WOMEN AGES 50+ FOR APRIL 2014

kayak_kutie

Hello ladies,

Barbie - that picture is beautiful!

Heather - have fun on your trip and pictures please of the jag (with you in it) and the cake if possible.

Hello to all of the new ladies!

Quick post as I'm at work. Sun is shining here and weather finally warming up a little. DH has been struggling with bronchitis and I finally convinced him to go to the doctor yesterday after 3 nights of being up coughing so very little sleep for both of us. :grumble: He has COPD so can't shake it as easily as before. We are planning on going to the opening home game for the Washington Nationals on Friday so I used that as a 'carrot' to get him to go. He got two inhalers, antibiotics and cough medicine with codine. We both slept well last night! :happy:

Speaking of baby showers, we are having one here today for a co-worker. It is her first and she is very excited and sweet so everyone seems like they are going to participate. She didn't have much on her register so probably the family has already purchased many things as it is the first grandchild on both sides. We collected money and purchased a gift card for the store where she registered and will give a few smaller items. There will be a large cake, chips and dip, and other munchies. I brought in a veggie platter so I know I can at least eat that along with a couple pieces from the fruit platter. It only lasts an hour after lunch so shouldn't be too tempted.

One of my March goals was to clean out the master closet and that was done! Now I need to call and arrange a pick up of the bags.

April goals:

Get back to logging on a consistant basis
Schedule exercise at least 3 days a week.
Get back to yoga classes
Continue purging closets and drawers.
Try one new recipe a week

Back to work for now,
Tina from MD

expatpam

Hello Everyone,

My name is Pam and we've been living in Puerto Rico for 3.5 years now.

Fitness wise I've been in and out of the gym for awhile but recently decided to step it up and see if I can get my shape back. I turned 50 last year and things have shifted a bit. I've been tracking on MFP this past month and find it extremely interesting to say the least.

My goals for April would be to continue strength training 5 days a week and do a better job at eating protein, carbs and good fats.

Happy Spring!

Pam in PR

bjkidfun

Hello ladies
It's finally feeling like Spring here in Md.

March Goal' s
Drop 6 lbs- yes
60 min exercise 5x a week-yes
Log all foods - yes
Drink 8+ glasses water daily- missed 1 day
Stay in touch with this thread- struggled

April Goal' s
Drop 5 lbs
Cardio circuit 3-4x' s weekly (1hr)
Body Pump 2x's weekly
Log all food
Drink 8+ glasses water daily
Keep up with thread
Planks-work from 30 sec to 3 min
Brenda from Md

meyllisa

Dee Dee in answer to your question yes I think we may be thawing out soon its plus 7 celcius here today and raining Spring
may have found our neck of the woods.

:flowerforyou: Barbie forgot to Thank you for starting our April off with great graphics so cheerful, and for all your inspiration


Have a great day everyone Juanita in sudbury

jmkmomm

WOW, April has sure brought us some new friends! Will be nice getting to know all of you.

Heather, what is a Jag trip???

I think spring is finally here!!!! 2nd day in a row that we have this glorious sunshine. 70*s again!!!!

I think some one has taken duct tape and put in on my scales to prevent the darn thing from moving. I have actually even picked up a pound. I think it was those cadbury eggs:sad:

I am doing better at using my bike more but still haven't gone back to the Y since my back hurt maybe 6 weeks ago.:embarassed: So that is an April goal for me.

We are going to to see the grandkids this week!!!!!!!!!! Well I'll see their parents also.:laugh: :laugh: We'll leave Thursday afternoon and come back late Friday. Normally we would go on a Friday and Saturday but my habit is that with my MS I will sleep most of the next day and I don't want to do that. The kids are on spring break and my daughter will take Friday off. She works in this cave that copies, shreds, stores, whatever is needed documents. They give tours of the cave when asked so we will have that Friday afternoon. After that is over our daughter will take us on an exploration of the part of the cave that the business isn't housed. We stay in a home grown type hotel the night we are there. I don't like to pay for a suite but it's called sanity. 2 beds and a living room. So I can go to sleep while he's up watching TV, or surfing the channels.

