WOMEN AGES 50+ FOR FEBRUARY

Hello All,

Still not sure if I am "all there" but at least I am here!!:bigsmile: Thank you everyone for your kind words of support and concern.

Despite last night--eating my entire portion of beef tomato chow yuk--instead of asking for a box at the start and removing half of it--I am still down a pound from my last weigh in, which means one less that is hanging on from my prior transgressions.

I have discovered the new Chinese restaurant that is close to my home will cook to order. When I say do it w/o salt and msg, they do, and "unleaded" Chinese food (as in cooked without massive quantities of sodium) is just as yummy as "regular".

I went to breakfast this morning with my neighbor, who got the new French bulldog. Archie has mellowed a little in two weeks, but he still doesn't quite have the potty training thing figured out. He will go out for a walk for an hour and come back INSIDE :grumble: and leave a little "package." :noway: Since he didn't grow up in the house but in a kennel with access to outdoors, he doesn't have any prior experience with the concept of "going outside" in order to "go.":ohwell:

If there are any doggie experts out there with experience in house training an adult dog, where having a doggie door is not an option (condo is upstairs) I will be glad to pass on any tips you may have. Feel free to PM me, if you don't want to post on the thread.

After we went to breakfast, my friend, who is the biggest male shopaholic I have ever met, told me he had learned that today there was 20% off everything at Big Lots--if you don't have one in your area, it is like a dollar store on steroids. Lots of stuff, more than a dollar, closeouts, discontinueds, etc. Anyway, by the time I escaped, I had saved about $8!!--only had to spend $38 to do it !!!:noway: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:

Actually, I did very well. I have been watching for a good buy on a new hair dryer, as I figure one of these days my 8 year old one is going to "retire." Usually when they quit, it is not a gradual process, so I don't want to wake up one morning and discover I am going to have a "bad hair day" due to no dryer. I also stocked up on some sandwich and storage bags, office supply items, health and beauty, and my one really silly purchase, but I HAD to have it, and you will see why.

They have a whole section of home decor. There were some great signs " One tequila, two tequila, three tequila, floor." "My husband is a 'reel' catch." "Born to fish." All funny, but I left them there. The one I couldn't resist was.....

"Remember STRESSED is just DESSERTS spelled backwards!!":laugh: :laugh: :laugh: How true!!!:blushing: I will find a place in my kitchen for that one. Somewhere near the other signs already there:

"I clean house every other day. This is not the 'other' day."

"Beware of food that is still moving." and

"To be thought half as good as a man, a woman must do everything twice as well. Fortunately, this is not difficult."

The weather here is nice, just like it is north of here where Barbiecat is, and "norther" still in Vancouver BC. A little windy, but the doggies didn't mind a bit as we went to the doggie park before coming to visit "grandma and grandpa."--where I am now. My mom is doing fine. Got some sad news about her sister up in BC. She has been in very poor health and recently had to be moved into a care facility--a process she fought every step of the way--much to the consternation of her son and daughter. Now they learn she has uterine cancer.

I had hoped we would be able to make one more trip up there so my mom could see her, but she doesn't seem to think she can make the trip. I can understand her feelings, but up until now, she has talked regularly about making the trip in April. I even have the week after Easter scheduled off to make this possible. Now I am not sure.

Also, to my surprise, this morning, when I talked to her on the phone while I was on my shopping excursion, I mentioned a cutting board I had found, as she had expressed an interest in replacing a wooden one in her kitchen. I about fell over when she said. "I am thinking of giving up cooking. I am sick of it." Since they live in a facility that has on site dining available for a small additional charge, she and my dad won't starve, but for her to even consider this is a huge change. So we are going to have to talk a bit more about how she is feeling, and get ready to make some adjustments. I always knew eventually things would change, but I am not quite ready to deal with it right now. :frown: Guess there is no choice. :ohwell:

Well I have to get off here. Still have to drop the piglets off at home and head for church--thank goodness for Sunday night Mass!! One more opportunity to avoid being a sinner!!:flowerforyou:

Barb

Just a quick check-in before nighty-night...welcome Barty and TamiToo...any anyone else I may have missed.

Thanks for your kind words Cindy. I led the OA meeting this afternoon and we had a good discussion group. With OA abstinence can mean different things for different people. Basically abstinence is different things to different people Many consider abstinence three meals a day and nothing eaten at any other time. A Food Plan is a pattern of eating that you develop that you can stick with and that will satisfy your nutritional needs. Many people are able to stick to the three meals per day, eaten in a non-compulsive way with "nomal" size portions. Others might include a snack or dessert as part of their food plan. Many people are able to identify their "trigger foods" and choose to eliminate them entirely, i.e. sugars, breads, cheese...whatever trips their trigger, I guess.

Mine has been rather sketchy as I have simply shot for around 1200-1300 calories per day, trying to eat as healthy as possible but not eliminating any foods entirely and allowing a snack if I have the calories to spare. When I have a binge night it just pretty much means I start snacking or grazing and can't seem to stop. At my worst I may consume three, four or maybe even five hundred extra calories. I usually manage to reel myself in by just making myself go upstairs for the night and go to bed!! In OA instead of succumbing to the urge to eat you are supposed to call someone for support, journal, pray, read literature or just plain get busy on something else...all very effective IF you DO THEM. I am getting better...just not there yet...but I have hope and faith that I will get there! And that is the difference of the OA program and this site...they both make me feel very hopeful and not despairing. I know that I am not perfect (never have nor ever will be) but one day at a time, I can get better!

Thanks for asking. Have a good night all:yawn:

Terri

No not from North Carolina, the n is part of my first name. It's wierd when I can't just use my first name, but the internet has shown me that I am not the only Tamzen out there. 2 days so far and doing better than expected.

Good night all.

Morning everyone!

Weighed in this morning and everything stayed the same. On the positive side, I have much more energy than before and I can maintain my exercise level at a much higher intensity. I still need to work , a lot, on strength training and my goal is to do that at least 3 times this week.

Just a quick check in for me. As always, there are more things to do than I really want to do. My prayer today is that I will pick up the things that need to be done and let everything else sit. They will be there for another day. This is the one I have and I want to make the most of it!

Maybe when I check back our Part 2 will have begun!

Cindy

Good Morning everyone,

Just a quick post before I go off to work. I will catch up on all the posts later and I hope everyone is doing well.

The Chinese New Year's party was fantastic. It was a mixed group from many angles and not just a high school party with some chaperones. The food was better than any of you can imagine. I swear if you put it all in tables in single file it had to be 50 feet of home made and bought items. There was a lot of seafood dishes, soups, steamed and fried buns, rice, veggie galore. There was very little meat dishes: one chicken and two beef. I was surprised at the number of egg dishes. I ate reasonable and mostly just tasted around. Chinese chocolate is not sweet like American chocolate. The blueberry moon cakes were fantastic. The high school kids were all very nice and friendly. There were exchange students there from all over the Albuquerque area who were from mostly other Asian countries. Our hostess to honor her guests also make Korean, Japanese and Vietamese dishes. The American food was limited to cheese and crackers and dips and chips. The soda was from Asia also and nothing like ours. Of course there was tea and other Asian beverages.

Boy, us Americans sure do put a lot of sugar in EVERYTHING we make. lol

Jeannie

:drinker: Hi everyone and... Happy Monday!!! Start of another week ... another week nearer my holiday!!
:laugh: Only three weeks to lose those few pounds!!
Quick check in today ...
:noway: Weight up a bit this morning but surely.... will be down tomorrow .....????
Cleaning for two hours today - so I've got some calories to make up for .... :embarassed: the two homenade/ buttered scones I've just eaten when my DS & DIL came for coffee!
Chicken /vegetable curry with rice tonight ...so once again will sqeeeeak in with the calories.

Hope all's well with everyone ... keep smiling if you can!! Not always easy I know

Take care
Jackie

Just another quick post this time from work............
- to all of you who need them for your health issues and those of your family members.

Potty training an adult dog - try locking in the bathroom or laundry with water and a blanket. I've had success with it with my rescue off the street dogs.

Welcome to all the newbies!

Need to get back to a busy day at work.

Jeannie

MacMadame,
I'm interested in doing a 50-mile bike ride in May. Right now, I can bike for about 40 minutes straight without stopping (flat to low rolling hills). Any suggestions for building up to 50 miles? I have a 21 speed commuter bike.

Lani

There are a couple of things you can do:

1) Continue to bike for longer and longer. But don't go to crazy increasing distance / time by a lot each week. 10% is the standard used in running and I think it work pretty well for biking too.
2) Do some speed work (maybe take a spin class)
3) do tempo rides and not just all long, slow rides. (Tempo rides would be maybe half the time of your long, slow stuff, but you go at a faster pace than expect to at your event.)
4) Do some hill repeats. (You ride up and down the same hill over and over for, say, 30 minutes or until you can't do it any more.)

Keep in mind that you don't *have* to have biked 50 miles on a regular basis to do a ride like this. (I'm assuming it's a supported ride with rest stops.)

You can take your time and take a good rest at the rest stops and be fine. I did a ride last year that was a 2 day ride, 75 miles the first day and 50 the next. It was a lot easier than I expected because of the rest stops every 12-15 miles. Which is not to day it was easy, but I thought I'd be thrashed for days after and I wasn't.

Previously, I had done one ride of 65 miles and one of two 40 mile rides in the same day (with a 1.5 hour break in between). But most of my rides were in the 25 mile range with a handful in the 30-40 mile range.

:flowerforyou: Good evening ladies, I am back in the saddle again....LOL:laugh: :frown: I am actually starting over. :embarassed: I have embarassingly gained 10 lbs (6 of which I gained last week.) Today is a new beginning, I had slim fast for breakfast, Hershy dark chocolate miniature, cereal and fat free milk for snack, lean cuisine for lunch and dinner and I am going to do the Leslie Sansone 3 mile. MIL is recuperating from treatment, we really won't know anything for 3 months when she goes back in for follow up. I just got home from work a little while ago and need to exercise and do some HOME work. I hope to catch up on post another day. Love (((Hugs))) and prayers for all, Rose
:drinker: :drinker: :drinker: :drinker: :drinker: :drinker: :drinker: :drinker:

Well its taken me two weeks to retame the carb monster I so foolishly fed on my 50th birthday. Today is honeslty the first day since then that I can honestly say I haven't craved carbs and easily stayed within my calorie limits.