arranging boxes and containers...and labeling them...and I was lugging things to and from the attic a good part of the time. Still have some storage cabinets in the laundry room to go through..and a couple in the craft room.....but made good progress. My husband came home Sunday and again yesterday to find piles in the garage of stuff to throw out, stuff to burn, stuff to donate. I put him in charge of taking care of whatever I put into the garage.
Before I started all this purging/cleaning....I took my measurements over the weekend to see how I was doing. According to the US size charts...I should be wearing a size 16 pants, size 10 top. Well.....pretty accurate since that's what I'm wearing....and happy to say that the size 16's are starting to get loose. I have a couple of size 14 jeans in the closet. I can get them on and zipped....but I figured in a couple more weeks they might actually look good enough on me and I can start wearing them.
Today I am watching my son's youngest 2 kids here at my house....but tomorrow I will have 8 kids here all day. Yikes! Seems my son and my daughter that live in PA....the schools by them are closed tomorrow. So.....my youngest daughter's 4 kids are sleeping here tonight as well as my son's 2 little ones. Then tomorrow morning my son will bring his 2 bigger ones here too. Yep....busy day for me tomorrow.
Aliza....feel better! Soup sounds good! And stay safe over there! When I got married eons ago, I weighed 119 at 5'7". A couple of years after that (I was around 30 at the time)....and after having 3 kids....I weighed in the low 130's, and I remember feeling fat then. lol I would love to weigh 145 again someday, but I'm pretty sure that will never happen, lol. When I was 40 and we lived in Puerto Rico, I think I weighed around that. I know I was still wearing a 2 piece bathing suit. That will never happen again either.
Rae....you feel better too! Sounds like you are going to get a work out helping clean your father-in-law's house.
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I think I might have weighted 119 in high school - our 45th reunion was last month.
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I've been eating bran flakes every AM for breakfast to try to get more iron in me since the lab report from the cardiologist came back that I have low iron. The cardiologist is also supposed to be mailing me a lab order so I can have another blood draw to check it again. Wasn't here yet as of yesterday. In the meantime, I am tracking Vitamin C (needed for iron absorption) and iron here on MFP. According to the cereal box, and according to MFP, I am getting 100% of Vit C and 100% of iron from the 3/4 cup of cereal I am eating each morning. I also don't know if this is why I am getting so many bruises all over my legs and arms. Even some on my torso. I've only noticed this the past 2 days. It could also be because of all the cleaning and hauling stuff around I've been doing purging that craft room and laundry room. Guess I'll find out once I get those 2 rooms done. It's amazing how much stuff you can accumulate in 38 years of marriage. The thing is, when we moved to Puerto Rico 21 years ago, I pretty much purged my household then because while we were living in PR, we had renters staying in our house up here.
My nurse daughter who was supposed to work day shift today ended up working last night instead. She already picked up her kids, and took one of my son's little boys home with her too. So I will only have my son's 3 other children here today. Won't be so hectic here after all.
Oh....and scale gods have been good to me again. I weighed myself this AM.....175.6! Looks like I may make that goal of being under 175 for Thanksgiving!
Aliza....the only high school reunion I went to was the 10th one. My class (of 74) had some kind of get together this summer...and they posted a picture on a FB page. My girlfriend and I couldn't even figure out who most of the people in the photo were. All the women looked old. I can't believe they could have changed that much that we can't even recognize them now. But we couldn't even recognize the only woman in the photo who didn't look that old. Unfortunately, they didn't post the names of the people in the photo either. My friend and I were thinking that we are aging better than some of those women. I did call my mom soon thereafter and thank her for passing on some good genes to me. 0 -
Still 158.6...0
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Hello ladies! Well, it's been a hectic couple of days - running around dealing with father-in-law issues, working on cleaning his house and also arranging a little family get-together at the nursing facility so out-of-town family could see him and each other. Even though it was pretty short my FIL was still quite exhausted from the experience. Not sure it was such a great idea, but some family members were all coming from Washington state at the same time and we had not seen them in nearly a year. My FIL's house is looking better, but we still don't know when he'll be able to come home. They were talking about assisted living for him, but he is adamantly against that so we'll have to figure out something. He is not strong enough to be on his own (and may never be again). Time will tell.
