WOMEN AGES 50+ FOR JANUARY 2013

I made a witty response to a post this morning and it went into the ether. The more I thought about it, the more I realized it was actually a halfwit post, :blushing: and I'm glad it fell off the thread.

THE FOG HAS LIFTED! :flowerforyou: :flowerforyou: :flowerforyou: I hope it stays away. We have glorious sunshine outside and I took the dog for a walk. There were two men working on cleaning up a trail that goes up the hill at the end of my street and I stopped to thank them. I'm grateful to them for their hard work and I wish I'd thought of a service project for today.

Katla
from NW Oregon

:happy: If you want to have a happy face planted on you, watch this video. I want to have a reason to laugh, or at least smile, each and every day!!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NB3NPNM4xgo

Copy and paste and Enjoy...the sprinkling of magic on the moments.

Renny
Vancouver Island, BC, Canada

Ok, if we're putting videos that make us smile - I loved this one. Just makes me want a grandbaby that much more

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10152363845980624&set=vb.688970623&type=2&theater


Cheryl from North of Chicago (cold, cold, cold)

quick bump...can't believe I missed most of the last 500!! Will try to do better this time with everything.... developed bad habits lately ....no they were there and they have returned out of frustration. Wheres my rainbow cloak?

Kate from Cold and Snowy Sherwood Park, Alberta

Just came across this acrostic and wanted to share:

EAT LESS CRAP:

C-carbonated drinks
R-refined sugars
A-artificial sweeteners and colors
P-processed foods

EAT MORE FOOD:

F-fruit and vegetables
O-organic lean protein
O-omega 3 fatty acids
D-drink water

The more I am paying attention to my body, the more I realize just how true that is!

Ok, if we're putting videos that make us smile - I loved this one. Just makes me want a grandbaby that much more

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10152363845980624&set=vb.688970623&type=2&theater


Cheryl from North of Chicago (cold, cold, cold)

My grandson came to visit last year when he was 2. We had quite a bit of rain and went out and bought him rain boots. We went for a walk and the first puddle he came to he walked around it. I made him go back and stomp through it. I would have NEVER done that with my kids. I had 3 under the age of 2 and was cranky all the time. Trying to make up for it now. And now I have 3 grandchildren and life is wonderful!

Good morning beautiful ladies:flowerforyou: !

Renny and Cheryl Loved the videos!!!!

Joy It`s amazing what we let our grandchildren do, and we think it`s so cute, if our children had done it, it would have just been more thing we had to clean up:laugh: !!! I have 2 beautiful granddaughters and they are the light of my life!

Lori Love the post! I`ve been eating too much CRAP lately!!!!

Michele Busy busy you are!!! I`m busy too, but it looks like you`re having fun, me , not so much:sad: !!!!

Lila Sorry my computer gave yours ideas:devil: ! Tell Mookers I enjoyed his post!

I`m keeping this short this morning! Have a wonderful day ladies!!! Drink your water:drinker: :drinker: :drinker: and log your food!!!!

Hugs,
DeeDee

Michele - yes, the Y was closed. They close on most federal holidays and on the 3-day weekend ones often use that weekend to refinish the gym floor, reconfigure the exercise equipment, etc.

I walked around the house instead, which is something I did after the heart surgery when I wasn't able to drive. That led me to overflowing gratitude for the good surgeon, great caregivers, etrc. and it reminded me of just how far I've come in recovering my endurance. Feeling blessed beyond measure!

Have a great day....

Gail, metro Atlanta @ a chilly 26 degrees (cold for us!)

Hello and happy Tuesday –

Tuesday??? :noway: What happened to Monday??? Oh well….

Yesterday (that was Monday) I woke up feeling depressingly, sadly, bleakly uninspired about the world in general. :indifferent: Whined to my DH about it. Turned on the radio and learned that, statistically, it's the day the most of North America is depressed. "Blue Monday". Our Christmas Visa bills are due, we've broken our New Year's resolutions, it's months 'til the next long holiday and it's cold outside, and dark. Oh dear. I can't even be uniquely depressed. That made me laugh, :laugh: which cheered up my day immensely. Got to work and had fun.

Deb A – I do interval running too – 2 minutes hard running followed by 3 minutes brisk walk – repeat 8 times. Add a 10 minute warm-up and a 10 minute cool down = an hour of fun. It’s my favorite workout. I think I will take your specialist’s advice and add the protein afterwards too.

Sunshine – you don’t have to run. Do anything that raises your heart-rate so you’re feeling like it’s a big effort, keep it up for 30 seconds, then relax and walk for two minutes. Repeat. You could be doing anything – elliptical, swim, bike, walk, whatever.

M – congratulations (sort of) :ohwell: on your reaction to the sticky-buns. Not the negative physical reaction, but the positive mental reaction.

Wow, Renny, what fun to have all those new babies in the family.

Robin – it seems like yesterday you were telling us about Olivia’s birth! So fun to think of you off to Vegas to celebrate her first year. An then Kauai – what a great think to look forward to.

