WOMEN AGES 50+ FOR JUNE

mynyddisamrs

:flowerforyou: Good evening Everyone .....
Welcome to all the "Newbies" ....so many ! and some more from the UK too!
:sad: I'd forgotten to take the painkillers for my arm /shoulder yesterday and today ...had thought all was ok but not so it seems! Keep taking the tablets Jackie!!
:happy: I went to Zumba ...all fired up ...but we all found out after waiting, that the relief "Zumba" lady was stuck on the motorway. So not to be out done by a traffic jam I went home and did the Latino tone DVD. Closed the curtains first though!! Great I can hear you saying ...little do you know, :bigsmile: I cooled down with an ice cream!! My blow out lunch and the ice cream are all duly logged I may add!!
Who knows what the scales will say tomorrow ...another day another dollar ...or lb eh?
The worry over #1 son's new job has passed ...he did start work yesterday ...phew!!
The bedroom floor(not sure if that tale was in a "lostpost") is proving to be in a worse condition than we'd thought. 3 bags of screed "stuff" and tons of dust throughout the house later and we may get the floor finished and vinyl laid tomorrow....ready to fit the hospital bed when mum returns ...no date yet!
Anyway ..I'll let you all get on and enjoy your Wednesday ...most of you still have a way to go .:happy: I enjoyed mine ...sunshine, shopping, contact lenses sorted and lunch out. I feel lbs and £'s lighter tonight!! Definitely £'s anyway!
:flowerforyou: Take care All
BFN
Jackie
ps ...back to Chaz our resue cat for my profile ...i did lose weight when he was there last time ...maybe?....

Wishful

Well, I got in my 15 minute walk...not gut/butts yet! I'm still trying to reorganize my refrigerator and kitchen back to snackless!

wizzywig

I am grateful for all of you, my good health, my wonderful family and especially grateful that I still have 2 parents who are well and active and able to lead independent and contributing lives! Take care, ALL! kackie

Hi All :flowerforyou:
Kacki thanks for reminding me that I too have 2 parents who are well (both in their 70s now) this is something to be grateful for, not many people my age can say this.

:grumble: It's nearly 10:30 pm already and I have just remembered I have forgotten to do the Gut N butt exercises. I'll have to give them a go when I finish. I think I might be doing the leg raises wrong because my back was killing me at the weekend after I had done them. I told you my abdominal muscles are non existant :bigsmile: I'll keep trying though practice makes perferct

:flowerforyou: Jackie what a lovely cat - he's gorgeous Glad it all worked out okay with your son's new job. Your ice cream story reminds me I had an Ice lolly earlier and forgot to log it woops!

:drinker: Sorry meant to say Hello to all the newbies, Barbs right when she says we are all "prolific posters" :bigsmile: ::laugh:

:frown: Barb sorry to hear you are having such horrible weather. We actually had a warm sunny day for a change. Went on a pleasant dog walk this evening and we even rescued a baby lamb. Just as we were getting the dogs in the car to go home we noticed that a flock of sheep (well there were about half a dozen of 'em) were on the wrong side of the cattle grid. As they were all on the road DD went to try open a gate to try and sherrick them back to the right side of the grid. Of course they ran off in all different directions :grumble: but she was particularly worried about a baby who's mum was on the other side of the wire fence. It was trying to butt its way through the fence poor thing. Anyway I got out to help I stopped it from running passed me so DD managed to grab it pick it up and lift it over the fence. It ran back to its mum awww The others we had to leave as they had gone down the drive to the caravan park. I'm sure the owners would have shoo'd them back onto the common. It's so sad that a lot of sheep do get run over with cars going too fast even though there are signs saying slow down.

:laugh: This has turned out to be longer than I meant, so I will get myself off to bed. After I do my Gut N Butt exercises of course

BFN

Viv

weaklink109

So in other words, Viv, those sheep had to "get the flock outta there?":laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:

Hey you guys know me. I can't pass an opening like that without taking advantage of it!!

