WOMEN AGES 50+ FOR AUGUST

Good morning ladies!
Was reading posts and wanted to make a suggestion that I do and helps me when I am eating.

Peggy mentioned a lot of things to do while eating, but for me also, presentation is important too. Whenever I prepare my meals I make them look as appealing as possible, almost like I would get in a restaurant. You know how when they lay the plate down in front of you and it looks so pretty and yummy? By doing that at home it makes me feel like I am treating myself special. (Just like going to a restaurant for a meal is special) I arrange things on my plate just so, cut things up and arrange things by color to make it look pretty. So when I sit down I am happy about what I am about to eat just because it looks great.
The other thing I do like Peggy said is always eat at the dining room table. But I take it one step further. I never eat watching TV or even leave it on in the other room. I don't even look at my computer to read anything, but I will put my screen saver on with the little fishes swimming around for relaxation or I turn on soft music. I pay attention to my meal, enjoy it, taste it, and my mind recognizes the fact that I am eating all this food and kind of makes it accountable that I have been fed and am full. Where as if I am paying attention to say the TV while eating I eat it without realizing I am eating and its gone before I know it and I don't feel satisfied and notice I am hungry for a snack later. It's all psychological I suppose, but it's really about conditioning your mind and way of thinking about food. It helps me.

MacMadame

I have to agree with you on the veggies vs. protein for snacks. I too notice if I have a serving of string cheese or some other little protein for a snack I can go longer between meals without getting hungry. Veggies, Like the carrots you mentioned don't satisfy me for a couple of hours like the protein does. If I eat veggies for a snack I ma hungry again quickly. Protein seems to last longer with me and I think my body benefits from it for the energy it provides for the body between meals. If I do eat veggies between meals I will have it with hummus or a bit of peanut butter (protein) and I am fine. Not to say I don't like veggies, becasue I do. As a matter of fact I pile up on them at meals, but once again I am eating protein even then.

One thing I noticed this month after my weigh in. In July I couldn't get enough calories to reach 1200 and keeping my carbs at 120. I averaged between 900 and a 1000 and was getting warnings from MFP about starvation mode, That month I weighed in I thought I would lose a lot of weight because of the low calorie intake. Wrong!!

I was frustrated, and talked to a friend who is on a 1200 calorie diet but with only 40 carbs allowed. I asked her how she managed to get the calories with that and she said protein. Hard cheese, chicken, tuna, fish, protein shakes, protein. protein, protein! So I told my doctor ( who happens to run marathons) and she said yes that's right. So this month I added more protein and my calories went up to 1200 and carbs stayed where they were supposed to. Plus I didn't add the carbs I get from fruit. Major change in my weigh in. I was actually worried when I went in to weigh because I was eating a lot more calories this time, more food. I lost more weight this time! As a matter of fact when the nurse told me how much I just stared at her and it didn't register at first. My mind was trying to calculate how much I lost, but I couldn't figure it out because inside I was panicking that I didn't do well. She finally looked at me directly and told me again. I was shocked. I don't know, but I think this protein thng is important and it works obviously for me. So I will see how I do next month and eat a lot more veggies too.

Chiclet:flowerforyou:

My dear friends,
I have not read your posts yet, but wanted to take a moment to let you know about the wedding. It was soooooo wonderful. Everything went perfectly and exactly as planned. Weather was great and dry. Melissa was the happiest bride I have ever seen. I t was everything I had ever imagined a wedding could be. I am getting pictures to post soon. Now to get back on track with eating and exercising. Hope all is well with all of you. Will start reading posts soon. Had guests that stayed until this afternoon and now I am babysitting till 7.
linda

Greeting to everyone!!!:smooched: I have been so so busy and so so struggling! :noway: I had a very busy weekend with about 30 people coming over my house on Sunday :noway: .........with ALL THE ITALIAN GOODIES!!!! I got up and exercised but was not as disciplined as I hoped to be.:frown: Yesterday, I drank lots of water,:flowerforyou: exercised :flowerforyou: and kept the food very clean. :flowerforyou: I DID send all the goodies home with everybody as little treats for them to enjoy when they got home!!:laugh: Today has also been a good day. Tomorrow I get weighed.:embarassed: ...and after having such a challenging week:ohwell: ...I can't say I'm looking forward to it.:frown: But it IS part of my discipline to face the scale NOW rather than 6 mos.....and 20 pounds from now!!!:noway:
I'll let you know how I did tomorrow.

