WOMEN AGES 50+ FOR DECEMBER

kackie

Happy Monday, All!

Wow...lots of new ladies to welcome....that's great!

JaneMartin, lizzybluts, pjilly, minicat, nancyjane & maeadair: WELCOME! You have found a great place for support and help. I look forward to getting to know you. We have all struggled and learn from each other! Just stay here, log your food, and as Barbie says: NEVER, NEVER give up! Best of luck on this journey!

Karlene: Wow....5 pounds is awesome! Just shows what changing things up can do

Rebel: A BABY! I am so excited for you! Being a grandma is the BEST...What a great event to look forward to in the New Year!!!

Amanda: I understand the head vs reality talk. We all have it about some issue or another. BUT you have done SO well and I hope that buying a beautiful, SMALLER dress will be some reward for your hard work - Take care! (and post us a photo in the dress of your choice!)

The sun is out but it is chilly! I spent the weekend getting the house decorated a bit for our upcoming House Guests the next 2 weekends. NOW I need to get out and get some exercise and run errands. The gifts that need to be shipped are mostly ready to go to be shipped, except for a few I need to go find. It's a busy time of the year, isn't it?

Take care dear Ladies, Kackie

jam0525

Happy Monday!

Amanda- I still find it hard to believe that you loss so much over the last year. That is fantastic, but especially with all you go through.

Rebel-Congratulations on the upcoming grand-baby.

Chicklet- I know what you mean about "problems with care givers". I hope that settles down for you soon.

Barbie - As always we love your advice and comments.

To all others: I hope you have a really good day filled with great choices. I am actually on time for work today and if I keep posting, I won't be. lol

Have any of you seen the article on working out like a man? Well, I'm starting to think about trying it: doing more weights, etc.

Jeannie

rjadams

Good morning ladies.

Welcome to all the newbies. This is an awesome group of women. I love them all.

I am struggling today. I just feel like crying. I know that it is depression from the fact the Unemployment runs out and jobs aren't out there for me and my debt seems insurmountable and I am finally really scared. On the other hand I am sure things will work out. I am ever the optomist and I will get on my treadmill and run so I don't feel so cry-ey. I think I will really clean the house today. I have been slacking over the past two weeks and I am sure I will feel better once some of the dust is gone and things are picked up. And I will feel like I accomplished something.

I hope you all have a wonderful day, drink your water and make good choices.

PJilly

Good morning. I've just spent a fair amount of time reading through all the posts in this thread to get to know you better. What an amazing group of women. Thank you again for welcoming me.

I've been thinking about what my goals should be and how MFP fits into my life. I joined in August 2009 a few days after my dad died (he's still my inspiration). I reached my initial goal weight of 145 last March by eating 1,700 to 1,800 calories a day and working out six days a week. I wanted to lose a little bit more, but I increased my calories to 1,900 at that point and have gotten to a very comfortable place with my weight, which is between 135 and 140. I'm going to increase my calories slightly to 2,000 and see if that's the right number for me for maintenance. I love food (and drink!), so I'm all about eating the most calories I can without gaining weight. :bigsmile:

When I first joined here, I had zero intention of becoming involved in the community aspect. I just wanted to mind my own business and use the food diary to track my food, as it's the best tool I've ever seen for doing that. My head was in the right place to achieve my own personal success, and I didn't need motivation or inspiration from anybody else. But I discovered something. There are quite a few people here who have met their goals, but they stick around and help others, and that is inspirational to me. I've also discovered there's all kinds of support that has nothing to do with health and fitness, and I definitely don't have it all "together" in other aspects of my life — mainly the trials and tribulations of trying to help and cope with a young adult daughter who is struggling with severe depression and has been for years. I've reached out to friends on here and gotten support that I never even knew I needed.

Enough rambling already. My goals for December are somewhat vague, but basically I want to continue to do a good job staying on track with my food and exercise, and I especially want to give back however I can. I want to work on being more aware of how I can serve others. I also want to remember it's OK for me to lean on others when I need to.

On that note, I think I'll go do today's workout. Happy Monday, all.

Laura80111

:flowerforyou: Welcome to all the newbies...there's so many that I don't remember all your names...but welcome!

Rebel- Congrats on the news and the date of arrival is???

Chiclet - sorry you are having such a challenge with all you have taken on with your Mom, but right now I'd love to have that challenge. Yesterday would have been my Mom's 84th Birthday and I really miss her.

