WOMEN AGES 50+ FOR SEPTEMBER

Hello Everyone
It's been weeks since I have posted. I'll bet I missed 500 posts.
I live 3 miles from the San Bruno fire and worked Friday and Saturday all day at the shelter for evacuees. My job was preparing food and feeding people (LOL). On Friday we served 780 meals and on Saturday about 500. Met Mrs. Schwarzenegger (Maria Shriver) since Arnold was in China. Amazing outpouring of support. Media all over the place. Here's the link where they gave me my 5 seconds of fame: http://www.kcra.com/video/24962990/detail.html
I have gained about 2 pounds but I'm ready to rock and roll back on the wagon again. So keep me in your good thoughts!

This is my group; I'm 54 and need to loose ~ 25 lbs. and am so sick of the yoyo weight down 2 up 5 dance routine. Today I walked 2.5 miles and was 247 calories according to my Omron pedometer. I did a lot of running around and bought 5 lb hand weights so now I have 3.3 lbs, 5 & 8lbs. The 8lbs are to heavy; I don't feel like I can do upper extremity exercises correctly with them and 5 lbs felt right, 6 lbs to heavy. I will record now and figure out if I can eat more...feeling like I need protein. I did my measurements and not to pretty but oh well so it is. :ohwell: Reading everyone's signature and favorite quotes is very helpful. Bless all of you and count me in for needing support and would love to be uplifting for others.

BARB, Glad to hear your eye is doing at least a little bit better. Hang in there, Hubby's best friend was having such problems seeing he wasn't allowed to drive, but thanks to injections (and I don't know what all) he is now legal to drive again.

Today I still have a mild carb withdrawl headache and am still a bit sore from zumba, but am encouraged to see the scale finally moving down again. Course I've gained and lost the same 3 pounds ever since April. If I can get below 159 and STAY there, I"ll know I found something that is working. :drinker:

Just had a piece of cinnamon raisin Ezekiel Bread and am about to go mow the yard, then walk Sophie. I don't take Muffin every time anymore because she gives out and then I have to carry her over half the way. Over half the way is lease roads where we walk through deep sand, so it makes for quite a workout. A walk on the beach without the water! :glasses:

I had my yearly checkup at the OBGYN's today and he said it's the healthiest he's seen me since he met me 7 years ago!!! :blushing: :bigsmile:


Back to work!:ohwell:

BirdieM
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Birdie - How wonderful! What a great way to have all your hard work acknowledged.

Jeannie

Today was my weigh in day and the scale is up 2 pounds.:frown: I HAVE been a bit sloppy:blushing: and gone over my calories a few times, so I’m not surprised.:ohwell: But I’m not worried about it, because I know what to do to get those nasty little pounds back off!:flowerforyou: :drinker: :drinker: :drinker: That’s the beauty of monitoring your weight. :happy: Before I joined MFP, I’d let it slip and slip and slip....and then I’d be afraid to get on the scale:noway: and go into denial.:indifferent: That’s when I gain 20 pounds back or more. :explode: Now I’m on top of things in a way that does not overwhelm me. Now instead of having to take some long and difficult journey to get to where I want to be......I just need to take little tiny baby steps in order to see the positive results I want. :bigsmile: It’s soooo much easier.

Mimi, as far as feeling “normal”....that is quite different to each person. To me.....feeling “normal” is not having food rule my life for the good OR the bad. Feeling free to go anywhere without panicking about what’s being served...... walking down the street and just blending in and wearing clothes that DON’T have to be layered etc. For me, I’d also like for my BMI to be in the “normal” zone. But....really life is too short to do so much laboring over the moment and what’s normal and what’s not. It’s all quite relative. But what’s important, is for you to be aiming for that spot in time... where you are comfortable with who you are, what your weight is, how much activity you want to do etc. In the meantime.....it’s really important to love yourself right where you are even though you’re journeying to someplace else. :bigsmile: Someone once said “A truly happy person, is the one who can enjoy the scenery on a detour”.:happy: “Normal” is a very relative thing! Enjoy the moment....and you’ll know “Normal” when you meet it.:flowerforyou:

BirdieM

Welcome, Rosie! :flowerforyou: I'm sorry you're going through a difficult time (Re: your BFF) but you've come to a warm, witty and wonderful group of women, who will cry with you and rejoice with you :bigsmile: as well as help you in any way we can.:flowerforyou: No experts here. ...just women in the same boat sharing a common journey to a healthier self!:bigsmile:
Good luck!!!
BirdieM:flowerforyou:

Rosie - I am so excited to have someone from my neck of the woods join! I'm in New Mexico. Hubby is from Tempe. Glad you are here. As it's been said this is a great group. Jeannie

A question for all you exercise experts . I was reading that the way exercise machines calibrate how many calories you burn (e.g. a treadmill, elliptical etc) is based on the person weighing 150 pounds. If this is true, then if you weigh MORE than 150, are you really burning MORE calories then it says? And if you weigh LESS than 150 are you burning FEWER calories than it says? Hmmmm:huh:

BirdieM

Hi everyone,
I am new to My Fitness Pal and am looking for some friends to help motivate me and we can talk about different subjects pertaining to weight and losing....... And other topiics.. I am over 50+ and would like to join your group.
I have been on various diets and am still struggling with gaining , losing etc etc... I am hoping this does help me . It would be nice to lose at least 25 lbs , maybe more and better my health... I just lost 6 pds on another weight loss plan but am trying this one since I was slipping on the other one...
My problem is once I lose it keeping it off. I have to learn to maintain it... But first I have to lose it... Everyone have a good week.

Hi I am new to MFP and would like to join 50+ groupe. I am not new to dieting plans. Have been on many, lost and gained back many times. would like to lose again at least 25 lbs are more and then maintain it this time around. I have recently lost 10 pounds but gained back 6 so I hope to lose what I gained and more on here.. I need friends to talk to and keep me motivated and on track... Everyone have a good week. I will weigh on Sat and hope I have lost at least one pound.

Hi LuckySue, welcome. I was on WW and struggling to get back to my goal weight for sooo long. I kept telling myself if I could only lose 4 more pounds I could get back to lifetime and not have to pay anymore, you would think that would be an incentive! Since I found this site I have indeed lost those pesky 4 pounds!! I realized that is is NOT just calorie counting, as I was going over my carbs and sugar according to my MFP journal. I set my goals on this site and try to stick with them and keep track of everything, not just calories. This site and the wonderful women and their support gave me the bump I needed to lose more weight. I'm sure it will work for you too!

Mimi, as far as feeling “normal”....that is quite different to each person. To me.....feeling “normal” is not having food rule my life for the good OR the bad. Feeling free to go anywhere without panicking about what’s being served...... walking down the street and just blending in and wearing clothes that DON’T have to be layered etc. For me, I’d also like for my BMI to be in the “normal” zone. But....really life is too short to do so much laboring over the moment and what’s normal and what’s not. It’s all quite relative. But what’s important, is for you to be aiming for that spot in time... where you are comfortable with who you are, what your weight is, how much activity you want to do etc. In the meantime.....it’s really important to love yourself right where you are even though you’re journeying to someplace else. :bigsmile: Someone once said “A truly happy person, is the one who can enjoy the scenery on a detour”.:happy: “Normal” is a very relative thing! Enjoy the moment....and you’ll know “Normal” when you meet it.:flowerforyou: :

THIS IS GOING TO BE A LONG POST!

:flowerforyou: BirdieM
I thought what you wrote here was so wise. This is what I was trying to say to you, about what you told me, and how it affected me. You just say it more eloquently
." But....really life is too short to do so much laboring over the moment and what’s normal and what’s not."

You see that is my problem and I suspect most of our problems, for those of us who have been overweight for all our lives. We never felt normal. We always were looked at or stared at, sometimes repulsively, as, "How could those people let themselves go like that or Fat people are lazy" or if they do give us a compliment, "You have such a pretty face though or nice personality, or fat people are so jolly:noway: What am I being compared to, Santa Claus?"
Stereotypes have followed us around all are lives and we begin to believe them. After hearing these things all your life we have been programmed to think we aren't "normal". We question ourselves saying, "What do normal people do? or What do normal people eat? What would a normal person do that I'm not doing. Something must be wrong with me."
That is why, when I first lost a 100 lbs on Jenny Craig, I had such a hard time "dealing" with being "normal". I knew I was the same person I always had been inside, but people were treating me different now and were "Nicer" to me. I was part of the "in group, Normal". This hurt my feelings so badly and I actually resented those people for treating me better! Why couldn't they like me just as much when I was heavy?? And I am not talking about men asking me out, (which suddenly was happening), I'm just talking about people in general that I dealt with everyday. It was so traumatic to me that I gained all the weight back and then some. All those people were like, "Why are you letting yourself go!"

What I realize now is that, I was not mentally prepared for being my correct weight. Notice I didn't say "Normal weight"? I have noticed that this time around I am not thnking like a "normal person" but as a healthy person. I am not thinking I am on a "diet". I am just eating healthy foods, in the correct portions, in the correct way (watching carbs, fat, fiber etc.) with the correct tools and people to help. Now when I go to the grocery store and I see the supposed "normal" people with their baskets, I notice they aren't necessarily eating healthy. they have junk food and not many vegetables and such like I do. Most of the people, I think are "dieting", sacrificing", "binging", or "starving" themselves when they need to lose weight to compensate for the junk they are eating. I remember a line in the movie, The Devil Wears Prada" where Emily, who was constantly dieting, was told by another girl that she looked so thin. She was estatic, and said, "Really? I am on this new diet, where basically I don't eat anything and when I start to feel like I am going to pass out, I eat a cube of cheese." :huh:

But even still I notice I have barriers to break that still exist in the "programming". When I wrote I was goiing to go out for pizza the other day and I freaked out, you made me realize that I was thinking along the lines of "dieting" and that I simply couldn't eat Pizza! But that isn't true. You made me see that I had to "compensate" for it. Fit it in to the way I am eating now. That is healthy eating choices. Sometimes the things that we see as HUGE barriers are really no big deal when you hear from someone else how to deal with it, like you did for me. I'm sure there will be more barriers, that I will have pop up now and then. But with this site and the people on it , I now know they are here to help me, guide me and be there for me during the rough times and deprogramming. Finally, how you ended what you were saying really says it all. I am going to wriet this down and put it on my refrigerator and on my bathroom mirror.
“A truly happy person, is the one who can enjoy the scenery on a detour”.:happy: “Normal” is a very relative thing! Enjoy the moment....and you’ll know “Normal” when you meet it."

I am going to be a happy person!:happy:

:flowerforyou: Mimi

So Mimi, I hold you in such high regard, and was a little taken aback that the Veggie Queen was thinking "normal thoughts". You have the most correct way of eating and thinking that I know. Proof is in the fact that everybody here holds you in such a high regard also. You are together, woman!! It was humbling to see that even the Veggie Queen thought like the rest of us once n a while, in some small ways. But you know what, I think everyone would benefit from doing a food diary and I am talking about the "normal people" too. Maybe if everybody did this there wouldn't be a need to do the crazy diets that are out there or have the so called "Diet foods" that actually do more harm than good. Everyone would be eating healthy as you do. Remember you told me logging food in to a diary was a tool.
Were not dieting, we are eating healthy, and using the proper tools to guide us and keep us on track. We are the "normal" people. By dong this we will never allow ourselves to gain tons of weight back because we are being responsible and accountable. You taught me that, MImi. I have told you that you are my Guru. And I am so proud to have you on my side. Keep up the good work and we all missed you so much. I am glad you are back again.

Chiclet

:happy: So happy to report the carb monster is back under lock and key and I am ending the day with a few calories to spare.

Morning ladies.

I'm hitting the ground running today, as I'm off to work in a few minutes (so strange to be 'going' to work instead of doing it all at home) Yesterday went well and I'm ready for another busy day in the gallery today. I will be there all by myself all day, so I'm making sure that I've got some good choice food with me.

I'll try to get back on later. Have a great day eveyone please.

Amanda x