Lots2Lose & over 40 (CLOSED GROUP)

themommie

Saturday Share: I guess my share is that I have been dealing with a lot of stress recently - pain (my left foot and right knee), work (co-workers behaving like 5 year olds), chorus (being president is a PITA), and trying to figure out the best eating plan/exercise options for me - that have put me in a funk, dare I say depression. It has sort of stymied me the past couple of days - I ended up vegging on the sofa for the basketball game last night and only doing a few minutes of exercise on the bike. I owe it to myself to clear my head and not let life (which always happens) derail me from improving my health!!!

I am on the way out for Mexican with some friends now as a belated birthday celebration for one of them, so I will not be back until later today to read everyone's posts and catch up. But know that I am thinking of each of you and wishing the best for you today and every day!!! Hugs to all!!!:flowerforyou:

Sometimes it is hard to stay on track when life throws us a curve, but just know that we all struggle at times. Together we can do this. You have the right attitude , you are right you owe it to yourself to get healthy.

bigmama65

Saturday Share - Not a good day for me, sort of started late last night to feel down. Just feeling bla!!! No reason really why I feel so down, maybe it just cause I am a woman and my hormones are at play. Sorry not very supportive today or talkative. I really hope i feel better tomorrow. I hope everyone had a good day.:flowerforyou:

Edited to add I just wanted to let you all know why I haven't been on today. Don't worry or stress about me...this will pass and I will be back. No need to cheer me up, I will be ok...I really think it is hormonal thing. I am sure some if not most of you can relate to this feeling.

karenleona

whew! survived the open house! had a few little treats but logged them and still came in under as i had been to the gym prior.
When looking at the news feed i noticed that several people have already logged their food for the day and were under their goals!! way to go!! Let's have a successful sunday as well

karen

themommie

Saturday share:

During the last 3 years (when I was 1st diagnosed as bipolar) I have learned a lot about reducing stress. One way, which is really quick and can be done anywhere anytime is abdominal breathing:

1. Place one hand on your abdomen right beneath your rib cage

2. Inhale slowly and deeply through your nose into the bottom of your lungs. Your chest should move only slightly, while your stomach rises, pushing your hand up.

3. When you’ve inhaled fully, pause for a moment and then exhale fully through your mouth. Purse your lips and imagine that you are blowing on a hot spoonful of soup. As you exhale, just let yourself go and imagine your entire body going loose and limp. It should take you twice as long to exhale as it did to inhale.

4. In order to fully relax, take and release ten abdominal breaths. Try to keep your breathing smooth and regular throughout, without gulping in a big breath or exhaling suddenly.

here's the link if you're interested in more detail (& other steps to reduce stress):
http://successfulaging.ca/programs/stress/27.html

Have a wonderful Saturday everyone

thanks for sharing. My son has bi-polar. We got him when he was a little over 2 , he was diagnosed at 3 1/2 and has been on meds since he was 4., he is now 14. They do not like to give meds to children or diagnose them so it was really hard to find someone that would work with us. My heart goes out to you it is a hard thing to deal with, but it sounds like you have a handle on it.

themommie

saturday share day
I have been married 20 yrs this august. But have been together longer we dated for 4 1/2 yrs before we married so we celebrate 2 anniversarys . Our wedding and our going out anniversary ( the date we started dating). So on March 24 we celebrated our 24th going out anniversary. I have 7 children. 2 stepchildren sandi 29, sean 26, 2 biological children megan 26 and amanda 24 and 3 adopted children caleb 14, bethany 12 and michal 11. We always joke that most blended families have his, hers and ours , but we have his, hers and everybody elses LOL. We had a great time at the sleepover and my 3 grandbabies got to join us. They are abigail 5, luke 3 and jacob 10 months. They are so precious. I love getting to spend time with them . Even with all the snacks I didnt have anything except popcorn and mini rice cakes and I limited myself. My husband went and got donuts for everyone this morning and I had oatmeal. Me and my daughter Megan went out to lunch and shopping on friday before everyone else got here. We went to Old Navy (before I couldnt wear anything in that store) I didnt know for sure what size I am in. I picked up several size 16s and Large tops and tried them on, everything fit. Not even tight. I was so happy. Then I had to decide what to buy, because I couldnt afford everything. LOL. What a problem. Ok I guess I am done rambling about me and my family..........

MJ the sausage I use in the pasta recipe is the spicy sausage from trader Joes,I have also used the apple sausage. I would think anything sausage that you can cut into pieces like polish sausage would be ok.

