40+ Club - Fall Fitness Fanatics

Swissmiss

Since we are talking about knee problems...does anyone have tendonitis of the knee? I seem to have tendonitis all over my body.:sad:

singfree

Good morning!

Welcome Little Eva!!! Please stay a while and join in our group's dicussions. You will find that we are a nice and caring bunch of 40-plussers.

Tron, you are doing great! Keep up the good work. You can always add weight, but since you are just beginning, take it slow and see how your muscles react.

Swiss, I've had a few bouts with tendonitis in the knee. Rest and Ibuprofen are the only things that work for me. If I lift too much weight, I will get tendonitis in the elbows. This is not limited to older people. It can happen at any age.

MK, how are you doing?

Alf, we're thinking about you!

StiringWendel

Good Morning! :flowerforyou:

mk, we are going to be at Osan Air Force Base, which is near Camp Humphries. The military (both Army and AF) have been working hard over the past few years to improve their facilities since they are now allowing families to accompany the military members into parts of Korea, so I imagine things will be very different for me than they were for your husband! I was looking at the base information last night, and it looks like it has everything I'd ever need from a military base. I'm really looking forward to this move. My brother-in-law spent a number of years in Korea (both active duty and retired), and I know quite a few other people who've lived there as well and really enjoyed it, so I'm excited. I just have to get through the move first. :huh:

Welcome, LittleEva! Congrats on the great workouts! I'm thinking about trying to run (again...I've tried before but never really fell in love with it). Please provide any tips you think would be helpful.

tron, your workout looks good. As singfree indicated, take the time to take it slowly right now until your body adjusts. My only tip for you is to make sure you work your muscles in balance. For instance, if you are working your quads (front thigh muscle, which you hit with the leg lifts), it's important to work the opposing muscle on the back of your leg (the hamstring....which you hit with the 'backwards leg thingie '). If you work chest (like flies), make sure you do some back work as well. And if you do biceps, make sure you do something to work your triceps (back of the arm). That just makes sure your muscles stay in good balance. You don't have to do all that on the same day, of course....or every time you lift. But you could be setting yourself up for injury if you consistently work your biceps (as an example) and never work your triceps. I hope you enjoy strength training. I know I absolutely love it!

singfree, your diet yesterday looks like it was really clean! Keep up the great work.

Swissmiss, good to see you! I've had problems with my knees on and off (though I don't know if I've actually had tendonitis in my knee, though I've had it elsewhere). I agree with singfree that rest and pain relief is about the only thing that's going to help. Take care and I hope you get to feeling better soon.

Headed off to do some cardio today, and then I think I'll do the first half of YogaX. I never dreamed I would learn to appreciate that workout as much as I have....but I do appreciate it very much. It will be one I carry with me on the move to Korea.

Hope everybody has a great day!

zebras

It will be one I carry with me on the move to Korea.

Stiring

It will be great that the internet allows us to keep in touch without feeling the distance! I remember in MASH they would say something like it must be last Tuesday back home if they were trying to call someone.

Congratulation on you all getting the posting that you wanted. It will be exciting for you to learn a new culture, and exciting for us to hear about it from you. Do you know when the big move is yet?

mkwood10

Hello all!!!

You all seem so motivated all the time........that's one thing I've definitely been lacking the last few weeks. I'm stuck at 129-130 again :grumble: :grumble: and can't seem to shake myself out of this funk. Haven't even been logging my foods, although I think I'm still eating pretty decently.

I DO know I'll be eating/drinking less :happy: on the weekends now that boating season is done:frown: . Tried to take the boat out on Sunday for one last outing because it was supposed to hit 90°, but by the time the neighbors' 2 year old got up from his nap and we made it to the lake, the winds had switched to the NNW and were screaming across the lake........huge whitecaps everywhere!!! So........didn't even attempt to put the boat on the water - what a disappointing way to end the summer:grumble: :grumble: I still want to know what happened to our normal August with triple digits.......we never even got close!!

OK...........I think I've whined enough this morning....... now to try to find some healthy motivation......:laugh: :laugh:

Hoosiermomma

String & Sing, When I think about what my ideal diet would look like: it would be everything fresh, natural and healthy and then a few favorite treats It would also most likely include a personal chef (who does laqundry on the side) :laugh: I have cleaned up my intake a lot but the excercise routine is hard to keep up. So many chores and duties staring me in the face!

