WOMEN AGES 50+ FOR JANUARY 2014

Hi Carol, you have a bright and sun shiny optimism today! I hope you get to enjoy that leisure weekend.

Margaret, somehow I think I reduced my tv watching this month not as a goal but in general. Now my husband has it on almost from the time he comes home until he goes to bed.

One thing I can do is stay on the computer all too long. Today I am getting ready to go out and enjoy some of this sunshine we have. I'm also going to stop in for a visit with my mom before taking off to the hair stylist - only a bang trim so I should have time for some shopping.

Michele, Bill Gates makes some good points!

I am still thinking on February goals but I really do need to get back to more daily exercise so I will commit to a minimum of 3 days a week 30-45 minutes. I lost weight in January and I would sure like to lose more in February at least 5 lbs would be nice.

Time to go or I won't get all the tasks at hand done before 4 pm when I told DH I would meet him back at home. I do hope all you ladies have a wonderful weekend and get lots of Vitamin F! :happy:

Plano, Teral :flowerforyou:

Deb in CNY, Does your daughter still have a driver's license and you could sit in the passenger seat while she drives herself to work in your car? I have been able to do some cardio in the car. You can get some good leg and arm movement sitting in that seat. You could also bring some weights, whatever you can find that is a weight, can, bottled water or an actual weight and do some arm strength training sitting there. Just push the seat back as far as it can go and go to it! Make some ones days who is driving beside you while you are doing cardio to the 80's music!

Boy the Friday Silver sneaakers class is different than Mondays. But I guess it's all needed. The class was very full today, maybe because the temp is good today??? My sister said that her swim class was pretty full also. After visiting with my sister for awhile we left and I had to go to the vet's office and pick up her medicine. I'm glad it lasts about 3 months because it is $132!. Since it was lunch time there were no cute cats and dogs for me to admire while waiting. They always seem to be on their best behavior in the office.

My daughter's best friend called her last night. She is my friend also but not as close to her as my daughter is of course. She also used to work with my husband as a Pharmacy tech. I am a nice Face book friend with her Mom. Anyway they called thier two daughters to their house last night and told them that they are getting a divorce. They have been married for around 35 years. The Mom has 2 dogs, one a little ****zu and the other an older most precious blond cocker spaniel and blind. But she is a lover and doesn't know that she is blind. The place that she has found to live won't accept the dogs. I wish I could help her but our cat is the princess of our house and Charlie would not allow it at all.

For you that don't make posts to specific people, don't worry about it. We all support in different ways. Sometimes I have mad a note on a piece of paper but by the time it came for me to post I wouldn't remember where I left the notes or what they were really about. I find myself making responses to the few posts right before mine as I write it. Even though I don't respond, I think they all know that I am thinking of every one of you and am thankful that I found a group of women in a forum that is supportive instead of rude and discouraging. Some of us even send a private message back and forth. Many ways to be supportive here.

Sat here long enough. Time to get on my bike. I had asked for anyone with FitBits to add me as a friend or let me add them. When I was getting my weekly email report I was always in first place because I had no friends. Now I have 6 friends and am always in 6th place!!!! Right now I am in 5th place though!!!!!!!! I want to keep it that way unless of course I can move up.

Joyce, Indiana

TgIF -spent the day with hubby.
No word on the service yet for thelma.
More snow coming in 6-10 in.
Have a good one.
HUGS
jane

OK ladies I need your help. There used to be a food program here in the states. You didn't have to be low income, anyone could order it. I can't remember what it is called. They had monthly pick ups, you would go to the distribution center, ours was a local church. The regular boxes had a weeks worth of food and you could get as many boxes as you wanted. You got meat, veggies, fruit and one desert. Anyone know what I am talking about??? I'm trying to help some one who needs to find some food on a low income. I was thinking it was called Angel tree but that is something completely different.

found it, it's Angel food ministries but operated by some one else now. Prices just as good and good food packages.

Joyce, Indiana

Joyce- Great ideas! The drive with my daughter is in shorter 20 minute spurts with some waiting for her sometimes. I also take her to the grocery store, etc. I do love the time we get to spend together. I could do the exercises in the car with my carpool mate. She would find it very funny. She is over 6 feet tall and as thin as can be, but very strong. She runs long distances and is always challenging herself in different workout programs.

Katla- My DD is trying hard to get out of a financial hole. Unfortunately there are not any full time positions at the hospital- or anywhere else near here that she qualifies for. Her husband does not work full time either. Its all a long story, but she is really trying. I can't- and probably wouldn't if I could, support her financially as I feel she needs to be independent. I don't mind helping her out by giving her rides, but it does consume a lot of time. There is no bus service that runs early enough to get her to work on time. She relied on coworkers who lived nearby, but they were terrible about getting to work on time and being late put her job in jeopardy. I just need to figure out how to be more efficient!

Sylvia- We see a lot of blue herons when we kayak. They are beautiful and stately. I hope you do get to go out in your canoe this summer. I find kayaking very peaceful and restorative. I need to find something to gain that peaceful, relaxed feeling in the winter!!

Meg- Sounds like you had quite the adventure at work the other day! Isn't it a great feeling to realize how much stronger you are feeling?!

Back to work. Grades are due this week and I have enough papers to grade to keep me busy all weekend!

Have a great weekend, all! Hope to get back to post sometime over the weekend.

Deb A in CNY

Sylvia: Congratulations on the weight loss. :flowerforyou: As I read your post I misread the word worrier. I thought you said you are a warrior, and I agree with that. You’ve taken on a lot of things and keep on doing what needs to be done. I admire your attitude, and what I’d call grit.:flowerforyou:

Yanniejannie: I would probably drive you nuts, too. I’m a little bit like your DH. When I’m asked a question I sometimes think the answer but don’t say it out loud. My husband gets so mad. I am working on improving but still have a ways to go.:flowerforyou:

Rita: I never set a number of pounds lost as a goal because it is too far out of my control. There are so many reasons why a person can do everything right and not lose a pound. I set my goals based exclusively on what I do. I think you had a good month, and even lost a couple of pounds.:flowerforyou:

Carol in NC: Sorry the respiratory bug caught you. I hope things improve soon.:flowerforyou:

Margaret: I hope your breathing goal works out for you. I like your quote, “Staying healthy is a marathon, not a sprint.”:bigsmile:

Alison: I hope you get your phone case as you requested. Good luck with that.:flowerforyou:

DebA in CNY: I would go the extra distance for my daughter, too. I hope you can find a way to avoid exhaustion. In my case, exhaustion usually leads to illness.:flowerforyou:



I’m having a low energy day today, but have spent much of it reading a good book. The author is Carla Neggers, and it is called Cider Brook. I’ll have to take some time away from reading to get ready for a meeting. Tomorrow is our Marina Association meeting. I’ve been the secretary for the last several years and am not be willing to be reelected. We’ve found someone who is willing to do the job. I hope the election goes smoothly and I’m looking forward to my ”retirement.” I still have to put together one more agenda and get my report ready from last year’s meeting. In addition to getting rid of the job, I’ll also be able to get rid of a box of records that have been sitting in my office when I pass the job along. :bigsmile: :bigsmile: :bigsmile:

Katla in beautiful NW Oregon

“Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time.” Thomas A. Edison


January goals:

1. Log every bite and swallow.
2. Focus on fitness: daily cardio plus strength training a minimum of twice a week.
3. Water: According to an article a friend posted on facebook, drinking water at certain times maximizes its effectiveness on the body. So I’ll try to follow these recommendations:

* 2 glasses of water after waking up - helps activate internal organs
* 1 glass of water 30 minutes before a meal - helps digestion
* 1 glass of water before taking a bath - helps lower blood pressure
* 1 glass of water before going to bed - avoids stroke or heart attack

Hello Friends,
Hope all of you with illness and injuries get on the path to wellness, quickly!