Jo, I love your 3 day rule. My dad has a rule similar at his house. He does fostercare also. His rule is that you are only allowed 1 bad day a month, so he says pick a day that you want to have an attitude and go write your name on the calendar on that day. That is your day to have a bad day and then you are done for the month LOL

Linda, I am so sorry to hear that you are feeling down today. I will say a prayer for you. I certainly hope tomorrow is better. Just know we are here for you.

weigh in this week I gained 1.5 lbs I have no idea what the deal is. I exercised and ate within my calories this week . Next week is going to be better.

IsMollyReallyHungry

Hello all!

Well I see we have been chatting up a storm today even on the weekend.......:-)

I still did not catch up on all the post but I did read all the Saturday shares and we have an awesome group of strong ladies here. You all rock. thanks so much for sharing a little bit about yourselves with us.

Saturday share for me:

After I had my surgery for weight in October 2004, my Mom was dignosed with colon cancer early in 2005. She had surgery and they thought they had it. In June of 2006 she was diganosed with breast cancer and had a partial removal of one of her breast. Then in 2009 they found a cancerous spot on her liver which came from the colon cancer. Because my Mom is one of Jehovah Witnesses and does not take blood transfusions, they do not want to operate on the liver. So thankfully it is a slow growing cancer they are just watching it right now. Every 6 weeks she is taking a cat scan and blood test to monitor the growth of the spot which is so small you can barely see it but it is still a concern. So we wait and pray for my Mom to survive the cancer for as long as she can with a good quality of life.

I am all too familar with toll that cancer can take on a person and the family. So with that I pray for us all who are enduring trying and challenging situations that life has a way of throwing to us all.

May we all appreciate the good times we have left with our loved ones. It is so precious. I think it was Sheri who had a girls night slumber party with several generations of ladies in her family and I thought that was so nice and loving. I wanted to say can I come too.....:-) Those are the things we have to embrace and make time for, because if we don't in the blink of an eye those times can slip away and then there is no time left.

:flowerforyou: Good night all and have a wonderful Sunday.:flowerforyou:

cassieinor

Saturday share day:

Like us all I have my 'stories'. When I was young if anyone had told me I

Would be divorced after 13 years of mariage (ended when I was in my 30s)
Would have a premature baby (weighing less than 750grams) who would have an early lifetime of hospital visits
Would have two daughters who would both have tumours
Would have one daughter who had crohns disease
Would have one daughter with 'special educational needs'
Would meet the love of my life in my later years, be engaged to be married, and then him die

I would never have believed it. So why do I wonder why I have been overweight most of my adult life?!!! Emotional eating big time me thinks!!

Its all changing now, the girls are 'well' (or at least adapted to their particular issues), I am trying not to miss 'him ' (he died last year), and what we had planned as our future together. I was lost for a while but now feel hope again (hence my logon name), I do see a future. Phew!

Hopeful.......WOW! That was an amazing Saturday Share. BIG HUGS to you. B-)

cassieinor

Jo.....love that zicchini squash with Italian seasoning too. I've never met a squash I didn't like. To cook your spaghetti squash, I cut it in half lenghtwise. Then you can either bake it or steam it. I have a Tupperware Stacker with the steamer/colander that I cook my squash in. Steam it until the squash is kinda soft when you put a for k down into it. I think I microwave steamed for about 15 minuted. When you pull the squash out of the steamer,.....Ooops....should have told you to remove seeds after cutting in half.
After squash is cooked, I hold a whole half in a dish towel....it's hot...anf with a fork start pulling the fibers out of the squash. It will come out looking like spaghetti....hence the name....as you rake it out from the skin. You can eat it with a bit of butter and season to taste. I never use salt. You can put spaghetti sauce on it ...with or without meat. I kinda like it with low fat Parmesan cheese on it. It's even good cold. Depending on how you fix it, it could be a side dish or a main dish. I hope you'll give it a try. Also check Foodnetwork.com. or any other recipe site of your choice for lots of recipes. Enjoy.
I guess this was my FRIDAY FOODS SHARE

cassieinor

Saturday Share Day: I gained 5 lbs this week. My feet and legs are swelled up like balloons from eating all that salt and riding the car for so long. I will drink more water and hope I start peeing soon! haha

I can sooo relate, Jo. That salt and the long ride are killers. Check out "dandelion root in your local grocery or health food tore. I bought capsules. Suppose to be a natural diuretic. I believe it has helped.
Cassie

cassieinor

It is so very encouraging to read all the posts here. Everyone has really inspired me to keep on trying hard to get this weight off and be healthier. My daily blood sugar readings are starting to come down!!!!!!!!

