Returned from a great beach vacation!! GAINED WT, however I will not disclose, I'm leaving my weigh-in as written and will chart when I start to lose again ;( OH the pain of having fun!!

Happy Thursday, everyone -

Great to hear about vacations (OK, even if it interferes with being a loser!), work, kids, life -- it reminds me of a piece in my fave fitness blog. Check out Coach Stevo's blogs - he posts sometimes on MFP but has his own site and is one of the most inspiring and realistic trainers I have read. He is extremely well educated and keeps up his research, but has a great sense of humour and loves people. He talks in one piece about a woman in our age bracket, shall we say, who was having trouble staying motivated and on track with her exercise. His first reaction would have been to think she was somehow slacking or not committed, but then he made the effort to learn more about her life. She was doing all kinds of important things with family, work, and community. He realised that looking at someone's whole life and activities is important to understanding how they will be able to keep themselves healthy and fit. He was impressed and moved by her - I think he would feel the same about this group!

I have to get my workout in quickly. Then it's back to the vet with the rescued cat (he is not doing too well), shopping with my son who just got a new summer job and needs to look a cut above hyper cool and scruffy, and then to an open house at the future son-in-law's business. Now if I could only find time to go get a haircut. Overdue!!! :sad: No rest for the wicked! :glasses:

You all are very interesting people, and I am glad to read about your lives.

Just a thought of how we are not always in the pink like fig says. I took St Johns Wort for winter times, and switched to 5-Htp supplements. We are all born with our individual chemistries and sometimes it is low on the serotonin and endorphins. So feeling happy and not in pain can be sometimes the norm. I don't drink as that bums me out. I eat carbs and that perks me up for awhile and then bums me out. It is all sugar and moderate with Splenda. Eventually I will let that go, but working on losing weight first. So we all have to know ourselves and prioritize, then work with what we have to improve our lives. I get help from support groups, exercise and letting go of the small stuff - and it is ALL small stuff (remember that one?)

YES! to personal care stuff - make time for you Jugar!
Yes! to grandkids and family get togethers enjoy yourself Reba!
Yes! to social time Ker and then relax!
YES! to happily married 40 years Jean that's awesome!

Today is Aloha Friday in Hawaii, as is every Friday, which simply means to me that I share my positive spirit and let go of my stresses as I head into the weekend.

My challenges today and every day it seems :grumble: is to think of exercise as I would showering - just do it! Feels good afterwards - it is the getting started and making it my routine.

HAPPY FRIDAY YOU ALL!

Feeling good this morning as my lovely son last night did his first ever...and maybe his only ever.....Marathon. He ran the 26.2 miles in the snow and the midnight sun setting of the Arctic Circle in Norway in a time of 4 hours and 39 minutes!

As Elvis would say My Boy, My Boy!!!! :bigsmile: :bigsmile: :bigsmile:

Jean

How hard is it for everyone to throw away food? This has been one of the hardest things for me during this journey. Last night I went with friends to a local restaurant that does not list calories anywhere so, when faced with that, I like to keep the menu simple and straightforward so I can more easily log. Most of their stuff was saucy with pasta, so I chose the pork chops. But it was two 7-oz pork chops and they wouldn't do a single like some places do. It was a hot night and I didn't want to leave the leftovers in the car while we were at a play. So, I simply left it on the plate.

I have to keep telling myself that there is no difference in eating it when I don't need it and sending it back. Both are wasteful in there own way; but I have always had that "Clean Plate Club" mentality and it is one of the most difficult things to overcome.

Do any of you have the same problem?

Jean: How exciting for your son! And I know how proud you must be. We moms and grandmas take so much delight in our childrens' accompliishments. More so than if they were our own. I can't imagine running one lap let alone a marathon!

This month has been a struggle, up and down. Lots going on with the family, so hoping to make my goal but I had better hurry. June has just flown by!

Hi all. I've recently started MFP'ing again after a long break. It's been a very stressful year in my household -- just over a year ago my spouse was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, stage 2b, poor prognosis, and yet today she is cancer free. I've been her primary caregiver, her volunteer coordinator, her administrative executive, successfully fighting 2 pre-existing condition investigations, her chemo-treatment companion, and her weight-gain coach and advocate.

That last part, weight gain, worked for her, and unfortunately it worked for me, too. I gained 12 pounds during her 6 months of chemotherapy, a combination of stress-, comfort-, and companion-eating.

Since she got the all-clear 2 months ago, she's worked on gaining strength and stamina, and I've spent a lot of time sleeping and worrying about whether I'd ever bounce back from the huge toll the year has taken on me. I've been "totally and permanently" disabled since 1997, with high daily pain levels (7/8) and severely restricted mobility.

In the past few days, my energy has finally started to return, and today I had a "duh / aha" moment -- the returning energy is coincidental with my return to food journaling. I really want to make this work.

Too stuffy to run so I am going to walk to the swimming pool...about a mile and a half ....swim for 45 minutes and then either walk back or catch the bus ..... Goldfish in action again! Haha!

Jean

That all sounds good Cris ..... and the cruise will be fab!

I walked over 12500 steps today and did 40 lenghts swimming in the local pool....... hope it shows tomorrow...weigh in Wednesday! :ohwell:

Jean

Hi Everyone: haven't been around much in the past week or so but am now starting to get back into the swing of things, the good news is I have still been logging in my diary and have not let all my obligations to the 2 Mums get in the way of my "eating plan"! I have had to step back a bit from helping my MIL get ready to move into her retirement residence by the end of July as she is getting too demanding for me! Usually I speak to her when she becomes like this but there is already too much stress on DH as he deals with her so I don't want him being concerned about me ... I am usually the peacemaker in the family so when I get upset it gets my DH worried! Strong personality traits are a bonus in some situations, but in others they can be a drawback, I find! It will all work out fine in the end I know. Finally got to see the Dr after I felt so poorly about a month ago, so yes, I have a slew of tests to take so I have been busy booking those as well. Also my part time, part time job where I usually only work 2 days a month requires that I work 5 or maybe 6 days this month. They hired a new HR manager and I have been asked to do his orientation and get him up and running as quickly as possible. I couldn't say no, as, my old boss asked me personally to help them out. As my Mum is quite stable right now (knock on wood pls), I said ok! It is surprising how quickly you can get back into the routine even though I retired over 3 years ago!

Have a great trip Chris and yes Charlie, I also was raised with the clean your plate and waste not, want not mentality! I believe I am finally working past this :grumble: I just say, this is not good for you, leave it!

Welcome 6.5 :flowerforyou: great news about your partner and my goodness you have certainly had a stressful time, time for you now so welcome back and so glad you introduced yourself.

Well, everyone, signing off now but really wanted you all to know I was thinking of you all and loved reading your many posts and especially hearing about your family get togethers and grandkids, etc. have a great week everyone :drinker: Cheers, Marian

Hi sixpointfive and welcome to the group...wow you have had a tough time........hope you can stay positive and we can all help you to lose those pounds....:flowerforyou:

6.5 - thank you for telling your story and getting back onto MFP. You have given so much, now I hope you can take care of yourself too, by eating well and enjoying hanging out here with this great group.

Thanks Jean and Jugar. By nature I'm on the solitary end of the solitary/social spectrum, but I want to make MFP work for me, and getting and staying connected is my next step. ;-)

Well the month is coming to an end, so I thought, selfishly, it might be helpful to me to put down how things have gone. The month started rough with little or no exercise, and my calorie count out of control for much of the time. Since I turned 60 mid month, something seemed to click in my head saying...Enough Excuses...it is time to get back on the right track again. Since joining this group just over a week ago, I have exercised 7 straight days, and managed to keep my calorie intake under control over the weekend, so having you all here is definitely helping! I appreciate all the feedback from everyone, I believe it helps me hold my self more accountable to sticking with my program and hopefully reaching my goals over time.

Thanks to all of you! :happy:

-JB