WOMEN AGES 50+ FOR AUGUST 2016

This made me laugh.

Thank you for this thread. I've tried the forums off and on over the time I've been on MFP. However, I'm not consistent about checking them regularly.

My name is Susan, I'm 52. I've been making changes over the past two years which have resulted in 40 pounds lost which stayed lost. But, I have another 40 to go. And, I need a jump start. I'm going to the beach for a month beginning Friday; and, it seems like a good place to begin again.

So...August goals: 1) track, everything 2) walk daily on the beach at least 30 minutes BEFORE I swim 3) no chips or candy in the condo!! 4) one alcoholic drink per day (not 3!!) 5) increase water consumption to 80 oz., 10 cups instead of 8

There may be more, but that seems like a good start.

I read an article recently regarding sustained weight loss and the most successful losers had nutrition support of some kind. I think the forums would be a help in this regard. I was particularly attracted to this thread because its goal oriented! I like that focus. Another goal of mine is to check in here once daily. Reading your positive posts make me smile and motivate me. Thanks!

This looks like an awesome thread and I look forward to keeping on track with all of you. I am 52 years old, the same number of pounds overweight, and ready to make some positive life changes.

My goals for August include:
1- Alcohol free for 31 days. It is too much of a habit to reach for a glass to celebrate, relax, whatever. I want to break the habit and make having a drink a more conscious choice. Also reducing the calories won't hurt. LOL
2- Lose 10 pounds
3-Regular exercise at least 4 days per week, even if it is just a short walk.
4-Practice my singing 5 days per week. I feel so happy when I sing. I just need to get myself started.
5- I commit to cultivating a positive attitude and to do my best to create and maintian harmony in my home. There are stressful things happening and I want to do my utmost to handle them with grace.
Happy August everyone. Thanks for including me on this journey.

Hello, Merry Matrons!

You know… I was whining a bit on my home page the other day because for the 2nd week in a row, I had to post a gain on the weekly challenge stats.

Mind you – it’s just because I am all puffy. When the scale moves wildly from day to day and my stinking SOCKS have a muffin top, it is fairly clear that it’s water retention that is causing my woes – but I was somewhat flabbergasted by one attempt at helpful advice that I received.

I was advised to eat more vegetables and to reduce my intake of high sugar fruit, yogurt with fruit, sodium and fat. Now – I can get behind the sodium and fat – as I have mentioned before, I have been paying little attention to those things and I know at some point I will probably have to make some adjustment to those - sodium especially, as the Puffy Princess.

But, high-sugar fruit? I had a cup of grapes. Not a pound of grapes – not even a cup of grapes every day for the last month = a cup of grapes. And a half cup the night before. I bought grapes at the store… you have to eat them before they rot. It’s FRUIT, it’s good for me.

And the idea that I would give up my 80 calorie, NON-FAT Greek yogurt is patently ridiculous. Why in God’s green Earth would I even think to do so? It’s probably the healthiest and most “diet” food that I eat. So, according to this person, I should be eating plain vegetables and lean protein and nothing else. Literally, nothing else.

This person was trying to help, I am sure – and I am sure she has seen a more dramatic loss than I have – but, I am sorry, people. I just can’t do it that way. I have done all that before… Ate like a monk, lost the weight – and then gained it all back the second I went back to eating “normally” - with interest.

My whole goal in being here, now, is to learn a new “Normal” way to eat. To eat less of the less healthy things, more of the good, and to keep the total caloric intake below what it takes to keep my body-machine running. To eat in such a way that I never have to “go off” of it. And for me, “Normal” is always going to include a little fruit, some real butter and some full fat cheese.

Could I eat more veggies? Sure. Could I lower my fat intake? Easily – at least some. But I know myself better than to try and go on that hard-core, deprivation trail. If I have learned nothing else in my 51 years of living – most of which I have spent on some sort of a “diet” – it’s that diets don’t work…. at least not for me. I am spoiled. If you tell me I can’t have something - just watch me prove you wrong. I make it a point never to tell myself that I CAN’T have anything.

I haven’t indulged in that Cinnabon, yet… but, by golly, it’s still on the table – for a day when I have saved up enough calories to be able to eat one without blowing my calorie goal. Because that is a “normal” that I can live with.

So, I will give myself the advice that I know is true… I have to be patient. I have to keep moving, and I have to keep my calories under goal. That is ALL that I have to do. If I change anything – it will be to make changes in my exercise routine – increase the intensity, add strength training, just vary the movement.

And Rant over… lol. Thanks for listening...

Hugs all round!

Re in TX