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!

Hi Kyashiiis  A stone is 14lb.  It seemed that I was solid on the inside and fat on the outside.  The thing I weighed on also said about visceral (spelt wrong probably) fat which is around the organs of the body and mine was in the middle and not high like my friend's.  A facinating machine!!

Sorry to hear that you have the flu.  Hope your better soon. I live in the UK and our weather has just started to turn bad.  We have the Swine Flu going on here but, touch wood none of my family have been affected yet. Just hope it stays that way!!!

I am just about to check out the Games and Challenges.  Do you watch the biggest loser?  I find it amasing that they push the contestants so hard.  It just shows large people are not so frail and we can do more than we think.

Take care and hope your better soon.

welcome margaret.  Nice to see you here.  I'm in the U.S and didn't know what stones were either.  Are you in the UK?

kathy:  sorry to hear you're sick.  This time of year everyone starts getting bugs.  Glad you are taking care of yourself and hope you are over this quickly.

yes I am in uk in Wales, the land of rain and green grass!

Its blowing a gale here today and seems to be all over the country.  Still going for a walk by the beach tho.  I love the waves (from a safe distance!!)

I get an attack of the munchies and am trying to keep good with pineapple and bananas.  It seems to help cravings at the moment.

Saying for the day: ' A stitch in time saves 9'

Hi Margaret and welcome!....apples are good too for the munckies and snacks, my choice lately is 20 calorie jello with some dream whip..yummy keeps me away from sweets.  Well girls............almost! did have a few halloween candies yesterday..but it's out of my system today!  Oh by the way there are a few of us on here who faithfully watch the biggest loser every tuesday evening...lol

I stay away from too many bananas high in sugar!  It's nice to talk to someone from my mothers native land...I agree about the beautiful green grass and rolling hills! I always believed I should have been born there like my brothers..oh well I am in Ontario Canada.

14 stones = 1lb

.453 kilograms =1lb

Kathy jusr google any question you have it's right at your fingers...lol

The sun came out for 30 minutes today! what a surprise..now that halloween is over the sun is shining....of course ?it's raining now again...grrr...now the DST clocks have my cats all screwed up the sun came up at 7am so they had to get chasing each other around the house....grrr whatever happened to 'Sunday sleep in'.?....gotta love em!What kills me is they play while I am in bed all early morning 5-7, but the minute I am up and they are now fed they go to sleep....hmmm what is wrong with this picture??..lol

On Wednesday I am going to that 'Abba tribute concert' I told you all about at Kyles (my sons) for the newbees old schoo.  Apparently good money is being made there at this theatre so they are going to have a 'Queen tribute' coming soon....in all honesty I don't feel like going but I paid for my ticket and I know once I get out I will enjoy myself...I just am becoming my mom..a homebody!

Not much to report...off to do some SBiking and relax for Sunday...movie day!

How did everyones shelling out of candies go??????????????? ANy neat costumes or scary people??

American or European method: How do we eat I was just reading an article on how people eat, I was raised to cut the food with fork in left and knife in right, then transfer the fork to right hand turn it over and then slide under the food to mouth....this is the U.S. way is it not?  I would have thought i would have learned the european way like my grandfather and grandmother ate..knife in right and fork in left always and food slid onto top of back of fork...looks like an art? I sometimes do both at the same time depending what i am eating like steak...but if I am eating a bowl of chopped foods or mashed potatoes etc i use the right hand...I just thought it was interesting!  How my grandfather would pile the peas on a turned down fork in the left hand always amazed me!!lol

 What way do you eat??????

BEB

Hi everyone - a very nice day here.  If only they could all be like this.

BEB, I eat a different way yet.  I keep my knife in my left hand and my fork in the right.  I cut with the knife in the left hand.  No one ever taught me that - I just thought it made more sense and started doing it that way when I was a kid. To answer your question about my family, I have a son who will be 16 in a couple of weeks.  I have 3 stepkids (two girls one boy) who are grown.  My stepson has a daughter and one of my stepdaughters has a boy and a girl.

Welcome, Margaret.  How nice that you can walk at the beach!  Congratulations on the weight you have already lost.

Alice

I was thinking a stone was 17 lbs, but I was too lazy to look it up.  I bet I'm fat everywhere - visceral and otherwise.  I would love to see Wales. I'm a quarter Welsh, but I don't know much about the country.

I've been taking it easy with this cold/flu bug I have.  Lazed the day away and read a trashy novel in bed for a while.  Yesterday, I was so tired from it that I zonked out.  I never do that, so my body was telling to rest...

I have a cup of hot chocolate at night sometimes to keep off the cravings.  Mine is 1/2 cup hot water, 1/2 cup hot milk, 1 T instant coffee, and 1 T unsweetened cocoa powder.  It keeps me from getting the munchies when I am aware enough to realize that is where I am headed.  Apples microwaved are my other alternative to out-of-control snacking.  A whole apple will fill me up pretty well...

