40 And Fabulous

Join

Things your parents didn't tell you about turning 40

Options
124

Replies

  • KateL1969
    KateL1969 Posts: 98 Member
    Options
    My Mum didnt tell me that being in your 40s is way better than being in your 30s.

    My 30s was the decade when I spent my time as a single Mum focusing on my daughter through her first decade. I did not think too much about what I ate (do you remember those years when everything you ate was cold and you had to eat it with one hand so you could feed your child?!) and was too exhausted to exercise. She is now 13 and I am 42. Over the last couple of years I have started to be able to do things for myself again and it is very liberating! I took up taekwondo (with my daughter) , have started to have a social life that does not just involve coffee mornings with other Mums when she visits her Dad. I also have more energy - probably because no longer have to deal with interupted nights sleeps and the 100s of questions fired at me by a toddler who isnt really interested in the answer. Don't get me wrong, I wouldnt change it for the world but now is the time to live a little. The plan is to lose the weight I never lost from my pregnancy so by the time I'm 43 I'll look and feel better than I have done since I was 30 - even with the odd uncontrollable thick curly grey hair!

    From Kate listening to the rain battering against the window. I know its England but it's JUNE!
  • Valera0466
    Valera0466 Posts: 319 Member
    Options
    i notice aches and pains that aren't debilitation, but they do make me take notice.

    ^^^^This

    I woke up on my 40th Birthday (remind you at that time i was in the gym every morning for a least a year running) with a strange pain in my knee...went away thru the day. Now every now and then I wake up with aches and pains that have "no" explaination.


    OH Yeah forgot to mention I have many more nose and ear hairs that I have to pluck daily :(

    Now that I know about mens nose and ear hair I don't feel so bad about my chin hair.
  • Valera0466
    Valera0466 Posts: 319 Member
    Options
    Setting aside the fact that I have a set of reading glasses in every room, the daily plucking of the chin hairs and the weight gain that sticks to you like glue, and oh the mood swings, 40's are Fabulous. This has been the best time in my life. My happiest time.
  • BodyByButter
    BodyByButter Posts: 563 Member
    Options
    Setting aside the fact that I have a set of reading glasses in every room, the daily plucking of the chin hairs and the weight gain that sticks to you like glue, and oh the mood swings, 40's are Fabulous. This has been the best time in my life. My happiest time.


    The chin hair makes me crazy.
  • kkzmom11
    kkzmom11 Posts: 220 Member
    Options
    me again. i am realizing i need to work on my attitude about myself and my body more so than the weight. so, i may never get to the weight i want to be, but when i love me for me (fat or skinny, healthy and chunky) then that will be my accomplishment.
  • lforner46
    lforner46 Posts: 103 Member
    Options
    My parents didn't tell me that you could feel good, work full time, have twins and be much more financially secure than if I had started my family when they did and not be 50 lbs overweight like my mother was at the same age.

    Oh - and still rock to AEROSMITH !!
  • rompers16
    rompers16 Posts: 5,404 Member
    Options
    I thought I would dread 40, but I've realized that at this age, I'm not afraid to be who am. I'm strong, independent and don't worry if I 'fit' in. It's great finally being a 'grown up" :)
  • kathyp72
    kathyp72 Posts: 6
    Options
    I forget Im in my 40s...
    43 yrs old and I wear glasses, waiting for the progressives...
    Had big babies, which did some strange things to the bladder...but I had the same issue 10 years ago.
    Went grey at 26 yrs old...one thing Im not impressed with is the chin hairs..what is up with that?


