Athena53 Member

There are some things you can just tough out and some things that are going to be aggravated if you continue. You don't want to cause permanent damage. I don't do marathons because I hate running and I have a permanent injury form when I twisted my leg falling off a bike years ago, and after too much running it really…

Do what YOU want. Your sister is never going to be happy regardless of what you do, so you may as well be happy yourself.

I eat just about anything I want but I'm very careful about portion control. Have you ever heard of the principle of Diminishing Returns? It's an concept used in Economics and it applies to eating, too. The first bite of anything gooey and caloric is the best. Savor it. Enjoy it. The second bite is good, too. Is the taste…

I'm 60 and the pic in my avatar is really me, taken last month after a 35-mile bike ride. I had a smaller battle to win: about 20 lbs. put on over the last 10 years or so after marrying DH, who's a wonderful cook. He cooks healthy and I blame it totally on my inability to exercise portion control around good food! (He's…

Someone may have hacked her account. One of my FB friends, a nurse-anaesthetist who's got a very high rank in her professional society, had a FB post for some quack diet product once. When we were kids she was known as "Twiggy" and I don't think she's gained an ounce since then. I sent her an e-mail and, sure enough, her…

That's amazing- was it all in one day? How many hours was it and (inquiring minds want to know) how did you keep it from being a pain in the rear? I use the chamois butter and it helps prevent chafing over 35 miles, but I think I'd be a wreck at 100.

I do about an hour of cardio every day, fasting or not. I've taken up sprint triathlons and 35-mile charity bike rides (done with both for the season now) and would not fast on those days. Since I usually fast Tuesdays/Thursdays and these rides/competitions are on the weekends, I get enough nutrition to keep me going for…

My new favorite stealth ingredient is "evaporated cane juice". Yeah, it's sugar. When I see a long list of ingredients, I'm immediately turned off- especially if I can't pronounce half of them.

This has been my experience. I started about 3 years ago at 147 lbs. I'm 5'7". Now I'm around 129. I have a lot of expensive business clothes and the bottoms (pants and skirts) have been hanging on me. The tailor was a little skeptical at first; he's got clients who yo-yo and he didn't want to take things in, then have me…

According to a "Stuff You Should Know" podcast on NPR, most sugars can be metabolized by cells anywhere in the body. HFCS can be metabolized only in the liver and when the liver gets more than it can handle, it turns it into triglycerides. My doc says that in his opinion, the human body just isn't meant to handle some…

I do most of my cycling on the weekends and just did my last charity ride of the season: the Tour de BBQ! The rest stops were all local BBQ restaurants, where they served samples of their food along with the usual bike-rider fare. It was supposed to be 35 miles but I think mine was closer to 40 because I got lost a couple…

We're well over that (I'm near retirement, DH is already retired). Here's how we live. One car (Nissan Altima, 100K miles, bought used). Rarely go out to eat; we're homebodies. One big, splashy trip a year. Paris this year, Alaska last year and next year. The Paris trip didn't cost us that much out of pocket because we…

Ah, I was afraid the answer might include "spend money"! Well, the weather report for my last ride of the season next weekend still looks good but maybe I'll buy some good rainy-weather gear during the winter. We're going to Alaska in July anyway so it could come in handy.

I turned 60 earlier this year. I lost about 20 lbs. over the last few years and now weigh less than I did when I got out of HS. It was a combination of kicking up my workouts and 5:2 fasting. I've gotten into long-distance bicycling (well,30+ miles is long-distance for me!) and I feel like I'm 15 again when I'm on a bike.…

Congratulations! I agree that portion control is key. Your story is the type I really enjoy: people whose chronic health problems are alleviated when they lose weight. I know that weight loss won't solve everything for everybody, but it really helps.

I get the senior rate at the community center gym- $50/year. I work out in shorts and T-shirts although I've recently bought a couple pair of Spandex bicycle pants. No major costs there. I've had the same bike for 13 years, pool in the back yard. OK, I guess maintaining that is expensive. I had to get a Fitbit or a HRM to…

This. I also want to eat everything in sight after a long bike ride (30+ miles), but I guess that's normal. I agree with not eating if you're not hungry. A long time ago I had a co-worker who was a short, skinny little guy who said, "listen to your body". We get marketed crap foods so aggressively and so often, sometimes…

I LOVE seaweed salad! I love gulab jamon and halvah, too. DH will be happy to see that okra and brussels sprouts are on so many lists. He won't touch either. He doesn't like the texture of mushrooms, so if he gets any in a dish when we're out to eat, he gives them to me.

I use it so rarely, I just use the real thing. Some of the substitutes are worse than the original.

Yeah, I can't get into any organ meats- the taste is too game-y. Fortunately I had haggis at a B&B where a small portion was included on the breakfast plate. I tried it, it was awful, I won't try it again.

Two beautiful days in Hermann, MO, 25 miles each day on the Katy Trail. I think I wore out my legs!

Sea cucumber, in an otherwise delicious multi-course Chinese wedding banquet.

Congratulations- the results of your hard work really show. I really liked the eloquent details in your story- it gives me a better understanding of what many of the people here are up against every day.

Not really- I probably eat less junky processed stuff but I don't miss it. I enjoy smaller portion of things I really love.

You can see that it all boils down to "eat less. move more" but there are many ways to success within that. For me, 5:2 fasting, at least an hour of cardio a day, but no calorie-counting, works. (I have a general idea of what's high-calorie and what I can eat without worrying about overdoing it, and go heavy on things like…

OK, I'm only an actuary so maybe these concepts are too complicated for me. Let's assume a restaurant can buy equivalent ingredients 10% cheaper. Even if they added no additional costs and charged only for ingredients, I'd have to pay a tip on top of that so it would cost just about what I pay at home. Except that…

Totally agreed. DH and I are homebodies and we rarely eat out unless we're traveling. Sometimes we laugh at how cheap our meals are, especially the bean soup he makes with ham hocks. One strip steak will serve both of us, with leftovers that I cut up and throw into a salad the next day. Restaurants make a lot of money from…

Yesterday I hit a new record- a 36.8- mile ride from Olathe to Lawrence, KS for MS. Add a little meandering around afterwards to find something to eat and explore the area, and it was probably close to 40. My odometer is acting a little wacky now so I'm not sure- the 36.8 is the official distance provided by the…

I think that portion sizes have increased gradually over the years because it's good for the restaurant owners. If a restaurant increases the size of its portions by 50%, the overhead doesn't really change- doesn't take more people to serve it or to clean up, doesn't take a higher % of space in the restaurant, etc. So you…

Hot sauce is the answer. I put it on just about everything- in soups, in stews, salsa on baked potatoes. I even have a powder called "Death Rain" that I use on things where hot sauce can't be mixed in (over a serving of casserole, for example). This has the advantage of being done only to your serving- your friends/family…