Ii I could keep focus on the fact that my increased energy from excercise pretty much allows me to still accomplish all that i usually would anyways! Funny how I can sit in front of this screen with out any prompting. :noway: This is where I come for inspiration! What is the saying? 10% inspiration 90% Perspiration!!:happy:

Tron, love to hear of your ambitious project! Enjoy your accomplishments!:flowerforyou:

Alf, hope you dear son is fully well again!

Sing I will join you in an effort to eat clean and we can form a kick line to encourage each other. Are high kicks as beneficial as squats?? :laugh: :laugh:

Hope to hear from you again lirttle eva

MissTx you certainly have had so much to deal with in the last year. I am hoping your BIL continues to progress in the right direction and you might get a peek at "normal" life again!

MK, I'm with you - need to get re-motivated. Felt good for the wedding but need to sustain this for life! I keep trying to tweak things just a bit to keep myself going. Replace a food with a more healthy choice, start a new excercise, buy a cute excercise top :happy: just to keep my mindset on the fact that this is indeed an ongoing life-style. I just figure I can use the reminders to keep myself moving in the right direction.

I am on week 2 of the 100 push-ups group. Hard to believe I will reach 100, but i do know I will be ahead of the five I began with !:bigsmile:

I have lost the couple pounds put on with travel and parties, now to continue the downward trend. I Think sucess will have to include regular gym time.

Everyone have a good week! This week-end we meet up with my sister and BIL in Chicago for some "Town-Time" It's been a little while since I hung out up there! Back to this houshold! Keep it coming everyone!

sunnysmile

Hooray, I am back exercising and it feels good.

Since the broncitis and asthma attacks put me out of commission for a while I have now exercised twice. Once on Sunday, I walked in the water, then when my breathing was okay I aquajogged for a while, and then I went crazy and put on my mask and snorkel and swam 10 lengths in the pool ... a total of 40 minutes.

today I went to the pool again and was able to do 30 lengths swimming, a little water walking, and about 10 minutes of aqua jogging.

I am very pleased. Am still contending with some asthma cough but the medicines help and I am well enough to move again.

one thing that puzzles me is I want to record my exercise but I'm not sure if I should be eating all those extra calories they add to the food journal. Any suggestions on this? I figure since it lists how much it adds that I can mentally subtract and not eat that extra amount?

Do you all add your exercise to the exercise tracker? Do you eat the extra calories? If you don't do you lose faster or slower?

Oh, by the way, I think these DNA-customized supplements are giving me more energy. I am continuing to track it, but so far I think it is helping me. Time will tell if it speeds up the weight loss, which for me is usually extremely slow ... it's easier to watch the grass grow then to have my body let go of fat.

Everyone have a great day,

tron3002

String....Sorry for being "dumb" but how do you work your back and triceps? I think I might know the triceps but I'm not sure.

Sunny... I wish I had a pool to work out in. It sounds like so much fun to work out in the water

Hoosier... Even with the lack of exercise you must be doing something right because you are still losing.

MK... I am having a really difficult time with diet and exercise these past 2 months and its really starting to bother me a lot because it shows on the scale. I kept my weight off for a year and it seems like these last 2 months I've been gaining like crazy and yet nothing has changed. I better figure something out quickly or I'm just gonna go hide under a rock from depression..

Sing... Your doing great on the clean eating! Good for you!!! Even if you dont eat as clean as String you are pretty darn close most of the time. At least it seems that way to me.

Well I am sore in my upper body. Not so sore that I dont want to move but I can feel it. I also feel it in my abs but I think next time I will include some reverse sit ups and the sit ups that you go side to side. I hate my stomach more than anything so anything to help it go away..... Today I am gonna walk on my treadmill for about an hour on the highest setting. Either that or do my stair steps. I will let you know. Hope you all are having a great day!!!:happy:

zebras

Sorry, Tron, I've already been told "no rock hiding anymore" so we got rid of the rock, so no one can hide under it. That's great that you kept the weight off for a year, you can get control again, we all know you can do it!