Have a great day everyone!!!
BirdieM

:flowerforyou: Jackie so glad the scale moved for you.

Your cruise sounds like it will be fun. I'm with you an MFP cruise with a special chef and a fitness trainer would be fun:drinker:

You Mom sounds like a hoot! I just hope I'm that way when I'm her age, I'd love to see what my sons would say about their mother acting that way

Everyone have a good evening.
Laura

I to experience the "sofa effect" although I use a recliner and keep my legs up. I have been trying to do stepping during the commercials, not even every commercial, but at this point some of them. So I admire your resolve to not sit on the sofa for more than an hour. I often spend 4 hours watching TV or reading in the evenings, so every little bit helps. Fidgeting helps too.:laugh:

Laura - I don't know if you have any of these stores near you, but Sears has a petite dept, so does Kohl's (it's pretty small), even TJ Maxx, the Ross by me has a small dept. Some Dress Barns have a petite dept, not the one by me but one about an hours drive from me does. I understand that Penney's will be carrying more of the Liz Clairborn line of clothes, some of those things are nice. The TJ Maxx by me used to have a separate petite dept, but the store moved to a new location and now the petites are interspersed with the misses sizes. That's a real pain, you find something you like and then "oops, not a petite". I don't shop there much anymore. The SteinMart has a SMALL dept, not sure if you have them by you or not.

mimi - good shopping at TJ Maxx! I love to go shopping, even if it's just window shopping.

A hearty welcome to Mags, Sharon and Roberta

barbiecat - I'm surprised how much sodiium is in veggie burgers. Like they say...live and learn....and die a fool! That's why I was wondering if there was a brand that was lower in sodium or perhaps someone has a recipe (with the nutritionals) for making them and then freezing them. I'm thinking that I will probably have a few in the freezer just for emergencies.

About a mister: here's a question for anyone who owns one of those Misto misters. What does it mean when the oil is coming out in a stream, not a spray? Does that mean that you have too much pressure?

mimi - thanks too for the reminder why it's so necessary to exercise.

chicklet - the stores (Sears, etc) that I go to have a petite department, separate from the misses. It's unfortunately usually very small....:( That is, unless I go to Talbott's Petite, but even when their clothing is on sale, it's waaayyy too expensive (to me, anyway)

Another rant:
Went to a Y board meeting today. I am totally against their newest proposal. They have a building for the Teen Center. First, they want to change the name and just take out the word "teen". That I don't have a problem with. However, they are considering if we should be able to rent out this center and allow people to bring their own alcohol. To me, that's not at all in keeping with the Y's ideals. There are signs up that say "we are a tobacco and drug free zone". So what kind of message is this sending "oh, alcohol is OK since we're not providing it". Really, what's the difference? Then will tobacco be OK as long as you bring your own? Same with drugs. Legally, we won't be liabel if someone leaves intoxicated and kills someone since we won't be serving them, but can you imagine the PR? You KNOW it'll be in the paper, and to be even remotely associated with such an incident? I think they're just seeing dollar signs but there are unanticipated consequences, and I for one believe we're opening ourselves up to bad PR. If they go ahead with this, wouldn't surprise me one bit if some of the people pulled their membership. Remember this is the bible belt, so alcohol is even less tolerated. A while ago in trying to cut costs, they were going to stop having soap, but evidentally according to the health dept. they're required to. But members complained! One time I was exercising in just a sports bra and shorts, I was told that I needed to cover up. If people complain about this and about the loss of soap, can you imagine what it would be like if they suddenly allowed alcohol?????

Jeannie - I have these downloadable workouts (cardiocoach.com) that I use for the spinning bike. Really, it's for treadmills, etc. He may not say things like "now put your hands in first position" but he does say things like "now we're climbing the hill". Depending on the time and if you can use the bike when a class isn't in session, that may work for you, you can do it before the class starts so that you don't have to leave early (and you haven't had a chance to stretch or cool down)

Since Bryan needed my car to get to work, I couldn't stay for the spinning class but did a Leslie Sansone 5 mile fat burn workout at home. I'm surprised how fast that DVD goes by. Seems you just start and you're already on mile 3 Tomorrow, tho, I'm going to another branch of the Y for the deep water class. Just maybe....this will help spur Vince on to getting my pool in. (I hope, I hope)

I've been listening to an audiobook "The End of Overeating" whenever I do the treadmill or elliptical. It's quite interesting. Honestly, I'll probably listen to the book a few times since on the iPod you can't go back and listen to something that you missed.

annitin - perhaps you can ask your son a question for me. How do I word this? When I look at myself in the mirror, my right side goes in (under the ribs) but the left side doesn't. It's as if there was fat on the left side. I don't feel any kind of tumor or anything. What am I doing wrong?

I, too, really enjoy reading everyone's goings on, their lives. This is one of the highlights of my day. I've also learned a thing or two (like how important veggies are)

Peggy - your hints are very good. One thing that I have a problem with is leaving something on my plate. I think this stems from the "empty plate" mentality growning up. What I do many times is have less (no roll or bread, veggies instead of the fries <and you get a lot less veggies>). Somehow, I just can't bring myself to leave food on my plate. But I don't have a problem requesting less food.

SuzyQ - I hear ya about hubby complaining about his waffles. I prefer to have the Fiber One, but Vince wants the regular ones (I was amazed how much oil you have to put in them!). What I do now is I make waffles one time the mix he likes but I freeze one for him, the next time the mix I like and he has his frozen one, I freeze one for me, so the following time I make his mix and freeze one and so on.....

McMadame - I try to have cabs and protein with each meal. Wish MFP would show you a pie chart (or even graph) of the cabs/fat/protein ratio that you had that day.

Say Amanda....would you send that Aussie over to NC????

You know, this afternoon I had some greek yogurt for lunch at around 1. Here it is, almost 6 and honestly, I'm not hungry. Yup, protein helps. But I also like my veggies

Well, tonight I went to play bunco with the Newcomers. The one and only time I played it, I thought it was a bit on the boring side. Then again, the people I was playing with were boring. So I thought I'd give it another try. It was fun. I brought fruit with me and the pissaladiere. The pissaladiere went completely, and I'm honestly surprised at how much of the fruit went. Honestly, I would consider hosting it at my house, but not for at least a few months. I just find it a bit surprising that the lady who hosted it made a dessert and I really had no desire for it. I only had a little, but what I really should have done was just declined it totally. I had mostly fruits, 2 pita chips, and halves of three of these appetizers. Oh, and some tomatoes. To drink I just had water. I thought I did pretty good. Yet, when I got home (surprisingly) couldn't wait to have a bit of corn on the cob. Interesting.....my taste buds seem to have changed somewhat.

Guess it's almost time for beddybye. So take care all. Have a great rest of the evening.

Michele

Michele -I read your post after I posted and had to comment!

I am SO with you about the alcohol being brought into the Y. What are they thinking??? I hope they understand the possible consequences of that decision!:noway:

Think I will do a Leslie Sansone right now - LOVE HER!!!
Bec

You know, this afternoon I had some greek yogurt for lunch at around 1. Here it is, almost 6 and honestly, I'm not hungry. Yup, protein helps. But I also like my veggies

Michele

I've never had that. Is the taste much different from the "regular" yogurt?

Hello my lovely friends.

Before I forget - Michele, no I can't spare my Aussie at present - I'm hoping he'll clean the rest of the house before he goes home!! Also, absolutely no way for the Y and alcohol. That way madness lies.

The water with food topic.... before my surgery in February, I used to drink constantly whilst eating. Now I don't and I stay fuller for much, much longer. Very good idea to separate the two.

