40+ Club: Beating The Winter Bulge

Hi Frank and all,

I checked in for the first time in about a week this morning and was startled to see your news, Frank. My thoughts and prayers are with you and your family. I expereinced a similar situation 4 years ago when I received that dreaded middle of the night phone call telling me my dad was killed in a car accident. It was life changing for me. I encourage you to really take time to grieve now or it really comes back fiercely if you put it off. My husbands dad passed this summer and he seems to be doing a good job of hiding his grief, or maybe he is just experiencing it differently than I did.

I was in NYC this weekend for my birthday and completely went off my healthy eating program - but I intended to! These last two days I have been doing really well and seem to be totally back on track. Has anyone else had that experience? Ususally if I am off track for a few days it is really hard to get back on track - but not this time for some reason.

Tried a new recipe last night and it was really good - Hungry Girl's Whole Enchilada Soup - only 110 calories per cup and it's really yummy.

Thanks, Trina

duffyz:

Anything but the caffeine! LOL There was a Dilbert cartoon where someone deliberately switches all the coffee to decaf, and Wally is like close to falling down and going "must get help"

Good morning all!! It's hump day, the sun is shining in Kansas (for now) and I actually feel human again!!:laugh: The stupid head cold's not completely gone, but I feel a lot better than I did even yesterday. This is day 15, so should be completely over it by the weekend, I hope. Since I'm on allergy meds year-round, I don't get colds very often, but when I do they just wipe me out completely for at least 2 weeks:sick: :frown:

Welcome newbies.........we're a mixed assortment of 40 and 50 somethings.......and we're quite the fun group!!

Duffyz, I could never give up caffeine completely, but I am down to less than one Coke Zero each morning. I usually end up dumping about half of it late morning because it's gone flat. Coke Zero's the ONLY diet soda I've ever been able to stand........no yucky diet aftertaste!!!

Trina............PLEASE share the whole enchilada soup recipe - I need new soup recipes!!!


Headed to yet another meeting...........have a good day all!!!

ALF - I really wouldn't say I'm following the Eat for Health program but incorporating some of the main ideas. I have definitely cut down on the amount of animal products in my diet and I have increased the fruits and veggies. But I can't see myself limiting whole grains to one serving a day especially once I start marathon training again. and I know with CX push phase coming I'm really going to need to increase my protein for recovery. My goal for next month is to do a better job of monitoring my exercise calories burned.

See you all tomorrow for check-in day

Happy Thursday all. Mayor Sing I'm glad you're doing well.

I actually have managed to work out 5 days in a row, which means now my body wants to work out and I don't have to whip myself to do it! The life of a reformed couch potato is rough! LOL

Hey everybody! It's Happy Friday already here in Korea. :drinker: I hope everybody is doing well.

Trina, thanks for sharing the recipe. That looks absolutely terrific. And I'm glad you mentioned you used red sauce instead of green because I don't think I can find green over here. So it is good to know it can work with red. I'm going to need to try this one out.

singfree, thanks for checking in. You've been though alot, so don't worry about the 'sitting here is easier' feeling you've got going on right now. That's your body (and your mind) telling you something, so listen to it. Give yourself a much needed rest, and your body/mind will tell you when it is time to start moving again. Since you are an intensity junkie like me, I have no doubt that will be sooner than later. And I doubt you will have packed on much 'fat' during that time!

mk, hope you get to feeling better soon. That is a LONG cold to suffer through. I hope you can get some rest over the weekend and be back to normal next week. Take care!

duffy, thanks for sharing more of this program with us. I agree.... I couldn't do the caffeine thing and I don't think I could do the whole '200mg per serving' buying restriction. As much as I don't eat much processed foods, I still buy things like salad dressing. And that has more than 200mg of sodium per serving. I suppose it is a good guideline to follow, but I don't think I could follow it strictly. I get by with one cup of coffee a day, but, like you, it is the tea I couldn't give up. If I had better options, I would go to decaf since I don't drink the tea for the caffeine. But I don't have many decaf options available to me right now, so I drink at least two if not three cups of tea with caffeine a day. But I NEED my tea (and coffee), so.......Just out of curiosity, does he make any recommendation on what type of fruit is better to eat over others? I ask this because I have been having the most ridiculous banana cravings lately, and have actually been avoiding eating them because I know they are high in sugar. I hadn't eaten bananas in years before we got to Korea (because I had an ulcer years ago and they upset my stomach so badly that I never tried them again), but we had some in a welcome basket when we got here and I thought 'What the heck?'.....and now I can't get rid of the craving. Are bananas a good food to eat or a bad food to eat? Anybody have an opinion on this one...because I've seen both sides of the banana argument (high is potassium vs. high in sugar) and don't know which one I should pay attention to.

alf, I'm with singfree on the Zumba class situation. I'm all for following contracts....when they serve a purpose. But if you are showing up for no reason and/or the compensation isn't what you were expecting when you signed the contract (thought you would have more students), I would say your energy could probably be better utilized elsewhere.

So it's time for my Friday check-in. I'm down a pound from last week (104), so that is good. I'm back into all my clothing (which is REALLY good). I feel lean. I'm participating in a line dance competition (long story there :laugh: ) in a week, and I've been wearing t-shirts to the rehearsals this week because the building we are practicing in is so warm. I've had alot of people comment on my weight/fitness level. In fact, I had one woman pull me aside yesterday and ask what I do for fitness. Turns out....she's a Cathe Friedrich 'user' as well, so that was fun. So all of that makes me feel really good. Today is Day 28 of 'clean eating' (no cheats, treats, etc), and I really think that is helping with the leaner look. I'm going to continue this trend for awhile longer because I'm suffering a little.....sadness....this winter, and I think it is best to keep my diet in check right now because I really could give in to a bottle of wine and a bar of chocolate (with peanut butter) with the smallest of enticements. And I don't want to do that....so I will press on in hopes that I start to feel more settled soon. As far as the workouts go....they are going well. I did an STS workout this morning followed by an Insanity workout. That was probably a bit much. :laugh: But it felt good at the time. I'm finding I really need the cardio workouts right now because they are helping me with my mood. So while I know that intense cardio isn't great when I'm strength training, I also know it is best to do what I feel like doing right now until this mood passes. I'm still seeing strength gains from the strength training, but I'm definitely not as 'muscular' as I was a few months ago. But I'm okay with that right now.

I hope everybody has a great weekend. :flowerforyou:

Hi Everyone,

Singfree - I am in PA, too and am not looking forward to going outside. Please don't feel guilty about being on this site! It is probably what you need most right now even if you are unable to stay "fitness minded." That is completely understandable. Yes, the cardio might help you mood but sometime just "Being" instead of "doing" is what your emotional self and your spirit need at a time like this. Be gentle with yourself and don't beat yourself up about ANYthing. If fitness is your habit, it will return when the time is right.

StiringWendel - As for the bananas - perhaps it's your body telling you that potassium (and the other nutritional values) are needed for you right now? I don't consider any fruit bad in moderation. Does anyone else have an opinion?

As for weigh in - I was up two pounds on Monday due to my decadent birthday weekend in NYC. But today, I am 172 - two pounds less that my last weigh-in but four pounds less than my weigh in on Monday - not sure what is going on!!!

Have a great weekend! Trina

Happy Friday Friends!

I can report I had he best workout week and eating week that I have had in a long time. Don't have a working scale right now, which is a good thing, because I can tell by the fit of my clothes that I"m not back to where I was when everything went south.

It got cold again here last night. They said it would warm up for 10 minutes on Monday and that was it. My goal is to get a good work out both days of the weekend.

duffyz:

Can you share your pizza crust recipe? I'm trying to re-invigorate my interest in my bread machine. I've tried Stiring's whole wheat bread last night, and when I was past the point of no return in measuring out ingredients I realized I was missing something, so it is really chewy and dry. I feel a turkey meatloaf coming on to use some of it up in! LOL I have never tried pizza dough, and it seems like a fun thing to do at home on a cold winter night.

Thanks.

Hi all! Cold here in north Texas (for us), around 32 with freezing drizzle. Food intake was ok this week but I could not exercise because of my SI joint. It is getting better though. I am finding it takes more time to heal things.

Sing, hang in there. My mother-in-law lived with us for two years before she died. She was in the hospital 10 days on a vent before she passed. My husband's brother flew out from Tennessee to be with his mom. He was trying to find my husband one morning but my husband was not at the house, the hospital or the office. Bill finally showed up at the house (this was the days before cell phones). At first he did not tell me where he was but then finally said that he had been waiting in the Kmart parking lot waiting for the store to open so he could go in and buy a real hankerchief. He said he was tired of crying into kleenix and felt much better with the hankerchief! Sing, listen to yourself and find your "hankerchief".

Son goes back to San Francisco tomorrow for graduate school. We have enjoyed having him. I will have to hire the boys down the street to help put up the Christms decorations which are STILL out. (The ones I am in charge of are put away, but Mr. Holiday has not gotten around to packing up the things he wants to pack because he does not like the way I pack them...)

Take care all!