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!

robbie - LOL at our identical lunches. I bring 12 almonds and 3/4 c high protein Special K or Fiber One cereal in a baggie for my 2pm snack! LOL And I do ignore the grade because I know CC is healthy for you. Last bone density went down a tad so I take extra calcium and try to be sure to eat/drink enough foods with calcium Have a great trip!

My hair is short - I tried to let it grow out a little - for a new do -  but as soon as it starts to get long it gets on my nerves and I end up getting it cut. When I got it cut this short - many years ago - it was almost down to my waist. I went to the beautician and said "cut it however you want to " It's been short ever since! LOL

Snow: Great cut; very youthful and stylish. I'm envious.

Bonton: I have to go pack, but first I wanted to say your short short hair is great on you; your stylist clearly knows how to go short and keep it sexy.

Be safe in your travels Robbie.

LOL Bonton.....golf 101.  Nice color. Sounds like a prerequisite class mandatory for me before EVER stepping onto a golf course again. 1% cottage cheese, 12 almonds and an apple sounds yummy. I will try it. We will serve it at the kids rehearsal dinner...hehehe

Snow your hair looks awesome. I was thinking about you today. If you lost 75 pounds and it takes 3500 calories per pound, you burned 262,500 calories in your journey since last year. Isn't that amazing? It humbles me to think about. Over a quarter of a million calories. I think about all of the lives you have touched and the hope you have given to others. I think people reach a certain weight and they feel like it is hopeless....and then along comes you !!!!!!!

Everyone stand up straight. Moon is right about that. And laugh laugh laugh...it feeds the soul a nourishment like no other.

good grief...  you guys don't eat much!  lol  i hope i can do that someday.  i dunno.  i lost almost 40% of my body weight, but i still can eat.  my stomach didn't shrink at all.

thanks!  :D  i haven't had hair this short ever!  it was a really huge step for me & i was so scared.  i'm really glad i did it though.  that's not a very good pic, but i tried.  my hair turns more blonde in the sun too.  it's pretty cool.  it looks like i paid for the streaks.

cool!  thanks frost!  LOL  i'd love to lose more, too, and i will...  when i'm sure nobody around here will be bothered about it.  i guess if i knew someone who just lost all that weight i'd worry about them too, so i DO understand why my family worries about me.  they really don't need to, and i'm ok showing them that.  that IS alot of calories burned!  WOW!!!  i never thought of it that way!

i really enjoy helping people too.  i was telling the lady who cut my hair about how i lost alot of weight & so i need a new look.  then i was explaining to her how to lose it herself.  LOL  that's right!  there IS hope!  we can ALL do this!!!

you know, when i stand up straight, i look thinner.  :D  that is a good idea!  everyone should always do that.

enjoy your trip robbie!

frost - LOL we could try serving that! We really might need to get them together! Her escapades with eHarmony continues. Date #1 - BORING (she said) Date # 3 a bust - he didn't do anyhting right according to her and made her pay for her own lunch ...xxx'ed, and Date # 2 said she'd go out with him again which she did last night now he's history LOL He invited her to a mionor league baseball game and dinner with his friends. Well turns out the friends were a married couple with a 2 year old and a 6mo old LOL she likes kids but she was like ...on the second date he brings along babies??? ! LOL and he didn't talk so he's now xxx'ed out too LOL! eHarmony has been good for quite a few laughs! sorry boys

snow  Love the haircut!! A new do to go with the new you!!! And when frost figured how many calories you burned WOW!

snow - I don't really eat that small on purpose it just seems I get full really fast and whenI'm full I just can't eat anymore. I have reflux so that doesn't help either. Wish I could eat a bigger meal cause every couple of hours I have to plan a snack. I even take them with me golfing! And 40% of your body weight is just amazing!! You might have won the Biggest Loser! You lost as much as they did and you did it by yourself!! BIG CONGRATS!

Where's the picture of the new haircut?

Haven't been on here for a couple days and blown away how busy this place is getting.  I can't even begin to address each of you, except to say I feel such support and motivation.