I had my therapy appointment this morning. My therapist is brilliant. I feel so much better after talking with her today. It really helps me with my perspective. After that I went to visit mum-in-law. She is quite convinced that she has moved. I've tried to gently tell her that it is the same room that she has always been in since she moved into the nursing home over a year ago, but she sees things very differently. We have found that the best thing to do, is not press it, otherwise she gets agitated. Once I left there, I visited my dad. He's a little happier than yesterday and was busy watching a TV programme and made it quite clear that he didn't want to be interrupted! I cleared up a little for him and then came home. I'll pop by to see him again this evening on the way back from visiting mum-in-law again. It does seem as if I'm running back and forth between various parents at present.

Ok ladies, any suggestions on food for a baby shower (we don't have such things over here - but DD#2 has arranged something similar for DD#1). We'd like to do healthy food - but fun. I'd love a healthified cupcake recipe that we could decorate in pink and blue. Also cookies - I've got cutters in the shape of a little boy and a little girl to denote the sex of the twins.

I've never been to a baby shower! DD#2 is holding it at her house on 10/10/10 - which would have been my Mum's 75th birthday. She said that it would make it feel like 'Mia is here'. Mia is what the grandchildren all called my mum. It came about because my mum was with me when I was in labour with my two daughters (their dad was drunk, if I remember rightly!) anyway, on my file the midwife wrote 'Mother in attendance', which became shortened to Mia and stuck for ever. Cute, eh?

Looks like it's going to start to rain again, so I'm going to rescue my washing from the garden.

Have a great day please.

Amanda x

Just checking in as I said I would.:ohwell: The scale was up 2 pounds, which was no suprise. The good news is that I am trying the roasted veggies that everyone has been talking about! I'm going to step back and regroup about my food choices and make a few changes. According to MFPs total sugar intake....I'm over before breakfast is done! Isn't 25 grams a day low????
I have 3/4 C of Honey nut cheerios with a banana, 1/2 C of 1% milk and an Activia yougurt.:ohwell: May need to rethink that one but I've been doing it for over a year and lost all that weight:huh: Hmmm..... Sometimes it's time to turn a new page and try something else. I think the time has come.
Have a great day everyone. (I'm at work....as usual...so this needs to be brief).
God Bless all!
BirdieM

Hi, I joined yesterday and I will be 50 in December, that is part of my motivation. The other part is that I'm tired of seeing whom I've become in the mirror. I want to live the second half of my life as happy and healthy as I've lived the first half. I know it won't happen if I don't' do something about it. Last year was the 30 yr class reunion and I lost 15 lbs for it, and then gained 20 back after the parties were over. My youngest is a Senior in High School, my oldest has been off to college for 3 years, my husband and I talk 80% of the time so loud that the dog leaves the room. I have gotten sadder by the day which leads to whine & wine, neither of which are healthy on a regular basis. I want to take control and get back to the strong, confident, happy ,self sufficient & HEALTHY women I once was. Today is day 2. My short term goal is on December 16th, my 50th Birthday, I will be 35 lbs lighter. and 80 decimals happier. My long term goal is to be 45 lbs lighter and stronger physicaly and emotionally, and stay that way as long as God allows.

Welcome same10lbs. I"ll be 50 in September and like you that was my motivation to lose some wt!

My exercise routine is going great, I love exercise! But I"m kinda depressed because I"ve been working so stinkin' hard with very little results as far as the scale goes. I'm getting tired and cranky. My eating is so much better but when I weighed today it just pissed me off big time that the scale isn't moving (did I mention crabby???) I said WTH, I"m working my *kitten* off, pushing myself so dang hard for nothing? I know I would be better off thinking positive thoughts like the good things I"m doing for my health with exercise and eating better. A couple of people have recently asked me if I"m losing wt so I guess something is changing. I"m journaling my food (not always on MFP though because I don't always have the time) I have a desk job so that means even though I exercise I"m still consumimg more calories than I"m burning most days. Gotta move more and eat less. My new goal is to get up more throughout the day, get away from this computer and phone at work. Desk jobs are the worst!

Hello All,

Has anyone else had trouble with the MFP's website in the last couple of days? I have been trying to logon to the message boards and it just disappears when I do...I can get on any other website I want to except this one...!!! Wierd. I have logged my food using my phone (which takes forever) and now it has let me on. Amazing how much I missed being able to read everyone's posts when I couldn't!!! I was hurrying so much to read, in case it shut off, that I am not remembering some of the ones I wanted to reply to!!! Except:

Barb: Thanks for your suggestion re the second scale for MT. It is a good suggestion. I hate to have a scale in my suitcase BUT I do need another one there. 3 weeks without one just doesnt work for me!

