60 yrs and up

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  • springlering62
    springlering62 Posts: 8,691 Member
    @pony4us I’m so sorry about your dog. That must have been devastating and traumatic on so many levels.

    We are going to be walking in the “other direction” for a while now, where there’s no foot traffic. No yard. We live in a very urban area, zero lot line homes with a pocket park in front.

    I talked to the vet last year about putting him tranquilizers but the vet said he wasn’t a candidate. We came home and had a long talk about his behavior and if it continued we’d put him to sleep rather than put him back in the shelter, where he was miserable (we went back to visit for a training class. He knew where he was and he lost his mind. I guess he thought I was turning him back in again).

    He’s very very intelligent, and seemed to understand my distress, and has been golden since then, til in the past week.

    He’s had tummy troubles from both ends for the past week. and I’m thinking he’s not feeling well.

    Anyway, sorry for the off topic wander.
  • pony4us
    pony4us Posts: 165 Member
    Didn't mean to horn in since I'm not on this group...but didn't want you to get in yourself in a devastating (and potentially very very expensive) situation.
  • Debbitx
    Debbitx Posts: 4 Member
    Hi, I am not over 60, but I am over 50. Slightly handicapped (thus limiting my exercise options) but I’m trying! Getting started by committing to logging EVERYTHING that I eat! I’d love to be your friend and supporter!! We all need that!!
  • springlering62
    springlering62 Posts: 8,691 Member
    Debbitx wrote: »
    Hi, I am not over 60, but I am over 50. Slightly handicapped (thus limiting my exercise options) but I’m trying! Getting started by committing to logging EVERYTHING that I eat! I’d love to be your friend and supporter!! We all need that!!

    Hi Debbie. Welcome to MFP! I started at 56, sedentary and obese and managed to lose to goal. Don’t let people try to talk you down with the age, menopause, etc arguments. That’s their baggage.

    There’s plenty of people here who have lost weight without exercise, via diet changes alone. (Diet “changes” versus “diet”. There’s a difference. Diet implies permanent misery, whereas change is good- and sometimes simple.)

    We had a slice of pizza for dinner at the wonderful new shoebox Italian restaurant. The kind of rarity where the owner is from Rome, he makes his own cheeses and doughs, his kids work in the restaurant, they greet customers by name, and there’s a gorgeous hand painted mural of Sophia Loren on the wall, along with a wall sized photo of the family’s other restaurant in Rome. The only thing lacking is a pair of dogs sharing a bowl of spaghetti. It’s so perfect, it’s almost cartoonish.

    I mentioned some leftover grilled salmon in the fridge and he pointed me to some toasted pasta, and then produced a handful of the freshest parsley I’ve ever seen and gave it to me. “I grow it at home”. I mean, this parsley is a revelation. All I’ve ever seen is the limp grocery store bundles.

    Lunch will be a feast today. I’m never excited over lunch, but today, darn tootin’ I am!!!

    I also got a jar of lupini beans. I’m excited to try them. Low cal, high protein. Supposedly a real magic bean. He said to eat them for snacks.

    kjofhiuzqgrd.jpeg
  • springlering62
    springlering62 Posts: 8,691 Member
    The three most horrifying words in the English language:

    Emergency Dental Surgery

    That stinks big time, Margaret. So sorry, and on Thanksgiving, too.

    I was doing mind bogglingly well today until a guest brought a huge gift sack of Italian treats, including a massive bar of fancy chocolate with hazelnuts.

    That opened the floodgates.

    The ironic thing? She carefully watches what she eats, and knows I do, too.

    I’m not blaming her, but dang. 🤦🏻‍♀️

    It’s OK. It’s Thanksgiving and I’ve been well below for a couple weeks now, and planned to go over today. I did enjoy the chocolate but not the rest of the stuff that followed. Man, I can rationalize anything once I get started, even pecan pie, knowing I can’t stand the stuff.

    On the happy side, I’m making low cal fajitas this weekend with some Lizano sauce I discovered in California. I usually whip together tomato paste and A1. That’s quick and easy and makes a creditable fajita sauce, but this stuff is the real deal.