About childhood experiences with food?  Ha!  I was a very picky eater, and being the youngest of three children, and who else knows why, my mom always made me something different if I didn't like what the rest of the family was having.  I've never been heavily into red meat and was often made special meals with cottage cheese or french toast or even cereal.  I was a very thin child.  I've never been really big.  I just know I would like to drop a few pounds to have a buffer zone when the pounds go up and down like they always do. 

Bonnie, I too can't eat a lot at one time.  Over the years i've messed up my digestive system when I was anorexic and bulimic.  So I also have to eat a litte a few times a day.  In some ways, in most, it's good.  Except when and if I ever get to a restaurant serving buffet style-it just is never worth it.  If it do indulge I end up doubled over in pain before the meal is finished and if not I feel like I'm not getting the most out of the idea of going to a buffet.  Which I rarely do anymore. I mean, if it is my choice, it is not a place  I would choose to go.

Ladies, I'm so glad you all are coming to visit and staying. 

Here's to another 24 hours of treating ourselves with love and respect!

Evening Ladies - I have adopted the team mantra!  Strong and Lean!  Strong and Lean!  or at least somewhere in between!.

Robbie: have a fabulous weekend in the Big Apple - we will be here when you get back.

Bonton: I love cottage cheese but I eat yogurt instead.  I can't figure out my reaction to cottage cheese.  I know it has lots of protein and I love the flavor, especially with some fruit but, like chinese food, I am even hungrier an hour later!  I find myself making up for the hunger with too much.

Snow:  I think it is funny how important the CC grade is to me.  I love getting an A although mostly I get B's.  I've even gotten a few C-.  It absolutely motivates me to do better the next day.

I took my 15 yr old daughter to buy a bathing suit today.  She has a very strong body with a generous booty, so a lot of suits were not made for her shape.  It is hard to know what to say.  I always tell her she is beautiful and I have not pushed her to be skinny skinny - as many of her friends are - she plays soccer and eats healthy. Her father and his family always fought with their weight.  I would say she is less than 15 lbs over her ideal weight. She ended up OK since we found a bathing short with a top that she was happy with, but she was holding back tears on a few occasions.  Today she feels pressured since she is going with a group of her friends to the local water park on Friday.  Any suggestions out there to help me with ways to help her?

Of course, finding a bathing suit we like is a challenge for all of us I think!

Hello there!

I just came back from my walk, took a shower - it's really sunny and stuffy these days - got into fresh dry clothing  and sat at the computer for my morning read... It's like sitting with a bunch of friends for a nice chat, thank you all for the company!!!

Snow, I think your new haircut makes you look very youthful. Congratulations! If you still have reservations, you can discard them right now, because you took the right decision.

I cut my hair many year ago, when I started to live in tropical countries because I have a lot of hair, very wavy, and it was like wearing a coat! It was Venetian blonde (red with gold highlights - I am mousy grey now). I could sit on my hair and it was a big decision to cut it short - a cousin of mine, the tactful kind, exclaimed when I told her of my decision "Oh No! It's your only beauty!!!"...  I did it nonetheless and never regretted it, because it took so much energy to wash, dry and keep tidy that mass of hair...

Robbie, I started learning English in school, when I was 11. It's a compulsory language in France and is typically taught for the last 7 years of school. I started reading novels in English from my third year, because I had a neighbor who had been a reporter with the International Herald Tribune who had a fabulous library, full of mysteries, creepy stories and classics I literally devoured. She was thrilled to be able to chat in English with me, because it reminded her of her young age - she was in her 80's, and had been a VERY independent and fiery lady in her youth. She never married and lived with her sister. I also got my Master's in Political Science from a bilingual institute. I am 53 now, which means I have been practicing my English for the past 42 years. I would have to be a bit dumb if I still couldn't use it to say what I want! LOL

I always loved languages, and always spoke several, from practically my birth, as I was born in Italy, but grew up in France. I think that if your mind is used to the gymnastics of shifting from one language to another, you learn new languages more easily. I am fluent in French, English, Italian and Piemontese (a dialect of Northern Italy, very similar to Latin), I understand (and read) German, Swiss German, and Spanish, and I also learned the languages of most of the countries where I lived (I forgot a lot now, but I was almost fluent while I was there). That's Indonesian (Malay), Japanese, Chinese (Mandarin) and Thai. I didn't bother with Vietnamese because I am too old and deaf for a tonal language, and it's by far the most difficult of all...

