Women 55yrs. & older with 75lbs. or more to lose!

Hi, Ladies-

Well, I had to go to the doctor today - I have my second UTI (urinary tract infection) since I've started my "healthy" lifestyle!!! :frown: What's up with that? Has this happened to any of you? We are thinking it may be my extreme aversion to drinking water causing this....

Well so much for my not looking at the scale plan. The last UTI was mid December - when I they weighed me back then I told them don't tell me the number... This time I said "don't tell me the number - just tell me if it's lower than in December." They kind of looked at me like I was nuts and they said, "uh, yeah it's lower - a lot lower - what have you been doing?" I had lost 16 pounds in three months! During the holidays!!! Then I heard the girl say two oh....I said two oh what???!!!!!! I can't even remember the last time I weighed that! Oh....the number was 206! I was estimating I was around 235.....

Dilemma.....My goal is 160....(then reevaluate when I get there.) which means I have less than 75 lbs to lose. Ya'll aren't going to kick me out, are you?

Seems like most of us are battling other health issues (some big, some small, some chronic) as well as our weight and I'm kind of getting comfortable here....

Josie that recipe sounds great - yeah - wish the picture would've posted - sounds cute! Have you ever made it? And... I love peppers. I snack on them frequently they are so low in calories. But right now I am so full of water that I have to take with the meds that I just had a bit of leftover grilled tuna - not feeling food tonight......

KarenLeona - I'm a Karen, too. Hang in there...those doc appointments will start getting further and further apart!

So....this was long and a bit off the Monday topic, but just had to share the good news that I got today (along with the bad)

And may we all soon reach that pot o gold (our goal weight) at the end of the rainbow!

My weekend was not to bad. I only ended up losing my food one time and that was today. I don't know is causing it but the doctor said not to worry at this point. I would like to make a suggestion for a challenge. I to have a problem getting in my 8 glasses of water a day. And I do tend to get utis. Does anyone else have the same problem as us two or maybe suggestions on how to get that water in. Of course I don't like the taste of water. Thanks ladies for all your well wishes for me.

looks like the group to be in - i'm 54 (but i'll be 55 in June), so barely make the cut, but I've got about 95 pounds to lose.

Plain water is okay for me. Not too fond of artificial sweetener taste even though I know people say they can't taste it. I kind of wish that soda/pop/tonic (whatever you call it where you live) were the reason I was fat because then I could give it up and lose weight. Hah, hah.

I have a little glass that holds a bit over 8 ounces. For some reason it's easier for me to fill that glass with water and empty it many times a day than it is to sit down with a bigger glass of water. Also, I've been drinking water that is not icy and that seems to go down easier too. Of course if it were hot I'd want it super cold or icy. Just something I've noticed in my efforts to drink more water. I have a niece who always asks for a glass of water without ice in restaurants. Thought she was odd, til now.

In the evening if I'm watching TV, I am fine with sipping from a large glass of water. Not sure why that is either.

Hot tea and ice tea work for me, along with a cup of coffee in the morning. I do use 70 calories of my daily allotment from Vanilla Coffee Creamer in the morning. Being able to continue that and still lose weight is VERY helpful to me. I don't care so much about sweet tea though -- or at least not enough to devote calories to it right now!

One liquid I've been enjoying is kind of salty but it serves to sooth my salty snack craving and that is a virgin bloody mary made with 4 oz Clamato juice and 4 oz Spicy Mrs. T and T bloody mary mix. I add an olive and a splash of pickle juice or olive juice, some hot sauce and maybe a 1/4 tsp bloody mary rimmer. Then I need a couple glasses of water afterwards!

Hi everyone so glad to see everyone posting & New ones joining. It makes me feel very supported.
Josie-Thank you so much for coming up with tis idea & getting us altogether.
Challenge-So far I have only drank 4glasses of water today so I really need to step up my game plan. It is real important for me to do for health of course however I also take 2 aldactone (high blood pressure water pills) plus a regular blood pressure pill. Usually I like to drink the Arizona green tea & I count it as a glass of water does anyone else do that?
Tuesday coming up event- I am waiting to be called back to have a carotid artery ultrasound done. You know how it is the doctor says yeah you need to do this & puts in an order. Then you wait for the insurance company to approve it.
Socially-that drink sounds wonderful. I can almost taste it I just can't deal with the sodium.
Well I am off to drink more water have a great evening everyone. :drinker:

annglenn - glad to see you - feeling any better? Josie - I will try the probiotics probably after my run of the meds I'm on. No diary at all - not even calcium supplements. I'm up to the water challenge!

Ya'll will be proud of me..... I'm working on my 10th glass of water today!!!! I've hated every sip of every ounce - but......will see if this helps the UTI thing. If so I might have to incorporate it into my health regime i.e. logging every day, exercising 5-7 days a week. I had a rough night - drinking water and up almost all night - it was very painful going potty until about 3:45 a.m.

sodakat - Bloody Mary sounds yummmm.... but non-virgin for me! I'm planning on happyhouring during vacation but I will be "making room" for drinks in my daily calorie total. I'm trying to leave Thursday instead of Friday - it will probably depend on if my last prescription gets called in tomorrow - or not!

had a successful day yesterday!! First time in a long time. Feeling a bit more positive today although still way too stressed about going back to work or not
I drink tons of water each day and your body will get used to it so you are not up all night!!