Jane: Sympathies on the loss of dear Thelma. You are a good friend.

No energy today. I’m in between business trips right now. It’s a drag dealing with snowy conditions in a rental car, schlepping a heavy coat through airports, cramming carryons into the overhead bins of small commuter planes, and the inevitable airline delays. :grumble: :grumble: :grumble: Next week I’m in Charleston, WV and NYC with a schedule that has me booked for every bfast, lunch and dinner. I shouldn’t complain. I am grateful to be in demand and appreciated for my humble skills. :blushing:

This is the Year of the Horse which augers well for the Broncos. Can hardly wait for the big game.

Rori
In the snowy Colorado Foothills where we’re United in Orange

We have a food pantry at our church.Low income people can come 1x a week.They give meat,bread,fresh veg and fruit when they get it.Then several times a year they have one from a food truck.They give you a lot.One time we got a case of turkey franks.
Thelma`s service is sun and funeral mon.Thanks for all the kind words.
HUGS
jane

Hi all,

Thanks for the warm welcome. I'm in Chester County, a suburb of Philadelphia in Pennsylvania.

Regarding being a second-time-around-parent as a kinship foster, I'm glad I was/am able to be there for the older grandchild.

I'll admit it's been a really challenging time in my life; in many ways, I feel like I've been on a roller-coaster. My daughter hates me at this point, views me as the enemy and is hell-bent on finding any way she can to destroy me. She lied to Children and Youth Services (CYS), telling them that I'm a drug addict and a drug dealer, which required them to then get all my medical and prescription records for the past few years, conduct drug testing on me, etc. Of course, I'm not a drug dealer and not a drug addict, so everything came up clean. Then she tried to get me on identify fraud - she asked me to pay her water bill because her water was going to be shut off, but she didn't tell me how much it was. I called the water company, identified myself as her mother, gave them the property address, and they told me she owed $400. I might have been willing to help out if it had been $40 - $50, but no way $400. When I refused to pay her water bill, she claimed I had engaged in identity fraud, but CYS told her if she wants to pursue that claim, to go to the police - they aren't going to take my granddaughter from me for considering and deciding not to pay her bill. Each month, the agency sends her a letter informing her of what dates/times and the location of the supervised visits; for the last few months, it's been on alternating Saturday mornings. This morning normally would have been one of the visits, but they never sent her a letter for the February visits because they were transferring the case to a new caseworker. Well, the new caseworker just got the case and had a prior commitment for today, so they are going to offer her the 2nd & 4th Saturday in Feb. for the supervised visits. I tried to be nice and informed my son-in-law (since he is still speaking to me, albeit barely, via Facebook) yesterday that there wouldn't be a visit this weekend because of the new caseworker having a prior commitment, and that my understanding is that she'll restart the visits next weekend. I was trying to be kind, as they don't have a car, so getting to the visitation requires that they take a bus for almost two-and-a-half miles. I got back a bunch of nonsense that my daughter and her son-in-law are going to put me in jail, that what I'm doing is illegal, that I can't be changing the visits according to a court order that they claim to have (which I've never seen), what kind of person am I, they are getting a free lawyer (they are very low-income), etc. My daughter had already left messages that she's going to get the child back "very soon", that she's "not going to stand for this very much longer", that she doesn't "respect what I'm doing with her", and once she gets her back, she will make sure that I "never see her again". So much for me trying to be considerate; I know my daughter & son-in-law are both low-income, have no car, and I didn't want them going to the meeting place and then be standing there not knowing why they would be the only ones there. And they perpetually are angry that the two children have been separated. I was able to take the older grandchild, who if I had NOT taken, would have been sent to either a foster home run by strangers, or, if no foster home space was found, to an institution/group home. The baby was able to go to her paternal grandparents. There was simply no way that I could handle both, not physically nor financially. Physically, I was (and still am) recovering from a car accident (I was stopped at a stone-cold red light and rammed from behind by a distracted driver) just a month earlier, and day care expenses for both children would have been $375 a week, as I work - but I my budget couldn't sustain that as an additional expense. I really couldn't even handle the additional day care expense of even just the one child, friends ended up helping me out a bit too. Now that she's in school, the weekly fee has been reduced to a more manageable level. And no, neither my daughter (who is this child's mom) nor her step-father have the means (nor the inclination) to help with any of the expenses. The child's bio-father is basically AWOL, not that we want him around anyhow - he's got numerous convictions for D&A offenses, DUI, and convictions for at least two different assaults.

