General Chat Thread - Please Participate
AnnPT77
Posts: 34,617 Member
I'm going to try starting a general chat thread here. Let's keep it focused on things that may be useful or interesting (not replicating the idle "Chit Chat" or "Fun and Games" kind of thing). The forum software isn't very good at notifying group members when there's a new thread, but does notify when someone posts on a thread we've created or replied on, or have bookmarked. Please reply to or bookmark this one? (Bookmark = click on the little ribbon-looking thing to the right of the thread title.)
Things to talk about, to start:
* What are your goals for weight management, fitness, nutrition? How's it going?
* Are you following a particular eating style? What is it, is it new to you, and how's it going?
* What's your favorite exercise activity or hobby? Do you have photos? Post them.
* What do you think is special about being 50+, when it comes to weight loss or fitness? If there have been roadblocks you got past, how have you circumvented them?
* What's your current challenge or obstacle?
. . . or anything else, really.
Things to talk about, to start:
* What are your goals for weight management, fitness, nutrition? How's it going?
* Are you following a particular eating style? What is it, is it new to you, and how's it going?
* What's your favorite exercise activity or hobby? Do you have photos? Post them.
* What do you think is special about being 50+, when it comes to weight loss or fitness? If there have been roadblocks you got past, how have you circumvented them?
* What's your current challenge or obstacle?
. . . or anything else, really.
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Great idea. I'm about 3 months in or so being back on site. Hard to belive almost 53 ugh.1
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I'll play!
My fitness goals are to maintain and improve my strength to support my health if I should be so fortunate to grow old, to improve my cardiovascular fitness for the same reason, and to keep doing my active hobbies. Maybe take on some more.
My weight management goals are pretty much to keep from gaining again.
Hobby? Yeah. More on those later. Cooking? Love it. Hiking? Yeah. Rivers? That's the closest thing I have to a church. Actually it IS a church.
I'll share a challenge. I love cooking like I wrote above. I also like eating. You can see why this is a challenge. In fact, I'm going to go make some vegetable miso mushroom barley soup right now that I've been thinking about making for over a week and finally got some barley. I use "streaker" barley. It's a hull-less variety developed at Oregon State University in the '70s. It is humorously called "Streaker" not totally because it's naked (no hull) and that was a popular hobby around here back then, but mostly because the grains have blue streaks on 'em.2 -
Love to cook. It's a hobby also a golfer1
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I need to look for that barley. While I'm already in maintenance, I'm intrigued by the recent finding that some foods naturally increase GLP-1 (the "magic" in drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy, loosely), thus can tamp down appetite. Barley is apparently one of those foods.
https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2023/10/30/1208883691/diet-ozempic-wegovy-weight-loss-fiber-glp-1-diabetes-barley
Pearled barley is OK, but I'm irrationally drawn to less processed foods . . .
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I'm vegetarian, ovo-lacto. I've been vegetarian for 50 years come Summer 2024, since I was 18. I was a thin vegetarian (in college), then a chubby vegetarian (desk job), then an overweight/obese vegetarian (for around 30 years), then a thin vegetarian again. It makes me eye-roll a little when people think turning vegan/vegetarian will automagically trigger weight loss.
It sort of can, I think . . . if people have been eating a highly-processed, highly-refined, not very sating totality of foods, then switch to lots of veggies, fruits, and whole grains. Those things are more filling for most people. It's not the vegetarianism or veganism doing the trick, though, if you ask me. I find it plenty easy to eat those same foods waaaay past reasonable calories.
I think the "healthiest" diet is probably a somewhat meat-sparse omnivorous diet. Fight me.
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Love to cook. It's a hobby also a golfer
What do you like to cook, @Rxman1971?
I've been quite lazy in the kitchen lately, but like experimenting with new-to-me fruits and veggies, or exploring flavor profiles from cultural foodways other than my own.
Weird combinations intrigue me. In the past I've made things like garlic custard (good); sweet potato slices dipped in egg then instant mashed potato flakes (really) then baked and dipped in soy/ginger sauce (surprisingly good), just because I couldn't resist the oddness.
I made fun of my late husband for putting chopped-up dill pickles in bean soup, mean girl that I am . . . but I had to eat metaphorical crow with the soup because it was really good.1 -
Exercise: On-water rowing, cycling. In Winter, machine versions of those - less fun. Lift a little, don't enjoy it, procrastinate and skip it with the slightest excuse. My bad.