Eileen near San Diego – what do you teach? I think it must be secondary school because you’re doing report cards. I teach grade 7, which is still elementary school here. No report cards until March! Whew!

SueBDew, I like the idea of an ap that tracks my walks – I think I’ll download it. I’m weak about walking in winter, though, so there won’t be many times to use it until spring comes and takes the snow away.

I have a heart rate monitor and I really think it’s the only accurate way to count calories burned. Most of the estimates in MFP or on the exercise machines are for folks who are heavier than I am, so the counts are always over the top for me.

Well done, Ohiomom, in keeping to the low calorie end of the KFC menu. :flowerforyou: How sad that there are no better options close to the school. Even a Subway or a Dairyqueen could sell you a salad.

Kate – pull on the rainbow cloak.:drinker: It’s winter in the deep, dark north and you need all the sparkle you can get!

Lin C – you and Lila and I should have an MFP party!

Joy – Sunshine – have fun at Zumba. I recommend a heart rate monitor – you’ll always know your calorie count.



Hasta pronto,

Nancy in SE British Columbia


January goals:

6 workouts a week
Connect to my family (emails once a week to parents & sisters)

“Connect” is my word for 2013. I will try to make a new connection each month (this is inspired by The Happiness Project)

Bump for now, so I'll know where to start reading. Yoga this morning if the teacher doesn't cancel. Yippee!

Katla
from NW Oregon

Good morning, ladies. We had a pop-up snowstorm overnight, but just left us with a dusting of snow. It is however freezing as all get out. They said with the wind chill it will be around zero today – good day to stay in. Now who can I get to go to the store for me . . .

I broke out my Herbivoracious cookbook last night – Michael Natkin has a website/blog and cookbook with truly unique and interesting ingredients and flavors, most with an Asian, Mediterranean or Mexican flare. He lives up in WA state and has access to the wonderful farmers’ markets there. Anyway, so many creative ideas – really inspired me to come up with some new dishes. Tonight I’m making cold Thai noodles with a sauce including tahini instead of the usual peanut butter. I’ll throw in some tofu (I’m on a protein kick, remember?) and some sugar snap peas I picked up at Costco the other day and have a fab dinner. Excited.

Nancy, I’m sorry you were feeling a little blue but impressed at how quickly you perked up – by reading about how everyone feels that way :laugh:. Yeah, I won’t be having sticky buns again!

Gail, good for at least walking around the house – it’s a good way to stay warm too!

Joy, I hope you have fun with the Zumba – even if you feel like a complete klutz it’s a blast. At least you get a second chance to be a fun parent . As for running, I’ve never been a runner but I wasn’t losing weight from walking no matter how far I walked. Once I started cardio I found I was able to expand my lung capacity and now mix running and walking with ease. Practice, practice, practice. I have read there’s no better exercise for cardio than running, but you need to mix it up with resistance training (weights) because running won’t build muscle.

Lila, lol at Mooker’s post. My cat does that every afternoon around happy hour.

Lori H, how true for the acrostic! The hummus wrap sounds yummy too – I’m going to have to try that.

DebA, yes to what your specialist told you. I tend to retain belly fat when my carbs are too high so am trying to keep them in the 40% range. Interval training is the new rage too .

Renny, congratulations on those new babies! How fun.

Judy, how fun that your children are helping cook and clean up. The dinner with your dad sounds like it was a huge success. What is a Cosmosize class? It sounds . . . um, like it could be really interesting :laugh:. A little word of advice: if you have a sensitivity to msg and sodium, watch out for using packaged spice mixes and dressings – they’re usually full of it. If you can try using straight spices instead.

Barbie, thanks for the story/background. My story is very similar – lots of walking but no real shift in weight, just barely keeping below 200. For me it was the combination too – increasing my exercising, especially adding in cardio and weights, along with tracking calories religiously. I had to give up the empty calories as I don’t have a lot of room for anything but nutritious food before I hit my daily limit. I’m not afraid of any food but I know I don’t have a lot of wiggle room, so I try to keep my portions small and most of my meal nutritionally dense, and I add in extra exercise wherever I can for those splurges.

Robin, your travels and interview are all coming up fast! You’re going to have so much fun – and best wishes on the interview. I’ll be sending lots of powerful vibes to you.

Eileen, what a great picture! You look lovely.

Laura, I had a weekend like that too, but I didn’t do it at the Brown Palace, darn it! How wonderful to see your son perform there and just be in the building – it’s such a wonderful place. Enjoy your week!

Ohiomom, good for you for sticking to healthy choices. Glad you were able to help your DD. I’ll tell a story about my DD in a sec.

Julie, keep trying! When I first started really exercising last summer I felt like I had been beaten with a baseball bat (I think I keep saying this over and over - sorry). I couldn't do any pushups from my toes and had to do "girl pushups" too, and even then I was weak. I just kept trying, getting stronger, and now I can do so much that I would never have believed possible. You can do this!

