How timely !! good for you for shaming her in responding !!

I was inspired by an Ironman challenge that I witnessed in Mt Tremblant 2 weeks ago. No way can I do what they did but it motivated me to push myself harder. I'm still dealing with my lower back pain and I move around a lot but my formal gym routine has been cut down, I'm trying to see what can leave me slightly sore but not too sore. Foodwise I am always conscious of my choices and am surrounded by people who eat well; at the same time, we eat out a lot so it's not difficult to sneak in a piece of crusty bread, lol. I've cut down a lot on my sugar intake, I'm happy with that.

All in all I'm maintaining my weight but I feel thicker around the waist, I do have to kick start my gym training. I am golfing today but aim to start back at the gym tomorrow morning, and get back to training more vigourously 4 times a week, I feel stronger and better when I do.

it feels good to write this, thanks for the opportunity !

I just finished reading (with highlighter in hand) Andrew Weil's book, Eating Well For Optimum Health. I feel newly motivated to really change my eating habits, which weren't too bad before, but I have been feeling sort of draggy and flabby so something has to change. I've decided to not "diet" because when I do, I obsess about food too much and focus too much on how I'm being deprived. So I'm focusing instead on eating a lot more fruits and veggies, a lot less packaged foods, and avoiding "the white stuff" as much as possible.

I spent many weeks at our beach place this summer, and did a lot of walking, 2-3 miles most mornings, very briskly with my disco music on my iPod. I had ice cream maybe twice, and I had made a "no fries, no chips" pact with myself that I only broke twice. Usually I gain 3-5 lbs every summer because of these foods, and others. Well, I didn't gain any weight this summer but I also didn't lose. My goal, now that summer is almost over, is nudge the scale down. It is so hard to lose weight over 40! I'm 47 and have gained almost 10 lbs since turning 40, so I need to stop this trend ASAP.

I did lose 2 lbs when I was doing a gluten free trial, but as soon as I stopped, the 2 lbs came back.

PS for anyone who remembers my stomach issues from earlier this year, they suddenly went away. Six months of daily (afternoon/evening) stomach bloating, ache, gas -- tried dairy free, tried gluten free, and none of it worked -- suddenly just stopped around mid June. So strange! I'm still eating very little dairy, though, because I do think I'm a bit lactose intolerant.

Thanks for starting this discussion again, hh. I enjoy reading about what others are doing.

I was wondering how everyone was doing and was planning on searching for one of the original threads. (Thanks for saving me the trouble.)

Sueb - what were some of the hints in the book that you just read? Is it a sensible book - by that I mean rather than a fad diet book? And you might not have lost weight but perhaps you are a little more toned with more muscle - and that's a good thing. I lost 42 lbs at 56 and now at 59 have kept it off. I blamed the weight gain on my youngest son and called it pregnancy weight that I never lost.;)

It took high blood pressure for me to take the extra weight seriously. I was already active with running and gym classes and so had to look at my diet. It was fairly healthy but just too many calories in it. All I did was to delete my 10:00 am snack (it was fun but unnecessary), changed my 4:00 snack from cheeses and crackers to fruit and cut out the second helpings at dinner. It took some research and some discipline and 9 months but I did it.

hhireno - I run in the trails with some friends 3x a week and it really ticks us off when people don't respond to our cheery "Good Mornings!". There was an article in our morning paper about running etiquette and that is one of the things that was mentioned as being poor etiquette - not acknowledging other runners. Good for you for keeping at it.

"Are you up-to-date on your medical exams?" No and thanks for reminding me. Better make that "down there" appointment as I am overdue.

Well I have a whole new twist on health and life. I found a pelvic mass in June - actually I found it in April but decided in June I better get it checked ASAP rather than waiting for my next regular appt. Ultrasound showed a large ovarian mass and exactly two weeks later I had a total abdominal hyster. Fortunately I didn't have ovarian ca which I was afraid of but unfortunately I have a rare type of endometrial cancer - endometrial stromal sarcoma. So the prognosis for this isn't too bad - its often treated with hormonal therapy not chemo because it's slow growing. So for about a month I've been taking this medication that is also used as an appetite stimulant for very sick HIV and cancer patients. It is literally life saving for these people because it gets them to eat and gain weight. So in my ase weight gain is one of the stated side effects - secondary to the appetite stimulant effect of course.

So anyway I was fortunate to have quick and easy recovery from surgery and am back to all my usual exercise. I am however now quite preoccupied with food and could eat a ton if I let myself. I've "talked" to people online who had to quit taking this medication because they gained 60-70 lbs! Yikes!! So far with continued rigorous tracking of exercise and food consumption I've kept things under control.

You never know how your life might change from one day to the next so best to make the most of each new day.

Gibby, you have the most wonderful attitude!

I wonder if your being in such good physical shape from your exercise routine helped you recover from surgery so quickly.

" You never know how your life might change from one day to the next so best to make the most of each new day." Oh, that is so very true.

Wishing you the very best in your recovery and I hope you know you are such an inspiration!!!!!!(btw..I still remember your kitchen and it is one of my all time favorites :))

With regard to my exercise and health routine..I continue to do cardio almost every day and lift weights every other day. We just got a new kitten, so that's an additional work out :-)!

Hi everyone. I may not be the best about checking in, but I have been working on being healthier (I think I responded once before). I spent most of July in France and actually lost a little weight. No snacks and lots of walking made the difference, I think. I still want to lose about 10-15 pounds. I am trying to continue with the no snacks thing and I do my weights every other day or so. Now that school has started again (teachers went back last week), I am thinking of getting up early to do my weights (10 minutes) and then doing a 1.5 mile loop through the neighborhood with the dogs. So far, that is as far as I've gotten---thinking about it. I am eating a yogurt with fresh fruit for breakfast as opposed to my old breakfast of cookies. That's a good thing.

Anyway, sounds like you are all doing great! School will be the test for me. We'll see how the healthy eating goes once I am busy busy busy and tired tired tired. :)

Oh my, Gibby! What a summer for you. I hope that more than half the battle to avoid the drug related weight gain is your healthy lifestyle. The fact that you already monitor your eating and you routinely exercise have to be positive factors in your recovery and offer some resistance to excessive weight gain. I wish you the best of health and luck.

sueb,
I, too, would be interested in hearing some of Dr. Weil's suggestions. I made a few changes to my eating after reading Mindless Eating by Brian Wansink and The Small Change Diet by Keri Gans. I lost 1.5 pounds since mid July that I credit to my small changes, which basically fall into the cutting back of portions idea.

cyn,
As this thread shows, there are always plenty of people interested in being healthy. Maybe you can start a support type group at school to help you stay inspired. You and the dog will be happier if you take that morning walk. (Easy for me to say since I don't have squeeze in exercise on a cold, dark morning before a full day of work.)

mitchdesj, bflenton, marlene:
Thanks for responding. As you know from my post, I would have just hounded you until someone replied to me.

Gibby, so sorry for what you've been going through.

Okay, here are some highlights from the Andrew Weil book, which seems to have a lot of common sense....and has a lot more in-depth info than what I'm writing here!

Here's a quote I liked: " Americans need to eat a more cleansing diet. We're especially top-heavy in processed foods as opposed to whole foods and in doughy, bready things. And we eat huge portions of everything."

He talks quite a bit about high and low glycemic index foods. And good carbs vs bad carbs. Says "bread and pastries [are] major contributors to the epidemic of obesity and cardiovascular disease..." and "white flour products are one of the unhealthiest creations of food technology."

He gives a lot of info like what % of your daily calories should come from carbs, protein, fiber, etc.

Talks about the evils of high fructose corn syrup and partially hydrogenated oils.

Basmati and converted rice are better than regular or sticky rice.

Eat more beans.

Eat walnuts. Best are raw, natural, unsalted. You can dry roast portions yourself in your oven.

Recommends almond butter over peanut butter.

Talks a lot about vitamins and supplements, too much to go into here but I have added a couple to my repertoire.

Suggests eating fish containing omega-3 at least 2-3 days a week. If not, concentrate on vegetable sources of omega-3 (walnuts, flax seeds, etc).

Talks about the evils of butterfat, such as in cheese and ice cream.

Suggests 40 grams of fiber/day.

He doesn't give a specific diet plan but does give some sample daily meal menus, and has several good recipes at the end of the book. Basically he says the best way to start eating better is to cut way down on foods made with sugar and flour.

And one of my favorite tips: when reading lists of ingredients in packaged foods, avoid anything that doesn't have ingredients that you'd have in your own kitchen.

Sueb20 - thanks for the summary. sounds like a good sensible book so I think I'll take a look at it.

A friend of mine was just diagnosed as prediabetic and a lot of things that her doctor has suggested are on your list from the book.

I remember Michael Pollan saying "Eat food, not too much, mostly plants" and by food he means food and not food-like substances. He also commented that if your grandmother wouldn't recognize it as food, don't eat it. He also suggested that if it doesn't rot or go bad it probably isn't food. i.e. Twinkies aren't food.

Loved the Michael Pollan book too. Even if I've heard most of it before, I find it helpful to read these types of books once or twice a year to refresh my memory about what I should be doing!