WOMEN AGES 50+ FOR NOVEMBER 2013

not only did I not lose weight this week 'I actually gained half a pound. I am feeling very stressed waiting for the surgery on Nov 26 so perhaps that is why. I will have to be more diligent with logging and measuring my food and exercise and vow to do better this week. Slept 10 hours last night and now feel too groggy. this must be what depression feels
Ike.

Have a great sun all.Going to church.Hopefully,they will know details for the 2 members that died yesterday.
HUGS
jane

Nov 10th, what I am thankful for today. I am so thankful for the world of books. If you have a book, you can go anywhere. I wasn't a good reader when I was a little girl so my Mom would sit me on the kitchen counter and have me read to her as she was cooking. I guess that's why I never learned how to cook!!! But as a preacher's family, the library is free, good exercise to walk to it and you have to learn how to take care of some one else's things, return it in time or pay the consequences. She she taught us a lot of things by teaching us how to read. At the library you can discover so many genres of books that you would never consider on your own. Personally I have settled on romance, historical romance, Christian romance,mysteries, started out with Nancy Drew and the Hardy boys, love Robin Cook medical thrillers. Oddly enough I also like some history books about some of the atrocities that we have put on others such as slavery and the Halocost. I love the 'coffee table' books where I can just go to far off places and visit castles, oceans, galaxies, all of Gods creations. I was so glad that both my girls took after me instead of their Dad and also loved reading. My grand kids are worse than me! The oldest, Trinity, kind of reminds me of myself, nose always in a book. Mom always kept a big old crock in the bathroom that would be filled with books or magazines of some kind that you could just go some where else. usually that meant that you weren't in the kitchen washing dishes also. My youngest brother learned that trick. Notional Geographic, The World Book encyclopedia, anything. They went in that crock for us to read.

I don't know how I am having bowel movements without my high fiber this week but I'm actually going to have to cut out my stool softener out so that I don't have so much diarrhea. But hey, at least I'm moving.

When they would have those patriotic services around this time of year and play all of the anthems for the different branches of the military, we were so proud as a family. We stood up for each anthem. My Dad was so proud of his service in the Army/Air force. He wanted to be a pilot so bad but was color blind so he was stationed in Guam and kept the planes in good repair. he did see his good share of what was could do with everything he had to clean out of the planes when they came back down. I was glad that my husband didn't see any active duty during the Vietnam war. those veterans just weren't treated right and have so many horror stories. He joined the Navy, trained as a medic but the Marines needed medics so they took him and he was stationed here in the states on different ships or Marine bases. My ex SIL is still in the Army National Guard and I know has PTSD but they still take him. My brother was a lifer in the Navy. He served as one of the guys that ran whatever was in the nuclear subs. all we know is that there were many times when he was totally off the radar which meant that they were in trouble and had to go down to the bottom of the ocean so as not to be detected. He still is not able to talk about what all he did. Not that he isn't can't emotionally but legally it's classified.

Sylvia, you lake retreat sounds so wonderful. You make me want to go right up there and be your own personal nurse until you get your procedure done.

As I was driving home from the Y today I was thinking about all the things you guys are doing to fix up, shut down or waht ever and it made me realize that I need to make a list of what all needs to be done here. Some of them are just little things. Others are BIG. But they require DH to open up that back pocket and spend money. He thinks we can redo our kitchen for about $1000. HA HA. Add another zero to that and it still won't be done the way I want it. And I saw that the neighbors behind our house has added a very simple screened in back porch. Oh, how heavenly to sit back there with a book, my cat and maybe a little heater if needed. Enough zabbering for now.

Joyce, Indiana

Today was a great day. Went to Aquafit this morning while my DD worked out on the elliptical machine. I dropped off my medical note so that I can book another session with my personal trainer now that she's back from vacation.

Did the grocery shopping, cleaned the fridge and did a bit of cooking. DD did all the laundry today.

I had a nice chat with DS, he's looking for a new job. The company he works for just brought in the union and he's not happy with the changes that are going on. His gf found another job and is bartending.

It's going to be another busy week.

Have a great night.

Sandy from ON

JB, I'm sorry your sister isn't doing well. What kind of MS does she have and what medicine is the doctor wanting to put her on. I have really benefited from the IV cortisone when I have my flares if that is what she is taking in the hospital now. If I can be of any help to you or your family please PM me. I have had MS since 1997 and am on Avonex and am doing well. But my MS is the RRMS so I do OK. I also belong to an online group just like this one which really helps me have contact with other people with the same challenges I do. Best wishes to you, I admire you for helping her in her care. It must mean so much to her. I don't know if you have children or not but it is also such a lesson for them.