Last night DD called me on her way home very upset. She works at a Montessori school with an on-site daycare, but yesterday was an in-service day so they didn’t have the kids or daycare kids, just the employees. As a result the daycare was condensed and on part-staff, none of which DD knew. She went to drop off DGD and discovered she was being put into a room with much older children and three young girls she had never seen before. Long story short, the girls didn’t know they were supposed to do things like change diapers or give the babies water, and they couldn’t put them down because the room wasn’t adequately child-proofed for babies (DGD is 15mos), so the babies didn’t get to play or run around. DD was very upset – she’s still in new-mama mode. I felt bad that I couldn’t do anything for her except just listen – one of those moments I so wished I lived down the street from her so I could keep DGD on those days. However, she got home, took DGD out to play with the neighborhood kids, then we skyped so I “ate dinner” with DGD and watched her run around with the dog. She’s getting so big! I commiserate with those who are far from their beloved children and grandchildren and am so jealous of those who are closer – enjoy all those moments while you can!

Cheers,

M.

:flowerforyou: Tuesday Greeting Vit F,

Only a moment to catch up and say Hi as I have a new hire coming in shortly and I have to process him.

Last night I decided I was going to hit our weight machine and this morning I'm a bit sore, but it's the good kind of sore and in places that I usually don't have aches. It was good to be back in the routine of coming home from work and doing a workout and then fixing dinner with hubby. it's always so much nicer when we do it together.:happy:

Work continues to plague me and I best get to it, it seems that there aren't enough hours in the day to get it all done and I'm just not willing to stay past my time when my commute home takes almost an hour and I'd actually rather be working out than working sitting at a desk:ohwell:

Have a good day all let's keep moving, drinking that water (it really does make a difference) and logging your food:drinker:

Laura 80111 in Colorado

Good morning!

Nancy,you can't even be uniquely depressed :laugh: Oh that's a good one. It's certainly a tough time right now, depths of winter, bills due, etc. I waltzed right through Blue Monday in a pretty good frame of mind, thanks to a full day with my wonderful students who have a way of bringing out the best in me.

Lori, the CRAP list is a good reminder. Definitely a bunch of no-nos there. Focus on real FOOD! And water! :drinker:

Juilie, even the "girlie" pushups from the knees are not easy at first. Do a few every couple of days for a week, maybe start with 5 or a number you can handle without screaming. Increase the following week and keep track. I'm doing 30 every other day now, in 3 sets of 10. When I first started I could barely do 2.

Barbie, I enjoyed your story. :flowerforyou: It's truly amazing when we look back at how far we've come on this journey!

Deb A, I'm right there with you in wanting to get rid of the belly fat. I can still grab hold of a considerable amount! :ohwell: Jogging and walking in intervals is truly a great workout, I feel the best when I do that routine regularly.

SueBDew, chips and me are terrible housemates! :grumble: They stare at me, relentlessly, begging my attention. I do my best to ignore them completely. Last week I had great success keeping them at bay.

Katla, it's been nice seeing the blue sky hasn't it! I've been loving every second of it. Freezing and foggy here again this morning, but I hear it's supposed to warm up a bit and start raining again. Oh for the love of Oregon.

Lila, had a little helper there, did you? Mookers is quite talented. All those 5's with no mistakes! :bigsmile:

Sunshine, (Joy) Oh you had quite a workout! Walked 4 miles AND went to Zumba! Wowie! Cold showers, ugh! :noway: And that box of chocolates, grrrr. They call my name whenever they show up around here, too.

Upstairs I go to do Yoga. Aerobics on the agenda as well this morning, and if I wasn't such a wimp I'd go run a few laps around the track. Too cold out there! I'll run with the terrier later, he's good for a 40-45 minute non-stop jog as long as I give him plenty of time beforehand to do his male dog sniff-n-mark routine. I've been doing squats while he's busy with that.

Remember it's Tuesday good-news-day! Do good!

Stay warm, stay happy, stay focused and bright,
For today is good-news day, all day, until night.

jb from frosty Portland

I'm going to try my very first Zumba class today. I am so excited and went to the exercise part to see how many calories I could burn and Zumba was not there under cardio. Does anyone else do Zumba? How do you count the calories?

Tusen Takk (a thousand thanks!)
Joy

Hi Joy. I found a website how to count Zumba calories: http://caloriesburnedhq.com/zumba-calories-burned/
If MFP does not have anything on its database, you can create it. Looks like great fun!

Weigh-in this morning did not see any changes on the scale :grumble: However, DH remarked yesterday how my belly had gone down. Of course, I already knew that, since I can now do up some jackets I could not before :laugh: Besides, as was previously commented, I am more than a number on the scale.

Walking at lunch time is on the menu today.

:flowerforyou: Have a Terrific Tuesday!

Rebel
Vancouver Island, BC

Sooo cold here in Virginia but got the little dog out for a short walk.
I have always heard that 3 miles a day is the way to lose weight and stay fit. It can be really hard
to get that in, but I'm inspired by your stories and I love to walk!

I was at Costco and saw the Jillian Michaels 30 day Shred video so I thought I'd give it a try. I really enjoyed it yesterday...
and today I'm so sore! haha! It's a good sore though and I felt like I accomplished something on my road to fitness.

Have a great day ladies!

xoxo
Tammy