Birdie: You and I are both in the same boat EXCEPT that you made it to your goal before you regained 2 pounds. Good for you for staying with it...you are showing us how to do it! Regarding breakfast...for many years I did great with a similar breakfast to yours. I have found, now, that the best breakfast for me now is either oatmeal with a bit of fruit chopped in and a few walnuts OR an egg with a toasted whole wheat muffin, sandwich thin or some such. The cereal and/or yogurt doesn't seem to hold me as long and I tend to be hungrier all day. (I love yogurt as an afternoon snack). And I agree with you about the sugar totals on MFP...they just are not right with regards to fruit!

Amanda: The shower sounds like such fun! I love baby showers!

Same10lbs: Welcome...and love your "name"....we all relate!

Mimi: Your new quarters sound just wonderful! How exciting! I love new spaces...Keep us posted!

Linda: Can't wait to see the wedding photos. Are you still up in the clouds?

MacMadame: Interesting thought about not drinking water WITH meals...I always drink lots of everything with meals and never thought about that. (I also drink all day long...always have...water, coffee, tea...you name it...and I pay the price every night by getting up and down...but, I guess I am used to it!) I will TRY to eat without so much to drink and see what happens?

We all seem to love Leslie S. I am going to put on my tennies and do her 4 fast miles right now. I HAVE to get rid of these extra 2 pounds FAST so I can get on to the other ones. Have a wonderful day, eveyone! Kackie

Hi Ladies:
I would like to join the group. How does this exactly work?
I have been doing the program since July 2010.
Still trying to get the scale to go down.
I have logged for 15 days so far and am down 2 lbs.
but kind of stuck right now on that number.
Any suggetions? The support would be wonderful.

Jackie,
Just popping in to suggest a solution to your nail problems, for the future anyway. I assume they have supplements in UK that are similar to what are available in the States. There are supplements available that help nails, and in the process, skin and hair as well. Biotin is an important mineral that is needed for nail growth. Some people swear by having an envelope of Knox gelatin dissolved into a drink everyday. I have had good luck with a supplement that includes biotin, or you can get biotin by itself over here.

Welcome to newbies.

Rebel,
I think you, and me, and Barbiecat, and Robin and Kathy (and there may be one more person in our thread who is north of Seattle, but I can't remember who:ohwell: :ohwell: ) need to figure out a way to end up at the same place at the same time. For myself, until I get an "enhanced" driver license, that will allow me to cross into Canada without a passport (which I don't have), I can't travel into BC. I was planning on getting the license to travel later in the Fall, but I don't see that happening. My cousins have never followed up on any of the suggestions I made for meeting, and I won't be in a position to travel once I go back to work.

Maybe what we need to do is plan to meet in the vicinity of Seattle sometime? That is fairly easy for everyone to get to, and even though I am the farthest away, it is only about a 3 hour drive, depending on where we end up. Even up to October the weather is usually pretty good. And they say we are probably in for good weather into October because we had such a wet spring. We can hope.:flowerforyou:

If anyone else has an interest in doing this, how about some suggestions as to where, and what we might do? Maybe someplace where we can do some walking? And find a healthy place for lunch? OR, it may not be practical, but we could also consider meeting at someone's house (not mine, as it is WAAY out of the way for everyone else-sorry) so we could have a potluck with a giant gabfest. That way we would have control over what we ate and how it was prepared. Depending on everyone's schedule, maybe a MFP slumber party--assuming it was too much of a roundtrip to do everything in one day??

Speaking of working, as I did earlier, I won't be starting my new position until after Labor Day. After thinking of obligations my parents have for medical appointments, and my own hesitancy, after talking to my doctor, I arranged to postpone the start of my training until the second week of September. I am starting a new medication that has a possible side effect of drowsiness, and my doctor figured I needed a few weeks to adjust to it.

Anyway, today, is grocery shopping day for my mom, so I have to hit the store. Shouldn't take too long as I will only have to go to one store this week.

BFN

Barb