StiringWendel

mk, maybe it's just that time of year right now, but I've been struggling with motivation as well. I'm still doing all the stuff, but I just haven't been putting my whole heart and soul behind it, that's for sure. I'm hoping it is just a phase that I need to blunder through right now. So don't feel like you are alone in this one!!

hoosier, I'm with you on wanting a personal chef who does laundry.....AND house cleaning! :laugh: My husband has one (namely...ME), so why can't I?

sunnysmile, as I'm sure you are aware, there is quite a debate about exercise calories. My simple answer to your question, though, is 'listen to your body'. If you have enough energy to complete your workouts and you feel good throughout the day without eating your exercise calories, then there is no reason to eat your exercise calories (at least not until you are within 10-20 of your goal weight). I know that the common theory is to lose weight at a 1 to 2 pound a week rate, but there is nothing dangerous in creating a larger calorie deficit utilizing exercise (which is what you'd be doing if you don't eat your exercise calories). However, again, it is really important that you listen to your body because if that deficit results in lethargy or extreme tiredness or fatigue to the point that you can't workout OR you are so hungry that you give it all up and eat a whole pizza (as an extreme example, of course ), then I would suggest you eat at least some of your exercise calories.

I would caution you though in relying too much on the estimated calories provided by this site. For example, this site may tell you that you burn 300 calories walking for an hour. That may be far more (or far less) than you would burn. If it is more than you would burn, and you eat back all those calories, then you, obviously, would slow down your weight loss. So if you can, buy a heart rate monitor to get a more accurate idea of what you are truly burning if you decide you want to eat those calories.

When I was first losing weight, I didn't eat back any of my exercise calories, and I didn't have any issues with plateaus or whatnot. But that's what worked for me, and I know other people who have had much better success when they have eaten back their exercise calories. So do what works best for you on this one. :flowerforyou: And congrats on being able to get back to exercise!!

tron, there are a number of different ways to work your back and triceps. Bent-over rows or one-armed rows are probably the easiest exercises to describe for back. These exercises are where you take a barbell (or a dumbbell in one hand), bend at your waist (45 or 90 degrees, whatever works best for your body) and pull the weight up towards your body. In the bent-over row, you'd pull the barbell in towards your navel. In the one armed row, you pull the dumbbell up to your rib cage.

As far as triceps, to tone the triceps, the best exercise is the kickback. That where you take a dumbbell, bend at the waist (just like the row), have your arm at a 90 degree angle with you elbow next to your waist (or higher) and then extend you arm straight behind you. To build more muscle, the best exercise would probably be a french press where you lie on a bench or floor, put your arms straight up at a 90 degree angle, and with either a dumbbell in each hand or one barbell and bend your arms so they come right down over your forehead.

Those are just some suggestions, and I probably haven't described them very well! :laugh: Let me know if you have any questions, though, and I'll try to do better. And zebras is right....no hiding under rocks allowed!! You are doing great!

zebras, I am so glad I will be able to stay in touch too! It is amazing how much better I feel going through a move like this when I know that I will still have my internet friends around me. No matter how many times I go through this, it is never easy to say goodbye to people, places, a home, etc. This will be our second move at the holidays, and these are especially tough moves. Right now, it looks like we will be leaving California around November 15, so that means all of the holidays will be spent in Korea...without our furniture or anything like that around us. So I'll be counting on my MFP friends alot....especially when I'm a little homesick and decide that Reese's Peanut Butter cups and a whole tub of my friends Ben and Jerry are the only things that will cure me!

alf1163

Hi everyone!!!!! Yes, it's me, the lost child!! So many nice posts lately and I would love to reply to all of them. Please forgive me if I miss anyone. So many so little time...

First of all, thank you for your well wishes. My son has no fever since Saturday and he is feeling better. But he is still coughing some and when he coughs he touches his chest. If he continues like that I will take him to the doctor so they can listen to his lungs. I want to rule out any type of bronchial infection. But there is no fever, no runny nose, he is eating well, seems to be in good spirits. He is back in school as well. Maybe I am worrying too much. I dont think this was the flu.

