Category: Turning 50

Back on the Weight Watchers Wagon

by Karen, posted in (it's all about the) food, health, Midlife Crisis, Turning 50

I decided to go back on Weight Watchers a few weeks ago. My goals were:

  1. Lose 10 pounds.
  2. Learn the new PointsPlus Program.

That’s it. Not lofty goals by any means. I lost weight with WW several years ago and wanted to nip the current weight-trending-upward thing I’d noticed over the past year in the bud. I had my few favorite low points value”go-to” foods when I did WW the first time, but hel-lo? They are MUCH DIFFERENT now–PointsPlus values are just that: plus. So the daily allotment is higher too, yada yada, but it means that I had to find all new PointsPlus (hereafter referred to as PP’s)  “go-to’s” in addition to the zero points fruits and veggies we all know and love.

So, always up for a challenge, I did. Here they are:

DISCLAIMER: I am a layperson, not a Weight Watchers Rep. I am figuring this out for myself online as I go along.

  1. Pistachio nuts, shelled: 16 are 1 PP. Want to live dangerously? 5 are ZERO PP’s.  Space them out over your day–say, 3 occasions of eating 5 pistachio’s each (maybe breakfast, lunch, and dinner?) and you don’t have to count 15 at all. You’re welcome.
  2. Special K Crackers. I like the multigrain ones (have not tried the other kind). 24 are 3 PP‘s; but 18 are only 2 PP‘s.
  3. A zucchini, diced up and microwaved for 2-3 minutes, then salt and pepper it. ZERO PP‘s. It’s quick and it fills you up.
  4. Sriracha Sauce. 4 T are ZERO PP‘s. Great on anything that needs a little pizzazz (eggs, cold cuts).
  5. Salad. A ZERO PP salad can consist of lettuce, shredded cole slaw mix (plain), diced tomato, bell pepper, 3/4 T of Craisins, 3 olives, sliced mushrooms. Maple Groves Cranberry Balsamic Salad Dressing, 1 T. Okay, so it’s not a lot of dressing. If you have points to spare, use 2T for 1 PP, otherwise, it’s a good compromise if you’re hungry but ate up all your points already.
  6. Lipton’s Cup O’Soup, 1 PP…and a truckload of sodium, but hey, sometimes it’s worth the tradeoff.
  7. Three slices of deli turkey are 1 PP. Roll them up in a lettuce leaf and douse them with Sriracha Sauce.
So, there’s some to start.  Hope you find it helpful.

Do any of you have any Weight Watchers low PointsPlus food suggestions?

Pen pals

by Karen, posted in friends, Midlife Crisis, no fear, Turning 50, writing

I have a new pen pal! It happened like this: I got an email from a reader of one of my myriad online writings. She took a leap of faith and asked if I wanted to correspond, either via email, traditional mail, or both. She shared information about her life, her family, her country.

She is from Germany by way of Italy, and it is through my love of All Things Italian that we came in contact with each other. I was hesitant at first to say too much; after all, you don’t get to be a midlife woman in New England without hearing all sorts of stories of scammers presenting themselves as Something Other Than Who They Are.

But then a funny thing happened: I decided to take a leap of faith too. As part of my year of turning 50, I had previously decided that,when presented with an idea that appeals to me, to just go with it. No whim will be turned away. So I answered her email.

I have had other writing relationships over the years.  When I was in middle school, there was a pen pal in Korea (not sure how I became “pals” with her; probably a school project). When my friend Sheila moved many states away from me (sob!) about 22 years ago, we started writing to ease the pain. We continued, too; even though I stubbornly resisted, we eventually switched to email from legal pads and are still writing to each other nearly every day, all these years later.

Come to think of it, I have many “email pals” among my friends now. We ‘talk’ through texting, emailing, and IM’ing. Since all of us are so busy, it allows me to include my friends in my daily life, friends whom I might otherwise go long stretches of time without seeing.

Hel-lo? In the 22 years since Sheila left, we’ve seen each other in person twice, I think (forgive me if that’s wrong, Sheila, but you know how the midlife memory works–it doesn’t!).

How do you maintain friendships?

Get out of your rut

by Karen, posted in Date night, fitness, local fun, Marriage, Midlife Crisis, no fear, relationships, Turning 50

In the interest of getting out of my rut, my husband and I went away…to the other side of town.

One of the perks was that the facility had a pool. No big whoop for me, because I don’t much like chlorinated pools. My husband does though, so even though it was late (9:30pm is late when you are usually in bed by then), and even though it was freezing out, and even though it was snowing out, and even though we had to walk outside (the equivalent of about 3 blocks, maybe, but still) to get to said pool, and even though I had to put on a bathing suit in February…I went with him.

I took swimming lessons when I was 12, but it never clicked for me. I was always awkward in the water, so do not consider myself a swimmer.

My husband is a great swimmer.

I had planned to sit on the side of the pool and watch him, but he convinced me to swim a little…and guess what?  

I swam the length of the pool 3 times! I enjoyed it! I wanted to stay longer! I didn’t even mind the walk back to the room!

Go figure. Maybe there are things that you can do but haven’t you haven’t tried because you keep telling yourself that you can’t.

What if you can?

Staring down fifty

by Karen, posted in (it's all about the) food, family, friends, Marriage, Midlife Crisis, Turning 50

I’m going to be 50 this year and have been thinking about what I want to do about it. It seems like a great opportunity for it not to be “just another birthday”. I have had a lot of ideas about how to mark the milestone as well as how to celebrate the day. I started my scrapbook for “My Fiftieth Year” and it’s halfway ready to go. I’ll finish setting it up by or on May 19 (at a scrapbooking event with my friend Susan).

I’m worried though, because as I told my friends (Susan, Deb, Elisabeth) and my daughter yesterday: I’m afraid that I have so many ideas that I won’t commit to one and will end up doing nothing. My friend’s husband celebrated his turning 50 by subscribing to “AARP”. Hmmm…I’ll think about that later.

My friend Deb is also turning 50 this year, and I envy her focus. She wants to take a trip, and even knows where she wants to go. This reminded me that I want to take a trip too! I want to go to Italy, to or near Avellino!  But I think I want to be in my home state for my actual birthday. Plus, my husband wants to go someplace else if we take a trip (like Bermuda).

I want to have an Italian birthday cake from La Cascia’s in Burlington, MA, but no one in my immediate family likes this kind of cake. The idea of 50 mini cupcakes (from Somethin’ Sweet in Sanford) surrounding one normal size cupcake (or 6 inch cheesecake?)  with an inscription of some sort would be really cool. That way, there would be something for everyone (read: no complaints that  “I don’t like chocolate!” or “I don’t like vanilla!”…minis can be ordered in many flavors). This is my Plan B.

Sigh. I’m going in circles. I saw somewhere that some people make a “Bucket List” of things to do in their 50th year. That might work.

How do people celebrate turning 50?

Anyone? Anyone?

Scrapbooking

by Karen, posted in (it's all about the) food, Midlife Crisis, Turning 50

I got an email to attend a Scrapbooking Weekend, and even though I’m a novice scrapbooker, I didn’t want to pass up an opportunity to spend a full day with a friend, so I was so happy when I was able to arrange it so that I could attend one of the sessions.

I started thinking about what I would do during my scrapbooking time. I had an idea to set up a scrapbook entitled:  My Fiftieth Year. Kick it off with birthday month and then make a 2 page spread for each month (if there are that many in the book?) and record how I spend the year (so I start off ahead instead of behind!).

I was inspired by two things:

  1. My local library’s recent workshop that I attended to create a vision board.
  2. Meg’s scrapbook pages she calls  Project Life  on her “Our Misadventures” blog. Hmmm…maybe I should call mine Project MidLife? 🙂

I’m on the fence now about whether I should do “2012” and have it span January through December, or start in in May and have it span May 2012 to April 2013. I am also wondering about whether I should have themes that correspond with the month (for example, Christmas for December) or themes corresponding to my interests (food! writing! books!)…maybe, somehow, both?

What do you think?