Aliza - awesome that your 150's are holding! I remember you posted something about eating dates. I had some medjool dates in a bag in my fridge. They are hard as a rock, but I hate to throw them away. I put them in a bowl and poured some boiling water on them, hoping they will soften up so I can at least bake with them. I'm thinking of trying some type of granola/snack bar with dates, figs, nuts, cranberries and whatever else I can find. Most of the ones at the store have either gluten or soy or both, which I don't want.
I tried a new yoga pose this week - the pigeon pose. I didn't know my body could do that!! LOL I hope I was doing it right - it was a great stretch in the glutes.
Lin - I've had the same issues with iron and yes, low iron can cause you to bruise more easily. There are some foods that are very high in iron - spinach, liver, and shitake mushrooms, to name a few of the highest ones. A couple years ago when I was having low iron I would make myself a little stir fry with chicken livers, spinach, shitake mushrooms and then scramble an egg in with it. It doesn't sound that good, but it really was pretty tasty. At the time I couldn't take any iron supplements, so I had to do it all with food. My doctor was very surprised when my red cell count was vastly improved at my next blood test. Something to think about. Even if you don't like liver, the other things might help.
I envy you having an attic to store things in. I don't have a basement and our attic space is very, very small. I live in a two story house with the top story built into the attic space. There are very narrow and tiny areas on either side, but it creeps me out to crawl in there so I don't put much in there. I think there's a few boxes of my kids' stuff that hubby stuck in there, but I have no desire to go through any of it! We also have several outbuildings (living in the country) and there's furniture and lots of junk in them, but I don't want to store anything nice like Christmas decorations outside. We have basically turned our unused family room into storage, which is not ideal, but at least it's warm and dry.
Talking about weight in the past got me thinking. I weighed 108 when I got married at 21. I had been sick with bronchitis for several weeks prior to my wedding, so I had a hard time keeping the weight on. Even after the first baby, I dropped back into the 120's-130's for a long time, but once middle age hit that number just went up and up. I remember doing an exercise class once where I weighed 136 when I started. I felt so fat! It is just ridiculous the body perceptions that we have. Now at 155ish, I'm feeling pretty good.
Hope you are both well and having a healthy week!0 -
Hi all,
Pigeon Pose (Eka Pada Rajakapotasana) is a GREAT hip opener and, maybe surprisingly, a pose that's considered a wonderful preparation for sleep. Two of the classes I teach are evening classes (8 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.) and I almost always include the Pigeon Pose. King Pigeon Pose for the daytime classes I teach. You know you can play around with the bent leg position so you can gradually get used to the full position (if your skeletal frame even allows for the full position) and play around with the height of your head to find the place your body wants to be at any given time. Just a suggestion - maybe try Fish Pose (Matsyasana) before Pigeon Pose. You probably know this but in yoga practice it's a good idea to put opposite positions together (back bend positions like Fish Pose before folded forward positions like Pigeon Pose, for instance). It feels soooo good.
I weighed a bit under 125 when I got married and distinctly remember feeling very fat at 148 when my oldest daughter got married. At 152, feeling MORE than fat, I joined MFP for the first time (or something like MFP).
I once saw a stand up comedian who said - "Look in the mirror. What you see is what you'll DREAM of looking like ten years from now." How true is that?
Clutter -
When we made a yoga studio out of two of the bedrooms in our house about 2 years ago, I had to get rid of a ridiculous amount of stuff. Carted a bunch off to various children. Sold some. Gave away much much more. Finally put the remainder out on the lawn one beautiful weekend and threw away the picked over remainders at the end. We actually have a very big space for storage upstairs but the stairs are the kind that pull down/fold down and there's no electricity or windows up there. I always feel like there are more spiders, dust and who knows what else lurking up there to make it worthwhile going up there.
About 15 years ago I had one of my sons go up there when I wasn't home and throw out absolutely everything (without even looking at it - looking is the kiss of death to getting rid of clutter) except for a couple of boxes of photos and momentos (including, reportedly, two tickets to Woodstock) of my husband's. I'm guessing that old stuff of his is not in any kind of condition that's worth saving anymore but I'm not going up there to check.
On the other hand, about ten years ago I finally threw out a suede jacket with fringe and now it's back in fashion and, even though I laughed and swore I'd NEVER wear fringe again, I'm seriously contemplating it. It's so cute.
Big wedding bash this evening. Formal wear, lots of way too loud music and WAY MORE unnecessary, delicious food. I'm not weighing in for a week.
Btw, Rae, did you know that there are people whose job it is to go through people's stuff and put it in labeled boxes in an orderly way? I think they make big bucks. Sounds like you have a calling.
