WOMEN AGES 50+ FOR OCTOBER

Good morning everyone,
I hope all are doing well. A lot more posts this morning or last night as the case may be. Chiclet I am so sorry for you. I hope you get your mom home and get all straight. These things are so frustrating. You wonder sometimes how you and your brother came from the same genes.
I opened my eyes at 4 am this morning. dozed for a while. Kenneth got up about 5 to get ready for work. For about 15 min while he was getting ready I had a conversation with myself about getting up and going to the gym, NO, well get up and work out here, NO, well you know you are not going back to sleep so do something. YES about 5:20 I got up and went to the gym. Had a great workout. Glad the good side won. We are going to a local Halloween parade tonight. Oldest granddaughter is marching with cheerleader team. 2 4 yr old granddaughters are sleeping here and in morn we are headed north about 70 miles to go to a pumpkin patch. Never been before but really sounds like fun. Have a wedding vow renewal tomorrow night, church sunday morn and a halloween party sunday night. Whew I am tired and I havent even done it yet.
Hope you all have a good day.
Vicki M

Hello again after 7 months! I got off track big time......was here for a few months and lost 10 pounds and now I'm right back where I started! My biggest challenge is my job as I am an event planner at a hotel and I am continuously surrounded by delicious food. I finally realized again after I felt bloated and fat that I simply have to bring my own food from home and not touch the food at work except for non fat milk for my cereal! Not only that but I'm suffering with foot pain which enables me to walk about 10 miles at work but no extra walking outside in the fresh air which I love.....but there is always swimming which I love also right?

Needless to say I am in need of encouragement and I found it before when I was here and I see so many of you are still here and achieving or not achieving your goals but all inspiring each other which is such a blessing! I'm off to work now with a packed lunch and dinner in case its a long day and I'll check in tommorrow to let you know how I did. Nice to be back!

:flowerforyou: missjo113

Thank you so much for telling me your situation with your mother. It sounds so much like my own, even down to the part about how your mother and you were never really that close. She has lived on and off with my brother most of her life. (He had stayed at home when I had already moved out to go to school, got married and such. I don't think he got married unitil he was in his 30's and all that time he had been living at home with my mom. Then we he finally got married and moved out, after maybe 5 years, mom sold her house and moved in with him. She has always needed someone there for her that was family and was very afraid of being alone.I think that is why she has put up with so much abuse from him over the years. She and I buck heads a lot, because I am very independent, speak my mind and don't give into her "giving up" mode, which irritates her to no end. I think she likes playing the victim. It's all she's ever known, thanks to her ex-husband and my brother. So when I hear her trying to give up at the rehab facility, I get on her which gets her so mad and has hung up on me and then later will call me back and say she knows I am right.
Today I received a phone call from the facility saying that her stay there has been extended to next Tuesday. Unless anything changes again, she will be moving over her on Wednesday. It turns out the CAT scan showed that she never had a stroke. So that proves to me and the others that my mom took advantage of the "stroke" story, to not try as hard, consequently sabotaging her own self and having the insurance company decline any further treatment. She is her own worse enemy. I am very frustrated with her right now and just got off the phone telling her so. She admitted to it and I could her it in her voice that she realized she has hurt herself.
I am going to stop posting right now as I am very frustrated and upset with my mom and don't want to say anything I don't mean on here. So I will check in later.:frown:
But missjo113 I did want to thank you for sharing, it did help a lot. I can only hope that my mom will develop the same strong attitude that your mother took.
Chiclet

Good Evening:
(at least where I live) I have posted some pictures of the Great Smokies in Tennessee on my pics. The last pic is the back yard where I live.
Kackie: yes, I love the mountains. My great grandmothers people were from the area around the Smokies. :flowerforyou:

Wizzy: York -England...:laugh: you probably had a laugh out of my post. It's getting dark here about 6:30, this time of year. We have sunshine today and about 59 was the highest.

We had bad storms in our area of the country(USA) that changed the temps.

