WOMEN AGES 50+ FOR JULY2015

Above is one of the costume jewelry trees I made.

Janetr OKC

I've been on and off MFP for the last couple of years, having had little success. I joined WW online in February when they were running their deal of lose 10 pounds in 2 months and get a refund on those 2 months' membership fee. I lost 11-12 pounds, but it took me until the beginning of June, so I didn't get to take advantage of their deal. I got lazy during June with my food journaling, so I remained stagnant for the month...better than gaining, at least!

I decided to drop the WW membership and try using MFP again. I saw this group and decided the accountability should help. I also was just able to join the YMCA that's just a few minutes from our house, so I'm excited about the additional fitness options I have now. I went to a great hour-long Yoga class on Monday and yesterday I went to an hour-long Yoga/Pilates class. I've enjoyed both for several years using DVDs and YouTube at home, but I think I'm going to be much more consistent having group classes to attend.

I am premenopausal...nearly fully menopausal, so I know that has worked against me in my weight loss journey. I have been struggling with hot flashes, which makes sweating in exercise less appealing, but I'm hoping that if I become consistent, I will notice a reduction in the number and intensity of hot flashes. I also have been having back and sciatic pain off and on for the last few years, as well as either sesamoiditis or arthritis in my right foot. Of course my these pain issues have provided additional excuses for not consistently exercising. I'm finally going back to a chiropractor next week to hopefully get some answers and guidance as to the types of exercises to do as well as the types to avoid.

July Goals:

Log food daily
Attend 3-4 Fitness classes at the YMCA each week
Walk for at least 30 minutes at a moderate to fast rate 4-5 times per week
Lose 5 pounds by August 1

Thanks for reading and letting me join this group!

Christina

Janetr - That is lovely!!

I'm missing my morning "sit" on the patio because it is still dripping wet from last night's storms. However, I did go out front and walk down the sidewalk and back. I have to remember to stroll instead of attempting to walk at my normal speed--the bouncing hurts.

My daughter is making blueberries pancakes for breakfast with the fresh blueberries from yesterday's produce box. Yum!! I haven't had pancakes in forever!!

Today's challenge is to change into fresh clothes. I'm not planning to shower until tomorrow, but I'm ready to get out of the PBJ stained shirt I'm wearing. My morphine prescription is almost empty so I'm lengthening the time between doses.

Oops! Pancakes ready! Catch y'all later.

Carol in NC

Sue- When I was stationed on Whidbey Island I lived about 5 miles from Deception Pass. It is a very beautiful area.
I miss the area.

gayle
Idaho

Janet - I love the tree. I am not creative enough to do that!

Call me crazy but I love to see other people happy and succeeding .

Good Morning Ladies,

Happy First of July and best wishes to you all for a fantastic and successful month, whatever your goals may be.

Lesley, I am always so impressed with your determination and commitment. What is your long term goal? It definitely appears to be health and fitness. You don’t have much weight to lose (good for you) and I wondered if you are still working with Brian? Is he a nutritionists or trainer? You know I can’t remember s#it. I’m just so happy you came back to us.

Renny, Happy Canada Day for tomorrow. (I’ll forget by then, ya know.) Is that equivalent to our Fourth of July? Have a good one.

Gayle, welcome. The heat is keeping many of us inside. Thank goodness for AC, which few people had when I was a kid. I’m not a walker but have been doing some walking in place to Leslie Sansone on UTube. It is actually better than walking outside for me, or at least more exercise. Have a great month.

Joyce, I love the ornament with pieces of jewelry glued all over it. Wish I had more of my Mom’s jewelry but some day may make DD one with mine and my mom’s. I love storage wars although we don’t watch it often. Some of the “stuff” they find is hilarious, but not as much as the buyers. Do you not have a bathroom downstairs that Charlie could get to faster? Poor thing. I laughed when I read about the same hairstyle for umpteen million years: When I was about 25 some of DH’s customer’s daughters came over to visit when they were in town. As we talked one said something about age and guessed my age, “because they had older friends that still wore their hair that way”. My DH just about fell out in the floor laughing his butt off. I guess he and they took it that my hairstyle was a bit out of date??