This is me and my rowing buddy J. in a double (me in yellow, in the bow). At that point, I was 62 and she was 72. I'm now 68, she's 77, both still rowing. I started rowing when I was still class 1 obese, in my late 40s. I stayed obese for another dozen years, until I joined MFP at age 59.
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Really anything like trying new things. Need to adapt my cooking to healthier though1
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This is me tagging some recent and/or longtime posters in this group, to see if they want to chime in, see if we can get some activity going in this group. If not, no harm, no foul.
@ddickson10131
@UncleMac
@stellagizzi
@Farback
@mom2muses
@Mia_Vojago
@wambli1
@b3achy
@CrazyMermaid1
@d_thomas02
Who am I forgetting?2 -
Love cooking with cast iron. So much flavor2 -
I love my cast iron (various configurations). I've got frying pans, loaf pans for bread and recently got a tagine with a cast iron base. Tagines are a domed stewing pot generally believed to have originated in Morocco. My wife's first tagine was enameled ceramic but recently the pot cracked. She was kinda heartbroken... so I quietly ordered a cast iron based model. She's tickled pink with it.
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I love my cast iron (various configurations). I've got frying pans, loaf pans for bread and recently got a tagine with a cast iron base. Tagines are a domed stewing pot generally believed to have originated in Morocco. My wife's first tagine was enameled ceramic but recently the pot cracked. She was kinda heartbroken... so I quietly ordered a cast iron based model. She's tickled pink with it.
Cool have to look at one0 -
I took out my enameled cast iron Dutch Oven to make soup, but soon realized the amount I'm making would have been too big. I got out the bigger pan that I don't like as much, and I'm going to have so much soup.... I've never quite made a soup like this before. I saute vegetables before adding water. I just added the potatoes because I don't want them to cook as long. Other ingredients include:
- Onion
- Parsnip
- Gold beet
- Mushrooms (lots and lots of mushrooms)
- Broccoli
- Sunchoke
- Carrot
- Jalapeno
- Red potato
- Streaker barley
- Lots and lots and lots of garlic
- Two kinds of miso
- Herbs including Mediterranean oregano and rubbed sage
- Obligatory bay leaves from the front yard - this time eleven because it's a lot of soup. I'm going to have to dole some out to weigh it separately because the main pot is too big for my scale!
I revised an old recipe. I set some ingredients I didn't use to 1 gram of each as place holders, and I added ingredients that were new. I had to put some into a separate pot to get a total weight of the batch - 4017 grams. The pot has a tare weight of 1944 grams, so that would have been 5961 grams (over 13 pounds). The scale tops out at 11 pounds (5000 grams). That's some heavy soup.... I set the number of servings in the recipe equal to the number of grams so that when I eat it, it's easy to measure how much I'm eating with my scale.
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That sounds really good, @mtaratoot!
I had a lazy dinner: A little (3g) oil in the cast-iron frying pan, some chopped-up onion, some (frozen) root veggie hash browns, a couple of eggs, some lite Jarlsberg and a ridiculous amount of ketchup.
I love ketchup. Ketchup seems to be demonized around here sometimes (hidden sugarzzz!!! (that are listed right on the label)). I found an unsweetened brand I like: The amount of sugar in regular ketchup is pretty trivial IMO, but I feel like they have to use better tomatoes in the unsweetened to get good flavor. Maybe I deceive myself . . . .1 -
Love garlic hardly ever enough2
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Basically to be healthy and feel good
Easy as that. Along the way lose some weight gain some muscle. I'm not.a complicated man lol2 -
Hobbies, I guess? Happening here now, Zygopetalum Redvale. Should've included something for scale: The individual blooms are good-sized, maybe 1.5-2" (4-5 cm). Makes me happy when the various weirdos bloom.
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Pretty1
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Hiw is eveeryone?1
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Lol I'm pretty short and direct to the point kinda person. Little relaxing here tonight. Nice bourbon poured1
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Lol ok.
Golf fav hobby
Fitness goal to get1 -
I won last night!
Well, kind of. I lost the battle of the calories, but I had planned that so it's not really a loss. I had bought some squares in order that I might give a rip about that game that was on last night. We had a hiccup because the TV in my local apparently lost the ability to power the speakers. We just had closed captions. It was a decent game eventually of course, and one of my squares was 0 and 3, so I ended up "winning" the second and third quarters.
On a MFP kind of note - I went for a run earlier in the day. I wanted to finally try out some road running shoes I had purchased longer ago than I want to admit. At the time I was running more regularly, mostly on trails. Our trails get so muddy in winter, I thought I'd try out road running even though I'd really rather stick to trails. I had done a trail run the day before. What surprised me was I felt good enough to do a second day in a row. What I learned is that running on pavement is just plain faster than on trails. Some friends who are regular distance runners confirmed that.
I finished up some really good miso vegetable mushroom soup yesterday, and I'm still working on some split pea and barley soup before I decide if the next soup will be black bean or if I should try to make carrot ginger soup. I've never done that before, but I bet I could figure it out.
I'm giving my legs a rest today - off to the gym to pick up things and put them down. Upper body only, which is not my normal routine. I may or may not swim. We'll see if the pool is empty or crowded. On Wednesday I'll get a bagel. Thursday is a hike day with a friend. Shaping up to be a good week. Final changes to my lottery entry for Grand Canyon 2025 is due in a few days, so I'll be wrapping that up. I only get one point in the lottery since I rafted it in 2023, but one ticket is better than none. People who haven't been or haven't been in a long time get five tickets. If you went two years ago you get two. If you went three years ago you get three. Wish me luck. I'd love to spend another April below the rim.
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I won last night!
Well, kind of. I lost the battle of the calories, but I had planned that so it's not really a loss. I had bought some squares in order that I might give a rip about that game that was on last night. We had a hiccup because the TV in my local apparently lost the ability to power the speakers. We just had closed captions. It was a decent game eventually of course, and one of my squares was 0 and 3, so I ended up "winning" the second and third quarters.
On a MFP kind of note - I went for a run earlier in the day. I wanted to finally try out some road running shoes I had purchased longer ago than I want to admit. At the time I was running more regularly, mostly on trails. Our trails get so muddy in winter, I thought I'd try out road running even though I'd really rather stick to trails. I had done a trail run the day before. What surprised me was I felt good enough to do a second day in a row. What I learned is that running on pavement is just plain faster than on trails. Some friends who are regular distance runners confirmed that.
I finished up some really good miso vegetable mushroom soup yesterday, and I'm still working on some split pea and barley soup before I decide if the next soup will be black bean or if I should try to make carrot ginger soup. I've never done that before, but I bet I could figure it out.
I'm giving my legs a rest today - off to the gym to pick up things and put them down. Upper body only, which is not my normal routine. I may or may not swim. We'll see if the pool is empty or crowded. On Wednesday I'll get a bagel. Thursday is a hike day with a friend. Shaping up to be a good week. Final changes to my lottery entry for Grand Canyon 2025 is due in a few days, so I'll be wrapping that up. I only get one point in the lottery since I rafted it in 2023, but one ticket is better than none. People who haven't been or haven't been in a long time get five tickets. If you went two years ago you get two. If you went three years ago you get three. Wish me luck. I'd love to spend another April below the rim.
Love rafting! Would love to do the grand canyon someday0 -
I won last night!
Well, kind of. I lost the battle of the calories, but I had planned that so it's not really a loss. I had bought some squares in order that I might give a rip about that game that was on last night. We had a hiccup because the TV in my local apparently lost the ability to power the speakers. We just had closed captions. It was a decent game eventually of course, and one of my squares was 0 and 3, so I ended up "winning" the second and third quarters.
On a MFP kind of note - I went for a run earlier in the day. I wanted to finally try out some road running shoes I had purchased longer ago than I want to admit. At the time I was running more regularly, mostly on trails. Our trails get so muddy in winter, I thought I'd try out road running even though I'd really rather stick to trails. I had done a trail run the day before. What surprised me was I felt good enough to do a second day in a row. What I learned is that running on pavement is just plain faster than on trails. Some friends who are regular distance runners confirmed that.
I finished up some really good miso vegetable mushroom soup yesterday, and I'm still working on some split pea and barley soup before I decide if the next soup will be black bean or if I should try to make carrot ginger soup. I've never done that before, but I bet I could figure it out.
