Lots2Lose & over 40 (CLOSED GROUP)

Saturday share- i am 54 yrls old. was married for 27 years and had 3 children; then he left a few years ago. Been an emotional wreck ever since. Now my daughter, son and daughter in law, and 3 yr old grandson live with me so it is interesting with all the different personalities.. i was an emotional eater for many years. I am a registered nurse and worked in emergency for 20 years then went into federal corrections after he left so i was home with my teenagers. Convicts are a whole different species!! Got very sick last year with bacterial meningitis as well as severe back problem so i have been off on disability for over a year and HATING it. I am losing weight so i can have surgery on my back then hopefully get back to work...that is the goal. For some reason i finally got the hang of the weight battle since i found MFP. It is essential for me to measure and log my food and get some exercise for this to work. I try not to beat myself up (too much) over wasting many years being overweight and just try to move forward.
I am off to an open house today so i went to the gym this morning for some elliptical and bike time and then had a large salad at home so i won`t be tempted to nibble the treats there (other than the veggies)
Hoping everyone has a successful weekend

karen

Today, we had lunch with a friend who suggested an Indian restaurant she likes. The food was wonderful, and vegetarian. But I have no idea how to begin logging the calories. I think I'll just make a guess and add 100 to it. I know that's not accurate, but the dish I had included small servings of about six different things...plus the nan bread (I only had about one quarter of what came with my meal). Does anyone have a better idea of how to calculate a meal like this?

I had the same problem when I went to a Tea in February - we were served mini portions of 12 or so different foods. I was going to just use the Quick Add option with a calorie total, but others on the board recommended just trying to find similar items (like quiche or mini-sandwiches) and estimate the portion size that I ate. I did this and just hoped for the best. Had a loss that week so I guess it worked okay. :flowerforyou:

Saturday Share: I guess my share is that I have been dealing with a lot of stress recently - pain (my left foot and right knee), work (co-workers behaving like 5 year olds), chorus (being president is a PITA), and trying to figure out the best eating plan/exercise options for me - that have put me in a funk, dare I say depression. It has sort of stymied me the past couple of days - I ended up vegging on the sofa for the basketball game last night and only doing a few minutes of exercise on the bike. I owe it to myself to clear my head and not let life (which always happens) derail me from improving my health!!!

I am on the way out for Mexican with some friends now as a belated birthday celebration for one of them, so I will not be back until later today to read everyone's posts and catch up. But know that I am thinking of each of you and wishing the best for you today and every day!!! Hugs to all!!!:flowerforyou:

MJ: I get the funk/depression also. I want it to happen and I want it NOW, but my crazy body has a mind of it's own. I POUT! and then I move on. haha You know my 3 day rule! hahaha

Good evening everyone, just about to hit bed but thought I would post first:

Had a good day but not so good in terms of exercise. My daughter and I had a ‘spa’ day at home and this basically meant doing absolutely nothing bar enjoying each others company. Later on this evening went to my mums and changed the dressing on her leg. When I got home I decided to go through all cupboards and my chest freezer in the garage and look at the calorie content and date on everything and write it down as a list. I figure this will do two things, lets me know exactly what I have got in the house and also what calories are in everything, plus I know what to use first date wise. I can then think of the recipes I can make with what I have. I haven’t done this sort of thing for a long time. Just kind of forgot what I have already got (ignored it) and purchased new foods. Glad I did this so thoroughly today, feels really therapeutic! Lol! Some of the frozen fish was so out of date. I think I purchased it a while ago with good intentions (before joining MFP) and then decided to ‘forget’ it was there and ate a packet of biscuits instead of cooking…. My life before MFP! Lol!

It is very late here now so I will just have to wait until tomorrow to type the list up from my handwritten notes. Off to bed now, night all!



@Jolene - Thanks for the tip on the bread and the zucchini squash . Love the *itch comment, made me laugh! Thanks for the hug, received gratefully at this end! Sorry to hear about the 5lbs but I am sure you will shift it soon running to the loo! Lol! I read your note to Katzpawz re it taking 3500 calories to put on one pound, hadn’t thought about it like that, it will help me thinking this way instead of stressing if I have a few calories over.


@Mellisa – Hope you enjoyed the Mexican with your friends. Sorry to hear about your foot and knee and the silly people at the office. Like someone has said to me today, we all have each other so we can ‘let off steam’ about things and hopefully shift our emotions a bit at the same time. You are allowed your down time. Maybe you were feeling so overwhelmed that sitting on the sofa was all you could cope with at the time. Be kind to yourself for a bit then get yourself going and show the world you have sassy attitude!

Added later: Glad you had a good time. A home gym ah, very impressive! Thanks for your lovely comment re my share, felt really touched you telling me you felt proud of me.


@katzpawz – I am always impressed by your walk reporting, you inspire me to try and do more. Regarding the Indian Food …..I absolutely love it but since going on this healthy eating I haven’t had any but my daughter tells me the best is to have the chicken tikka (dry skewers not the masala type) with pilau rice. I love the peshwaria (?) naan but boy are they soooo naughty! I hope you enjoyed yourself.


@Shelly – I was trying to work out for ages what MIA meant, lol! I think I know now ‘missing in action’? I am SO impressed with you, you are really going for it. You work so hard and despite being so busy (you always sound busy), you find the time. So no excuses for me! A great start re the 2lbs this week, who knows what weight in will bring this week!!! Wow, it sounds promising re the job. I am sure you will do your best on the day so fingers crossed there too! You are inspiring!

Re the legs: Yes, need to get up more to move from the desk on those ‘desk’ days. A good idea to keep getting up to go to water fountain to get more water and by default have lots of trips to the loo, lol! Jolene mentioned re her legs puffing up from all the salt and I never thought this would be an issue! I will now watch to see how my food might affect my legs. They used to be awful before I lost my 19lbs but are not so bad these days, just the odd day here and there but when it comes it is ‘achy’
Re loosing weight: You and Cassie both said about the controlling calorie intake was key even if exercise, so that is good to know thanks.


@Joanna – Glad the fizzy pink stuff did the trick on your night out! Lol! You are an absolute star sticking to the low carb eating! Have added the low carb website and will take a look. Thanks for sharing some of your life, you are amazing! I know it is hard with divorce but to have your health issues on top. Thanks so much for your comment on my share, a big hug back at you.


@Karen – Big hug to you too. Divorce, family and the emotional fall out, then ill health, it is a lot to deal with. You have given so much to society in your nursing years and I am so sorry to hear of your illness and your back. Very frustrating for you. Fully agree, MFP people are amazing and have helped me turn my life around (not feeling so alone and that they understand the ‘issues’ around overeating). That might sound over the top but it is how I feel, truly. Having your operation is a big goal focus. You CAN do it, look at you! You are working out despite your back, despite your recovering from your health issues. You are a star! Hope you enjoyed the salad after your exercise workout, and of course the open house!


@Sue - Thanks very much for the info re the breathing exercises, will take a look. I don’t know too much about bipolar but have read a little of Cory’s posts (from the 100lbs+ group) as she suffers with this. I am sure it is a constant challenge.

So, Saturday Sharing: A little bit about me:
My husband and I will be married 25 years this year, and we still love each other as much now as we did all those years ago. I know alot of people thought our marriage would not last because of the age difference (he is 12 years older than Iam)but we proved them wrong. Like many of you our lives have also been touched by cancer. When our boys were just 4 and 2, we found our my husband had non-hodgekins lymphoma. He did the chemo and all was well for a couple of years and then it returned. Did another round of chemo and beat it! He's been good for years now; however, a couple of years ago he found out he had kidney disease. Luckly we've gotten that under control too. During this time my Dad found out he had colin cancer. Unfortunately, we caught it too late and he passed away shortly after finding out. So, yes, we all have our struggles and I guess all you can do is keep going forward. My youngest son, Eric, is a real worrier. I always tell him that things happen that we can't always control,, but we can't always be worrying about them because we will make ourselves crazy`
Ok, enough babbling from me. As I said earlier, I'm loving ot get to know all of you better.
Take care all, Charmaine

Saturday share:

During the last 3 years (when I was 1st diagnosed as bipolar) I have learned a lot about reducing stress. One way, which is really quick and can be done anywhere anytime is abdominal breathing:

1. Place one hand on your abdomen right beneath your rib cage

2. Inhale slowly and deeply through your nose into the bottom of your lungs. Your chest should move only slightly, while your stomach rises, pushing your hand up.

3. When you’ve inhaled fully, pause for a moment and then exhale fully through your mouth. Purse your lips and imagine that you are blowing on a hot spoonful of soup. As you exhale, just let yourself go and imagine your entire body going loose and limp. It should take you twice as long to exhale as it did to inhale.

4. In order to fully relax, take and release ten abdominal breaths. Try to keep your breathing smooth and regular throughout, without gulping in a big breath or exhaling suddenly.

here's the link if you're interested in more detail (& other steps to reduce stress):
http://successfulaging.ca/programs/stress/27.html

Have a wonderful Saturday everyone

thanks for sharing. My son has bi-polar. We got him when he was a little over 2 , he was diagnosed at 3 1/2 and has been on meds since he was 4., he is now 14. They do not like to give meds to children or diagnose them so it was really hard to find someone that would work with us. My heart goes out to you it is a hard thing to deal with, but it sounds like you have a handle on it.

Hello all!

Well I see we have been chatting up a storm today even on the weekend.......:-)

I still did not catch up on all the post but I did read all the Saturday shares and we have an awesome group of strong ladies here. You all rock. thanks so much for sharing a little bit about yourselves with us.

Saturday share for me:

After I had my surgery for weight in October 2004, my Mom was dignosed with colon cancer early in 2005. She had surgery and they thought they had it. In June of 2006 she was diganosed with breast cancer and had a partial removal of one of her breast. Then in 2009 they found a cancerous spot on her liver which came from the colon cancer. Because my Mom is one of Jehovah Witnesses and does not take blood transfusions, they do not want to operate on the liver. So thankfully it is a slow growing cancer they are just watching it right now. Every 6 weeks she is taking a cat scan and blood test to monitor the growth of the spot which is so small you can barely see it but it is still a concern. So we wait and pray for my Mom to survive the cancer for as long as she can with a good quality of life.

I am all too familar with toll that cancer can take on a person and the family. So with that I pray for us all who are enduring trying and challenging situations that life has a way of throwing to us all.

May we all appreciate the good times we have left with our loved ones. It is so precious. I think it was Sheri who had a girls night slumber party with several generations of ladies in her family and I thought that was so nice and loving. I wanted to say can I come too.....:-) Those are the things we have to embrace and make time for, because if we don't in the blink of an eye those times can slip away and then there is no time left.

:flowerforyou: Good night all and have a wonderful Sunday.:flowerforyou:

Jo.....love that zicchini squash with Italian seasoning too. I've never met a squash I didn't like. To cook your spaghetti squash, I cut it in half lenghtwise. Then you can either bake it or steam it. I have a Tupperware Stacker with the steamer/colander that I cook my squash in. Steam it until the squash is kinda soft when you put a for k down into it. I think I microwave steamed for about 15 minuted. When you pull the squash out of the steamer,.....Ooops....should have told you to remove seeds after cutting in half.
After squash is cooked, I hold a whole half in a dish towel....it's hot...anf with a fork start pulling the fibers out of the squash. It will come out looking like spaghetti....hence the name....as you rake it out from the skin. You can eat it with a bit of butter and season to taste. I never use salt. You can put spaghetti sauce on it ...with or without meat. I kinda like it with low fat Parmesan cheese on it. It's even good cold. Depending on how you fix it, it could be a side dish or a main dish. I hope you'll give it a try. Also check Foodnetwork.com. or any other recipe site of your choice for lots of recipes. Enjoy.
I guess this was my FRIDAY FOODS SHARE

It is so very encouraging to read all the posts here. Everyone has really inspired me to keep on trying hard to get this weight off and be healthier. My daily blood sugar readings are starting to come down!!!!!!!!

Today, we had lunch with a friend who suggested an Indian restaurant she likes. The food was wonderful, and vegetarian. But I have no idea how to begin logging the calories. I think I'll just make a guess and add 100 to it. I know that's not accurate, but the dish I had included small servings of about six different things...plus the nan bread (I only had about one quarter of what came with my meal). Does anyone have a better idea of how to calculate a meal like this?

Cheers,
katzpawz

Katzpawz, when I have a meal that I don't know the calories, I give it a wild guess as near as I can figure it and then I just "0" my calories and close out my food diary for the day. Most often it will be a meal that will put me over on cals. So it's kinda like I blew it for the day....maybe. and when that happens I try to do a whole lot better the next day. "One foot in front of the other". ;-)

Saturday Share: I guess my share is that I have been dealing with a lot of stress recently - pain (my left foot and right knee), work (co-workers behaving like 5 year olds), chorus (being president is a PITA), and trying to figure out the best eating plan/exercise options for me - that have put me in a funk, dare I say depression. It has sort of stymied me the past couple of days - I ended up vegging on the sofa for the basketball game last night and only doing a few minutes of exercise on the bike. I owe it to myself to clear my head and not let life (which always happens) derail me from improving my health!!!

I am on the way out for Mexican with some friends now as a belated birthday celebration for one of them, so I will not be back until later today to read everyone's posts and catch up. But know that I am thinking of each of you and wishing the best for you today and every day!!! Hugs to all!!!:flowerforyou:

MJ.....it's often difficult when all the "stuff" gets in the way and knocks us down. I sure know how ya feel cause that's where I've been the last couple days too. I think we just need to keep trying.....pick ourselves up and put on a smiley face and walk forward.
I wish I had a better answer. HUGS! Tomorrow is a new day.
Cassie

On a lighter note: It's Sunday Spy Day

What is/are your favorite guilty pleasure(s)?

Christine Feehan's "Dark" series
Ke$sha
America's Next Top Model & Project Runway

Just got in from our walk around Richmond Park near London. We met up with a group we found online. There were four couples and this was our first time with this group (first time for one other couple as well).

We started off climbing a steep slope for about the distance of one and a half football fields. Thought I was going to die!! But I made it! We then followed a nice trail through some lovely scenery. There were lots of folks out with their dogs. We saw a herd of deer and interestingly, the deer paid no attention to all the people and dogs in the park.

What is now Richmond Park was one of Henry VIII's hunting grounds. The deer are the descendants of the original stock, or so I've been told.

We meandered through the park and found our way along the Thames to a pub for a nice, although rather caloric lunch. According to my pedometer, I burned 1250 calories, while walking 6.25 miles! So going over on lunch calories was not a big deal. I will have a light dinner tonight, and go to bed early!

First of all, I'm amazed and proud that I was able to do it. Although I had a hard time keeping up with the group and at one point my blood sugar dropped and I had to stop and eat a little snack (which I had packed in my bag). I'm looking forward to being able to this walk and not struggle. But I'm glad to know that I can do it!

My guilty pleasures: relaxing watching old movies or playing video games (entirely too sedentary to be healthy) and caffe mochas! Although I decided that ordering a mocha with skim milk and no whipped cream is ok. I work them into my calories occasionally, rather than give them up completely.

I hope everyone has had a wonderful weekend!
katzpawz

hello, another glorious sunny day here in Devon,

My eldest daughter and I spent the day together as I have hardly seen her since she started dating "beautiphil" (that's his nickname. He is soooo handsome! I think she thinks she has died and gone to heaven.

Went down to our beach and sat sipping coffee in the sun and catching up on all our news, it's been lovely. She's nearly 15 going on 21. She wants to be a surgeon when she finishes Uni, specializing in pathology...eugh, dead people. Takes all sorts I guess!

What a fantastic question Sue....guilty pleasures.

Mine would be my bed, mmm I say "i love my bed" every night when i get in it and my second is watching Sex and the City