40 and older with 10lbs or less to lose

2BLean

Good morning everyone! Reporting in as well The Clean Eating is going really well and I too am seeing the results! This morning for work I put on a pair of pants that have always been a little more snug than I like through the hips/thighs and they fit great. Yahoo! That’s something. I will be weighing myself tomorrow …. Always dread it :grumble: but realize I should probably gage some numbers on the scale along with how my clothes are fitting; only doing it once a month. Will keep you all posted.
Thanks for being here everyone and hope you have a great Friday! :flowerforyou:

singfree

Congrats to all!

StiringWendel & 2BLean- great work this week. It's nice when the scale and your clothes are telling you the same thing. We all seem to be on the right track, let's keep it going! InTheMoney needs a new smaller belt---- woo-hoo!!! Duffy, I really hope your neck is feeling better, keep us posted. I sure hope I didn't forget anyone...oh well, have a great weekend!

InTheMoney

like wise congrats to all!!
weigh ins really do depend on the same time/place each week.

Swissmiss

Happy weekend !!!
SstiringWendle--by careful and do not overdo your sore foot. It can take longer to heal if you aren't taking care of it.
I did not weigh in yesterday--I had a set back in my surgery recovery. I also have been stopping for a bite to eat every time I have a doctor appointment. Not good.:mad:
singfree--My paternal grandfather was born and raised in Switzerland. He came to the states as a young man in his twentys. I would love to go there and see the country and meet my relatives. I had an aunt who communicated with some of them and when she died I tried to continue but they were accustom to hearing from her only and we weren't able to get close.

duffyzmom

Congrats to all on the increased fitness and healthy eating! Thanks for all the concern about my neck. It is still bothering me but I did get in strength training today (the power 90 3/4) and a nice easy 3 miles. I have a physical scheduled in a couple of weeks and I may ask my doctor for a referral to a sports med doctor. I've just heard horror stories that most doctors are anti-running for patients with arthritis and I really don't want to give it up. Running really helps me in mind, body and spirit. Today I did my run in a lower heart rate zone around 70%. Stiring I know what you mean about conflicting advice - I've probably read them all. I'll let you know if I notice any difference. Quite honestly I'm feeling pretty good at my weight right now - if I could just get rid of a little more in the belly (my biggest trouble spot) That is why I'm trying to target fat burning not just calorie burning.

In the 40s here today so I intend to get some fresh air and enjoy.

cszymanski

I posted the first week this was up but then disappeared due to my fun but crazy life as a teacher w/4 kids and a husband who is a college coach. Anyhow, I am so excited because we are playing The Biggest Loser Teams at school. I am most proud of my colleagues who are slowly shedding weight each week by exercising and eating healthy.
Question: I gave up fast food for lent (my kids are pissed!) and would like to try clean eating. Is there a website with information such as a sample grocery list?

Congrats to everyone for doing well over the past few weeks!:happy:

Wynnie

Question for singfree - where can I learn more about the rules of "clean eating"? I saw you mention that a couple of times.

I have been with MFP for 6 months with a goal of losing 10 pounds (I'm 42). I have only lost half that, BUT, the scale isn't the whole story, because I have gone down two pant sizes (forcing me to shop - sigh). I also had a little help from a nutritionist because I was trying to eat to lower cholesterol. Here are some of those tips:

Start the day by squeezing half a lemon into a glass of room temp water (add Splenda or Stevia if you need to). It perks you up and helps with morning detox.

No fast food. Period. Ever.

Always say no at work to unplanned snacks, treats, etc. Those little things add up to a lot over a year. People will get accustomed to you and won't try to tempt you.

Take a little rice fiber every day - helps a lot with both digestion, weight loss, and just feeling good.

Make eating healthy fun. Pick a vegetable of the week - some funky thing you've never had before and search out a recipe - play with your food (in a good way)!

And I find that the weight comes off better if I do NOT eat my exercise calories.

Thanks for the extra dose of motivation, everybody!

2BLean

Hello everyone! Here is some info. posted on another topic of MFP that I thought was a great explanation of Clean Eating:

What is clean eating?
In a nutshell, eating clean is the practice of eating whole, natural foods. These include fruits, vegetables, lean proteins, and complex carbohydrates. It also means staying away from the junk that typically makes up the Standard American Diet (SAD). These types of foods include man-made sugar, bad fats (hydrogenated and trans-fat), preservatives, white bread, artificial sweeteners, and any other ingredients that are unnecessary. An easy way to remember whether a food is clean is by asking: Is this food recognizable as something that came off a tree or out of the ground? If not, most likely it's not natural! The goal is to always read ingredients and buy foods with as few as possible.