Have a great day all, and thank you for the support and companionship.

Helene, in Saigon

delilahbluebike - Funny that CC has that reaction with you. That's the thing I get with yogurt LOL I'm hungry an hour after I eat it - it just doesn't seem to last which is why I switched to CC. The full fat kind keeps hunger at bay a lot longer but I opt for the lower fat LOL Bathing suits are such challenges to buy, so many of them are not made for the average person!

And like the rest of you sometimes I'll put a food into my log and see that it will give me a "bad grade" and I don't eat it, I chose something else instead LOL so I can get an A but I usually get an A-. On a few occasions I got an A it was weird because I only had 1000 calories which isn't enough - it must not take that into consideration.

Helene - I think it's amazing that you can speak so many languages! I took 4 years of Spanish in HS and could actually speak and read it but have forgotten it all! What's that saying "use it or lose it" . I could have used your expertise in languages yesterday at school  - one of my students injured his arm, parents are Chinese and I have great difficulty understanding them and making them understand what I am saying - the child needed an xray of his arm I was pretty sure it was fractured. The ESL teacher was working with the older brother at the HS - I ended up calling her and she had the brother call his father on the cell phone - he was telling him what I was saying. But it worked! so that's what counts.

Everyone have a great day!! Let's see - I will stand up straight, laugh, be strong and lean, , treat myself with love and respect!

thanks guys!  :D  i know!!!  that was alot of weight, but i could NEVER have done it on the biggest loser.  they work WAY too hard for me!  i love watching that show, because i know personally that you really don't have to do all that crap to lose.  actually, they could've kicked me out the 1st week for not working & then i could just go weigh in on the last show & win for losing at home.  LOL

one, it's my default pic.  it's not a good pic though.  i sent it to my 2 daughters & they didn't even notice!  i guess i like it.  it'll be alot easier t manage & to put my cycle helmet on & off without that ponytail.

i love that dating stuff.  that's funny!  it's probably not funny to her though.

strong & lean?  hmmm...  i think i'm going to the gym today.  i only went once last week & i sure could use some muscle.

i'll check in later.  enjoy your day everyone!!!  and try to make the right choices!!!  (get it?  try...  lol)

Good Morning!

Strong and lean are more than an outward appearance. It says self love and the desire to give yourself a wonderful gift that cannot be bought or given to you by anyone else.

I think I'm turning into Forrest Gump over here. I got up this morning. It is an overcast day almost borders on chilly. I ran for 104 minutes. My longest run yet! My knees are holding up fine. I really love to jog. It isn't like I do it to "get my exercise out of the way". Its my time alone to let my mind wander. I am beginning to think I will fulfill that goal of a half marathon. I haven't hopped on the scales today but I feel stronger and leaner. Life is such a gift. Breathe in this gift of life and smile. I'm learning to transform myself from the inside.

Aren't I the philosophical one today !

frost, that's beautiful. Just what I hope for myself. I guess I probably won't run, but "strong & lean" "inside out" breath the air.

that's awesome, frost!  :D

only we can do this for ourselves!  i love it!  and you can't blame anyone else either.  lol

you ran for 104 minutes?!  holy cow!!!  i love how jogging is your "alone time".  sometimes that's why i walk, but sometimes i DO have to force myself to get started.  once i get started, i love it though.

i did go to the gym & i played on at least 12 machines, rode the bike for a 5 minute "fitness test", walked for 30 minutes, & rode the bike regularly for 5 minutes again.

you got me wanting to walk more already though!  LOL  i think i'll go do another 30 minutes...