Joyce, Indiana

Roxmom66

Good morning everyone and wishing you all a happy and springlike April!

I would love to join this group: it seems like a good group and motivating. I am in Canada, and lost a bunch of weight about 5 years ago and actually hit 'onderland' and actually reached 180 lbs. Stayed there for a long, long time, then DH retired and in the next year I gained 190. OK,, stayed there for a long time. However, got on the scale today and my April Fools weight was 198.

Decided today that 200+ was NOT going to happen, so here I am. My first goal is lose 5lb (in reality, I hope its 8lb) for April. and then move on from there. If the snow ever melts, I will take up walking on a more consistent basis too.

Good losing vibes to everyone on their journey.

CSueB

Jumping in April 1 and will try to figure this post out...what an awesome bunch of women you all are!!!

April goals....
keep working out 5 to 6 days a week, alternating between cardio and weights
get my last 5# off and keep them off this time!
count my blessing EVERY SINGLE DAY!
encourage wherever and whenever I can

last but not least....figure out how to do this message board!!!

jfenner141

Hi my Vitamin F friends!!

Welcome to all the new folks. This is a great place to get support and lots of kindness.

Here are some notes from a handout I picked up at the Y related to emotional eating (certainly an issue of mine!) -

Food journaling will help identify your emotional triggers (log every bite!!!)
Cultivate mental and emotional well-being through practices like meditation, mindfulness, massage, and yoga
Turn to message boards for help (yes, indeed and here we are)

When emotional eating hits, a 3 minute "trick" for handling the stress in the moment

1. MINUTE 1: Stay grounded. 9 times out of 10, emotional eating comes from getting caught in a mind storm of worst case scenarios, projections, misinterpretations, all those emotional overreactions.

So, take a few deep breaths. If someone else is involved, take a timeout and agree to continue the discussion in a few minutes.

Remind yourself where you are. Look around, noticing and naming the colors, shapes in the space around you.

Notice your physical sensations and try to name the emotion that goes with that sensation.

The idea is to stay in your body and in the moment---with what's real---instead of going inside your mind and spinning scenarios out of control.

2. MINUTE 2: Reality Check. Once you are calm enough to think productively, put all those thoughts in your head through a reality check. Do any of these thought patterns that are not in reality familiar?

All or nothing thinking - You go over your calorie limit and decide to keep eating because you have already blown it.
Reality: Weight loss is one a one-day event. If you stop overeating now, you'll gain potentially less and have less to re-lose.

Reading your own thoughts into someone else's words - Someone makes a mildly critical or unsupportive remark and you feel completely devastated.
Reality: The more bothered you are by such remarks, the more likely you are being way too critical of yourself. When you treat yourself with respect, what others say won't matter nearly as much.

Either-or thinking - You made a mistake or had a bad day and feel like a complete and hopeless failure.
Reality: No one does well all of the time. Mistakes are necessary and valuable opportunities to learn.

3. MINUTE 3: Put things in perspective. Most problems are easier when we don't make mountains out of molehills. Some questions to ask yourself -

How big a deal is this anyway? If I was going to die in a week, would I want to spend this minute of my time on this.

Will anything bad happen if I postpone thinking about this until I have more time to figure it out?

Do I have the info I need and do I really know what is going on or am I making assumptions?

Am I worrying about things that may not even happen?

Can I break this problem or issue down into more manageable pieces I can handle one at a time?

Is there anything I can do right now to change or help this situation?

I found a lot of myself along the way in this article :blushing: . Hop it's useful to others!


March goals - Continue more vegetables - done!
Drink 8-10 glasses water a day - most every day!
50 min cardio twice a week - and sometimes 60!!
Lose 2-3 pounds - Lost a total of 3.5!!!!!
Work out 3 times a week - Missed one Sunday when out of town
Up my weights in strength training - Done and still doing. All weights are up at least 10%, some a fair amount more. Seated planks now 1 1/2 minutes each (5 total)

April goals: Pretty much the same, though may not increase weights quite so much unless I have really adapted to the higher weights I'm now using.

