WOMEN AGES 50+ FOR NOVEMBER 2022

Heather, I am loving your posts. They're wonderful.

Katla, Sounds as if your husband is getting good care in an appropriate facility. That's good. Your daughter is to be commended for making sure Dad is so well taken care of.

___

I'm so proud of my brother. Since getting Covid and breaking his foot a year ago, he had become very deconditioned and put on a lot of weight, about 50lbs. I suggested he start walking while staying with me - we have a safe neighborhood that is nice to walk in - and without further prompting, he is up to 2 miles/day. He will be ready to walk to the museum and to church when he moves! We spoke with the apartment manager today for him, and she said carpeting still needs to be done, and a closet re-do. Then he'll be able to move in. I am guessing 2 weeks. We'll just keep plugging away getting everything purchased and packed so he'll be completely ready when the movers come. Then it's our turn. One day/one step at a time.

His latest artwork entitled, "Winged Victory":




Karen in Virginia

Hello everyone. Deborah, Seattle, 52, married 16 yrs. My need to lose weight has not escaped my attention for the last 5 years. However, the dieting just did not sound like something I wanted to endure no matter how disappointed in my body I had become. We love cooking, we love dining (not just eating), we have aspired to consider ourselves (and be considered by those around us) highly skilled home chefs capable of achieving glorious multi-course meals presented with splendor. I can whip up a chateaubriand in no time flat, make chicken Parmesan that makes Italian grannies ask me for my recipe, and bake bread that will make you give up store bought forever. We have always been conscious of salt, balanced nutrition, quality of dietary inputs…but we did not skimp on ingredients because of fat content.

However….

Mr. had a long time mitral valve issue needing repair. He is 66 now and retiring so it was time to get it taken care of. All of the pre surgery tests revealed a 70% blockage on the main heart artery. It went from a simple outpatient 2 little incision procedure to full on open heart surgery in a blink of an eye. October 21 was to be the day. It was the worst day of my life waiting in a hospital parking garage for the update phone calls every hour. Finally after 12 hours he had come around enough for me to see him. He looked horrible. My strong beautiful man who takes command of a room just by walking in looked pale, weak and helpless lying there with all the tubes and cords attached everywhere. He was alive though and the surgery was “textbook perfect” said one of THE best cardiac surgeons in Seattle. His recovery began to skyrocket the next morning. Released from ICU a day early, released from hospital 3 days early, and once home I had a mission. The rollercoaster of emotions I went through, the voracity of the fear and utter terror of that experience was what I needed to shock me into the needed state of mind.

I cleaned out the fridge and went shopping. Fat free, salt free, fresh and lean filled up the empty space. I intended to only feed him foods that would build his strength, regenerate his bone and cartilage for repairing the wired shut bits and pieces, cutting out the sugars and sodium’s to minimize inflammation in the healing environment, high iron and minerals to rebuild his blood after surgery even though he had no transfusions. Due to the post operative need for temporary warfarin to ensure no blood clots form during these first 90 days, I have to avoid vitamin K foods like avocado, leafy greens, etc. And, sadly, our daily G&T (gin and tonic) at 6 pm went away. BUT, I was intent on eating exactly what he ate, #1 so he did not feel like he was missing out, but #2 for self preservation. I need to make 5 small meals a day. I don’t have time to cook two menus as well.

I found this free site to help me track nutrition stats with as little effort as possible on Oct 28. I figured while I was doing it I might as well track my own health stats. We began this journey on October 21, surgery day…he was 205, I was 230. His hospital stay, the effects of the surgery, the loss of his appetite for 5 days and his low activity gave him a huge head start. He came home at 185. We have been eating nearly perfect…his energy is increasing, he had a two mile day this weekend, but napped a lot the next day so meals fit in to his awake hours and revolve around him. I set my calorie intake to a 1500 level and our sodium to 1000 or less. I just did a morning weigh in…I’m down 10 pounds. My activity level is about 3000 steps just being on my feet all day cooking/prepping 5 meals and cleaning up so it is not stemming from an increase in activity. It’s all about the foods. Now I do have to say, I end the night praying for sleep to come because I’m STARVING to death, but I have to tell my self it is not actual hunger, it is my body burning excess calories from fat stores. He allowed a bag of Reese’s Peanut butter cups to fall in the cart, he blamed it on Halloween (we have never had one trick or treater in all these years…we are too far out in the country). I have not had one, but boy do they sing the sirens song at about 10 pm!

