40+ Club: Hop Into Spring With A Fit Bod

tron3002

Welcome back Alf. Glad you enjoyed your vacation.

Welp, my daughter is officially a married woman. Thursday we had the bridal shower, Friday was the rehearsal plus setting up the reception hall along with the church, and of course Saturday was the wedding. Everything turned out so nice I'm just glad its over because quite frankly I'm exhausted. I had to laugh because one of my dear friends (Very nice but VERY into name brands) is getting married and kept asking.... Oh this is cute where did you get it? I made it. She said that to a lot of the stuff I did. I just thought when I invited her she would think some of the stuff was cheesy because I didn't spend a fortune on it and now she wants me to make stuff for her wedding.

Tomorrow I will officially weigh in. I think I'm gonna reset my ticker to 0 lbs lost instead of setting it back to where my weight is now. That way maybe I will feel like I'm "starting over" instead of going backwards.... I dunno, I'll have to think about it.

I hope everyone is doing well and I really am looking forward to things slowing down so I can have more time for myself. I tip my hat to all of you who have full time jobs. I don't know how you do it all.

0mega60

like to join this thread guys.
.
im 49...male ...in club 3 to 5 days /week

.new with this program and message board
daily inputs and daily reviews of ..MFP

down 10 to 16 pounds in 2 months

problem up and down 2 to 5 pounds per day...heeee..crazy with firm meal plan

anyone else having same problem..??

Swissmiss

Omega60, I do know what you are talking about. I am experiencing the same. I think it just gets harder to lose as we get older. That is why this thread can be so helpful. Also, if you are nearing your goal you could be plateauing. There are ways to get past it. Change your workouts, eat a little less or more (sometimes we really are not eating enough and our bodies think we are starving). Good luck...I am sure that you will find a lot of help and support here.

tron, that is a good idea. Just start over. Don't think of it as moving in the wrong direction. We all do that at times but by consistent and things will begin to get better.

stiring, I also have that book. Can you believe how young those authors look??? That is the book that made me realize that I need to be doing strength training.

Welcome sonnacchio, I love Zumba. I go to three classes a week.

I did better this weekend than most. I may have even lost a pound.

I018485

Hello everyone,
I am 43 years old and I am new in this group.
I have been exercising for the last 3 weeks after 23 years!!!
Clearly my body is fighting this regime and I feel SO HUNGRY! It's amazing, I would eat all day long.
Have you ever experienced something like that?
How do you stop the hunger? Please, don't tell me "drink water" because it doesn't work.
Do you say to yourself some motivating sentences like "If you don't stop your *kitten* will require a bigger chair" or "Stop it, stop it. Think of being on the beach with a bikini"?
Anyway, I learned about this website from the P90X Program and I wonder if somebody else in this group is following that and I would appreciate any motivating suggestions.
Ciao!

singfree

Holy Cow!!!! After 1-1/2 years together on this 40+ thread, I'm not the only guy any longer!!! Welcome Omerga60.

"Just another manic Monday", as the song goes...month-end closing starts today, which means tons of extra work for me. At least I'm back on day shift. The weather is wet and wild here through tomorrow, but the extended forecast for the Easter weekend is sunny and temps in the 70s. On Friday we are going to Valley Forge and take a long walk around the old Revolutionary War camp. Also lots of Church services beginning Thursday.

Night shift has put a damper on some of my exercising. I need to begin afresh today. It's amazing how quickly time is fying by. I'm very glad that I started my get-in-shape routine during the winter. I would be in a panic if I were starting from square one today. I need to make some subtle but significant changes to my diet in the upcoming weeks. I do plenty of exercising but the remaining fat layer is a bit stubborn. So I'm looking to the obvious culprit----the stuff I put in my big mouth!!!

Tron, you look too young to be a mother-in-law. Congrats on a beautiful wedding!! Now get back to work!!!! :laugh:

Stiring, please keep us posted on the lower carb intake. I'm interested in your results!!


Have a great day!

zebras

Happy Monday Everyone, and Welcome all the newcomers.

