WOMEN AGES 50+ FOR MARCH 2014

bwcetc

Hey Beth, I was wondering if all your weight loss has been while part of MFP?

GeorgeCarl7 .... no, my ticker reflects my weight loss with MFP and before I joined. About 18 months ago, my son wanted me to join a gym with him ... and because I was terrified to join at my then heaviest ... I lost 20 pounds. With a trainer and sporadic gym attendance, I lost another 20, but then gained about 8 of it back. In August of last year, I joined MFP. And I've lost 35 pounds since then.

This, counting calories and exercising more (so I can theoretically eat more), has been the piece I've been missing. For the first time in a long time, I believe I can finally succeed at becoming healthy.

mollywhippet

My son got a prescription for anti-anxiety meds today. We are hopeful they will help.

Sandy, did you see that new device that was just approved for migraines? It is a headband that puts out electrical impulses or something. I hope it works. It looks really "Star Trek".

Carol, I hope you get some answers soon. I heard this kind of thing referred to as a "diagnosis odessy", where you go through all sorts of tests and never get an answer. It's a nightmare, and for your child to go through it is really hard to watch. How old is he?

Meg, I'm glad your brother is better.

Good night!

Sylvia

barbiecat

:flowerforyou: Janehadji, if all you ate was a 400 calorie back of candy with no nutritional value, then you’ve done only minor damage to your healthy life style….sorry to hear that life has dealt you a tough blow

:bigsmile: Meg, glad to hear that your brother is progressing well. He has a lot to be grateful for.

:flowerforyou: Stephanie, welcome……thanks for the suggestion of a good book to read.

:bigsmile: Sylvia, you’re a great mom and grandma….congrats on pants in a new smaller size.

:flowerforyou: Joyce, the point of recognizing yourself as an abstainer is to not take the first bite....if you can eat a moderate serving of something, my hat is off to you.

:flowerforyou: Kim, when I eat at a restaurant, I ask for specially cooked versions of food that is on the menu. That works in most places except pizza and Mexican. ….my strategy for events filled with desserts is to eat nothing, because once I have a bite, I can no longer predict my behavior.

:flowerforyou: Katla, have a safe trip and enjoy every minute of it.

:flowerforyou: DeeDee, poor Noel being scared of the wind

:flowerforyou: Heather, enjoy your trip…..you’ll do great with your packing because you’ve done it before.

:flowerforyou: Patty, walking is easy and fun for me, so I really admire you, walking in spite of the pain.

:flowerforyou: LizPlus, sorry to hear that you are still have the “gonna faint” spells…..are there no answers from your doctor? Is your blood pressure too low?

:flowerforyou: Yanniejannie, you’re a great friend to Gwen, but I applaud your caution in getting involved in another “life situation”….balance is important

:flowerforyou: Kayzoola, things are getting ready to bloom here, too, and the grass is growing.

:flowerforyou: Anamika, India is such a big place, that there must be as much variation of weather there as there is in North America.

:flowerforyou: CSueB, the 5 things about stopping cravings are posted farther down in this message…….I am powerless over peanut butter so I don’t allow it in my house and if hubby buys it, it stays out of sight in a cupboard that I don’t open.


:flowerforyou: Tina, if you haven’t been able to stick to your eating and exercising plan, then staying within the same 2 pounds is a blessing. As soon as you get back completely on track, you’ll be losing again

:brokenheart: Carol, I’m so sorry there is so much stress around your son’s diagnosis…..you have been doing an awesome job coping with all your challenges.

:flowerforyou: Michele, by the first of the month, I’ll never remember to post the 5 D’s so here they are again……They came from Sue from SD
FIVE Ds FOR DEALING WITH CRAVINGS
1. Delay - Delay the urge, it usually goes away within the first five minutes.
2. Deep breathing - Inhale through your nose, exhale through your mouth. This calms you and actually does good stuff in your brain and body.
3. Drink water - Decreases hunger, flushes toxins, and increases dopamine level. This is the "feel good" hormone in the brain.
4. Do something - Take your mind off of your craving.
5. Divine Intervention - When you are DOWN to nothing, God is UP to something!

:flowerforyou: The best prescription I ever got for stress reduction was to stay in the moment.

:flowerforyou: This was another usual day for me. Early to rise for dog walking, breakfast, more dog walking, and tea with Jake, then line dance class, errands and lunch ( I had pumpkin/apple/onion soup that I’d frozen awhile ago). Jake went out for awhile so I had time for phone calls, riding the exercise bike, yoga, and more dog walking. Jake is making his phone calls now, so I’m treating myself to time on the computer. Dances are prepared and practiced for tomorrow. We’ll be dancing four easy dances to Irish sounding music along with some of our regular dances. It will be a fun class.

Barbie from beautiful NW Washington

skuehn48

Hello and sorry for all those having bad weather. It was sunny and a gorgeous 65* here today!!! However it was muddy from the melting snow and ice. Of course when I went out to see my horse she had rolled in the mud, silly critter but she is starting to shed her winter coat so I suppose she was itchy.:laugh: I think she just likes to help me burn extra calories scraping it off.

So far it seems the prednisone and antibiotic are evening out. I go up a couple of pounds and then back down a couple so pretty much staying even.

Heather - Hope the knee is better and you have a wonderful trip.

Sylvia - So much common sense and good advice. Prayers for you and your son.

Work tomorrow, lots of new patients this last two weeks, a good problem to have.

Healing angels to all who need them and congratulations to those with victories. Sue in SD

Kayzoola

Spectacular day today. I cleared off the garden space of the old tomato vines and such, then went grocery shopping.

Michele, I have been using four of the 5 kg weights for squats, two of them for chest, and two of the 2.5 kg for biceps. We just got new bars, however, and they weigh about two kilos more than the old bar, so I have essentially added weight to most of the class. I use the same weight on my shoulders as biceps for the overhead presses, along with 5 lb hand weights. A bad rotator cuff on one side makes me careful on the shoulder stuff. I am really feeling those squats today. It is good to challenge yourself every now and then.

Kayzoola (PNW USA)

edraper70

Hi,

I'm way behind on reading posts...I'll try to catch up this weekend.

We got back from Minnesota late Tuesday night and I've been trying to catch up with life since.

We went there to see our newest little grandson. He was 3 weeks old on Sunday....so tiny! It was great to see him and his brothers..and of course their parents. The weather was great, thank goodness!! We did eat out a lot, but also walked the Mall of America and played with the little ones.

Wednesday is a really full day for me so I'm on my way to bed early tonight.

I pray everyone is doing well. I'll get caught up soon.

Eileen near San Diego

megblair1

Hi everyone. I took the day off, did the grocery shopping, saw my dad, and had an “emergency” manicure because I broke a nail about ¼ inch from the cuticle. OWWWWWW

My brother is better and now at home. Apparently dad calls him multiple times a night and if they don’t answer, he fills the answering machine with profanities. I’m going to call the social worker tomorrow and see if she has any ideas for how to handle this. He certainly does not need the stress.

Teral: thank you for your good wishes

Stephanie; welcome to the group

Sylvia: I must have missed your post about your son. What is A1AT? Sending you good thoughts.

Joyce: wow 5.1% !!! That is fantastic!

Kim : I am not sure what my brother spends all this time on with dad’s finances. I do know he has a pretty extensive estate, but it
seems he makes it very hard.

Gail: safe travels!

Katla: that’s a lot of food issues to have to deal with….I’m glad you can make it all work for both of you

DeeDee: so glad you are safe and still have power. I dread the severe summer storms

Heather: I hope you knee gets better soon. Your weather sounds grand

Patty: let us know how the shots help!

Liz: wow near fainting spells??? Have you seen the doctor?

Alison: hope that pinched nerve “unpinches”!

Tammy: I once bought a bag of flaxseed and veggie chips from Trader Joes. They were supposed to be so much healthier….so I ate the whole bag. OMg ! Don’ beat your self up.

Yanniejannie: you’ll be proud of me for taking today off other than grocery shopping. I’m staying home tomorrow and working on the books. That’s not “real” work for me though!

Anamika: sounds like you are having wacky weather like we have here in the states. So glad you are not experiencing any of it yourself,

Tina: I too have been on a long plateau lately. Mostly it’s because I am not fully committed right now, but this week feels different. So I hope your plateau goes away soon

Carol: I hope your son feels better and that you get a diagnosis soon

Deb: glad your power came back on; I heard on the news that some part of NY has gotten 96 inches of snow this year! Holy cow!