I'm giving my legs a rest today - off to the gym to pick up things and put them down. Upper body only, which is not my normal routine. I may or may not swim. We'll see if the pool is empty or crowded. On Wednesday I'll get a bagel. Thursday is a hike day with a friend. Shaping up to be a good week. Final changes to my lottery entry for Grand Canyon 2025 is due in a few days, so I'll be wrapping that up. I only get one point in the lottery since I rafted it in 2023, but one ticket is better than none. People who haven't been or haven't been in a long time get five tickets. If you went two years ago you get two. If you went three years ago you get three. Wish me luck. I'd love to spend another April below the rim.
Love rafting! Would love to do the grand canyon someday
The permit lottery closes on 26 February. Get over there and apply for one if you are willing to organize a private trip in 2025. If you aren't capable of organizing a big trip like that, please don't apply though! My first trip was only 16 days. My others have all been 23 days. I kayaked it the first time. It was a private trip; we had two kayaks. My second trip I was supposed to be one of two kayaks, but I also was back-up oarsman. I had to learn to row because of an injury. I loved it! I bought a raft. My third trip I got to bring my own raft. That was fabulous. My last trip was my permit, and we decided to pay to have it outfitted. The Canyon is tough on gear, and it was really fun to row 18' rafts. My raft is 15'. There's so much more room for gear on an 18' boat, and it's a real freight train.
The lottery is open longer this year than it traditionally has been. Normally it was two weeks. This year it's 3.5 weeks.
Yesterday I got the good news that I won one of the other raft permit lotteries I entered, so I do have at least one wilderness river trip in 2024. I might get invited on others or pick up cancellations; I lost all the other lotteries.
This picture is from my third trip as I'm about to drop into Lava Falls in my 15' boat.
And then I dropped in....
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Oh wow that's awesome. We would go with a guide for sure.
Have you ever done the Gulley in WV?0 -
Oh wow that's awesome. We would go with a guide for sure.
Have you ever done the Gulley in WV?
I am a western boater. I think they mostly run paddle rafts on the Gauley. Not many oar-rafts anywhere on the east coast. If I were trying to boat on the east coast, I'd be in a kayak or canoe. There's not many mulit-day trips over there. I do want to get up to the Bowron Lakes.
Mutli-day guided trips are expensive. It's kind of a shame, too. If you have money, you can go any time you want. If you are a private boater and have equipment or at least skills and a place to rent gear, you have to apply for a permit through a lottery that has very poor chance of success. For prime season on the Middle Fork Salmon, your odds are so low that if you and a friend put in every year for your entire adult life, you're still unlikely to get a permit. Got scads of money? You can go this year. Of course then you're on a guided trip, which can be deluxe because you don't have to cook or clean the shitter, but I really enjoy being self-reliant among a group of friends and fellow travelers.
One time we were camped on the Rogue River our last night. There are three camps fairly close to each other at Half Moon Bend. We were at Lower. There was a commercial group at Upper. There were screaming children and all that, but what I remember was overhearing a couple who were saying, "I can't believe we paid all this money to come this far from New York, and we still can't get away from people." I really wanted to walk over there and point up to the trail at the edge of camp and suggest that if they walked 100 yards in either direction, they could find solitude. I wonder though if they might have even known about the trail but wouldn't go for a hike because there's bears around. We almost never have a trip where we don't see a bear. Last year one climbed onto my boat and tried to get into a dry box early in the morning. Actually - it was that same camp! A small group of guides on a private trip (last trip of the season) were camped on the beach at Middle and heard the bear and chased him off. Juvenile male. I hope he stopped getting on boats. If not, they'll probably kill it. A fed bear is a dead bear.
I think even with renting all the gear from an outfitter, driving days each way, staying in hotels on the way down and back, and eating at restaurants on the road, our Grand Canyon trip in 2023 cost about $100 per day door-to-door. It's hard to find a vacation that cheap, especially one that's a month long. The commercial version would have been shorter (16 days instead of 23 on the water) and cost four times as much and that wouldn't include travel down and back (plus hotels and restaurants) or a 20% crew tip. The more days I use my raft, the cheaper it is "per day." That first trip was very expensive. It gets cheaper every trip.
Looking forward to being back on the Rogue in May. This is a rapid called "Upper Black Bar."
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