WOMEN AGES 50+ FOR NOVEMBER 2019

Today is Marooned Without A Compass Day!

"Marooned Without a Compass Day can be interpreted a few ways, but is dedicated to being lost or stuck somewhere without a compass. The day can be looked at as a challenge, where people purposely get lost and try to find their way back to civilization without a compass. The day can also be looked at as a day to get out into the wilderness and unplug from technology and just relax."

Janet - Deepest condolence on the loss of your sister.

Barbara - Hey, don't worry about how fast you walked your mile, just think about the fact that you walked a mile. An hour spend walking is way better than an hour on the sofa!

Flea - I'm a big fan of the standing desk too. My VariDesk was an investment (although way less than a full-sized adjustable desk!). Since I work from home I don't do a lot of walking in the course of a day. It's good to be out of the chair for part of the day.

Barbie - Michener manages to pack a lot of what could be dry history into a really entertaining package. He has a way of making you feel like you're living it. Does he narrate his own work on your audiobook?

Michele - I track my blood pressure at home because I've got a bad case of white coat syndrome that makes my readings high at the doctor's office. There's a simple little smartphone app called BP Journal that lets me log the readings, and it also gives space to put a note so you can track what you were doing (e.g. "immediately post-exercise"). I print out the log and take it to my doctor appointments so they can attach it to my chart.

Welcome to the new arrivals! You'll find friendship and encouragement here!


Over here the motivation fairy is still with me but I've had a couple of down days. After we got home from train-geeking in San Antonio yesterday I did my strength training at the gym, but I hated every minute of it. Today I still feel achy and tired but I did cardio on the stationary bike anyway, with "Forged in Fire" occupying my mind to keep me going. Tomorrow is supposed to be gym day again but I feel like I need another recovery day so I think I might ask Philip if we can swap it to Friday. I'm proud of myself for sticking with my plan despite the disruption of weekends, travel, etc.

I would like to have celebrated the day with some outdoor time, but it ended up being a very long work day. I did stand outside for a few minutes to admire a lovely lunar halo.

Wishing you all a good compass to help you find your way!

-Yvonne in TX

LisaInAR wrote: »

Morning, afternoon and evening all,

Color me frustrated on the eating front. I think Karen in VA's comment about "food brain," is right on the mark--that my brain moves over into this headspace where needing/wanting food overwhelms every rational thought. You'll never see me sling the term "food addict" around, as humanity in general are all food addicts--if we don't eat, we die. But I am, I know, addicted to how food makes me feel, and for the last three months, I've lost the battle to not indulge in that addiction pretty much every day.

That feels like an overdramatic statement - but looking back down the last few months (and quite a bit of the rest of my life) my rational mind just steps aside and lets the 300-lb. me take right over, and I am mindlessly shoving food down my throat yet again. And if I don't do something about it, I'll be right back up to that 300 lb. person. I genuinely want to find the control panel and the lever that I can flip that pushes me back over to the rational side of eating. I know it's there. I've found it before - and in fact, found it twice since I started with this group of lovely people, losing 40 pounds in a six-month span. But, since I began exercising again, I've struggled with this every single day - and I'm 13 pounds heavier than when I started back in the gym July 30. Averaging more than four pounds GAIN each month is not where I want to be, but I need to keep the exercise, too.

I know the suggestions will come thick and fast, and I'll take them all as they are meant--but this morning, I just needed to say those words above to people who understand these feelings. On a happier note, the rest of my life from work to marriage to home life is amazing and happy. Getting to and maintaining a healthy weight is the last piece of my puzzle, and I need to find it and fit it in, so I can stop this sine wave from despair to joy and back again with how big my ever-loving backside is getting.

Love y'all,
Lisa in AR

Lisa I so empathize with you. For some of us, "food thinking" is such a siren song that resisting it is utterly exhausting. Not everyone suffers from food thinking. I was first made aware of this issue by an amazing bariatric specialist I was seeing a few years ago. This brilliant physician is triple boarded - Internal Medicine, Endocrinology, & Nonsurgical Bariatrics. We were chatting about how frustrating it is to resist, resist, resist, resist, all the while knowing deep down inside that you ARE going to eat, that it IS going to happen, & yet trying so desperately to get past it with all the techniques & tricks you can muster. The conversation was so enlightening. He himself is a food thinker. He manages it by working at an office and taking his prepared food with him to eat on a rigid schedule that includes mid-day exercises. Since his workday is so busy & he's busy with his family in the evenings, he makes it work during the week. He has a harder time when he is at home over the weekends. His wife, on the other hand, forgets to eat. He talked about how maddening it is to have a spouse who rarely thinks about food. He said that some days when she is particularly busy, by late afternoon she realizes she doesn't feel good & it will dawn on her that she hasn't eaten anything all day. She literally forgets to eat when she's busy! I can't imagine that. I truly wish I was like that. I've posted his approach to helping patients with disruptive food thinking in the past, so won't repeat it here. Just know that many of us here totally get it.

Karen in Virginia

Did a Turbo Fit DVD. The plan for tomorrow is to take the water class.

Got my flu shot yesterday and I think I’m having a reaction. Last night I was FREEZING cold, this morning I am hot. I’ve been coughing (but it’s getting better, last night you would think I had a cold), at some points I was having very vivid dreams. It’s getting better. Supposed to go for my shot of Prolia tomorrow. Normally I get it in the left arm since I’m right-handed but I think I’ll get it in the right since the left is still sore from the flu shot. Unless it’s totally better (which I doubt), I’ll get it in the right arm since I’ve never had a reaction to that shot.

Last night a friend called to ask me to go to a concert with her, she got free tickets. Really, that music is not my cup of tea and I wouldn’t pay to go see it, but since it’s free. We were supposed to go to the Hickory Community Theater so I’ll see if I can change the tickets to the next day. I don’t see a problem…we do it all the time at the Green Room. As long as there are seats and there are, we change the tickets. The only thing is that our seats probably won’t be as good as the ones we had.

Marianne – I like the Pioneer Woman, only I think she uses a lot of butter. Most chefs to me use too much salt. A guy at bowling was telling me that the Golden Corral around here closes at 4 and then reopens at 5 for veterans. He said the line is so long that they need to close down and restock

Barbara – my strategy for the mug is not to limit the intake (if anything I want to encourage it) since I’ll use it probably just for tea (without sugar or creamer so 0 calories). Last night at ceramics I saw that they have this paint that I think I’ll use with. I think the mug itself will by Tiger Lily which is a white with orange and yellow splashes of color and the inside of the mug and handle will be orange. It’s a Mayco CG-966 if you’re interested to look online and see it.

Yvonne – thanks for telling me about the bp journal. I’m wondering if I have white-coat syndrome. The doc said he wasn’t really concerned since lots of people have white coat, so that’s why he wants me to take it at home

With this reaction to the flu shot, I seem to have no desire to eat, which isn’t a bad thing at all

I’m not crazy about salad dressings, vegetable sauces, etc. I want to taste the vegetables, not the sauce

Luci NC – the reason I’ve decided to do the inside of the mug orange and not blue is because the blue paint streaks unless you put an extra coat of it on. Since this will be INSIDE the mug, that might be hard to do. Safe travels

NYKaraen – Vince loves to research things, too.

Viv – great job on the kitchen. When was your old kitchen built?

Green Room today then Newcomer bowling tonight. The only other bowling alley in the area closed and all their leagues are coming over to where we bowl. It's going to be real crowded, but we'll manage.

Michele in NC