I spent the weekend working on our Christmas Card, filled with pictures of what our family has done this past year. I really needed to do house work and baking but spent the WHOLE weekend in front of the computer. My goal is to have them all sent out by Friday, which means I will need to work on them every night this week.

We did "date night" Friday and I had a glass of wine with my dinner and it took until Sunday for it to go away. For special occasions it's okay but I'd much rather have those calories in food

I have been playing catch up at work all day, took two tests so I could do the "e-verify" for new employees, just more work for us to do...my Sales Tax Audit is almost over and just thinking about that gives me a sick:sick: feeling.

Everyone have a good evening and keep up the water and exercise as well as log, log, log:drinker:

Laura

NancyJane116

Thank you all so much for your warm welcome.... I feel it through our very cold evening! Its so hard NOT to eat yummy things when it's so chilly - I was thinking about the food calculator all day at work today!! I am so ready to change!

happy thoughts to all,

Nancy

MacMadame

Hi everybody!

I'm trying to read more posts this month. :happy:

Amanda- I understand how you feel. When I am exercising in a group class (and therefore I have on tight clothes) I get so depressed about my big panus and how it makes me look like a walrus when I am on the floor twisting and turning. Which is dumb because I'm a size 2. (Yes, the hated size 2 that everyone complains about. :laugh:) But sometimes it's not good enough. Sigh.

Anyway, I did a MAJOR grocery shopping yesterday -- spent over $550 -- and now my house is full of string cheese and FAGE yogurt and protein bars, among other things. It's so much easier to eat well when you have plenty of healthy snacks. Amazingly enough, even with spending that much, I still forgot some stuff! I guess this is what happens when you don't go grocery shopping for 4 weeks.

MacMadame

Oh and I forgot to say that I've also decided to give myself a break about things... I got on this "clean eating" kick where I tried not to buy things with all these artificial ingredients and tried not to eat protein bars because they really are kind of glorified candy bars. But it didn't lead to good things. I never did make my own bars like I kept saying I would and I didn't find good replacements for the foods I stopped buying so then I'd eat junk instead because it was around and was easy.

So I bought some of those cottage cheese and greek yogurt that have a pocket of fruit on the side to mix in. Yeah, the fruit is mostly sugar and it would be healthier to cut up my own fruit and add it myself, but I didn't do that 4 times out of 5 and I should know myself better by now to know what I will and won't do. I got a bunch of protein bars too. I know some days I eat too many of them but when I didn't have them I was eating a lot of carby and sugary stuff instead because it was available. I find I can maintain my weight better if I incorporate a protein bar for an afternoon snack.

debieanne

could you tell us more about dash my dr wants me to follow it he thought i knew about it and i don't thank you debi

RebelRenny

:bigsmile: First day that I actually logged my food intake honestly in a long time. Also went to the gym today and on the treadmill and elliptical, so some good calories burned. Yay.:bigsmile:

Thanks for all the good thoughts on my DD pregnancy. We are very excited. FYI - we have 4 grandchildren already, however do not see them (sad story which I won't bother you about). Needless to say we are totally delighted with the news. I will keep you posted on the due date.

Having a bit of a situation at work: one co-worker on my team somehow decided she has something against me. Will have to sort that out, because it makes no sense. Hopefully it will blow over and it is all about a misunderstanding. I know she has something against others on the team, but why me is beyond me Booo.....

My mom had an "episode" this past Friday. On the brink of a heart attack. Fortunately one of my sisters was just coming along and the "red button" was pushed. Emergency help provided and disaster prevented. Except that my sweet momma is left very tired and even more confused. It does appear the lack of oxygen has done some more damage. We are prepared and so is she. But still.

:drinker: I had a wonderfully restful weekend. Read a whole book, drank wine, had great conversations and played computer games. How sinfully excellent!!! I love my life.

Rebel

anotheryearolder

Not much news here today. Got to the gym and got the tree into it's stand. Now have to wait a couple days for the branches to assume a normal position and we can decorate! Tomorrow I will make a wreath and a tiny little tree for the table from the tips of extra branches we got with the tree. It's time consuming but fun.

It is cold here (well for N Fla anyway) and I hope my home made cold frames keep my lettuce, spinach and arugula warm enough. The onions aren't covered. They have never needed it in earlier years and hopefully will make it through the week. It's going to get down to 23 degrees tonight!:noway: And quite cold at night for several days.