Carol, we will hold your spot for a long as you need. All we want is to know you are doing okay after your recent shoulder surgery. So glad you have help.

Kate, I believe you are right. “You Got This”. Just keep it up, girl.

Allison, good for you on calling Tom on his s#it! I just hope he does think about it.

Yannie, so sad about the horse.

Carol GA, I might have missed something or forgotten(Me? No way!) but why does your DH hunt for more merchandise? Does he have a business where he sales?

Heather, I hate that you aren’t sleeping and worrying about everything. That’s not good. You need one of those special places you can go when meditating. Ohmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm. I hope you can relax and get some sleep. (((Hugs)))

Gilly, sometimes it’s not even worth trying to catch up but to pick a spot and go from there. Ya know this thread is not supposed to cause stress but to help remove it. Most important is to concentrate on you and your health and happiness. If you miss anything really good, we’ll tell you about it.

Jean in GA, welcome. We are glad you found us, too. Please tell us a bit more about yourself so we can get to know you. As I’m sure you can tell, this is a very supportive group of ladies. Come often and join right in.

Janetr, I love the jewelry tree you made. Thanks for sharing.

Christina, welcome. First of all, if that is a picture of you….you look way too young! But we won’t hold that against you. It sounds like you have some challenges, but that just gives you a reason to work all the harder. Truth is, losing weight isn’t easy at any stage of life. There are many of us on here that have struggled with it for years and can testify to that. Having a Y so close is wonderful. Do take advantage. As you know, the more you exercise, the better you will feel. Come often and share all you want.

Carol, so glad to see you up and about. We didn’t get a drop of rain last night even though it just missed us. Heal quickly!!!

to any Newbies that I missed. Come often and join in the chat. This thing works!! Please sign your post with what you want to be called. It makes it easier for us to respond to you. Also a location is great, be it specific or general. We are happy to have you join us.

Well, I only lost 2.5 pounds in June. Thank goodness I didn’t have a goal of a certain number of pounds loss. I failed miserably on part of my goals. I didn’t exercise 5 time a week always. I haven’t started line dancing classes yet, because things keep getting in the way of the schedule. I have for the most part stayed within my calorie limits. So all in all, not a great month on goals. I'm off to the doctor and then may have lunch with a friend. I tried to get her to go to the beach rather than lunch, but she didn't have time. I am thinking seriously about my July goals and this is what I’ve come up with:
July Goals:
Be aware of portion size
Exercise at least 5 days a week
Drink water, at least 8 glasses a day
Log all food and drink
Stay within 1200 calories a day while eating healthy.
I certainly wish all of you success with your goals and that we all have a happy and healthy July.

Words I live by:
Savor. I have to slow down and savor every bite.
and
Opportunity. Each day offers new opportunities for good health and happiness if we just look for them and choose them.
I Love you,
DJ
Myrtle Beach, SC

Thanks everyone for the good wishes!
I have just woken up from a lovely 1 hour nap! My mood has improved somewhat though I am still daunted by the admin. Will get DH to help me take baby steps. Phew, it's HOT! No AC for us poor old Britishers. Glad I'm not up in London today.

Going to make a cauliflower and fresh pea frittata for dinner with tomato salad. Got to pod the peas! ! Will throw in a few cumin seeds with the spring onion and garlic.

Kim - your salmon sounded great. I use mesquite drops on mine and I often put some smoked chilli paste on as well. Fabuloso! ! ! !

Now to make a cup of tea and tackle those forms! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !

Heather UK

Hi Everyone,

Thanks Barbie for starting the new thread. This weekend we will move to the summer house on the river.

I have been holding off grocery shoping until we move. DH has finished the repairs on the kitchen for this year, so all that's left to do there is cleaning.

July and August should be a bit slower than the rest of the year. I am hoping to work just 3days a week. I am finding that it is very hard to keep a fast pace w/out overeating. I did not really loose weight during June but at least I did not gain.

I usually do not set goals outloud so I will set one to drink more water, and another to cease stopping for an ice cream sundae when I pass a particular stand.

Naiomi2025 in 70F and cloudy Massachusetts

Happy Tuesday and Happy July ! ! !

Becca – aren’t those bugs just ridiculous? I swear they know when everyone except me is sleeping or gone. DH is HVAC, so we have several types of Freon around the house.

Barbie – Hooray for Jake. Thanks for the new thread !

Rosie – Enjoy Vegas.

Grits – We have had students who move ask their Provider for Anxiety Pet permission letters. Good luck with all of it.

Kim – Part of how we got here in Milwaukee is because Shorty’s was gutted by fire in 2005. He had cousins as co-investors, and they took the entire Insurance check. Since Greg and I both got jobs in the same town a few years later, we sold the empty building and house next door, put most of our stuff in storage, and moved here with youngest son and $13.00 total (that our attorney had to beg out of the cousins). Life is better now, and I don’t miss waking up in the middle of the night to fix a urinal or break-up a fight or whatever.

Janet M – you can still salvage the scarf-turned-pennant. You can add the same or different color to one side, and make it look like it was supposed to be 2 or more colors. You can make another just like it, and sew them together for different shapes, etc. The best advice I would like to offer is to count your stitches until you are certain where you need to end and turn. Keep trying, you will get better at it. A scarf is a wonderful way to start. // Oh My, that jewelry tree is beautiful !!!

Joyce – sorry about the confusion. DH has only once in our relationship taken me on a vacation just for the sake of vacation; everyplace we go is for a family-members’ sporting event – bowling, baseball, basketball, etc. We went to Las Vegas in 2000 because the National Bowling Tournament was nearby. I love watching Storage Wars (and Storage Hunters, but not as much). My favorite is when the person who wins that unit goes through and tells value of an item, and I know they are WAY off on the value – that makes me laugh. I wish they didn’t bring Dave back though.

Allison – something my Dad said to me jumps to mind regarding your Tom. “God, keep your arm around my shoulder, and your hand over my mouth”. I hope he misses you while you are gone.

I use old costume jewelry to decorate cloth-covered picture frames, or to dress-up purses, or if there is a hole like a bead, I will crochet them onto projects like hats or such. I used one whole beaded + amethyst necklace as the handle for a purse I crocheted. Many people asked to take pictures of it.

July 9 DH heads to Chicago for Bronze Bowling Coach Training, then DS and I will meet him there sometime after baseball either Friday night or Saturday morning. Then, Junior Gold Registration and practices are Saturday and Sunday. The National Tournament starts Monday, July 13. DH informed (teased) me that he plans on eating pizza in the Hotel room for every meal, so I REALLY hope there is a mini-fridge so I can keep some fruit and salad readily available.


My wrist is worse today, and typing really hurts, so I must be done for now and get this posted. I also must see if there is any paperwork I can do that isn't too painful. I chose 1/2 roma tomato as a snack just now, because I was feeling hungry. Today lunch will be at 11am and supper not until after 8pm, so I have to plan for many healthy snacks (I found Level Life protein bars on clearance at Walgreens, so I hope that helps get me through the day and stay on track). The scale is back to moving the correct direction, so I'm getting more and more motivated every day. If I keep eating this healthy, I just might make the contest (doubtful, but I'm going to keep my thoughts as positive as possible).

Our current temp is 61, with a forecast high of 68. Feel free to send some of that heat this direction (just not all of it, because my "personal summers" can really heat up an entire room sometimes).

Hugs for Everyone ! ! !

Terri in Milwaukee

morning peep head o laaa's !

as usual, thanks to our fearless leader for starting the new thread!


exermom - yup, moving steps. it also has a feature where you can climb various heights of well known towers throughout the world.
as far as the other stuff other than biking, not bored yet, i do try to change it up. if i didn't have my music, yeah, i think i would have shot myself already...

janetr - yeay for your 8lb loss!!!!! that's awesome!!! walking is a great way to exercise. even power walking in the pool, great resistance for the legs

Lestan - you are awesome with your stats! don't dwell on something that is not worth the trouble, you are right, let it go!

Rebelrenny - have fun on your day off w/family and late happy bday!! and congrats on the 3lb loss!!!!

grandmallie - nice way to make him think. but i think he might think better with my foot up his *kitten* :0)

yannie- awwww why did they have to put him down. one thing i did notice/learn about myself and it has stuck with me ever since i had married #1 and that is "never say never" the reason i say that is because my dad was abusive to my mom. i am the youngest of 7 so i don't remember him much and don't remember the fights they had. i had always thought he left us, it was actually the other way around. mom left him when i was 3 so that would have made her 26 and that was after he broke her nose. when she hooked up with the other guy, there was pushing and verbal abuse on both ends but they stayed together til he died. he did support all 7 of us. from all that, i USED to say, i will NEVER let a man touch me or call me names in that way, i WILL CHOP HIS B#$%S OFF before that happens. i swore to everything that is holy! and lookie what happened with me with #1 husband! lolol. you just never know how you are going to react until you are in that situation yourself. NOW that i've gone thru that, NOW I CAN say i will never let that happen to me becuase i have been thru it. that is just my take on that from my personal experience.

barbiecat - the MS Bike Ride starts at the Skagit Valley Fairgrounds in Mt Vernon WA. that is where we ride then head to deception pass. didn't want you thinking i ride from Tacoma to there. lolol

Janetr - purdy frame job w/the jewelery

hsdramamom - welcome - whats the diff btwn premenapausal and full menapausal. i've heard of all these symptoms (hot flashes, moody, weight gain) i've had/having hot flashes but that's it. sweating doesn't bother me so the hot flashes don't either. i don't have weight gain or moody, guess it's cuz i am so active?

bwcetc - 50 lashes w/a wet noodle for forgetting to weigh yourself! how could you!

lhannon - i was pumped when i got to size 12, i remember that !!! seems like i was in the size 16 forever at the time. great for you!

it was 60 degrees this morning when we left the house after the gym, I rode to work again and it was so beautiful and clear! by the time I got to work I looked like I just took another shower from the sweat as I usually do, at least it wasn't stinky lololol.

2 more days of work, off Friday due to holiday then VEGAS BABY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I don't know if I ever told you guys but we don't check luggage, we each have a back pack. we used to drive our car to the airport and leave it at one of those extended parking garages. that changed a few years ago. we now walk from home to the bus station (calorie burning time ), take the bus to the airport then from the airport we walk to the hotel (closest one will be MGM Grand). I am sooooo ready for this.

oh - yesterday they had a barbeque here at wk and so it was potluck - I am not usually a beef eater. I ended up eating a hamburger patty and potato salad and other poop, out of my norm, oh well, as my husband says, fills a hole, makes a turd :0/

How is it July already?! Thank you, barbie, for starting us off with a clean slate!

Michele - We have to haul our recycling, and it's ridiculous how much of it the two of us manage to generate. The city is talking about setting up a curbside pickup pilot program, and I really hope someday they'll provide that service. I just bought a compost tumbler from a neighbor, so I'm looking forward to getting that set up because it bugs me to toss compostable items.

Mary from MN - Sending good vibes your way and hoping the seller will work with you. The house we bought in May was the sixth one I've owned in my life, and I think the process of buying and selling has gotten more stressful in recent years.

I'm meeting my sister and brother-in-law at the river house in Wimberley for another post-flood work day this weekend. I managed to dig the inflatable kayaks out of storage, though, so I'm looking forward to taking a break from hot sweaty work and paddling around with my sister.

