Active Folks Over 50 -- #6
 

Good morning, everyone! How did folks do yesterday? As you can see from the end of the last thread, Gail42 and I are both reporting interesting food experiences--she ate some of everything, and I ate, well, everything here! But it was good.

Since this is the first post of the new thread, here is the statement of what this thread is about:

Active Folks Over 50 is a place to talk about fitness 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 work, or achievements at work or elsewhere are highly encouraged! As are recommendations for books, movies, lively discussions of weight related issues, etc.

Join in!

Jay

Hi everyone, happy Kwanzaa and Boxing Day.
Yesterday I made a Senegalese peanut soup which was so good! It was a new recipe for me. Over the past year I have probably tried on average one new recipe per week, some of them being completely original. I've made some very valuable discoveries (like Fava Beans!) with very few disappointments. The peanut soup was an Emeril recipe that I tweaked just a little. Now I guess I have to clean up my soup-induced mess here at the cat's house before the cat's owner comes home.
from nuts to soup,
jo

Spiny, it's too bad the cat doesn't cook. You could blame him/her. I used to house/dog sit for a lady who had a really nice kitchen. I always cooked when I was there.

I love those Asian peanut dishes - I just haven't managed to try one yet. I have been eating edamame in my salads, soups and just by itself. I like it, but it seems to spoil really fast.

I didn't mention that I ate ham yesterday. I think that is probably what is causing the scale to show a three pound weight gain. Probably, because I didn't eat huge quantities of anything, I won't have much of a real gain. I am just about to fix my oatmeal. I will eat an orange with it and some a big glass of water.

My mother-in-law is 89 years old. One of the pleasures left to her is feeding people. While I don't believe in letting anyone force food that I don't want on me, I do eat what she offers because it makes her happy. This is where portion control comes in, and boy do I believe in it! It is not like I see her that often, or that I will be doing this for the next 40 years.

MIL has discovered the exercise room in her retirement home. You should have seen her showing and telling me what she had been doing:lol:. She says that the swelling in her feet is much better now that she is exercising. I need to quit chuckling and take a lesson from her.

I had an OP Christmas day. Fitday shows 1,383 calories. We took a walk down to Land's End and walked the labyrinth :) so I got in some activity as well. This was a NSV for me. Last year (50+ lbs. ago) I had so much trouble with my knees on all of the steps. The family walked the labyrinth and I slipped away and started back up the stairs. I knew that I would need several rest stops on the way up and that they would all have to wait for me. It was one of those experiences that served as a wake-up call that my weight was actually affecting my life more than I wanted to admit. So - walking the labyrinth WITH the family, walking back up the steps WITH the family - was quite emotional for me. A great Christmas gift to myself :)

I agree with Gail, I love ethnic recipes that use peanuts and peanut sauces. Two of the great joys of visiting CA is the abundance of ethnic restaurants and locally grown groceries.

Gail - I agree - portion control is the key. I have a similar issue with DIL. She loves to cook and entertain, and I don't have the heart to ask her to cook for me, or not eat what she prepares (she is already cooking vegetarian for us). But, I can easily stick to plan just by practicing portion control. She is happy, I am on plan - no hurt feelings :D

Jo - the soup sounds yummy. I love making soups. They are such a comfort food for me. We are cat sitting too this week while visiting the kids. They are crazy wild - I think they miss their owners. It is actually nice, since I miss my cats and dog when we travel.

Today holds new experiences - off to the SF MOMA (art museum) and then on to an ethnic restaurant in SF that the kids have chosen. It should be a wonderful day :)

I hope everyone has a great day!

Hi Everyone,

I'm your neighbor from Golden Girls thread.

Below is information about the 50+ January Challenge. Please feel free to join.

Come join the fun!

EVERYONE on the 50+ Board is welcome to join!

A new month - a new year - a new chance to be successful!!!

For the month of January, post your daily calories (or WW points) and minutes of exercise. If you want, post any other goal(s) for the month. NOTE: each person posts 1 message and then edits that message each day. 1 post/person.

Once a week - you pick the day, post your lbs up or down for the week. Just edit your original post daily - 1 post/participant. OR if you prefer, post your weight everyday.

Begin your post on January 1 (or 2)!

A prize (the travelling cookbook - winners are responsible to send the book to the next winner) will be awarded to the participant(s) doing the best job for the month. NOTE: in the event of a tie, the person with the highest % of weight loss for the month wins.

Let's help each other make January 2008 a Spectacular Weight Loss month!