I am glad the sun is shining SOMEWHERE. That, apparently is where I need to go "SOMEWHERE" where it is NOT RAINING!!!!:grumble: :ohwell:

Barb

donna56

Good evening ladies, welcome newbies, I see there are a few now lol.
I am in some big trouble I think. :noway: I can't seem to get on track with my eating right, or my routine. That is bad news for me.:grumble: We still have so many leftovers from our cookout and I hate throwing it all away. The problem is that I want to eat it all!! Then today was a good friends b-day and me and 2 others went in and bought her a cake, a card, and some balloons and delivered it ourselves and had to have a piece of cake!:grumble: and a couple of drinks!!:noway: I hope I can get it together before I gain all my weight back from not smoking!! :noway: :noway: :noway: One problem is, that the one SIL is on vacation, time only, and she thinks she should be at my house every waking minute!:grumble: :noway: :grumble: It messes with my "me" time plans. I try not to be rude, because she has a good heart, blah, blah, blah, but it really gets on my nerves :mad:, especially now with me not smoking :bigsmile:
Well now that I just vented, I'll go and hope tomorrow is a better day. I don't want to forget to thank everyone for the well wishes while I was sick. Maybe getting sick was a blessing, it made me quit smoking :drinker: I think it was Barb that said I may live forever now, lol Yikes!!!:noway:

Donna

anotheryearolder

Ok – this sure isn't an original thought but it's what I was thinking about when I was making dinner tonight.

I had just revamped my June goals and was thinking, oh, I didn't put in the weight loss I want to accomplish. And then I remembered what I told myself when I joined up here.

I was joining to get healthy.

I wasn't going to get caught up in what I weighed. I didn't want to go down the road – a g a i n – of failure. Failure stinks and creates, in me anyway, a kind of self-loathing.

I'm generally successful at what I do in life, and get very down on myself when I fail at this weight thing. So, I need to remind myself everyday that I'm not going to get hung up on the @%*# scale. I am here to get healthy, which isn't only measured by weight. I'm going to set goals that I know I can accomplish toward the goal of being healthy. Not goals just toward weight loss. The weight will come, if I do the right stuff.

This isn't rocket science... but for me it's hard. Darn it.

Getting my head straight, and keeping it there is the hard part for me. Once I have that, I'm happy and if I'm happy, I don't overeat. Doh.

I've done this before. More than once. More than twice. And then I got lazy, or careless, or too busy to do what I knew was right for me. The excuses are endless.

I have to keep reminding myself that I need to do what makes me happy/successful. If I'm happy, the rest will fall in place. Pretzels, buttery popcorn and bread in vast quantities don't make me happy; they make me tired, fat, out of shape and mad at myself.

I need to focus on keeping my head straight and focusing on the successes and the rest will fall in place. Every day I am going to say I just ate a good meal/snack, I just exercised, my blood pressure is 15 points lower than when I started. I am a success. That way I will continue to be successful in being healthy.

That said, if I keep myself successful and happy this month, I will probably also lose some weight – maybe 4 or 5 pounds.

Ok – I needed to tell myself that and did it here. I'm newish here and just getting back in the healthy thing. I needed to give myself a pep talk.

Thank you to all of you that are showing the way to a healthy lifestyle.:flowerforyou: It makes all the difference hanging with you all. This is a great group of old hands that are generous enough to stay around and show the way, those with great strides toward success and us newbies.

Here's to a healthy month.

Faye

vickim26

Donna, Ive been there with the out of control eating. Just have to have the mindset to do it. As for your SIL invite her to walk or do some other form of exercise with you. Either she will and you will have a partner or she may get the hint and give you some time.
Faye all I can say is ditto. I have the same problems and am learning each day how to deal with them. See you tomorrow ladies.
Vicki M

anotheryearolder

hmm, I don't know what the heck happened to that last sentence. I went back to edit it and I got tossed out. :ohwell:

Anyway, I meant to say thanks for the assist everyone!:bigsmile:

Faye

RebelRenny

Just putting in the place holder. Still wishing for dryer and warmer weather for DS wedding Friday and rehearsal dinner here tomorrow Will let y'all know how everything went.

Rebel

barbiecat

:flowerforyou: Faye, you are so right.....I am powerless over the number of pounds I lose, but I have some control over my attitude, the amount and quality of the exercise I do, the amount and quality of the food I eat, and behaviors like logging my food and exercise and declining food that is offered to me that wasn't on my food plan.:flowerforyou: .......my improved behaviors will result in a lifetime of health for me.

:flowerforyou: Rebel.......I've been hoping for good weather for me, but I am especially hoping for your family and the wedding that's coming up.

:flowerforyou: Donna, congratulations on quitting smoking....you can do it one day at a time

:flowerforyou: Welcome to all the new members......I hope you'll find something here that will keep you coming back.

:bigsmile: :bigsmile: :bigsmile: I managed to burn over 600 calories including yoga and line dance this morning even with my whole afternoon dedicated to a visit to the dentist.....I still have all my teeth and I make a great effort to keep them healthy.
:yawn: :yawn: :yawn: :yawn: :yawn: :yawn: :yawn: :yawn: :yawn: :yawn: :yawn:

Peechuz

Hi to all - I am 53 yrs old, happy to be in a thread that others can relate to what us gals are going through during our change and how our weight/metabolism is affected. I never had a weight problem until about 3 yrs ago when my hormones went every which way. Just trying to find common ground with my newly shaped body. I am weighing in at 167, so could lose 20-30 pounds. I see a nutritionist, so it's just the exercise that I need to beef up. My goal for June is to lose 5 pounds (more would be better) and gradually increase my exercise routine. Good luck to all of you!

mimi7grands

I’m occasionally what Barb refers to as a Prolific Poster. Oh, what the heck, admit it, Gabby Broad is exactly right! It makes me happy to read all the posts and I’m OCD enough to want to say Hi to everyone (or at least to make the attempt) once in awhile.

What am I grateful for? My two little granddaughters, munchkins both! They kept me company at the sushi place tonight. It’s awesome to have grandkids who share my tastes. Years ago, I took my then 5-year old grandson out for sushi. He not only didn’t like it, he’s hated fish ever since! I feel badly about that.

I’m also grateful to be back in the swing of things after a family get-together last weekend. I stayed pretty much on track but I like being in my own house, fixing my own food (except for the sushi!), and being able to hop on the exercise bike when I want to.

Speaking of sushi, the sodium for the “low-sodium” soy sauce is not going to be my friend when I step on the scale tomorrow!

**********

Thanks, Barbara. I wish I would hit perfection. The weight comes off faster when you have more to lose. I’m already seeing the calories I can eat go down, down, down to maintain the same rate of weight loss. Which, of course, means I’ve gotta do more exercise to keep up. That is my biggest challenge this month. I’m amazed I’m exercising as much as I am and plan to build up to an hour a day (5 days a week). Your description of the ginormous sundae you’d choose over fish made me laugh out loud!

Cathy, Yay for the stress test results. Couldn’t be better. 50 is a darned good age. 60 is pretty good too!

Jeannie, maintaining isn’t thrilling but it’s important. It’s what you want to do for the rest of your life. Some practice is a good thing. Good luck on sparking the loss of a couple more pounds in June. I just read about your DD’s success with the Gut ‘n Butt exercises. Wow. Size 14 to size 8 is incredible.

Kathy, I like your exercise goal. I’m following in your footsteps. That grandbaby is almost here. So exciting!

Welcome to the newbies. This is a wonderful group. All the support you could want. Some of you are already well on your way. Yikes. There’re a lot of new people. And, it’s no wonder, this is the most supportive bunch of women I’ve found on MFP. I treasure each one.