Anyone who wants to eat cleaner can develop some or all of the following habits:

* Eating 5 to 6 small meals per day
* Eating every 2 to 3 hours
* Combining lean proteins with complex carbohydrates at every meal
* Never skipping a meal, especially breakfast
* Eating whole foods
* Eating healthy fats
* Drinking lots of water
* Eliminating refined sugar and processed foods
* Eliminating alcoholic beverages (another kind of sugar)
* Carrying a supply of healthy foods, or having an eating plan when away from home
* Making healthy choices when dining out
* Sticking to reasonable portion sizes at all times
* And exercising for both fat loss and muscle gain (cardio and strength training)

Hope this helps! I get ideas as well from Clean eating magazine& Tosca’s Eat Clean Diet Book.
Enjoy the weekend everyone!

Swissmiss

I was looking around our local vitamin store yesterday. They sell cleanses that the salesman swears are the best things going. I have heard that we should not use supplements like these but to just eat healthy and get plenty of exercise. Has anyone had any experience with these cleanses? This one Cost about $30.00.

Wynnie

I was looking around our local vitamin store yesterday. They sell cleanses that the salesman swears are the best things going. I have heard that we should not use supplements like these but to just eat healthy and get plenty of exercise. Has anyone had any experience with these cleanses? This one Cost about $30.00.

I had a friend do a "detox/cleanse" last year. She said she could hardly leave the house for days because it "loosened her up" so much. So when my nutritionist suggested it, I said only a gentle one, so she gave me a less potent version. It didn't seem to have a huge affect on me.

I think your body actually needs some of the bacteria that reside in the colon just for regular intestinal processes? So I am a little skeptical about serious "cleanses". I use a rice fiber supplement every day and start each day by squeezing a half a lemon in a glass of tepid water. Those 2 things keep my guts quite happy. But every "body" is unique. Look for what works best for you!

(PS - "thanks" 2BLean!"

Swissmiss

I have been so concerned that I have gained weight since my surgery. Well, I weighed myself today. I have lost three pounds.:laugh:

cszymanski

Each week, my BL partner and I choose a goal. The first week, we added a day at the Y to work out, last week, we incorporated healthy eating with our walking at recess. This week, we plan on increasing our water consumption each day. We are hoping that gradual changes will take the weight off and we can continue to incorporate healthy eating/exercise into our daily routine. Hopefully, our last few pounds will come off forever!

Swissmiss

It certainly helps to have someone that is working with you. Wonderful to have the support.

singfree

Hi Wynnie, Sorry, but I did not check this site over the weekend--too busy! For me clean eating is just a common sense approach to nutrition. Stay away from processed foods, sugars, anything "white". Go for whole grains, fresh fruits & veg. I love red meat, but I only eat it once in a while. I do eat a lot of fish and poultry. I drink a lot of water and green tea. I do have some coffee in the morning. I started eating a good breakfast of either oatmeal or Fiber One with light soymilk. I will have a glass of red wine on occasion. I'm not always successful, but I've changed my eating habits for the better. I'm trying to make it a permanent lifestyle change. I will be getting some bloodwork done on March 28, that will reveal a lot about how successful my efforts were.

I exercise daily, and try to get around 4000-5000 cals burned per week. Each workout includes cardio and strength training, never training the same muscle groups two days in a row. I will be 55 years old in June, and I am in the best shape of my life!

duffyzmom

Wow - Sing 4000-5000 exercise calories per week! That is impressive. I'm happy with around 3,000/week.

I'm in good spirits this AM as my neck is much better. I finally gave in a purchased Tylenol Arthritis and I think that has made the difference. Looking forward to spring-like weather and will be doing more outside this week.

Glad to see Wynnie back and I think you and your partner are doing this right. A lot of times people try too much at one time adding one thing at a time sounds really smart.

StiringWendel

Morning everybody! I had a good weekend and managed to stay 'clean' on my diet. I didn't struggle through this weekend like I did last weekend, so that is good. I'm getting ready to do an hour of strength training for my legs, and I might try to do about 20 minutes of cardio after (depending on how my legs feel) to see how my foot feels doing that. It is doing better.

