40+Club-Making it Work

Swissmiss

Actually tron, if you have never been offered a veggie and where brought up being told that they are terrible, I guess you would be afraid to even try them. I feel sorry for them. They have missed out on so much good eating.

tex, send some of those beets my way. I LOVE them.

alf1163

I attribute my love for veggies to my husband. I have to give him credit for something. :laugh: :laugh: We do not eat a lot of veggies in Puerto Rico. Their idea of a salad is iceberg lettuce and tomatoes. :noway: And since most vegetables are imported from the states such as brocoli, etc, they are super expensive!!!! They don't sell a lot of frozen veggies either. We eat a lot of starchy veggies such yucca, plantains, etc. And of course tons of tropical fruits. My husband is also from Puerto Rico but when he joined the military he got used to eating veggies at the dining facility and "introduced" to them when we started dating. I love to eat veggies, not as much as I enjoy fruits. But luckily when I eat them I eat them raw or with some healthy dressing, not a lot, usually a Tbsp. In restaurants I dip the fork in the dressing and then get some veggies from the plate. I have a friend who will not even eat tomatoes. I always eat the veggies off her plate when we go out to eat. She does not eat a lot of fruits either. She eats like a man, meat and starchy veggies, potatoes :laugh: And you guessed it, she is overweight...:ohwell: I always preach to her, sometimes she gets upset. :laugh:

Swiss, don't despair. I have heard what Stiring said. 1.5 lbs is not a lot. Just hang in there.

I ran/walked 6.63miles this morning. It felt great!!! Funny story, when I am running outdoors I count the people who I see exercising along the way and there was a record breaking today, 30 people including myself!!! Wow!!! I burned 703 cals!! :drinker: :drinker: I am done with dinner and still have 603 cals left to consume. I wont eat them all but I think I will have a protein shake with a kiwi and strawberries later.

Have a great evening! :flowerforyou:

Swissmiss

Thanks to all of you. You have been so encouraging.
I hope that everyone had a wonderful weekend and will be having a terrific Monday.

Hoosiermomma

OK... I'm getting a little homesick for California hearing about all of your travels. My fix is coming up! We leave for a family wedding in the Central Valley Thursday. Not a touist trip but lots of fun and family coming our way. My favorite place will always be the beach since I grew up in So. California!

PICTURES!!! (Sing, String & Tron) I love them!! So fun to see your before and afters. I still plan to reward myself and all of you with my AFTER when i get to 15 lbs. lost. The picture that I have posted is part of what inspired me to begin! As I get to know you I am more embarassed but hey, what are friends for???

It does get harder to watch people over-eat as I do better myself. I am so excited to see my hubby eating better and LESS.. I think he sees that a change in diet truly does make a change!! Of course he will lose much faster than I ever could!:grumble: :grumble:

Mac & Cheese a veggie?? :laugh: :laugh: !! We have finally reached the point in admitting that corn and boiled potatoes don't qualify either.

With all the company and activity I could only get my two days walking in. Next week two gym days and a walk hopefully before our trip. The walkin' shoes will definately be part of my 50 lb. suitcase! Weigh in on Tuesday. Working toward a loss of one more pound over the past two weeks --- We will see!

Hope everyone has a great start to their week!

cardigirl

Morning group! Another glorious day here in the Boston area! Love seeing everyone's pics, but seeing your befores, just makes me realize how far gone I was before I saw the light. All of your befores look better than mine! :laugh:

Sing, hope you have a great trip! Meant to try to post to you before you left!

Hoosiermama, where in Indiana are you? I grew up in Indiana, and still have lots of family in the Zionsville, Brownsburg and Indianapolis areas!

