calling out to women 50+

I'd like to start this thread specifically for women who are 50 or over.

As a 53 year-old woman, myself, I am finding new challenges, unexpected difficulties and wonderful insights on my path to getting to and maintaining my health, weight and body shape.

What seemed to work for me as little as five years ago doesn't work quite the same anymore. My body doesn't seem to respond to what I consider healthy eating habits and good workout schedules as it even in my middle to late 40s'.

SO, I am would to hear from those out there who are finding themselves in situations. OR NOT, maybe you can enlighten the rest of us as to how you keep your shape, or how you're getting into better shape and a healthier overall lifestyle.

Hopefully this will be the start of something wonderful, educational, funny-offer up jokes anecdotes, whatever!

LET'S GET STARTED!

Good morning to all

 

Just looking over some of the posts here and reminds me of a few things.  I tried on a pair of jeans yesterday-the smallest size I have in my closet.  And I almost got them done all the way up.  I managed to wear them with a belt instead of the top bottom being done up!  With sweater over top, of course.  And the funny thing is my weight still hasn't budged in the past few weeks. 

Toronto is getting another very cool weather day, today.  We'll only reach a high of 16C-which is 61F.   If it's not windy it'll be a fine day.  Our weather is so crazy because two days ago I was walking around in a pair of shorts and a tank top-and was hot!  Am enjoying the evenings on the balcony-even when I have to wear a light jacket.   My balcony looks over a cemetery.   And just to the right of my balcony my mother is buried!  I can almost see  her grave except it gets obscured by a tree in the spring/summer.   My mother and I were very close-in fact I was considered an 'apron string' child, so having her in my backyard, so to speak, is anything but coincidental. 

so all ladies I am wishing you another fruitful and successful 24 hours!

 

ohioI play the Callaway Big Bertha ball (comes in the red box 12 balls $19.99) I have played Titleist and Srixon balls too.  I liked the Srixon but they are hard to find - I used a senior ball. I do think the ball makes a difference - ex: I can't even begin to hit a Pro-V 1 -  a good ball - but I have too slow of a swing speed to hit it. As far as distance - I don't know about that - I just think you have to hit a ball that corresponds to your swing speed. Myself - I don't like those colored balls - I think they're hard to find and don't like the way they feel off the club.

I like to play well but when I don't I'm just glad to be outside and healthy enough to enjoy golf! It sure does burn a lot of calories too!!

hi guys!  :D  i don't have much time, but i wanted to peek in, at least.  i was cleaning all day.  no tossing though...  just laundry, vacuuming, dishes, etc.

i did make it out to the gym though & for lunch with hubby.

take care & enjoy your evening

Hi Snowfence. Thanks for stopping in. It's past my bedtime, but I just had to check in, too.

Robbie, I do use a GPS. I load topo maps on it and away I go! We do a lot of off-trail stuff and it really comes in handy. It has gotten me "un-lost" a couple of times :) I can tell how far I went and also the elevation gain/loss.

Bonton, tonight I mowed the lawn tonight until it was dark. We won't have time on the weekend because we'll be gone both days, so I figured I'd get it out of the way tonight. Ran out of time for laundry, though, so that will be tomorrow night.

Helene, your cook sounds wonderful! I could also use a cook, or at least someone to go out and buy me some food at lunch. If I do the elliptical at lunch, I don't have time to buy anything. The fallback is oatmeal, which I always have at the office, but sometimes (like today), I crave a nice turkey sandwich instead.

Alice

Good Morning Everyone - moon - I couldn't mow my grass last night because I had golf league - had to leave it for my husband and like you we will be away thru the weekend so had to get it cut. Tonight we have a retirement party to go to then we will leave after work Fri to go visit my husband's daughter and her husband, they live just outside Washington, DC.

I wanted a Cleveland Pear tree for our front yard so my husband bought one at a nursery near where he works. Got stopped by the St Police on his way home because the tree was hanging out the back of the truck, no ticket though LOL...he bought a big one. Then he tells me there is no gaurantee because we were planting it...oh geez,  I don't think I would have paid as much as he did with no gaurantee. I just hope that it takes off. It was so big he could hardly lift it and once he got it in the hole he dug he couldn't move it!

Today I get on the scales...we'll see what the damage of the Memorial Day weekend was! LOL

bonton71: Your husband has trouble fitting into things--first the pants, now the tree. Good luck on the scale today.

 

robbie - LOL I know and then last night I felt bad afterwards cause I'm saying to him "why did you spend so much? and the tree looks a little sick, no guarantee etc" Afterwards I'm saying I'm sorry that I did appreciate him getting it and planting, mowing for me... I wanted one so he bought it - didn't matter to him that it was $200!! LOL if I wanted it he'd get it for me.

OK so the scale... 123.4 so only up 0.2 since last week WHEW!  seem to be stuck here but will persevere! Really want to get back to last summers weight. Keeping my steps well over 10,000 a day so I'm hoping that will help. Going away all weekend so I hope that I can keep my weight steady - I know we'll be eating out.

Hope everyone is having a great day!

Hello there!

I am just back from my son's graduation ceremony. Had a power cut at the beginning and the A/C never really kicked in so it was VERY hot, especially for those in suits and gowns, but we all survived. It was really moving, as usual. Especially as every single speaker pointed out the fact none of these kids would probably ever meet again, as their class explodes over some 30 countries... From Japan to America, they'll cover the world in a network that will loosen with the years... I think there were few parents with their eyes dry, as most of us will soon be thousand of miles from our children too...

Tough, tough...

Our usually scruffy son was unusually handsome in his new navy suit. To think he is only one year younger than my husband and I were when we met! It gives me shivers to think how incredibly young we were when we committed for this!!! But somehow we had wisdom enough to start an endeavour that brought us to our third graduation in 7 years. I am looking forward to our grandchildren's... I'll be a grandmother who goes to graduations, if I am still alive!!! LOL

The scale put me at 180.6 this morning. Must be all those silent tears... But tonight we have the graduation dinner, so beware!!!

No closet cleaning today, but I promise to work double-hard tomorrow!

Have a nice day everyone,

Helene, who just told her best friend in Ephrata, WA, to expect her in September!!! Can't wait!!!!!!!!

Is it just me or did the month of May just 'jet' fly by?  Wow-Sunday is the beginning of June!

OK, schaufel, I'll admit I haven't read all your posts from start to finish.  I do read enough of most posts to get the gist, however, I am still not sure why you're in this mode of closet-cleaning.  Is this part of how your helping use calories during the day as well as becoming more orderly?

Bon,

is it you with the pedometer?  Was it 10,000 steps per day?  And how many calories does that equal to?  I'm pretty sure I don't come close to that on days I don't work out.  I am not working right now-well a bit of editing at home-that's about it. So, I am not called upon to get out all that much.   I do, however, walk to and from my grocery stores and the such.  I don't drive-never have-and have all these stores within a block or three of where I live.      &nbs p;       & nbsp;      &nbs p;       & nbsp;      &nbs p;       Is it 10,000 paces needed to maintain a healthy body?  I know I've heard of  counting steps, just wasnt' sure what the number is. 

I've got a couple minor exercise related injuries.  It feels like I bruised a rib on my right side, my left wrist hurts when I move it at times and the area on my left hand between my thumb and forefinger,(forgive my lack of technical terms), is also in pain.  I didn't work out yesterday to give myself a rest, and am wondering if it would really make a difference to take a couple more days off.  OR I just might go and do my cardio.

ANY IDEAS OR OPINIONS OF THIS?   PLEASE let me know, OK?

To everyone else

Hope your day rolls out in such a way which is pleasant for you. 

yep!  may flew by!!!  for ALL of us!  LOL  don't worry...  get a grip!!!  we're all here...  :D

one If you're still hurting it's better to rest and ice the injury. Working out too soon will just aggravate the problem. Sounds like you pulled a muscle in the rib cage area. Advil and ice. Yes I bought a pedometer - the whole goal is to increase the daily amt of steps you do - my beginning avg was 10,000 so I try to shoot for 12 - 13,000 - how far and how many calories that is is different for everyone based on their stride length and weight which you enter into the pedometer.

Went to a retirement cook out party last night - that's where being a picky eater really helps LOL - I def did not overeat - they had grilled chicken so I ate that first and I took Hobo beans which I made, couple of other things I took I did not eat because I didn't like them - had my hubby get a piece of the yummy 2 layer chocolate buttercream cake so i could be limited to 2 bites! LOL It was sooo good - I could have made a meal on the cake LOL but I didn't ...who wants to log that! If I just didn't like sweets LOL but then I'd probably crave salty things instead!

schaufel - Congrats on your sons graduation. I still think of my girls as kids yet when I was their age I had two 6 year olds and I'm quite certain I didn't think of myself as a "kid" LOL

Hope eveyone has a great weekend - we will be away - my grass will need cut when I get home!  The tree my husband planted looked a little bettter this morning - maybe it will be Ok - the nursery wrapped it in white plastic for him to drive home and I think the sun  burned some of the leaves because of the plastic - but that shouldn't kill the tree - or at least I hope not. Supposed to rain here tomorrow so we won't need to worry about watering it - we'll water it good tonight before we leave and then again on Sunday.

Good morning all. I was bored/looking for inspiration last night, and reread parts of the thread from the get go. We have lost some fellow "losers": This is a shout out to pudpie, delilahbluebike, bendlaurie, patsylon, letsgetitstartted, and longwaytogo. What up my ladies?

snow: What do you do at the gym? And, we are still here, except there's less weight on us. Yeah!

Alice: What's wrong with a turkey sandwich, assuming whole grain bread and low-fat dressing, with some nice lettuce, sprouts and tomato? I'd want to add avocado, which is the reason I sometimes get B+ instead of A on my analysis: What do you say, girlfriends; isn't an avocado worth the extra (healthy) fat?

Helene: My recently graduated (college) son is looking for a "real" job, busing tables in the interim, and just moved home last night. My husband is distressed as we have enjoyed our little empty nest, and Chris is quite boisterous. So, I was thinking the same as you last night, with a twist. I was his age when I married my practice husband. Some of us aren't mature enough to get it right the first time, as you did. I applaud your tenacity! In fact, we are meeting younger (21) son's girlfriend (first!) of four months this Sunday. He claims she's intimidated by the pressure of being first, so I plan to throw myself down and kiss her feet. Do you think that's too over the top?

one: Are you OK? How'd you hurt yourself? I myself am always tripping over roses in the carpet. I agree with the lay off and ice advice. And I've done the can't-quite-fit-but-leave-the-top-button-undo ne thing, too, terrified that the blouse would not cover my safety pin closure, of course.

bon: I'm your opposite. Don't care about sweets, but if you salted and fried them and added salsa on the side, I'd be milk toast in the face of temptation.

Ohio: Did you ever think you'd be recommending Ben Gay? I so think of that as for old folks, and can't quite get that I qualify. You must walk the course to be burning so many calories. Back in the day when I played, that was my favorite thing about golf.

Still at 131 this a.m. (I actually managed to skip a day of weighing), and hopeful I can bust the 130 barrier by June 15 to celebrate my 55th.

Have a great day all.

Hello,

If it's alright, I'd like to join this over 50 group.

I'm 53. I'm one of those people who used to not worry about her weight. I'm 6' tall and when I was 18 I weighed 135. And no, I didn't look too skinnny. But after passing 50, I also passed 200 lbs.

In my 20's, I weighed about 145 and that seemed to be an ideal weight for me at that age. I put on some more pounds during my 30's but I always was able to drop them without much effort and looked my best at 150. If I did need to drop some pounds, I'd just get off the cokes (big addict) and start exercising. My diet would improve any time I did this but not because I was counting calories or anything else. However, it was in my 30's when I started learning more about whole foods and eating better just because I wanted my kids to eat better. Plus it helped me overcome arthritis.

In my 40's controlling my weight began to get a lot tougher for me. I started craving things I never used to crave before, like chocolate and anything with sugar. I've always craved the fats but craving sugar was new for me. But then my husband (who loved all sugar) became a diabetic. This motivated me to get all processed sugars out of our house. I started walking for his sake (to go with him) and we both lost weight and started feeling great again. But slowly I fell off the wagon again.

But every time my weight gets out of control, my first step in the right direction is to stop all processed sugar, drink lots of water and start walking. But since I passed 50, it has been so much harder to keep this up. For the past 4 or 5 years, I've been stuck in a pattern of loosing down to about 177 lbs every summer (I'd like to reach 160-165). But then for the past 4 or 5 years, I have put all the weight back on starting sometime in November or December.

The worst part of it is I gain even more weight each time. Each effort has taught me something about myself though. So here I am again. It's summer and my starting weight was 204. But this time, I'm really trying to prepare mentally for the winter months (even now) so I won't fall into the same trap.

I've been on CC for 6 days and I'm finding the site SO helpful. I never thought I would be a calorie counter but I also never realized that some of the things I thought were really okay to eat are not so good. And some of the things I have tried to avoid aren't necessarily that bad. So, I'm learning a lot more about what is balanced.

After just 6 days, I'm just under the 200 mark, weighing 199.2. I've had no processed sugar, I'm drinking about 200 ounces of water a day and doing some form of exercise every day. I'm also trying palates for the first time. OUCH!

I've also never been one to look for support from forums before but I've been reading a lot of the posts here and I'm encouraged to jump in because you all seem so nice and helpful to one another. So, I would appreciate your support.

~ Beth (from South Texas)

PS I realized my screen name might look like I am trying to say I'm a midwife for Calorie Counter (midwife4cc) but actually, I'm a midwife in Corpus Christi (CC), TX. I hope no one thought that was a weird choice for a screen name.

Hi Beth!  Welcome to this group and glad to have you!!  I agree about the pilates - OUCH.  But a friend of mine lost two clothing sizes just by doing pilates and she stayed the same weight.   Yeah, it's super easy to regain weight when we don't pay attention.  And even harder to get it off the next time.  So let's not do that!

Robbie, there's nothing bad about a nice turkey sandwich, it's just that I have to go out of the office to get it.  If I use up my whole lunch hour exercising, there is no time left to buy food.  Yes, I could bring something from home, but that never happens.   I'm rooting for you to get to 130!

One, I have slightly different advice.  Go ahead and do cardio as long as it doesn't make your rib pain worse.  At this age we will always have some pain somewhere!  Certain pain requires rest and no exercise, but most can just be ignored.  It is up to you to decide which is which.  I find it is far too easy to find an excuse to not exercise, so I don't cut myself much slack.  Today I am pretty sore from my workout yesterday, but I intend to go to pilates at lunch and make it worse

Helene, congratulations on your son's graduation!!

Alice

 

i dunno...  i try to figure out what them machines are for & use 'em.  LOL  i do ride the bike though...  and if i have time, i like to go in to the pool area  :)

Welcome Beth!

You're joining company with 2 other nurses - myself and frostslave - she works OB! I've never been one to join a support group or chat room either  but I am enjoying this forum! It is nice to know that all of us are sharing the same struggles and have so much in common. I was always careful about what I ate but used to be able to cheat way more often without disastrous results and could easily take off 5-8 pounds without much effort. I'm like you with the "winter weight" thing now - every winter I gain about 5-6 pounds ( I know doesn't sound like much but on a 5'1" frame?? it matters) and then would lose it in the summer and my gain starts around December too. Only this year it was 10 not 5 so none of my summer clothes were fitting GRRR This site has improved my eating habits. I skipped too many meals, didn't eat enough calories, definitely didn't eat enough protein and ate too many carbs. Thru logging I've changed that and have started losing but it is very slow! We're glad you joined us ! I think we have a great bunch of ladies in this forum!!

Welcome Beth and hi everyone else.  I have been quietly lurking lately, but I am keeping up on all the news.

I weighed myself today and am 185.5.  This is a new low for me (at least in the last 5 years).  I am beginning to hope that my long plateau might be over.  I certainly hope so.  Now, if I can just avoid blowing it over the weekend.  That will be a challenge with my daughter's shower tomorrow at a fancy sounding place.  Fortunately it is early in the day so I won't be too hungry.  I will have to make sure I ride my bike at least one day this weekend.

Robbie - Throwing yourself at the girl's feet might be a bit much, but friendly and welcoming is always nice.  I hope she turns out to be a nice girl.  It is so much nicer when everyone gets along in the family.

Thank you so much for the warm welcome! I look forward to getting to know you all.

I made myself do something today that was a bit painful. I'm a visual learner. So I decided I needed some visual ways to motivate myself. So I started looking back I through all my digital pictures to find any that showed my weight. I have digital pictures way back because a few years ago I scanned most of our old photos.

There weren't that many of me. I'm usually the one taking the pictures. But I did find a few. I edited them to go in a folder just for this purpose. Wow, was it eye opening! And WOW do I have a big butt!

So I decided as much as I hated it, I had to ask my dear husband to take a couple of "before" pictures of me (front and back). OUCH! it hurts to see what people see when I walk away from them!

I've always had the hour glass figure but that bottom half is sure big! Anyway, I put these up on my profile page for just my friends to see. (It's too painful to have just anyone looking. Although that's kind of funny when I think about it because everyone who sees me in real life knows I have a big butt. )

I also found one picture of me weighing about 160-165 lbs if I remember correctly. Unfortunately, I was also 27 years old at the time! Back then, I would have preferred to be about 145. But today 165 is my goal and now when I look at that picture, I think I looked great and I sure wish I looked that good again. So, that picture is now my motivation picture even though I know I'll never look 27 again.