Robin, you are a champ! You are getting in some awesome exercise and eating healthily….two things that will make the weight loss stick – and make you feel great as well as look great to boot. P.S. just read that you are struggling. I’m sending a hug your way. A bad day is miserable. And hot flashes are the pits. No more hot flashes is one of the best things about being post- (way post-) menopause. BTW, did you see Menopause the Musical? I went with a bunch of women in the family. We wanted to roll on the floor laughing (but restrained ourselves). The heart rate thing is funny. You are getting in such great shape! I read a comment recently by Covert Bailey (an old time cool guy who wrote Fat or Fit). He mentioned that, to get his heart rate up, he basically has to hustle up a mountain, on a hot day, wearing a backpack!

Barbie, thanks for your dedication to the thread and your continuing efforts to maintain – and improve. You’re a great role model.

Birdie, I agree, “a BAD day is almost what a GOOD day was” before joining MFP. I love the picture of you choosing fish over ice cream! Good luck on getting those last few pounds off. You’ve done great.

Michele, I’m so “there” with you in preferring the “new” foods over the “old” foods. Who’da thunk? It’s amazing. We’re not just trying to talk ourselves into liking the new way of eating. I feel so indulged and fortunate, not like the old diet deprivation days.

Kackie, your May sounds just right. You’re so close to your goal. Losing gradually makes a lot of sense. I’m also grateful to have a mom and dad who are still doing well. My mom’s 84 and dad 88 and they are pretty amazing.

MacMadame, I’m so happy for you. It sounds like you’re on just the right track to continue training and take care of your injury at the same time. You’re amazing!

Barb, you are always thinking! Great idea to pay for gas and not have to do the trip. 10 lbs by July 4 is ambitious! I’m rooting for you.

Viv, you did GREAT on your May goals. Congrats.

Ainslieglen, it sounds like the 5 lbs is definitely from the scale. The scales at the doc’s office should be right. I’m so happy that MFP is working for you. I’m enjoying all the encouragement too. It’s a first for me. What a difference it makes.

Faye, Congrats on the weight loss! You made a good point about focusing on being healthy. I appreciate the reminder. Positive self-talk is key. This group helps a lot with that. And eating healthily is another key. I couldn’t be doing this without those two keys. You brought up the Gut ‘n Butt Challenge. I’m not up for that (planks are not my friend) but, seeing everyone’s determination is inspiring me to get started on strength training. I’m going to go back to doing the Strong Women Stay Young (in combo with the Strong Women Stay Slim) exercises. It’s a win-win-win deal: feeling better, looking better, more muscle burning more calories! I’m going to add 3x a week strength training to my June goals.

Vicki, your Emma sounds a lot like my Kate. Sassafras and a half. She’s going through a “make me” phase. Urgh. She’s half teasing and half serious. I’m sure it will pass. In the meantime, I’m working on patience. I love your June goals, especially: Exercise each and every day. Keep moving. Eat healthy whole foods. As little processed as possible. You are a woman after my own heart. Eating healthy foods has been a revelation. And delish!

Lianne, you are nearly to maintenance. So motivating to see. It’s also helpful to see you taking a deliberate approach to the last few pounds.

Donna, it will take awhile to build up on the exercise again, but you’ll do it. I am so proud of you for quitting smoking. That’s well worth gaining a couple of pounds. To make sure it’s only a couple of pounds (sounds like you’re struggling), you could try adding some veggies and fruits to your diet. When I eat plenty (especially before I’m going to face temptation), my willpower, amazingly, increases! For me, it’s not really about willpower at all but more about feeling full and well-taken-care of. If I go into a tempting situation hungry, I’m in trouble. If I’ve eaten a wonderful, filling, meal beforehand, I usually do well.

Allison, congrats on meeting your May goals. Enjoy your trip. Sounds lovely.

Caminogirl, Has your FIL been checked for sleep apnea? I have mild sleep apnea but a CPAP machine makes me a lot livelier during the day. (Looks weird, but makes a big difference!)

Mazza53, planning ahead helps with bad days, and making sure you have food with you that you want to eat. I’ve gotten to where I feel cheated when all that’s available to eat is cr*p. The other thing that helps is to not beat yourself up. You are doing something good for yourself. Be your own best cheerleader. The women on this thread will help you with that!