All the talk about veggies reminds me of a conversation I had with my sister last summer when she was talking about a meal she had cooked. I asked her what veggies she has served, and she said corn on the cob. I told her it technically isn't a vegetable. So now I'm the weird relation that lives on the East Coast and doesn't believe corn is a veggie. :laugh: Of course, looking it up right now, many places online say that sweet corn is a vegetable and one that has good anti-oxidant value. When served with beans it makes a complete protein. Hmmmm. Might have to rethink the whole sweet corn thing. I do know it has a high sugar content though.

mkwood10

Hello all!!! I hope you're all feeling better than I am:sick: :sick:
I've been fighting my every two-three year nasty summer cold that forces you to cough so hard you head feels like it'll explode!!:grumble: :sick: Stayed home sick on Friday, and the weekend was just kind of a blur... I'm feeling somewhat better today, but not even close to 100% yet. Hopefully I'll feel good enough to hit Curves tomorrow - today's my first day since Thursday that I haven't been napping at this time of the day - this thing really kicked my butt over the weekend!! :grumble:

Swissmiss

:flowerforyou: mkwood, do take care of yourself. If you overdo it now it will only make your recovery take longer. Your body will function best when it is at it's healthiest. My body survived six weeks of inactivity and bounced right back. I did have some soreness for a few days but I know that I allowed myself to heal completely.

:flowerforyou: card, I am sure that all of us here will agree that green beans are veggies. My steps did have them occasionally...but it was in that casserole. You know, the one with the canned soup. The husband had it so often that he will not eat it at all. My kids love it and I will fix it for holidays only. My husband will not touch it though.

:flowerforyou: Hoosier, I know what you mean about watching other people over eating. Of course, when I was doing it, I didn't think a thing of it. Now I see people eating the most horrible things and I think Oh,my...what they are putting their bodies through. My husband seems to be following my example some. This pleases me. He did make a strawberry pie yesterday. I asked him to go easy on the sugar but...nope couldn't do.

Speaking of that strawberry pie. I ate some and haven't felt right since. I feel bloated and lazy. I didn't realize until I ate it just how much our food can make us feel bad. When we eat healthy we have more energy and even feel better mentally. I am feeling so down right now.

StiringWendel

I'm sorry to hear you've been sick, mkwood. I hate summer colds. I hope you get to feeling better soon.

I learn something new everyday reading here. Mac and Cheese is a veggie? That's news to me. :laugh: I'm thinking I'll stick with the more 'original' veggies for my dinners though, like brocolli and such. I've always thought of corn as a vegetable, but I've also long believed it is pretty much a useless food except for the fact that it is pretty filling. I've never much liked corn, so I rarely eat it. I much prefer tastier veggies like peppers, carrots, cucumbers and such.

Did a tough shoulder/bicep/tricep workout today--70 minutes. I finished it a few hours ago, but I'm still having some difficultly getting my arms to work properly. I guess that's a sign it was a good workout! I continue to slowly increase my calories, looking for my proper maintenance calorie amount. After our trip, I continued to eat 1600 for a few days. Now I'm working up towards 1700, but I think I'll ease into that range a little more slowly. I think I'll settle in at about 1650 for a few days and then 1700 and probably hold that there for about two weeks to see if there is any change in my weight. I'm still guessing my maintenance calories are going to end up being anywhere between 1650 and 1800 based on what I'm burning during my workouts. I can live with that.

Hoosiermama, I agree that it is harder to watch people overeat now. But my biggest problem is similar to what you just mentioned, Swissmiss. I've done so much research into what is in foods that the way I look at many foods is entirely different that I used to look at them. For instance, when I see people eating chips like Doritos (I used to love Doritos btw), I want to tell them that they are just eating chemicals and not much more. I feel that way about soda as well. I have to remind myself that most people aren't aware and/or don't care, but I can't help but be in constant amazement at what passes for food these days....and how many people seem to turn to such foods for nutrition. What is scarier for me is that six months ago....I was doing the same thing!! How quickly that has all changed for me, and I'm glad that it has. I still have alot of cleaning up to do in terms of my diet, that's for sure. But I'm happy to say that most of the food I consider to be pure junk are a thing on the past for me.

