Happy Thursday to all the GOLDEN GIRLS
Glad to see everyone is doing well. I am now on day three of eating right and exercising really well. I have watched all the shows and know this is the correct combination but I was just too darn lazy. This silly bootcamp thing came from sheer desperation to jumpstart my weight loss again. I do not want to spend my GOLDEN years heavy and out of shape and of course the fear of a knee replacement in my future is also a driving force to lose the weight and get into shape. It also helps that I have a very supportive spouse who is in extremely great shape and just young enough to keep me on my toes LOL.

Hi to Cheryl, Wanda and Karen

Theresa - I don't know how I am doing these things -- quite a few years of training.

Lynn - thanks for the challenge and my own end date LOL

Ella - ok my friend here is the deal. Three years ago I was a total complete slug - except for my exercise walking the dog. Walking the dog was great but it was something I was used to and I needed to add something. I joined Curves and it is a fabulous starting spot for ladies that aren't into exercise. After about a year I needed to add something. For a while I did deep-water aerobics classes and went to the gym here at work. I was totally scared of doing fitness classes. I joined a yoga one -- then the core concept class (a fusion between yoga and pilates). About 6 months ago I stared the definition class (strength training) -- then added a third fitness class just after Christmas. What I am saying in this ramble is that its taken me three years to be confident enough to take this bootcamp. So I appreciate the kudos but if I had joined one three years ago I would still be a lump in the middle of the park with grass growing out my rear where I fell down LOL.

Bobbi - I am with you about weight loss challenges. Nothing gets me down faster than having to weigh myself on someone else's schedule. I also fall into the silly category of celebrating losses with food and drowning my sorrow after a gain with food. So I only weigh myself once a month. For your dream question I think I know I do colour, not sure about black and white I will have to see if I remember any like that. Funny you had one about money so did I this week. I dreamed that I found an envelope on my desk (guilt over my messy desk??) and in it was dozen's of cheques made out to our Foundation office for thousands and thousands of dollars. Problem was they were dated Sept 30 and now stale dated. I was just sick about this find -- geesh.

Paula - Like I said to Ella this is surprising me but it has taken three years to get this fit.

Have a great day everyone!!!

Hi everyone!

I just got back from a 5-mile walk-run along the Erie Canal. Our office is in "Canal Ponds" and it's a short walk to the canal path. It was gorgeous out...about 60 degrees, blue skies, geese and ducks nesting...hard to come back in to work.

Kick-boxing is a class they have here at work...no we don't kick anyone...we sort of punch the air and kick in all directions for about 30 minutes to music and then the instructor takes us through 15 minutes of abs or other strength training. I am lucky to work for a company (Johnson and Johnson) that stresses fitness...we have a fitness center, 2 instructors, and lots of walking paths outside.

Ella, I'm with you on doing this "lose weight and get fit" thing very slowly. I started getting serious about 4 years ago and have lost only 15 pounds total, but I do see a difference and I feel sooooo much better.

I'm not going to to the challenge this time as I have one about to begin at our TOPs club. We are each making an octopus out of yarn and are decorating them with hats, bows etc...and then every week during weigh in for the next eight weeks, if we do not gain our critters are safe. If we gain, however, they lose a leg!! I know, it's negative reinforcement, but we did this challenge a couple of years ago and it's pretty motivating. I lost one leg last time. This time I'm going to go all the way!! I'll send a photo of my octopus. She's cute!

Back to work now..

Lyn

Oh Gawd, Jay, m'dear girlie, there's a CURVES only about three miles from my house. I could ride there on my by-now-famous bicycle , even, couldn't I? Your arguments for exercise are compelling. Make sense, even. I know perfectly well that before long, I'm going to need more than a 30 minute bike ride. Yanno what puzzles me, tho? Based on my calculations of calories in VS. calories used, and the calories I need every day supposedly just to maintain my current weight, I am burning about 900+ more calories a day than I eat. Doesn't that mean that every four days - give or take a few hours - I should be losing a pound???? So how come when I weigh myself once a week, I'm lucky to be losing ONE lonely little pound????? My body must operate outside the laws of physics or something, right? Ahhhhhh....<grumble, grumble, grumble>

What I can't help but wonder, though, is what happens to all these pounds we're losing? Do they just wander about the galaxy looking in the windows of the more fortunate pounds and feel lonely and left out? It makes me a little sad, yanno? Makes me want to find them a good home so they won't be "lost", but rather relocated. Seems more humane, somehow.

Lyn, you ARE lucky to work for a company like that. Mine has no sensitivity to fitness and health at all. Not only do they NOT offer any sort of exercise program for employees, what they DO offer is monthly employee "luncheons" with all kinds of pasta dishes, breads, fattening desserts and sugary sodas and fruit juices. They had an "employee appreciation luncheon" yesterday, and that's the kind of menu they had. Not a fruit bowl to be found - and I'd been hoping for one desperately. I brought my own lunch - some sliced deli ham, a handful of salad greens, some mustard all wrapped in a 70-calorie multi-grain tortilla. They were looking at me like I was some kind of alien. Now that the weather is getting better, I'm thinking to spend a half hour at lunch time walking on Boston Common every day. That'll help me burn up a few more calories, right? YOU'RE the one (Lyn) kickboxing! Hah! I'd be likely to kick in one direction and fall on my butt in the other!

Hiya Karen, Bobbi, Paula, Lynn, Phyllis, Cheryl (you do TOO exercise a LOT!!!), Theresa, Moxie, Luflic...omigawd, you all know who you are....and you're all my absolute favorite GOLDEN GIRLS!!!!!!!

Have a great day, everyone!

TTFN,

Ella

Hi Everyone!

Well, I did it! I bought Anti-Wrinkle cream today (Neutrogena Healthy Skin Anti-Wrinkle Intensive Deep Wrinkle Serum). I have finally admitted to myself that I have LOST pounds but GAINED more wrinkles! I'll let you know when my wrinkles all disappear!

Always a busy day for me. After the beauty shop I visited with my mother in law who is in a nursing home ( go most days, my husband every day!) She will be 100 in Oct and is healthy but Alzhiemers has taken its toll on her mind. Some days she is with us, others she isn't. Today was a good day. We (some of the personel and I ) were talking about singing. I ask her if she still liked to sing, and she said I don't know. I asked if she could sing 'One Day at a Time' for me. She sat there for a few minutes and sang the first verse. Then she said, "That's all I remember!" I could have cried. The day before, she wouldn't even talk to us! That is such a terrible disease!
I went to my TOPS meeting tonight. I had lost 1.5 lbs. Not as much as I would have liked, but hey, a loss is a loss!
We are getting ready to go to our SRD which will be in Waco TX on the 17th. It is always nice to see people we have met over the years and only see at these functions. Some I hear from during the year, others, we just connect during the convention!
Again, I have read all the posts, just don't have time to address everyone tonight. But I am thinking of you and will try to get on earlier tomorrow so I can. Sorry I got off on my M-I-L, but just wanted to talk about her. She is such a sweetie!
Have a good night, and a wonderful day on Friday.
Love to all, Wanda

Good morning ladies- Looks like another nice day already. The suns shining and the birds are singing. I managed to get s log of flower bed work done. I dug up 2 sections that I wan to plant and I raked leaves that were along the fence and got them packed up for trash day. My youngest grandson was here in the morning so he helped me. Then I walked him to school and continued on my way to do my 30 minute walk. It felt so good to get outside.
My hubby went golfing after work so I went to dinner with my daughter. We decided on Mexican food. I ordered chicken fajitas and a Margarita. I haven't had a drink in a long time and was in the mood for one. I brought most of the fajita stuff home so I could eat it for lunch the next few days.
My plan for today is to get more digging and raking done in the morning. Then after lunch I'll do my walking. I'll probably go out to dinner with my daughter. It will probably be Italian food so I'll get he grilled chicken salad instead of pasta.

Joanne- I'm still impressed with you at Boot Camp.

Lyn- How nice that you have a nice exercise program at work.

Ella- I love your ideas about he lost pounds. IMO, I don't really care where they go just as long as they leave me!!

Cheryl- Let us know how you like the anti-wrinkle cream. I bout some stuff from Avon. I didn't' really notice any real difference. What I really need is something for the flapping chin. That's one thing I hate about losing weight is under my chin sags.

Wanda- How nice that you go visit your MIL. You are a sweet DIL!
: Super on the 1.5 loss.

OK I'm off to get my shower.

We're off today on our week-end belated 20th wedding anv. trip.

Just wanted to report I walked 6 miles (1mile/day - taking Sunday off) and 5 miles already this week. Will try to walk and eat healthy while we are gone.

Oh....I got into a pair of shorts that I couldn't wear last month!!!!

Phyllis

Hi Eveyone!

Paula -I found a bunch of exercises the other day. Here's one I found for the face and neck!

Look straight ahead into the mirror the first time you do this so you can be sure you are doing it correctly. Open your mouth and make your lips into a big "O". Next, tense ALL OF THE MUSCLES of that "O", and hold that position for one full minute. (I have a clock with a second hand nearby to keep track of the minute. A minute goes by REALLY SLOWLY as you do this exercise!)

When you come out of the "O" you REALLY FEEL IT! You can feel the muscles of your face AND the muscles in your neck, too! You can do this whenever you want, and it is supposed to firm up flabby areas and help tone the face and neck.

I've been doing it for two days and plan to keep doing it! Losing weight has given me this turkey waddle thing going on with my neck. I don't know whether my DOUBLE CHIN or THIS is worse, but I guess at almost 56 I can't expect to look like I did thirty years ago!!!

Good Luck!

Phyllis - Congrats on those shorts! There's nothing more exciting than actually being able to put yourself in clothes EASILY than previously were impossible to wear! I try on different things every few weeks and have started keeping a Goodwill bag in our bedroom for the clothes that are just too loose on me. The thing that is bizarre to me, though, is how it is possible to actually LOSE INCHES without the scale budging. It would SEEM that the two would go hand-in-hand, but they don't, at least for me! Weird! Now go see what else you can find that will fit !!

