Good Morning all,

I'm almost finished with the Christmas rush too. Couple of more things I might get, but it won't be disasterious if I don't. Everything is wrapped and under the tree. I still have to shop for dinner but I bought my ham already. Not too much baking here. DIL makes cookies and shares. We really don't need any more "stuff" in the house. It occured to me that I was really focusing on the things that I "couldn't" have, instead of the things that I could. I have choices, I can have anything I want. Just not all in one day and all at once. I can truly enjoy the season without all the "stuff". The company of friends and family this time of year is more than enough. And even with food. So many good healthy things out there. So, Today I am thankful for all the GOOD stuff that I'm going to have today.

Bobbi, OH NO, not the stepper. And In a few days I will be able to start my stepping (hopefully, cross your fingers for me).

Jess, the card was beautiful, thank you. I'm going to show it to my GD, she will love it.

Isabella, Hope you enjoyed your walk with DH. I love to get out and look at all the lights. And aren't the lucky thing to have someone to walk with!

Lynn, Eating out is a challenge. Too much to choose from and everything prepared with all the fat and sugar stuff! And our taste buds are accostomed to all that. But after not eating it for awhile, I find my stomach is not.

Kim, I hope you are feeling better.

Carol, Congratulations on passing up the cookies. There will be plenty of other cookies, but right now you're focusing on getting healthy.

Karen, What are your plans for Christmas?

Everyone, Have a Blessed Sunday

Freda

Thanks for the ecard Jess1, I really enjoyed it!

Awwwwww....Thank you so much! I really appreciate you ALL!

Yep, I love celebrating Christmas as it should be celebrated, or any other faith and their celebrations. But the commercialism has got'n in the middle of things and just kinda brings on undue stress that we all could do without. I'm with ya on that one Jess1!

OH NO!
I really do hope you or your DH can fix it!


I'm go'n back to bed now, not much of a night last night with all the coughing.....

Have a GREAT day everyone!

See ya Lighter!
Kim

Hi everyone.

Can I join this thread? I'm 57...will be 58 in June. I'm on Atkins and have been posting on the Atkins forum here but seem to be mostly talking to myself over there lately. So I started looking around to see if I could fit into an additional group as I think I'd like some consistent interaction.

I imagine the entire board is quieter than normal due to the holidays but I've noticed that there are a bunch of smaller groups here that seem to move along regularly and this seems to be one of the very few that I actually qualify for.

deena

Deena Oh yes, Come on in and join us ladies. Love to see another Golden Girl in the group. We're all here for the same reason, trying to lose some weight, eat healthy, get motivated to doing a little more exercising, and get on with life. We have things to do and places to go!

I've only been posting for a week and everyone is very friendly over here.

My DH and I were on Atkins for 5 years and we never felt so good. Only used almond flour for all my baking. Kinda slipped into bad habits, and gained half of what I lost back, but when I went back to Atkins, I couldn't lose to save my life.

So I joined WW for the upteenth time and managed to stick with it for 1 1/2 years to lose 25 pounds. Reached Life Time and held that for a year eating 18 points.

Then dr took me off estrogen and I gained it all back within 8 weeks. My spare tire just blossomed. Couldn't wear any of my clothes. Been trying to find something to get this 25 lbs back off for a couple years and I couldn't manage to stick with anything, or if I did, the scale wouldn't budge. Very discouraging!

Having to deal with the fast weight gain, not being able to wear my pretty clothes I bought after reaching goal from WW, and then starting into menopause with the hot flashes and crying jags.....lets just say, I was not a happy camper.

Then in October I saw an article in the First magazine by Wendy Chant. It's called Crack the Fat Loss Code. I'd never heard of this before, but the ladies in the article were my age and they were losing weight! So I thought, what have I got to lose? It's an 8 week challenge to lose some weight. I'm on week 5 and have lost 13 pounds. I feel great and can wear a few pairs of my jeans again.

Not losing as fast as some, but I'm feeling good about the eating program and have more control over what goes into my mouth.

I'll be 61 in March....gosh, this year went fast!! These numbers are changing to often now. Darn!! It's just a number, right!!

Well, nice meeting you Deena. Chat when you can.
Have a great Sunday!!
Carol

Thank you for the welcome, Carol.

You know, almost the exact same thing happened to me. I used Atkins successfully back in the 90's to lose all the weight from my pregnancies and maintained for about 10 years. Then I was put on a medication that literally shut down my metabolism and I gained 60 lbs. on it....also killed my appetite so I was barely eating and still gaining.

But you just made me think of something that had not occurred to me...I did go through menopause also (between first Atkins and the medication)...never thought to factor that in.
At any rate....I went off the medication and could NOT get the Atkins diet to work for me again. It took me almost 4 years of struggling, trial and error, etc....to finally figure out what the problem was. In fact, it was researching on the net that put me on the right path. And it turned out that NOW, I can ONLY use 3 packs of Splenda a day and must be very strict about this. What in the world happened since the 90's that caused this aberration, I have no idea....but my body almost seems to recognize artificial sweetener as sugar or something along those lines.

Back in the 90's, I could use Equal, eat the Atkins bars, make Atkins desserts with equal, etc...but not now. Once I drastically limited the sweetener, it worked fine again. In the meantime, I became very interested in metabolism, diets, etc. from doing so much researching.

I love reading about all the different diets on this site. I have just recently been reading about the fat smash diet and the crack the fat loss code diet...so I may mix them up a little...but doesn't the crack the fat loss code diet have you be on an Atkins-like diet the first week or 10 days and then gradually add some complex carbs back in? I hope I'm remembering correctly...I've discovered quite a few diets here I'd never heard of before.

In fact...doesn't that diet not only use an Atkins model at the beginning but also employs some calorie shifting principles also? It's really amazing to me how they've managed to figure out how to fool the metabolism, esp. of us older women, into working again, isn't it?

Thanks again for the welcome. I'm really looking forward to meeting everyone here.

deena

Hello Deena. Welcome to the Golden Girls. There's always room for one more here.

Freda, I had a lovely walk with DH last night but tonight it's really raining and slushy. We were at youngest DS's most of the day. DH was fixing DIL's car and I went shopping for a few groceries that were on sale. DIL went with me and we had a grand time together.


Bobbi, can you keep up your stepping on a real step to tide you over until you get your stepper fixed or buy a new one? It seems a shame to drop out with such a perfect record.

This morning I ran for an hour around and around inside the house. That's roughly about 5k. I haven't done that since last March and I was glad I could still do that.

Hope everyone had a good weekend. See you all tomorrow.

Hello everyone. My goodness things get busy! I'm doing fine and hanging in there. My brother had to have his big Standard poodle put down about a month ago. It was pretty sad. He came by today with a new puppy! He got a Coton De Tulear. She is adorable and will only get to be about 12 pounds. Right now she is 2 1/2 pounds!! Ginger and Sissy were curious until like a puppy, she slapped at them, then they decided it was time for her to go home!! She is pure white and feels just like silk!!

My sister is having a Christmas Day brunch at her house. So we will all make something to take over there. It should be a group of about 10 to 15 people, 3 dogs, and a cat! Think I will be leaving Ginger and Sissy home. Too much going on. But they will have fun with their new toys that Santa brings them!! They have already been under the tree checking out presents!! It really is like having two 2 year olds forever!!! LOVE IT!!

I want to get a little baking done tomorrow--- Tim thinks it jsut isn't Christmas without some Christmas cookies. So I will make a few for him, It is funny, I am able to pretty much able leave them alone.

Everyone have a good night and I'll check back tomorrow.

Hi Deena:
"barely eating and still gaining" yep, that was what happened to me. Couldn't understand why. I wasn't doing anything different.

I don't use to much Splenda now, since I'm not baking. I use maybe a couple a day if that. I drink my coffee black and with drinking all my water, I don't have much room for ice tea. But when I was losing fast, I was using quite a bit, but that was before menopause. I was eating cream cheese, heavy whipping cream, butter, bacon, sausage.....and lost 40 lbs. Plus, my cholesterol numbers were the best I've ever had while I was on that woe.

You only do a version of Atkins the first week to clear out all the sugar. You keep your fats to 20 grams and no carbs except what's in the listed that comes from veggies. There is a list in Wendy Chant's book we go by.

We're beginners in this so we're learning as we go along.

You can go to Amazon and look up her book and read the reviews. Very interesting.

I'm not sure about the calorie shifting, but we do the carb cycling. Some days we have carbs once, some days twice....before 3pm. There are other days we eat carbs the last two meals of the day. All this so the body doesn't get to secure in one way of eating and want to grab on to what ever we put in our mouths and go into a starvation mode and turn it to fat.

We eat 4-5 mini meals a day to keep the fires burning.

So far this is working, so I'll give it a good try.

I did want something sweet tonight, so I had a SF fudgesicle. It was a day I could have it. Chocolate sure tasted delicious. I was about ready to raid the choc chips in the bag and that would have been way more calories and fat. I'm fine now.

Glad to have you with us.

Have to do my shopping for Christmas Eve tomorrow. Hope the store isn't to crowded. Going to make lasagna, garlic toast, and a big green salad.

Hi ladies.

Isabella...I have an adorable niece named Isabella. Beautiful name.

Carol...Was it one particular medication that was affecting your weight? And how did the doctor react when you mentioned it?

The doctor was quite resistant to believing me when I complained about this. I am still, to this day, not sure if it was a case of 1) don't question the doctor or 2) this woman can't control her weight and she's trying to blame the medication. But long story short, I ditched the medication AND the doctor.
I have fantasies of losing all the weight and waltzing in there and going SEE? What did I tell you?

I will never, EVER be skeptical if anyone tells me medication caused serious weight gain. I learned the hard way.

Yes, carb cycling...now I remember. Calorie shifting and carb cycling are based on the same premise, I think...to fool your metabolism....so it won't go into starvation mode and slow down. I've been using the calorie shifting for plateaus now...ever since I learned about it here.

You ladies will have to forgive me...but I've become more than just a little fascinated by this whole topic of metabolism, diets, etc....and all the science behind it. I would LOVE to crack the fat loss code myself....especially so I could help older women like us who have to deal with altered metabolism and other challenges. And it's not that it's uncharted territory but there are just SO many different opinions, beliefs and perspectives on this...and the medical community is very slow to change fixed beliefs on nutrition, dieting, etc....and therefore, it's so difficult to know who to believe or which road to take.

This is another reason I love this site....there is just such a wealth of info here and SO many individual case studies that one can track clinical patterns from (I'm a nurse). I'm quite determined to figure out the best ways for women, esp. older women to lose/control weight.

And speaking of observing clinical patterns here, I'm interested in your opinions regarding a pattern I think I might be seeing. It appears to me...and this is just preliminary observation.....that older women like us tend to cheat/fall of the wagon less than younger women. This could be due to a whole variety of reasons....our lives are not quite as hectic, we are older and wiser, we've learned other ways of dealing with stress, we've gained a whole different perspective on life and values, etc. If any of you ladies have read extensively here, have you noticed this also? Thanks.

deena

Good Morning Girls!
I'd like to welcome you Deena to the Golden Girls, our thread is strong most months of the year. Summer time it gets a tad sparse because everyone's outside enjoying the warm weather. Yes to all the variety of reasons you stated, we don't fall off the wagon as easy. I know posting here is very important to me plus counting calories and weighing everything I eat. My digital scale is kept on the kitchen counter year around and most my foods I weigh in grams so I'm pretty exact on the calories I consume. I love Fitday because I can put all ingredients into it and know the calories in soups, crock pot dishes, etc. Another thing that hovers in my mind is how hard and long it took to take it off, It's easier to stay OP keeping that in mind.

[QUOTEThis could be due to a whole variety of reasons....our lives are not quite as hectic, we are older and wiser, we've learned other ways of dealing with stress, we've gained a whole different perspective on life and values, etc. If any of you ladies have read extensively here, have you noticed this also? Thanks.

][/QUOTE]
Jess...I don't have problems loading, it shouldn't take 4 minutes. Do you keep your cp cleaned out? I use RegCure to scan and clean out files daily and I also manually clean out my files. I'll give you directions after I post this.
Isabella...I'm not going to break my perfect record, you can use this "wave' to step up on or do steps on it. After DH finishes watching the morning news, I'm going to put the video in and see what I can do with this thing. There's nothing to hang on to and my balance went out with my youth.
I'm one pound under goal this morning so I'm good to go for all the two Christmas parties, one here at our house and one with my large family at dad's place. He lives in a nursing home but we have access to the lounge where we set up, nice couches and chairs, table and fireplace.
I have treats to make, better get at it. You all have a fantastic day!!

Holiday greetings to one and all! You may have heard about the east coast blizzard??? Oh, my. Snow. What a concept. Why I didn’t relocate before having children whose lives would become entrenched in this part of the country is beyond me. I mean, I could’ve been say, in Albuquerque….or sipping a nice cold drink on a beach in Malibu, or …well, you get the idea. I really think young people in their twenties should never be allowed to make decisions about where to live. They just don’t know enough about the consequences. Sure, snow was great when I was 25 and would head off to the slopes, skiis over my shoulder, happily anticipating freezing my tush off all day long. Now? I don’t THINK so (although my kids never tire of reminding me that there actually are folks who continue skiing well into their eighties and nineties.) Harrumph is what I say to that. There may be, but they’re far and few in between, and I don’t plan to be one of them. Now tell me about an 85-year-old lounging on a nice tropical beach somewhere, and I’m interested. Very.
Saturday afternoon and evening DH and I took our granddaughter, who is nine, and her cousin – our grandson – who is eight, to “Christmas at Old Sturbridge Village”, and we had an absolutely amazing time trekking about in and out of the old reproduction (and some authentic) houses all decked out with candles and lanterns just as it would’ve been in the mid-1800’s. There were wandering carolers, the Budweiser Clydesdales, a Punch and Judy puppet show, visits for the kids with Old Saint Nick, sing-alongs, samplings of hot mulled cider and fruitcake baked on the hearth, hands-on craft stuff like candle dipping and making punched tin candle holders. We got there at 3:00 and never left until 8:30. (There still wasn’t any snow, although they were predicting it all day long). We took the kiddos out to eat and didn’t get them home until almost 10:00 that night. We had SUCH an amazing time, and I’m sure we walked off all the calories we ate afterwards (or do you have to eat and THEN exercise???)
Yesterday we were inundated with snow, and DH & I stayed tucked in the house where we made a few dozen corn, date & pecan, and apple-cranberry cinnamon muffins (froze most of ‘em, ate a few) AND a big vat of chicken soup with low sodium/low fat chicken broth, fresh carrots, onions, celery, mustard greens and black beans. It was/is yummy. I like to make big potsful and then freeze it in individual servings so that I can bring it to work with me for lunches or thaw several for a quick supper.
Which brings me to your comment/observation, Deena, about us older chicks being less likely to fall off the wagon than the younger folks on diets out there. (Welcome to GG’s, by the way!) I’m not sure I could say one way or the other except that at least in my own case, I do fall off from time to time, but when I do, it’s not so great, nor does it last as long as it might have in the past. For one thing, my digestive system really can’t tolerate too much of an overload anymore, because it lets me know in a hurry if I’ve pushed the limits. And, where a fall off the wagon could easily last weeks or even months when I was younger, now a couple of days is about all I can manage. And, somewhat miraculously, I’ve started to really PREFER healthy foods as opposed to junk, which helps keep me eating – and cooking – right. Maybe age does have something to do with it – I don’t know if I’m any wiser, but my body might be.
Hi Carol, not sure if I welcomed you, but consider yourself very welcome to the group. There isn’t a better one on the web, and that’s the truth.
Karen, I think it’s about time for some Christmas pictures of Ginger and Sissy. Think you can do anything about that? Merry Christmas, friend!
Oh, Bobbi. Maybe Santa Claus will bring you a new stepper? Just be as good a girl as you can between now and Christmas morning. Hmmmmm. Hey, did you get that split skirt/gauchos that you ordered on Ebay? Did you like them? I noticed that there was quite a selection in the tinier sizes like YOU wear…my sizes had very limited offerings…sigh.
Isabella, I have put “Apples Isabella” on the Christmas menu. Everybody is very curious. I’m going to add some crushed pecans to the topping and dried cranberries to the apple filling so that it isn’t just a regular apple crisp. Yum. Now THAT is worth a quick jump off the wagon for, but because I add a little ground up Fiber One cereal and use Stevia for sweetening, I like to tell myself that it's really a VERY HEALTHY dessert (and it is, sorta).
That card was just lovely, Donna. Thank you so much for sharing it with us. Merry Christmas!
Kim, I sure hope you’re feeling better. It would be nice to be up and about and feeling more like yourself for Christmas. I’ll be thinking of you.
Welcome, Judy. We’re glad to have you join in. Happy Holidaze!
Hi Freda, dear friend. Oh yes. There’s an awful lot to be happy about this Christmas despite any things we may be missing (I’ve really been feeling sad about my son not being able to make it home this year) but you are so right about recognizing how much we have instead of bemoaning what we don’t have. That little reminder was both needed and greatly appreciated.
Hi Sue AKA Institches – so nice to know your name, and hoping you are able to finish up your shopping today – I’m hoping to do the same thing myself.
Hello, Lynn…wow. You folks really got walloped down there in PA. I hope you stayed warm and dry and got all your gifts wrapped. I’ve always kind of liked being temporarily snowed in; it feels like you can just forget about all the things – errands and such that you SHOULD be doing, and enjoy doing the only thing you can do, which is tuck yourself in and wait it out. It’s pretty, too, if you’re just looking out at it and don’t have to GO out in it.
Merry Christmas to you, Gayle!
Well, back to work for me – I have three days to finish up my latest projects and pack up my office, as we’re moving to a new building at the beginning of the year, and I will be on vacation from this Thursday to January 4th. I’ll be going to work that Monday at our new location.
Have a wonderful day, Golden Girls!

Z