Swissmiss, I was talking to my husband just yesterday about desserts. He's a tad concerned since I mentioned during our vacation that I didn't want to eat a full dessert because I thought it might make me feel sick. He thinks I'm going a tad overboard on things. But I finally had to explain to him that the nights we had chocolate (one night I had four squares of ghirarderlli chocolate and the next night I had three), I could feel the sugar in my body. The second night, since we didn't have it near dinner, was the worst. And that was 200 calories of chocolate. I can't imagine how my body would respond to a 700 calorie dessert served in a restaurant! It really is amazing how our bodies react to certain things once they aren't used to them. I enjoyed the chocolate, but didn't really care for the way I felt after eating it.

alf1163

Hello!!!!! Happy Monday and Happy June!!!! :drinker: :drinker:

I worked my shoulders today as well. Had a good workout, did push phase 2, extreme abs and burn it off dvd from ChaLean Extreme. I bought a pair of 25lb dumbells today. I really need them for my leg exercises, some back exercises and tricep extensions. I would have preferred to buy the bowflex selecttech dumbells but I really dont want to spend close to $600 right now on them. :noway:

I went out for lunch with my husband to Pappadeux, a cajun seafood restaurant. It was his pick. He said this is his month since it is Father's Day month. :laugh: I was going to "resist" making "bad" choices but I succumbed to a glass of wine with my meal, texas riesling, delicious. :laugh: I can't remember the last time I had wine. And my husband wanted dessert and we shared a cheesecake. :noway: My meal was good. I bagged half of it. I am still under my calories, I guess. They do not have nutrition info in their website. Oh well, I chose to eat all that...so tomorrow is another day. :laugh: :laugh:

Have a great evening!! :flowerforyou:

Swissmiss

:flowerforyou: stiring, you might ask your husband where sugar and chocolate fit into the food pyramid. I have come to the conclusion that junk food isn't meant to be eaten at all. Not that I don't on occasion eat some but if a food isn't natural or something that our bodies need (not to be confused with "want") then why eat it.

Did someone here tell me about muscles holding water when we first begin to exercise? I can't remember where I read this and want to look up more information on it.

StiringWendel

Swissmiss, I posted the information on muscles holding water when you start an exercise program yesterday. It's probably on the previous page (page 12).

I'm with you on the whole notion that junk food just isn't meant to be eaten. I don't mind a little dark chocolate every now and again (though less than I ate on our vacation). But I really can't see the purpose of putting cheetos (as an example) into my body anymore.

My husband and I were talking about this because he is still trying to work through a weight loss plan that works for him, and he asked me for guidance. This is a guy who when he wants ice cream, he eats a pint of ice cream (like one of those Ben and Jerry's pints), not just a scoop or even a bowl. And I was trying to work through the whole concept of portion control with him this weekend by suggesting he eat the little servings offered by Ben and Jerry's (200 calories) if he wants the flavor but not the 1200 calories (which totally blows my mind, by the way). I understand not everybody--including my husband--can go cold turkey on things like sweets like I have. But he got pretty defensive saying that eating a small portion would just make things worse for him in terms of cravings. I wasn't quite sure how to respond to that, to be honest. But it was in the course of that conversation that he brought up the notion that I thought I'd get sick if I ate a dessert, and that he thought that was a tad over the top on my part. Oh, well.

The good thing is that we've been married long enough we both know and understand that we walk individual paths through this life so it really isn't a big deal for us. He will probably drop some weight and go back to eating pints of ice cream because that is what he chooses to do. And I choose not to go back to my previous way of eating. I can't change him anymore than he can change me when it comes to things like this.

alf, I bought new weights yesterday! I just bought some plates to add to my dumbells. I actually need 40lb dumbells :noway:, but they are so expensive (I think two would have cost over $90) that I decided to go the plate route which, while not as convenient because I'll have to change the weights for different workouts, was a whole lot more reasonable. Sounds like lunch was good. Glad you enjoyed. :drinker:

TexasMom

Happy Monday Everyone!!!

I did a 4.2 mile walk this morning and a 10.6 mile bike ride this evening. Both felt great. I'm going to do about 20 minutes of weights as soon as I post here. Stopped to log the bike ride and thought I check in.

Tron - funny you ask about me skating with my hubby. I used to skate, 10 years ago, 1999, I was at the peak of health, I ran, biked, skated, did weight training, was 117 pounds and a size 2. I met my now husband back then and we had a blast working out together on skates. But early 2000 we were racing each other and I took a bad fall that shattered my wrist. Because of complications it took 11 surgeries to save my hand and repair the wrist. My husband and my surgeons have told me that I am never allowed back on skates again. :grumble: :grumble: I actually got the courage up to put the skates on a couple years later and tried to skate, but the fall was still to fresh in my mind so I've become the spectator. :bigsmile:

So all the talk about veggies made me want to cook a veggie smorgasbord. :laugh: I love veggies. Although my favorite is steamed brocolli, squash, spinach, peppers, and carrots are right there too. I feel blessed to be able to get such quality fresh food at the store since I haven't had time to plant my gardent. :sad:

Stiring - I am right there with you on the ice cream thing. I definitely can't change my husband, actually wouldn't want to since I fell for who he is. :blushing: But boy can he put down the ice cream when he wants to. Lucky me, I don't have to see it around here until after he races at nationals in July. At least when he's in serious training the house is free of empty, useless calories. :laugh:

We ordered chinese delivery Saturday night and that was a mistake for both of us. We thought stir fry and egg rolls wouldn't be too bad but we made the mistake of ordering from a new place we weren't familiar with and hubby forgot to ask if they use MSG in their food. Bad news, they do use MSG and that coupled with eating too much (it was so good) did both of us in, we felt weak and bloated. We've decided Chinese is out too, at least until after nationals.

Well off to the weights. Hope everyone has a great evening.

Swissmiss

:flowerforyou: Texas, I cringed when I read about your wrist. My grandson had five surgeries over the course of a year and a half to fix a broken arm. He will be having another one after he grows some more. Glad to hear that it didn't stop you from being active.

:flowerforyou: stiring, I think I understand where your husband is coming from. My husband gave me a small box of candy for Valentine's Day. I was going crazy with it here staring at me. A friend advised me to sit down and eat the whole thing at once. Well, I did it. Got it out of the way and didn't give it another thought. It, also didn't hurt my diet. I wouldn't recommend this to anyone, however. Thank you for telling me where to look for the water retention thread. A friend wanted to know where I had heard this so I copied and pasted it to her.

Swissmiss

Good morning all. I hope that everyone's day is going well.

TexasMom

Alf - I love Pappadeaux's. Their greek salad is to die for. I know you enjoyed the indulgence. And Texas Riesling, yum yum yum. :drinker: Nutrition facts on their website?? The food is too good and it would be embarrassing to admit how many calories it has. :laugh: :laugh: My pastors wife is from Baton Rouge and she says cajun food isn't about being healthy, it's meant to take your senses to food heaven. :laugh:

StiringWendel

Hey all. Kind of turning into a busy week for me here, but need my daily MFP fix!

Swissmiss, I wish my husband's issue was the same as your desire to eat your candy in one shot. That I understand because I've done that at times. But, sadly, his ability and desire to eat a pint of ice cream isn't to just get rid of it....it is because that's what he sees as being a good serving size. In other words, it is his full intention to eat an entire tub of ice cream when he buys one. He only does it (well, since he's trying to lose weight, that should read 'did it') 1-2 times a week, but still.....that's alot of ice cream.

Anyhow, I'm going to link the entire blog for you where I got the info about retaining water with starting a new fitness regime. I found it interesting, and think others might as well. I think there are too often common misconceptions about lifting weights (especially among women, though I've not see it in this thread), and I think that is why Cathe Friedrich decided to do this blog. So here the link to Cathe's full explanation for temporary weight gain when starting a new exercise program:

http://cathe.com/weight-gain-myths

So I'm finishing up my first week of the third cycle of STS. This cycle comes with two options for legs--one using heavy weights and one using plyometrics. Cathe did this because lifting heavy enough weights for legs at home can be challenging without a spotter, so she wanted to give another option that would exhaust the legs (which plyometrics do). I've been working out my legs twice a week since starting STS because my body responds better to that, so I decided I would do both lower body workouts included in this cycle each week. On Saturday, I did the heavy weight workout. Today, I did the plyometrics. Yikes. That's really all I have to say about that. I might have to re-think this later on in the cycle depending on how my legs respond, but that's some tough stuff there.

Hope everybody is having a good day. :flowerforyou:

Texssippian

Hi all. Sad day here. Had to put our beagle to sleep this afternoon. When we got home from work yesterday, she could not use her front legs. Took her to our regular vet who sent us to the overnight ER vet. They loaded her with steroids and did xrays and blood work: nothing definitive. We took her back this morning to her regular vet. He said we could try oral steroids but he was not hopeful. We took her home and she just laid there. Would not eat or drink. Then around 3:30, I noticed that her back legs were not working. Before we could take her back to the vet, had to wait for the stupid plumber to come uncross the hot and cold water lines on the master bathroom that had been crossed when they stopped the slow leak we found on Sunday (Another story)

Did not make it to work today. We missed the trainer last night and I can't eat anything today. We are shocked because Callie (the dog) was only 8 years old and in great shape until yesterday. We still have Wafers who is much older.

My son was very attached to Wafers. He said he is tired of all the dying. I am with him. Anyway, thanks for letting me share/vent. I took a cute picture of both dogs on Saturday that I will post.

MillerLight

Hello All - It has been awhile since I have been on this site and took me a few minutes to find it. Hope all is well with you and I am looking forward to writing to you again. I did 45 minutes of swim class tonight followed by 16 minutes on an elliptical (I almost died!). But I blew it when I got home by having a disagreement with my 20 year old daughter followed by an ice cream drumstick! Aaaaa to both situations!

I am sorry to hear about your pet. I know what it is like to lose a pet and it is very hard - like losing a member of the family. It will take time, but eventually things do get better. TJ

alf1163

Texssippian, I am so sorry for your loss. :brokenheart: I know how you feel. About 2 yrs ago I lost my dear 1yr old Schnauzer Mac who we loved dearly. He was such a great puppy, so healthy so smart. We decided to go out of town for Father's Day to the coast and left both of our dogs at the regular kennel we had used a few times already. Well, he was "attacked" by a bigger dog due to their negligence, there is no other explanation, and died from his injuries a couple of days later. It was so tough for us. I still miss my Mac. About a yr earlier we had lost our wonderful Alex, Cocker Spaniel, to old age. He was 16yrs old. It was tough to let him go but he did live a long happy life with us. Hang in there! :flowerforyou:

Lkshebesta68

I know it is so disappointing to be waiting to have a baby, but I want you to really consider if "time is running out". Things have changed, just like weight loss moving toward a goal and let the rest take care of itself. Your baby will come (I hope) or not but you will have done all you can within all areas of your life and that will work. I will be thinking (praying) for you.
L

mkwood10

Texssippian,
I'm so sorry to hear about your dog - I know its extremely hard to lose a long-time pet; they're another member of the family!:brokenheart: :sad: :sad:
We have a 13-year old beagle-doxie mix and when she goes it'll just kill my husband. She's "his" dog, and stops eating whenever he travels. He found her as an abandoned, 4 month-old walking skeleton and she worships the ground he walks on. I'm not really a pet person, but she and I keep each other company when he's gone

You and your family are in my thoughts......... take care

Swissmiss

:brokenheart: texssippian, I am so sorry to hear about your dog.:brokenheart: I have a 20 year old cat and am not looking forward to her passing. Her only problems so far is that she is deaf and has slowed down considerably.

alf, I certainly hope that the kennel was held responsible for your dog getting attacked.

:flowerforyou: MillerLight, welcome back. The thing to do at this time is to forget the ice cream and move on. We have all had to do this.

Swissmiss

I will be returning to work probably on Friday. I will have a lot less time to be here in the thread. I work eight hours per day and then have my family, which has grown since last week, to care for. I will try to log in here as often as I can. I love all of you.

TexasMom

texssippian - I'm so sorry to here about your loss. Our pets are so much a part of the family and it's hard to loss them . And so suddenly.