    Too funny! I am turning 40 in October but I am feeling every bit of it now! Grey is coming faster now, same bladder issues after 3 large babies, slow weight loss, ........just noticed the need to take off my glasses in order to read! The best IS the chin hair (just the one but present just the same!). My mother never told me of her pre-menopausal symptoms she had by 40 so that explains my mood swings lately! I am here with the desire to be in the best shape of my life before I turn 41!!
  • flaca777
    flaca777 Posts: 2
    Options
    can one be on menopause at 40? i didnt know that :noway:
  • kathyp72
    kathyp72 Posts: 6
    Options
    I was once an OB/GYN nurse (now turned psych) but in short no. To explain, they do not say your are "in menopause" but are premenopausal. You are showing the signs that menopause is coming (mood fluctuations, hot flashes, hormone changes, cycle changes....). You are in "menopause" after you have been without a period for 1 full year. All of the precursors can start as far as 10 years earlier. Luckily for me (haha) my mother suffered for a full 10 years with it. She was 40. She finally "hit" menopause at almost 50 (as in no longer visited by TOM). Some women are blessed with little annoyances for only a short period of time.
  • pezrood
    pezrood Posts: 3
    Options
    It is so nice to hear that I am not the only one in this boat of being 40 and all the joys and changes that go with it. I too pee when I run/sneeze/cough/laugh. Have to cross my legs so as not to have it run down my legs. My knees are so creaky that my kids can hear them from across the room. I am really trying to get back in shape (this after my 10 year old stood and played with my belly jiggle, the thing I not so lovingly call my food baby). I am kicking the food baby OUT!!!!!!!!!!
  • arwenadair
    arwenadair Posts: 1 Member
    Options
    Yep! I've always worn glasses but now if I'm wearing my glasses, I have to take them off to read. If I'm wearing my contacts I have to put on readers. Add a pair of sunglasses to the mix and I can be walking around with three, count 'em 3, items of eyewear on my head at one time. These forties are not for me. Nope. Chin hairs. What is that all about?! I swear I rub my chin constantly like I'm some sort of sage and then all of a sudden there will be a hair the length of my arm hanging out! ACK!
  • brentdaniels
    brentdaniels Posts: 127
    Options
    Hello All!
    This is just a fun posting about how subtle things in life creep up on you.

    For example...I'm going to be welcoming my very first pair of progressive lenses. What are progressive lenses you ask...well it's a nice word for bifocals. I thought my eye sight was a little off lately :laugh:

    Yep, got mine about a month ago....I know the feeling...lol
  • mdruif
    mdruif Posts: 13 Member
    Options
    The chin hairs, ya I know! I have to get out the tweezers and pull a few here and there. One time, I was with my son who is in his early twenties and we were shopping in the mall. I was mortified when he said in his louder then normal voice when we were at the checkout counter...." OMG you have a beard!" Let me clarify that I had about three stray hairs, maybe four that I must have missed. I was absolutely mortified and felt like crawling under the counter. At least I can laugh about it now.
    I have had to buy reading glasses as I now how to move things farther out to see, and for the life of me cannot make out the directions on over the counter medicine bottles.
    My knees are starting to creak too!
  • onwarddownward
    onwarddownward Posts: 1,683 Member
    Options
    I quit plucking chin hairs. I use an electric trimmer now. Easier.

    I find that I am a lot less willing to keep my mouth shut than I used to be. I'm more supportive of ME, instead of being Nancy Nice all the time.
  • DonnaRe2012
    DonnaRe2012 Posts: 298 Member
    Options
    Just wait till the hot flashes and night sweats set in !!!!! :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:
  • onwarddownward
    onwarddownward Posts: 1,683 Member
    Options
    I have facial hot flashes, have since I was 43, I'm 48. But eating clean and exercising has made my TOM regular. I like that.
  • Eeniespal
    Eeniespal Posts: 3 Member
    Options
    I wish I had've enjoyed my 20's and 30's more instead of sweating the small stuff.

    It's so hard now being around younger and more attractive women. It's really hard to accept "moving over" and being the "attractive older woman" than just being the "attractive woman"

    I guess I need to start enjoying my 40's and not worry about all the gorgeous younger women out there as no doubt I'll get to my 50's and 60's and will be jealous of women in their 40's lol

    Note to self: Tell my 20 year old daughter to enjoy youth while it lasts!
  • lgansen125
    lgansen125 Posts: 3 Member
    Options
    Age is just a state of mind. I'm sliding into 50 later this year. Sure I have gray hair but that is easy to fix, need bifocals, have wrinkles but I don't feel like I'm 49. This year I decided that I need to start taking care of myself instead of everyone else. I've lost 80 pounds and 68 inches and feel fantastic. I've also started running which I never thought I would ever do. Embrace your 40's. My parents taught me to enjoy life no matter how old you are. I don't think that I did that fully until after I turned 40.
  • Michelle2W
    Michelle2W Posts: 163 Member
    Options
    I've been in denial over four years about needing bifocals!!!! Finally got a pair two weeks ago!!!!!

Categories