I think I have my shopping all done; now it's just wait for the brown truck to deliver it and get it wrapped! :bigsmile: Every year dh is my biggest problem. You would think that the person I have lived with for 44 years would be easy.... not the case. He can always come up with a neat surprise and I seldom can. Oh well, I make up for it with Christmas food. :laugh:

This weather is kind of nice, it seems more like Christmas to me. I have never gotten used to a relatively warm Christmas. My childhood was spent in Michigan and that snowy icy weather is still what I expect for the Christmas season. However, I do NOT miss the frozen fingers and toes and sliding around on black ice - I'm not a kid anymore and nostalgia only goes so far!

Today was good calorie and exercise wise for me and I hope it was for all of you too. I am off to bed with my book while dh watches football.

Faye

joylaut

Day 11 for me. Most of the days I met or was under my calorie allotment but the scale still hasn't budged. :frown: And my new black dress for Friday's holiday party hangs in my closet, mocking me. The good news is that reading everyone's post has motivated me to exercise more so I pulled out my wii fit plus. After it chastised me for not checking in for 239 days, I used it for about 18 minutes in the morning before work and another 45 minutes of aerobics after work. I forgot how much fun it was and like the immediate feedback on calories burned. Especially when those extra burned calories allow me to have a little treat in the evening! My dilemma will be balancing wii use with taking my girl out for her exercise. Tomorrow, shoe shopping for shoes to go with my dress. I don't like shopping and I particularly hate shoe shopping. My feet have always run narrow all my life and my heel still is narrow but now I have bunions making the top part of my feet, wide. And I never wear heels except for parties.

Still, if that's the most I have to worry about this week, I'm pretty blessed.
Joy

maeadair

Robin, it looks like they may extend unemployment, hope so for you. Finances are an issue for me as well. I was out for 15 weeks and then short term disabilty denied me . I received no $$$ while out and used up my entire savings. Since back to work they have not had consistent clients so only getting part-time. I will keep you in my prayers. MAE

Good morning ladies.

Welcome to all the newbies. This is an awesome group of women. I love them all.

I am struggling today. I just feel like crying. I know that it is depression from the fact the Unemployment runs out and jobs aren't out there for me and my debt seems insurmountable and I am finally really scared. On the other hand I am sure things will work out. I am ever the optomist and I will get on my treadmill and run so I don't feel so cry-ey. I think I will really clean the house today. I have been slacking over the past two weeks and I am sure I will feel better once some of the dust is gone and things are picked up. And I will feel like I accomplished something.
I hope you all have a wonderful day, drink your water and make good choices.
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chicletgirl

Thank you everyone for bearing with me and my ordeals with my mother. I appreciate all the well wishes and kind thoughts. I try to sneak a peak at the posts whenever I can, but am not always able to post. Still your comments cheer me on.:flowerforyou:

Today was a pretty good day.:drinker:

My caregiver called me twice over the weekend apologizing profusely, and on the second call I told him to forget it and not worry about it. It just isn't worth it to dwell on. I told him I was sorry to and said lets forget it and move on. He was happy and is now back to his old self....hitting on me again.:ohwell: I don't know ....I just don't get it. I am 52 years old, he's 32. What the heck does he see in me???? On the other hand he is a cutie and I think can be a player.:glasses: Maybe I should just do it with him and get it out of his system. The plus side for me would be a major release of stress pent up!! I'll have to think about this if he keeps it up.

Mom started prednisone and some kind of arthritic medicine on Saturday. Today was her first good day. I think the Pred kicked in finally because she wasn't complaining of pain at all. It helped her do her exercises without her yelling at me and she and I actually ended the day laughing with each other while I changed her. She said she felt like her legs were stronger this evening. She stood for a solid minute today, and she was very happy. So was I. Maybe there will be a rainbow after all.

She was evaluated for Physical therapy today and he went over some exercises we could do when he wasn't there. Turns out they are all the exercises I made up on my own and my mom looked at me astonished and told the therapist, "She's been doing all that this whole time!" (She bitterly complains that I don't know what I am doing and am killing her!) He said, "Well that's great! So you are having her open and close her legs?" I said, "Yes, we call them snow angels." He said, "Having her bring up her knee as far as she can?" I said, "Yup, and then I have her push against my arm as I push against her foot." He said, "What made you think of those?" and I said, "Just made sense." He laughed. Mom then said, "You were right and I was wrong. Guess you know what you are doing after all." I said, "You think??" She later suggested that maybe I should be her therapist and I said, "I think I already am.":huh:

Today also was my first day of eating breakfast, lunch and dinner. Lunch and dinner was normal, but dinner was a peanut butter sandwich. Hey but at least I ate!