When we lived in New Mexico, I discovered the first sport I've ever enjoyed and loved: crosscountry skiing. It was wonderful to be able to ski every weekend in the winter, but now that we're back home in Texas I'd love to find another activity that doesn't feel like exercise. Shooshing along quietly up on a mountain was the only time I've ever experienced the sense of "flow" that runners talk about - that sense that you could keep going for hours. I wish I could find something else that evokes the same feelings AND is easily accessible to do on a regular basis. Lap swimming comes close, but now that we're in a small town there's nowhere nearby to do that year-round.

June Goals:
1. Track on MFP every day. I'm currently on a 25 day streak, and I tracked food most of those days although I missed some on weekends when I didn't have internet access.
2. Get in some kind of exercise at least five days per week, even if it's just a DailyBurn program or walking a few blocks with the dog. I've been easing into this, and it's still my biggest challenge but I did pretty well. I lost 4.8 pounds in June, so progress is slow but steady.
3. Be good to myself, say no to new obligations, and enjoy some free time now that I've got it. Definitely turned down a lot of stuff, but I need to commit some time to being social too.

July Goals:
1. Track on MFP every day.
2. Get the exercise machines set up and step up the cardio.
3. Unpack my office.
4. Clear out the storage unit we filled up while moving (lift that box! tote that bale!).
5. Start saving/shopping for a better bike.
6. Get fitted for a sports bra.

-Yvonne in TX

It's July already!

June goal - log food every day
I met this goal largely because I stopped by here every day.

July goal:
Continue to honestly log food every day
Continue to meet PT one day a week for strength training

Start one hour a week of aerobic exercise

Stop Iced tea overload. 24 oz. iced tea daily plus 40 oz. water

Word for the month – Gratitude. I will approach each day with an attitude of gratitude. I will list 3 things I am grateful for each night before I go to sleep.

Mia in MI

July goal:
Continue to honestly log food every day
Continue to meet PT one day a week for strength training
Start one hour a week of aerobic exercise
Stop Iced tea overload. 24 oz. iced tea daily plus 40 oz. water
Word of the month – gratitude

Janet: My DH is an antique dealer. He does one antique show a month (Scott's in Atlanta) and spends most of the month going to estate sales and antique malls. He can find the most incredible items because he has read every Kovel's and Miller's antique books for about 20 years and his parents had an antique shop in Roswell, GA for many years. The only problem is that things that don't sell end up in the basement or stuck in niches in the living/dining room. I love once a month seeing an empty dining room table.

Lisa: Your pics are amazing. You look so much younger when the weight comes off.

I am kind of frustrated! Had a cup of boiled yellow squash for lunch and trying to find the correct calorie count. It's all over the place going from 600 to 18.

Lisa WTG!

Janetr what a fun way to use jewelry!

Terri we are cool today. I like it better than in 90's with 60% humidity. Hope wrist mends quickly.

Sylvia great job for standing firm!

Heather hope your selling resolves soon.

MNMargaret

Got some of my "pile" sorted out. Have an envelope to send the solicitors and need to get to the Post Office tomorrow to get my drivers licence officially copied and stamped and signed. Prefer that to sending the real thing off in the post. I still have to get old documents on the leasehold and searches off by the end of the week, but DH is being patient with me while I go over and over lists of required documents. :bigsmile:

Dinner all prepped. Will take 5 mins now.

I've watered as much stuff in the garden as I can get round. Hottest day of the year. A record 35º+ at Wimbledon. Ouff! Not that bad here, but still HOT.! I'm hoping for thunderstorms tomorrow. The garden needs it. Will collect my prescription and buy bread from my favourite bakery, then get to the P.O. Going to write about the time when my brother and I used to go to Saturday Morning Pictures followed by ballroom dancing and Old Time dancing. I can still do the dances, even though I was only 9 years old when I learnt them. My brain was better then at retaining stuff! :laugh:

Love to all. You really help me keep on track.

Heather UK