“Patience, persistence and perspiration make an unbeatable combination for success” –Author Napoleon Hill

LEAVE A COMMENT 2015 December 1

Not surprisingly, my Facebook feed this weekend was filled with posts about holiday overeating.

Everyone jokes about it, beginning at Thanksgiving, but the laughing usually stops right after the start of the new year, when zippers are harder to pull up and spirits are on the way down.

Anyone who reads my blog knows I wasn’t waiting until 2016 to deal with my ever-expanding belly. I didn’t need a holiday to give me an excuse to indulge in my favorite carb-laden foods, which I’d been doing for much of this year. Give me wonderful, warm homemade bread, slathered with salted butter, and I’m in heaven. Place a just-out-of-the-oven, thin-sliced pizza before me, bearing three cheeses and sweet sausage, and I’m in ecstasy. Offer me a fresh, flaky pastry, swirling with raisins, cinnamon and butter, and I won’t hesitate to gobble it down in seconds. (more…)

[Flab Over Fifty] My Belly: 1988 V. 2015

LEAVE A COMMENT 2015 November 17

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This photo was taken in the summer of 1988, when I was 41 years old, and weighed about 129 pounds.

My 69-year-old father had died a few months before, and I had lost 50 pounds on a liquid-protein diet which I began around the first of the year.  I remember feeling pretty darn good about my body, although it was a confusing time in my life.

Enough psychology. My 40-year-old belly was a far cry from my belly of today. Although I will never weigh 129 pounds again, and my belly will never be as flat, I have a ways to go before I’ll  be satisfied with the shape it’s in. Back then, heart disease, diabetes, and a host of other potential maladies weren’t on my radar screen. Today, I know that excess weight can be an enemy, and I am determined to get rid of it.   (more…)

[Flab Over Fifty] My Journey, Inch By Inch By Inch

LEAVE A COMMENT 2015 November 12

My belly, at its widest, currently measures 43”, which is 2.5” smaller than it was five weeks ago, when I started my battle against the belly. If I can lose 2.5” every five weeks, I should reach my goal of 36” in about four months. It’s definitely not a speedy process, but there’s no other way to achieve my mission, except to continue exercising and eating well.BEFORE

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[Flab Over Fifty] My Belly-Busting Journey Continues!

LEAVE A COMMENT 2015 November 3

I’m ending Week 4 of my belly-busting routine, and I’m starting to see a difference in my body, based on how my ‘boyfriend” jeans fit.

They’ve been mighty tight in the legs and around my waist the last few months, forcing my muffin top to pooch out in all its glory. Now, I have more legroom, and my muffin top definitely looks smaller. I also no longer have to struggle to raise the zipper. They’ve fit a lot looser than they do now, but at least I’m on the way to a trimmer body.

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[Flab Over Fifty] My Belly Fat Is Driving Me Crazy. Is Yours?

LEAVE A COMMENT 2015 October 27

For those of you just joining us, this is the second installment of an ongoing “journal” I’m keeping on my program to eat right, stay in shape, and reduce my belly! It will please me if I can inspire even one other women to be a belly buster. Catch up by reading last week’s entry.

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I’m three weeks into my belly-busting regimen, and more (or less) over my continual craving for carbs. I say more or less because it’s pretty hard for me to go totally carb-less. So although I haven’t had a bite of bread, a cookie crumb, or a strand of spaghetti (from David’s plate) in 21 days, I’ve had a few teaspoons of jam, straight from the jar (George Costanza would definitely accuse me of “double dipping), and a couple of clementines.

I’m eating roast chicken; fish like salmon and tuna tartare; salads with balsamic vinegar and olive oil; homemade vegetable soups like broccoli and squash (made in a Vitamix without butter, milk or cream), and coffee with heavy cream (won’t ever deny myself heavy cream in my coffee).

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[Flab Over Fifty] I’m Baring My Belly. Would You Dare To Bare Yours?

LEAVE A COMMENT 2015 October 21

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I know I’m far from alone when it comes to the business of bellies. It’s one of the unfortunate things that “pop up” after menopause. Even thin women get bellies!  When we post an article about belly fat, it invariably gets thousands and thousands of views.

Although I started a four-times-a-week cardio-and-weights regimen nine months ago, with my beloved LA trainer Vann Duke (over Skype), I knew that if I persistently attacked the baked goods that David continually buys, my belly wasn’t going anywhere.  (BTW, I can’t blame the baked goods entirely.  I’ve indulged in foods like pizza, ice cream, caloric frozen yogurt, far too long.)
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