On eating... I'm left handed so it's tricky to talk about.  Everything is in reverse for me.  I eat both European and American style according to the food and the people I am with.  I tend to eat European in nice western style restaurants.

Every week, I want to watch the biggest losers, but alas, it's not on TV here in Japan.

Didn't know so many of us had ancestors in Wales.  Same here.  A great- g'mother.  I did better than expected with eating this weekend.  What bad habits I have gotten.  FTF says 40 days to break a habit (or learn a new one), but I've heard 19 days.  Whatever, will try to keep it up.

Oh this is getting really interesting now!  I also have 1/4 welch in me on my grandfathers side....so between that, the Canadian, the English the Irish...all those drinks and baked potatoes and ivy it gets mighty interesting..lol

Well I was a bad girl this past weekend but I do have it out of my system, I am like someone else that use to come on here have their little binges then get right back on track...well I didn't go to crazy but it will take a week of proper eating to get rid of all the excess crap from my system I am sure....well at least I was smiling...but now I hear Jillian calling us all in the background so we had better behave for tomorrows show...lol

The sun is out probably for about 30 minutes like yesterday, I want to go for a little walk but am waiting for the sunshine....grrr stationary today again and dumbbell routines, you all will be happy to know that I am now using the heavier weight for 1 set on my left arm...yeah soon I will be able to do all the sets equally.....funny isn't it, it takes so long to heal from an injury as we age....why is that?  I wonder???

So I guess today I am making my chicken/alfredo batch but to cut down fat, cholesterol and calories etc I use the homemade mushroom soup instead...and then freeze some too as usual....I know there is some sodium I wil just eat no other salt those days...ther is always something isn't there??

Well off to cook.........how was everyone hallloween?????????????

Willa came over with Devon her grandson to thank me for the candies I gave to her for him....he's cute but I miss Kyle to much every time I see him...grr

Alice: That is a different way but totally makes sense, I eat both ways most times too, depending if there is nothing more to cut I only eat with the right!...lol  You are soooooooooo lucky your sweet 16 is still there with you, (happy birthday to the little guy)! give him an extra hug for me will you!  I loved Kyles sweet 16...I made him a homemade 3 layer chocolate cake (his request) took the whole day to do it but was fun....lol

Have to get a regime going been really lazy lately, must be the weather...grrr maybe Jillian can do something with me...lol tomorrow...one reason I like watching it is I always walk away feeling incentive and usually ride my SB while watching THE SHOW....yeah for that~!

BEB

I was just able to IM with my daughter who's 'vacationing' in Eastern Europe right now. She seems to have gotten the H1N1 and has been very sick since Friday. She's just now feeling a bit better. Poor kid! She was running low on funds but decided to go on this trip anyway because she's supposed to get paid any time now. With the illness she's barely seen the places she's visited. :(

Back from my business trip and did not gain weight so yay for me!

DD's 28th birthday today. I feel OLD. Last night we went to A Chorus Line. It was very well done. Such energy for all that dancing! I must dance more. It is a good way to lose weight.

Going out for cake this afternoon. No point in fretting about it. Birthdays only come once a year.

Have a good day all!

my fork is in left hand and knife in other but I do eat soup, pud, etc with left hand and most use right ( I am left handed).  when I was 15 and working as a waitress in a hotel, there was a christmas party and I had to lay the tables about 50 people.  Yes, I put the knives and forks the wrong way around and had to change it all back and the spoons for a left handed person.  not fun!!

Well I do believe it has rained most of the day.  I planned to start in a gym today but - there's always something - I will try again tomorrow and pay for 1 month.  I want to make a real difference this month and hopefully it will spur me on thru the winter.  I know I can do it, its just getting started.

The h1n1 is a mean flu.  There was one like it just before my dad was born 91 years ago. it really hit hard.  I just hope we manage to avoid it.

I suffered apple sickness when trying to lose weight many years ago.  I was told 'if you feel like eating something sweet have an apple'.  I ate so many apples!!!! I don't think I could eat another golden delicious if I tried but the idea to bake apples sounds good, more like a pudding.

I didn't know I had so many distant relatives!! Us welsh, we get everywhere!!!

I have relatives in Canada somewhere.

When I get an attack of the munchies NOTHING is safe!!  I had a slight attack last night. and its always when I am doing so well!! It was Danish Blue Cheese that had it last night.  Never mind I have been good today and thats what matters!!

Take care Margaret

No offense, BEB, but my son is going to be 15 in December.  He is not a "little guy," he will never be "sweet" 16.  He's a young man!  Not a boy or a child, a young man.  My daughter is nearly 18, and she has been a young woman for several years.  

I despise they way our society refuses to allow its offspring to grow up.  Sorry rant over!

Ate a buttload of candy over the weekend, and that of course let to more eating and craving of utter garbage.   Welcome to you Margaret, nice to have a Brit in our group.

"Apple sickness", that's a new one on me. Perhaps it's like the way I feel about raw mushrooms after trying to make whole meals of bowls of sliced raw mushrooms w lemon juice. Argh...still makes me shiver! (yes, I was a 19 yr old idiot!) Glad to meet you, btw, margaret101!

Laura, sounds like you're having a rough day. Maybe a candy hangover?

I have two sons one a string bean,6ft 4ins and 30yrs.  the other is 28 built 'solidly'  and 6ft 2ins.  Big as they are I love them to bits but they will always be 'My Boys'.

Chris I don't think I could ever get sick of mushrooms but not so keen on them raw.  I do like raw veg fresh out of the garden and usually raid my sister's garden patch when I visit her.

I am also a mushroom lover but I only care for a few when they are raw.  Roasted or sauteed - yum!  Or on a cheese pizza.

I was once told that my maiden name of Tooker is Welsh but it doesn't sound like it to me.  Don't you have to be an Evans, Owens or a Jones to be Welsh? .  My other connection is that the mother of Spot, my youngest Border Collie,  was imported from Wales, so he is half Welsh and half Scottish.

My knee is having a nice rest today.  It is getting happier but the rest of me is not very happy with no exercise.

Alice

Can you exersize around your knee?  like going to gym and doing exercises that don't involve your knee.  I know its not easy. when i broke my arm in the elbow it took so long to heal and even now if I use the exercise bike my arm doesn't like it. I keep fidgeting from resting my arms on the bars to holding the bar.  It knocked me back a long way.  I broke it by helping a post man. I took the mail off him and as I was on my way out, just popped the letter thru the letter box, turned and fell off a small step into what I can only call a very big press up!!! and to add insult to injury, I just tapped the tip of my nose on the ground. thank goodness for a large chest otherwise I would probably ended up with much more than a scratch on my nose.  It would have been funny if it hadn't hurt so much!!!

To qualify for being Welsh you have to say 'boyo' and 'isn't it' and something that might just be from my area but I tend to say something is 'tidy' if it is good or nice.  I am just joking about 'boyo'!!

Hm, my daughter tells me I have committed a faux pas because being Welsh, Margaret, it is incorrect to call you a Brit.  So sorry.  I am glad you've joined us though.  I'm familiar with stones -- lived in Australia for several years and lots of people still use the term there!  

Sorry for my earlier rant.  I am having a crapass day in general, nothing specific but nothing good either and I don't like that it's gotten dark so early :(

Laura: Really you must be having a bad day, you don't often 'rant'...lol

As to terms we call our kids..my Kyle will always be my 'little guy' or 'munckin' or my baby just like in OZ 'munchkin' as it is he is growing up to fast...allow a mother her pet name eh, I need something to hang onto, like his pictures and his large grad picture plastered all over his room!....Kyle doesn't live with me now so i need something to hang onto, I know the next time I see him I will be shocked just like the photos I just got back made me sad to look at them, I can see he is starting to fill out and I still have a few rolls to take in..you all are so lucky to have 'your boys or young men or girls still with you!!

Welcome Margaret...! Boy the fun the Welsh, Maggie my dads wife is from Scotland Aberdeen, mom was from Farncombe (40 miles south of London) in England, grandma was from Kilcooly in Ireland and grandads family Wales not sure where? Interestingly I feel English most of the time, I quess that's why England always seems to beacon me! and why I see so much of it here in the rolling green grass of summer!

Tomorrow is TBL and I am taping it so i don't miss it in case I drift off watching it again!lol Night all!

I may be too old for this group..?  I'm 61.  Although I've never been more than 20 lbs overweight,  I do share frustrations with the "aging" problems that I can't seem to overcome - like looser skin,  less tone.  I go to the gym 3 times a week and have been doing so for 5 years.  I did loose 20 lbs the first year but have not changed measurements or much weight for the past 2.  I have increased weight, reps, etc.  I eat recommended calories of 1400.  I can't seem to loose the last 8lbs I want.  I have not seen any significant change in tone. At this point I don't know what to do.    I'd be glad to have a group to share with.

Welcome Margaret! I had no idea how much a stone was! LOL Glad someone filled us in

Glamgram..you are NOT too old to join us LOL a lot of us are very close to your age. I have been trying to lose about 7 pounds since I started on here almost 2 years ago..to no avail. I eat right, exercise faithfully but just can't make the scale move..it is frustrating. I'm at a total loss as to what to do...I just recently joined a new exercise class ( all last year I lifted weights at a local gym and made up my own routines) - Pilates Monday, body sculpting Tues Thurs...am hoping that someone else pushing my routine will help me lose inches if I can't lose pounds. I also do jillian's 30 day shred and some of the DVD's from P90X at home. I'm pretty fit but about 8 pounds (10 in a dream world) away from my GW

First night of Pilates tonight..some of the ab work was a little challenging but I completed everything...afterwards instructor says to me...so you've done Pilates before..I say no then she says well you must have done Yoga ...nope ..she goes wow you did really well for the first class ok brightented my day since the scale was really mean to me this morning