40+ Club

Alf: Thanks for your concern - Yes, I'm still running my 10K on Sunday. I've decided for now that it doesn't make much difference. I'm in pain no matter what so might as well chug ahead. There really was no "Injury" so to speak of - sad to see it is more likely just a part of aging and years of wear and tear on my spine.

mkwood, where did you do the metabolic test? I would love to do something like that. Were you exercising when you were eating 1200cals? If so, then that explains your plateau. It is great when you get to eat more especially after a hard workout. As long as you eat healthy at least 80% of the time you will not have any problems and you will see results.

I am going out with my husband tomorrow night. We are going out to dinner and then dancing. I know I will be drinking as well. I hope I dont overdo it. :laugh: :laugh: But we need time for ourselves. We were together in Puerto Rico but with the family and all I feel I did not have time for my hubby. We are thinking about going away to Vegas late April mid May...

Talk to you later...I am at work, on break :laugh: :flowerforyou:

Alf,
I work at a state university, and the student health center now offers testing to employees also for a $25 fee. My daughter, who works at the university rec center, suggested I get one done when I was expressing my plateau frustration to her awhile back. I'm very glad I did. I'm hoping that knowing now what my normal calorie intake should be will help with the weight loss. The actual name of the test is MedGem by microlife. It measures your resting metabolic rate (RMR), then figures out your daily calorie use based on your lifestyle (work job activity level). You then subtract a set number of calories based on the rate of weight loss you want to achieve. That gives you the daily calorie budget you should be eating each day. Any additional calories burned thru exercise are a bonus. We'll see how things progress..................

Swissmiss, you've got me mixed up with somebody else:noway: ........ my husband and I danced all the time until we'd been married about 5 years, then he promptly forgot how to! Married 27 years last month and if I'm REALLY LUCKY I can get him to slow dance once at a wedding, etc. He claims it's because his knees are so bad, but I just think he's a fuddy duddy. I'd LOVE to have someone to go dancing with!:flowerforyou: :flowerforyou:

Yeah, Alf is the lucky lady whose husband still knows how to dance........ I'm jealous :grumble: :grumble:

I am thinking to myself "Why not go dancing alone?" If he won't join me then I should. No, I won't do that. I would feel funny.

mkwood...that is sweet. My husband doesn't have a jealous bone in his body.

Good morning everybody. It is good to see so many new people posting! I love what I learn from the experiences of others.

I spent the last week at a conference in Colorado. I had just reached my 'goal' weight (of 120) the day before I left. I was very nervous about how I was going to maintain that while eating away from home for 8 days. It was a challenge, but I didn't cheat once (meaning no sweets, alcohol or junk food like fries/chips/etc) while gone. I worked out (on a treadmill) for six days while gone (and really pushed my heart rate up there because of the altitude!!) The only really 'unhealthy' thing I ate was an Arby's roast beef sandwich one night for dinner (just the sandwich....no fries or anything). It fit into my calorie allowance, so I didn't mind choosing that as my first fast food meal since January (though I will admit that my thought after my first bite all I could think was 'OMG it is salty!!'...I guess after not eating out for three months at all, my tastebuds just aren't used to those sodium levels).

I got home yesterday and weighed myself.....and I was down two more pounds last week. :noway: I think that was due to it being my recovery week from STS more than from my eating while gone. But that's a much better result than I was expecting from being gone for eight days (mild understatement there). So last night I actually allowed myself my first real cheat in nearly three months--some dark chocolate covered cranberries, blueberries and almonds. Just 1/4 cup....but boy did they taste good!!

This morning I weighed 117.4, which has me down nearly 26 pounds since the first of January. I bought my first EVER size 2 pair of pants while I was in Colorado. Another :noway: moment for me! But I'm still scared about maintaining it.

However, one of the things I noticed while I was away is that my way of thinking about food has changed significantly. I am looking at it much more from the nutritional viewpoint than I ever have in my life....because I've always primarily focused on taste before. And my tastes are changing too. I am finding that I no longer really crave alot of the junk food anymore. I think I could go the rest of my life without eating another potato chip if I'm being honest. There just isn't any appeal there for me. So that's a good sign (I hope).

What I plan to do over the next seven weeks (the second cycle of STS and the amount of time I'll be at home before going away again) is really work at crafting a reasonable maintenance plan. I want to be able to cheat at times (like if I want a glass of wine), but as with my chocolate last night, my goal is to make sure that any less-than-ideal choice I make fits into my calorie allowance. I think, for me, the challenge is to figure out what that calorie allowance can be to maintain this weight. I think it will end up being about 1800 calories a day average, which is very doable as long as I'm not eating out and such.

I'm still frustrated by how hard it is to eat healthy in this country, though. On our trip out, we were subject to a five hour delay at the airport. I had planned my food for that day, expecting to be in Colorado in time for dinner. Well....that didn't work. So I was forced to find some food in the airport. Boy, not only was that expensive but the healthy options were incredibly limited. I ended up with a turkey/avocado sandwich on wheat bread (which was probably pretty high in calories, but I was okay with that at the time), but I understand why so many people opt for McDonalds instead because that would have been so much cheaper than the $10 for my sandwich. Again, very frustrating.

I'm starting the muscle building phase of STS today, and I can't wait! I think I will love this next cycle of this series. Last night as my husband and I were driving to Trader Joe's for my chocolate, and he remarked that for all of my weight losses (and I've done this a few times!), he thinks this one has transformed my body the most. I credit most of that to this workout regime I'm doing. So I'm totally psyched to continue.

duffy, I'm sorry to hear about your neck. I wish you the best in your race!

And all that talk about Germany made me homesick! My husband and I lived in Germany for seven years (we were stationed at Ramstein AB). Those were good times (and good food). When we moved back from Germany the last time (in 2006), I shipped 200 bottles of wine with me. That may explain my love/love relationship with wine. But at least I still have about 80 of those bottles left so I've managed to control myself....a little.

Hope this finds everybody doing well.

StiringWendel...you are such a wonderful inspiration for all of us. I realize, while reading what you wrote, that I cheat way too much. Can I ask how tall you are? I haven't been 117 pounds since 1974. I got down to 139 in 1998 and looked bad. It was really too thin for me, though I would love to be able to say that is what I weigh. The sandwich you got at the airport sounds yummy. That is my kind of food. I like to go to Panera Bread and get their turkey-artichoke sandwich but the bread it comes on isn't as healthy as yours. I have always had trouble keeping my weight down after reaching my goal. I haven't reached any goals since 1998 and then the weight came back. It could have been due to the fact that I got divorced in 1999. So, I would be very interested in hearing your plan to keep at your target weight.

I am 5' 2" and right now I am 125. I did lose 30 lbs by doing the 6 week body makeover diet, actually lost them pretty quickly. After I went off the diet I went up 5 lbs to 115. Not quite where I wanted to be but I was happy being 25 lbs thinner. My actual goal isn't on the scale but my waist size. I did manage to keep it off for a year but I have recently gained 10 more lbs which scares me to death. After eating the same thing day in and day out, I don't want to go back on that diet. I'd much rather watch what I am eating and start exercising. I appreciate all of the support that I can get. I dont have much at home and working out as well as watching what I eat is sometimes a challenge when your doing it alone.

Thanks for the encouragement Swissmiss... The 6 week body make over does have different foods you can eat, I just stayed on the rapid plan which is where you have to eat every two hours and its basically just chicken and vegetables. I did lose weight quickly, 9lbs the first week alone, but eating the same thing so many times a day for weeks you just cant stand it after a while. I just dont want to be on a "diet" for the rest of my life. I figure that if I tone up it will be easier to maintain and be able to enjoy a little some thing on occasion. :happy:

alf and Swissmiss, thanks for the welcome back and the kind words. You make me feel so good!

alf, I use the calculators on www.caloriesperhour.com. It is under the 'Calories Burned' tab up top and is a calculator for BMR and RMR, but will also give you your AMR. This puts my AMR at about 1400 calories a day, which is about what MFP calculates my maintenance calories need to be.

Swissmiss, I'm 5'2". Last time I was 117 was about 17 years ago! Like tron3002, I probably could get down to 110 pounds (where I spent most of my early 20s) and still be very healthy. But, to be honest, there is no way I can maintain that weight at my age. My maintenance calories would be something like 1250 a day without exercise (which is less than I was eating when I was losing the weight), and the calories burned exercising (as alf pointed out yesterday) become much less as well. I don't think if I were 110 that I'd ever be able to eat over 1600 calories a day to maintain that weight (and that would be working out very hard everyday) and, quite frankly, that's just not worth it to me. That's the primary reason I set my goal weight at 120. That isn't the lowest I can go, but it certainly is the lowest I think I can go with any hope of maintaining the weight over any extended period of time.

tron3002, you and I are virtually the same size. I just lost 26 pounds, which brought me down to 117. Like I explained above, I think it would be almost impossible for me to maintain this weight if I weren't exercising (and even then I'm not so sure I can maintain it yet!), so I think your idea of starting an exercise program is a good idea. I've not tried wii fit, but I've heard great things about it. I think virtually all of us on this thread are doing different exercise programs, so if you have any questions about something, please feel free to ask. I'm sure somebody will be able to help you. Just be aware that you may actually gain weight/size when starting to exercise. It is temporary (as long as you are eating well!) so don't let that stop you!

I did day 1 of the second cycle (muscle building) of STS yesterday. It was a 65 minute chest/shoulder/tricep workout. Yowza! My arms are hurtin' this morning! I think I'm going to do about an hour of step aerobics today. Hopefully that will loosen them up.

alf, I'm curious to hear your thoughts about ChaLean when you start doing it. The more I learn about the program, the more I'm interested in trying it.

I hope everybody has a good Sunday!

Hello!

I'm new to all of this - just starting the weight loss adventure (again) this week and have lost 1.5 pounds so far.....just by monitoring daily snacks. Have a long way to go though! I am looking forward to communicating with all of you and hearing all of your success stories! T.

Good morning!!! I already did a lower body/abs strength trng workout and a little bit of cardio on the stationary bike. I did not burn mega calories. It is sooo hard to burn a lot of calories now unless I workout for hrs :grumble: Not willing to do that :laugh:

Singfree, thank you for your advice. I did order ChaLean Extreme yesterday. I can't wait to get it and see what it is all about. From what I've seen and heard she does emphasize on weight training. There is a cardio dvd but it is mostly strength trng. It appeals to me because the workouts are not as long as P90X. Right now I can squeeze one hr of a morning workout but no longer than that. I have always been a morning exerciser and if I have to workout in the evening I know I am not going to do well with it. On weekends I have more time of course but I tend to use that time to run outdoors or go to a Zumba class on Sat mornings since it is not so crowded.

Happy Monday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:flowerforyou: