WOMEN ages 50+ FOR JULY 2016

Tracie – I am so sorry to hear about your dad and his potential urostomy. And I hope that your dad is able to get over his anger and find the support he needs.

Joyce – You’ve got me googling… ileostomy vs urostomy vs colostomy. I get such an education on this forum.

DJ – Sorry your DH had to sit at the vet’s only to leave and make an appointment with a different vet. We have a vet that we have gone to for 20+ years and we just love him. Hope that Pepper feels better and you are able to find a good vet.

Your story of waiting at the vet reminded me of waiting for my daughter. She is 19 and finally “graduated” from her pediatrician to my general practitioner. She wanted me to take her to the doctor but she did not want me to go into the room with her for her physical. So, I sat in the waiting room and waited and waited and waited. Finally, the receptionist said she would go in and check on her for me. Well, she had seen the doctor and they had taken some blood for lab work. But, they forgot to tell her that she could leave after the lab tech came to draw her blood. So she was sitting there waiting for someone to come tell her she could leave. Poor girl. LOL

Allie – My FIL was always wanting to go out for a walk when he first moved into the care center. But, with his dementia, they could not let him go out and walk by himself because he may have gotten lost. He now has to wear a tracker. It is like one of those ankle bracelets that people on house arrest have to wear. He hates it, but it does alert the staff when he tries to wander out of the care center on his own.

Dawn – If you have been at the same weight for three weeks or more, are accurately logging your food, following your calorie allowance, and exercising, then it’s time to switch something up. There are lots of different reasons that people hit a plateau. Based on your post, I would guess that stress may be your culprit. Here are a few tips that might help… (1) Make sure you are getting enough sleep. You can try taking Melatonin, a natural supplement, if you are having trouble sleeping. (2) Try taking a few minutes each day to meditate. (3) Eliminate caffeine in your diet. It is known to stimulate the production of cortisol, our stress hormone. (4) Eat less refined carbs & sugars and more complex carbs and protein. The refined carbs spike insulin where the complex carbs help keep cortisol levels lower. (5) Make sure you are staying hydrated because dehydration causes stress on your body.
Now all that said, I need to go take my own advice. I’ve been fighting a plateau myself. 

OK, have spent too much of my day getting caught up here. Have to get back to work, then heading to the gym tonight to learn how to do their circuit.

Linda in IA

Attended my TOPS meeting and according to their digital scale I have lost .4 lbs :-) I will take it. I did have some coffee before I weighed in and its with clothes on, so different than the weight I put for here. The great thing is that even if I have gainedat a meeting, being there puts a "refocus" on my life. It takes a lot to go, when you know you have gained. Its easy to just stay at home and tell yourself, "Oh next week will be better". Then next week comes and you haven't lost what you had gained, and you have even gained a wee bit more. It's a terrible cycle of non-accountability. Today we voted on new officers. We got all new ones, so it will hopefully put some zip into the meetings. We have all been in a slump, with many of our members husbands passing away. So many of our ladies are dealing with so much more then simple weight gain. So we have to shelf the weight issue and just support the ladies mentally on other issues, like staying strong for their own physical well-being. I am thankful for my husband.

Well, I can have some of the roast and some potatoes with the baby carrots I am fixing for dinner tonight. 4 ozs worth of it anyways. Husband did buy a berry pie yesterday so my sister can have that for a dessert if she wishes some. She did not come here to eat anyways! I am still in shock that she called me to get us together.

Well, having the need to "flit around the house cleaning" (as my husband put it). I so don't "flit"...
Take care all ((((((group hugs))))))))

Becca
Ms. Flitter in
Oregon

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Charlie had his appointment with the surgeon this morning and no more packing!!!!!!!!!!!! There was really only about an inch or less I was putting in there and it was hurting him for me to get that much in. So it's just a bandaide no! That also means i am not checking on the bag. This particular bag has stayed on for 5 days. If it is still on tonight, we will change it tomorrow. I have an idea of how to make the positioning on his belly different. His belly button is in the way and it really interferes with the barrier seal.

We are not morning risers. Yesterday's appointment was 11:15 and this morning's 10:30 and that wears me out. OK girls, don't laugh. So right after we got home I went to bed and slept until about 1:30. So late lunch for me.Now I have to get in grocwry shopping and buying birthday present at the mall. So I had better get going.

cmmom2, welcome. I would normally say to pop in here when you can but I think it was our fearless leader Barbie that suggested you make a comment to at least one person everyday. Why don't you start out by telling us a little about yourself, your weight loss journey, a general area where you live and the name you want us to call you.

Joyce, Indiana

Prosecco & grilled Haloumi would finish me off, too. Yum!

Way behind on reading posts.
Re think I'll join the unofficial challenge
Loved the Colorado pics...so different from my northeast vistas. Reminds me of the lyric " purple mountains majesty"

Have my real estate brokers licensed renewed & the pool is progressing...now I'll have my gazpacho & catch up.

GLo on the very warm & getting warmer North Shore of Ma...btw that chocolate dessert would be in the trash...been down that road recently!

thank you strength and good thoughts and prayers got me through a tough day.
Another one of my sisters basically fell apart on the phone with me crying that she can't face the difficulties ahead for our oldest sister and how she can't be available to carry the burden. and she is off her depression meds and the list goes on. She is the family historian and does everything for everyone. She has always been the rock so her sadness had me trying to be the rock.

All the while the shower install was hitting a real snag. I escaped to Home Depot and bought paint, during a huge thunder storm I cried in my car and let it all out. Long story short, I painted a bedroom, the shower problem is getting sorted out and then I open wisdom from Karen which I will carry with me in my back pocket tomorrow.
Thank you ladies, I appreciate your support! Insert grateful emoji here.
NYKAREN

I have never noticed 'member' under the names. What does it mean. I thought we were all members. Do you have to have a certain amount of posts?

Joyce, Indiana

Linda in IA – We had been using a vet in the city we lived in; then moved 25 miles away and thought we’d use the local vet. NAHDA! When our JRT got struck by a rattlesnake, I expected a call (immediately); after 3 calls … I found out they used an ‘answering service’. I do NOT want someone at an ‘answering service’ making the decision about whether to call the vet ‘in case of an emergency'. I think a rattlesnake bite is a major emergency. When she started fading a bit; I called my old vet and he told me he’d meet me. He got there before I did, leaving a ball game he was playing in. They use ‘pagers’ and that is what I needed and what I had been used to. She ended up staying in the vet’s hospital; but, she lived! We’ve always gotten our dogs a rattlesnake vaccination every year. He did tell us that ‘if’ she had gotten a direct hit with both fangs; and, waiting like we did for the local vet to return the call, she probably would not have survived. Only getting struck on her snoot with one fang and the other one just grazing her nose was a miracle. We keep telling Cracker to get out of the high grass. We are also changing her from Trifexus (kills fleas) to two medications that will treat for heartworm prevention, killing fleas and ticks, and misquotes. The two together won’t cost but $4 more than the one that treats for fleas only. She had 3 ticks on her the other night when I checked her. UGH! They seem to really bother her, too. She tried so hard to get them off that she pulled out chunks of her fur.

Talking about MDs … my GYN has a flag system; red, yellow, green, blue; they all have a meaning about who is behind the door and why. He’ll see 3 or 4 patients and then will talk to them ‘in his office’ in the same rotation that he sees them. My GP (in the same office) comes in and talks to you before he checks you out. This is ‘ok’ until I forget to ‘ask’ him something I needed to ask; but, the nurse comes in with any Rx’s or other written instructions that he has given you. He is so popular that it is sometimes hard to get ‘in’ to see him. They all have 2 PA’s each and I am just as comfortable with them as I am the MDs most of the time. Sometimes they will get you seen by the MD, if they ‘think’ you need to be seen by a MD. I like that about their practices.

Miakoda40 – My DDnL#1 lost her job about a month ago. She’s been searching since. He working conditions would be what I’d call ‘hostile’. She got called ‘names’, had work that the ‘son’ of the owner would not do, piled on her desk, and only got 1 week of vacation after 12 years; then, if she was sick or one of the girls was sick and she had to stay out, she lost days from her vacation time. She’d get ‘docked’ in pay if she went to any school function. What just topped it off was that the head boss/owner was in a bad mood, the salesman asked her ‘if she could approve an order’ and she told him, that it needed to be approved by the owner. He really did not want to go in there, so she took it in there and he started screaming at her; then his son came in and wanted to know what the problem was. She was about to tell him that she needed him to ‘sign off on a job the salesman had brought to her to do so; and, she felt like it wasn’t something she should do. The boss said, ‘everybody is being BITCHY today’ … she is the only female in the office; so she said, ‘I’m not being bitchy’. Then the son had something to add and she got upset and was about to burst into tears. This was about 10:30 – 11:00am; and she asked ‘if’ she could take her lunch hour at that time, she needed to cool off. He told her “NO!” She said, “I NEED to take my lunch hour now’. Then he told her ‘that IF she walked out of the door, not to dome back’. She was making somewhere between $13 - $15 an hour, taxes taken out, only 1 week of paid vacation and no other benefits. She left and she did not go back. Then she filed for unemployment but was denied because ‘she had walked out’. My BF’s sister got fired from her job because she made the MD that she works for mad (and his wife is also employed there) and had no ‘write ups’ or anything … Just ‘you’re fired’! She has applied for unemployment and is going to go for a ‘hostile work position’. She said that he was ‘nasty’ to the women in his office. My DDnL#2 used to be a ‘medical assistant’ and she went back to school to do something that allows her to be ‘self-employed’. She said she thinks the MD did to his help was really bad. Besides being cussed at and called derogatory names … he’d throw things at them. I am just appalled at what people say about their work conditions. I’ve always loved my jobs … worked with great people; who went way beyond their call of duty to make sure that you did not end up going without a pay check. I don’t think that DDnL#1 got the job that she interviewed for last week. Was told that they would let her know one way or the other when it got decided on by the people higher up and that it was ‘out of the hands’ of the local people.