Lynn

Ladyinweighting, thanks for the invitation! :D

Folks, if you're interested, start your own post on that thread. :carrot:

Jay

Countingdown, it sounds like you are having the perfect vacation. I'll bet it has been an experience that you will never forget, and will serve as inspiration during the rest of the cold, dark, days of winter....

Happy December 26th
 

Hi everyone-

So glad that the holidays are behind us and life can get back to normal. I always feel hopeful once the holiday hump is in the rearview. I now have no more excuses to eat too much or too many of the wrong things.

I have a confession to make-- I have jumped the gun on joining the discussion on the forum...but soon that will be remedied. I will be celebrating my 50th birthday on January 6th. I have been anticipating this birthday for the last few months and so thought it was appropriate to move from the 40 Sometimes to the 50+.

I will be celebrating my 50th at a spa in Palm Springs...seemed like a good start for a new decade of my life. I will also recommit to my healthy living plan. Glas to have all of you for company on this journey

Welcome, mermom, and congratulations on your loss so far! :cheer2:

Jay

:wave:

Is everybody still laying low after Christmas? yooo hoooo!

Jay

I did three mile walks three days in a row and then the cold, miserable rain started again. It is 36 degrees with a mix of rain and snow.

I have until January 8th before I have to go back to work so wanted to maximize my outdoor fitness time. Indoor exercise just doesn't do it for me... too uncoordinated to do videos and no room for equipment.

When I am work I am able to walk quite a bit as the building is very large with three floors and 50 steep steps from the first to the third. I figure I have climbed at least 100 stairs a day since school started in September.

Today arrived my new pedometer that I ordered through the 3FC Amazon website here. Amazing! I just ordered it yesterday and here it is. The cheap ones I previously purchased fell apart or quit working in about a week. I am excited to try this one.

Which one did you get, Mermom? I have an Omiron that I got from Amazon.

Well, today we installed a new sink faucet. Had a little trouble with a leak, but I think it is stopped now.

So far today, I have not eaten any junk. Somehow, the junk habit is awfully easy to adopt. Yesterday, I made squash soup, and I have been sipping on that, and my almost no calorie vegetable soup.

I also made some black bean chili. I can't figure out how many calories is in it because none of those recipe analysis programs seem to recognize a can of beans. They all come up with 600 plus calories per 1 cup serving. The can says there are 140 calories per equivalent serving of the beans, and beans are just about all there is in the chili - onions, cilantro, bell pepper, non fat yogurt all are fairly negligible calorie-wise, so where are they getting all those calories? There is no meat in the recipe.

I too got the Omiron pedometer. There were two and I didn't really need the one with the software so I chose the one with the lesser price but the higher rating.

It seems like with your beans you should be able to trust the calorie content on the label. I know that if the beans are the ones with sugar added they might equal 600 but I doubt black beans would be that high. Your chili sounds great. That's one downside for an online forum -- we can't get together to sample each other's great creations! Wouldn't it be wonderful if every potluck dinner was all made up of dishes we could eat and not worry:dizzy:

Good for you for tackling your home repairs. That's the way to be thrifty. It also saves on the trauma of having to call some yahoo to come into your home.

I know what you mean about eating the bad stuff. It is so easy to do...particularly this time of year.

Good morning!

Gail, I checked with my FitDay--I used the listing for "beans, black, mature seeds, cooked, boiled, with salt." It says 1 cup = 227 cals. I think that's probably close enough to a cup of canned beans.

I use the downloaded FitDay, and it lets me add foods, so I can just put in a can of beans if I want. Also, I can calculate a whole recipe and add the recipe to FitDay--from then on, it's in there and I don't have to list each ingredient.

Your chili does sound good! BTW, have you tried the no-meat substitutes in chili? Such as "textured vegetable protein"--or Boca meatless ground beef substitute (frozen)? They are soy based, but you wouldn't know it. Quite good if you like chili with meat but don't want the calories.

Jay

I thought about using tvp in chili, just to see how it is. I like the breakfast sausage made with soy. This black bean chili is fine without meat - it is sort of more like soup than chili.

I was using the free fitday. What was happening is that even though it says 227 per cup, it was still coming up with 600 plus calories per serving when I put it into recipe form. Wierd. I am just going to use the calories in my white chicken chili recipe. It will be close enough. Beans are not making me fat.

What a fantastic idea to have a potluck with all healthy food! We'd be in hog heaven.

I have a small piece of exercise equipment called a "mini" stair-stepper. It takes up about 14" x 18" of floor space. You just stand on it and push up and down on the foot platforms with your feet. I got it because I wanted something that didn't take up half a room. Anyway, I haven't used it much lately because my knees hurt me most of the time. For some reason, my knees weren't hurting me today, so I used it for about 20 minutes. It is enough exercise to make me sweat and I don't have to go outside (it is cold today). I really like that it is small, and I can watch tv, listen to tapes or whatever, in the comfort of my own home.:lol: I keep thinking that the more weight I loose, the less my knees will hurt, but so far my knees still hurt most of the time.

I noticed quite a few ads for Nutrisystem on tv today. I got to feeling grateful that I am already almost a year into my healthy eating/weight-loss program. I don't have to make any extreme New Year's resolutions. I am not all that close to my goal, but I have a really good start and the time went by really fast!

Hey gail!

You got those new shoes yet? ;)

Jay

Ya know, I am sort of at a loss about the shoes. We have a Big Five in town. I went there to look at shoes and they all seemed very cheap looking/feeling. I am reluctant to order on line, because it seems like every time I do that, the size is wrong and I have to fool around with returns....So, I am thinking I need to go to a mall. What stores carry quality shoes? Does anyone know? So far, I like my light weight hiking boots better than anything else I have found. I don't like shoes (or vacuum cleaners, but that's another story) that look like rocket ships, but if I have to, I will wear rocket ships.

I would see if you have a Foot Locker or a Lady Foot Locker or an Athlete's Foot in your area. Or, maybe The Sports Authority.

Jay

I've seen Foot Locker at the mall. I'll check it out next time I go.

shoes
 

I just bought a pair of Adidas DAROGAS. They are marketed as a hiking shoe. They are the most comfortable and lightest fitness shoe I have ever worn. Check a pair out if you get a chance.

I love shoes! I have to limit myself to buying one pair a month. If I find something I like I buy a few different colors. I have have good luck with buying on line for the most part. Saves lots of $$$$$$

I like SAS shoes. They come in N witdth, and are very comfortable. I have gotten more pairs than I care to admit on ebay. I never pay more than $20 including shipping. I only buy the ones that say they are new. So far, I haven't gotten any bad ones.

Thanks for the tip about Darogas. I will look for them. I really like the light weight hiking boots I have. They are HiTech brand (I think). I have had them a long time, but they seem to be in good condition still.

Hi all - just back from Yosemite :)
It was absolutely awesome! I am very, very proud of us - 6 miles of snow-covered trail hiking each day. NSV - we hiked back to the Mariposa Grove sequoias today. DIL whispered to DS after about 2 hours into the hike - wow - your parents are a lot faster this year! It is amazing what being 90+ lbs lighter (50+ for me and 40 + for DH) will do for your speed and endurance - :carrot:

Gail - Yes - the vacation will help us through the winter. It is wonderful to visit the kids! They eat so healthy - so many fresh local veggies. They like taking us on all sorts of physical excursions. We laugh that it is like going to a weight-loss spa for vacation. Even with all of the ethnic restaurant food -we always lose weight :)

I like SAS shoes as well. I never thought to check ebay for them - good idea!

I like making meatless chili with the Boca or Morningstar farms crumbles or sausage crumbles. Black beans are my favorite for chili too.

Mermom - I will look for the Adidas, they sound great - do they come in a wide width? I have short, fat feet!

I so agree with you about potlucks! Being vegetarian, they are dangerous territory for us. You never know what animal-based products are hiding deep inside the recipe. It would be great to have a 3FC potluck!

I hope everyone is doing well! I hope that you all have a great rest of the weekend!

Good morning!

I have three pairs of SAS dress shoes, and two pairs of their sandals! :D But, for exercise walking I wear Adidas. In fact, I'm overdue for new Adidas.

I also have a good pair of hiking boots, but they are strictly for hiking... too heavy for much else--but, I do occasionally have a chance to wear them in Fla.

CountingDown, your trip sounds so wonderful! I have only been to Yosemite once, and I loved it! Plus all those healthy vegetables...

That is GREAT about being able to go faster on the trails. Isn't it amazing how much easier it is with less weight to carry? That always amazes me--I wonder how I used to get through life.

Sometimes at the gym I'll pick up a couple of 20-pound weights and just walk around with them for a bit, to remind myself of what it was like.

My SO made a batch of soup yesterday--a variation on Portuguese kale soup, but with mustard greens and cajun sausage. Yum! And not too high in calories, even with the sausage. About 140 cals per cup, I think.

Who can believe that it's almost 2008... :dunno:

:wave:

Jay

Jay - that soup sounds wonderful! I love soups in the winter - they are a real comfort food for me.

I uploaded a few Yosemite pictures this morning. Thought I would share :)

Your pictures are beautiful! Good for you for all the exercise. I bet that feels so much better with 50 less pounds to drag around.

I buy shoes on ebay quite often. So far I have had really good luck. The Adidas I recently bought on Overstock.com. The nice thing about the Darogas is that they are made of flexible material so they accomodate varying food widths.

My goal for January is to lose 3 pounds. This doesn't sound like much but I haven't lost a pound in 4 months. I have tried everything I can think of to get off this plateau I am on but maybe now after a couple weeks of increased exercise the scale ill finally change.

Anyone else setting January goals?

CountingDown, the pictures are beautiful. It looks a lot like Michigan looked while I was there. :lol:

I have been up three pounds the last few days. Yikes!!!!! I don't think I have over eaten by that much. I know I have not been drinking enough water, and I have been eating (extra lean) ham. I am probably retaining some water. Darn, I wanted to be down to 142 by 19jan. That would be exactly 40 lbs in one year.

Happy New Year
 

Hi everyone. Sorry but I disappeared for a few days. The holidays always throw me for a loop. But what I did get done was a great workout sheet that I pulled together from the web. Here is the site;
http://exercise.about.com/cs/exbegin...rbeginners.htm

It is a huge site that I get email from all the time and it is great. So I am written up and have new shoes too. I did get mine off the internet. I had been shopping and found someone who was great at fitting shoes. They did not have my size at the time so I went home and found them on the internet marked way down and saved myself a $100. So I was thrilled.

Now the get to the gym part is next. Has anyone ever watched the show on tv called You Are What You Eat....it is a British woman who does these fabulous interventions on overweight people. She is harsh but she does say that you have to do 30 minutes of cardio before each meal. Well she may be right and so that is what I am going to try and work up to. The last one will be the hardest to fit in. But first I will start with the morning.

So I hope everyone has a great New Years Eve and a great day off tomorrow.

Cheers.......Judi :dancer:

Hey! Happy New Year, everyone! :celebrate:

Hey hijude, nice to see you. That sounds like an interesting show--but I just know I'm not going to make it with the 30 minutes of cardio before every meal. :lol:

I guess it's about time for me to order new shoes myself! I often go to Zappos, but I hear they are more expensive there. I ought to try locally--more stores up here in my new town.

We're going to have some cold weather the next couple of days or so. No, really, it's supposed to get below freezing one night, which for here is quite cold enough!

Jay

Happy new year everyone! I hope you all have a terrific start to 2008.

We had a great day yesterday. DIL took me to a nail salon for a pedicure. Don't laugh - but it was my very first professional pedicure ever. OK, I've never had a manicure either. Such a sheltered life I have led... It was a delightful experience. I was absolutely enthralled watching the whole experience. 12 custom chairs all in a row, with customers getting pedicures in each one. Guys having their toenails done with french pedicures, young children getting pedicures - absolutely amazing.

Today will be spent getting ready for DIL's 27th birthday party. We are having 25+ people over for a fondue party in the apartment that we are "sitting" for their neighbors. It should be fun. We are thankful that the kids have a quite eclectic group of friends - DIL politely informed us that we will not be the "oldest" people at the party. The thought hadn't crossed my mind until she said it. It is funny how your kids think you are old, but personally - I don't consider myself old at all. I don't act old, I don't feel old ...

May I join you? I'm not VERY active yet. I'm just restarting for the umpty-umph time, and starting a walking program with a modest 20 minutes a day.

I have been very inactive. I spend 90% of my waking hours either in a classroom (teaching, but sitting -- my classes are discussion classes, and if I stand, it's as though I'm towering over them) or in front of a computer. Walking more is definitely one of my goals for 2008. We have a five-minute break between classes, and my plan is to walk up the stairs to my office and down again each break. Walking upstairs for me isn't a problem, but walking down is. I hope this will get better as I lose, and become more active!

Hey Bloomer! :welcome2:

Your plan sounds good! You could also just plan some time walking on level ground--or more or less level--because it's less stress on knees, ankles, and feet. As you can see, we've all been discussing shoes lately! Good, new, supportive shoes can make a world of difference. What kind do you wear?

Good luck!

Jay

Thanks, Jay. I wear Easy Spirits. Shoes aren't the problem; my hips are!

Bloomer - Welcome!
My experience with stairs is that it does get easier. In fact the stairs in our junior high building are one of the triggers that helped me realize that I really needed to do something about my weight. My knees hurt every time I went up or down the short flight of stairs to my office. Now, stairs are no problem. We went hiking in Oct. and one trail had over 800 stairs on it. I didn't have a lick of trouble going up or down.

I agree with Jay, can you find a hall to walk in between classes? Start on the flats and work a few stairs in once your knees are stronger.

One other thought. I started some strength training (recommended by doctor) to strengthen the muscles surrounding my knees. It has really helped me!

Counting, my DIL took me for a pedicure a while back. I loved it! I think it was all women in the salon.

Can I really be the first poster today? Huh... Where's all the active over-50s? I hope you're all out being active and didn't just crawl into bed with the holiday let-down... ;)

It's cold and windy here, for Fla. that is, but I went to the fitness center anyway and used the treadmill. Now I'm ready to stay in and stay cozy for the night.

:wave:
Jay

Hi Everybody -
I slacked off with the exercise for a couple weeks but today did 30 mins on the fake bike and 30 mins of Nautilus machines. I must say those cardio machines always seemed so silly to me, and they still do. Especially so many of them in that big room full of all these people making their legs go around and around and not going anywhere. I don't think I'll ever learn to love that part. I just have to think of it as, "well, it certainly isn't the first silly thing I've ever done!" Or pretend I am a hamster. They need to make a treadmill with a wheel that you get inside of. Mouse, hamster.....
How do you all get to like it? I like the weight lifting part ok; that doesn't seem nearly so dumb. Or maybe I just need to find an aerobic alternative to the machines where you make all this effort just to stay in one spot. Maybe I'll check out the "groove" class tomorrow.

Probably my last post for a couple days as we travel back to Michigan in the morning. Great day today - spent it walking in Golden Gate Park. We walked the entire length (over 4 miles) and ended up on Ocean Beach. Great Thai restaurant for our last meal here. It is going to be so hard to go back to walking in my living room with WATP after this beautiful CA sunshine!

I hope everyone had a great day! Jo - I loved your hamster analogy - I have the same thoughts when I am on a treadmill or the Gazelle. I think that is why I like aerobic dance better.

Welcome Blomer
 

I am just new to the group too. I do not do stairs well at all. Too hard on my knees but I will do the bike or the eliptical trainer or the tredmill. I hope to get some walking outside as soon as the weather is a little warmer. A little too icy at this time.
So Counting I would love to hear what weight training exercises are good for the knees.
Spiny that class sounds great. The music should be fun if nothing else. It is fun to do a class with all the other women. It goes by fast.
So hope everyone is having a good week. :carrot::hug:

Hey! Good to hear from everyone!

Bloomer, shoes can affect everything! I once thought I had developed arthritis in my knees, and it turned out I was wearing bad shoes--they put all the stress in the wrong places on both knees. Once I changed shoes, my "arthritis" magically disappeared. Also, when my good athletic shoes got too worn, I would get sore feet (plantar fasciitis). That also disappears when I get good shoes.

CountingDown, San Francisco is my favorite city--I love it! I'm so glad you walked GG Park--it's a wonderful place.

Spinymouse, I decided I didn't care how silly something might seem, I would do it if it helped me. I like the elliptical machines because I can go faster and get a better workout without so much joint and back stress as, say, running through the streets. I like the exercise bicycles for the same reason, plus I never liked riding a real bike on the road--it seemed dangerous. I found, also, that at my old YMCA using the machines was a good opportunity to watch TV shows I ordinarily wouldn't (you brought your own earphones). There are worse things that laughing at Judge Judy while getting fit! :lol: So... in a way, we're all hamsters in a cage all the time... or not! :D

hijude, :wave:

Jay

Hi everybody.
I am hesitant about whether I should post at all today. Could be dangerous. I am so mad at the world. I never intend to offend anyone but with my super-defiant mood today I might be likely to do so inadvertently. Everything makes me mad today. I shouldn't be at work like this!
And a lot of what is making me mad is food and fitness-related so I probably should avoid 3fc today too! But I'm so mad I just have to ..... I don't know WHAT. I am usually so wimpy and lazy that this is quite an anomaly to have these strong feelings coming out. Very weird.
It is only 8:34 am and so far this morning I have been more mad than usual at the thought of "breakfast food" and the sight of coffee, and the word "veggie" and big trucks and agricultural implements on the road, and .... oh my. It is a good thing I am not a violent person in posession of weapons. Whew!