I second the awesome, Frost!  I haven't done more than 30 minutes on the elliptical, cause that's all the time I have at lunch.  Hiking's another story - I can go for 6 or 8 hours, but it is walking, not running.

Strong and Lean, that is also my goal.  I feel stronger, and I am leaner, but not yet lean.

Hiking photos from last Saturday are here: 

 http://tomcat-rc.smugmug.com/gallery/5074740_ 2VULd#305677236_DCfCi

It was a hairy-scary kind of hike.  No trail to speak of, just a lot of crossing loose rocks and debris, then climbing boulders and cracks and stuff.  Not a good hike if you were afraid of heights!  I thought it was tons of fun and I still had adrenaline in my system the next day.  I was proud that I was the oldest one in the group and could keep up with everyone just fine.

Eat like a thin person, think like a jock!!

Alice

that's pretty awesome too, moon!!!  OMG!  i'd be too scared to do that.  i'm kind of afraid of heights & 6 - 8 hours of walking?  WOW!

i ended up walking for 80 minutes today.  that's total, not all at once.

running for almost two  hours?  amazing!  And do you run or jog?  The other day I did my jog/walk for an hour and was totally happy with it.  I didn't plan it that way.  I took a wrong turn, which is weird since I know this area like the back of my hand, and well, ended up further away than I expected.

I really find if I don't eat properly the day or night before my workouts, it totally affects my ability to push myself.  I'm going through some personal grief lately, and when that happens my appetite goes kaput. 

I would have loved to have learned more than one language.  Growing up my family lived with my mother's parents.  They spoke Yiddish, but when speaking to the grandchildren broke their tongues to speak English.  When I look back I wish they would have spoke Yiddish so at least I would be bilingual.  I did learn some Hebrew when I was in Israel some decades ago, and then ended up marrying a fellow who was born in Israel.  My brother did too.  So, it's been a language that's been around me for years.  I still understand the odd word, sentence or phrase.  Never did get around to speaking it.  While in Israel-back in 1977 I remember trying a few times, getting flustered, embarrassed and never pursued it.  So, when I hear new immigrants fumbling over their English I am so impressed knowing their pushing through their fears regardless.

Hope all the ladies have had a great or at least a good day, and I do love having this place to come to everyday. 

moon  - HOLY COW!!! I just looked at all your pics - some of those places look dangerous and a little scary! You are lean and strong if you can complete that hike! Do you lift weights too? cause you can see the muscle definition in your arms or is it from hiking? That kind of hiking has to burn a ton of calories! LOL Beautiful pics of the wild flowers too! When we went to Hawaii I photographed all the flowers we saw!

Had a retirement party yesterday - you all would be proud of me LOL cause at the dessert table I took 1 mini cheesecake and quickly walked away before I could take more! LOL I ate the fruit and veggies and passed on the other more fattening choices. Got an A on my nutrition grade yesterday! Mowed the grass last night - had to burn a few calories as it was 88 and humid!! And I had 14,776 steps on my pedometer.

Have any of you  ever tried Greek Yogurt? I kept seeing that ppl were eating it on this site so I bought some to try it. I have found that you can use it in place of some of the mayo in certain dishes - cuts calories and fat! Yesterday I had some Greek yogurt with strawberries, banana, a few chopped walnuts a couple of sprinkles of coconut add a packet of Equal and drizzle of honey YUMMY!!!! Tasted like a sundae! and my husband who hates yogurt tasted it and said not bad! LOL

Everyone - have a great day!!! I know I will - it is my last day of work!!!!

i think it's really cool when people can speak more than one language.  i know a few words from other languages, but that's it.  i could never hold a conversation or anything.

we have a retirement ceremony to go to today, but they cancelled the picnic.  too hot, i guess.  i dunno.  that's too bad, too, because it takes an hour to get there!

i don't eat yogurt, cottage cheese, creme cheese...  none of that stuff.