Tomorrow many places are offering free meals for veterans. Usually the line at Golden Corral is very long and they stand in line for hours to get in.

Joyce, Indiana

Hello everyone!

It's been awhile since I have participated on this thread. I used to be 4Dogmom, but now I have only three dogs. Several months ago, I had to put one of my babies to sleep. So, now I am Alicia7519.

The last six months have been chaotic. In August, I had surgery to have two tumors removed from my back. At first my surgeon thought it was one and when he performed the surgery, he found another tumor right below the original one. Both masses were the size of hockey pucks. Luckily, for me, they were benign. Since the surgery, I went back to my awful old eating habits and stopped exercising. As a result, I gained back 15 of the 30 pounds I had lost.

I am going to go at it again. My husband has to change his eating habits. He has gained quite a bit of weight. He finished the work he was doing one his family's farm and as a result, he went back to his sedentary lifestyle. Unfortunately, his cholesterol went to heck, so now he has to watch what he eats. This is great because he has a ton of willpower and when he sets his mind to eating what is good for him, he's successful at losing weight. He's back to taking a hike on a daily basis and has cut back on his meals and drinking wine. This will make it easier for me since, I am the one who cooks all of our meals.

Today, I went to the grocery store and loaded up on veggies, fruit, La Croix sparkling water, and healthy snacks.

My goals for November are:
Drink 8 8oz, glasses of water daily
Do yoga 5 times a weeks
Cut out the regular Coca-cola, and regular chips.
Log my food intake everyday.
Try to get some cardio done.

Thank you Barb for creating this space. I hope you get to feeling better soon.

Alicia - welcome back! So sorry to hear about your op. Sounds really debilitating. It's good news that your DH is on board with the new regime. Just take it slowly, don't try to do it all at once and you will get there.:flowerforyou: You've done it before, so you know how.

I was thinking today of all the things I admire and appreciate about this great group of women. Most of them are things I find difficult myself. I have quite a list,:laugh: , but I thought I would start with saying how much I admire those of you who have full time jobs. You work so hard and still find the time and energy to keep going on the weight loss and fitness path. I truly admire your energy and resolution.:flowerforyou: :flowerforyou: :flowerforyou:

I will appreciate some others tomorrow.:happy:

Today my back was feeling a bit delicate so I decided to give the weight training a miss and did a bit more on the elliptical and bike. Then I did some back stretching and some balancing. Yoga tomorrow, which should help.

Quiet day today. I did a bit more online Christmas shopping yesterday and today will do an online grocety shop, using my £10 off voucher which is about to run out. We have visitors for 3 days next week so it will be good to get supplies in. I promised the wife I would cook her a special 3 course meal in thanks for a lovely plate she bought me when we visited them in Cornwall. It is on the table next to the TV. Beautiful colours. She doesn't eat a lot of red meat so I think it will be based on chicken. She is also very keen on going for a long walk on the South Downs, but I'm not sure the weather is friendly. Nor the ground underfoot as we have had a lot of rain recently. We will have to look up some walks that have proper paths! I am not a great walker because of knee, hip and foot problems, but I am better than I was. As long as it's not uneven underfoot. The views from the top of the chalk hills are great. I spent my teenage years near the Downs and had geography and history lessons on them at school. They were the site of Stone Age encampments and flint mining, which was a surprisingly big industry! Also a lot of Iron Age settlements.
The Wednesday of their stay is our 9th anniversary, which could be the day we go walking. A pub evening meal seems to be in order!

Love to all. Heather in drizzly Hampshire UK

Did an hour of a belly dance DVD today (Sun). I'm putting another beginner one on my wish list at Amazon. Tomorrow is yoga, holding my plank, and then the extremepump class. Before the class I'll probably stop at Lowe's Foods on the way to get the items they have on sale. They don't have much, but they do have the cream cheese with greek yogurt that I like

Jessica is going to make dinner tonight. Vince suggested baked ziti. I'll have a bit of it, but I'd like to add some broccoli to mine. I made a chocolate pudding pie for dessert. Needed to cool it in the fridge and when we got back from the store where we got the ziti, cheese and noodles, Jessica put the onion and meat in the fridge. Unfortunately, I had to leave the pie uncovered so that it would cool and the plastic bags from the onion and meat got into the pie. I took them out, the pie will still taste fine. I now put the cover on it.

Tammy - welcome. I like your goal of "enjoy the journey". That's something we all need to do

Tina - give water aerobics a try. Especially if it's in the deep end. That is certainly something you can do with your knee. Exercising in the deep end doesn't put any strain on the joints, there is a little in the shallow end

Heather - I've never heard of Raymond Blanc. I'll certainly keep my eyes open for shows about him

Katla - I don't trust myself, either, to log my food in my head. I'm so afraid that i'd forget something. I so admire belly dancers. It really is such a workout. I took a bellydance class a while ago (like maybe 8 years ago) and a few things really impressed me. One was that the women in the class were so very comfortable with their bodies. And let me tell you, there were some LARGE women, but that didn't stop them from wearing the skimpy tops. Another thing that really impressed me was that there was a sort-of comraderie between the women. It's hard to put a finger on, but I definitely got the feeling of "if anyone tries to hurt one of our sisters, they'll have to deal with ALL of us". My father was 83 years old, I was living in my third house, had three children, but I was still his little girl. He'd get very upset if I didn't call him the absolute minute that i got home from driving from his house. i one time told Bryan that when I die I'm coming back from the grave to worry about him. Even tho he doesn't talk to us, I still worry. A lot of restaurants will serve you coffee, but not tea. So I always keep some teabags in my pocketbook. Why they'll serve coffee and not tea is beyond me.

I just heard this funny sound and realized that it's Loki snoring on the bed!!!!

smwert - seriously, I wound't be real concerned about the fact that you haven't lost. Stress will definitely put weight on you. Right now I'm dealing with the stress of not hearing from Bryan, and, to be honest, I really don't know exactly how to eliminate that stress. For the last two nights, I have been totally exhausted. Lack of sleep will add weight, too. Trust me.

Pat - what a relief about your friend!

Jessica made dinner tonight -- baked ziti. I had broccoli with my baked ziti. I had to listen to a little of the "you never used to eat like this before" and some "how rude to the cook". I still had some -- just on top of my broccoli. I started to have some of the chocolate chip Teddy Grahams that I got for Vince, but you know something? To me they weren't very good at all. Actually, I wound up putting half of them back! Felt good

Vince, Jessica and I went to the bank, Vince needed to pick up a prescription at CVS, we went to WalMart where Vince needed to pick up a prescription and Jessica and I bought things for dinner tonight, then we went to Lowe's Hardware where Vince got some more PVC pipe for the Christmas decorations. Then home.

Joyce - I like the Robin Cook books, too. My father was in the army Air Force, too, as a mechanic! Of course, this was before there was an Army and an Air Force....lol A kitchen redo for $1000???? Maybe 100 years ago you could have done it for that much

Anamika - woo hoo. Isn't that a great feeling, when sweets just don't appeal to you? Last night I had a bit of this chocolate pudding pie that I made for Vince and Jessica. I just had a small piece, mainly to try it out. Then Jessica said "here she goes with her fruit". A cup of grapes, to me, is a wonderful dessert

Alicia - I'm so sorry about your furfriend. I know how hard that can be. And then the tumors! Goodness, girl, you've certainly had your share. Thank goodness they were begnine! How wonderful that you have such a great support system!

Heather - happy anniversary! What a cook you are!

Linda from ON - congrats on the 2lb loss! Good for you changing your parking!

Michele in NC

Good morning! I had a nice surprise this morning. For a week I thought I was at 216.2 pounds, that was the number in my head, so when I saw 217.6 the last few days I thought I had gained. Well, this morning I was at 216.0 and I thought at least I lost .2 pounds. So I went to log it and found that I had not been at 216.2 at all, I had been at 217.8! So I actually lost 1.8 instead of the .2 I thought I lost. (Dancing the skinny dance!). So, if I can't even log my weight in my head, there's no way I could log my food in my head like some of you do. I have too many senior moments.

Last night the kids came over for supper and we made a really easy meal. I'm supposed to be taking it easy till my heart thing on Friday. Hamburgers on the grill, french fries in the oven, and baked beans from a can. And pudding cups for dessert. All on paper plates and plastic cups. Hubby ran the grill and cooked one burger for me with no salt, but I did have a bun and a pudding cup. Anyway, it was so nice not to have a big elaborate meal with lots of cleanup. After we ate my son and I went outside with the kids who wanted to play basketball. It turned out that they had more fun playing in the leaves, making big piles then jumping in the piles. Son and I sat on the porch talking. The weather was great, too. It was a really wonderful evening.

My four year old grandson has some speech problems so he started in a special preschool with a speech pathologist and last night he was pronouncing his S's and F's better. He can now say Spider-Man and feet instead of Diderman and deet. He was so happy about it, too. My husband even commented on how much easier it was to understand Ian last night, and he never notices anything.

Our weather is supposed to start getting cold this afternoon. I'm not sure I'm ready, but oh well. Here it comes. It's been a really nice autumn this year. Some years it seems to skip fall completely and go right to winter. Fall is my favorite season.

I hope you are all having a great day!

Sylvia