Posts by phox50

My weight is about 2 lbs. less than in January, 09, so I’d say there has been no change there. But I started taking monthly measurements in January and today I was 2 inches less in the waist and 2 inches less in the hips. Wow. My clothes fit better, though I wear the same size and people have been telling me I lost weight. Of course, I told them I didn’t.  The weight lifting program I started in September is working, slowly, but working.

My joy and celebration was a bit dampened by my sister scolding me that I am obsessed with exercise and proper diet. It was probably the new skinny pants I was wearing. She discovered that I worked out at the gym in the morning and was going to an evening dance class at night.  The dance isn’t a heavy workout and it is lots of fun but it certainly would have been too much for her. Oh well. I think that not logging but just watching my intake has helped me focus on the lifestyle in a healthier way.

Robbie—Hope the pain lets up and you are feeling better soon. Two days ago my nephew (30) broke his tibia at the ankle. I knew all about it after reading your posts. He is in a hard cast and will need an operation in a week to 10 days. Instructions are to stay in bed till the operation and he doesn’t know what the instructions will be after the operation.  So good you didn’t break the tibia!

Helene—When we returned home we found that our tenants had pulled out all the wiring for television. Instead they had wires running along the walls and floorboard. They were probably stealing cable access. They also absconded in the night leaving unpaid bills and a month’s rent. We have never fixed the television access since we don’t watch. The fun of the peripatetic life! Good luck with the last 100 boxes. We still have some unpacked boxes from several moves ago.

Carol—Sorry to hear about the trouble you’ve been having with your parents. It is such a difficult stage. My mother-in-law went to assisted living grudgingly because it wasn’t safe for her to be alone and we couldn’t be there constantly for her. Fortunately, in the end, she was very happy there. It would have been frustrating to spend all that money and hear her complain about the place. Good luck.

I’ve been off the site for a few weeks and we’re already past 4,000 posts. That’s lots of catching up. I enjoy reading everyone's adventures and wisdom. Why have I been AWOL? My very thin son came home for the holidays and as he refused food he sounded just like me. Perhaps I have been getting over involved in worrying about the last 5 lbs. We celebrated Passover and I decided to stop logging and checking the computer and weight loss sites several times a day. As expected, I gained a few pounds but two weeks later I am back to my pre-holiday weight, back to the magic 5 last pounds to lose. I need stop thinking about my muffin top, about not being skinny. I am leaving on a month-long trip to DC, to visit friends and the office I telework for, and Cincinnati, where my son, DIL and grandkids live. Food, and exercise will be different and I will have no scale! I usually lose weight when I travel, if I don’t go crazy eating, but I will miss my gym, my yoga and dancing (not to mention DS and DH). So, I won’t be on the site regularly the coming month as well.

A funny thing happened. I was getting a vaccination and asked the nurse if I had to refrain from any activities. “No restrictions,” she said, “unless you lift weights, then don’t do it today.” “But I’m on my way to the gym,” I told her. “I was going to work out with weights.” I asked her if she was joking when she mentioned weights and she said that actually she was joking. I guess she didn’t figure the granny knitting in the waiting room also lifted weights. It is nice to shake up stereotypes. And good she gave me the information because by evening (with no gym visit) my arms were aching.

I did my new weight program today for the third time and am exhausted. Maybe in a month it will be easy (seems impossible now) and then it will be time to change it up. Going in to the holiday, I’ve stopped logging. My son is home and has gotten very thin and I need to concentrate on feeding him. Hopefully, I won’t forget to feed me right.

Helene—Love your description of shopping for a car. Here everyone has silver Mazdas. I can only find my car by looking at the number plate.  I once saw a similar car with the same first 3 numbers. That threw me. Your dinner sounded lovely, with family, old friends, beautiful surrounding and delicious food. Loosing weight will really be a challenge with so many temptations.

Bon—Your clown sister must have really cheered up everyone on the hospital floor. What a wonderful thing to do.

Helene—Congratulations on Dummy’s safe return to you. Both of you had an anxious journey, with all the changes and confusion. Hopefully you can both relax now and settle into you new home. I loved the description of the bulbs you planted 17 years ago in your garden. With all your traveling you still have deep roots. How delightful to be able to meet your children for lunch without involving airplanes. I’d love to hear some more of your home organization tips. This morning I woke up very early and reorganized the top shelves of one closet so I’ve got my 2 X 15 minutes behind me.

Carol—The P90X program will work if you do it. Losing 10 lb. in a year is no small accomplishment at this point. Think about the 10 lb. you didn’t gain as well.

BEB—you must have been so frightened. Glad Kyle is okay and best wishes for the poor boy who was hurt.

I’m getting ready for Passover, a week-long Jewish holiday to mark the Exodus from Egypt. We can’t eat any wheat products that have risen (yeast, baking powder) and there are other complex restrictions on things like corn and beans. We also can’t use anything that has touched wheat products, so I’m cleaning the oven, refrigerator, and cabinets and bring up special dishes, glasses, and kitchen supplies from the storeroom. Maybe this is the time to go on a high protein diet since the carbs aren’t very good during Passover. But I’ve ordered a fabulous chocolate mousse cake for the holiday so we won’t starve. Chocolate is allowed.

Have a good day everyone. Stay healthy, stay strong.

Helene—It is wonderful how you are getting back into cooking after years of having a cook. I hope you didn’t actually make the bagels (yeast, boiling, baking). I made them once from scratch just to see if I could do it. Your weekend in Zurich sounds lovely. The story of the difficult wife was touching. You never know how much a few kind words can mean to someone. And congratulations on the big drop!

BEB—Thanks for the map. Now we are all accounted for.

Chris—I\m glad you are not getting aggravated about SS's missed trip. Maybe he has learned something from the experience. It sometimes takes forever to get a US passport in the mail. I’m also not big on cooking, usually only on weekends. I drool over some CCers dinner plans.

Robbie—Best wishes to Tom for a speedy recovery. Hope he is well and home from the hospital soon.

Bon—Hope you are reading this in a good mood and your sister is doing better. Her condition sounds so worrying and stressful. It puts our small problems in perspective.

BEB—I was reluctant to mention where I live because it is off topic and tends to hijack the conversation. I am not as talented as Helene in painting word pictures of my home. And, as written in the Fakester Manifesto: "Identity is provisional. Who we are is whom we choose to be at any given moment, depending on personality, whim, temperament, or subjective need. No other person or organization can abridge that right, as shape-shifting is inherent to human consciousness, . . .”  I am trying to change my shape, what does my home have to do with it?

That said, I feel we really have become friends on this thread (stress on real), so I live way east of New York, in the East, in the Middle East, where belly dancing is taught in almost every community center and gym, in Israel. You will have to get a new map, BEB, to fit my home.

BEB--what makes you think I live in New York? Never said that, but it must have been something I mentioned. I wonder what.

Bear--great you can do the position on your elbows right from the start. It took me lots of practice to get to the elbow stage! Today a new woman my age came to class for the first time. She just watched many moves but easily did some balance exercises I still can't do. Every body is different.

Have a great weekend everyone.

Chris—great choice. We can even play golf (or learn in my case). So along with thinking thin, I’ll think Switzerland. I was last in Switzerland on our honeymoon 37 years ago. So beautiful. I think in Switzerland they might call wogging fartlekking.

Helene—The mountains look like great practice for your big hike. What a wonderful way to exercise.

Bon—prayers for your whole family and for you too. No wonder you are stressed, coping with this and a concussion as well. Be kind to yourself, you deserve it.

BEB—perhaps we could share dancing queen. I’ll be the oriental dancing queen.

Welcome to Europe Helene. Leaving so many good friends and beloved surroundings is hard but it seems you are having a soft landing in Switzerland. It will be wonderful to be so close to your children and mother. How did you bake a cake in the digital oven the very first day, while still surrounded by suitcases? I’m impressed. Enjoy the snow, the views, meeting new people, and starting a new life. Perhaps you may even find a gym in the new apartment building.

Bex—your description of Manchego reminded of the famous quote: Cheese? milk’s leap toward immortality. I’ve decided that good cheese, in moderation, is worth eating. I eat it with crackers, so as not to muddy the taste with delicious bread. But wine is fine.