Laura, sending you hugs.

Jackie, congrats to your son on the new job. What a relief. Especially these days.

Renny, Exciting times! I’m looking forward to hearing about it.

******

Signing off for now. Thanks everyone for your posts. You add immeasurably to my life.

tiarapants

I'm feeling very young today!!! Hurrah! The fact that I'm going to be 51 next week just doesn't come into it. I'm feeling vital! Long may it last. Even the fact that I got a heel blister whilst on the treadmill this morning didn't phase me out. I changed to lower backed shoes and carried on.

At the moment I'm reading a book called 'Too Young to Get Old: The Babyboomers' Guide to Living Life to the Full' by Christine Webber and it is really striking home. (It's geared to the UK, so may not always apply to our friends over the water - but the ethos is still applicable).

I suppose I should relate a little about myself, so hear goes. I'm married to a gorgeous (and slightly younger!) man. I've known him since he was 16 and I was 19 but we have only been together for just under 22 years We actually got married to celebrate our 20th anniversary together and it was truly the happiest day of our lives. We did the whole shebang - Wedding dress and all! Initially I was going to just wear a suit or something, but my DH said to go for a wedding dress as I was his first and only bride. After a comment like that, how could I refuse!

Prior to that I had been married twice before. The first time at 16 which was kind of an arranged marriage to a man of 30. It was a total disaster and I was a miserable and battered wife just long enough to give birth to two amazing daughters. I was divorced the week before my 21st birthday.

I vowed never to make vows again, but got swept off my feet by a charming and intelligent guy. By this time I had already started having serious problems with my womb and it was suggested that I should have a hysterectomy. As I was only 22 at the time, I was devastated and discussed with the doctor what my chances of having another baby were before having the surgery. The doc told me that if I was going to do it, to do it now. So ... I went home and discussed it with my man and we decided we would get married and try to have a baby straight away. Three weeks later we were married and shortly after that I fell pregnant. I had two miscarriages before having my adorable son. He was born with pyloric stenosis and had to have surgery twice during his first year and was in and out of hospital for much of that time too. Just after that I had an accident which involved ice on concrete steps and I broke my coccyx, shoulder,collarbone and several ribs.

Unfortunately the stress was too much for my husband and he decided to leave me to get on with it. At the time I was broken hearted, but in hindsight it was the making of me.

I finally had a complete hysterectomy when I was 31. By this time I was very happily in love with my DH and he was (and remains) a support in my life that I never expected to find.

Life went on, as it does and I recovered to some extent from my various ailments. My weight, in the meantime went up and down to extremes. For twenty years I lost and regained hundreds of pounds. Finally, at the end of last year, suffering from chronic asthma, uncontrollable high blood pressure, pre-diabetes, angina, apnoea and arthritis, my cardiologist suggested that I see a bariatric surgeon. My initial reaction was no way, but my physiotherapist encouraged me to make an appointment.

After a lot of soul searching and research, in February of this year I had a Vertical Sleeve Gastrectomy. Anyone who thinks that weight loss surgery is an easy way out or a quick fix, is so wrong! I will not go into the details too much, but it is HARD! The only reason I did it was to stop myself from dying a miserable death, years before my time. What it has done is helped me get my general health to a state where I can now do moderate exercise; I have come off a lot of my meds; I walk without a cane and I can make love with my DH without feeling as though I am going to expire there and then!

I still have a long way to go to be anywhere near a healthy bmi, but I have more chance now of achieving it. Also, I have so much determination to become a healthier person. I have 3 wonderful children and in a few months time will become a grandmother to twins.

Life is getting better every day and I intend to live it! xx

heartrw

Greeting all and Happy Thursday!! I scanned posts yesterday and just now. Lots of new people on this site ... WELCOME ALL!

Today is reassessment day. I've had eating issues the last two evenings...minor ones in that I was snacking on healthy snacks, major in the light that I couldn't stop myself from that first compulsive bite and all the succeeding ones that followed. I'm thinking that I've let myself slip back into the old pattern of not spreading my calories out enough throughout the day and actually being hungry at night time. So today I will try to do better at that. I've reconfigured my food diary to reflect AM, PM snacks (in case breakfast and lunch might be too light) and Night time snack/dessert to give myself a special night time treat that have stopped the need to snack/binge at night time in the past! Then, too, yesterday was girl's night out and dinner consisted of wine and snackies anyway, so I didn't even try to count up those nibbles of sesame chicken, wedges of Laughing Cow light, thin slices of Jimmy John's bread, tortilla strips, mango/peach salsa, chocolate dipped strawberries and wine! The phrase naughty but nice comes to mind!

:drinker: Here's to New Days and good choices!! Have a great one!!!:drinker:

jam0525

Welcome to Mermaid2010, Tiarapants, AnnePDixon,

Teri – I believe in 12 step programs. If you have modified steps for overeating, send them to me in a pm (unless others want to see them too). We can buddy up on supporting each other. Good luck for June.

Kackie – Great job for May! Clothes fitting looser in the middle says it all!

MacMadame – Good luck with your AguaBike event!

Ainslieglen – I’m glad your doctor’s appointment went well. Getting health is just as important as loosing weight. We are all in this journey together. You support us as much as we support you. Thank you.

I didn’t make it all the way through the posts. I will try to catch up on the rest later at work if I get bored today and need a break.

On the Gut N But exercises (thanks to Barbie for the cool name) the trick is to do them slowly. I took the wrong measurements too and so show no loss, but my clothes are fitting looser around my lower ab area and that feels great.

Off to work for me,

Jeannie

jam0525

Trying to fix a duplicate post. Not sure what happened.

BirdieM

Goodmorning! :happy: Just checking in. My weight stayed the same this week and AGAIN I am relieved. I have gone over my calories a little but try to exercise a lot.:drinker: :bigsmile: Tues I strained my back getting a jug of water out of the refrigerator! Can you believe that! :noway: I tried to exercise yesterday for half the time I usually do, and not put the "incline" up on the treadmill.:flowerforyou: My chiropractor said to give it a rest....PERIOD! Yikes! That means I can only eat 1200 calories a day! :frown: Boy am I spoilt with those extra calories!!! :grumble: I will try to be very disciplined and drink a lot of water!:drinker: :drinker:
I DID take my measurements yesterday and have lost another 3 inches since a couple of month ago....so that's good!:bigsmile:

Well, I'm at work and can't talk, but have a great day! I AM reading the posts but just don't have time to respond!!
BirdieM

donna56

Hello ladies I don't have my mo jo back but I made myself (really made myself) walk 21 min. on the treadmill and at first made myself "try" to zumba, after about 2 min. it was fun so I got 20 min in on that. Talk about sweat, geez! I only burned 236 in calories, but it is better than burning 0 cal. I don't know what my deal is here, I don't want to do a darn thing, my housework, laundry, excercise, or anything. I am diffenately on a lazy spree and don't like it one bit. Well got a phone call, gotta go for now

mimi7grands

Terri, for me, eating lots of veggies puts the kibosh on even wanting to eat other snacks. I roast them at a high temp for a short time. They're so good, and good for you. When I get into a snacky mood, I make myself a plate of veggies. It's astonishing how easy it is to have "willpower" after eating them.

Laura80111

Happy Thursday afternoon,

Only time to read a small portion of the posts....:flowerforyou: Welcome to all the new ones and boy are there a lot...we are turning into quite the group of ladies

Mimi- thank you for the hugs, much needed.

My desk is so full of work I can't see the top of it and my house is just as bad with all we brought back from Mom's place in Oregon. The one thing learned is I will not do this to my kids, I will clean out the junk before (God willing) I get into an "older" people home.

Everyone have a good evening and keep fighting off those pounds:drinker:

Laura