    I’m also happy that a doc in a podcast explained that eating different colors of peppers counts towards your 30 (or 43, depending on which guest you listen to) different veg each week, since different color peppers have different nutrients. Same with rainbow carrots, potatoes etc. I stupidly never thought of that and am eager to step it up.

    My fajitas will be colorful for sure.
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 34,629 Member
    Oh, @MargaretYakoda, I'm so sorry - that's horrible! Sending hopes for speedy healing, and a smoother course ahead!
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 34,629 Member
    While I'm here, a little update: I did move from the friend's house where I was cat-sitting, back to my own house, on Monday the 25th. I'd also gotten my car back from my other friend on the 23rd, so moving was a DYI project, spread over 2 days to keep it simpler. (At my house, all living areas are on the 2nd floor, so everything has to go up a full flight of stairs. Since I'm being ultra careful, that meant taking things up in smaller batches, more trips, for safety. It was good to spread it over 2 days.) Have to admit, I was pretty exhausted by the end of Monday.

    Things have been going fine, if slowly, since.

    I'm eating out more (for simplicity), and catching up on some errands. I'm being careful to follow all the medical orders to the best of my ability.

    One positive thing: I'd mentioned (OK, whined about) the neurosurgeon's office that didn't call back. When they'd burned 2 weeks of the month by the end of which I was supposed to see him after hospital discharge, I drove to the office in person to try to expedite. The receptionist seemed a little . . . crisp? ;) . . . when I spoke with her, even though I swear I was polite. She told me she needed to consult with the medical assistant and would call me back. I was skeptical.

    To my surprise, she phoned me the next day, all friendly and helpful, we set up an appointment a month to the day after my discharge (his first open date), and they are working on arranging the repeat CT I need (from an affiliate organization) before the appointment. Hoping it'll be smooth sailing from here.

    I'm for sure still not feeling like myself, somewhat headache-y, very easily tired, but am starting to feel a bit more normal. At least acetaminophen is slipping away from being one of my main food groups. :D

    Usually, today (US Thanksgiving) is the day I'd normally start the Concept 2 Holiday Challenge. That's 200k rowing machine (RowErg) or 400k stationary bike (BikeErg) or a proportionate combination, on any schedule of choice, between now and Christmas Eve. It's fewer days this year, too, because of how the holidays fall. I decided I'd try my first post-hospital workout today, keeping my heart rate in the range the neurosurgeon said was OK (pretty darned low), and see whether I could get in the amount I needed to start on schedule.

    Obviously, going slower than usual, it takes longer. But for one day at least, I was able to get in 19,129m on the bike, which took around 56 minutes. If I can repeat this 6 days a week, I can complete the challenge. I'm going to stick with the bike for a while, because there it's easier for me to moderate intensity vs. the rowing machine. I feel hopeful.

    I hope all of the USA-ians here had a lovely Thanksgiving (I did :) ), and the those in other places had a wonderful day, too.

    Keep up the good efforts, all!
  • BCLadybug888
    BCLadybug888 Posts: 1,767 Member
    Happy Thanksgiving to all of you south of the border!

    Special hello hug to Ann and Margaret, and good wishes for their respective recoveries!

    Today is the first day of my last week on the BodySlims program - I need to lose 2.6 lbs to get to the 10% mark, really hoping I make it and gunning for the 220s on my scale. It has been pretty much stuck for about 5 days, so fingers crossed 🤞 that means a drop is coming.

    I finally got out of 'poor' and into the 'fair' category on the walking chart today! Feels great!
    And my brother is stoked about walking around Stanley Park with me for my final walk challenge - 10k - hope it is dry next Tuesday. It will be a combination of walking the seawall and on trails through the forest.

    Although losing weight is most critically about the diet, any activity is going to help with your metabolism and your shape. I am in awe of what Ann accomplished today - please, please take it slow and easy!
  • BCLadybug888
    BCLadybug888 Posts: 1,767 Member
    Here is the chart if you're curious 🙃
    xckbdi3bdksb.jpg
  • springlering62
    springlering62 Posts: 8,691 Member
    Thanksgiving here is a massive 5k fundraiser for a local shelter. 34k2knj3s8uo.jpeg

    Photo is from a distance because no way am I getting the High Anxiety Dog in that maelstrom.