I have been busy of course with my son, work, working out and eating well. P90X is going great. Almost done with wk 3 phase 2. I start the second recovery week on Sunday, if I get to start on Sunday. I have been confirmed for the Zumba workshop on Saturday and we will be offered a second workshop on Sunday if we sign out for the Zumba membership. I am going to take advantage of it so I will be getting certified Sat and Sun this weekend. My younger sister is a Zumba instructor in SC and she told me the workshops are a lot of fun and on both days we also do a full hr of Zumba plus lots of practice so I will be exercising a lot. I have been ravenous today!!!! But everything I ate was healthy. :drinker:

Eva, welcome!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :drinker: I looked at your profile and you are in San Antonio. I live by Sea World. My husband is retired ARMY and now works as a civilian at Ft Sam. The other day we did the ARMY Dillo 10 miler. And we signed up to do the Combat Medic Run (10K) on Oct 31. They also have a 5K that day, you can run it or walk it. That might be a good motivation for you. My husband and I are also doing the Rock n Roll half marathon on Nov 15 in downtown. Maybe we can meet someday.

Stiring, you are also my hero. And you bring to this thread your knowledge, inspiration, motivation. I think you can let go of your "guilt" and enjoy anything you would like occasionally. With your experience and knowledge you are totally in control. I have no doubt in my mind you will ever go back to your old habits, even during this move. KOREA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I want to go!!!! My favorite food is Korean food, can imagine a Puerto Rican saying that her favorite food is Korean food?? :laugh: My husband was stationed in Korea many yrs ago at Camp Red Cloud, very close to the North Korean border. He introduced me to Korean food and I just fell in love with it. We have our favorite Korean Rest here in SA and we go there at least once a month sometimes 2-3 times. :noway: We just went this past Monday. They know us there already. :laugh: My husband said that were you are going is very nice and close to Seoul. You will enjoy it. :drinker:

MK and Tron, please dont get discouraged. I do want to say to take a really good look at what you are doing now and what you could change. Sometimes even a small change will make a huge difference. You started that Tron by adding weight trng to the mix. Try as much as possible to eat healthy and to EAT, do not starve yourselves. Sometimes that is all your body needs, more food, healthy of course. Tron, go to bodybuilding.com or exerciserx (something like that) and it will show you pictures and/or videos of weight trng exercises.

Sing, great to hear you are getting back on track. It was funny that you said you will lose x amount of fat right on time to put it back on. :laugh: :laugh: Well, I should not laugh :noway: because that happens to me every year but you know, I am very determined this year to overcome that. I think I have the tools, motivation and determination to overcome it this time. Who wants to join me??? Oh, by the way, my husband wants to lose at least 10lbs by Nov 15 (half marathon day). He says he wants to be lighter. Is that doable? I am not so sure about that. He is going to have to work very hard for that. He said he is not eating sweets, drink alcohol and skip the Friday tacos and donuts at work :laugh: I dont think that is all he needs to do. What do you think? It is going to be a tough one. His birthday is in Oct, mine in Nov, plus from now until then we have a lot of different engagements that I know will involve cake, alcohol, etc...We will see...

I will let you go. I am hoping to be able to post tomorrow.

Take care!!!! :flowerforyou: :flowerforyou:

singfree

Good morning!

Alf, it was great to hear from you! I'm very happy that your son is doing well, too! Great news on the Zumba, it sounds exciting. This could be a good opportunity for a career change. I've never had Korean food, but I would really like to try it some day. I live in a region of PA that is not very diverse. The overwhelming part of the population is German, especially in neighboring Berks and Lancaster Counties. The cuisine tends to reflect it, although there are a number of very good restaurants, too. I enjoy going to a Thai restaurant in Arlington, VA when we visit friends there.

I think that your husband would benefit greatly from HIIT training. This would blast the fat off very quickly, especially if he cuts out the junk food (speaking from experience). High Intensity Intervals (like Insanity) do wonders for burning fat quickly. Even if he incorporated some sprints with his running, it would benefit him greatly. Also, the fat/ weight loss would be beneficial for the knees. I am around 150 lbs and my knees feel even a 5 lb gain!!!

Yesterday I did an Insanity workout and P90X Shoulders and Arms (most of it). I'm trying to incorporate aspects of both so I get a total body workout each day. Today I will do Insanity and
P90X Legs (not Back). I'm trying to lift some weights 3-4 times per week and do cardio 6 days per week. The cardio (Insanity) works well for me in the fat loss dept.

BTW- I'm in for joining the holiday "stay focused" group!!! At least I will TRY!!! Even if we make small changes in our attitude toward the holidays, the weight will not creep back. Something like this might work: An extra rotation of strength training or cardio daily (maybe 10-15 min) and saying NO to the extra cookie or glass of wine. Those things add up quickly. So let's not deny ourselves, but savor those things that make the holidays special.

If that fails, Stiring has her combat boots laced up and is ready to spring into action to kick our butts...even from Korea!!! :laugh:

Have a great day!

alf1163

Guten Morgen!! Buenos dias! Bonjour! :laugh: I feel international today. :laugh:

I did Yoga already and just finished my super yummy oatmeal. :drinker: I am in for the Holiday stay focused group, I really need that. And I am not willing to give up anything but keep it in moderation. We are going on a cruise from Dec 27-Jan 3 so that is going to be a huge challenge. I am planning on working out and use the 3 bite rule as much as possible. I just hope they are not big bites. :laugh: :noway:

Sing, thank you for the suggestions for my husband but unfortuntely he does not think exercise needs to be in the mix. Yes, we are training for the half marathon but at a very slow pace (12-15 min mile) and he is only jogging twice a week. I have suggested many other things including speed intervals but he does not want to do it. How tall are you? 150lbs is pretty small for a guy. My husband is 5'10" and weighs 211. He was around 178lbs when he was in the ARMY. :grumble: :noway:

Ok gotta go, ladies, wish me luck, have my mammogram today. OUCH!!!! :sad:

:flowerforyou: :flowerforyou:

singfree

Good morning again!

Alf, I'm 5'8" and around 150 lbs. I really don't think about the weight too much, because I can tell how I'm doing simply by looking in the mirror. On my small frame a few extra lbs of fat looks huge. That's my motivation to get lean and stay that way. I have the type of body that is strong, but I'll never have big muscles. That's ok by me...otherwise I look too "bulky"!!

I'm sure that your husband had his fill of forced "fitness" in the ARMY. That might be why he is reluctant to commit to the heavy exercise requirements that I suggested. When I walk at lunch I do a 15 min mile. Although any exercise is beneficial, I don't feel as though my body responds unless I exercise out of my comfort zone. This is why Insanity works for me. Unfortunately the only other alternative to weight loss is the dreaded "diet". For me, I'd rather sweat it out and enjoy my guilty pleasures!

StiringWendel

Morning! :flowerforyou: I hope everybody is having a good day.

alf, I'm happy to hear your son is feeling better. I got an email from a friend of mine yesterday who works in a school in Colorado, and they had to shut down the school for the week because over 40% of the students are sick! And it's only September. I think it's going to be a long winter. :frown:

And good news about the Zumba! That sounds like so much fun. :drinker:

Anyhow, thanks for the compliments. I really should lose the guilt feeling. But, yet again, the issue of my bigger clothes came up between my husband and I this weekend. I don't want to take all of these clothes I can't wear to Korea, so I told him that I was going to (finally) get rid of them. He told me that if I was going to do anything, he'd recommend we put them in storage and told me right out that he doesn't think I'm going to stay this size. While he says he thinks that's because he feels I'm TOO small right now, those kinds of statements don't do much for my confidence. So my bigger clothing will go to Korea to me where I hope it serves as a constant reminder of where I don't want to go again in terms of weight/health.

Regarding your husband, if he is anything like my husband, he can lose the 10 pounds over the next six weeks without working out if he controls his diet. My husband's diet can go off-the-charts bad sometimes, and if he just controls it a bit, he can lose weight very, very quickly (and without starving). He lost the ten pounds he's lost since I started all of this in about six weeks. He's 5'11" and currently weighs about 185.

And I'm all for a 'holiday stay focused' group....because I'm going to need it this year! No doubt!! I love your suggestions, singfree. I do think it is all about enjoying with control. I think it is all about finding the right balance and staying focused. It's so easy for me to eat without thinking through the holidays (because I simply say to myself 'It's Christmas! I can eat anything!!'), and I generally workout for shorter periods of time because I'm busy. I think I will need to focus on making sure I take the time to workout properly AND think about what I'm eating, and if I do that....all should be well.

singfree, your Insanity/P90X mix looks really good. I just got my Insanity DVDs yesterday but didn't get a chance to look at them. I think I'm going to keep them in the box for a couple of weeks because I have no doubt that I'll want to try them if I view them! :laugh: And I really want to get through P90X first. I'm hoping Insanity keeps me motivated through this move. I think it will.