Jill in western MA

cityjaneLondon

NSV for me! Went to the W I bake off and did not eat any cakes! I had one tiny biscuit that my friend made and brought four back for DH. We raised £200 for the local hospice.:happy:

This afternoon the hotel rang me and told me they were giving us an upgrade! Yeah! :drinker: I don't suppose we will get a suite like Joyce though. I have specified two beds pushed together, but made up separately. With his meds DH twitches and jerks when he is dreaming. I don't want to be bouncing around all night!

Joyce - we are hiring an E type Jaguar car for 24 hours. 5pm - 5pm. It is a white convertible with a V12 engine, 1972. It is our Christmas present to each other.:happy: It has been on TV in one of our favourite programmes - Antiques Road Trip.
I hope I will sleep tonight, but I am inclined to be a worrier and always get worked up before a trip away.
I will stay in the moment. :laugh: All is well. Breathe.

Good wishes to all the lovely new people.:flowerforyou:

Heather in Hampshire UK

gmom316

Hi again,

Did a quick skim and it looks most have some big aspirations for April. I am going to stick to my food and fitness goals here (to avoid being overwhelmed) and they are.....(drum roll please):

To continue with and steadily improve with my T25 (April will make me through the Alpha phase)
Add non impact, fat burning cadio each day
Log my food here and stay under my calorie allotment
Eliminate more starchy carb and replace them with more veggies
Work toward eliminating added, processed sugars from my life again.
Work in some stretching, yoga and meditation.

I am HOPING that I will see a 5-10 pound loss this month but given my metabolic "handicap", I will be happy with any.

Yay for helping hospice Heather!

Catch ya'll later

Gloria from Metro Detroit

mollywhippet

Hi everybody. I hope you are all doing well today. I've been having my own little pity party today after my diagnosis yesterday, but hopefully that is over now. I'm sitting outside the granddaughters' school, waiting to pick them up. Then we have to go back to their apartment to look for their bathing suits (their Dad could not find them). Then we go to the Y for swim lessons, then supper out, just us girls. Hubby has a meeting this evening so won't be home till about 10:00.

Here is the joke of the day:

:laugh:

Did you hear about the two radio antennas that got married?

The wedding was terrible, but the reception was excellent!

:happy:

Sylvia
In Kansas, where our daffodils are FINALLY blooming!

jmkmomm

Thanks for the explanation of the Jag trip, sounds exciting and fun.

Sylvia, I know I am not in your situation and therefore can't even fathom what you are going through, just take this as part of making a plan. You now know the first step and that is a partial diagnosis. None of us know our future. My thoughts and prayers are with you. Have you looked into any support groups in your area?

Joyce, Indiana

GodMomKim

Heather – the christening cake sounds wonderful! And DH sounds like a great help. The rental saga is crazy; keep on them – the squeaky wheel gets the grease! Congrats on your NSV!! And have a great trip!

Sylvia – Info like that is both amazing – the technology side of it; and scary, it is good to know that you can at least control some of the environmental triggers; but I think for me for a while at least I’d be worried about every sneeze, cough or tickle. You take care! Is there a support group for folks with this disease? Sometimes those groups (like us) have tips and suggestions that will make it easier.

Renny – I will send good thoughts your way for a boring April giggle:laugh:

Barbie – thanks for taking care of us!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And adorable graphic!

Michele – if you still need the stockings embroidered – we can become friends and do it via snail mail.

Deb23455, Stow62, Jannof, Dchaya, shellyblle, Roxmom3, Pam and Bonnie– Welcome !

Alison – if you slept 11 hours you needed it! That is caring for yourself; NOT slughood.

Yanniejannie - Glad to hear Gwen is doing physically better – but the mental is almost harder; good plan to call the sister.

Kathy in Il congrats on the breakup – and sending good thoughts for you.

DrKatiebug – seems like you have good goals; getting healthy is the weight loss but it is also the medical things !

Joyce – enjoy the DGK (darling grand kids) interesting to get to tour “the cave”

CSueB – you figured it out!

Jill – love your list!!!!!!!!!!!