Sandy: sending you peaceful and “get well” wishes

Michele: you’ll love this….I price matched tuna helper at walmart for 88cents each and bought 3 PLUS I had a coupon for 1.50 off of three! So that was my buy of the day

Eileen; glad you are home safe and sound

Well I’m about to fall asleep in the chair. Off to bed. I have nto been sleeping well but I can always hope! Enjoy your day tomorrow and get a good night sleep tonight! Meg from almost spring-Omaha

jb_2011

I've tried 3 times to resize a pic in Photobucket to post here, but it's just not cooperating. :sad:

Back to the drawing board :grumble:

jb

texasgal22

Now that we have daylight savings time I am wondering where does the day go! :sad:

STEPHANIE, Wheat Belly sounds like the book to read if it can encourage the loss of 15 lbs; girl that is awesome!

SYLVIA, so sorry to hear of your son's difficulties; life can be overwhelming and that's when I am glad my hope is in the Lord. His situation reminds me of some times I spent with my brother when he was so ill. Having your support sure means the world to your son but remember to take of yourself too. Big hug!

JOYCE those numbers you posted on the 12th are awesome!

I really should work from the last entry backwards as I tend to miss updates starting from where I left off. Only tonight I have little time and that seems to be the trend as of late. I am sure looking forward to my vacation next week. Gonna close here wishing all a good night and a wonderful weekend coming up.

oh btw, MEG that was an awesome buy you made today at Walmart and hamburger helper. :happy:

Bet that was a great trip EILEEN near San Diego getting to see that baby grandson. We go to see our newest granddaughter who turns 2 weeks old Friday next week.

And SUE in SD our weather locally was beautiful today too - sunshine and 60"s; supposed to be 70"s on Friday.

Plano Teral :flowerforyou:

mollywhippet

I'm going to try adding a photo hubby took tonight that illustrates 100 pounds gone. The jeans I'm holding are size 30. The pants I'm wearing are size 16/18 yoga pants.

Darn, it didn't work. I'll try again.

Sylvia

mollywhippet

Why am I standing on my head? I promise it's not like that on photobucket!

jb_2011

Great pics Sylvia, wowwwwwwwwww!! You've done an amazing job!!! The pics don't show you standing on your head, though.

Uh, where'd they go? I saw the pics a minute ago! I'm having major issues with Photobucket tonight, too. :grumble:

Maybe I'll go to bed and try again in the morning!

jb

GodMomKim

I did it!!!! Thanks Ladies - just knowing I was accountable helped ! no snacks at garden club; just water!!! now it's bed time

Kim in N. CAL

MaggieTor3

Hello all

I've not seen any of these posts before but hope I'll see more.

I love peanut butter, always have. I used to make peanut butter sandwiches with lots of margarine on white bread - sometimes with sliced apples in the sandwich, sometimes with a piece of processed cheese. It was nearly always two sandwiches. That's one of the reasons I got to weigh what I do.

Last summer I was in the hospital twice with multiple bilateral pulmonary embolisms - blood clots in both lungs. I know young healthy people, the kind of people who run 5 miles before breakfast, who were told by their doctors that the recovery time can be a year or two. I have to recover faster than that because I'm single and unemployed.

My sister-in-law recommended MFP after I saw the haematologist on January 31st of this year. So I joined on February 1st. I'm down 13 pounds - just a start! I've been walking up and down the hall in my apartment building because the Winnipeg streets are still snowy and icy. The hall walking is boring but at least it's warm! I've started to carry little weights with me for some of the walking, and I can definitely feel more muscle in my legs and little bitsy starting muscles in my arms.

I'm going to survive - already survived the pulmonary embolisms, and at my age and weight and with 47 years of smoking, that seems miraculous - and I'm going to get better, and one of the things that's helped me enormously so far is the community support here. I've also joined an online support group for survivors of deep vein thrombosis and pulmonary embolisms.

And for peanut butter - now I'm having a measured tablespoon of crunchy (lower in sodium than creamy) with a measured teaspoon of unsalted butter on matzos. For anyone who doesn't know, matzos are the Jewish flatbread like crackers. They don't have to be kosher for Passover, and they're made with just flour and water. It works for me!

I see I've left out some things - I'm tired, ready for bed and clearly not thinking straight. I'm 63, stopped using salt last December 8th, and quit smoking on January 1st.

Maggie

jmkmomm

Congratulations Maggie, seems like you are a survivor in many fields. Yes, you WILL make it. I measure my peanut butter also. It is quite revealing when I measure out only 1 tbsp of crunchy peanut butter. It's a lot less than I thought it was. But I am not going to give it up. I'll just have less of it. Now if only I can say that for my chocolate.