    It takes a couple of hours to get all the starts and levels going (or whatever you’d call that in 5k lingo).

    My question is, why are there so many empty cans of snuff littering the Square this morning?

    Who woke up and said “yay! Thanksgiving! I’m going to dress like a turkey; empty a can of snuff, run a 5k, go home, gorge, and pop a fresh can of snuff”?

    I didn’t even think the stuff was a thing anymore but there’s cans everywhere. In bushes, straw beds, next to trash cans (because, ya know, I can do 5k but can’t be bothered to go the extra foot to get it IN the trash can).
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 34,629 Member
    @springlering62, there's some research suggesting that nicotine can help cardio performance amongst people who don't routinely use nicotine. (I think it was endurance and something else, but I don't remember without re-researching.) That's been spread a bit in running-related blogs and such, I think. Snuff may be appealing as a delivery mechanism because smoking has other negative consequences (and prohibitions on where it can be done in public).

    Regular use seems to impair performance, though. Not sure how sound any of that research is, though - my interest was vague curiosity about something surprising to me, not a plan to use nicotine before races or otherwise!

    Snuff cans are a handy size and at least some are moisture-resistance, but not being a runner I'm not sure how/whether that would be useful as a washed-out container for something.

    Was it only a 5k, not also longer distances? It's a little weird to me that someone who'd run a 5k would use nicotine to improve endurance . . . well, betcha you know why I'd say that.

    Maybe the cans were just mostly from spectators? People seem to leave their trash on the street at big events, for reasons I totally don't understand.

    Yes, I had used snuff a tiny bit in the distant past, briefly. :D 🙄
  • springlering62
    springlering62 Posts: 8,691 Member
    Wow, who’d’ve thunk it?!

    Strictly 5k. A lot of folks walk it, but it’s also a qualifier for the Peachtree. It’s a “thing” around here to have the tshirt. More dogs than you can shake a stick at- like every second or third person has one.

    The Square was a veritable smorgasbord of sniff-sniffs for the HAD when we walked up yesterday morning, so much so that he gave up after quickly exhausting his, erm, water supply.

    I think by lunchtime today, I will have exhausted my own endless desire for buttermilk biscuits with fried ham and rhubarb/ginger jelly.

    Homemade chicken fajitas for dinner with the new Lozano (lizano?) sauce! Can’t wait!

    Hope your noggin is still healing well. Snuff as poultice? 🤢

  • cory17
    cory17 Posts: 1,513 Member
    Could I join in? 63 here and working on weight loss for years. Multiple health issues which make it more difficult. This looks supportive and interesting.
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 34,629 Member
    edited December 1
    cory17 wrote: »
    Could I join in? 63 here and working on weight loss for years. Multiple health issues which make it more difficult. This looks supportive and interesting.

    @cory17, of course you can join in! Please post as you go along, ask questions if you have some, talk about what and how you're doing to pursue your goals, etc. IMO, IME, engaging in the Community is useful.

    Wishing you success!
  • jaded989
    jaded989 Posts: 176 Member
    I am stoked, 3lbs from goal and got through 2 Thanksgiving dinners, one at my house on thanksgiving (I cooked) and one at daughters boyfriends family (yesterday). I'm considered the dessert queen by the boyfriends family so I provide the homemade desserts. This year it was the standard pumpkin pie, Amaretto cheesecake, Tiramisu cupcakes and chocolate cupcakes (plus chocolate mousse for my house). Happy to say I made it through without eating any but I have slice of pumpkin pie to treat myself with later. Hoping to make it to goal by the end of the year (then I'll reassess, might want to drop an additional 5lbs but will see. I have a vacation coming up in a week so might not make the end of year goal and thats all right.
  • springlering62
    springlering62 Posts: 8,691 Member
    edited December 1
    Every Sunday is Doughnut Sunday. We treat ourselves to something special from the local gourmet doughnut place, usually a big *kitten* apple fritter.

    Apparently, the first customer of the day bought everything they had. By the time the second and third (us!) customers reached the door at 8:01, the cashier was hanging up the “sold out” sign and dimming the lights, while her partner was running to and fro with boxes of donuts.

