WOMEN AGES 50+ FOR DECEMBER

Congratulations Amanda! Good for you too Jill for getting back to goal. I've been pretty good for the 3 wks I started but then a client brought me some home baked, holiday cookies....that was all she wrote :frown:
I don't even know how many calories they were (how do you track stuff like that?) but I haven't been able to stop at one or three or -- well you get the idea. The good news is that I am paying attention to having enough of the sweet taste and can stop eventually. I also am not letting that take me into a full on cookie binge.

But even before the cookies, I haven't lost anything in 3 weeks. Very, very discouraged. I know I am prone to instant gratification but I would think that I could lose something - 1 lousy pound- in 3 weeks...:grumble: :grumble: :grumble:

Don't feel like logging into my diary today.

Joy

Good morning ladies and thank you all for your kind words to me for reaching my target weight. I feel blessed to consider you all my friends.

I am about to leave to go to my DDs and play with .... I mean look after .... my grandtwins. They are becoming more and more adorable by the moment.

This weekend is looking crazy busy. I have to spend some time with my father and my mother-in-law tomorrow. It's a shame I can't get them together, but my dad wants me to do some things at his house and MIL can't leave the nursing home. It is the charity ball tomorrow evening so I have to do a lot of primping for that - plus the weather is going to be foul and we have a 30 mile drive to where the ball is. Hmm, I can see me turning up looking like the dog's dinner!

DH has said that he wants to buy me a new diamond ring in the new year. My fingers have gone down five sizes since I've lost weight and at least one of my rings will not be able to be re-sized again. It belonged to my DH's great grandmother and I've already had it made smaller once. I am wearing it on my middle finger at present with a smaller ring on top to keep it safe. I do love my diamonds! I suppose it comes from working with them for so many years, although I have to say that I don't wear many these days - just great-grannies ring and the ring my DH bought me for my 50th birthday.

How is everyone doing with their Christmas prep? I was so organised to begin with, but I still have some gifts sat waiting to be wrapped. I must pull my finger out and get them done. At least I'm not doing much in the way of Christmas baking this year - thank goodness.

Must dash - need to pop to the dry cleaner before heading over to the bairns.

Love to all.

Amanda x

Thanks, Barbie. My dog is doing much better, now that I dropped $200 at the vet! He was already seeming better before we went, but I wanted to have him checked out to be sure. His temperature was normal, and there was no sign of belly tenderness. He was due for blood work anyway, so we had that done and should get results tomorrow. He’s on Rimadyl for arthritis, so we have to check periodically to make sure his kidneys and liver are still tolerating it well. If not, that could have been the cause of his illness. He’s not taking Rimadyl until we get results, so he’s on Tramadol for pain in the meantime. I’m so thankful he’s back to his normal obnoxious self again!

How has maintenance been tricky for you? I’d love to hear any tips you might have. I think this phase is going to be an interesting one.

Joy, I don’t know how you accurately track homemade cookies either, but I think you have the right idea about paying attention and enjoying their goodness without going on a total binge. One thing I like to do is use the food diary as a planner rather than a tracker. In other words, I enter everything before I eat it. That helped/helps me a ton. If you’re consistent, you’ll see the weight come off. It may be 1 pound this 3 weeks this time, but it could be 3 pounds in 1 week next time!

Amanda, I hope you enjoy your crazy busy weekend! That is so sweet about your DH wanting to buy you a new diamond ring.

I have most of my Christmas shopping done, but there are a few odds and ends I need to finish up. I think I may try to get out today and get that taken care of — or at least a good hunk of it.

Hope you all are having a wonderful Friday!

Okay..I will start this...I am a newbie...just started yesterday on myfitnesspal. I hope it works. I turn 50 in January and refuse to grow up. I started my diet and exercise plan about 4 months ago and have lost about 15 lbs. so far...now to keep it going. I don't work, usually watch my grandson 3 to 4 times a week. I try very hard tro stay active and not sit at the computer all day. Any encouagement will be greatly appreicated. I live in South Alabama, near Gulf Shores. Thanks for listening.

Ya'll have a good day.

Susan

BirdieM, I fairly new to this thread, so forgive me if this has already been suggested, but have you tried exercises to treat your vertigo? I get it fairly frequently, and I find that they help a lot. Here's a link that explains how to do them:
http://www.tchain.com/otoneurology/disorders/bppv/bppv.html

Good luck, and I hope it gets better soon. It's no fun when your whole world spins around every time you get up, lie down, or turn your head.

Jill,
Thank you so much for the website. I certainly will see if it can help. I never knew you could do exercises for such conditions....of course asuming that is what's going on.:ohwell:
I looked at your profile and feel the same way you do about health at a certain age. I am 62 and I refuse to put on moo moos and watch Lifetime movies all day. :laugh: I have been doing the treadmill everyday (that I can) for at least an hour and consistantly burn 500 - 600 calories (3.5 MPH and an incline of 6%).
The thing I do not do, is weights etc. so my skin is very lose:embarassed: My arms just hang and I really should do something about that.) You look very firm and solid! :flowerforyou: I know my age is a factor as far as just how firm I can get, but lifting weights or doing some sort of strength excercises should make a difference. Any suggestions?
I also agree with what you said about weight. I am 5 ft 3 in and my weight is 140. That is confortable for me. I don't mind losing a couple more pounds and , again, like you....keep it between 135 and 140. Health vs. a dress size if far more important to me although, as you said, it's a great side effect!
Thanks again.
BirdieM

You're welcome. I just realized there's a lot of stuff at that link. It's the Brandt-Daroff exercises that have helped me. The link to the animation explains it pretty well. It's not too complicated, even if it may look that way. The relief the exercises give is well worth the 10 minutes three times a day!

I have some loose skin too, but I have some pretty good muscle underneath it. In my 20s, I spent a fair amount of time in the gym, and I did some pretty heavy lifting back then. My old joints don't handle heavy weights as well as they used to, but I still enjoy strength training, so I like to combine cardio with light resistance. I've tried quite a few workout programs, including P90X, but my favorite and the one I've been using for quite a while now is called Slim Series. I'm sure there are other great programs out there. That's just the one I've found that works for me. I think it's good for everyone to incorporate some kind of strength training in their workouts, but I don't think the weights have to be really heavy to get good results. That's not what I used to think, but I used to have a younger body. LOL.

Let me know if you try the vertigo exercises and if they help. Good luck!

So the dress came today. Not impressed. p:grumble: retty poorly sewn. And of course it doesn't fit:noway: . I will try to make it work though. Oh well, you get what you pay for.

On another note I went and bought two Santa themed lingerie type outfits. :blushing: (sexy little santa dress with hat and gloves and a bra and skirt and a boa) I need to make up for a stupid fight I had with DH last night and make my self feel better after feeling really fat trying on the dress that doesn't fit.

Whoa, now that Santa lingerie is very interesting................... Anyway, I don't know how much you paid for the dress or when the wedding is, but I rented an amazing dress from a website renttherunway.com that has designer dresses for $50.00! It beats paying the $100.00 for the party dress I bought at Macy's last year and never wore again. There are dress reviews, they send you two to be sure one fits, along with an envelope to drop at the mailbox after you wear it! The Halston dress that I rented was very striking and I got a lot of great comments. You want to stand out at the wedding, rent a designer dress, cheaper than buying one!

:flowerforyou: Hi Ladies:happy:

Faye

Wanted to thank you for the recipe for the recipe, i will be making those this week.


MacMadame

Physical/Occupational therapy crossed my mind .......briefly. I admit after seeing what I have done for my mom so far, it was tempting. But two reason that it won't happen is:

1. I am like a bull in a china shop. I am relentless with my mother and like a drill sargeant. It drives her crazy. She's standing, but it drives her crazy. Looking at how the physical therapist comes in and coddles her, shows me that I would be too tough and I don't think most people would be able to handle me.

2. My body is aching all over from supporting my mom, turning and flipping her in diaper changes, holding her legs in the air, using resistence against her as she pushes against me. I'm dying here!:noway:


I just wanted to let you all know that I had to change my username and create a new account. I had just finished writing Lynn, Nyll54, sent the message and went to bed. The next morning I logged on and couldn't get on. It wouldn't let me use just chicletgirl anymore so I have had to add 21 next to it. The site has lost all my information, friends...everything. I'm like a newbie all over again. I was so upset. So Lynn if you answered back I never got it. Please resend.

Mom and I got into it again last night. She threw another tantrum and actually told me she wanted to go back to Washington!:noway: I just walked out of her room, turned off the light and didn't come back. This morning I fed and changed her and didn't do any exercises with her. I was so fed up with her!:explode: She pisses me off when she does this because the caregiver, physical therapist and myself give 100%. And I am friggin exhausted from it. For her to blow me off like that and say things like that just pushed me over. I went out today, not for fun but to grocery shop, but at least I got away from her. I came home at 4pm and was still peeved at her, but I laid down the rules again, and she agreed to them, so, here we go again. Tomorrow I have someone coming in to fit my mom for a scooter. I told her she can't use it in the house, (she has to walk while in the house) but if we travel anywhere she can use it then. I will get it all "pimped out" for her so she will be snazzy. So I am kind of excited to see our choices.

Well just wanted to check in now that I am no longer chicletgirl but chicletgirl21 and needed to post her to get situated again.

Talk to you all later.
Chiclet

Jill, Lovers was having a 50% off holiday costumes so that is why I got two. Its fun to act like a 20 something in the bedroom occasionally. :blushing:

Robin, I agree! :devil:

Here's a coupon I received recently for anyone who may live near a Lovers and wants a 50% discount:
http://echo4.bluehornet.com/hostedemail/email.htm?h=5260f91ee0359c6fcc89ff74351a3db7&CID=12199263856&ch=1325FA055DF9570B7C62D9108B963A41

Amanda, so sorry your holiday ball has been canceled. I hope you find a reason to wear your special dress and get all dolled up sometime soon! You have changed a lot since last year. You must feel so good. You look amazing.

Well, my dirty kitchen is clean, and now I'm going to go do my workout. Slowly but surely checking things off my to-do list. See ya!

Welcome Susan!

Just finished wrapping all the Christmas presents. See, I am NOT a person who likes to do everything all at once, Vince is. So I was really stressing, especially when he was sitting in the living room listening to music while I was wrapping, wrapping, wrapping. Towards the end, I admit that I got tired and didn't do a real neat job. Stress and me do not mix at all...I had some of the cookies. But on the good side, I'm glad that I had fruit from the open house because there was leftover fruit and I just put that out and nibbled on it. If I hadn't had the fruit, I probably would have had some of the cookies. You know, I can't wait until those cookies are gone. I really want to have some more veges. I'll probably get my hair colored before we leave for Europe and I'll take some to the hairdresser. I am keeping up with the exercise. Yesterday I only did 30 min of HIIT since I had to get ready for the open house. But at least I did SOMETHING. Today I did an hour of yoga. I'm planning that tomorrow I'll do an hour of hula hoop on the Wii.

Robin - I'm so sorry the dress didn't fit.

HerbieSue - I didn't know that you could rent dresses. VERY VERY interesting. I'm going to keep that in mind.

chicklet - you'll always be chicklet to me. Anyway, many times when I log into MFP lately I've gotten this message that a virus was blocked by my antivirus.

Amanda - so sorry your ball was cancelled. Will they reschedule it?

Jeannie - I can understand what you're going thru with the two schools. At one point I had three children in three different schools!

Hope everyone has a great evening.

I know this is short, I'm rushing, sorry if I missed anyone. Just want you to know that you all are in my thoughts

Michele

Barbiecat:flowerforyou:

Oh I could only hope to find a physical therapist like the one your husband had! The one she had in Washington and the one I am dealing with at our apartment are wusses. Mom just has to squint her eyes and they are like, "Does that hurt you too much Angie?" and immediately cut back, which she takes full advantage of. I just glare at her when she does that with them. I am constantly saying to her, "Open your eyes mom." That is why she wasn't as far along as they "claimed" she was when I showed up in Washington. Heck I have got her standing on her own, unassisted, within one month! Which is something they couldn't do in 3 months! I need a drill sargeant for her dammit!!! You think the army would take her????