Bon—I’m glad you are getting the scan. Good to rule out the serious stuff first. I loved Slumdog Millionaire.  It is not a totally happy, feel good film, there are some pretty horrific parts, but very well made. The book , Q&A, is different but also very good.

Carol—Take it easy recovering from the flu. Don’t jump into the intense exercise too fast. Feel better. Cutting way down on salt lowered my blood pressure but it seems to be genetic, as in diet change doesn’t help everyone. Hope diet and exercise works for your DH.

Snow—You’ll ace the interview today. They’d be lucky to be able to hire someone as motivated as you!

Went to the doctor and I seem to have bursitis. She says if it is caught early it might not become chronic. She is also very into exercising herself, was happy with what I was doing and had a few constructive remarks. She also recommended laying off the dancing but agreed that I could participate if I didn’t dance aggressively. I’m also going to stop the class where we bounce off a step with light weights. I’ll do an extra Pilates instead. Yesterday I didn’t go to the gym at all. I felt like I needed to rest. I hope resting doesn’t become a habit!

Peg—love the ponies, love the names. They are all so beautiful. Alice—change is stressful. Perhaps you could start with something smaller than a new career?  I eased into a new career 9 years ago (teaching to editing) because I lost my voice and moved. That gave me lots of motivation.

Anyone know anything about bursitis? I just got a call from my doctor that the test came back positive for bursitis in my hip and I need to go in to see her in a few days. The pain is not too bad and I don’t want to stop exercising but at the same time, I don’t want to make it worse. Any advice from the experienced?

LOL, I also thought of power undies when BEB wrote about clothing that was not necessarily visible.  Too bad about the oatmeal cookies, Chris, after all the outdoors work. But fresh cookies, how can we resist? Maybe calories in equaled calories out. I wonder what Lucy would have thought of our friendships, BEB, it would be like science fiction to her!

There are some very alert early risers on this site. I’m always surprised when I check in the morning. Chris—looking at the photo, red seems like a possibility. But I’m thinking of growing out the brown and letting salt-and-pepper take over. I hate the smells and chemicals of coloring. Hope you get some rest today after waking up so early.

Bon—I was typing that you should see a doctor while reading your post (I have two screens and multi-task). Then I got to the bit about going tomorrow. So I hope the headache is gone, but if not, I hope you go to the doctor today. Often caring people take care of themselves last. Prayers for your sister.

I just heard my BIL is in hospital in Brazil. DS and BIL went on vacation, it seems he got food poisoning, got dehydrated, and weird things started going on with his kidneys. He’s been in a week. They are hoping to go home sometime next week when he is in good enough shape to fly. What a world.

Friday weigh in day and I have no news. I am down a bit from last week, exactly the same as 2 weeks ago, which is a little more than 3 weeks ago. In short, maintaining.

Welcome Karen. Good job on the treadmill. It is great to have some outside motivation to keep you going. Of course, some CCers (not me) can keep themselves going using monitors, music, a challenge, or just self-discipline. Whatever works for you.

Bon—sounds like a nasty incident with a golf club. Glad you are okay. You must have some bruise. Even a wayward golf club couldn’t keep you from your game. Good for you. Hope your sister makes just as quick a recovery.

I’m slightly up again after the weekend I’m planning on going to the tracking class again tonight. That is the fartlekking group on treadmills with the instructor pushing everyone to go faster and higher.

Have a good week everyone.

Chris: thanks for your link. It also vindicates me. The ideal weight on the site is just where I want to be, well perhaps 2 lb. less, just so I can maintain around 150, up 2, down 2.

Renee—welcome back. It is great you got almost to your goal and a 6 lb. gain isn’t much. That is exactly my story also and I’ve been trying so hard to get back. It is very common. But although I haven’t lost those pesky pounds, I am much stronger, and thanks to this site, know lots more about what I’m eating. You'll get there.

Bex--29 pounds in a year is great. Think of the past 7 weeks as maintaining and getting your body ready for the next great leap. Hotel gyms can be fun, some great, some awful, but you’ve got to try!