    We turned around and headed home, but remembered the lovely coffee shop a couple of blocks away and went and got some darned good (and fresh!) cinnamon buns.

    And bonus, the dog got a squirrel cookie, so he was overjoyed, and the pastries weren’t fried like our usual fritters, and were presumably a lot fewer calories than normal.

    That left room for a serving of hot air popcorn, which I’ve just enjoyed.

    Sundays are 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻

    For some reason, even including the big *kitten* apple fritter, Sundays are the easiest day of the week to stay within calories. Macros, not so much lol.
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 34,629 Member
    @jaded989, I'm both glad and sad that I wasn't at your daughter's boyfriend's family's Thanksgiving. Glad (in a way ;) ) because your desserts sound fabulous and would be hard to resist (which I probably wouldn't have, TBH); sad because I didn't get to try them.

    I have to admit, after a year of loss and 8+ years of maintenance, I don't fret much about holidays, as long as I avoid turning them into holiMONTHS. I try not to eat to uncomfortable stuffed-ness, but I do have some of all the yummy foods, with only mild attempts to keep it reasonable. For sure, I'm usually well over maintenance calories for that day, maybe two or more times maintenance calories.

    I was more worried and more cautious at first, but eventually it sunk in that for me one truly rare indulgent day is a drop in the ocean. The daily habits I have on repeat day in and day out are the ocean. After the holiday, I snap right back to that routine immediately. I might eat a little less before the big meal on the holiday to save room, I might eat a little less than maintenance the next day if I'm not hungry, but that's about it.

    IMO, IME two things happen because of indulgence on that ONE RARE day:

    1. My body seems to go "what the heck am I supposed to do with all this food?!?" and seems (in net effect) to pass quite a bit of it through to the exit without absorbing all of the calories. My post-indulgence scale weight change is never as big as the theoretical "3500 excess calories = 1 pound" gain. There's some science behind why this might be so, and I can dig around and find some of it if anyone wants me to.
    2. The scale on the day after is up a stunning number of pounds, plus potentially some future days after that - even up to a couple of weeks in a rare case, and I'd bet it could be longer if I weren't menopausal. It isn't fat gain, though, at least not mostly. It's water retention needed to digest/metabolize the extra food, plus the weight of the food waste that's still in my digestive tract, because it hasn't reached the exit yet. Neither of those are fat, so they're not worth worrying about. For my personal body, I usually see the net fat impact in about a week, and it's very NOT stunning, if visible at all.

    Note: If I eat a couple/few hundred calories extra per day for a longer time period, or do large "more than maintenance calories" days often, that's usually how lost weight creeps back on and needs to be re-lost. I've seen others here say similar things.

    I'm not saying anyone else should think or behave the way I do. I'm an irresponsible, disreputable hedonist from way back. ;)

    What I am suggesting strongly is that if someone does have a very over-indulgent day on a RARE basis, and sees the scale balloon up big time for a day or few after, don't panic. It's highly, highly likely that most of that jump is NOT fat, but water/waste; that part will sort itself out in a few days to a couple of weeks, depending on how that person's personal body handles the water/waste situation.

    A long time back, I made a much more detailed "personal case study" post about this kind of thing, about a long weekend when I went to a special event and ate very indulgently over 2-3 days, doing my best to log as accurately as I could, even though there was some estimating required. (It's more likely that I UNDER-estimated calories than OVER-estimated them, too.) The thread also goes into some of the science-y stuff (in discussion later in the thread), plus has links to some similar stories from other MFP-ers later in the thread, too.

    It's here if anyone is interested.

    https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10603949/big-overfeed-ruins-everything-nope#latest

    Underscoring: If anyone ate more than they'd planned or even just ate in quite different food patterns than usual because of the holiday, and the scale makes a big jump, WAIT without panic for a couple of weeks. High odds everything will be fine.
  • mtaratoot
    mtaratoot Posts: 14,389 Member
    I'm still here; thanks for asking. Like some others here, I kind of jumped in before I was really "qualified," but here I am.