She had customers that would deal with her only; she had approached him about possibly being able to get a commission on those accounts that she had opened. That went nowhere although he told her he’d have to think about it. Then she’d bring it up again and he acted like he had never heard of it before. She was getting calls at home about them ‘not answering the phones’, not getting their orders. She just told them that she no longer worked there and suggested they either go to the office to find out what had happened; or she referred them to another company in the area that did the same thing. When she went back to get her check, he pulled out a ‘non-compete clause letter’ and she told him she would not sign it as she isn’t going into business as his competitor.

So, she left and then wanted DOS to go empty out her desk. He told her ‘no’, she needed to call and ask if she could come get her stuff’. They had it packed in a box. She just picked it up and left without a word. She says ‘they have no clue’. I told her ‘that would be their problem’ and I would not answer questions about anything … ‘go figure it out yourself’. LOL!

I don’t know what state you live in; but, Georgia is an ‘at Will employment state’ which means you can go in and quit your job (about the only thing you’d really lose is any unpaid vacation time’ and you can be ‘fire’ with no advanced notice. Most employers do NOT want a ‘soon-to-be-laid-off or fired employee to have ANY access to anything that concerns the business. I have known people who got laid off or fired who changed passwords on accounts and erased files, some people are totally vindictive. I’ve never been fired, so I don’t know how that feels. About the closest thing I have come to being fired is being ‘disabled’ … something I had no control over. It took me 3 years to get over it. My income dropped by close to 75%, I did also get my retirement check. It dropped when I turned 62 (early retirement age); but, it did not drop when I turned 65; but, “The Affordable Care Act” did make my premium (taken out of my retirement check) go up by $54 [a payment on a bill for me]. So I have had to get used to less money 4x so far in my life. That can really hurt when you consider I was making nearly $60K a year and my insurance and retirement fund was paid for by my employer. But, I COBRA-ed my insurance because my husband did not have any insurance because he is self-employed. We rarely have to pay anything towards hospital or MD visits between Medicare and private insurance.

As for working out a time … unless they are giving you some sort of ‘severance package’ … you are a lot nicer than I’d be … if I got a job offer; I’d be available as soon as they wanted me. But, again, not knowing the state you live in … that might not be possible. In GA, it is. It’s call ‘sink or swim’. They’d have to ‘figure out your job if you died suddenly’.

Now she’s gotten the ‘school list’ for her 2 daughters; one has to have a calculator that is over $100. DOS told her to go ahead and buy the best one, so that she could use it throughout HS and maybe into college. I’m sure we will be helping on that end. I had to print it off for her.

Janetr – WOW! Guess I will just stick with putting on makeup. At least for the time being. I don’t think it was quite that expensive for DDnL#2 – she had eyeliner and her lips done. I’d like to have my lips done, because I lick my lips.

Lenora

Hello Delightful Dieters...

I like the idea of replying to at least one person a day… it’s a little overwhelming to try and reply to everyone. But, when I have the time, I will. :]

This week has been a bit hectic. Since my DH had his stroke(s) a few years back, he doesn’t drive – so I get to shuffle him around to all his doctors’ appointments. We have had an early morning appt every day this week… *sigh* and I am a bit tired of getting up early and coming home late. Otherwise, things are going right along. In my life, boring is good. The only thing better is smaller clothes or a lower scale weight.

Tomorrow, I talk to my Doc about the bloodwork… if she likes the results, I am so going to keep doing what I am doing… with possibly a bit more sleep. :]

Had a mini NSV today… I brought veggies and dip for lunch…. And I didn’t eat all the dip. Whoot! In the past I would have all but licked the bowl to get every microgram of the delicious creamy goodness – but, today, I just used the dip I wanted and left the rest behind. For me, that is major.

Traci – Vacations happen. You can get back on plan. I am thinking good thoughts for successful treatment for your Dad and for you to get to visit him, soon. ((hugs!))

Carol – Can you pack a lunch? I know it takes prep… but, fast food… *sigh* Good luck on the resistance.

Cheri – HURRAY!!! – You are no longer Homeless – that isn’t something you want to be in Texas, Sugar. Folks take a dim view of that here… lol. Now, if we could just make you Homeless in OH! Good luck.

Katla – Thanks! I am excited about the challenge. I am really pushing for 2lbs a week – but, I am not going to stress out so long as I get the 1. It’s not like we are competing against anyone – but, we are challenging ourselves to do it, to keep doing it and to not get sidetracked by Halloween candy, or Pumpkin Pie. I REALLY want to get to 200 by Christmas – that would be my gift to myself… *fingers crossed and gym shoes tied*

Kim/CA – Thinking good thoughts for your client’s daughter.

Pip – 800mi – Whoot! And so glad to see you have stopped slacking off and are back up to over 900 calories… lol.

DJ – thanks – I will expect you to be holding that ruler over my fingers as I reach for the peanut M&M’s…I hope Pepper is doing better.

Charleen – Geez – what the heck is that monster – 1500 calories? What is it? A
Chocolate Mayonnaise dish? OMG – Get. It. OUT. Use a whip and a chair if you must… but that cannot stay in the fridge.

Becca – So glad your Sis is coming to visit!

Joyce/IN – I hope you enjoy the time with your Daughter and Granddaughter. So glad you can stop packing that tiny wound.

Marcelyn – Hi, my name is Re and I am a carb junkie. I have to watch myself too… every time I go to Aldi… I have to walk the gauntlet of chips, crackers and chocolate… *sighs* I try not to succumb… but sometimes I do.

Janet/OKC – drowning – very effective monster killing method. I am afraid I have NEVER thrown pizza in the trash…

Sue – you’re on… we weigh on Mondays.

Sorry Ladies, I did run out of time. I am thinking of all of you…

XO

Re in TX

IremiaRe wrote: »

Hello Delightful Dieters...
Cheri – HURRAY!!! – You are no longer Homeless – that isn’t something you want to be in Texas, Sugar. Folks take a dim view of that here… lol. Now, if we could just make you Homeless in OH! Good luck.
XO
Re in TX

Love your humor Re in TX!

Cheri

Did an hour of an extremecardio DVD. The plan for tomorrow is to do Jari Love's Extremely Ripped 1000 DVD

Had the Newcomer general meeting today. Stayed a little late and talked to a person whose first meeting this was. The home and went in the pool, didn't want to get all real sweaty cutting weeds. then ceramics. They got their order in so the paint to finish Jess' wolves came in and I finished that. It'll be fired so I will probably pick it up Monday. They fired my snail so now it's bisque. I just don't like the colors of my other snail. I really wanted something in red, white, and blue. then to Lowe's foods to get items on sale, now home.

Dawn - happy birthday to your hubby. Sounds like a nice party is planned. Take care of yourself

Cmmom - welcome!

SweetP - I usually try to read the posts a few times a day. Then there are days (like today) when I can only read them all at once, and I can't respond to as many. However it works for you is just fine

Mia - I didn't even realize that the Peter was still alive! Seems so many of our rock stars are no longer with us I'm so sorry about your job. I'm sure you'll find something truly amazing (as amazing as you are)

Joyce - yea for charlie and you!

Re - great NSV not eating all that dip

Sorry this is so short. Keeping you all in my thoughts.

Michele in NC

Hi Gals,

Mia – So sorry to hear about your job situation, when a door closes a window will open… and from experience I will tell you that training your replacement is simply another way to give them opportunities to blame you, so just move on down the road!

Heather – haloumi was new for me – googled it sound really interesting… Ok Karen, you are state side and seem to know all about Heather’s fun cheeses – where do you get them?

Oh dear did it again, got to reading and not noting… thanks to all for sending good thoughts about Lynn’s daughter. Yeah to all the hubbys who are doing better. Happy birthday to many… to all a big hug and a cheerful smile.

Today was yoga, I do love it, and wish it was twice a week…but once is 100% better than none. It was really hot today and will be hot tomorrow too, over 100 - I smile when some of you speak of rain, thunder etc… we will not have rain again until October or November…California is a different climate for sure!

So although “the job” starts next week I am trying to get into the routine this week, and that means going to bed earlier - I am headed for lights out by 9:30 – as I need to be up and out by 5:15, so Levi gets his walk, we have breakfast, I make a snack and lunch and am out the door by 6:45 on Mondays and 7:30 on the other days… I did make some really tasty pumpkin maple muffins 192 calories each and they are the full size ones, they seem to hold me longer than some things. I also tried a polenta cherry tomato tart recipe that was very good. I will need to be much more scheduled than I have been and that is going to be an adjustment. Tomorrow is lunch with a friend (after 2 gardening jobs – I’ll be at the first one by 7am) at Olive Garden, already looking forward to their salad, it is so easy on the calorie count.


July Goals:
2 fun things a week, Lunch with Ben, visiting with mom, Cajun food with a friend, got the job!
Log everyday to the best I can, over if need be.
11,000 + steps everyday – like to hit 160 miles for the month.

Smiles.

Kim from N. California