Swiss - You'll be missed so come back as often as you can. If only to post hi. And good luck going back to work. Family comes first and it's always a challenge to balance everything in our lives. For you... :flowerforyou: :flowerforyou:

I hit milestone number two this morning, I'm now under 180, barely, 179.8 but I'm there and I am so excited. I can't believe it. It's amazing that 2-3 pounds a week doesn't sound like much boy does it add up fast. And getting back to what I know is good clean living feels sooooo good!!! I can't thank each of you enough for all the support and encouragement you give me.

You are all awesome. :flowerforyou: :drinker:

StiringWendel

texssipipian, I'm so sorry for your loss. It sounds so sudden. What a shock. :brokenheart:

TexasMom, congrats on the milestone! :drinker: And even better yet, congrats on how good you are feeling. There's nothing like feeling good, is there?

Swissmiss, we'll miss you! Please check in whenever you get a chance.

All here is well. Did an hour of chest/back strength training this morning. I felt pretty strong.

I think I've finally locked into a diet I can sustain at about 1650 calories. My energy was way down the latter part of May, but over the past couple of days, I've been feeling much better. My weight is staying the same, so chances are, I'm exactly where I'm supposed to be in terms of calories.

Now I just need to work on what goes into those 1650 calories. I'm thinking I'm going to have to re-think my breakfast. I love peanut butter and jelly toast in the morning, and this is what I always have. But I'm finding I'm having a hard time sustaining my energy through my workouts anymore.

Does anybody have any suggestions for EASY breakfasts that are good for sustaining energy (I think I might need more protein and less sugar)? I know I'm not going to be cooking breakfast every morning, so I want something I can pop into the microwave, toaster or simply take out of the fridge and eat. I know....I'm so picky. :blushing: Any suggestion would be appreciated.

Hope everybody is having a good day. :flowerforyou:

tron3002

Hello everyone, hope your all having a wonderful day....

Got back from Nevada last night (3:30am), we had to fix a few things at the rentals. Seems like I missed a lot while I was gone. Gosh, I dont know what I'm gonna do when I'm gone for 2 whole weeks in July on vacation... I've become so attached to this sight and of course all of you...:happy:

So I hope this isn't a stupid question.... But why exactly isn't corn considered a veggie????

texssippian.... I am so sorry about the loss of your dog.:brokenheart:

Swiss.... You will be greatly missed. But we all know how hard it is to juggle everything and if you get a spare moment please do check in and let us know how you are doing.:flowerforyou:

Texasmom.... you are doing fantastic!!! Your gonna be at your goal weight in no time.

Texssippian

Thank you to all for the support. It is very helpful having you out there.

We did go to the trainer tonight. She noted how thin my middle area is getting. Yea!

It was making me sad looking at the dogs' pictures so I changed the main picture to produce from our backyard: cabbage, eggplant, squash, tomatoes, bell pepper and banana peppers. My mom is flying in on Friday so we will have cabbage and ratatouille and I will put the pepper in buttermilk corn bread. I love ratatouille. My mom and I are both big eggplant fans. My husband is not but he plants me a couple of eggplant plants each spring and gamely at least tastes my eggplant creations. He does like baba ganoush. I have found a middle eastern grocery and restaurant which will give me small amounts of tahini so I don't have to buy a big jar.

Thank you again to everyone for the kind words and support as we work through losing our sweet Callie-dog beagle yesterday.
Back to work moms: take care of yourself and try to carve out a little time to hit this sight. You deserve the support even more while making that big change.

GetFitBy2010

testing

Swissmiss

:flowerforyou: Thanks tron...I will be around.

:flowerforyou: tex..the veggies look good. I so wish that I could have a garden.

:flowerforyou: stiring..don't have any suggestions for you. I also eat peanut butter when I am in a hurry. If I not, I like poached eggs or oatmeal. I have been having the oatmeal this week.

I managed to get to the Y today. I spent 1/2 hour on the bike and rowing machine. I feel much better. I am holding at the same weight also.

Swissmiss

Good morning all. Today is blood donor day, so I will do that before my doctor appointment. Hopefully after that I will be at the gym again.
Hope that everyone's day is going well. Keep up all the good work.