Someone did tell me though that therapist nowadays in facilities have to follow the patient rights code. So basically if a patient says I don't want to do anything today, or, complains of pain while working out, they cannot continue to make them try any harder or for that matter be tough on them. Total waste of tiime if you ask me. What is the point of physical therapy if you don't feel some pain or soreness?? What's that saying weight lifters say, "No pain no gain"? That's the motto I use with her. If I treated her with kid gloves like they do, she wouldn't progress. of course she wouldn't be chewing me out all time either.:ohwell: I look at her and my relatiionship as a Love/Hate relationship.

My doctor, which is also my mom's doctor now, says if my mom goes into skilled nursing facility, she will die there. They will never push her. The horrible thing about that ( I mean besides her dying of course) is that she is perfectly healthy at 76 years of age. She doesn't have any diseases or heart problems .......anything, other than not being able to walk. Muscle deterioration from not moving. She can fix that!! But she acts like someone with a horrible disease! She is so fortunate to be healthy and she doesn't even recognize that and always wants to give up. ( She says it doesn't work for her. Bull pucky! She can't press the buttons on the remote! She acts like her fingers are frail, but in truth, she has the strength to push them, its just too much work for her.:noway: Do you know she has actually resorted to calling me in her room under false pretenses like, could you bring me some milk, to only say I really just needed to have you change the channel, I dont want any milk!:grumble: She literally does not think I have anythng else to do except change channels for her!!!:noway: I don't know....I know I am ranting, but if I don't do it here, I'll end up taking it out on her, which I don't want to do.

Well thanks for listening. Going to try and sneak a little more of a nap in before she wakes up. I am finally tired again. Hope I can get back to sleep.

Chiclet

I would love to join this group! May I tell you a little about myself. I am 63 and live in NY and also in Myrtle Beach during the winter. Last winter I spent my time running to a chiropracter 3 times a week for 2 months because of back pain! That was my "last straw". Not how I want to spend my retirement!! Sooooo, long story short. Returned home to NY in May and June 1 started Jenny Craig. I know, I know, many think when you get off their food you will regain the weight. Not if you are as determined as I am. I have lost 42.6 lbs so far and have about 30 more to go for a reasonable goal weight. I am now having 5 days of Jenny food a week and am transitioning to regular food 2 days a week and loving the program. Worked where WW has always failed me.

For exercise, my kids chipped in and bought me Wii and Wii Fit for my b'day. I now have MANY exercise programs and do about 45 minutes a day--every day.

So that's me! hope to participate on this board. Nice to find a group of ladies like me!

Merry Christmas everyone! Angela

:flowerforyou: Hi everyone, welcome all newbies

Just a quick post today. We've still a bit to do at uncle Derrick's, we've sorted most of it, just a few clothes to sort out to go to charity shop. It was quite hard yesterday, I was sorting out some things in his bedroom and it suddenly hit me, the last time I'd seen him, he was in bed looking so poorly - and now I'll never see him again. I feel bad that I didn't get to say goodbye to him. It's his funeral today, time to look back and reflect on the good times.

I'm pleased to say that I have been quite good on my meals out. The first one I actually took my sweet home with me (can't remember if I told you that, but for me it's unheard of I'd usually eat the sweet and not the main meal!) and last Friday I went out on a Christmas meal with my mum two aunts and mum's friend and filled up on the veggies and only had a small piece of sherry trifle. I'm hoping I can keep this up at home with all the extra nibbles we seem to have at this time of year.

My DS and partner and DGS are having Christmas dinner with us this year. They take it in turns with her parents. So this year I'll have 4 vegetarians to cater for - I've already bought a quorn roast, I'll have to remember to put it in the oven, a few years ago I was so busy with the small turkey for me and hubby and doing two lots of vegetables, that I forgot to put the quorn roast in the oven. Woops, Christmas Dinner was a little late that year.

At least with my grandson here there'll be no time for brooding. He's adorable, spoilt, but adorable all the same. I'll have to find some games for us to play, mind you he'll be so excited with all his toys that I'm sure he'll be happy whatever.

Well it's 8am better get a move on, lots to do. Doesn't help that it is so cold, I've never known it as cold as this before. It's minus 7 degrees almost unheard of for us in York, we are in a bit of a dip so usually bad weather passes over us, but not this time.

Take care my good friends, sorry I've not mentioned anyone by name, but I need to catch up with the last few pages.

I'm hoping to be back to posting regularly soon.

Love and best wishes