WOMEN AGES 50+ FOR FEBRUARY

Biggest Blessing in Life, being a Grandma!

Geann, Thank you for the welcome, wondered if anyone notices the newbies. So much to learn from this website.
I'm enjoying reading all the posts, so many different stories. I was happy to see a board for Women 50+ !!
It's a totally different game when you're over 50. When I was in my 20's thru 40's it was much easier to lose weight
but now that I'm 63 it's much harder, but with the tools on this site I'm excited to have the support group.

I have missed posting because I've been so busy! :noway: You know you're behind when the "Newbies" are welcoming "Newbies" :noway: :laugh:

This is a great site! I have lost 41 lbs since I joined in August of 2009!::blushing:
You have everything you need right here!:bigsmile:
There are no rules, we just share what works for us, and it's differant for everyone! Like trying on shoes...you'll know what fits when you put it on and see how great you feel!
:bigsmile: :drinker:
Tracking your food and exercise are so easy to navigate here, and the support keeps you going!:flowerforyou:

The best exercise...is the one you'll do (as I have heard it said on this site many times:laugh: )

I like to eat my 1200 calories & exercise calories. I do the treadmill and when the weather gets better will get on my bike and do some hiking.

I will be 62 next month and want to be a vibrant and energetic 62!!!:bigsmile:

Have a great weekend everyone....and take it one day at a time...one bite at a time!!!

God Bless!

BirdieM

And, I hate to disappoint any of you, but scientists tell us you can't build muscle when you operate at a calorie deficit. You have to operating at a calorie surplus to do that. I don't want to believe this, but I think I kind of do as it does make sense from the POV of physics and calories in/calories out and all that. Plus my scale shows me my muscle mass and it didn't start going up until I stopped losing. Le sigh.

MacMadame - Thank you for this very insightful piece of information.

I have read the occasional post on mfp where people are talking about not eating there exercise calories.

Speaking strictly about myself however, I have not put any of my focus on my exercise calories, I simply stayed within daily calorie goals each day. I have found (again personally) that by following "my method" I have on average lost 3 lbs/week and 5 1/2" off of my waistline.

Also, I continue to feel stronger each week and I have noticed that my ab muscles are pulling inward and everything is tightening up and becoming more defined.

So I actually do believe (by observing my own body) that we should not be depriving ourselves of our exercise calories. Our bodies need to have the healthy carbs, fats etc in order to build muscle mass.

I continue to keep my focus on living a healthy lifestyle and not focusing on simply dropping weight. As a result of this type of mindset, the weight has literally, been dropping off of my and I am almost at the weight that nature intended for me to be at.

Again, personally, I don't believe in diets, I believe in making lifestyle changes that will take me through the rest of my life.

Thank you, MacMadame, for your "food for thought" posts. I enjoy reading reading them.

Debbie

I have had a great time “lurking” this week but not posting much. My husband was wonderful for Valentines . . . NO CHOCOLATE!! Didn’t have to fight that all weekend, but it’s all over our office today. Just steering clear . . . . I did eat Wheat Thins, then added them to my calorie count. WOW, those are amazingly high calorie!!! Today was in and out of meetings ALL DAY!! So eating on the run. I was mostly prepared with my lunch and snacks, but someone brought it more chocolate. Proud to say I didn’t eat any!!!! STAY POSITIVE THIS WEEKEND!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

But we aren't adding to the *mass* of our muscles. (i.e., bulking up.) In fact, in one study, they compared dieters who didn't do strength training with those who did. Believe it or not, both groups lost muscle mass. But the ones who did strength training gained strength. (i.e., were stronger)

It's pretty hard to diet and not lose muscle mass. That's why strength training is *so* important. It's so tempting to just do cardio because it burns more calories (and therefore more fat) and cardio is important. But we need the strength training too.

I had trouble believing this when I got visible "guns" in my arms and started doing these killer strength workouts. Until I got a scale that shows me my body fat % and my muscle mass and I could see that my muscle mass didn't actually get bigger until i stopped losing weight.

Good morning all my mfp ladies!

Well this morning was my weigh in day and honestly I thought that I probably stayed at the same weight since my last weigh in. So when I stepped on the scale it took me a few minutes (I was still half asleep) to really be able to register what I saw.

I have lost 2 more pounds since last Saturday and a 1/2" lost off of my waist line. (Ironic that I say "lost", is that assuming that I'm trying to "find" it to get it back?) NOT!

Anyways, I am SUPER HAPPY!!!! I am only 5 lbs away from my goal weight, woo hoo!!

MacMadame - I completely agree with what you said. From day 1 of working out, I have been doing strength training. I have not "bulked" up in muscle mass. I have (as I stated previously) become stronger. I have more energy, I feel lighter on my feet. I'm happier and when I go to bed (I have a sleep routine too), I am able to fall into a sound sleep within minutes.

I have always been a huge believer in balancing out the workout regime with strength, cardio and abs. You can't do just cardio and expect the same results, it simply doesn't work that way. I know someone in particular that has had a gym membership for years and all she does is go to the cardio classes. That's it. In all these years, I have not seen any weight change in her. She is still carrying extra weight around.

