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!

G'd morning all!  I'm happy to report that even though I went about 300 calories over my daily limit, it still came under burn meter and this morning I weighed the same as yesterday.  Later today I hope to exercise!  I was able to limit self to one small of everything except for a second chicken (uncured) frank cooked on a stick over the coals...gosh it was soooo good! Oh, and a couple extra bites of dark chocolate...the really good kind!  Just one slice of pizza and the second piece was scraping off the toppings.  I had eaten a "king" breakfast prior...so that helped immensely.  Thanks everyone for all your help and support! 

Robbie:  That pic of me was from almost two years ago...we were advocating for same sex union recognition in the state of Idaho...a hard state to crack!

Bonton:  oooooh, so sorry about losing your fav glasses!  And I don't touch the pastries at the coffee hour at church...a rule I've made for myself for years.

What's everyone's favorite diet/live-it trick?  Mine is eat absolutely nothing after supper.  And lots of water of course.  Interesting to read of Snow's technique...I'll try that sometime.  Though it would be hard to run after a margarita, I'd think.

Enjoying a cool morning.....

Kayle

lol  yep!  that could be dangerous running after a margarita  :D

i just wanted to post real quick that i did it!  134 today!!!  i am officially in the maintain mode now.  :D

step one for maintain mode:  go to the buffet!  work it off tomorrow...  hey!  this doesn't happen every day...  LOL  besides, it was hubby's idea  :D

Snow - congrats on your achievement .... have something decadent at the buffet for me please. 

Kayle - glad you did pretty well with all the temptations !

I've been pretty good this weekend but no exercise .  However, I'll be back into it on Monday - back on the treadmill at 5:45 am before work and to the gym after work.   Might even  see if I can be bothered throwing in an extra  half hour on the treadmill when I get home.

I spent a good part of yesterday cooking up a beef and vegetable soup that I've divided into 5 containers for diners for me this week - though I'll be nice and cook real food for Rog.  I made a really nice Jambalaya yesterday that was low cal and there are some left overs that he can have for Monday.  Today, I made up five containers of salad for my work lunches - I make them in advance and each morning I chop up a tomato into them and add 1 Tbsp of Lite Zesty Italian Dressing and 1 Tbsp of red wine vinegar.  My salads consist of chopped carrot, celery, cucumber, radishes and green onions - about half a cup of each.  Fills me up, takes a long time to digest and is super low cal. 

Now I need to go prepare dinner.  We're just having grilled chicken breasts with broccolli, cauliflower and mash but I like to use a rub on the chicken to give it a bit more interest, and add a little garlic to the mash.

Talk to you ladies tomorrow.  Keep up the good work all,

Joanna

I'd like that recipe for low calorie jambalaya.

Congrats, Snow!  A real inspiration to the rest of us...........

Kayle

snow - You go girl!!! You should be really proud of yourself  134!!! Congratulations - job well done!!

We took our grandkids to the fair to see the animals tonight - the youngest loved it! He was so excited by all the animals LOL he was jumping and running he was so excited. Tomorrow is the parade - he loved it last year as did the other 2 grandkids! I mowed the grass today while he took his nap LOL burn calories burn. Everyone is in bed here - my daughter, grandson and hubby - me I'm cooking hot sausage and meatballs for tomorrow's dinner - will put it in the crockpot so we have something quick and easy before the parade. I'm playing in the inter-club golf league tomorrow so I have to have everything ready ahead of time. Guess I should have told them I couldn't play but ... oh well it will work out. Still stuck at 121.8 hoping it will move soon.

Great work snow!! Terrific achievement. Welcome to the world of maintaining. It seems like you just need to keep up the healthy habits you developed while losing but it is a transition.  The Maintenance Club just started on the maintenance forum. Come and visit. Hope everyone here will join soon!

Good Morning and Happy Monday all,

Hey Snow, Congratulations! I'm proud of you.

Kayle - You're doing great. I don't have any one particular diet trick. I make sure I log everything to stay accountable. I do think drinking a ton of water is most  helpful and staying away from other beverages for the most part. I also try to make sure I focus on getting my veges in each day. If I do that, I rarely have room for too much else. I exercise 6 days a week and get up early to do my first exercise which I believe doing it in the morning is key. 

Joanna - It sounds like you are doing great on your menu planning. Keep up the good work. Good luck with the exercise. I'm sure you will do much better this week.

Bonton - I hope you have a great time at the parade today. It sure sounds like your grandchildren are cute. We have our 12 year old grandson with us for a few days. He's been so sweet. We're taking him and his younger boy cousins to the movies this afternoon. We have 12 grandchildren, 6 of whom are boys. I'm not sure if my son's 2 boys will be able to join us yet but the other 4 at least will be going with us. Should be fun. We're going to see Space Chimps.