OK... vacation time for me tomorrow so can't spend too much time "visiting." Got my 8 glass of water in today - will be driving all day tomorrow so not sure it's gonna happen tomorrow! Does wine count as a glass of water? I plan on having a few cocktails on vacation - do those liquids count or do I still have to get in the water....It does keep you feeling full all the time - too full! Makes me not want to eat - oh....guess that's the point?!!! :laugh:

Wednesday's topic is new ideas for exercising. I'm into the walking - probably the oldest form of exercise that exists... I love walking outside but do have some Leslie Sansone dvds for inside walking when the weather is bad. I don't have any new ideas - wish I did to make any kind of exercising more fun but.......we gotta move it or we're not gonna lose it, right?

I'll be in the mountains of N. Carolina with very little access to internet or cable tv - will be communing with nature - it decompresses me! But....will try to check in on all of you from time to time.

Josie - I actually kind of collect pottery - I love it and would love to take a class - hurry retirement!!! (I still have 2 1/2 years to go)

Stay true to your plan and be accountable to yourself. I know it will happen for us!

Hi Again Ladies, I just finished reading all of the posts from day 1 and am happy to notice I have quite a bit in common with most of you. I am 59, will be 60 in August. I still work full time as a registered nurse and work 12 hour night shift. Talk about trouble with night time eating. Thats my day time. I am a divorced mother of 2, grandmother of 6. I live in Ontario, Canada, about an hour east of Toronto. Glad to see I'm not the only Canadian on this forum. I have too many health issues to talk about but the main ones are that I have had both my knees replaced (6 years ago), have suffered with arthritis since my 20's, and have had too many back injuries to mention. It has left me with degenerative disc disease and 3 prolapsed discs. It really hinders the type of exercise I can comfortably do. I love to walk, but any long distance walking is out of the question due to the back pain. Last summer I had my brother in law fix up my old bike figuring I would try to start riding again. But, my first time out I almost fell and it scared me so bad that I didn't try again. I am going to get over that fear and try again once the weather gets better. My main source of exercise when I can get up the energy on my days off is to work out on my Wii Fit board. I love the variety of exercises and the music is fun. I have a particular program called exerbeat which I love. I can do some yoga stretches, karate, boxing, dancing or aerobics all from the same program. Never boring. I've tried exercise videos but I get bored with them bacause its the same thing every day.
I have no problem with water as I'm not much of a pop drinker and usually get down 8-10 glasses a day. Someone asked about substituting other fluids for water and the answer is generally no. You can count your herbal teas or water with lemon (or oranges slices) but usually you don't count regular tea or coffee or ones that have any sugar substitutes in as they have their own problems. As a general rule, water is water. I like mine room temperature or just cool, seldom drink ice water.
I hope I can be as supportive of you as some of my MFP friends have been to me over the last couple of years since joining. Seems whenever I start to slip and miss some time here, someone (thank you Karen L.) hauls my butt back in here. If any of you ladies wants to add me to their friends list, just mention this group and I will add you on. Have a great day. I'll be sleeping when you all come on and read my posts. Don't forget to drink your water. Cheers. :drinker: :drinker: :drinker: Charlotte

sodakat- great job on your choices at theouting. I could not have stopped at just a few chips and only one cookie!!! Apparently i do not have an 'off' switch when it comes to food

karenj- oooh, your vacation sounds wonderful!! No internet, no phone...just being in the bush is so healing but yes, you still need to drink lots of water!!

charlotte- glad you found us!! my kids keep threatening to have an 'intervention' if i dont get my act together with my health. I just tell them to 'bring it on' :laugh:

apparently i can stay on track for only one day in a row... followed by 2 not so good days but seem to be feeling better about it today so here's hoping
gotta go to the bank and renew my mortgage later. Who knows what to choose these days??? gonna try and get a walk in around the lake after cause the sun finally came out after the downpour of rain yesterday
My son is coming down from northern alberta later today with a load of bees. I am so excited to see him as i have not seen him since christmas and he will be here for 10 days. Although with the amount of work he has to do with the the bees i may not see him much except to feed him. Sure wish my DIL and grandkids could have come with him too But they will be here at easter!!

Hello everyone. I am 57 and still have around 200 pounds to lose. Yes, it sure is a lot harder at this age. When I was at this weight at a younger age I could shop for hours, exercise, and walk everywhere. Now it's so much harder because of bad knees and arthritis. Today I had a clinic appt. and purposely parked far away so that I could walk. I had my husband time me, and I was dismayed to find out that what seemed like a 20 minute walk was actually a FOUR minute walk, lol :laugh: . And I was out of breath! I find it very helpful reading your posts. Sometimes I feel all alone in this battle!! Oh, my ticker shows my total pounds lost since my top weight, but I've actually only lost 32 pounds since joining MFP.