Today, we had lunch with a friend who suggested an Indian restaurant she likes. The food was wonderful, and vegetarian. But I have no idea how to begin logging the calories. I think I'll just make a guess and add 100 to it. I know that's not accurate, but the dish I had included small servings of about six different things...plus the nan bread (I only had about one quarter of what came with my meal). Does anyone have a better idea of how to calculate a meal like this?

Cheers,
katzpawz

Katzpawz, when I have a meal that I don't know the calories, I give it a wild guess as near as I can figure it and then I just "0" my calories and close out my food diary for the day. Most often it will be a meal that will put me over on cals. So it's kinda like I blew it for the day....maybe. and when that happens I try to do a whole lot better the next day. "One foot in front of the other". ;-)

Claudia007

Yikes! I sure have missed a lot today. Its midnight here and not sure why I am still awake! I will have to go back and catch up on everyones posts. Hope everyone had a great Saturday.
xoxo

cassieinor

Saturday Share: I guess my share is that I have been dealing with a lot of stress recently - pain (my left foot and right knee), work (co-workers behaving like 5 year olds), chorus (being president is a PITA), and trying to figure out the best eating plan/exercise options for me - that have put me in a funk, dare I say depression. It has sort of stymied me the past couple of days - I ended up vegging on the sofa for the basketball game last night and only doing a few minutes of exercise on the bike. I owe it to myself to clear my head and not let life (which always happens) derail me from improving my health!!!

I am on the way out for Mexican with some friends now as a belated birthday celebration for one of them, so I will not be back until later today to read everyone's posts and catch up. But know that I am thinking of each of you and wishing the best for you today and every day!!! Hugs to all!!!:flowerforyou:

MJ.....it's often difficult when all the "stuff" gets in the way and knocks us down. I sure know how ya feel cause that's where I've been the last couple days too. I think we just need to keep trying.....pick ourselves up and put on a smiley face and walk forward.
I wish I had a better answer. HUGS! Tomorrow is a new day.
Cassie

Sue_Smiles

thanks for sharing. My son has bi-polar. We got him when he was a little over 2 , he was diagnosed at 3 1/2 and has been on meds since he was 4., he is now 14. They do not like to give meds to children or diagnose them so it was really hard to find someone that would work with us. My heart goes out to you it is a hard thing to deal with, but it sounds like you have a handle on it.

I handle it with 7 psych meds (whee!), I quit my job to reduce stress in my life and am trying to get disability with the help of my psychiatrist. My mood stabilizers are Lamictal and Abilify, (I also take zoloft, wellbutrin, clonidine, klonopin and xanax), which mood stabilizer is your son on? I'm always curious, as I hate the side effects of abilify and would really like to get off of it. I'm going to try this spring (with my p-docs okay)

I also have extreme social anxiety, I'm always so afraid I'll say the wrong thing (or type the wrong thing). It's so hard for me to express what is going on in my head. I'm feeling that way about the group, also. So if I say (type) the wrong thing or offend anyone, please let me know.

Combine that with SAD and I'm a mess. Except that I'm so much better than I was and am so blessed with a wonderful family, and a great support group (in you!)

Sue_Smiles

On a lighter note: It's Sunday Spy Day

What is/are your favorite guilty pleasure(s)?

Christine Feehan's "Dark" series
Ke$sha
America's Next Top Model & Project Runway

MJ5898

Happy Sunday everyone! Hope you all are having a great day so far!

I have another busy one - Board meeting at 4, then rehearsal until 8:30. But, tomorrow is my "flex day" so I am off work then and will hopefully be able to get some real rest - not slept well the past few days.

Will be back later today to see what everyone is up to!

bigmama65

On a lighter note: It's Sunday Spy Day

What is/are your favorite guilty pleasure(s)?

Christine Feehan's "Dark" series
Ke$sha
America's Next Top Model & Project Runway

Great question Sue My guilty pleasures are

Chips - any type, any flavour
reality shows...I watch all of them...I cannot get enough of them. surivor, big brother, amazing race, top model etc...