Hello Girls, I need help!!!!!!!

My name is Rose, age 59 and would love to loose some weight and just cant seem to get it going. I will eat healthy during the day and the nite just gets me. I work part time in the evening , going in at 4pm and getting home around 10. That is when I want to eat everything but the kitchen sink. I was doing great with exercising and in the last few weeks , just have lost that motivation also.

I have been reading your posts and you all sound so dear .
Sincerely, Rose

ITS FRIDAY!!!!

Had a semi easy day yesterday although I did go to my noon hour fitness class and about half way through my biceps and pec muscles went on strike. I felt like my arms were made of spagetti (cooked spagetti LOL). I went a bit over on my calories for the day but I wanted some edamame beans -- 200 calories over.

Lyn - Johnson & Johnson sounds like our college - they encourage us to use all the recreation areas. My boss goes out and plays soccer a couple of times a week. LOL Johnson was my maiden name and my dream as a child was to find out I was part of THE Johnson & Johnson family -- no such luck. I would love to see a picture of your octopus -- sounds very cute.

Ella - Think about Curves seriously -- just dont' think about the "lost" pounds -- they aren't lost because you don't want to find them -- they are just GONZO!!! You are walking around Boston Common -- I can only wish. Vancouver is lovely but the rich history of Boston is so intriguing.

Cheryl - Keep us posted on the "serum" - too bad there wasn't a way to shift some of the fat from our thighs into the wrinkles.

Wanda - so sorry about your MIL, please feel free to vent here. I have always found it refreshing to put down my hopes and fears with a great online group -- helps to release some of the things you can't say outloud.

Paula - mmmm ( I was sure there was a Homer smiley) margaritas!!! Good job to bring the food home with you.

Phyllis - on getting into the shorts!!!

Here is to a great weekend -- off to go check out the challenge thread.

Let me be the first to welcome you to our group!!

Night eating...Oh YES! That has ALWAYS been a challenge for me! Here's what I do to deal with it:

Keep water handy! Make sure to KEEP hydrated! This helps A LOT!

Be sure to have enough protein during the day. Days that I eat too many carbs and not enough protein are FAR more challenging for me in the nighttime!

TO START, set a time where you are DONE with ALL eating. For me, I followed Oprah's plan of no eating after 7:30PM. That trained me to not have to decide what I would eat because I WASN'T GOING TO BE EATING ANYTHING! Now, I have a small something IF I am REALLY hungry (stomach growling, light-headed etc.), but I try not to have it be much (usually fiber-rich cereal with skim milk)

What you eat during the day really does influence what you crave at night! Fiber and protein really help!

Night eating is often a habit! For me it was a stress release. It was an emotional, stress-eating issue for me. I discovered that a while ago. When cravings hit and I KNOW I couldn't POSSIBLY be HUNGRY, I left my weights and exercise with my exercise ball. I am AMAZED at how just MOVING AROUND makes me less hungry and pretty much takes the cravings away!

I can't keep "bad" foods out of the house because I live with a husband and two sons who are athletic and slim and can eat whatever they want and not gain weight! I jsut have to stay out of the kitchen at night. Funny how the rest of the day I'm not really tempted at all! (That reminds me that old habits ARE hard to break!!)

Hope that you will post often and tell us more about you!

Cheryl

Hi Everyone,

Welcome, Rose

I went into NYC yesterday - drove up there, walked 1 mile to museum, walked around museum, walked 1 mile back to bus, drove back home, and then collapsed - was too tired to even post on the Challenge.

Today I went to 2 stables and scheduled a riding lesson at one of them for next Tuesday.

Now, I need to grade 10 papers.

Check back later,

Lynn

Hi All,

I have been married for 41 yrs, 3 children (2 boys, 1 girl) and 3 grands (1 girl, 2 boys) We live 10 miles from the ocean at North Myrtle beach area. We have lived in SC for 20 yrs and grew up in KY.

My oldest son is handicapped, so that is where alot of the stress comes from. He has seizures all the time. Sometimes it get very hard. I have always had to work at night, so to make the most $$, I waited tables. Have been doing this forever and still doing it part time. Dont know how much longer my feet /knees/hips will take this pounding but for now I do about 20 hrs and beleive me that is enough. One of you were talking about Plantar Faciitis. I had that and have had surgery and that did help alot.

I love flower gardening and reading and sewing. I also ride my bike .

I love reading all your posts, Rose

Hi Everyone!
I got my exercise in this morning at the fitness center and lots of errands run . Now I have to spend a few hours on this stupid computer anti-virus program. What programs do you all use? I have a new Vista computer and installed something called "Windows Live One Care and had nothing but problems with it. I also have something called Spyware Doctor that started acting up too! The HP company suggested I un-install it and put in the Norton 2007. So that's what I'm going to work on now, wish me luck.
Welcome Rowal, I have plantar faciitis in both feet. I didn't know they did surgery on that type of problem. Tell me how that works!

Bobbi,
Great minds install anti-virus programs alike - or something like that. I am fighting with one right now. I paid my money and am trying to download it & Windows Explorer is blocking it & I can't figure out how to install it!
ARGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!