Swissmiss, I'm happy to hear your weight gain fears were for nothing. Take the time to continue to heal!! I've never tried a cleanse so I have absolutely no input on your question concerning those.

cszymanski, I love your plan for making one change a week!! I think that is an incredibly manageable and effective way of making changes. I hope you both continue to do well.

singfree, I love the way you describe your 'clean' lifestyle. As I am getting closer and closer to my goal, my ability to maintain a healthier lifestyle is really on my mind. I have found increasing my calories to be more difficult than I thought it would be while trying to maintain a certain degree of health. I think I'll add some things to my diet that I enjoy (nuts being one of them) that are high in calories but still good for me. But I would be lying if I didn't say that I really, really just want to be able to eat a piece of carrot cake. So I know, for me, that when the weight is gone, I will still be working on the lifestyle piece of the puzzle. In fact, I think that will be much harder for me than the weight loss has been. But I promised myself I would eat healthy while I did this STS weight lifting program (and I'm doing the six month program), so I'm hoping by the end of July (when I'm due to complete the program) I have changed my habits enough to make eating cleaner than I used to second nature to me.

duffy, glad to hear your neck is feeling better!

singfree

Yeah, I shoot for 800 per day. This does not always happen, but it is a weekly goal. I know it sounds like a lot, but I've been very active most of my life. I feel really good when I continually challenge myself. When I lose the last few lbs of fat, I will back off such a rigorous routine. I find that if I carry even a few extra lbs, my knees tend to get sore quickly.

singfree

OK--I have to confess something...last night...I actually.....weighed myself!!! 1st time this year. I could have predicted the result. 5 lbs down in 8 weeks. Since I know I put on a decent amount of muscle weight and my clothes are fitting much better, I'm not worried a bit! My strength and aerobic stamina has improved greatly. The holiday fat is almost gone and I'll be looking for a 6-pack (not beer) before long. This proves yet again that the scale can make a person crazy!

I know alf asked for some pics, and I promise I will (before & after) when the transformation is complete.

Swissmiss

Good morning everyone--
singfree, your clean eating habits sound wonderful. I would love to get my entire family eating like that. Hopefully, they will begin to follow my example. Congratulations on the five pound weight lose.
Duffy, continue taking care of your neck. It takes time to heal.
I will be going back to the doctor today to see if he can correct my problem. Honestly--I should move closer to his office.:laugh:

phetzgetfit

Hi everyone. I'd like to join your group. i definitely qualify age wise (58) and I'd be really happy to get down another 10 lbs eventually (I've lost 9 since starting MFP in january and now weigh 158). I'm mostly motivated by a desire to stay healthy and energetic so I can LIVE the rest of my life and have the energy to contribute to a variety of causes I'm involved in. I'm also an artist and need energy to even feel like creating art.

My weight has been up and down the last few years as i tried this and that to control it....but I seemed to have a harder and harder time losing weight with whatever I tried. I'm pretty active (bike a lot and even walk marathons) but my weight kept creeping up and my energy level kept falling. I wasn't feeling very good at all by the time I started MFP in January at my daughter's suggestion. And then, it finally hit me as a possiblity, after my daughter mentioned it and after reading so many posts about it: I WASN'T EATING ENOUGH even though I really am healthy-food conscious and thought I was doing ok. I was exercising quite a bit by just biking all the time and my food-intake wasn't enough to support that. AND NOW, LOOKING BACK, IT HAD BEEN THAT WAY FOR SEVERAL YEARS. No wonder my body was resisting losing weight.

It was hard making a switch. At first when I started eating my exercise calories, I put on another 3 lbs. instantly. That wasn't fun but I had suspected that would happen and wanted to see if I would "normalize" by continuing to eat more. The good thing was I really felt better eating more and started to have more energy right away....plus some of my aches and pains when biking or walking started to lessen. So I kept it up and, sure enough, the 3 lbs disappeared pretty quickly and then my weight started to slowly go down. the really cool thing was that I felt better than i had for a long time. i think my body was "thanking me" for giving it more nourishment. (I've always eaten well but I was keeping my calorie intake around 1200 to 1500 daily before, always feeling somewhat rigid about what I could eat and completely puzzled as to why I couldn't lose weight.

Also, concurrently with starting MFP, I started taking bikram yoga classes (with the same influential daughter) and, according to a heart monitor I wore in the first classes, I then had another 500-700 calories to eat in any day I took a class. It took a leap of faith for me to actually eat those calories but wow, I feel sooooooooo much better, have tons of energy and I'm now regularly eating about 2000 calories a day of healthy food and I'm still slowly but steadily losing weight for the first time in years! The bikram yoga class (in 105 degree room) has really loosened me up too and nothing hurts on my body anymore. I couldn't say that for the last 10 years, as before I was always feeling like my body was falling apart...I had aches and pains always, a shoulder problem, knee problems, etc. Right now? None of that. I run up my stairs to my apartment where last year I thought I might have to have knee replacement and was convinced i was getting very arthritic.