Anyhow, with all this stress, sometimes I just want to eat entire boxes of girl scout cookies (which I have a couple cases of, as my granddaughter is a scout trying to sell cookies). I've managed not to eat up all her cookie stock so far

for Joyce - I did look up Angel Food Ministries, it's being run by different people because the founders went to jail: http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/08/30/georgia-angel-food-ministries/2739077/

I did find this blog, about a year old, that gave a run-down list of a lot of similar programs: http://uglygrayhouse.blogspot.com/2013/02/food-co-ops-and-food-ministries.html


anyhow... back to weight loss.

I met my goal for January! Granted, it might not seem like a very big goal... currently, I set my goal to be to shoot to lose one percent of my body weight each week, on average. I calculated out what 1% each week would be for the next umpteen-million weeks, and am allowing that there could be a week where I might not make goal, but might lose more than the goal amount a subsequent week, so that on average, I should still be okay.

So for week 1, I started at 177.4 lbs. The goal was to lose 1.77 pounds, I lost 2.4 lbs. and so on.

At the end of week 4, my cumulative lost-weight goal was supposed to be 6.99 pounds. I had actually lost 8.4 pounds.

I'm not going to adjust February's goal by adjusting my starting weight; I'm going to keep it the same, because the difference is really small at this point. So by the end of February, my goal is another 6.72 pounds off. If I did adjust it, my end-of-Feb goal would be closer to 6.6 pounds off - see not a huge difference.

If I do over on calories on any given day, I try to be sure that the excess was due to exceeding protein targets, rather than fat allowances.

I do need to get better at drinking a lot more water. I tend to do a lot of tea instead (with nutrasweet).

Anyhow.... I need to get myself moving...it's already about 5 am.

Wow! It's been quiet here today! I'm still struggling with this cold and am heartily sick of the congestion. I was sleeping sooooo well this morning and my ex called and woke me up. I haven't slept much this week because of the coughing and the whole not being able to breathe thing. I had my first oatmeal smoothie this morning--Pumpkin! I liked it and am planning to try a different flavor for tomorrow. I indulged in some "regular" cookies today. They were delicious and worth every calorie (I did plan for them). I purposefully bought individually wrapped ones so that there was no mindless binging. I managed a two-mile walk between the coughing fits. It felt wonderful to get to be outside! I actually got all of my laundry done (except sheets which are changed tomorrow) and all the dishes are clean. :happy: The boy child decided he was well enough to visit his dad today so it has been pleasant having the house to myself. All in all, not a bad Saturday except for the whole not resting thing. Oops. :blushing: Hope to finish up Level 1 of the 30-day Shred tomorrow; I decided I was just too tired today. Hope everyone is doing well! I'm off to do my smoothie prep.

Carol in cloudy but mild NC

Hi All,
Haven't had time to get on this past few days, checking in. I wish I had time to read. I was to take the personal training test this past Weds. but could not get the computer and webcam to work, so I am scheduled again for this Weds. We are setting everything up tonight for a dry one this time. So, I've been studying, I have also been working extra hours so I've not exercised or tracked food. This has to stop. I am recommittimg to food journaling and I'm strength training tonight.
I've done something to my right knee, it is very sore and my cardio is suffering because of it. At first I figured a few days off to recoup and I'd be fine. That's not how it's going. I'm thinking I'll have to have it checked.
Oh well, off to work I go.
Everyone have a happy and healthy day,
Patty, Cincinnati

Goals this month:
Journal food
Increase water
Strength train twice a week
Get back into doable cardio