40+ Club: Beating The Winter Bulge

Where do I sign up??

Sing: Woo Hoo, I found it without even looking - must be a sign :laugh:

Enjoyed my rest day from CX yesterday with a nice 2 hour snow shoveling (really more like snow pushing) workout. Wore my HRM just for fun and found out it was a good 700 calorie burn. Now if I could just figure out how to shovel left handed so I don't end up with I great right arm and a saggy left.

Doing really well this week on eating clean - and now weekday alcohol so yeah me:drinker:

Thanks Sing for getting the new thread going. And welcome to guidosgal and bratgrr1.

2BLean, Alf, Singfree, Stiring, duffyzmom - keep up the great work. You're an inspiration for those of us that have the desire to reach a goal and can see through your efforts and success that persistence will get us all to the finish line.

duffy.... having grown up in the north I miss the snow. But...... I don't miss the shoveling. :laugh: I won't burn 700 calories racking the stack of leaves in my backyard but I'll be a bit warmer than you probably were.

I'm actually very happy we've had a real winter spell here in central Texas this year. It got down to 9 on my back porch last Saturday. I haven't seen single digits since I left Illinois so many years ago. I feel for all the northern folks that have been battling the snow and cold this year. We know that warm days are right around the corner because this is central Texas but you guys up north still have so many cold days to face. Brrrrrrrrr.

Elliptical for 45 mins this morning and spinning tonight. I'm focusing on cardio for the first few weeks to get myself back into the routine. Although I hear you sing and 2blean about double days. There's just something satisfying and motivating to work on strength each day, if only for a few reps.

Sing.... sorry to hear about your sons divorce situation. Raising 2 daughters and 4 step kids because of divorce I can say 'it sucks for the kiddos'. We're supposed to be adults but I see many adults acting like kids in these situations and allowing bitterness to take over. Sad day. Being a great grandparent will make a world of difference to your grandson. My prayers are with you and your family.

Have a great Wednesday everyone!!!!

Nita

:flowerforyou: A big welcome to our new posters. I think that you will find a lot of wonderful, helpful information here.

mkwood, my three daughters were in Kansas City between Christmas and New Year. It was nice getting a break from them.

:flowerforyou: tex, I have also gained a few pounds over the holidays. I have lost just about all of them already. Hey, I understand the shoulder problem. I broke mine three years ago and still have a tear in the muscle. It aches something terrible at times.


I see that we are mentioning ages. Is there a cut off age? Can one be too old to be in the thread? Is everyone in their 40s or are there some in their 50s or 60s?

Hey........I finally found this thread!!!

The scale at home was not nasty to me this morning, only 1 pound different than Sunday morning before I left for my conference. I can deal with that; I know I wasn't moving around nearly as much as I normally do while at the conference, and ate more because of eating out instead of at home. It was TORTURE to only eat half of the bacon cheeseburger I had at T.G.I.Fridays.........but I left half on the plate and left most of the fries also. However.........I DID have a slice of cheesecake too, so it wasn't a totally successful (healthy) meal. I was craving a burger that day - not sure why???

Alf............I would probably have told her "no thanks, I've already eaten", even if I hadn't so that I could stay away from the MickeyD's. To me it's a little lie that keeps me from hurting someone's feelings.:flowerforyou:

Swiss.........it dopesn't matter if you're past your 40's - you still know and remember what we're all going thru!!

Tx........you can have my cold weather.........I'm tired of it! It was SO NICE to not pull on the heavy winter coat today........I didn't even zip up when I came back from lunch!:laugh:

Sing......don't kid yourself that all we ladies just "tolerate" you...........you keep us all motivated and provide the needed male perspective some days.......thanks!

Everyone else...........enjoy the rest of your day!!!!

singfree, thanks for starting the new thread! And, like mk said, we do alot more than merely tolerate you. We NEED you!!

Welcome to all our new members!! :flowerforyou: Please feel free to jump in to the conversation, share your experiences, ask questions. As singfree said, we've been around for a year or so, and we love having new members to share with, learn from, laugh with, and be healthy with!!

duffy, sounds like you've gotten alot of snow! I know shoveling is good exercise, but 700 calories!?! That's alot. Stay safe.

alf, I don't know how I would have handled your situation, to be honest. It's hard to turn something down when somebody takes pleasure in giving you something. I might have done what you thought about doing....accepted the breakfast, said I would eat it later, and then gotten rid of it. But, more than likely, I would have done what you did....eaten the breakfast. If it becomes a daily thing, then you might want to say something again about your eating habits. But if this is a rare thing (at least the Egg McMuffin thing), then I would say 'accept the gift and move on to the next meal'.

TexasMom, so good to see you back!! I've missed you and your positive outlook....so, please, stay with us as much as you can.

tron, good to see you. I can't work with bleach either. It kills my sinuses. I'm glad the job is done.

Swissmiss, this thread is open to everybody! Don't you dare think you aren't welcome. I mean, 50+ is, after all, also 40+....and you (and singfree and TxMs and all our other members in their 50s) inspire me by giving me a sense of what I can expect (positively) in 10+ years.

mk, good job being away from home like that. I don't know that I would have been able to walk away from 1/2 a burger....or the cheesecake....either. Good for you for doing one of those.

TxMs, sorry to hear about your shoulder, but I'm glad that rest is making it feel better. I know too well that shoulder injuries are very long to heal, so continue to listen to it, don't do anything that hurts, and, hopefully, you'll continue to improve.

So, folks, I need help. I'm struggling a bit here, and I need some good talkin'. The past few months have been tough on me with this move across the world (for our newcomers, my husband is in the Air Force, and we moved from Los Angeles to Korea in early November), the holidays, etc. Well, I stepped on the scale this morning, and I am up....nine pounds from my lowest point. This is twice as much as I wanted to gain through this process (I allowed myself five pounds). I know some of the weight is from TOM right now :blushing: , starting strength training again (one of the reasons I have been avoiding the scale and knew better than to step on it), but I also know alot has to do with what I ate over Christmas (when the bulk of the weight gain happened).

Here's what I'm struggling with. On one hand, I think this (107) is a healthier weight for me than 98 pounds (I'm 5'2" btw). In what will be TMI, I had lost my TOM for about six months, and have only gotten it back since the move/weight gain. And I know that having it is MUCH better for me than not (especially since I've been diagnosed as having early signs of osteoperosis). I was technically underweight at 98 pounds and at times felt I looked too thin. At that weight, I had thought alot about trying to gain some weight back to get me to a more reasonable level (I mean, I was having troubles shopping because size 00s were too big in some cases!) So, intellectually, I know this is probably a much healthier weight for me, I am still very thin, I'm fit, etc.

But I can't shake the feeling that I've let myself down. And I can't shake the feeling that I HATE having clothes in the house that I can't fit into right now. And, worst yet, I don't feel thin (which is ridiculus....I know....but is the truth). So I'm really torn right now between trying to maintain this weight (which is well below anywhere I ever dreamed I could be in terms of weight) and trying to lose the weight again. To be honest, I don't want to be on a 'diet' at 107 pounds! In fact, I know the notion of it is rather silly. But at the same time.....I can't get past the feeling that I really should be trying to lose the weight I gained since I didn't gain it in a 'healthy' way.

Right now I'm eating clean, and have taken my calories down to about 1400 a day in hopes of losing the weight. But I'm also working out hard (at least two workouts a day and a long walk when I can get it in). And when I'm looking at all of the numbers--a healthy but still very low weight, two hours of exercise and 1400 calories.....I think I'm veering in a bad direction chasing a number on the scale that was probably unreasonable to begin with. And I'm asking myself 'Why am I doing this?' and, more importantly, 'Should I be doing this?'

What do you all think? I have to remember this is all about being healthy and given what I've said about my body, my weight and such, do you think it would be smart to accept the extra weight and just work on my fitness/health/eating habits? Or do you think it is okay (or even better) to try to lose the weight? This is a real battle between my intellectual self (that knows this is a better weight for me) and my emotions (because I liked being so small).

This is a year I want to dedicate to NOT beating myself up....and I already seem to be losing the battle. I don't want to go down that road. This Sunday will be the one year anniversary of the start of my weight loss journey, and when I started it, I never dreamed I would lose so much weight or get so fit. But I'm not celebrating my successes right now and am, instead, really focusing on the negatives of what I did over Christmas. I don't want to be doing that....but I can't seem to stop. So....help!

Thank you all for listening to me. I don't know what I'd do without my friends here. :flowerforyou:

Stiring, first of all ((((((((((((((((((((((((((HUGS)))))))))))))))))))))))))) You have answered already some of your own questions. You agree that at 98lbs you were underweight. I believe the ideal weight range for someone your height is 102-106. So technically you are just one pound "over". And remember you are also on your TOM so that can affect your weight. These are my suggestions, don't stress about the past, you cannot change it. Continue with your exercise program that you love so much. Eat the way you were eating before while doing the same program, Tx is right, 1400 cals are not enough to sustain all the exercise you do. Focus on clean eating at least 80% of the time. I know you can eat clean 100% of the time for weeks at a time. You will see that you will drop off the "extra" weight in no time but don't try to get below 100-102lbs. Think about your journey and how last year at this same time you were over 40lbs heavier, correct? This is not the same, you have not failed at all. The Holidays are always a struggle for everyone and we, in this club, have done a tremendous job this year. And to the Holiday struggle you added an overseas move, that is a lot to deal with. Going back to your move, think about all the wonderful things you did this past Christmas season, moving to a new country, delivering cookies to military personnel away from home, serving Thanksgiving meal to the Airmen, hosting dinners to Airmen away from home, eating wonderful food and goodies...that was all great!!! :flowerforyou: :flowerforyou:

Thanks, guys. You all mean so much to me. :flowerforyou: I just can't say it enough to you all.

I am going to take ALL of your recommendations to heart.

TxMs, you are right. I have been through alot recently. So I'm going cut myself some slack. I could have done MUCH worse than what I did. I mean, I managed to continue working out throughout the process, and I could have let that slide. But I have to remember that my entire exercise regime AND my cooking/eating habits changed for over two months because I was living in a very temporary situation. I really did my best with what I had, that's for sure.

And, alf, you are right too. I was 40 pounds heavier a year ago, and had set my goal at 120. I never dreamed I would ever get below 120 again, much less 110 (haven't been this light since I was in my mid-20s). And it WAS a great holiday season, and I'm happy I celebrated it the way I did. I will focus on the positive....and there is SO much positive to look at.

And, finally, Swissmiss, you nailed it when you said something about feeling better at this weight. I do feel better at this weight. I was lifting weights this morning after posting, and I felt SO strong (even though I'm nursing a bit of a back injury again). I do feel SO much stronger with a little bit of extra weight.

So I'm going to take my calories up again and set them to where I was eating pre-move, work on my fitness, make smart eating choices, and enjoy life. Thank you so much for your support!! Again, I can't tell you how much it means to me!

Reverend Frank, AMEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :laugh:

A big welcome to jchapple!!! :flowerforyou: I am excited to see so many new members of this wonderful group! And Sing couldnt have said it better!

Duffy, I am enjoying ChaLean but I am being cautious, too cautious, right now due to my injury. I really don't know what to think about it at this moment. I am doing ab burner everytime I do a circuit, 3x a week. I tried to do ab extreme last Saturday and it involved too much of my hip flexors so I had to stop. So doing ab ripper is out of the question right now. I am only doing the circuits on Mon, Wed and Sat. I am skipping the other workouts due to my Zumba classes.

And speaking of Zumba, I had 13 people on Tue evening!!! I was so excited!!!! :drinker: :drinker: :drinker: The fitness ctr staff said that they had not seen another class that had taken off so soon before!!! :drinker: :drinker:

Swiss, I cannot remember the last time I ate anything at McDonalds so I don't feel too bad about what I ate yesterday. I just need to learn how to say no to things like this if I really don't want to eat it myself...I have to be able to "treat" myself if I want to and not please others against my own will. It is a slow learning process...:noway:

Have a wonderful day!!!! :drinker:

Stiring...........your body has answered your questions........too low body fat + too much stress = no TOM, which is NOT healthy!!! :frown: :frown: :frown: I went thru my teens and first half of my 20's being totally irregular because of this; and doctors told me I was lucky to have a healthy 2nd child because I'd been so irregular (even on the pill). Both of my daughters ended up being put on the pill to regulate them because the medical field has discovered how unhealthy it is for you not to have your TOM - it can seriously effect fertility (not that you're concerned about that at our age!:laugh: :laugh: )

Don't beat yourself up - you've been thru a HUGE transformation and tranition in the past year and you're so much stronger and healthier for it!! Don't feel guilty about the new clothes that fit at 98lbs.........they're only things to cover your body with! Remember how much better you feel now..........that's your body telling you that this is where you should be!!!

Hang in there........

Found you!!! It's time for me to get back in the habit of logging my food again. I did okay during the holidays, but these last two weeks have been hard on the "lifestyle change." I might be up a couple of pounds. :sad: Plus, I've been having sinus headaches for a few days, and even though the advil seems to be helping with the pain, working out is not what I want to do. :sick:

Stiring, it is hard to feel good about gaining weight, I know that we are all programmed to seeing the scale as an indication of good health, but you feel better at the higher weight so maybe you can use that feeling of strength to change your focus? I know that my trainer keeps trying to get me to look at how fit I'm feeling rather than the size of clothes I'm in, or the weight on the scale, and it does make sense to look at it as how much better we feel...still, all the advertisements for exercise plans, weight programs, etc, focus on the WEIGHT, and not on the health. The show is not called The Biggest Healthy Person...heh. Sure, many of us start doing this because we don't like the way we look, but hopefully we can change that focus to loving the way we are feeling instead of completely focusing on the looking part of it. At least that's what I'm trying for...

Welcome to the newer members! This is a great group here.

And Swissmiss, I'ma gonna be 55 this year, so I don't want to hear anymore about "old ladies" :laugh: We are 50 and fabulous!!!!!

Hi
Am Classed as a real Heffier these days. been 7st all my life and then after promotoion and lact of extreme excercise, balloned to 10st + ! Must Lose it By the Spring 1st March as have nice younge mare back into work and wouldnt like to put her back out. Love my babies and right now hate the body I am now in, cant sit down right. Never been like this in my life so depressing