We are basically eating “The Mediterranean Diet” but I did not know that until reading some recipes yesterday. I’m having to force him to eat his volume of food because he is needing about 1800-2000 calories as he is only 3 pounds to his “best” weight of 175. We need to slow him down on loosing and balance him back to maintaining. For me though…I have a ways to go. My last great body shape and weight was 2015. I was ~145, size 6, flat tummied in my little string bikini and feeling great. I changed jobs, was not happy there, it was a food company so food all around all day every day. Left in 2019, then Covid happened and we really used cooking and eating as our entertainment. NOW though…I feel the drive I have needed to make the scale move down. I do not know what my best weight will be at the age of 52. I do not know if I feel the need to be a size 6 again. We are building a new home in Montana to retire there next year… I don’t know how much bikini wearing I’ll do in grizzly bear country or how much of a need to be fashion forward there. I’m just going to keep doing what I’m doing.

Thanks for letting me introduce myself and give a back story. I may need some support or motivation in future when he is at his maintain point and eating things I can’t have. It will be a long winter but hopefully I can wear a new bathing suit for a spring trip to Maui without having too many moments of setbacks, failures or weight loss depression between now and then.

Grateful:
1 smell. Onions frying
2 technology. All. I love tech stuff
3 color. Sky blue and lavender
4 food. Yogurt
5 sound. Soft music
6 nature. Birds
7 memory. My trip to the White Mountains in NH with my mom
8 book. This one is hard. I read a lot. I think John Wayne’s biography.
Had routine bloodwork then treated myself to a Dunkin donut holiday blend coffee with cream, sugar free vanilla flavoring, and stevia, yummy! Also had snaking bacon for protein. Then went to Walmart as they had turkeys for 97 cents a pound so got one of those, then post office. On my way home I remembered that I forgot to order dogs heart pills, so another trip tomorrow!




RvRita in NM

Kirby didn’t do to bad

Hi Gals,
Love the grateful list but knew I had to make it easier than going back and forth…
Grateful:
1 smell. Damp redwoods
2 technology. electricity
3 color. Yellow – the sun
4 food. Soup
5 sound. Birds
6 nature. Ilove it all, gardening, walking, feeling far enough away from the hurry hurry of the city

7 memory. My dad, he died in 1977 and he had a huge impact on me
8 book. Poems by Robert Service
9 place.
10 taste.
11 holiday.
12 texture.
13 abilities.
14 sight.
15 season.
16 about your body.
17 knowledge.
18 piece of art.
19 touch.
20 who.
21 song.
22 story.
23 tradition.
24 challenge.
25 moment this week.
26 form of expression.
27 daily use item.
28 what happen today.
29 friend/family member.
30 talent or skill

Well finally yesterday I tested negative for Covid, so 2 more days of full masking in and outside per doctors orders and then just at my discretion - Having had Covid, I don’t know if I will ever take my mask off indoors with bigger groups of people, especially those I do not know. I wanted to believe it was a “bad cold” or minor flu, but for me it was not. I was miserable.

One of the things I had not shared as I really did not want to think about it is that in the week I got covid my house turned 62 and celebrated by breaking down…. REALLY I would have rather done a party. But the plumbing system under the house sprung a leak, the heater stopped working (granted it is a crappy wall unit that heats mostly a bathroom) the fireplace insert blower stopped working and I used a space heater and melted an electrical connection. So as I called around for different professionals to fix the issues, no one will come into a home with Covid. So I waited, and managed. But yesterday ½ of the plumbing under my home was fully replaced, today the wall unit has been repaired. So I have water and some heat. Thursday the electrician comes over and I have a call in about the fireplace. Gratitude to the repair professionals, gratitude to indoor plumbing, a heater, and electrical is immense.
And while nothing has been cheap, both of the professionals have been helpful on how to shave dollars off the total, and to make this work the best for me. Again grateful!!!

Kim in N. California

Kim - Bless your heart, so hard when the hits just keep hitting harder. Glad you can see your way through to gratitude for the good parts, you're one of the strongest people I know.

Barbara - I really have been skimming too much, totally missed your hell-ride to get home, had to go find it. Glad you're OK!

Heather - Glad you got some sleep - sounds like it's all been go-go-go. You're going to some beautiful places, and we so appreciate the pictures!

Karen - Your brother's paintings continue to make my heart soar. Such a gift!

Today's gratitude: I am grateful for books in general and specific. I still love the smell of books and bookstores (especially the ones with coffee shops inside). I love my Kindle, though, and books, unfortunately, can't compete with a backlit screen and text that you can change the size. I seldom actually buy a book anymore, just the Kindle editions. I think "Stranger in a Strange Land," by Robert Heinlein, was the first book that truly impacted how I thought about a lot of things. It still does.

Welcome to our newest members of the thread - you are so welcome, please come back often--we are a chatty bunch, and the thread moves fast!

Corey's cooking my shrimp scampi, and it smells amaze-balls, so I'm off to look over his shoulder. Take that back, I'm 5'2" and he's 6 foot, so maybe I'll just look around him...

Much love,
Lisa in AR