40+ Club : Where the Cool Kids Are

Geek, I know about the thrill of losing. Watching those numbers get smaller can be habit forming. I had set my goal weight at 173 because it was a prime number, never thinking I would get close to it. But when I got down to 180 I reset it to 176 and slowed my loss to a half pound a week.

About that same time I started working with {light} free weights. I had never lifted in my life, and starting out at 53 years old was a strain on my old bones. I just do an all around workout, trying to hit all major muscle groups. I do about 75 minutes two days a week, increasing the weight by 2 1/2 pounds at the beginning of each month. I know many folks lift four or more days a week, but all I want to do is get a little stronger and lower my body fat%. I had skinny arms and legs, even when I was fat. So after losing 65 pounds, I was puny. It is going to take me a long time, but I can see and feel changes after only three or four months.

Good morning guys. I forgot to mention last night that Mamma got transferred to the rehab in Panama City late yesterday afternoon. Or as Sister put it, she is now in the Witness Protection Program. They do 4 hours of PT a day, 6 days a week. She will be glad tomorrow is Sunday, and she will have the day off.

I am about back to normal, although my weekly schedule was thrown all to hell. The lady who comes in every other week to help with the cleaning had her car in the shop, so she couldn't come this week. And with me at the hospital everyday, all I could do was fling a load of clothes in the washer as I was leaving, then run by and put them in the dryer on the way to work. Margie does her work clothes {just because I have dyed a couple of loads of clothes, she doesn't trust me} so it's just my clothes, socks and underwear, towels, sheets and the like. So a few of the ones way back to the back of the closet are getting used.

My event at the Civic Center today is where they hand out free school supplies. Most years there are over 1000 people come through here. But the lady who had done it for the last 10-15 years changed jobs, and a new person is doing it. There must have been less publicity because so far, the crowd is much smaller than in years past. But since I will be doing the cleanup when they leave, I'm not going to complain.

Hope everyone has a good day.

Larro

Well Good Morning Cool Kids! I just finished a 4 mile run and feel fantastic. Its a great way to start my day.

Caramelgyrlk - Congratulations on your first 5K! I'm so looking forward to feeling that rush as I've been working towards this for a long time. I expect my time to be fairly close to yours but I'll surely post my results when it gets here. I will do my best!

Larro - I've been stuck at 180 all week so my goal of 175 is just toying with me now. Ha! My scale and I have a love/hate relationship and its "complicated". I promised my scale if it'd let me into the 170's I wouldn't stand on it for a week! Yet it continues to mock me! Seriously though, I'm looking forward to joining you in the weight training which should happen in a few weeks if I can manage to get that dumb..i mean lovely scale to work for me again. Sorry to hear about your mom as well. Sounds like she's in good hands and hopefully you can rest a little.

Mrbyte - Amazing physique, I'd love to be a cut 190 in the end. I know my track is different but in a few weeks I'll be back in the gym! Welcome by the way...not sure if I'm qualified to welcome you since I'm new too...but hey welcome anyway.

All have a wonderful day! Time to mow the lawn...woohoo...not.

larrodarro, Don't get me wrong. I think powders have their place. I'll use them in a pinch and to push my macros around if I'm light on protein for the day but generally I try not to intake more than 15 to 20% of my protein via powders.

Geek, Thanks. Consistency in training to keep lbm and diet to bring out definition. I think I push it with my training because I'll feel beat up after 4 weeks of training hard and will have to back it down a bit. I'm at that stage right now. Ready for a break because joints feeling it. I refuse to have my age mold me! (I just made that up, lol)

Not that it matters but I have a ruptured s1-l5 that impinges on my left sciatica. I'm very lucky that it's mostly painfree when it's not acute. But it has taken me out of the gym for 10 months at a time when it flares. I've lived with for 32 years, slight rotator cuff issues in my left shoulder and I still make it to the gym and train as best I can. Others can do this too if I can. I finally first time in my life started training abs because I have babied my core from the back injury.

I do weight every morsel of food I intake. I do recommened that to people. Even if you aren't tracking macros, it's good to know what's going in. After you see whats going in, you can step back and change things up. Can't begin to change things for the better when you don't know what's going in. my 2c.

JustFindingMe. Hi there. I can tell this forum is a lot friendlier than the advice forums. Give out any contrarian advice and prepare to have you own macros attacked even though the results speak for themselves. Go figure.

Thanks for the welcome kids!

Good Sunday Morning Cool Kids.

I hope everyone has had a good weekend so far. I had the circus {free school supplies} here yesterday. But it was a smaller crowd than in years past. Only about 750 folks. Not too bad of a clean up. And if Uncle Sugar isn't listening, I'll say I got paid for the cleanup in cash. {If you are listening, US, I was just kidding} They had pony rides, a old timey three piece band, lots of healthy snacks and so much more.

I didn't have to come into work until 1100 this morning, so I had time to work in the garden for a little while. I had bragged about my moon light pea picking a little too soon. There were a lot of peas that I had missed that were dried up. Hopefully I got them off the vines in time. Also picked cucumbers, peppers and pinto bean this morning. I have never grown pinto beans before, so I will have to Google some recipes to find out what to do with the green ones.

I also had time to cook breakfast this morning. There are pictures at http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1251741-what-s-for-breakfast?page=12#posts-21009504 if anyone of you guys want to look. For someone with so little free time, I seem to waste a lot of it taking and posting pictures of my meals:blushing:

Margie and Sister are gone to Panama City to see Mamma. I'm going to be a good husband and wait to watch NASCAR until she gets back. I'm re-reading an old Ed McBain novel anyway, and golf is a good sport to read by. It's long and quiet until someone hits a good shot. And they will always replay it, so you don't even miss it.

See you guys later.

Larro

Thanks for the group. Have been lurking about
Am over 50 and have decided to get it back
Been at this 2months and have lost 9 plus pounds but amazingly have gone from 500 steps daily with pain to on weekend days when I have time hitting 15,000 steps, over6miles incorporating mountain trails with 64 flight of stairs equivalent and no pain only muscle fatigue
The goal now is to get up the trails faster and stronger.
We can do this. LOL

500 to 15,000 is amazing! Incredible job.

You guys just make me uber-jealous of quickly dudes can drop bodyfat.....testosterone!

Anyway, i dud my cardio on saturday. Went to festival yesterday. Ate too much (shocking, i know....).

Tried on dress for september wedding and, yup, i gave bodyfat to lose. So, am settling in for august "cut". It us here. Ut us time.

I think i'll do some cardio and some strength today....it is a holiday, today, weather is great, and i have a few novels to plow through!

Good Morning Cool Kids,

I am feeling a little discouraged today. I have worked very hard to stay within my calorie intake and have not seen the scale move at all. I am happy that it has not moved up in anyway. But wish that it would go down some to at least let me know that I am not doing all of this for nothing. I know that I should be exercising a lot more than I currently do, but going from 3,000 to 4,000 calories a day to no more than 1,300 I thought would get me somewhere. Okay enough of the whining and back to staying foucsed. I know that I have grown some, because the if the old me would have not seen and results would have said F-it and gone back to my old habits. I am NOT giving up this time. This is for me, my family and my future! As Beeps says: BOOM!

alf - I hope that you have a good time with your grandbaby. I have taken my on vacation twice. The first time was a challenge since she was teething but the second time was better. Our whole family is going to Colorado in a couple of months for my sons wedding and she is the flower girl. I am hoping that goes with that. She is 3.

Larro - I glad that your Momma is doing better. I pray that her road to recovery is quick.

KellySue - It sounds like you got plenty on moving in this weekend.

Beeps - Keep pushing through!

Mrbyte - I say if it is working for you don't worry about what others think. The proof is in the pudding (or you pic)

Caramel - First I want to say that I think that you are beautiful and would not let others help define what I think of myself! There are always going to be haters. You have given me so much inspiration and that is the things that you should focus on, all the positivity that you bring to this group and the world.

Geek - Good Luck with you 5k, I think that you will do just fine. You seem to be a very determined person and will blow it out of the park!

tough weekend. i got down on myself with my nutrition/diet. Re focusing with the matra of, all i can control is today.

Emmalusmom- Sorry to hear that the scale is not moving downward. I think we all can attest to how frustrating and demotivating this can be. I am wondering though, if you are not eating enough?? Being at such a high calorie count (3-4 thousand/day) down to 1300 per day is a BIG drop. I am never really sure about the whole "starvation mode" theory, but I have seen people, my mother included, that have dropped calories so drastically that they have stalled their weight loss. I might suggest that you try eating around 1800 calories/day for a few weeks to see how that goes. Just a thought, mind you, but it never hurts to give it a try. Good luck!

So, I have pre-logged my food for the day and for orange and yellow fruits and veggies I have gotten in cantaloupe, baby carrots, pineapple, a nectarine (counts due to the orange flesh), and will be eating some corn later! WhooHoo!

Hey y'all, I'm 42. Can I be a cool kid?

Good Afternoon Cool Kids. Boy it sounds like all you folks have been busy. I've been pretty much laying around all day. Well, other than an early workout {gazelle 10 min, weight lifting 75 min, stationary bike 5 min}, watering and picking my garden, watering and picking Mamma's garden, showering and getting dressed, driving an hour to Panama City, visiting Mamma, shopping afterward, driving an hour to work, and getting stuck on the phone for half of the hour and a half since I've got here. But other than that, I haven't done much of anything. When the Taekwondo class gets out of the Ball Room, I will go down there and do my 2 miles. It is bad when walking at 4 1/2 mph is the most relaxing thing I can think of right now.

I took Mamma some well water and the cucumbers I picked in her garden. I also have picked a handful of her peas ever other day. She wants me to shell them and put them in the freezer for her. Each picking would be about a cup and a half. Who knows. I may do it.

E's Mom, I was thinking the same thing about the calories. Maybe the reason you don't feel like more cardio is you are not getting enough to eat. If you are stuck, it won't hurt to give it a try.

Howdy Rebecca. Welcome to the club.

KellySue, the colored veggie challenge sounds fun. With my carrot consumption, everyday is an orange day for me.

Just, the old bike sounds great. Be careful with that back though.

Alf, enjoy the time with your grand-baby. Before you know it, she will be in college.

Hope everyone has a good week.

Larro

Hey cool kids, hope all of you are well.

Whewwwww, Extreme fit kicked my can today. I am increasing my weights each week and I felt the extra 5lbs today. My push ups with a row has truly improved. It really does challenge me and the instructor is not easy to impress. When you do get a comment or praise, you have truly earned it.

Emmalu--I understand how discouraging it can be when that scale does not move. I learned early on in this journey, that the scale is part of the equation. Take your measurements and check them because you may find that you are losing inches versus weight. Thank you for the kind words. I really appreciate it.

Beeps--If anyone on here can reach their goals is you. You will be fabulous in the dress.

Alf--enjoy your grandbaby.

KellySue-Hope you are well and your running this week is what you hope for. I am so encouraged by your determination despite LIFE happening. You rock

Larro--Hope mom continues to recover. You are a busy bee for sure.

JFM- 90% spandex, OH MY. Thank goodness you love your sister. I am confident you will do what is necessary to be FAB in the dress.

GM-I found when I was training for the race, I was starting to get shin splints. I had to ice my legs quite a bit. After the race was no different. My legs are just start to feel normal again, until I got to the gym today and had to run around the shopping center twice during class.

Welcome all new comers. I like that the group is growing so nicely.

For all of you hard core weigh-lifters, have any of you had to deal with loose skin? My arms suffered the worse from the weight loss and my tricep area is horrible. I trust my trainer and we do quite a bit of arm work because she knows I dislike my arms. I would love to know what some of you would recommend or suggest. I am trying to give myself the benefit of the doubt and see what my progress is like by December. I am really considering surgery to remove the excess skin if the weight lifting does not work. I welcome all honest opinions. Thanks

If I forgot anyone my sincerest apologies.

Have a great night and as beeps would proudly say "BOOM"

Morning!

I bet if you keep up the with the weights, your loose skin will get a little better. It may not snap back but it will definitely get better! Your skin will have some sexy muscles to wrap around :bigsmile:

Have a great time beeps, Im envious! What I wouldn't give for a few nights of pure ME time mixed in with a little social thrown in! Ive just recently relocated and its a VERY small town. I do not know anyone on a social level yet :ohwell: It seems if you aren't from here, people aren't very receptive to inviting you into their world. Its a big change, I used to have a pretty healthy social life. I spend a lot of time doing things with my family, which is good, it just miss grown up stuff lol.


Have a great day everyone!

OH!!!! I forgot to mention - I won $450 at the casino last night! Haha Our little local Video Lotto machines in the restaurant, But HEY I WON!!!!!!!!!!!!!