Thanks to everyone who posts on this site and thanks to Mike for creating it. It really helps me stay honest about what I'm doing and I love the idea that I can find new things to try and see how they work for me and just keep trying.

best wishes to everyone.

singfree

Welcome phetzgetfit to our ever growing, er,expanding...you know what I mean, group.

Swissmiss

Hello, phetzgetfit--you and I are the same age. My birthday was Jan.29. When is yours? The fact that you were not feeling well points to the fact that you were not eating enough. I had the same problem up until last week. I had surgery then and haven't been able to exercise at all so I had no extra calories to eat. I continued with the same calories that I was eating and guess what !!!! I lost three pounds. I am sure that I will not be able to continue this way though, so I will have to change things as soon as I am fit enough to work out. Good to have you here. Hope you enjoy the group.

phetzgetfit

hi swissmiss. my birthday doesn't come around again until Nov. 14. That's interesting about your surgery and your calorie intake and weight loss. It's a very good age to be, particularly as we explore how to care for our bodies better. I had no idea how tuned out I was most of my life regarding doing that. Never too old to learn though.

Swissmiss

Not so sure about the age being good. That is what has contributed to my need for surgery. Well, that and the fact that I gave birth to eight children.:laugh: But, yes, we seem to have more of a desire to keep ourselves healthy. And we really need to keep this in mind. I hope that the two of us will be able to help each other out in our endeavors.

Swissmiss

Good morning everyone. I shouldn't even admit this but I had chocolate cake for breakfast. A very nice lady who I work with brought us dinner last night. The cake was included. Well, now that I have that over with for the day, I will do better.

singfree

Forget about it!! Today is a new day, learn what triggers binge eating and stay away from it. I cannot keep any junk in the house or I KNOW I will eat it.

StiringWendel

Welcome phetzgetfit! I found your situation really interesting in that you've routinely not been eating enough. I'm really happy to hear you've discovered what was going on and that you are doing well now.

I've been eating pretty low calories for a couple of months and upping them over the past two weeks. Last night I was going to bed and thought to myself 'But I'm not tired', which is the first time I've felt that way in quite awhile. And it dawned on me, after reading your post, that it could simply be that I'm eating more now!! I've only been on lower calories for a couple of months, and just the couple hundred calories I've added back are making quite a change. I can't even begin to imagine how much better you feel.

singfree, kudos on dropping the pounds, but even bigger kudos on increasing your fitness levels!

I've got a busy few days ahead of me, but I'm focused on continuing down the path I've been on. My foot is feeling better, so today I'm going to do some step aerobics to see how that feels. I'm baking a cheesecake later today for a charity auction I'm attending Friday night (my cheesecake is being auctioned off!). Baking a dessert like this feels a little strange given that I've been off anything sweet since January. But at least I know I won't be tempted to bid on it! I hope.

duffyzmom

Happy Hump Day to all and welcome to the newbies.

Speaking of Hump day - anyone losing more humps than you want? I've reached that point in my weight loss/ exercise program that I still have areas I want to improve but I'm starting to lose inches from my bust that I really hate to see leave. Oh well - just a mini-rant for the day.

Plus, wondering when we need to start a new thread? Hate to start one while Alf is still in Puerto Rico but I figure it is getting close to time.

Swissmiss

Don't know what is happening. I do have an infection that I am fighting but I sure am tired. Can't think too well. I think I need to just go to bed. Good night.

phetzgetfit

Hi stiringwendel (ooops i'm not sure i got your name right and now I don't know how to go back wtihout losing this post...so 'll just hope)

thanks for your note. It is amazing how much more energy I have from eating more (and better) foods. Also, I don't get shaky like I used to cause I'm eating more regularly...so I'm not making as many rash food decisions from feeling sick as i used to. I think the thing I really love is I don't feel rigid about my eating anymore...or deprived. If anything, I feel really satisfied and sometimes forget that it's time to eat again (now that's a switch...cause i used to ALWAYS be thinking about food before....mostly about how I shouldn't have it). Now I feel like I can eat in abundance if I just stay with good food and get in my exercise and that's really a nice feeling. I'm also enjoying cooking for the first tme in years. I swear I never liked to cook before because i couldn't wait that long to eat!

Contnued good luck to you.