So goals : March was to log everyday - I did that
April is :1. to log every thing every day
2. I signed up for health care in Dec (first time to have insurance in 6 years) but have not done anything with it. So in April I want to pick a doc, and find out about getting all the girl bits checked.

The folks across the street from me this morning had a company come in and cut down a 70+ year old magnolia tree - it was beautiful and because of the angle gave my house some well loved summer shade. It looks so stark over there - they have grass and this one tree... now the front is just grass - tidy (the gal mows the lawn at 8:30am every 3rd day and has for the 21 years I have lived here) but it is boring and I will really miss that tree.

We had spring weather in Dec, Jan, Feb and a bit of March but the last few days have been cold (for us ) and rainy. I am going to get a fire built - I heat with a wood stove, and was out of the house most of today and it is 60 inside; a bit chilly for my taste.

Have a great evening
Kim in rainy N. CAL

Deb23455

Do you all post only how you are doing towards goals or daily life things too?
I managed to notice spring is finally here--it's very late this year but the pear trees finally have blooms!
I made a million trips back and forth to the new house.
Polished the floors, walked the dog then got on the treadmill. I joined my old gym--it's 3 blocks from my new house--I can get on the treadmill and watch the boats move out of the inlet. I can watch the sun move to sunset over the water. That's what I did today for 2 miles. I worked shoulders and abs too! I really hate weights and abs but love cardio so that's why my goals this month are to start weight training.

Katla49

Dr. Katie. Goals are basic. Log your food, and move as much as you can. Hugs to you. Your doctor sounds like someone who needs to be retired by you in favor of someone better. If only it was easy to find someone better.:flowerforyou:

Margaretturk: Your goals are smart and sensible. I’m sorry you lost your sister to breast cancer.:flowerforyou:

Jeri: Good luck with your goals. :flowerforyou:

Heather: Saharan Hampshire? Lucky you. I’m living in Rainforest Oregon. :grumble: What a great road trip you have planned. Enjoy every minute! :flowerforyou:

Sue: Love the goals, and envy the riding goal. I hope to get back to riding when it warms and dries a bit.:flowerforyou:

Cynthia: Great goal!:flowerforyou:

Pam: I’d love to hear more about living in Puerto Rico. Are you a fluent Spanish speaker?:huh:

Joyce: If it allows you to rest, a suite is worth the money. Have a great time.:flowerforyou:

CSueB: You have great goals. Welcome.:flowerforyou:


Amanda: I’ll keep gallbladder stability in my prayers for you. Be happy.:flowerforyou:

Sylvia: I looked back several pages but didn’t see your diagnosis. Share if you are willing. I am sending hugs and prayers to you.:flowerforyou:


DH and I went to the dentist today for regular check ups. It was regular for me, but DH has had a 3 year hiatus. He says he wasn’t covered, but I know that is not the case. At least he is taking care of himself now. I’m sending prayers for those who need them, and good thoughts for everyone.:flowerforyou:

Katla in overcast NW Oregon

“Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time.” Thomas A. Edison


April Goals:

1. Log every bite and swallow.
2. Move more: cardio at least 3 days a week and strength training when able.
3. Find a way to have fun at least once every day.
4. Water: Pay attention to water intake and drink frequently during the day.

jmkmomm

Kim, this is an actual cave that this company is in. It occupies the front half of the cave but you still have to walk a good ways to get to the complex. Apparently there is an area behind their offices that is unoccupied and she likes to explore. It is quite cool in there and wet. They have special ventilation system to keep the offices and all the records dry. She does have to wear special boots because of the rough terrain and puddles before you get to the offices. The cave system has some sort of water reserve in it that they bottle the water and sell it as spring water. It will be quite interesting. She has done some exploring outside also and found an old shed with a lot of antiques in it and quite a lot of old coke bottles in good condition.

barbiecat

:flowerforyou: I am so excited to see some many postings and great goals and resolutions for April.

:bigsmile: Here are a few thoughts that worked for me about setting goals:

*I don’t have any control over how much weight I lose, but I can resolve to do things like walk 10,000 steps, drink 9 glasses of water, log my food, avoid “empty calories” like candy, salad dressing, etc.