Thanks all for the kind words regarding my happily big weight loss number last week. I have kept my momentum going by having full workouts over the weekend, which usually I don't manage to do, including dropping everything in the middle of one to take a sick kitty to the V-E-T. We like to spell it out, so the cats don't catch on. LOL. My girlfriend invited us over for dinner last night, and I managed to take one cookie, eat it and enjoy it, and not even think about a 2nd one. That's a huge deal for me. My self control where food is concerned has been non-existent all my life. And I don't beleive in entirely elminating sweets, or bread or butter from my life, it would eventually rebound on me. So, this was a big milestone in my life. Oh and the kitty is OK too now,.

alf1163

Good morning!!! Strength trng/abs done this morning!! :drinker: Teaching Zumba tonight!! I spent this weekend working on new choreo for my classes on the base. That is a workout in itself when I do the same routine over and over again. :laugh: My diet was really good this weekend but to be honest with you I have no desire to log in/count calories. I am going to try to listen to my body more and just eat clean 90-100% of the time and see what happens. I am not too worried about going "over", what concerns me is to be under. That is when I have to tune into my body's signals. Any ideas?

Welcome to all the new members. Omega, congrats on you weight loss. We all struggle with the ups and downs regularly. That is normal. I just try to be consistent as much as possible and move on.

I018485, are you eating enough? From your post, if you are doing P90X you need to eat well to support your workouts. When you exercise, especially strength trng, you will feel hungrier. It is your body telling you that it needs to be fed, but the right foods. I eat 5-6 times a day, small meals every 2-3 hrs, I also drink lots of water. Water is the most important nutrient for your body. If, after eating healthy foods and drinking your water, you are still hungry chew sugarless gum or do something to get your mind off of it. Or better yet, go for a walk... A few of us in this thread, including myself, have done P90X. I am now doing a second round of ChaLean Extreme. I also do a lot of self talking, and yes, it can be harsh sometimes. :laugh: Do whatever works for you. Set up mini goals for yourself.

A big hello to Tron (MIL:noway: ), Swissmiss, Stiring, Zebras, Sing and all the "old" members of this wonderful thread!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :flowerforyou: :flowerforyou: :flowerforyou:

pepper06

hi- For I018485 when having a craving I go for a protein source. I start my day drinking water even before eating anything.
It doesn't take much protein to have you feeling full! Protein is good for those workouts.

lalalady

Good morning all. I had a very busy weekend and am exhausted this morning. My eating was just okay over the weekend. I am letting that go and moving on to this week! I am going on a cruise mid April. It is motivating me to exercise and eat well!.

Okay, time to make a cup of tea and WAKE UP!

cardigirl

Dudes!!! Good morning!!! Well, I hit the 55 mark last Thursday and celebrated appropriately over the weekend with French food and wine! :drinker: Now back to the regular eating regimen.:sad: I loves me some French food!!!

Alf, welcome back, your pics are amazing. So glad you had a great trip! I fessed up to my trainer this morning that I'd like to run a 5K and he's all excited to help me train for one. I was thinking this fall, but he's talking May!!! Yikes!!! Anyway, you're one of my inspirations on this forum that is making me want to run, so THANK YOU for inspiring me.

Sing, sorry work is so busy, although, these days, busy is good. We're busy too, and sometimes I think the stress is sabotaging my weight loss. Not that I eat more, but that it ups the hormones or something that makes you hold onto weight. Boo.

Zebras, that's an awesome feat!!! I think when you get to the point of being able to manage the food instead of letting the food manage you, you've won most of that battle. Glad your kitty is okay. I have to spell it out too, or my cat disappears!!! :laugh:

Tron, congrats on getting your daughter through the wedding...

Stiring, you're another inspiration to me on this thread. Just keep posting the way you do! You help me out so much!

Welcome to all the newbies!!! You'll find lots of support and fun here!!!!

tron3002

Alright, the last time I weighed myself I was before the holidays and I was 121as of today I am 131... Needless to say, not good at all. The only positive thing I noticed is that my measurements are smaller this time around probably due to the fact that I started working out and not just dieting. Anyway, thats where I stand right now. Not proud of myself just putting it out there.

Cardigirl... Happy belated birthday.

lalalady... I just love cruises. Where are you going?

