50+ with 50+ To Lose Group

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  • BrynnGetsThin
    BrynnGetsThin Posts: 12
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    I agree with Younger about wanting to stay small enough to know who is who (although I feel weird saying that since I just barely joined). I also don't know that I'd card for having separate "topics". I enjoy it being more conversational. I guess if we did do the group we could keep it all under one topic. Or we could have things like "How I'm Doing Today," and "Goals," and "Questions for the Group," something like that. Heck, I don't know.
  • greenhydrangea
    greenhydrangea Posts: 39 Member
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    i know what you all mean, I love our group! and I agree with Younger, that you can't see the thread of conversations well, you have to go to each separate topic and look at the conversations. Perhaps groups is meant for groups with a whole lot of members. If so, staying small would suit me just fine.
  • KeriA
    KeriA Posts: 3,270 Member
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    Right now this is an open group but in the past you could make it closed. I am not sure MFP will continue to support that with threads now that it has groups. One thing nice about the groups is it shows all the members and makes it easy for members to find the group and post. Converting to an official group wouldn't particularly mean we would attract that many more members. People would have to search for you to find you. Also as someone said we don't have to use the different threads if we don't want to however we could have a main thread and if someone wanted to start a challenge for the group they could or there could be a thread for recipes we want to share for example otherwise the main thread would be where we basically communitcate with each other. I think that we could start out open and if we start to get too big then we could start a closed version of the group and close the open one. However even though we have 25+ people who have joined this they aren't all posting so it feels much smaller. I have to admit I worry about some who I haven't seen on here for a while though. Right now it has been very busy for me so I want to continue to research the groups. So continue to let me know your thoughts about this. I think MFP wants us to convert over but I am not really ready to do it until life settles down a bit. Great input. Thanks for responding about this.
  • KeriA
    KeriA Posts: 3,270 Member
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    One big glitch in becoming an official group is that I did what someone suggested and searched to see if someone already started a group with our name and yes they have. It is called 50+ with 50 pounds or more to lose. So we would either have to all join that or come up with a different name. Some of us are 40+.
  • KeriA
    KeriA Posts: 3,270 Member
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    This is what I am thinking: Set up a group called 40+ with 40+ to lose. There are some 40s groups but one is for Moms and one is only for 40s not over 40. None of them specify losing a significant amount either. Some of us don't need to lose that much. What we have in common is being serious about watching our weight given the challenge of being older and that really starts at 40+. What I really wanted to avoid in this group were those who just want to lose a few pounds and aren't really serious about getting healthy and fitter and don't have the issues of doing that with the issue of what the process of aging can add to the process. In otherwords I want a group of people that share a similar challenge and have a similar mindset and it is a safe place to discuss and support each other in this process. I feel that if we become official we will have MFPs support. If we don't it maybe hard to maintain the group over time. We can start out public and I think I could switch it later to private if we are growing too large. I feel that we should have a main thread that is like the thread we have now. If one of you wants to post a thread for a specific issue such as a challenge or place to post specific topics fine but the main thread would be where we have a running conversation.

    Another idea is to join the existing group we could even start a thread in the group but that seems maybe heavy handed. If you want I could contact the person who started that.

    If neither of these options appeals to you we can go with this for now but I really would like this group to continue for a long time since I have much more than 50 pounds to lose and with my age I know it won't be easy and frankly I don't even believe in fast weight loss. I have so far been able to keep from having any loose skin and hope to keep it that way. When I reach my goal weight you all know I will be maintaining it for awhile and after that I feel I will be watching my weight. Yesterday I got the message that I would gain if I ate what I did that day but I actually lost a pound this morning from the day before. What was shocking about this to me was that I hadn't really eaten what I felt was too much or too terribly. Yes it was a far from perfect day. The problem was that apart from an active morning at work there was no time to exercise.
  • BrynnGetsThin
    BrynnGetsThin Posts: 12
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    Does the group have to have a descriptive name? What I mean by that is... could we just call the group something like Keri's Crusaders, or Middle Aged Heavyweights Fighting Fat, or whatever, and then you could just create a post that says READ THIS FIRST that describes the group we're trying to have?
  • MaryIM
    MaryIM Posts: 159 Member
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    I would prefer to keep our own group and not merge with another. For the same reasons you stated Keri -- being serious about improving fitness, having 40/50 lbs to lose and being in that 40/50+ age range.

    I like the idea of naming it something creative, like the suggested Keri"s Crusaders.

    And I like your idea Keri, about starting out public and switching to private.
  • YoungerNextYear59937
    YoungerNextYear59937 Posts: 90 Member
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    I think you make a good point, Keri, that this thing isn't written in stone. We can try it out, and if we don't like it we can always change it. I just want us all to be together; I don't really care how we accomplish that. As far as the name goes, whatever you all decide is fine with me.
  • KeriA
    KeriA Posts: 3,270 Member
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    Great points all, No we don't have to have a descriptive name and we can add keywords so we come up in a search for 50 plus etc.
  • Susan0816
    Susan0816 Posts: 41 Member
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    I don't know the advantages and disadvantages to group status (also public vs. private), I'll support whatever recommendation or decision Keri has to make. I am not on facebook, twitter etc. Even my cell phone is calls only. Please count me in as long as the group is overly large.
  • YoungerNextYear59937
    YoungerNextYear59937 Posts: 90 Member
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    I had an idea regarding the group name. I strongly encourage all of you over 40 to read "Younger Next Year." It has so much information for those of us who are a bit older. It shows you how to basically feel and physically be like a 40 year old into your 70's. Anyway it was such an inspiration to me that I chose it for my MFP name. I had to add the 59937 because someone had already taken it as a name. Anyway, maybe something with "Younger Next Year" in the name, because that's what we're all striving for. Just a thought.
  • swimmer54
    swimmer54 Posts: 29 Member
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    On this page MFP discusses the new group option: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/mike

    He does say that groups can be either public or private. In a private group, a new member must be invited by any current member. Then he talks a lot about site rules. I didn't know there were any. lol. He describes the group as having an administrator and several moderators who are the "enforcers" of the rules. Can't decide whether it's appropriate to LOL here or not. lol.

    In browsing groups, some are pretty big which would seem to me to defeat the purpose. However, I guess no one, at this point anyway, ever officially leaves a group. So, even as people drop out, the group could conceivably get bigger and bigger.. Like Keri said, we have some inactive members and don't know their status. I have seen some things on Meetup where inactive members are taken off the list. Somehow that seems wrong to me in this situation. We all know the ups and downs of trying to do this. When I was struggling I'm glad others reached out to me as opposed to removing me from the group.

    FYI, the other 50+ group was only started on 11-8-11 and has 8 members.

    I want the group to stay small enough so that I feel a personal connection to the other members. That helps me more than anything. And I really like the dynamic of our group. I think some of the organizational possibilities of the official group could be helpful. Like Keri said, a thread for recipes. I really like that idea.
  • swimmer54
    swimmer54 Posts: 29 Member
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    One thing I wonder about....If we change to a group will we lose all our current posts? At the very least, maybe we could copy over any introductory ones.

    Another thought, if we go official, it appears to me that each of us will have go to the group page and join this group. So, anyone not current wouldn't be doing that. If it's possible to keep this thread we could leave our "forwarding address" in case any inactive members come to find us.
  • KeriA
    KeriA Posts: 3,270 Member
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    I had an idea regarding the group name. I strongly encourage all of you over 40 to read "Younger Next Year." It has so much information for those of us who are a bit older. It shows you how to basically feel and physically be like a 40 year old into your 70's. Anyway it was such an inspiration to me that I chose it for my MFP name. I had to add the 59937 because someone had already taken it as a name. Anyway, maybe something with "Younger Next Year" in the name, because that's what we're all striving for. Just a thought.
    Great Idea - I like it
  • KeriA
    KeriA Posts: 3,270 Member
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    One thing I wonder about....If we change to a group will we lose all our current posts? At the very least, maybe we could copy over any introductory ones.

    Another thought, if we go official, it appears to me that each of us will have go to the group page and join this group. So, anyone not current wouldn't be doing that. If it's possible to keep this thread we could leave our "forwarding address" in case any inactive members come to find us.
    When starting the group there is a place to invite all the people you want (people who joined this thread). So each of you will get an invite for the group. I think the other moderators are those who start a thread but not sure. Yes I will copy the introductory information. You do leave a post with the link to the new group up on the old thread. I will continue to check it too. Again today is relatively busy for me so don't expect it yet. Maybe tomorrow will be better. My Mom had surgery today.
    :flowerforyou: Keri
  • greenhydrangea
    greenhydrangea Posts: 39 Member
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    hope your mom's ok, Keri. thinking about you.
  • MaryIM
    MaryIM Posts: 159 Member
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    Hope your Mom's surgery was a success.
  • swimmer54
    swimmer54 Posts: 29 Member
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    Best wishes for you and your mom Keri.
  • KeriA
    KeriA Posts: 3,270 Member
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    My brother and neice did most of the hospital duty today. I had to get caught up from the week but I went over tonight and my Mom seems like she is doing well. Thanks for all your good wishes.
  • YoungerNextYear59937
    YoungerNextYear59937 Posts: 90 Member
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    Maybe we could be something like 50+, but Younger Next Year, or something on that order. I suggest you all read the book, there is one specifically for men and one specifically for women. It tells you how to be strong, fit and sexy into your 80's and beyond. Now who doesn't want to be all those things? :happy:

    Keri, am thinking about you and your mom. Which hospital is she in up there? My mom was in Swedish--I was very impressed with the care she received there.

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