I'm glad that your surgeon was happy with you at your appointment. I would be REALLY impressed if I was your doctor. I think that you're coming at your weight loss angle in a very strategic way. You will be very successful at this. You truly do have this figured out.

As for your skin? As I have always said, "nothing beat soap and water clean".

Anyways, today is Saturday, my day off. I am going out shopping today and I am going to reward myself with buying something that makes me feel "pretty". Hmmmm......I feel like wearing a "happy" color today! LOL!

Good luck everyone and I hope that we all continue to make the right decisions for a healthy body.

We DESERVE it!

Debbie

MacMadame – I’ve been reading a lot too on calories and exercise and how they work together. I still go by MFP’s net calories and I look at the reports weekly as it is still easy to read. But if your still going to a doctor for weigh loss you need to go by his tracking method. You are doing great.

To all with cleaning and household appliance woes – My vacuum cleaner brush for carpeting broke. My carpets look like a wooly mammoth rolled on them recently. The repair place can not fix or repair it. I’m glad I have mostly tile floors and at the beginning of the month I will get a carpet sweeper. My old vacuum cleaner is still very good, it’s just the one part that broke. It is 17 years old! Not having a large freezer is working out better than expected. We are actually eating a lot better. Pizza is now from a pizza place instead of a box.

Debbie – I so totally agree with your ‘lifestyle’ remark. That is what I am after. Something I can live with the rest of my life. You put it so nicely into words. Thanks,.

Tonight we are going to an authentic Chinese New Year's party given by a host family for their exchange student from Taiwan. While I intend to be reasonable, I already know I have no intention of passing up stuff that I will not have another opportunity to try in the next many years. I will log as best I can and try to do some extra exercise this weekend and move forward. This is a family event and I just hope we all have a good time and that there are fireworks.

Have a great day everyone,

Jeannie

PS: To those with kids, grandkids in the house - check out the profiles on the Olympic contenders. May are very inspiring and amazing stories.

You're inspiring Barbie!!:flowerforyou:
Week-ends are so hard for some reason. I've been to my Zumba class and really got a good work-out, but now comes the hard part - controlling the eating. I am so hungry and want something satisfying. I already had some of my husband's grilled cheese. Oh well. I'm going to move on, shower and go do errands and think about food later.
Zaza

I'm sort-of proud of myself. Well, for one thing, I made these homemade brownies for dh. See, I love to bake. Anyway, they weren't really to his liking and he wasn't eating them. I know that I still have that "gotta finish it up" mentality -- I think it's from my childhood. Anyway, I took those brownies and donated them to the local soup kitchen because I knew that if I didn't get them out of the house, I'd be the one who would wind up eating them. Bad part -- I didn't donate them until I had one. Another good thing I did for me was that I bought one of those giant iced cookies but had them put chocolate icing all over it. I'm not a big fan of chocolate icing but dh is. So with that icing on the cookie, I'm not tempted (unless it's that time of the month, which it isn't right now).

Off to do my yoga.

Rebel - I firmly believe that moms "know" when something isn't right with their child, regardless of how far away they are. Just recently I had a really funny feeling about my dd, I couldn't sleep, I just "knew" something wasn't right. Sure enough, she was severly dehydrated. She called us one night and dh convinced her to go to the ER. They had to give her 2 bags of fluids. I can't explain it, but I just knew that something was wrong. I didn't know what, but I knew that something wasn't right.

Lani - doesn't it just feel fantastic when you finally fit into a smaller size pants? Years and years ago I'd bought some Wrangler jeans but in colors. For some reason, the pink is baggie on me. Yet, the gray isn't (same size). Go figure! Congrats to you

I have to tell you all. I am so proud of myself. Last night (Fri) a friend asked me to go to a basketball game with her. Not that I know much about basketball. But I knew that her dh wants her to have someone with her and if I didn't go he would. He has a lot of back pain. I suggested they come over here, her dh and mine could go into the music studio in our detached garage. He's into music the same as my dh. But her dh was in too much pain to come over, so he just stayed home. Anyway, we didn't get home until around 11. Here's the great part -- I actually did my yoga!!!! Yea me. Everyone, at least for the time being, GET ON MY CASE to be sure I continue.

Jackie - I thought you said that things come in 3's, not 4's!

One thing that I learned recently was the importance of having some protein with every meal. Now I make a conscious effort to make sure I add some protein. Like yesterday I had oat bran hot cereal which I know is high in carbs. So what I did was mix some cottage cheese into the cereal. A personal trainer once asked me "so, what did you have for breakfast"? I thought I was doing pretty good so I told him "oat bran cereal, an apple and a bran muffin". That's when he pointed out how carb heavy this breakfast was and suggested that instead of the apple and bran muffin, I should have had some egg whites. Now I'm much more conscious of this

You know those places that make the incredible edibles -- they make flowers and stuff out of fruit. One year for Valentines Day I told dh that instead of roses to get me that. So he got me roses. They were strawberries cut up to look like roses. There was some sort of lettuce for the "leaves". One the inside of the "roses" was a minitature marshmallow. So I got what I wanted and he got to give me something.

MacMadame - you are so right when you say that we need not only cardio but also strength training. May I add that we need good nutrition, too?

Here's hoping everyone has a great day!

Michele

As for your skin? As I have always said, "nothing beat soap and water clean".

:laugh: