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. 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

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!

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

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....

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!

Jay

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

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. 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!