Hugs, Ladies!
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Hi Everyone,
Thanks so much for the group invitation -- I've been looking for a group just like this, 50+ and a smallish size to keep up with. I joined a few on FB but the size of the groups got to be a tad overwhelming. So, I'm excited to be here!
Well, about me: I'll be 52 next month, married 27 years, mother of 2 daughters (19 and 16) and work full time. As a woman in my 20's I honestly didn't have a weight problem, but that changed during graduate school when I joined Weight Watchers and loved the program and made lifetime. Now, I've gone back several times over the years, still think it's a good program, but I frankly get tired of all the marketing; I have more books, planners, calculators and other expensive branded WW stuff than I know what to do with.
So, now I'm using a FitBit flex to (try) to get moving more and MFP for tracking food, activity and water. I did have them synched, but I thought the way the FitBit activity was imported into MFP was a little funky, so now I just manually record time spent in activity instead.
For relaxation (ha!), I enjoy reading a variety of novel genres, crafting (especially crochet, although I don't do anything super complicated) and watercolor painting. I'm also a huge fan of several TV shows: "The Walking Dead" and "Downton Abbey" in particular.
My goals: I'm 5'4" and smidge over 150 lbs, which troubles me greatly given that clothes don't fit me anymore, I get tired easily, I feel bloated, blah, blah, blah. Ideally, I would love to lose 25-30 lbs and keep it off, despite my now-very-slow metabolism. I recently got a recumbent bike, which is great on my back, and I love it alot. I have an ancient treadmill that still works, but would like to get one that has the shocks/padding so that walking is less painful. I also have tons of yoga/zumba/workout videos that I need to dust off and actually start using.
I'm looking forward to joining this group and cheering everyone on as we work through our individual journeys toward better health together!
~Marla0 -
Hey Marla,
Glad to see that you made it into the discussion.
Went to a super fancy wedding last night - 1000 people! The noise was so constant and LOUD that I thought I'd have permanent ear damage but I seem to be hearing just fine this morning. It was fun looking at all the amazing clothes and shoes - omg! the height of those stilettos! - but even just tasting everything gave my belly a workout. I've been eating so sensibly and healthy for the past months that my system isn't used to working at all that digestion. ARGH!
Not weighing in for a few days (my usual day is either Thurs. or Fri. a.m.) Guess I'll weigh in on Thursday before the Thanksgiving festivities!
Hopping back on the wagon this morning...and back on the elliptical.
Ciao0 -
Hi Marla! Welcome to the group!
Aliza....woah...a wedding with 1000 people....and super fancy to boot?
Must have cost a fortune for whoever was paying for it. The last super fancy wedding we went to was for my nephew 2 years ago. The girl he married is a medical doctor....Irish Catholic, and the only girl in her family. Her family went all out for the wedding. My nephew has his doctorate too in computers. But really, what a wedding it was!!! The bride had 2 dresses..one for church and one for the reception. The food was above amazing.... so many appetizers, courses and so much of everything. Even an ice cream bar, smores bar, candy bar, and burgers on the beach after the reception winded down.
Stilettos....I look at my 18 year old granddaughter in the shoes she wears sometimes and I wonder how she doesn't stop herself from falling forward, lol. I could never wear such high heels like that..even when I was young and skinny, lol.
I weighed in today after not doing so for several day.....ready? 173.6! Woo hoo! I wanted to be below 175 for Thanksgiving and I did it! My new goal is to get into the 160's hopefully sometime in the beginning of December.
Time to get back to watching my son's 2 littlest ones. Drizzley day here in NJ!
Have a good one all!
Lin0 -
I hear ya'. I never wore those stiletto killers either. Not worth sacrificing my feet but they sure are pretty to look at on other women.
Well, here's a bit of good news!
I always figure that a little cheat is a gazillion calories. But I always journal my food even if it's bad so I journaled the bite of my granddaughter's chocolate pudding that I ate today and it was some super silly small amount of calories. Then I journaled the grilled turkey burger that I added to a completed lunch and the 200 grams of steak I plan on having for dinner and my daily total is still underneath my 1200 goal.
Wow! Big eye opener.
Lin - you rock! Met your goal with plenty of time to spare. 160's here you come. Always great to see good news.
It seems pathetic to journal in 30 minutes on the elliptical when I'm actually on it twice as long. But I'm going by what the calorie counter says on the machine now so there you go. I realized the other day that half an hour on the machine is like eating two dates. Good grief, right?
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