I018485

Thank you for your suggestions.
@Alf1163, I like the “go for a walk” technique. I think that it’s the most appropriate solution for my style.
I will also do more self talking because it is new for me and it’s funny.
@Pepper06, I will try the “water factor” again seeing that I often forget it. Protein… it’s difficult. I really have to commit more on that.
Speaking of carbs, I still believe that they are good for us and that they are NOT the problem.
I am Italian and our Mediterranean diet is mostly carbs: pasta and bread, 3 times a day. Plus, plenty of vegetables. Few protein, some fruit and extra virgin olive oil. Believe me, EVERYBODY I know in Italy is extremely thin! From babies to grandpa.
I gained weight when I moved to USA 3 years ago.
I started to eat MORE! This is the problem. Here everything is 3-4 times the size I was used to. Meaning, 3-4 times the calories and LESS physical activity. No more long walk to park, to take the Metro, bus, train, etc.
I have never dieted in my life and this is why I am lost.
2 years ago I stopped the “USA fatty diet” and went back to my origin. My usual “Italian diet” is perfect to keep the weight off but it’s not enough to lose weight.
I have 42 years of experience of low calorie rich carb diet to prove that it’s the perfect solution for the life time and to maintain the weight. Plus, there are tons of statistics about Italy, Greece, etc. We all eat at the same manner: fresh and VERY VERY SMALL!!!
Now the challenge is to lose these 13 pounds to go back to the normality.

StiringWendel

IO184485, I couldn't agree with you more. I lived in Italy for about 18 months, and the people are THIN!! Very thin in fact. And they eat late at night. So I've always been one of those people who has ignored the 'no carbs and don't eat after 7:00pm' info that gets passed around. But, as you said, the focus in Italy is different in that the food is healthier (less fried food by far) and the portions are smaller.

I'm cutting back on carbs right now only to get a better balance back into my diet. I think that is the key with the Italian diet....it is very balanced between carbs, proteins, etc. I think the American diet can be out-of-balance in all directions (too much protein from more meat consumption, too much fat from fried/processed foods, too many carbs because of the size of meals, etc). I've only been cutting my carbs for a couple of days, and I can already see a difference in how I look and feel. I'm much less 'puffy', I am not as hungry, and I don't seem to have the same overwhelming cravings (that could be because I'm not as hungry OR the sugar in the carbs I was eating was creating more sugar cravings). But, again, I totally agree that carbs are not evil. They just need to be eaten in balance with everything else.

I, too, get more hungry when I workout more, so that is natural. I would focus on eating foods that make you feel fuller (I've never had success with the 'drink more water' stuff either ) Eat foods higher in fiber (whole grains, etc). What I usually do is have a big (BIG) salad (with little dressing). There are few calories in the greens, but they fill me up quite nicely for a few hours.

I did P90X last year (with alf!) and really enjoyed it. I found it to be a very versatile program and very effective. I recently moved and was away from my workout equipment for a couple of months. I brought most of P90X with me and did it with resistance bands. That is a real plus for me. Let us know if you have any specific questions.

tron, I think given everything you've gone through you should be PROUD of where you are at. My goodness...you moved your mother, you spent a couple weeks without power, you had the holidays and a wedding! Ten pounds is nothing! With you working out now, you'll probably be surprised how quickly you can lose that. I'm happy to hear everything went well with the wedding. Good job at making things for it and how good that must of felt to receive such compliments. :flowerforyou:

alf, I love your photos!! You look so great. I think it is good to take a break every now and again from the calorie counting and listen to your body. I'm trying to do it more and more (at least a couple of days a week right now) so that, eventually, I can just get back to the business of eating naturally. I think taking a break from calorie counting is really helping me listen to my body more. I think if you feel weak, unnaturally tired, are having difficulties concentrating, difficulties getting through your workout, are on edge more, etc that you might be undereating. For me, there are alot more signs of hunger than my stomach growling. The one that I'm been suffering from most is my mood. :grumble: Just a couple hundreds calories can make me go from Mr. Hyde to Dr. Jekyl....or back again. :laugh:

cardigirl, Happy Belated Birthday!! :drinker: I hear you about stress making you hold on to weight. I think that's been part of my problem too. Thanks for your kind words.:flowerforyou:

singfree, I hope your week gets better. I'll continue to keep you all posted on my lower carb situation. So far....so good.

Off to do a tough bicep/tricep/shoulder workout. I only have a couple weeks left in this STS rotation, and then I'm going to take three weeks off lifting and start up again with a 7.5 month undulating rotation with 2BLean. I'm really looking forward to seeing how that challenges my muscles.

Hope this finds everybody well!

teffy1

Hi Omega,

I'm new to this thread as well so I'm still trying to get used to it.

For a while I did not even own a scale but was trying to go by how my clothes fit, however, I caved in and bought a scale.
I try to use it the same day and time of day, once a week. I find this reflects the more accurate steady weight loss I have been achieving.

teffy1

Does anyone know how I can find Zumba classes in my area? (East SF Bay Area) I tried to search on the internet but didn't find anything local.
I'd love to try it! It looks like fun.

singfree

Good morning!

Yesterday was a brutal day to say the least. We are in month-end closing and I need to produce many reports for the accounting dept. Some of the plant's production reporting to me was WAY off, so I had to spend most of the day tracking down the problems. I was so busy that I hardly had time to eat. Even when I got home from work, our contractor was just leaving the house (he loves to talk). This put me even farther behind schedule, because I had to hustle to a rehearsal in Hershey. NO time to eat. I got home after 10:30 pm and starving. Hmmmmm....wine and pretzels are beckoning....Not very nurtitious (tasted good though).

I wanted to get to the gym in the worst way, but that dreaded four letter word stopped me cold...WORK. It's funny how life gets in the way of one's health. Just think, only 10 more years of this grind (120 month-end closings). Today I am going to do upper body at the gym and a kettlebell workout at home. I'm really looking forward to the end of the week. We are going to have temps approaching 80. Amazing for early April in PA!!!!

Speaking of the Italian diet, you guys are correct. Smaller portions, fresher ingredients, lots of veggies & olive oil, and a much more relaxed dining experience makes for a better body. Americans never relax, are constantly stressed, eat on the run, and choose far too many processed foods. This is what we love about Europe. We totally relax and enjoy life for a few weeks. It's going to be a long 8 weeks until we go!!!!

Stiring, I just knew that those extra carbs was the problem. Exactly the same way with me. When I combine HIIT (cardio) with less carbs, my body responds quickly. My problem is sticking with it. I know what to do. I just need to program my mind to stay with it for a few weeks and not falter.

Cardi, Happy Birthday!!! We are the same age (until June)....

Have agreat day!

duffyzmom

Hey All! Sorry I've been MIA too many things to get done before our spring break trip and decided fitting in my workouts was more important than posting:ohwell: I really can't believe I finally have made it through the entire CX program. I will say I loved it and plan to start the Lean for Life phase when we get back from FL.

Right now I'm still dealing with a foot problem. It just doesn't make sense to me - I did a 10 mile run on Saturday and it was fine except for a few little "pinches" but Saturday evening foot and ankle were sore - I'm really kind of frightened that it might be a stress fracture:grumble: Today I'm going to try and do a little baby run and then see what happens. It would be just my luck that the about the time the weather gets running perfect I'm sidelined with an injury.

ALF - Glad to hear you had a good trip - weight gain isn't a big deal with all of your extra muscle it should take no time to drop. I know for me a lot of vacation weight gain has more to do with me not drinking my water.

zebras

Happy Monday Everyone from rain-soaked CT. Just when we really would like to see more attractive Spring weather we are on our second day of heavy rains. Very depressing.

I got my hubby to workout with me for a little while last night. He actually loses weight just by cutting back on his eating a little, no working out, no calorie counting. Don't you hate that? I had a good eating day and a good workout day yesterday.

Duffyz: sorry to hear about your foot. I hope its not too serious.

paulkj

Hi Everyone:
I trust that all are doing well.

Just wanted to pop in and say that everything on my end is going well. I have been hitting the weights and workouts hard and I have chosen to give 'dieting' a break.

I am not pigging out on chips, chocolate and other bad foods, I am just saying that I am going to relax for a moment while still working out hard. I am not even stepping on the scale, but I will continue to use my tape measure.

Have a good day, all!

Swissmiss

Believe it or not, paulkj, sometimes letting go of watching the calories so much can jump start weight lose. I am hopeing that this happens to you.

zebras, yes that is so frustrating. My husband can also cut out something...like a candy bar..and lose weight. Their metabolisms are different than ours.

duffy, be sure to get your foot checked out if it doesn't improve soon.

sing, I also have a four letter word that can keep me from doing what I should be doing....it is: kids.:laugh: Two of my girls are in Orlando at this time. So, I thought that I would have a relaxing, do whatever I want week. Nope. One more girl came back home and a grand daughter is visiting.

teffy1, do you go to Zumba.com? They have a list of places and one of the certified instructors.

Do you all know how many calories are in a fish and more dinner at LJS???? 1010 !!! Guess how I know.:laugh: