40+ Club: Beating The Winter Bulge

Hi all

I only joined the site on Tuesday last but would love to join in with this group, even if it means i have to admit that i am in the 40+ group. Need lots of help and motivation, after giving up smoking 15 months ago i have let my weight get out of control, using the not smoking as an excuse to eat anything and everything. Anyway now is the time, so here i go, would love to lose around 30lb, just find fitiing excercise in around two jobs a little hard at the moment. Any tips and help would be much appreciated.

Thanks

Nel

Doing great here. The scale is still not my friend but I'm losing in other ways.

I joined a new swank gym in a hotel and I'm really thrilled with it. I'm having my first consultation on Wednesday where she's weigh, measure me, take my fat levels, etc and discuss what I want to achieve. Obviously, fat loss, muscle gain (but not too much) and overall fitness. I am so so cardio UNFIT that it still shocks me how easily I get winded even after a month of working out 4-5 days/week and 5 weeks of eating very clean! I know it'll come but it'll come sloooowly.

I am surprised to see how slowly I'm losing and I attribute it to years of massive yoyo dieting (think as extreme as Kelly Osbourne) and my age! I can't do anything about either of those things but I can keep trudging through the molasses that is my fitness battle and come out the other side slimmer and more able to do longer cardio workouts.

So, all in all a good week, despite what the scales may tell me on Tuesday, my weigh in day.

Because of comments made (I think on this thread) I have started with Vit D3 and Calcium as well as a multivitamin and fish oils. Ah, I feel like a chemist most mornings! Just wondering if anyone here could tell me how much VitD3 they're taking a day and if it's been helpful in shifting excess weight?

All the best to you all from a very wet, very cold west of Ireland!

Hello Everyone!!!

I can't believe it's been so long since I last logged in. Work has been hectic and there are never enough hours in the day it seems. It's good that work has picked up, honestly, but I feel like I never quite get a handle on my time.

I am still working with the trainer. My weight fluctuates up and down, but still seems to be heading in a downward direction.
S-L-O-W-L-Y! :sad: But at least it does move downwards. I wish I could post 2lbs a week loss, but if I lose 2lbs a month, I'm happy.

Have been poor about tracking food the last month, so am going to start that up again. My next goal to achieve is a 5K race, and have been building up endurance towards that.

One new thing I've been doing is a Boot Camp class that my trainer teaches. HOLY

---

! I thought plyometrics was hard. Heh. Lots of jumping rope and burpees and pushups and mountain climbers with very little rest time in between sets. Last set yesterday was 30 seconds of jumping rope, 30 seconds of burpees, 3 times in a row...or 3 minutes total with no rest. Totally wiped out. Now....wouldn't you think that would burn the fat right off of ya???? Hope the scale reflects something positive for me tomorrow.

I have been reading and keeping up with y'all. You are all such inspirations! I see new members here too, which is wonderful! Hope to be more of a contributor as we head into spring.
:flowerforyou:

Hi All!

A few days late checking in, but better late than never I suppose! The weight has stopped coming off, but the inches haven't and so I'm going to press on. :ohwell:

Love reading about all the positives happening for you, keep them coming you all are inspirational! :happy:

Stiring... I'm not a huge runner, I typically refer to myself as a "fair weather runner" conditions have to be almost perfect... not too hot, not too cold and not rainy! :laugh: I love my Mizuno's though, it is the only running shoe I will buy. My foot type works well with the Waverunner model, it's like slipping my foot into a little piece of heaven! My husband wears only Asics, but he has an awful time with his Achilles tendon. About those kettleballs.. have you checked the BX in Seoul? Can they order them for you maybe? How about checking out the stores off Base? Just some thoughts... Good luck!

Sing.. your weekend sounds great, I'm just itching to get out and be outside in the sun and fresh air. Unfortunately it is raining today, I'm not complaining too much though it is at least melting the mounds of snow. I am so ready for Spring.. saw a spring bulb poking it's head up from the snow today!

Keep up the good fight everyone... till next time!

Tammy

Cardigirl, great to hear from you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I've missed you!!!! I am glad to hear you are doing well. Is your trainer's class called Crossfit? Sing was asking about that the other day. It is sort of like a Boot Camp class. Those are tough. I am sure your body will react to it soon!!!!

I am glad to hear all of you are doing great!!!! I havent had any sweets nor alcohol since last Tue!!!!! Having no alcohol is pretty easy for me since I dont drink much but the sweets, yikes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That is tough!! But I am hanging in there. I feel great!!! I started the last week of the Push phase of ChaLean Extreme. Duffy, are you with me??? Oh Duffy, BTW, it is great that you are running and training for the marathon. I really miss running. :sad: The weather here is getting nice, it was 74 degrees yesterday!!! And I would have loved to go out there and go for a run. I think I just have to be brave and get out there and see how my leg does. I am definitely not starting where I was when I got injured. My plan is to start doing walk/jog intervals and take it slow. Now if I start running, plus lifting weights and teaching Zumba 4 times a week I am going to need to be eating a LOT!!!!! :laugh: I still use my HRM to calculate the calories. I also agree that it is not extremely accurate but I think it is more accurate than any other tool you can use unless you pay an expert to measure it everytime you exercise and that is not possible. I also try to listen to my body and determine what it needs.

Oh, yes, the running topic...I need a new pair of running shoes before I start running again. My last pair was a good one, Saucony. I went to a running store and was fitted and tried about 7 pairs before I got those. I suggest you do that Stiring, you might have to try a lot of pairs before you find that right ones. And yes, you can find great prices over there. When my sister lived in Japan they would have shopping trips to Korea. Duffy, my feet are also narrow, I overpronate and I have flat feet!!!! :noway: So I can relate...tell me more about your shoes please.

Sing, you asked about snacks...you said "cravings" what type of cravings? When it is time to snack and I am eating clean I usually have a high fiber whole wheat english muffin with a tbsp of peanut or almond butter or 1/2 cup of greek yogurt with 1/4 or 1/2 cup of berries, or 1/2 cup of low fat cottage cheese with berries, an apple or any other fruit with a cheese string or a handful of raw nuts, usually almonds. I hope this helps.

Have a wondeful day!!!! :flowerforyou:

TICKER SHOCK ANYONE?

I weighed myself yesterday, I have not seriously weighed myself since all the stress happened 4 months ago. I have gained back nearly half of what I had lost, and this is after feeling like I lost a few pounds recently. Well, its a reality check I needed. I've been getting my exercise act together recently, and now that I've weighed myself, I can start seeing if what I'm doing is working by weighing myself regularly again.

The good news is my waistline didn't increase as much as you would expect. I gave away all my big clothes, and refuse to buy anything as long as my weight continues to remain above the old mark, so I am still able to get into what I have, though I doubt it looks as attractive as it did.

Welcome new folks and hi to everyone already here!

mkwood! :drinker: Soooooo happy to see you. I've been thinking about you alot lately, wondering if everything was going okay. You are half way through the deployment, right? It must be feeling like forever right about now. But great job at maintaining your weight right now, given everything you've been going through. I think that's amazing. Please keep checking in when you get a chance. I worry about people when they don't check-in for a little while......:blushing:

Stiring, Sing, Alf, TX and everyone else...........thanks so much for the words of encouragement - I've needed them lately.


We are past the halfway point of the hubby's deployment - 71 days left as of today (if he makes it home as scheduled). This has been a hard winter.........hopefully once the weather starts getting nicer I'll be more motivated to go for a walk or something after work if I don't work out at Curves. Anything to shake the routine and see if I can lose these last few pounds......:grumble: :grumble: The weight is still pretty much the same - 126-128, although the scale DID say 125.4 on Saturday morning!:bigsmile: I've been trying to eat better; discovered that I really like the one of the Atkins Advantage meal bars - the Marshmallow Mudslide bar is awesome!! So, have been eating one of those along with a fuji apple for lunch lately; the combination keeps me full all day - no mid-afternoon munchies:laugh: :laugh: . The inches are definitely moving in the right direction - tried on a pair of jeans that I bought right before he came back from Iraq in Aug 08, and they actually buttoned and zipped; although too tight to wear for a long period of time!!:happy: :happy:


Last week was "replace carpet in the office suite" and then, when I almost had my office put back together, it was "quick, go help so and so pack up their office so the carpet layers can go there next or "can you please do the touch-up paint in so and so's office so they can move back in? (like they can't do their own *&#^$ touch up painting? :grumble: :explode: :explode: I may be younger than a lot of the people here, but I'm stil 47 and we have college students who work in this building- let them do the bending and twisting!!! :noway: :noway: OK, OK, I'm done ranting now......:blushing: I really should be catching up on work instead of being here:blushing: :blushing: .

Hope all are doing OK - I haven't read thru the whole thread since I last posted a week ago; will try to sign in from home tonite and catch up.

Marla:flowerforyou:

Thanks duffy, alf, and tamarads for the running shoe recommendations! Yes, I could get shoes made for me here in Korea, but the prices aren't as inexpensive as they used to be when it comes to having things made (they would cost me in the $80-$120 range for sure). The benefit is they'd be made for my foot. The drawback....when we leave here, I'd be back to finding running shoes in a store. So I'm going to aim to find something in a store and see if I can't settle into a brand I enjoy from the get-go. I may have to go to Runner's World or some such store when we are in Hawaii in April to have my foot tested. Until then, I'm going to do some research on the shoes they have on base that work with over-pronation (because, like duffy, that's an issue with me) and see if I can't get a decent shoe to start out on. But in Hawaii, I'll definitely be on the look out for Mizunos!!

singfree, thanks for the feedback on the kettlebells. I picked one up in the store, and I guessed it would be kind of worthless for me, but I wasn't sure. Thanks for confirming that feeling. Kettlebells have been around forever, so I'm sure I will still be able to find some when we get back to the US in a couple of years. tamarads, thanks for the recommendation to look at the BX in Seoul. I'll do that next time I'm up there, but I have found that the BX on Osan these days pretty much carries everything the one in Seoul carries. But it certainly is worth a look!

Regarding my cravings, they really have nothing to do with hunger to be honest. When I'm hungry, pretty much anything tastes good. Seriously, though, when I'm hungry, I always want 'real' food, meaning nothing sweet or junk foody, etc. If I am craving anything when I'm hungry, it is usually a carb (bread) and something like cheese or peanut butter. Right now, my favorite snack is a piece of homemade wheat toast with natural crunchy peanut butter and a banana sliced on top. Good stuff.

My problem with cravings is that my worst cravings come when I'm NOT actually hungry, and that is when my craving for sweets kicks in. I have increased my fruit intake, and that is helping. Last night, I chopped up an apple, sprinkled it with cinnamon, added 1/4 cup of the nutty granola I made last week and popped that into the microwave for a few minutes. It tasted every bit as good as an apple crumble made with sugar and butter. So I'm going to try to experiment with that type of 'sweet' to see if it doesn't help my non-hunger sweet cravings.

Swissmiss, regarding cravings for salt....I echo what alf said about craving something more if I eat it more. But, for me, since I'm not a salt craver, when I AM craving salt, I start looking at my diet and trying to figure out if I'm missing something and if there would be any reason my body actually needs the salt. But if you are a normal salt craver (like I'm a normal sweet craver), my recommendation would be if you can't eliminate salty foods, to try to find foods with less salt on them (low salt peanuts, etc), and see if that doesn't help lessen the cravings a bit. The other thing I've learned recently is that if I'm eating enough of the right foods, my cravings really start coming back under control.

singfree, thanks for your recommendations for my calorie intake. I wish I could burn 1000 during a workout!! The best I've been able to do, according to my HRM, is about 400 calories burned during the one hour of Insanity Max Interval Circuits. There are days when I can do an hour of weights, an hour of intense cardio and a two hour walk late in the day, and my HRM will calculate the total calorie burns during that four hours of 'exercise' (if you count walking as exercise) at 600-700 calories. Given my maintenance calories, that would mean eating about 1900 calories on days when I am active for that many hours. And therein lies my problem because I can't be that active every day!! So I eat less on days when I'm not that active (hence why I settled in to the 1400-1700 range), but I still don't feel like that is quite enough given two tough workouts a day (strength training followed by cardio, usually of an intensity like insanity). I'm finding it kind of frustrating right now, to be honest. I had found a happy maintenance spot before we left California, but like I said yesterday, I'm not sure that's where I should be right now given my current fitness level.

zebras, don't beat yourself up about the weight gain. It happens to many of us. The good news is that you are staying active, and that is a great thing. Keep doing what you're doing, and it will all be good in the end. :flowerforyou:

mk, I remain impressed with your continued ability to maintain/lose weight during this time. I'm sorry things have been so tough for you this winter. I'm happy you are counting down the days, though, until your husband returns. The end is in sight!!

Off to do my daily workout....week 3 of the second cycle of STS, so I'm in for a tough chest/shoulder/tricep workout. I'm not sure which cardio I'm going to do today....probably something from Insanity though. :bigsmile:

Thanks again everybody for your input!! I don't know where I'd be without you all. :flowerforyou:

Good morning all, and thanks for the words of welcome back! Sure do need the support, what with the weight fluctuation I've been dealing with, but it seems that is how I lose weight...down two pounds, up a pound, down a half pound, up a pound...drives me crazy so I'm staying off the scale for the next two weeks. It's like a drug...hope I can withstand not knowing. :laugh:

Stiring and Alf, the boot camp class is something that my trainer (he's a former Marine) changes up every week. There is always lots of jumping rope, and lots of core work...the first one I went to, I thought I was gonna die. He starts out with 3 minutes of jumping rope for warm up and from there on, it's just non-stop. Sometimes he throws some plyometrics into the mix...I think I might wear my heart rate monitor next Saturday and see what kind of a calorie burn I actually get. It feels like I am burning a lot.

I also wanted to say, that I nearly walked out of the class the first time I went because I was older than everybody else in there, by about 30 years :sad: , but I stuck with it, and now I find I'm keeping up pretty well. It's a new element to my working out, and I find I'm enjoying the benefits. I don't actually LOVE the class while I'm in the midst of it, but I sure do love how it makes me feel.

To add to the shoe debate, Stiring, I've had good results with Asics, my trainer likes New Balance, and he runs A LOT, but I agree with everyone that being fitted by someone who knows what to look for in fit is a great help. The Asics were what I ended up with after having my stride evaluated. I'm on my second pair and I love how they make my feet and legs feel.

Sing, have fun in Gettysburg. I have only been there once, but it is a very special place. I am enjoying reading about the kettlebells...my gym doesn't have them, I'm wondering if they will be bringing them in.

Good Morning All:

I am proud to report that yesterday, I managed to get 2 hours of cardio in and I counted my calories, and stayed within my limits! I'm very excited. I haven't had a day like that in months. My 2nd hour of cardio is pretty gentle walking up hills on the treadmill, but I figure, while I was in the mood, I should keep walking.

Good morning everyone!!!!
I'm feeling old today.....................my oldest daughter turned 26 today! My first thought this morning was "holy **** , Nikki turns 26 today - where have the years gone????" :laugh: :laugh: Her turning 25 didn't phase me, but this birthday is stuck in my brain today:ohwell: :ohwell: Just kind of strange............

Got a great workout in last night; although the computer at Curves didn't show it. The owner told us last week that everyone globally is being retested, so our readings are off until we've worked out 5-8 times. So..........the darn computer told me I only burned 250 calories when I had sweat running down my back and a soaked head!!! More motivation to go back more - getting the readings to look right again!!!!

My 2 cents on shoes..........I have a very narrow foot, both width and height (top to bottom), so finding a shoe that fits right has always been a struggle for me. New Balance used to make a running shoe that fit well, but of course they discontinued it!:grumble: :grumble: I've been wearing Asics Gels for about 3 years now, and they fit well. I just replace the standard shoe cushioning with a good athletic gel insole (for my knees) and it works great for me!

Have a good day all............enjoy the sunshine if you've got it!

Marla

Hmm it looks like Asics is winning so far... :laugh: :laugh: I am planning on starting running again when I return from Puerto Rico. The weather should be the way I like it by then...and I will need new shoes. I wore mine out with all races and training I did at the end of last year. :drinker:

Hello everyone.... Angel here checking in. Yes I'm still alive and kicking!!

I am still fighting this allergen overload... with the nyquil I've had to take just to sleep at night it has been a struggle to get up in the morning and do my workout... I admit it... I couldn't wake up enough yesterday to get out of bed early enough to workout... last night I risked not taking anything... woke up with a sinus headache but I did my weight workout this morning. Then since it was exercise day at work for my residents I did another 30 minutes... so it helped. I will be so glad when I get all of this out of my system.

Hubby and I went snowshoeing on Sunday afternoon... being out in the fresh air really helps clear things out. So glad we went. Will be going again this weekend maybe Friday after work and Saturday. Would you believe we actually saw a horse this time... yes a horse... someone was taking their pony for a walk.

Found out this evening that some of my classmates from high school want to get together this summer, some of them are even interested in meeting me in the Canadian Rockies (Banff) while we are there on holidays... haven't seen some of them for 6 years... wow!! gotta lose these last few lbs! Time to shock them all!!!

Wow... can you believe the Canadian Ice Dancing Team took GOLD!!! woo hoo!!!!!

Hope everyone is having a great week

Angel