Smelliot: I am sorry about the loved one that had cancer. My father-in-law, uncle, grandmother, etc..all died with cancer. I have a school mate who has stage 4 cancer. It's just about everywhere in her body. Cancer is an evil killer.

To all of those who are having health issues with loved ones, parents and other family members. I hope things get better.

All these things can be wearing on us. It affects our health, our mentality, and our eating.

To all those who have had weight losses they have worked on so hard...Congrats! and Kudos! to you! (we need a clapping smiley face or bursting stars, don't ya think??):bigsmile:
Suezzque::::flowerforyou: Wow! and good for you. I have come to the conclusion that won't happen for me again...

All you all that turning out the excercise minutes like bubbles...I am hopefully right behind you. (and the view is getting smaller from here:bigsmile: :bigsmile: :bigsmile: ) I am inspired!!!:flowerforyou: :flowerforyou:

Glad to be back. I am trying to get myself back into the groove I have been carving for myself.:grumble:

I like the Cherokee inspiration. I love reading about Native American culture.

Hope all of you have a good weekend. May God be with you.:flowerforyou:

PSSS. If you look at the pics of the Smokies, I was up in the mountains at an overlook. I don't know what the elevation was at the overlook.
Thanks.

mcdebbie - HIIT is high intensity interval training. I go for 30 seconds as fast as I can, then at a regular pace for a minute to recover. I do get very sweated. It's supposed to be good aerobically and anarobically.

Well, I had my ride along tonight. I tell you, Vince did MUCH more than I did. First, we didn't get going until almost 6:30. The deputy went to serve a summons but no one came to the door. Then we rode...and rode...and rode. He brought me back at 8:00. I do have to say that they have a lot of stuff in their car. I didn't get to see him use the computer or hear the updates since he didn't get any calls. We don't go next week but the week after that we see the crime scene investigation.

chicklet - my thoughts and prayers are with you.

We started putting up the Halloween decorations for this year. There's this Halloween store near us and they had this life like sized Mike Myers for 1/2 off so I bought that. Everything in their store will go on sale 50% off Monday so I intend to be there at 9. Looks like they have some pretty good stuff. I did buy this spider web that's made out of rope for Vince. He'd been looking for one and since they were only $20, I figured they'd get sold out before they went on sale so I bought that for full price.

Tomorrow, yoga. Not sure if I'll go to the 9:00 or 10:00 class. Maybe the 9.

Everyone have a geat evening.

Michele

Good morning ladies.

A nippy day here in London.

I've already clocked a good chunk of walking today and I'm just off to do some more shortly once I've collected my youngest daughter. She's coming walking with me, which gives us a good chance to have a natter and catch up.

DH has lost five pounds. Great, you may say - except he didn't need to lose any weight at all. If anything, he could use a few extra pounds. I think I'm going to have to look more closely at what I'm feeding him. Perhaps I've been a little over zealous and cut his intake too much. He's one of those annoying people who burns calories very effectively and never has a weight problem.

We are going to a Halloween party at my sister's tomorrow, which should be fun. I've bought two buckets full of kiddie sweets - which kind of goes against the grain, but it's not something that happens often. My little niece and nephews will be there of course and they are very healthy eaters. They consume vast amounts of fruit and veg - which is no bad thing. That doesn't mean that they will turn down a few of the sweeties though.

I'm looking forward to Monday morning, my next swimming lesson. I really don't think I'm improving, but I'm going to persevere. I have to go straight to the hospital after my lesson as I've got an appointment with my glaucoma specialist. Hopefully it hasn't advanced. Fingers crossed with that. I also have my cardiologist appointment rebooked for Wednesday and then my appointment with the dietician on Friday. Let's see if I can actually make all these appointments for a change!

One little story to tell. I was doing my canvassing yesterday evening and I got 'chatted up' by a young guy who then asked me out. I told him that I'm extremely happily married, but it was still a flattering moment or two.

Time to get moving. Have a great day please everybody. Love to you all.