I ran for one minute this morning. (Baby steps) I'm going to try and get my energy up to where I can run each day. But it's going to be slow because I've never been a runner. I just get so winded very quickly and my heart races. So, I'm just adding a little spurt into my walking routine. As I feel like it I will add a little more every so often. One minute sounds so puny but I gotta start somewhere.

Have a nice day everyone,

Beth

The 50s party was well-done! I don't remember much about the 50s since I was born in 1956, but they had an Elvis impersonator there who was very good.

The birthday girl wears Estee Lauder but she appreciated the gift and said she would try it.

Great job on losing snowfence!

phox - I want to join the maintenance club but don't think I deserve it yet. I didn't do so well maintaining :(

Morning all. Busy weekend! I've enjoyed reading everyone's updates immensely. Lots of congrats to spread around. First to Snow - awesome! I just knew the buffet would figure in your future! I hope your hubby buys you a nice bouquet of sweet smelling blooms too. Robbie - excellent medical report. See, you're still a spring chicken. Glad you liked the movie. Probably still humming along with ABBA in your head. Those songs are better than having "My boomerang won't come back" in your head like I did all day Saturday. Awful! Bon and Beth - you get Gramma of the year awards for being wonderful loving women to children who obviously adore you. Beth, an extra hug for your dedication to the early mornings. You have had an effect on me and I am now in the early morning club too. More on that in a bit.  Bon - you are the Mow Queen and you crack me up! Refusing to get weighed? LOL! Hope you have a blast at Doughtry. If you get anywhere near his face, take a razor to those weird sideburn things ok? Joanna, Kayle, Moon, Carol, everyone, all super busy and showing great fortitude. Your perseverance will pay off in spades very soon. Fantastic hiking pictures. Reminds me of where I live but never go. Crazy but true. I am lucky to avoid the office junk food fest because my office is at home, and as long as I don't buy it I can't eat it. I have however been a contributor to the hardening of many people's arteries by bringing treats to clients, until I discovered that they were just as excited when I brought gourmet coffees and teas which they seemingly all had to pay for at work though a fund. Next time I go to the U.S. I'm picking up a few cases of Kraft South Beach Tide Me Over drink mixes, and will take them in along with some flats of bottled water. They are delish and not available in Canada!

I have a new houseguest. His name is Solo. A friend of a friend had a 7 year old Border Collie cross that they were looking to place because they have young kids now and it's all too much. They asked me if I would take him and at least try him out. He is awesome. Reminds me so much of my daughter's old purebred Border Collie. Same sucky stick by your side personality, same nose nudges when he wants to put his snout on your leg, smart beyond belief, well trained, does all the tricks, thoroughly obedient. Only a couple of issues so far - too much shedding - maybe it's the time of year? - a bit of a doggie smell - will try a change of diet for that - and, it's kind of funny but he sneaks up to the loft den at night, very very quietly, after I have left him in the kitchen and said goodnight, and put the baby gates up. I didn't want him up there because that's where the cat food is, however, for some reason he doesn't eat it. Harry would have had a banquet! Cat food is mega tasty!. Don't know how I am going to conquer the "sleepwalking". Suggestions appreciated. Solo has longer legs and a faster pace than Harry so we have taken to going on early morning jaunts down to the coffee shop  by the lake and sit on the patio in the sun while I have an Americano and fruit salad and read the paper for 15 minutes. Then we walk back home. It takes about an hour and a half round trip. Haven't measured the distance. I imagine it's a couple of miles. Really enjoying it. I think he might be a keeper. :)

"You can make more friends in 2 months by becoming interested in other people than you can in 2 years by trying to get other people interested in you." - Dale Carnegie

 

figurethefat said  I want to join the maintenance club but don't think I deserve it yet. I didn't do so well maintaining :(

That's why I need a maintenance club. I got to my goal and then gained back. Isn't that typical? What is so great about CC is that they promote long-term change, not diet, reach goal, finish. I'm back to logging my meals because I kind of lost track of food finding it way into my mouth LOL.

Edit - formatted it to read more easily.

Robbie - Here you go. 

Low Cal Jambalaya (serves 4 - about 300 cals per serve)

1 cup onion - chopped

1 cup green bell pepper - chopped (optional)

1 cup celery - chopped 2 tsp garlic (minced)

14 oz can of diced tomatoes

310 g sausage (Aidells Cajun Style Andouille Sausages - pkt of 4 use all of them chopped diagonally) 

1 tbsp parsley

2 tbsp cajun seasoning

1/4 tsp cajun hot sauce (or tabasco)

12 oz shrimp

Directions

1. Lightly brown the chopped sausage, onions and garlic in a frying pan
   
   
2. Transfer to large lidded casserole dish and add all the rest of the ingredients EXCEPT the shrimp
   
   
3. Add 1/2 tsp salt, and 1/4 tsp pepper and about a cup of water.
   
   
4. Cover and cook in a medium oven for 1 hour.
   
   
5. Stir in shrimp, recover and return to oven for 15 mins or until you deem shrimp are cooked through
   
   
6. If you are using precooked shrimp, just return to oven until they are heated through

I cooked a little brown rice separately and we had that with it.  Was good!

Joanna: that sounds great. Thank you. I used to live in New Orleans and have a great tasting jambalaya recipe, but--alas--all my recipes from that era start with about a cup of oil. So, thank you!   Phox: You added a photo to your profile. Very nice, and congrats on being BACK to maintenance.   Bex: Solo sounds lovely. I am still struggling with my psycho Shi Tzu, so I confess to a bit of envy. Where do you live, anyway? Your profile is a bit elusive on personal details. Fortunately, I don't know the tune or the words to the boomerang song, but Dancing Queen is actually starting to annoy me!  Beth: I agree that morning workout is key, and for me, not eating late at night. After this weekend, I have to add NEVER even consider french fries--ever. Bonnie: Can't believe you're still stuck; you are a human dynamo, always in motion. I would speculate that it's because you're so small and so close to goal, you're having to work extra hard. Snow: When you go to maintenance, don't abandon us. You're our inspiration! All others: Happy Monday.

The scale this a.m. flew up to 126, up 1.5 pounds since Friday. I ate fine Sunday (at home) but those meals out on Fri and Sat just killed me. Man-o-man, I think this means my french fry days are over. Snow claims if you eat them slowly, they don't taste good, and I should splurge on something I can savor, like dark chocolate. Problem is, I don't like chocolate and I love fries. Rats. And, rats again for the weight gain. I'm back on the wagon as of this a.m. Glad to have all of you pulling for me.

without reading previous posts...  come on!  LOL  this is soooooo true!  i learned it here!  :D  try it you guys!  fries suck...  suck on them slowly...  they only taste good because we woof them down!!!

suck on a piece of dark chocolate & it just tastes better & better.  suck on a french fry & try to savor the flavor.  there ain't none!!!  it tastes worse & worse...  LOL

seriously, try it!!!

Chris, your posts about your imminent grandchild made me think of one of my grandmothers.  She was the coolest grandmother.  She took us on hikes, climbing rocks, even into her 70s she was hopping across streams on rocks.  That is the kind of grandmother I want to be.  To be in that shape is one of my goals.  I know you are already there and it is great.  I hope you get to show your grandkids how much fun exploring nature can be.  Here is to cool, athletic grandmothers.

Snow: great new pic. You look about 35 years old!

OK I'm an idiot. I see now you were 16 when that was taken. It's sorta grainy, and my eyes clearly suck.

Kayle - the 3 pills I take total up to 1500 mg glucosamine sulfate, 1200 mg chondroitin sulfate and 500 mg MSM.  I read someplace that it is best to space them out and take them with food.

Ohio - the plastic fence is to keep out the marmots!  Marmots live at higher altitude and look sort of like big woodchucks.  When they come out of hibernation in early summer, they crave salt and minerals and enjoy munching on car wires and other car parts, which can leave you stranded.  

Beth -  I love your attitude about baby steps with the running.  You'll get there.  Congrats on the loss, too!  We are wearing gaiters around our ankles.  They keep out the small rocks, sticks, dirt, etc, that tend to jump into your shoes on and off-trail.  It was in the 60s and 70s up where we were at 11,000 feet.  Back at sea level at my house it was 100 degrees.  We hiked for about 11 hours with a couple of breaks.  We were all pretty tired heading back to the car.

Bonton - bad luck on missing the hole-in-one by an inch.  I hope you get one soon!  My 14 y.o. son is shooting in the 90's now (and beating his dad sometimes).  He got his first birdie on a par 3 Sunday.

Snow - congrats on continuing to lose.  You remind me that it is POSSIBLE!

Joanna - I know what you mean about too humid to hike.  But Georgia is where the Appalachian trail starts, so you need to check it out this fall!

Rebbex - if you have good hiking areas near you, then maybe you need to take your new canine friend hiking!

I made it to Mount Whitney yesterday!!!  13.5 hours, and my thighs are only a little sore.  It was a perfect day except for the amazing hailstorm we hiked through on the way down.  It fell so fast that in about 15 seconds the ground was totally covered with white.  Photos of the hike soon.

Alice

moonduster--awesome photo, amazing hike! I've been thinking of joining a hiking club (my husband is more into the couch) but have put it off. You are an inspiration.

Anyone (everyone?) else take glucosamine? I tried a few years ago and it didn't do anything for me. I think I'll start a new brand and try for a few months. Any opinions?

clharr, i know!  lol  i was 218 for my 1st two grandkids & it was hard.  i didn't want to do much with them because i couldn't.  it was hard enough just chasing them around.  now i can!  :D  oh geez...  and going up & down the stairs!

everything will be so much better from now on!  i'm so excited!  i could never go hiking like moon though.  lol  i'm sure that would be too much for me.

robbie, yeah.  lol  that's not a very good pic because it's so old.  i had to put it up though, because i swear i'm smaller now.  my legs look huge.