ShellyBrew

Happy Sunday All :flowerforyou:
I am working again today (12hr shift this time)...been busy this morning doing the nursing thing but it has calmed down and the second half looks like it is going to be better:huh:

Thanks for all the sharing yesterday; sounds like we have a very strong group who has pushed thru alot of hard times
Now we all have an additional support system in each other to help on those "bad" days, so vent away when you need to.

My guilty pleasure...probably a few reality shows you don't want to own up to watching like the Bachlor and Bachlorette (can you believe those people) or Big Brother. I can also spend hours on the weekends watching Bravos reality shows like those "Housewifes of..." (I mean I need to know how to act if I ever become rich). Yesterday after I got off work I watched "Cake Boss" for like 4 hours (I never had B-Day cakes like that).

Well back to work!
Hugs to all who need them and WooHoo to everyone with successes :flowerforyou:

katzpawz

Just got in from our walk around Richmond Park near London. We met up with a group we found online. There were four couples and this was our first time with this group (first time for one other couple as well).

We started off climbing a steep slope for about the distance of one and a half football fields. Thought I was going to die!! But I made it! We then followed a nice trail through some lovely scenery. There were lots of folks out with their dogs. We saw a herd of deer and interestingly, the deer paid no attention to all the people and dogs in the park.

What is now Richmond Park was one of Henry VIII's hunting grounds. The deer are the descendants of the original stock, or so I've been told.

We meandered through the park and found our way along the Thames to a pub for a nice, although rather caloric lunch. According to my pedometer, I burned 1250 calories, while walking 6.25 miles! So going over on lunch calories was not a big deal. I will have a light dinner tonight, and go to bed early!

First of all, I'm amazed and proud that I was able to do it. Although I had a hard time keeping up with the group and at one point my blood sugar dropped and I had to stop and eat a little snack (which I had packed in my bag). I'm looking forward to being able to this walk and not struggle. But I'm glad to know that I can do it!

My guilty pleasures: relaxing watching old movies or playing video games (entirely too sedentary to be healthy) and caffe mochas! Although I decided that ordering a mocha with skim milk and no whipped cream is ok. I work them into my calories occasionally, rather than give them up completely.

I hope everyone has had a wonderful weekend!
katzpawz

gabbygirl37_2001

Hello everyone, sorry I was MIA yesterday, but I was visiting my husband for the day. I missed out on Share day...so I will go ahead and do it. now. My life is a roller coaster ride, which is one reason why I eat for comfort. I was overweight as a child, lost it in my teen years, and as an adult its been up and down, but mostly overweight, most of my adult life. I have been married 3 times...currently married to the love of my life, who is unfortunately incarcerated. Its a long story, and I won't bore you with all the details, but he has been in a long time, and hes coming home soon. I love him with every ounce of my being, and we have a great marriage, despite where he is. I have two grown kids, and I am a registered nurse, working on a med/surg/peds floor at a hospital. I battle with depression I feel, but I refuse to take meds for it, because I feel it can be controlled thru eating healthier and exercise. So that brings me to joining this site. I feel better all ready since joining. Its amazing how eating and exercise can effect your mental health. I am happy and feel alive. I havent felt that way for quite some time now. Im a little bit discouraged, because the weight isnt coming off as fast as I'd like...but at the same time, it IS coming off...just slow is all. I also think Im premenopausal, because I have been having irregular periods for about 6 months now...in fact havnt had one now for at least 2 months. Im 46. seems early to me. I suppose this may effect my weight? ok....so enough of the sharing. .....now Sunday is spy day...my question for you all is this...to the ones who have lost a lot....'what is the one tip you can give me to help me in my journey to lose weight?' I just want simple things....like before when I was losing weight...I'd always say to myself when tempted 'you are in control' and just saying that to myself helped for some strange reason. anyway...let me know what the number one tip is that keeps you going?

Have a great day everyone!:flowerforyou:

Jojo42

hello, another glorious sunny day here in Devon,

My eldest daughter and I spent the day together as I have hardly seen her since she started dating "beautiphil" (that's his nickname. He is soooo handsome! I think she thinks she has died and gone to heaven.

Went down to our beach and sat sipping coffee in the sun and catching up on all our news, it's been lovely. She's nearly 15 going on 21. She wants to be a surgeon when she finishes Uni, specializing in pathology...eugh, dead people. Takes all sorts I guess!

What a fantastic question Sue....guilty pleasures.

Mine would be my bed, mmm I say "i love my bed" every night when i get in it and my second is watching Sex and the City