* goals and resolutions have to be measurable like “walk 10,000 steps a day” rather than “walk more”

*resolutions about attitude help a lot----my attitude has a huge influence on how well I stay with the plan I’ve made for myself about eating and exercise

*be cautious about resolving to do something “every day”, if missing a day will send you into a tailspin of “what’s the use?”

*too many resolutions may be hard to remember

*don’t hesitate to “borrow” good ideas freely from other women on this thread (or anywhere)

Barbie from beautiful NW Washington


:bigsmile: :bigsmile: 25,000 steps today ---strength training----exercise bike

My word for 2014 is “mindful”
April Resolutions
*add leg lifts with ankle weights to weight training
*do weight training and yoga on alternate days
*don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good
*work in the yard 30 minutes four days a week

Poerava14

Bumping for now. Have been away on a grueling business trip which kicked my behind emotionally and physically. So good to be back here. Need the Vitamin F in big bunches. I'll be back with April goals soon.

Rori in the Colorado Foothills

Word for 2014 = Release

janemartin02

HI!got the results of the MRI-arthritis,which I knew and possible ACL tear,have to see the ortho dr.:sad:
No this is no April fool`s trick.Am real bummed.
HUGS:sad:
jane

mollywhippet

Katla, my grandkids and I were tested for the genetic disorder that my son has. It's A1-AT deficiency. It's something the body produces to protect the lungs and liver, and some unlucky people just don't produce enough of it. It destroys the lungs and can cause lung cancer, liver cancer, cirrhosis of the liver, jaundice, skin lesions, and a few other things.

The results came back yesterday. They classify people according to particular markers on a specific gene. The oldest granddaughter was an MM, which means no risk. That was not surprising, given that she is his adopted daughter, but still good to know. The other two grandkids are MZ's, which means they are carriers with the lowest risk of developing symptoms later in life, so that was the best we could hope for for them. My results were SZ, which has the second highest range of severity. I expected to be just a carrier, so that surprised me. My son is a ZZ, which is the most severe.

All my life there has been a debate as to whether I have asthma or not. Some docs said yes, some said no. So when I have shortness of breath, especially when lying in bed at night, I thought it was asthma. It seems now that it could be a symptom of this and not really asthma at all. I have to have some more tests run to check liver enzymes and lung function and stuff like that. But I'm in spectacularly good shape compared to my son. He is looking at a double lung transplant in the next couple of years. There is no cure for it, but there is a treatment. He's on oxygen 24 hours a day. He had an IV port installed in his chest and has to get an infusion every week for the rest of his life. The meds are to replace the stuff his body is not producing. I don't think I will ever get that bad, and hope not to need the infusions at all. The meds cost over $100,000 per year.

The best thing for all of us is to avoid environmental triggers that the lungs normally try to filter out, like smoke, chemicals and dust. And losing weight is a plus. Of course, that is all good advice for anybody, so it's no big surprise. I'm concerned about my being able to continue doing pottery. That is something that produces a certain amount of dust no matter how careful you are. I have noticed it being very hard to breathe, especially after mixing or spraying glazes, even with a respirator. So that is something I will have to discuss with the pulmonologist. I've never been a smoker but was around a lot of smokers in my childhood and early adulthood.

There are support groups but none in our area, and none online. This doctor, who is the only pulmonologist in our little town said there is only one other person in town who has it. It's sort of a rare disease. To find a doc who specializes in it we would have to travel to St. Louis or Omaha. There is a registry for people who want to participate in medical trials and research. I signed up for that.

So, I was feeling down about it for a little while. I'm done now.

Tonight I took the girls to swim lessons and after went to Taco Bell for dinner. I showed them how I log my food and they were very interested in the whole process. They didn't understand anything about calories or sodium. The oldest needs to lose a little, so she was especially interested. I showed them my picture with my fat pants and they were very impressed. It turned out to be a good teachable moment.

Well, hubby just got home. Gotta go. Goodnight all!

Sylvia