Hello, and welcome to the first Active Over Fifty thread! This is an experimental thread that I'm starting to see how much interest members have.

The purpose of this thread is to talk about fitness, exercise, and healthy eating information as it relates to weight loss and/or maintenance--and also about any work, fun, hobby, or volunteer activites you're engaged in. In other words, the active part of your life!

Just a few guidelines for this thread:

- Raves about grandkids or ranting about your kids is out of bounds.

- Discussion of your illnesses, conditions, treatments, and medical procedures in general is also out of bounds on this thread. So is whining about old age!

- Positive stories of vacations taken, volunteer activities, or achievements at work or elsewhere are highly encouraged! As are recommendations for books, movies, etc.

So let's see how this goes.

I'll start by saying that I recently did a very unusual thing--my partner and I bought a new home and SOLD our old home within a 3-month period, and were able to pay off the mortgage on the new one. We're now debt free!

I've lost 43 pounds from my highest weight (see ticker) and have been doing maintenance since early July. In October, I plan to begin dropping some more pounds.

If anyone has seen the movie "3:10 to Yuma," I'd be interested in opinions. I haven't seen it yet, so no spoilers please.

Join in!

Jay

JayEll, I had the very same idea while I was taking my morning walk - we need a place for - ahem - older people like me to talk activities. Thank you, thank you!

Hmmm.....no whinning? Love it!

Most of my free time is devoted to reading about maintenance, studying recipes, trying new foods and figuring out how to cook things that taste good to me and aren't loaded with fat and chemicals. I very strongly want to learn how not to regain my lost weight. I am tired of always needing to diet.

I feel like I have finally overcome a huge psychological thing and started getting "a little bit of exercise" - I think I will add that to my signature. My exercise is walking and I figure it is highly unlikely that I will hurt myself doing that. Unless I fall over the dog.

I hope that my current interest in nutrition and activity will be seen as devotion or passion for the subject matter rather than obsession. After all, obsession is in the eyes of the beholder.

I am pretty sure I have seen The 3:10 to Yuma because DH is a western fanatic. I will have to refresh myself on the internet.

I like to read. My favorite fiction is mystery. I am currently on a decorating kick and am reading books about european architecture and decorating. Our house is a sort of pseudo Spanish style - really not very special, but I would like to make it special.

Has anyone read The Omnivore's Dilemma? I haven't finished it, but I think it would be worthy of a book discussion. It will certainly make you want to read labels. It is not terribly gripping reading in some areas, but I think it is an important subject. The guy probably has a political adjenda, but doesn't everybody?

And, JayEll, isn't it wonderful to have your house paid for? Ours is, too, and what a wonderful sense of security that provides.

Awww . . . Jay . . . I'm not sure many of us are capable of holding back on the 'grandchildren raving' or the 'old age whining'. Both of those are so much fun.

Anyway . . . I too enjoy reading everything about improved health that I can get my hands on. I'm an avid cook-book collector -- currently have about 300 -- (although I probably make at least one change to every recipe I've ever tried).

I definitely think The Omnivore's Dilemma is worthy of discussion as is an older book called Diet for a Small Planet.

At risk of violating the prime directive, I haven't seen the new '3:10 to Yuma', but I do remember the old one.

Later, gang . . .

Hey! welcome gailr42 and meowee!!

The remake of 3:10 to Yuma is just out in the theaters now--and it has Russell Crowe in it, which is part of my interest.

I've wondered about Ominvore's Dilemma--I guess I'll check it out!

Jay

"Diet for a Small Planet" in fact it's still in my cookbook collection. Can't say I have used it much..but it was interesting..I remember trying to always have a carbohydrate (high fiber) with a protein. I* may need to get it out and dust it off..

I have lately increased my activity level to about 45-1 hour a day and am currently trying to make myself do strength training. I mostly enjoy walking outside and the eliptical at the fitness center. I hate doing the strength machines, but am trying to at least do the upper body 2x/week now.

Lyn

lynard21, how did you get started in the first place? How long did it take for you to start feeling like you were making progress? How much were you doing before you increased it?

All of a sudden today, I felt lighter on my feet. That's fun.

Greetings and welcome, Lynard21!

Jay

Hi Gail,

I'm lucky to work for a company that actively promotes health and wellness. (Johnson & Johnson). We have a fitness center on-site and I decided to make use of it about four years ago. Lately I have increased my use, because I decided that I finally want to lose this extra 30#. We also have a nice campus with a walking trail next to the Erie Canal, so I began by walking after lunch every day that the weather permitted. I also attend a local wieght loss support group (TOPs) and there are incentives for exercise. So, It was really a combination of all of these that has lead to my increased activities.

Wow, what a nice place to work!

Lyn, what do you do at Johnson & Johnson? And meowee and gailr42, do you work? Or did you work? It's interesting to know what people have done and are doing. Volunteer work counts too!

I have my own businesses--one as a freelance book editor and one as a tax practitioner (seasonal). They keep me pretty busy!

Jay

I am a Safety and Health professional - part of our Environmental, Safety and Health staff here at Ortho-Clinical Diagnostics, owned by J&J. We manufacture diagnostic equipment for hospitals and vetrenarians. We have about 1200 people here in 4 buildings so it's a pretty large site...also a lot of R&D. I make sure that the chemicals, biologicals and other hazardous substances are handled safely and generally work to keep our folks safe and healthy. I've been in this business for over 25 years now. Started with the govenrment (OSHA) and then did consulting and now am with J&J. Thanks for asking.

Today I did the dreaded upper body strengthening. Felt good after it was done.

Currently, I work as an information operator on the Navy base. It is a fun job, no stress, and very sedentary.

Previously, I worked for SkyWest Airlines where I did everything, including baggage handling, security, and, Lynard we were supposed to know all about Hazmat and msds stuff. We had to be able to lift 70 lbs, marshal the aircraft and do weather observations. It was a fun job. The company offered an early out with lifetime flight benefits and I took it. I would probably still be working there if we hadn't moved so far from IYK (our station). It was a 98 mile round trip and I got sleepy coming home at night. I worked swing.

In the three and a half or so years since I retired from SkyWest, I gained about 35 lbs. Yikes. I was already at least 20 lbs overweight. Hence, here I am at 3fc.

I think baggage handling may be a bit like weight lifting and maybe having some upper body muscle helped me keep some weight off while I worked there. One time I thought I had a tumor on my upper chest. It was just a well developed muscle. Imagine that.

Over the years, I have also done quite a bit of substitute teaching. That is one difficult, stressful job and I think I won't do that anymore.

JayEll, how do people find you to edit books? Do you sometimes work for the big companies? I imagine book editing to be a dream job because you get to read all the time, but I'll bet everything you read isn't that exciting.

I am so glad there are people around that do taxes, because I sure don't want to do my own.

Good day! Hope everyone is having a decent Thursday.

Lyn, that sounds like a very interesting position with J&J! I'll bet you have seen some strange and dangerous situations in your time!

gailr, that baggage-handling job-- I imagine you really were in great shape then. Baggage sorting must be computerized these days, but it still has to be lifted on and off the trailers, huh?

In answer to your questions, Gail, I almost never work for individual authors. My work comes from publishing companies and a few other organizations. I've been an editor for many years, and been on my own for, oh, seventeen years now. Mostly I work on college textbooks in the sciences, helping authors to organize the material and smooth out any writing problems (but I'm hired by the publisher). I also do some proofreading and copyediting of other types of books--and I prepare indexes occasionally. It is indeed a plus that I get to read for a living, although when editing or proofing, I'm not reading in the usual way. Also, there is a limit to how many biology texts, for example, one can enjoy...

I did some upper body work yesterday at the fitness center in my smallish community. They have an odd assortment of hand weights, but I can make it work!

Jay

from gail...We had to be able to lift 70 lbs, marshal the aircraft and do weather observations

We don't allow anyone to lift more than 40# here! 70 pounds must have been a challenge!

Hi Jay - good for you and your upper body work. I plan to walk after work today. We have a training session to run from noon - 3 so no noon workout today.

Lyn