Fifty plus (or so) support group

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You swimming in your jeans? jk[/quote] and a huge congrats on the jeans!!

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Well I didn't really like wearing the swimsuit last week so I thought I'd up the anty and practice my falling out of the boat swimming to shore skills teehee

Welcome everyone. I will def check out that book, Karen. I've only been on here 3 weeks (almost). I'm actually doing the south beachy way of eating. Best for me. It is a life style change and it's my desire to do so .

Welcome Jennifer! Congratulations on entering the 3rd stage of your life with a bang! How inspiring you are following a new dream with your education to become a therapist. When I turned 50 it hit me that we go through essentially four lives and I had entered my third. I'm still trying to figure out a fun career change to pursue until I retire.....

How fun Suzy H! Sledding.... I haven't gone in years either but I have a huge grin on my face for you . You definitely need to take the grandkids! I can already hear their laughs and shrieks of fun

Best intentions aside, Friday night we headed to the pool only to get caught up in a 3 1/2 hour closure of the interstate freeway. A sad soul was threatening to jump off an overpass Fortunately they were able to safely talk him down..... But we missed the swim time. Never fail, we went out to dinner instead Probably not the best trade~ off, but it sure was yummy! For the past couple of years, we only order one entree and split it 1/4~3/4. Restaurant portions are always so huge I'm full after the salad and can never eat a full meal. I did have to talk him into Rockfish instead of a creamy pasta dish, but he was a good sport . Besides, I think he likes that I'm a fairly cheap date HAHAHA!

Hope you are all enjoying your Sunday!

Happy Monday everyone! Well, Mondays are my day to hit the scales..... Between all the hard work I did last week and forgetting to eat (too many times to count, yeesh! ) I still managed to lose 1.5 pounds this week! That brings me to 13 total~ nearly my halfway mark!! I'll take it

My goal this week is to make sure I get my 3 meals and 2 snacks in me and drink my water! We also ate out twice this weekend including sushi last night with low sodium soy sauce, but I can feel a little water retention in my hands so that was probably not a good choice either, LOL. But that's real life for ya

Hope you all had a terrific weekend! Congratulations to Unigoop for 6 pounds! Woowza

lknewth wrote: »

I'm 52 and trying to start back again with eating healthy and exercising. I do well for few weeks and then slack off.

That'll happen if you cruise a lot (damn the buffet, full speed ahead!)

it does take some determination. Have you ever thought about why you "slack off" after a few weeks?

55 here, female from MI. I'll join. Recent cancer survivor and even though going to gym and eating healthy, scale not moving. Frustrated.

Welcome everyone! We're all on the slow boat to weight loss and making healthy lifestyle changes for a lifetime. To me that means celebrating one small victory in my journey every day, and acknowledging then setting aside the times I know I've goofed a bit. Standenvernet is right that we just need to try to figure out what was happening when we slipped, then accept it and move on

To kegrette, congratulations on reaching survivor status . Cancer is a difficult journey on it's own and that darn weight gain from treatment is so much harder to lose for some reason. But, you've already made it through the hard part! And you've lost 8 pounds!! As your body adjusts to it's new healthy self, it will start giving up the weight a little at a time. Make sure you are taking your measurements because I know from experience I can see inches shrinking faster than the number on the scale, especially since you are working out at the gym

I usually feel tired. I know if I can make it to the gym I feel better. It's being consistent to get there that's been the problem

lknewth wrote: »

I usually feel tired. I know if I can make it to the gym I feel better. It's being consistent to get there that's been the problem

Yep -- and after some consistent performance you may be able to form a habit for gym time.

For me, "the gym" was really enough of an excuse to not go to the gym (just hated it there). Really wasn't sure if the gym ran afoul of my base personality or what, but I didn't like it; so I did not go.

As a good turn of bad-fortune, I'm coming up from being so sedentary and out of shape, that a little bit of any activity will help; so I looked at body-weight exercises (really "exercises" is an over-statement, more body-weight "motions") that I could reliably perform to get myself in motion. More importantly, the "gym" was not gonna dictate my self-recovery... I began to log my eating accurately and make choices based on my own eating patterns to help reduce my intake to something near target levels.

For "body motions", simple walking and opting for stairs can get things moving. I also try to begin each morning with squats (often just in the shower being safe and cautions about it). Building up from one to about 50 or so each morning. Small dumbbells helped to get the rest of me moving AFTER I began without weight to understand correct form and to get old-fat moving again. In my thinking, the no-weight to low-weight approach removed any excuses I would have, with the added benefit of allowing my body to understand full range of motion with minimal risk of injury.

I'm sure at some point I will "need" a gym, but at the moment, I'm moving along my goals at (or above) my anticipated rate, with fairly consistent performance of muscle retaining exercise, but without the ability to blame "the gym" for my own transgressions.

Granted, it's only been a few months, and time will tell... This is week-7 of logging food here with MFP, and not only do I weigh ~7% less than I did 10-weeks back, but I can already feel some energy and endurance returning. I know that my losses will slow down, and that my physical gains will plateau; so when they do, maybe I'll find a nicer "gym", or just head outside where all the good times are.

For me at least, "the gym" was a premature step, but served as a very convenient scapegoat for my lack of will to initiate.

Good new day everyone

Hello everyone. I am not 50ish but I could use all the support and motivation I can get. I am really good about being consistent but its always so hard to take that first step. I know I can lose the weight because I have before, not many pounds, but enough to know that if I stick with it I can attain my ultimate goal. The key is to keep going! I notice a major problem I have is that I see results and get excited and think, oh I can do this no problem. And instead of continuing I end up "falling off the wagon" because I gain confidence. Not so good because then I gain the weight back and have to start over!!! I have hypothyroidism so that already hurts my metabolism. BUT, I no longer want to use that as a crutch or an excuse for my weight. I want to be able to slide down the slide with my daughter and not feel like I am going to get stuck or break it. I want my daughter to be proud of me. Its not easy to be asked by an innocent child if I am pregnant and all the while its just that I am fat. Speaking of which, I would like to have a 2nd child, but my weight is an issue. Im just tired of not being happy with my body. I am my own worst enemy. My body issues affect my confidence, my marriage, everything. I am so insecure and unhappy and I hold back a lot. Time to take my life back and not be in bondage to my weight.

standenvernet wrote: »

lknewth wrote: »

I usually feel tired. I know if I can make it to the gym I feel better. It's being consistent to get there that's been the problem

Yep -- and after some consistent performance you may be able to form a habit for gym time.

For me, "the gym" was really enough of an excuse to not go to the gym (just hated it there). Really wasn't sure if the gym ran afoul of my base personality or what, but I didn't like it; so I did not go.

As a good turn of bad-fortune, I'm coming up from being so sedentary and out of shape, that a little bit of any activity will help; so I looked at body-weight exercises (really "exercises" is an over-statement, more body-weight "motions") that I could reliably perform to get myself in motion. More importantly, the "gym" was not gonna dictate my self-recovery... I began to log my eating accurately and make choices based on my own eating patterns to help reduce my intake to something near target levels.

For "body motions", simple walking and opting for stairs can get things moving. I also try to begin each morning with squats (often just in the shower being safe and cautions about it). Building up from one to about 50 or so each morning. Small dumbbells helped to get the rest of me moving AFTER I began without weight to understand correct form and to get old-fat moving again. In my thinking, the no-weight to low-weight approach removed any excuses I would have, with the added benefit of allowing my body to understand full range of motion with minimal risk of injury.

I'm sure at some point I will "need" a gym, but at the moment, I'm moving along my goals at (or above) my anticipated rate, with fairly consistent performance of muscle retaining exercise, but without the ability to blame "the gym" for my own transgressions.

Granted, it's only been a few months, and time will tell... This is week-7 of logging food here with MFP, and not only do I weigh ~7% less than I did 10-weeks back, but I can already feel some energy and endurance returning. I know that my losses will slow down, and that my physical gains will plateau; so when they do, maybe I'll find a nicer "gym", or just head outside where all the good times are.

For me at least, "the gym" was a premature step, but served as a very convenient scapegoat for my lack of will to initiate.

Give me more info on the body weight exercises, please Logging food is going well but I gotta get moving. Thanks

jules9881 wrote: »

Hello everyone. I am not 50ish but I could use all the support and motivation I can get. I am really good about being consistent but its always so hard to take that first step. I know I can lose the weight because I have before, not many pounds, but enough to know that if I stick with it I can attain my ultimate goal. The key is to keep going! I notice a major problem I have is that I see results and get excited and think, oh I can do this no problem. And instead of continuing I end up "falling off the wagon" because I gain confidence. Not so good because then I gain the weight back and have to start over!!! I have hypothyroidism so that already hurts my metabolism. BUT, I no longer want to use that as a crutch or an excuse for my weight. I want to be able to slide down the slide with my daughter and not feel like I am going to get stuck or break it. I want my daughter to be proud of me. Its not easy to be asked by an innocent child if I am pregnant and all the while its just that I am fat. Speaking of which, I would like to have a 2nd child, but my weight is an issue. Im just tired of not being happy with my body. I am my own worst enemy. My body issues affect my confidence, my marriage, everything. I am so insecure and unhappy and I hold back a lot. Time to take my life back and not be in bondage to my weight.

Congrats on taking that first step . MFP is an amazing tool to use. I log every bite that goes in. Even bubble gum. It has def made me more aware of my calorie intake. Sometimes I even pre-log my food to make sure I stay under my allowed calories. If I can do it anyone can. So jump on the wagon and let's go

butbygrace206 wrote: »

Give me more info on the body weight exercises, please Logging food is going well but I gotta get moving. Thanks...

My personal list is messy, and my reply here got quite long, and I figured that there'd be something like that on the exercise part of this forum (I did send you a short list though)...

Mostly I focused on getting the parts I'd need for real exercise safely moving again using Calf raises for ankle stability so I could get into Squats (with a "pistol" variant) to help with knees and ankles, then Burpees. And similarly (prior to beginning the Burpees even) some shoulder work (gross & fine motions in the rotator and pec-minor) to stabilize my shoulders enough to get to arm circles, then planks, then push-ups...

So little baby steps to build a foundation to avoid injury as I move toward more conventional exercise stuff.

I'd be happy to expound on a few of these, but didn't wanna bore folks that I don't know!


**Nearly forgot my favorite "warm-up", Gorilla Walk! - Take over-sized steps, not quite as extreme as a lunge, but waaay too long of a step to look normal; while you're doing this raise both hands over your head leaving your elbows flexed and fee to move. Your over-long steps will cause your hips/spine to kinda roll (similar to a stiff lower back), just kinda 'go with" this motion and allow it to roll into your shoulders and travel along your up-raised arms before whipping off the ends of your fingers -- stay loose and walk along this way. I've found that you can GREATLY increase the number of good laughs you get if you sag your pants like a young urban gangstah allowing your waistband to ride at or below your hip joint (with your shirt tucked-in, this will look like your legs are very short and your torso is much longer - quite ape-like, yet seriously "uncool" if you've got teenaged grandkids... Rotating the bill of your ball-cap rearward only adds to the hilarity (with no significant impact to the stretch)

As I thought, the exercise & fitness area has a few lists as well ( http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10059807/body-weight-exercises is one of many; has a few nice links within ), but many start above "man-jello" fitness levels.

Use caution as you progress, not everything that hurts is good (truth is few are, depending on your '50-shades of Gray' outlook)

Good morning everyone. I joined the group in January and then got kicked in the butt with a horrible cold that had derailed my efforts. Then I was bummed because I felt like I was starting from scratch again. I stopped visiting MFP and this group. Today I am back and I have caught up with your conversations. You are all so inspiring. It feels good to be back!