WOMEN AGES 50+ FOR JUNE

Hey everybody!
I am definitely getting the impression that a real "diet" is needed to gain versus maintain weight. But, it seems like if I just reduce my calories than I risk starvation mode. So, is it fats I should be limiting? Or is it something else? Thanks for any advise!

My thoughts go out to each of your that are having health problems or a family member that has health probllems that they are dealing with. It is not easy and I pray that everything gets better soon.

Salmon Burgers....I havent made them since last summer, but I used Paula Deen's recipe which I have attached here. I am not sure how it will turn out using Light Mayo for the sauce, but it is worth a try.

Ingredients
1/2 cup red bell pepper, diced
1/2 cup yellow bell pepper, diced
3/4 cup panko
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 pounds salmon fillets, skinned and finely chopped
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon salt
Cooking spray
Sesame Mayonnaise, recipe follows
8 buttered and toasted sandwich buns
8 lettuce leaves
8 slices tomato

Directions


In a medium bowl, combine peppers, panko, garlic, and salmon.



In a small bowl, combine egg, soy sauce, lemon juice, and salt; add to pepper mixture, tossing gently to combine. Form mixture into 8 patties.



Lightly coat a grill pan or skillet with cooking spray. Heat over medium-high heat until hot. Grill or cook patties, 5 minutes per side, or until desired degree of doneness. Spread Sesame Mayonnaise evenly over toasted buns. Top each with a lettuce leaf, tomato slice, and salmon patty. Cover with tops of buns.

Sesame Mayonnaise:
1 cup mayonnaise
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon soy sauce
1/2 teaspoon sesame oil


In a small bowl, combine all ingredients. Cover and chill.



Yields: 1 cup

That was beautiful, Jane. Good words to live by. Thanks for passing them along.

Faye. You’re doing the right thing, to keep eating healthily and exercising. I see your food log so I know you do a great job with choosing what you eat. It looks as though you might be one of those people with a slow metabolism. Have you had your thyroid checked? Other than that, I don’t know what to suggest. You may not get to that “magic” number but you are doing good things for yourself.

Diane, I just read your advice to Faye. You are absolutely right. Ohmigosh. Inches are vastly more important than pounds. (I just read that a pound of muscle takes up 18% less space than a pound of fat. That’s a lot.) I know I’ve mentioned it before but I was just flabbergasted by those photos on Sparkpeople of the gal who went from size 14 to almost a 4 – and weighed 160 the whole way.

Robin, fingers crossed!

Geri, sending hugs your way. You’ve been through the wringer and then some. I hope the docs get on the right track for getting you on track. After all those antibiotics, you might want to add some good probiotics to your diet.

My sister's a dietician. She went to a conference recently where the speaker recommended VSL3 a particularly strong probiotic. My local Costco carries it but they keep it in a fridge in the pharmacy so you'll probably have to ask for it. I'm sure you can also get it online. It's pricey - I think $70 for the month, but a month should get your digestive system into good shape.

Cindy, wow! Luscious food, luscious garden, and making soap too. Way to go! :flowerforyou:

Birdie, you’re awesome and a great example. :flowerforyou: You’re doing the exact right thing for getting back to where you want to be.

Kackie, hang in there. Dang that temptation anyway! It’s hard to get back on track but once you’re there, it’s a lot easier to stay there.

Linda, grey with lime green? Yep, those are the best! :laugh: Do lots of walking in the shop and at home to make sure the shoes are comfy. It’s kind of hard to speed-walk there though!

Michele, your method for the hardboiled eggs sounds about right. I think they are easier to peel if you cool them with cold running water immediately after they’re done. Also, I’ve read you don’t want to hard boil really fresh eggs. You should give them a few days first. The egg shrinks a bit away from the shell. Of course, if they’re bobbing up out of the water, they’re probably too old!

Collycan, I don’t think you have to worry about starvation mode unless you’re consistently going well under the calories MFP calculates. You’ve heard my mantra – lots of fruits and veggies. I believe it is the healthiest diet and, for me, the easiest to stay on. :happy: Learning what works for us is a process. It helps that we all support eachother.
:
heart:

Feeling better today. I don't feel so tense and wired! Took the puppies to the groomers today. I have never done that before. They are both short hair dogs and don't really need "grooming" per se, but they both were stinky from rolling around in bugs they find and squish in the grass. Now they are sparkling white and they came home with pretty pink and blue bows. (I stepped out after dropping them back at home and when I came back Scout didn't have his blue bow on anymore. Couldn't find it anywhere, I suspect he ate it! Won't be the first weird thing he has eaten and won't be the last.) They also had their nails cut and butts squeezed and were flea dipped and had their teeth brushed!:bigsmile: I figure I would let someone else do they work for once. I have enough with my mom!

Jackie:flowerforyou: Everybody dreads the hygienist! They complain about the "scraping" and I have heard "She was digging for gold" and everyone promises to floss more because of it. But I am proud of you that you did it and stuck it through. Scalings (deep cleanings) are very important if you have tartar, especially after age 30. Gum disease is the number one reason why older adults lose their teeth; not decay. And once you get advanced gum disease (Pyorrehea) that's it, you will lose all of your teeth. It is not curable. So grin and bear it and keep it up. Go at least twice a year for a cleaning and more if you are more prone to tartar or have deep pockets! Your gums have to be healthy to suport the teeth and bone.

As for the sleeping issue. I know I am fine one to talk considering that I am answering you at 1 am, but I was paying bills and then checked MFP so I have an excuse. I have the same problem, the minute I lay my head down on the pillow, no matter how tired I am, my mind starts racing with things I have done, need to be done, or things I forgot to do. I have put a little notebook and pen next to my bed so that when things pop in my mind I can write them down instead of thinking of ways I can remember them for tomorrow, which I incidentally never do remember. But even then my mind just can't seem to shut down. I usually have to take a RX to help me sleep, but one time I didn't have it with me when i went on vacation for a month and a friend gave me a meditation CD to listen to on my CD player. It wasn't anything Zen-like, it was actually a positve thinkiing kind of subliminal CD. (Which I swear helped me tremendously) but it also had the added affect of it knocking me out. I would be listening to the man on the CD who had a very soft and steady voice along with some new age music in the background. It was similar to being hypnotized. I couldn't even get through half of it without falling asleep. It relaxed me so much and my mind focused on it and I slept like a baby. Maybe you can find something like this that doesn't clutter the mind and helps relax you?

Faye:flowerforyou: I agree with Genealace about lowering the calories to 1200 for a short time. I remember when I was on Jenny Craig I had been on a certain amount of calories for a few months and suddenly I just stopped losing weight. So they suggested that I do a lower calorie menu for a week to shock the system. Well it worked and then I went right back to the original calories and kept losing. Sometimes the body plateaus and it needs a jolt.

Robin :flowerforyou: I am crossing everything including my eyes so that you can get the job. I know what you are going through because I have been there. I really hope you get it.

Jeanne:flowerforyou: My son also went through the stage where he didn't want to broaden his reading materail when he discovered "Are you my mother?". He loved that book so much that he memorized the entire book and would "read" it to me even though he couldn't read yet. He would look at the pictures and know the words on each page. Now that he has his own son, I gave him an anniversay edition of the book and he loved it. He told me, "Don't worry mom. I'll read it to him just like you did to me, voices and all." It's things like that that he says to me that make me realize he was paying attention and actually liked what i did for him. He is a wonderful kid, son and father. I am very proud of him.

Okay off to bed now. :yawn:
Sleepy tight.
Chiclet:flowerforyou:

Still haven't had time to read posts but wanted to report that I've lost 2 of the 3 pounds I gained.:bigsmile: Getting back to healthy eating, lots of water and exercising is doing the trick! Back to work!
BirdieM

Hi Ladies:

This is just a quickie. I am off work tomorrow as I have to head up to the army base where my youngest son and DIL are so I booked a day off (and after the last couple of weeks I have put in, I am ready for a day off). I am babysitting for the weekend. My son and DIL have a big army function to attend and asked me to come babysit for them. and of course since I hardly get to see them due to the distance, I jumped at the chance:happy: My little granddaughter is 3 and apparently she has been counting down the "sleeps" until I arrive - too cute.. The base is about 5 1/2 hours away from our place. But first, I have to attend my eldest son's graduation from college - he went back to school when the auto industry collapsed (and where he used to work), he went back to college and his graduation is tomorrow as well. He even made the Dean's List, as his marks were in the 90's which he is so proud of (and I am too ).

I hope everyone is doing well. I will try and log on from my where I am but you never know.

I wish you all a good weekend. I hope all that are having troubles, that they soon smooth out.

Congrats to all who have lost weight and inches. Good for you. My weigh in should be Saturday but I don't know how that will be, I may have to wait until I am home on Sunday or maybe Monday morning to weigh in.

Anyway, dear Ladies. have a terrific weekend and I will talk to you soon.

Cathy

Amanda – Love your hair! What with the weight loss and the hair color change do you sometimes get a glimpse of yourself in a window and wonder who is looking back at you?:smokin: I am in awe of your perseverance. It's great to hear the pre surgery Amanda is well on the way back! :drinker:

Diane – Thank you for the reply. No, I have not lost inches either since Dec. :ohwell: I do have a good bit of muscle, even though it is still covered with a layer of fat. I have been weight training in addition to doing cardio. I'm hoping to minimize the sagging skin. That is working to some extent. My arms aren't too bad but may be when/if I get to the weight I want to be – which is 140ish.

Genealace, Chiclet, Linda – I have tried a lot of other things, so thanks for the nudge. I will try 1200 for a week or so. I really do poorly when hungry so I will find a way to not be. As anyone who has access to my food log knows, I do love my veggies so I will just eat more of them and less of the more calorie dense foods. Thank goodness my tomatoes and eggplant are producing!

Kackie – Thanks for the encouraging words. I appreciate it.

I agree about the extreme need for rain! We got a little but last night and a good bit of wind too I assume from the looks of the small branches in the yard. Unfortunately not enough to make any difference. If anything the winds fanned the flames in the swamp which is still burning. It had been at least contained to the Okefenokee swamp but it broke out again yesterday and got to 5 houses before they could react. The current wildfire count for Florida is 383 for a total of 298,000 acres. This does not include the Okefenokee fire just over the border in GA. That fire has gown to 196,000 acres. So yes, we all need some rain in the southeast!! I would do a rain dance naked, if it would do any good!:noway:

Michele – I eat a fair amount of eggs too. I don't mind the taste/texture of the yolks, so I eat the whole egg. I agree with Mimi – use eggs that are a few days old to boil. Also, I have found that using a soup spoon or teaspoon to shell a stubborn egg works great. When I crack one and start to shell it and the membrane won't let loose causing pieces of the white to go with the shell, I use the spoon instead of my fingers to get between the membrane and the egg. Just put the rounded edge of the spoon against where you started to peel it and run the spoon between the shell/membrane and the egg. Keep your thumb on top of where the spoon is and push up towards your thumb to keep from digging into the egg. The shell and membrane will them crumble and come off as you work around the egg. I hope that makes sense – it's kind of hard to describe but it works like a charm! I can now take deviled eggs to a get together without the concern that they will look like the have been in a hail storm!:huh:

Mimi – Thank you for the heads up about a possible thyroid issue. :happy: If 1200 calories doesn't make a difference, I think I will make an appointment and see if that is an issue. My mom developed thyroid issues later in life and was on synthroid. It should have occurred to me that I may have thyroid issues too. I guess because I don't have the tiredness or brittle thin hair that she had, I didn't give it a thought. Perhaps one doesn't have those issues until the condition is more advanced. At any rate, I will get it checked if I can't get the scale numbers going in the right direction. Thanks again!:flowerforyou:

Birdie - Way to go on the 3 pound loss! :drinker: :bigsmile: You are showing us how to keep accountable once we get to goal. We CAN maintain the loss.

You all are all such a great support group. Why isn't there a big hug smiley on here? I'd give you all one if it was there. Sorry I was a whiner yesterday. I hadn't posted in a couple days, as I recall, because I didn't have anything positive to say and then yesterday I just HAD to.

I don't talk about food, weight or exercise with anyone else except you all. DH is not a “talker” and none of my non-internet friends are into eating well and exercise, so I don't talk to them either about my successes and failures at getting healthy. Especially as my two best friends are overweight and have health issues, I need to tread lightly. They will address the issue when they are ready. I don't intend to run them off by talking about any health/weight issues I'm having. So again, thanks for being there! :happy:

Faye

I went to a cookout last Saturday and my niece, who is a gourmet chef, brought this salad. I thought it was delicious, so I cornered her and got her recipe. I thought I’d share it with you. It’s great if you love greens and are looking for something unique, tasty and a lovely addition to any buffet.

“Raw Kale and Sesame Salad with Maple Soy Vinaigrette”
Tear one bunch of Kale (any variety) into bite size pieces and discard center ribs.
Wash and set aside.
Make vinaigrette in large liquid measuring cup.
¼ cup of pure maple syrup
¼ cup of soy sauce (or Braggs liquid aminos)
¼ cup balsamic vinegar
¼ to ½ cup Extra Virgin Oil (or combo of EVOO, toasted sesame, and flax oil)
A dab of Hot Sesame Oil
2 cloves crushed garlic
Big pinch ground black pepper
Use blender or put in jar with lid and shake vigorously.
Pour over DRY kale and mix. It’s best to massage the dressing in, making sure to coat every leaf. Let sit for at least 15 min. to allow the vinaigrette to “cook” or break down the kale a bit.
Just before serving, mix in a handful of sesame seeds and enjoy.

Hi everyone.............

And Bye too. A very quick nip in here before i go off to bed.
Maybe AWOL for a few days as we're down South!!

Take care all
BFN
Jackie