Amanda x

Good morning everyone. I’m trying to catch up with all of you since my last post. I love the connections we share. I’ll be gone for a week coming up shortly so don’t want to get too far behind. Sorry for the long post! :noway:

I’m back from the Bay Area where I spent a few days visiting with friends. Probably on Monday, I’ll be heading up to Tahoe to spend some time with my folks and, I’m hoping, my sister. Tahoe has some not-so-pleasant associations for me as I’m used to being the one who doesn’t go for walks. :grumble: My sister is an avid walker. My mom used to be but has slowed down a bit...too many creaky joints these days. I’m hopeful that, this time, I’ll be right in the middle when it comes to walking ability. That’s a nice place to be.

Vicki, I usually weigh once a week. (More if I’m eagerly awaiting a change!) Our bodies are all different so some lose weight more slowly and some more quickly. As long as you’re heading in the right direction, you’re doing the right thing. I’ve slowed down on the rate because I like getting at least 1400 calories a day. (I don't like anything that smacks of deprivation!) That used to mean losing a couple of pounds a week. Now that I weigh less, I might lose just a pound a week or even less. It’s amazing how those pounds add up though. :happy:

I visited last week with some long-time friends. They were marveling at my new shape and saying, “You’re so much smaller. You’re a fraction of your real self.” I said, “No, I’m just revealing my real self.” :laugh: That’s how I feel. It’s weird to think I was so big for so long. I still get glimpses of the reasons why when I have a hard time shutting off the munchies. (World Series get-together being a prime example.) But, most of the time, if it weren’t for the saggy skin :ohwell: , I’d have a hard time believing I ever weighed what I did.

Robin, good job on getting the sugars down. :flowerforyou: I’m a big fan of fruit, so I wouldn’t want to cut that out. But, shaking it up is bound to be a good thing. Yay for you. I’m scheduled for a colonoscopy too, at the tail end of November. (Ohmigosh, I didn't mean that to sound that way...but it's so appropriate!) Never had one (although I should have at age 50), so it’s about time. Not looking forward to the prep though. Ugh.

Kackie, sounds as though you’re having fun throwing out the old (and, of course, bringing in the new!) Congratulations on your achievement. I marvel over how active you are. You’re a great example. The Bahamas sound lovely. And it will be fun to have a new shape since the last time you saw your friends! BTW, loved the wolf quote. There's a lot of truth to that quote. Of course, it mostly applies to other people. (:laugh:) I’m saving it.

Birdie, you have great genes in your family! Now that you’re so beautifully slender, you’ll have more fun in that long life I hope you have ahead of you. Your family sounds like fun. I’ve heard having a glass of wine each night is a healthy thing. :drinker: I’m sure that must be one of the reasons for your success!!!

Michele, you are a great exerciser too, and always involved in your community. I enjoy reading about all your exploits.

Terri, Yay for clean windows! I love the sunshine too. It’s gloomy here today. I can’t complain too much as we were expecting a big storm. I hope we can get some gravel in before the rain really hit. It gets slick as, well, you know what, when the ground gets saturated. As many of you know, I’m living “temporarily” in a manufactured house while we finish up my new space in the big house my daughter, son-in-law, and I built/had built a year and a half ago. I can’t wait to get in. It’s getting closer but I doubt I’ll be in by Christmas, which makes improving my current place more crucial.

You sound like a busy lady! It’s nice to be connected to – and giving so freely – to so many people. Your relatives who have cancer are in my thoughts and prayers. They are in a tough battle. I’m glad they have family to support them.

Good for you for not snacking at the birthday party. That is my biggest challenge. You did an awesome job.

Jeannie, hope you’re feeling better. You are one of the stalwarts of the group. I always enjoy hearing from you and appreciate your encouragement.

Alice, what a lot of work you and your family have accomplished. You have such a grateful heart. Your good attitude spills over from your words. Thank you for sharing that with us. You are an encouragement to me.

Jackie, sounds like you’ve settled into a good routine with your mum. She’s a lucky mom. I like the reversible coat story! You make me chuckle every time I read your posts. :happy: Your humor is a gift.

Miss Jo, woo hoo about your son’s upcoming engagement. Let us know how everything goes. Dish girl!

I was glad to hear your story about your mom. It’s a true success story.