My husband changed insurance plans last October. Now today we get a check for over $73 for participating in their incentive program. What????? He hasn't been with Anthem for 8 months now. It looks nice. It will pay our new and improved water bill that is $55 this month instead of the usual $34.

Joyce, Indiana going to bed with a headache. Hope it lets up

nccarolb

Just going to take a minute to relieve some stress: Duke Children's Hospital at 9:15 a.m.; home at 4 p.m.; haircut at 6 p.m.; home at 8 p.m.; on phone with Duke doctor at 8:05 p.m.; at local ER at 8:20 p.m.; home again at 1 a.m.; Thursday's food plan shot all to hell! Arrrrrrrgggggghhhhhhh!!!!! I am so tired!! And, poor baby's first day at his first job is tomorrow at 8 a.m. :sad: :sad: :sad: :sad: :sad:

Thank you for "listening" and good night! :yawn: :yawn: :yawn: :yawn:

Carol in dark and cold NC

gdweech

Hi Ladies. I'm finding that I need a lot of support to stay on track. I go back and forth on staying with calorie intake and it's wearing me down. So, I'm joining this group in hopes of making new friends and getting and giving much needed support.

Georgette in Spokane

wizzywig

Good Morning

:flowerforyou: Looks like the sun may get out today, we've had a few foggy mornings this week, but today it has lifted already and I can se the sun!

:ohwell: I'm a bit fed up today, I've put on a pound! It could just be extra water, but it is not the way I want to go! For some reason I can't seem to lose more than a pound at a time and then when I've lost 2lbs put them back on again! So frustrating.

:flowerforyou: Now that the nights (and mornings) are getting lighter I should get more active, I do tend to be less active in winter with lack of daylight. Last night after work I went on a dog walk with DD and although I wasn't too keen at first I was glad I went. It got me some extra steps in too :bigsmile: I have joined a walking challenge on the Fitbit community thread. So far I'm monitoring my sleep and steps. I log my food onto MFP and it's connected to Fitbit and puts results in Fitbit - it does do more things but I'm not sure how to use the Fitbit to its full advantage. I'd have probably just as well have got a really good pedometer :huh:

Well I've another fun filled packed day at work with yet another meeting! I think I'll add up all the hours wasted in meetings and present it to my manager when she's asking why we are so behind with the claims or archiving. It never used to be like this, we used to be able to get on with our day job with only a few meetings, now it's nearly every day we have to break off for some reason or another.

This is starting to sound like a vent so I'll get ready for work - need to get the exercise DVD out first and get moving :laugh:

TGIF

Bye for now

cityjaneLondon

Good morning lovely ladies!

It is VERY foggy out there so I expect the planes are queuing up. We don't fly until 12.50 when the fog should have gone, but if there is a backlog it might be delayed.

Tiny bit of packing still to do. Taking hardly any clothes as handbag, makeup and washing stuff takes up most of the room. Had a crisis email from one of the "girls" who doesn't know how she is going to manage. She normally takes a big suitcase FULL of junk, but she knows we don't want to wait for the carrousel.

Not exercising this morning. I don't want to compromise the improvement on my knee. Still stiff, but loads better.

My loving thoughts to Carol, Sylvia and others with children, relatives and parents suffering.

Stay well my friends. Recover from aches and pains, embolisms, migrains and the rest. We are strong, we are WOMAN! :drinker:

Heather in foggy Hampshire UK

grandmallie

morning ladies,
sorry i didnt check in last night, yesterday was a whirlwind..
took Chester to the groomers, threw a load of laundry in,took the flat screen and was able to get it mounted and on the new stand.
the furnace guy came to clean it and I roped him into helping me move it from the bedroom to the family room, (right next door) then I had to take the electronics and get them set up and move the other stuff out of there..
after that was off to return a grill cover and get another bigger one, and next door from there the hubby wanted me to buy an appliance dolly,so I hauled that out to the car and put that in and brought that home, on the way home from there stopped at 3 different nursing homes , got a tour of one,but it is not my first choice.
picked Chester up at the groomers and came home,made the hubbies dinner and put fresh sheets on my bed.
we will be getting the fridge tomorrow so i put the freezer stuff down in the downstairs freezer
we went over to the dealership last night and looks like we are getting a new car for Florida,ol betsy will be traded in and they will scrap her..she was my first new car and 13 yrs old..
so I was busy..
tomorrow we go to Foxwoods(casino)to see Trisha Yearwood,I work in the morning,then to see the FIL and then down there.
Sunday is grocery shopping and cooking