    I had a very enjoyable Thanksgiving. I was planning to stick around locally and join other "orphans" at a local watering hole where they always have at least some open hours and always make some special foods. Well, some good friends from the city an hour south invited me to join their festivities. I was happy to join them! A mutual friend had said a few weeks ago I should come, but I didn't feel comfortable coming unless invited, and then I got invited. It was a fairly intimate group of seven folks. I knew five of them from project we volunteer on every year. As it turns out, I knew one of the other couple because I worked with him a couple decades ago on a completely different volunteer project.

    I made cornbread - sticks and triangles. I have two cornbread skillets that make eight tasty triangles each, and I have two corn stick pans that make seven sticks each. I was also going to make winter squash soup, but the host asked if I could make cranberry sauce instead because the other host was having a hankerin' for it. I've never made it. I typically am not that excited about eating it, but I looked over a whole bunch of recipes and put something together with "local" cranberries from southwest Oregon, two kinds of ginger (fresh and crystalized), orange, and balsamic. I am so glad I cut way back on the sugar; it didn't need it. I bet that's why I usually avoid the stuff; too sweet.

    The host are a great couple. One has been a vegetarian for four decades or more. The other is an avid hunter. Well, we had wild turkey roulade. He made fresh homemade bread so he could make the stuffing that went inside. It was quite good. The person I knew from decades ago brought smoked duck he had shot recently and put small pieces on cheese and crackers for appetizers. One friend made a huge green salad and mashed potatoes with chanterelle mushrooms. We had sweet potatoes with prunes. Mmmm. There was persimmon bread. Another friend has a bunch of walnut trees on his property, so he brought walnut pie. We chatted for three and a half hours. I would have stayed longer, but that hour drive home.... It wasn't foggy or raining though, and there wasn't much traffic, so driving on a late November night was less intolerable than usual. Everyone went home with a big "bucket" of extras (half gallon yogurt containers). I have ingredients to make a second batch of cornbread, and as soon as I know I have some folks to share it with I'll make it. I must have altered my recipe with more wheat flour than usual or less polenta than usual because the tooth was more cake-like than usual. Still very good with mild green chiles mixed in and the residual tang from the buttermilk.

    A friend and I escaped the inverted atmosphere yesterday and went up into the coast range. We got up out of the cold soup in the valley and were treated to blue sky and warmer temperatures.

    Today a friend dropped off a completely dead starting battery from a van that he's looking after for a friend who is out of country for a year. I have a smart charger, and since the battery was already out of the vehicle, it was easier for him to just drop it off for me to charge than for me to teach him how to use the charger. I think it's not the first time it's been totally drained, so it might be damaged enough that he will just replace it. Since it's only six months old, it should be warranted.

    I drop my car off at the shop Tuesday afternoon after a few appointments. I need some routine service, and my mechanic is also going to do some diagnostics about a couple things I may need to have done. If needed, I'll schedule a time to bring it back in for the repairs. The truck goes in a week and a half later, again for routine stuff, but possibly also for a new rack & pinion. If needed, I'll make another appointment for that or I'll just leave it there until it's done.

    I think the cold weather we've had has put an end to this fall's mushroom gathering. That's OK. I did pretty well this year.
  • SummerSkier
    SummerSkier Posts: 5,196 Member
    edited December 1
    aha! I think it must be the season for vehicle "stuff". I had to get the brakes fixed on my truck a few weeks ago and yesterday the battery in my car died. Luckily AAA battery service is excellent and my car was sweet enough to let me get home before totally collapsing. It was not cheap to replace but seems nothing is ever cheap these days.

    66 is going well I think. Work is busy. I am getting my runs in and maintaining mostly where I want to be. It's been over 7 years since I hit my goal and then dropped below it for a few months so I have to say maybe this time the loss will stick instead of creeping back over the years like it typically has done in my life. I credit staying engaged here and tracking (not always perfectly but pretty much daily) and also staying active. And of course buckling down when I start to get too fluffy. 🙃🤷‍♀️

    My neighbor had said he was going to cook a turkey for thanksgiving so I was kind of looking forward to a lot of leftovers. However he went ghost for a few days, and I finally saw him and asked how the turkey turned out. Well I had no idea he had never cooked a turkey and apparently he did not check inside before putting it in the oven. Leading to a burned plastic disaster... 🧐😖😳 I have seen a lot of thanksgiving foibles over the years but I think that has to be one of the ones I least expected to hear of.