I asked this question on the P90X thread, but is anybody here familiar with the P90X Plus workouts. I got an email about them yesterday, and I'm just curious whether they are worth the purchase.

I'm actually going to start my final phase of P90X today. I was going to wait until Sunday, but I think that would have me ending about the time we are going to be getting ready to ship our stuff out....so I think it is best I give myself a little more 'buffer' in there....just in case anything unexpected comes up over the next month (and it, inevitably, will). So....off to do chest/back. I hope I'm ready for all those pushups!

singfree

Stiring, I have mixed feelings about X-plus. My honest opinion about it is that if you keep challenging yourself via increased weights or resistance bands, you will not outgrow this program. Don't forget, there are a lot of BB Coaches out there who make extra cash by plugging these programs. Don't get me wrong, I think BB puts out a good product, but the corporation needs to keep developing new products to ensure a steady source of income. Do you feel like you've outgrown P90X? Also, you might want to give it a break for a while as you do some other program. P90X was first introduced as the ultimate fitness program. So, unless you are not seeing your desired results, I would stick with the plain old original X.

StiringWendel

Thanks for the info, singfree. I don't feel like I've outgrown P90X at all. I just got an email yesterday that made me wonder if the Plus workouts would be a useful addition to my program. Based on the info you provided and that I got in the P90X thread, I think I'll skip these workouts. I've got STS which is every bit as challenging (though in a different way) as P90X, so I've already got two completely different strength training programs that I find equally effective. And now I've got Insanity, and Cathe Friedrich is putting together a cardio program to go with STS....so I certainly don't need any new and challenging workouts right now.....unless, of course, it is just something not to be missed, and it doesn't sound like these workouts are that.

Thanks again! :flowerforyou:

singfree

Stiring, i get the same email stuff seemingly every day from BB. It DOES sound enticing, but do I really need it? (no) Am I getting good results from the current programs? (yes) Do I want to spend more money and maybe not get better results? (no). That's how my mind works. Well, maybe not that well!! I think that I am a sucker for every new workout that comes along. I need to work out smarter, not necessarily harder!

tron3002

Yesterday was a very sad day for our family. A very nice boy that I met through my girls got into a car crash and died. He was only 22. They thing is, with this kid, he was awesome. He would drop everything to help one of his friends in need. My daughter was one of those people. She was going to her JR prom when her boyfriend of 8 months broke up with her and we found out he was cheating on her the whole time. Emmett heard about this and the day before the prom called her up and said he was gonna take her instead. This was the type of kid he was. He was always the designated driver..... Just an over all kind person. So I just wanted to take a moment to remember Emmett, he will be greatly missed.

sunnysmile

Yesterday was a very sad day for our family. A very nice boy that I met through my girls got into a car crash and died. He was only 22. They thing is, with this kid, he was awesome. He would drop everything to help one of his friends in need. My daughter was one of those people. She was going to her JR prom when her boyfriend of 8 months broke up with her and we found out he was cheating on her the whole time. Emmett heard about this and the day before the prom called her up and said he was gonna take her instead. This was the type of kid he was. He was always the designated driver..... Just an over all kind person. So I just wanted to take a moment to remember Emmett, he will be greatly missed.

My condolences Tron to you and your daughter, it is awful to lose anyone but when it is sudden, and the person isn't ill it is even harder I think. When I was about your daughters age a great guy who lived on my block and went to my school died in the same way. There is no reconciling it except I like to think the soul lives on (which I do believe). I lost my Dad a little more than a year ago and it was sudden and a shock, life happens and sometimes it just sucks. But then people you only know through a calorie counting website will reach out to you, and maybe you will feel a little better (I hope).

On a happy note, I swam 33 laps today in the pool and am feeling high energy, I think from the DNA-customized supplements I am testing out. Regardless, am pleased to be losing some weight ... 4 pounds over the last two weeks.

Be well everyone.