40+ Club: Beating The Winter Bulge

Good morning everyone!! I am Dominique and I started my new lifestyle a year ago. I was a gymnast in my teens and later a gym coach until I was hit by a car while crossing a street some 23 years ago. I guess my years in gymnastic helped me because I fell on my arm and not on my head. I also had a knee surgery in June 2008. I am on permanent disability because of the head trauma I had, but beside a few limitations and a few aches and pains in my knee, my back and my neck, I don't have major aftereffects of my physical wounds. In May 2007, I had to start to take a medicine... The only problem is that it caused a lot of muscle pains. I stopped it last March because I was starting to have difficulty just to walk and I did not accept it... I was only 41!!! I will never be able to run because of the accident, but I am now able to move freely and that is worth so much!!

So last March, I started to exercise and to eat healthier foods. When I started, I had practicaly no muscle tone and I had to be very careful. I still do actually. I had to build my muscles and we all know that muscles weight more than fat. I guess that is why I didn't lose so much yet. My official weight-in is on Mondays and last time I was at 155.2. I still step on the scale every morning and this morning, I am at 157.2 :grumble:

I exercise everyday. It is my challenge this year. The intensity and the lenght of my exercise is not important, what is is that I do something with my body every day. I try to work my abs and to do cardio, but it can also be a 20 minutes on the treadmill, walking at 3.5 m/h.

This week, I set myself a new challenge. I am now wearing ankle and wrists weights to do my training. It is more challenging. Yesterday, I went to get myself a HRM and a set of adjustable weight that go from 0 to 20 lbs. They have 20 X 1 lb bar that can be inserted in each weight. In my training room, I have a treadmill, a cycling-rowing machine, a Gazelle http://www.tonylittlestore.com/2-edgeplus.html and a Ab King Pro http://www.clubpiscine.ca/accessoires/produits/categorie_81_en.aspx I also have a few series of DVDs, the Mary Winsor Pilates, the Hip Hop Abs and the Classical Stretch. I will soon get myself the collection of Louis Van Amstel Latin dance educational DVD. I then will be able to say my gym is complete.

I have a lot of tools to do an effective workout without always doing the same thing. This week, I would like to start doing a DVD every day on top of my abs work and my cardio.

Good morning!!! Welcome to all the new members of this wonderful group!!! :drinker: My weight is holding steady at the maintenance weight so that is great!!! If I want to lose some more I think I am going to have to take it to another level, pretty extreme. I am happy with what I am doing right now and how I feel and how I look so I might have to reconsider. Still doing ChaLean Extreme and teaching my Zumba classes. I love love love teaching Zumba!!!! :drinker:

Duffy, I hear you about wrist pain. I also get pain in my forearms...I would love to read that blog about this issue with people doing CX. :noway: And I don't think I am lifting as heavy as you are...What is a sled? A Smith machine?

Missou, welcome, glad to hear that you have recovered from your accident and can challenge yourself now. Just be careful not to do too much. I noticed that you like cruising. We love it as well!!!

Wow, a lot of you are on the east coast...all that snow, wow!!! Here in San Antonio, not even a lonely flake...it's been "cold" here lately but today high will be around 55. Not bad!!! The rodeo is in town so I am going today with my daughter and grandbaby. My son is also going on a field trip there today.

JuliaSoCal, congrats on your accomplishments. You are right, most people will not be honest and tell you that you are gaining weight BUT thanks to the honesty of a friend it is why I have lost 24 lbs in the past 2 yrs. I remember so clearly Nov 2007 when out with friends she said to me that I had gained weight in front of everybody!!! I already knew I had gained and was not happy with myself. I was so embarrassed by it but instead of getting mad at her and get depressed I vowed to do something about it. I found MFP in Jan 08 and I have not looked back since. We need more honest people, like my friend, in this world. She tells me now that I look great!!! :laugh:

Have a wonderful day!!! And if I cannot check in before Sunday, Happy Valentine's Day!!!! :flowerforyou:

Alf: Not sure what it's official name is I only know it as a sled. Here is a similar model:
www.csnstores.com/asp/show_detail.asp?sku=YKF1038

I have actually found that wrapping or taping my wrist is really helping with the heavier weights. Now off to the net to see what the right technique is for that -

Friday Check In = 1 more pound lost, woo hoo :happy: Eating okay, fell off the sugar wagon and had some desserts a couple of times this week. Although I'm in Ohio, like you Sing and all the East Coasters, I've been shoveling too and secretly loving it as it means I get a few more calories added to my goal!!

Here's a question about those extra exercise calories: We are supposed to eat those right? Now, can I "save" them and use them for a dinner out or a dessert or something like that later in the week? Wasn't sure about that, but that is what I did this week, I guess the scale will ultimately tell. Thanks for any input on that!

Welcome to the newcomers, I'm pretty new myself, but these folks who have been here for awhile are super!! Very kind, considerate and truly compassionate to our common cause of good health!! :flowerforyou:

Happy Valentine's Day to you all!!

Tammy

Good morning!!! Happy Saturday!!! My stomach!!! :sick: :sick: I ate too much junk at the Rodeo!!! Yikes!!! And your body really lets you know when you have been "bad" to it!!! :grumble: :laugh: Even my daughter noticed it for herself. She has been eating better the past 3 wks or so and has been doing the Shred workout. :drinker: She did not feel well either yesterday. But here she is buying fried oreos for her daughter!!!!! She is only 19 mos old!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :noway: :noway: I objected but she did it anyways!!! I did not have any of that!!

Duffy, I will check out the link you sent. I am with you, why is it so hard to resist temptation and eat well!!!!! I just want to scream!!!! Good thing we dont do it all the time. We have all been able to break through that. We all struggle but compared to other people I know we do pretty well when it comes to clean eating. Stiring is the one person here that can eat clean for a long period of time. I think I have asked you before, Stiring, how do you do it????????????

Missou, I live in Texas and we have done the western caribbean 7 day cruise twice. We are planning on doing one that goes from Tx to Key West and then to the Bahamas. We are from Puerto Rico so my husband wants to do the one that goes to PR and other islands from Miami I believe. My dream cruise is the Mediterranean cruise. I would love to do that before I die, of course. :laugh: I believe Stiring is doing that one soon.

tamarads, congrats on your weight loss!!!! :drinker: :drinker: One pound at a time, that is the way to do it!!! I truly agree with everything that Stiring said. But I have also heard/read that the body functions on a day by day basis and it does not know that you saved calories and compensates for them on another day. There are so many theories out there that sometimes you dont know what to believe. :noway: To me, the weekly theory makes more sense. I also believe in zig-zagging your calories. That really helped me break through my plateau sometime last year. Here are two sites that I used. I mostly used the first one http://www.freedieting.com/tools/calorie_calculator.htm. http://www.naturalphysiques.com/tools.php?itemid=64
You seem to be doing very well, losing a pound every week. So I wouldnt be too worried about that. The way I used the zig zagging method was to pair them with my planned exercises, for example, if I knew I was going to burn a lot of calories one day I would choose the higher calories that specific day...hope you understand me. :laugh:

I hope today is a better eating day for me than yesterday. I still have some kettle corn that I bought yesterday but I think I had more than enough. Tomorrow is another day. :noway: I am craving chocolate covered strawberries...we would say in Puerto Rico "Ay Dios mio" LOL :laugh:

Hi alf! :flowerforyou: I over-ate yesterday too, and am feeling the ill effects of it this morning....so I'm not so sure I'm the one to ask about self-control right now. But when I AM able to exercise self-control for extended periods of time, it is simply because I promise myself I'm not going to do something....so I don't. I hate being disappointed in myself, and I get disappointed with myself if I make a promise and break it (to myself or anybody else), so, for me, the disappointment outweighs whatever enjoyment I'd get out of some food I'd eat. I love to set goals for myself....be they goals about food or fitness or anything else....and reach them. So that is the other aspect of it. The achievement I feel when I reach a goal far exceeds the pleasure I get from eating some food. When I get into trouble (and why I've put the weight back on in the past) is when I no longer have a goal OR I don't feel like making the promise to myself (for whatever reason). That's a little of what I'm struggling with right now. The 'diet' goals don't make sense to me anymore (since I don't need to diet anymore), and I'm still trying to determine some appropriate fitness goals right now. But at least I'm working on it and haven't just gone back to older habits.

I'm only a week into listening to my body, but right now, my rule of thumb is (for the most part) to eat when I'm hungry and to not eat when I'm not hungry. I know what I need to sustain my workouts, so my breakfast is tried and true and doesn't change. I know how many calories are in my dinner meals (because I pretty much eat the same things over and over again) so those don't change much at all (maybe 100-150 calories at most). Where I am learning to listen to my body is during the day time....especially lunch (which is after the bulk of my workout) and/or late afternoon (when I have a tendency to get hungry a couple of hours before dinner). When it comes to the odd bites or two, I never have counted them :embarassed: but I also don't do that very often. I am finding I'm no more inclined to do it now that I'm not counting my calories than I did before since I never did count them in the first place. My rule of thumb has always been 'don't graze', and that hasn't changed since I'm no longer counting my calories.

But you bring up an interesting question that I was going to raise last week but never got around to posting. And that is the issue of a post-workout snack. I have never really gotten into post-workout snacks. Yes, my lunch is after my workouts, but it can be two/three hours after my workouts. I have read that there is a 'golden hour' for eating after workouts (specifically when trying to build muscles), but since I don't, as a routine, snack, I've never really wanted to divide out a certain number of calories in my day to have a post-workout snack. And I was wondering if anybody eating such snacks could explain the effects (positive or negative). So I'm looking for input on that as well.

But regarding what you are eating after your Zumba class, I think if I were working out after dinner, I would want something before calling it a day as well. While I don't mind going 3-4 hours after working out without eating, I think 8 or so would be way too many hours to go, and I wouldn't suggest that (even though you aren't actually hungry when eating your snack...you would probably get that way in the middle of the night and that isn't so good either). So I don't think there is any issue with how many calories you are consuming at that time (since the whole 'don't eat late at night' thing really is a diet myth as there is no problem, from my understanding, with eating late at night....for the most part). But, perhaps, you might want to think about making those calories more protein and less carbs. While I understand you need the carbs to sustain the cardio workouts, from what I understand, those are best eaten before the workouts. The only thing I've read that seems consistent is that carbs within a few hours of going to bed is not really recommended because they inhibit the release of human growth hormone (which helps in healing, weight control, appetite control, etc). It isn't a 'make or break' situation, but, perhaps, you could have the banana earlier in the day or not opt for the banana and have more almonds or something like that. I think a banana has like 22 grams of carbs in it, while the 1/2 cup of cereal has about 15. So I think you are fine with the cereal (or the banana without cereal for that matter) but both in one later evening snack is quite a few carbs, and you might be better off with more protein. Just a suggestion but, again, not a 'make or break' situation.

Off to do a light workout. I've worked out seven days in a row and probably should take a day off. But I have the time to workout, and I hate missing those opportunities (especially on weekends). So I'm going to do a light cardio session at least. I'm not going to have a good eating day today either....but it is Valentine's Day, so.....My husband and I made a bet on the Superbowl, and I lost. The bet was the loser had to make a Valentine's meal of choice for the winner. I was SO hoping for a break in my kitchen routine, but....I lost the bet. :grumble: My husband has chosen salmon for dinner (which is good), with twice baked sweet potatoes (not too bad), a spinach/strawberry salad (not too bad either)....and chocolate mousse for dessert. It will all be more than I need to eat. But, hey, it IS Valentine's Day (and Lunar New Year, which is THE biggest holiday in South Korea), so there are many reasons to celebrate today.

I found it nearly impossible to lose weight once I hit 40. After a visit to the doctor, she checked my Vit D level and it was super low, despite the fact that I have dairy products every day. She put me on Vit D therapy for a month and now the weight just seems to be coming off like it did when I was 20. I'm finished with the 50,000 Unit pills but am still taking a multivitamin and Citracal and having my two servings of dairy per day. I feel so much more energetic and the weight loss is so much easier. I love my doctor. lol

Happy Valentines Day

Alf/Stiring: I love the discussion about the post workout food, etc. I have been struggling with wondering on my "double days" of exercise what is too much to eat after my evening workout. :noway:
My first workout is at around 4:45/5:00 a.m. and then my 2nd workout is either at 5:30 or 6:30 depending on the class. So with that being said, I usually don't have dinner prior to either but more an afternoon snack and then a really light dinner after. I am wondering if I am doing myself an injustice by eating dinner even if it is light after the workout on the 6:30 workout? I could always make my afternoon snack more of a small meal vs. a protein shake or cottage cheese and fruit? What do you guys think?

Hope you all are doing well. I finished up my Recovery Week from STS with some good workouts and then have been at my moms since Friday a.m. - just some good walks but no workouts. Looking forward to a workout tomorrow afternoon forsure! Starting up an Endurance rotation this week as well!

I'll check in again either tomorrow afternoon or forsure the following a.m. :flowerforyou:

Happy Monday All! Had a great weekend and not too bad food wise - Missed my CX workout but skied all day Saturday so I'm not too considered. In fact I'm really feeling it in the calves this morning so I know it was a good workout.

Take care and sorry for the short post but using my MFP time on logging foods for the next few weeks in preparation for spring break swimsuit shopping.:drinker:

Good Monday to all. I got my usual Valentine Days gift....a box of Esther Price chocolates. :frown: I have mixed feelings about this. I abolutely love the candy but I know that I shouldn't be eating it.

We are getting more snow. Between 3 and 5 inches today. I hope that the YMCA classes are not cancelled. Most of them have been for the past two weeks due to snow. I did get to Zumba on Saturday. Felt good to be doing something. Our bike trails are completely covered with snow so using them is out of the question.