    I am glad to see everyone's updates and altho I don't post a lot, I do like to read about everyone's adventures and trials and successes!
  • mtaratoot
    mtaratoot Posts: 14,389 Member
    I was out for a pint the other day when a neighbor came in. He ordered a turkey roll - leftovers from Thanksgiving. As he ordered, he said, "Again." Apparently he had been in a couple times already. Also apparently, he had an unhappy Thanksgiving. His housemate made what he called a "sad turkey." Apparently he left it out on the counter for a couple days, but sometimes had it submerged in water and sometimes not. No brine. No basting. Just dry turkey. Poor fellah. I gave him some cornbread and cranberry chutney, and I had to ask....

    "Did your housemate at least take the giblet packet out?" Thank goodness they figured that part out. I'm sure your neighbor won't be the last to make that mistake @SummerSkier ....
  • BCLadybug888
    BCLadybug888 Posts: 1,767 Member
    @SbetaK, that view is absolutely breathtaking. The colour palette is so beautiful 😍

    And I think 'fair' under those walking conditions is actually excellent! 👌
  • springlering62
    springlering62 Posts: 8,691 Member
    edited December 5
    I cannot fathom that amount of snow, or getting out in that weather. Heck yeah for you!!!!!!

    I did 2.53 miles this morning and it took an hour and seven minutes.

    But that was a new route that had to be thoroughly sniffed and marked, half a mile on a banked up, gravel-y train track (because I stupidly thought I could find a short cut to the squirrel-cookie coffee shop after we got caught by the train and decided to go the different direction), with *kitten” screaming plantar facitis.

    I imagine people in the homes that back up to the train track were startled to see a neon orange dressed foot dragging Quasimodo dragging a very unwilling dog, while looking over shoulder to make sure no trains coming on this very busy track.

    Dog had more sense than owner. Should be the other way around. Dog in charge. Owner as High Anxiety Human.
  • springlering62
    springlering62 Posts: 8,691 Member
    edited December 5
    Ann, oh mercy! Atlanta! Definitively far far away from Wes-consin, as a friend used to call it.

    Hence the griping and inability to cope when it’s in the 30’s. I’m laughing at @SbetaK ’s description of what she was wearing (except the snow pants. WTH are snow pants? Must look those up.) for her hike. That’s me on any given winter day taking the HAD for his early morning walk.

    He lays on the rug, crossing his short legs for a pee, while I put on running jacket, sweatshirt hoody, down coat, scarf, knit hat, insulated gloves, protective lip balm, adjust all three layers of hats and hoodies, while he is clearly thinking,”🤬 I gotta go! It’s 45 degrees. Could she BE any slower?”

    Sincerely hoping you’ll get positive results tomorrow and can give the walls you’re climbing a break. 🤞🏻🤞🏻🤞🏻🤞🏻
  • alteredsteve175
    alteredsteve175 Posts: 2,726 Member
    edited December 5
    Beautiful photo, @SBetaK. Thanks for sharing that. And good on 'ya for getting out despite the obstacles.

    Have not checked in here in months. Good to see so many of you still hanging in there.

    I saw the walking chart. I'm usually in the average category (around 19 minutes a mile) these days. I'll know I'm in better condition when I can do sub-17 minute miles.

    I'll try to check in here more often. Take care.
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 34,629 Member
    @springlering62, the climate adaptation issues cut both ways.

    I went to a breast cancer survivors rowing camp in Florida (near Jacksonville) one February. It was probably mostly 40s-50s F and up (4-10 C), one morning dipping into the 30s (bit above zero C). The local rowers seemed stunned that we mostly-Northerners were happy not only rowing in that Wintery weather, but beach launching (wading into the water to get in the boats). We felt grateful that the "cold" made the alligators sluggish!

    I was similarly stunned at Disneyland to see a groundskeeper working in a flowerbed at around 50s F (10 or so C) wearing ear muffs. Here, come 50s in Spring, people here are breaking out the Bermuda shorts!

    I don't know about where SbetaK is, but here snow pants are usually pants with some kind of insulation inside, and a snow-shedding, wind-breaker-type outer shell.

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