Barbie, I had to change my dinner plans with my friends so didn’t get a chance to try your soup. I’ve got the squash, apples, and onions ready though. It’s dark and drippy here today. A perfect day for soup.

Instead of eating soup, I went out to dinner at the Yankee Pier with the friends I was visiting last week. My friend asked the waitress to have the food (filet of sole, sautéed squash and kale, sautéed mushrooms) prepared with a minimal amount of oil. She said, “Oh, the Living Lean option.” I didn’t know it had a name. :happy:

I was glad my friend remembered to ask how the food would be prepared. It’s always disappointing when food you thought would be healthy comes out drenched in oil or fried. :grumble: And, it’s too easy to eat it rather than send it back or push it aside. :noway: I’m glad we asked…and will remember that for the future. Of course, we did share a piece of lemon meringue pie. No way to make that less calorific! (But it was good and I had only a couple of bites so I’m not sorry we ordered it.)

Do you follow a recipe for your applesauce? Include the skins? Add sweetener and/or cinnamon? I’ve got 40 lbs of apples and thought I’d get them ready and freeze them for Thanksgiving pies and other stuff. Applesauce would be yummy. Hopefully I’ll have a few left as I’ve been eating a couple every day. They come from my neighbor’s orchard and are the biggest, sweetest, juiciest Fujis I’ve ever tasted. Hmm. Maybe I should get some more!

Viv, you are such a wonderful niece to your uncle. I’m glad he’s feeling better – and you are too. Hope the kitty is okay. When I think about getting a pet, I read about some of what comes along with and put it off.

Amanda, glad those cupcakes are still baking. Can’t wait to hear about their arrival. Soon! (But not too soon.) My niece, Megan, delivered a healthy baby girl Thursday so I’m a Great Auntie again. That's #2 for me. I love it. Good for you for maintaining. That’s even more important than losing. Taking a break from losing and practicing maintaining is not a bad thing, although I see you’re under your calories every day so you just might lose when you’re not even trying!

Mrs. Sparkle, welcome! I see you figured out how to get your ticker going. Re the loose skin. No answer to that one other than plastic surgery. I’m down 125 since my highest weight and definitely wear ¾ length sleeves! The parts aren’t pretty but the skinnier body sure feels good!

Debbie, you stay strong too! Visitors make sticking to eating well more of a challenge but at least you’ll be the one in control as you’ll be in your own kitchen. I’ll look forward to hearing how it went.

Good luck, MacMadame! McDebbie, welcome! Welcome back Marilyn!

Lynn, It’s hard not to get attached to the ladies in this group! You did a great job, tracking even on vacation. It paid off! The pics are beautiful. Is that face in the bunch one of you? Very pretty. And such smooth skin!!!

Chiclet, You’re doing a great job. :flowerforyou: Pat yourself on the back. And remember to be good to yourself, including eating lots of fruits and veggies of course. It’s easy to forget to take care of ourselves when we’re busy taking care of everyone else. You are a terrific advocate for your mom.

I think I’m going to join a more local gym. It’s been hard to get to the one in El Dorado Hills (about 35 minutes away) and will get harder as the weather gets wetter. There’s a gym in town that’s just 10 minutes or so away. Not as nice, but functional.

Suzanita, welcome back. Being around delicious food has got to be one of the biggest temptations any of us face. My biggest problem is snacking when there are chips, dips, hummus, salsa, shrimp, etc., etc. around. I still want to be able to nibble, but in a more controlled way.

I’ve decided to put the portions I want to eat on my plate then stick to that. That means counting the chips, eyeballing the amount of hummus, counting the shrimp, etc. That way I can keep my calories in check, track what I’m eating, and still feel like part of the group. It’s when I go with the flow (go “unconscious”) that I get in trouble. Maybe an approach that hits somewhere in the middle would work for you too. Good luck!

Happy trick-or-treating everyone. The neighbors are having a get-together tonight. I think my blue wig would look nice!

Thanks, Barbie. :flowerforyou: Skin-on sounds perfect! Much easier. I'll get busy.