One thing I have noticed happening lately is I think my hair is falling out on top of my head. I haven't been able to get a haircut since October and it is a little long and straggly, my bangs look frizzy and I know I need my split ends cut. But the thinning hair on top is bugging me. I actually am seeing scalp there girls!!:noway: I need a major haircut and my stylist says that once that is done the weight of my hair won't make it look squashed down and have it expose my scalp so much. I have thin hair already but this is getting ridiculous!:noway: My doctor says it is from the nutrients missing from losing weight, so I went out and bought adult gummy vitamins, something called Biotin for hair, skin and nails, calcium chews, and B12. I have an appt to have my hair cut on Thursday. I hope cutting it shorter masks my thinning hair.:embarassed:

I received a phone call from a guy I was seeing off and on again right before I picked up my mom from Washington. He has been out of town a lot and lost his phone. He called me to ask if I would like to go out with him on Friday. It's his birthday and he doesn't have anyone to celebrate with. He said, "Let's have some fun and do something." So I made sure my caregiver (the one who hits on me) will be there that day for mom and I told him I was going out for the day. He wanted to know if I was seeing a guy and I said yes. He wasn't too happy about it. Said he wants to talk about it with me tomorrow. I also have some guy I talk with on the internet who claiims after talking with him for a couple of months that he has feelings for me. I swear, when it rains it pours. I thnk I just may play the field for right now. I'm not interested in getting into a heavy relationship at this time, mom just eats up all my time right now. So I think I shall become a player too and have a good time for awhile.
Don't worry ladies I will practice safe sex! But honestly, I really don't understand the attentiion I am receiving lately from these guys. PLUS, they are all younger than me. What gives??? At least the one I am seeing on Friday is mature in his thinking, but boy does he know how to make a girl feel good. Extremely romantic Just what the doctor ordered for me. Seriously, my doctor told me to quit being so uptight and go get some. :laugh: Just practice safe sex. This will be a new experience for me. Wish my luck in my new endeavor.:drinker:

Did I tell you that even my Ex is geting jealous of me going out? Go figure.:ohwell:

Well I am off to bed. Hope I haven't scared off any of you ladies from my deviant life style. :smooched: I really am a good girl.

Take care all,
Chiclet:flowerforyou:

tiarapants

I'm rushing out of the door but just wanted to say hi and thanks for the kind words after my mini meltdown. My head just needs to catch up with my body!

Huge bit of good news (in my eyes anyway) I am now a normal BMI and I'm really happy to be here! I have just four pounds to let go of until I am at my target weight, although I will probably adjust my target once I get there.

Anyways, I'm trying not to sit for too long - got to get moving!

Love you all!

Amanda x

debieanne

:drinker: water/tea break don't you just love the coments the wii says. i haven't been ableto use our everytime we put a disk in it shoots it back out and i mean shoot i am hoping the grandson didn't put something in. i do miss the workouta and games i am seeing more snow showers this morning we are in the circle of what everyone is gettinghave anyone seen the exercises that are on cable now i am working on the one mile walk and they are free so i am glad for that mark was laidoff three weeks now and the benfits haven't started yet. i am looking for some low salt receipesfor the hoildays would yous share them please i hope everyone has a nice day and again i want to say thank you for all your storys it does help' debi(momof10)

Laura80111

Happy Tuesday:flowerforyou:

Maybe if I do this first thing I will get more done on my desk today then again maybe not.

Chiclet - Wow...to be in your 50's with guy problems...no not problems....just a lot of guys hitting on you Good for you. It ought to be interesting doing the juggling, especially with the one coming to the house so often to work with your Mom. it sounds like things a progressing in the positive with her too, so glad that you have her with you:flowerforyou:

Amanda - good for you on your BMI and only #4 to go...you have done an amazing job this year:drinker:

Debianne & Joy - both of you with your Wii's...I'm thinking I want to talk hubby into us getting one for the holidays and then we will have other extercises we can do when we don't make it to the basement with all the exercise equipment and weights, but he's afraid that it will just sit....I will have to give it some thought.:huh:

Joy- shoe shopping ...I feel for you...I have problems finding shoes too, but it's because I'm a size 5:grumble: and a lot of stores don't carry them. I did find that Broadway Shoes carries quite a few and when I find a pair that I "Love" then I get them even if I don't plan on wearing them right away, because they might not be there next time I want them. Day 11 and still no loss...how is your water intake? and your sodium intake? Drinking plenty of water:drinker: and making sure the things you are eating are low in sodium should help, especially if you are eating lower calories.

Fay- finding a present for your hubby, yea I understand the challenge..finally a few years ago my hubby and I came up with a way to make sure we are getting things we want and will use, we go to the store and "window" shop and show each other a lot of things that we have been looking at that we'd like to have in multiple price ranges so that we can find that "perfect" gift.

Rebel - my prayers for your Mom, so glad that medical help came quickly and that her "episode" didn't turn into something major.:flowerforyou:

MacMadame - WOW:noway: $550 on grocerys....that's truly restocking the cupboards...I'm sure that eating better will be so much easier now too...how can it not with that much to chose from.

******
Last night when we got home my hubby was fixing the printer that I had jammed the night before doing our Christmas Cards, after he got it fixed we headed out to grocery shop, since I didn't do it over the weekend, and didn't get home until 8:30 so I didn't get any more of my Christmas Cards done, am hoping to have a fruitful evening tonight.

I haven't been logging my food:smooched: since mid Oct when I had to go to Oregon, I'm pretty aware of the foods and quantities that I put in my mouth, but am thinking that after the first of the year I will get completely on track again. For now I am just doing all I can to maintain and so far so good, but the exercise just isn't happening, so I can truthfully say that my exercise goal for the month of December is non existant:sad: ...for some reason this season I have added too much extra stuff in my personal life that makes fitting in the exercise too hard and I refuse to have that stress in my life. So tonight I will make my peanut butter balls and the fudge for the truffles and complete the Christmas Cards and that will probably take the whole of my evening, setting this much of a goal should keep me on track.

Everyone have a good day, drink your water:drinker: it's important to stay hydrated!

Laura

PJilly

Just popping in to say good morning to everyone!

Speaking of gaming systems, we ordered a Kinect for our son for Christmas, so I am really excited to play around with it and maybe even burn some bonus calories. I am so happy he put it on the top of his list. I think the whole family will enjoy it. At least that is my hope. It would be wonderful if there was something that would get our daughter to get some physical activity. I think that would do her depression a world of good.

Not much time to write this morning. I have to get my workout done sooner than usual. One of my customers is taking me out for a holiday/thank-you lunch. A few weeks ago, that would have made me panic, but after surviving Thanksgiving relatively unscathed, I feel more confident I can deviate from the plan once in a while without the whole world coming to an end.

Hope you all have a great day today!

rjadams

Good morning ladies,

I am doing better this morning. The unemployment extension thing doesn't really help me. I am a 99'er but the good news is that I have a phone interview for a contract position at Boeing on Wednesday. At least it would be a paycheck. So maybe things are looking up afterall.

I am not doing so well on eating or exercise but the scale isn't moving either so I guess it is all okay. I did get some cleaning done yesterday and I walked for about 30 minutes.

I have a Wii and it is fun. I would love to get an Xbox and kinnect but that won't happen for a while.
Reb - sorry your Mom is having problems I will send positive energy your way
chiclet - you are doing so well with your mom. You inspire me with your ability to get it done you are so strong and that is beautiful so it is no surprise that men flock to you.
Laura - I wouldn't worry about the exercise, you are so busy and you are still maintaining just fine. the new year will bring time for you to figure out how to get back to the exercise.
MacMadame - I read your race blog. WOW! you are amazing. it was so inspiring to read about your thoughts during that whole day of physically pushing yourself. Thankyou.

I hope all you wonderful women have a stellar day. Drink your water and move your butts!

debieanne

:drinker: water break good afternoon. weve been having a good day. we are seeing lots of snow flakes it really is winter. this is when i love the wii the best a few mths before it stop working we were learning the golf game and i will tell you that is a work out i love the skee ball and you do these just like the real game i think you and your hubby would have fun with it. well everyone hope your afternoon is good debi