Kyle Richards’ Black Sequin Floral Gown on Instagram

Real Housewives of Beverly Hills 2021 Instagram Fashion

What I would pay to have seen what’s going on in this photo in IRL. It’s probably almost as much as I would pay for Kyle Richards’ black sequin floral gown (which is $750). Thankfully none of us have to worry about paying that much because we have amazing Style Stealers below. And I’m sure there’s a free video of this floating around somewhere on the internet.

Sincerely Stylish,

Jess

Click Here to Shop Her Bronx and Banco Dress

Photo Credit: @kylerichards18

Originally posted at: Kyle Richards’ Black Sequin Floral Gown

Here we are in our 60s, finally done with raising a family, if we chose to do that, and perhaps enjoying grandchildren now. We are done with the responsibilities of a professional life… or at least one that we must pursue to provide for ourselves and family and build our professional identity.

It is time to kick back, have fun, and relax. We can sleep in if we want or read for an entire afternoon. Some of us must augment our retirement income, but relative to most of the world we enjoy many privileges of the good life. This is the glorious time we have waited for all these years. We have earned our comfort.

The reality is that this phase of life in the 21^st century can last 20-30 years. Might there be more to experience than comfort? When I talk with women about what they desire to create during this era, I often (but not always) hear that they don’t want any more obligations, including creating anything that might be one. Well, after the intensity of the work and family responsibilities we have carried, that certainly is reasonable.

Let’s unpack what obligation means. To be obliged is to be bound by a promise or duty. Most of the obligations we have experienced in life relate to our duty to our families and work and/or volunteering. What if we focused on the “promise” side of obligation?

The Promise of Meaning

Our phase of life presents us with the most freedom ever to bring meaning into our lives. What if you lived the rest of your life with a promise to yourself to live it fully? To be and do everything you are here for?

Doing this feels very different from an obligation based on duty. The obligation of promise is entirely self-authorized. If it does not help you feel more vital and happy, then adjust your choice.

For example, when I first retired, I decided to earn my extra money by continuing to teach. In other words, I didn’t let go of my duty-based form of obligation. My energy depleted and retired life seemed bleak.

Once I learned to listen to myself, I discovered a desire for creativity and a different use of my talents. I decided to lead with what my heart counseled and allow myself to serve in ways that bring me joy.

What does your heart counsel? Notice what you desire.

The Choice

We each have choices about what we consider to be the meaning of our lives. We have a choice about how to live. There is no right answer; the personal answer is certainly not found in the advice of society, the media, or friends. The answer is yours.

One place to turn is to notice your desires. What do you desire more of? Perhaps it is more calm, fulfillment, health, creativity, friends, love, meaning, or adventure. Your desires and areas of dissatisfaction are messages from your life energy to you. Follow those desires to flourish in our phase of life.

It might be that the rewards of flourishing outweigh any moments when we may not be as comfortable as if we did not pursue what we desire. Or, perhaps we relish the daily ease to choose what feels most pleasant and are content in that lifestyle.

The point is to be fully and thoughtfully responsible for the life we create in our 60s, 70s, 80s and beyond. Make your choice mindfully given what is most important to you, rather than avoiding discomfort.

In the ideal, if I asked you, “What do you want to create in your life?”, your response is based on what will be most meaningful in your life, rather than about avoiding feeling obligated.

How do you manage contentment with flourishing? Is reframing obligation as a promise to your life, rather than a duty, helpful?

Kitty, age 64, carried a shameful secret since retiring early – she had become an overeater. She had worked in Los Angeles as newspaper editor most of her adult life. Her average work weeks were 60-plus hours.

She had a love-hate relationship with her job ever since social media had taken over the news industry, and she no longer could rest on her old fashioned and outdated work skills. Retiring just seemed to be the easy way out that would save face.

Something Was Wrong and Help Was Needed

Despite the fact that she’d been an avid exerciser, prided herself in eating healthy, had a marriage others considered “great,” Kitty was secretly losing control – filling her days with binge eating. Binge eating and watching TV until her spouse, Richard, who was still working at his career, came home each night was now her post retirement norm.

Worse yet, with no reason to go to bed early for work, she often stayed up alone watching even more TV and eating entire packages of snack foods like carb-loaded cookies and crackers.

A once smart journalist, she decided to go see a dietitian to investigate how to get help, but she just couldn’t follow along with the new diet plan she was given. She frequented the local Barnes and Noble and began reading all kinds of books with various diet plans. Yet, she kept returning to being influenced by her “overeating demons.”

How Do We Get to a Food Addiction?

Why is it that so many women, especially women past 60, struggle with food addictions?

One theory focuses on the fact that after decades of serving as caregivers and of putting others first, multi-tasking, and never being able to complete our to do list, women over 60 have simply reached the point where they can’t see a way to go back to their younger days of self-care and self-awareness.

In Kitty’s case:

• She’s avoided the scale for years.
• She’s worried about the future and her budget spending, not willing to spend money on healthier food options.
• She feels drained mentally and emotionally needing to catch up rest.
• The clothes that used to fit for work are tighter and no longer needed.
• The exercise classes/workouts are much harder and filled with too many young women.
• The stress causes yo-yo dieting brought on by events like family weddings, school reunions and more.

Emotional overeating is actually quite common in older women. We’re now grandmas and systematic drinking and recreational drugs are probably not the type of thing we turn to as role models for our kids and grandkids.

We love them, so we bake for them. We cook for them and offer them treats. So why not do the same for ourselves along the way? Food is something everyone needs and is good for you, right? We make the excuses, and we turn to food to help us deal with whatever is going on in our life.

While some skinny women struggle to maintain a healthy weight, there are many of us that have become emotional overeaters. Worse yet, our family members and caregivers tend to not help us balance our physical and emotional needs.

They usually cater to one or the other and not always in the healthiest of ways. My adult kids, for example, like to outdo each other on holidays by seeing who can buy mom the biggest box of her favorite chocolates.

What Causes Our Emotional Overeating?

Let’s examine the obvious first. Our society associates food with pleasurable activities like birthday parties, Mother’s Day, Valentine’s Day, gatherings, special events and even formal ones like fundraisers and banquets. We’re taught from a very young age, mostly by nurturers in our lives like our own grandparents, that food can soothe our hurt feelings and bring us comfort at the same time.

Fast forward a few decades and we’re older, dealing with lots of negative emotions, like stress, frustration, loneliness, and boredom. We soothe ourselves like children – with food – to fill up the emptiness and bury these uncomfortable feelings.

Emotional overeating forces us as seniors to ignore our emotional needs and often prevents us from getting real help – especially if the emphasis is placed by others on our weight or aches and pains and not what is paining our hearts.

Recognize Your Own Emotional Overeating Symptoms

Ask yourself a few honest questions when examining your own relationship with food and your mental health:

• What do you like to do when you feel stressed or frustrated?
• What do you like to do when you are bored or lonely?
• When do you eat the most during the day?
• Are you eating according to your daily needs?
• Do you finish the entire container of food in one sitting, completely ignoring the portion and calorie information on the package?
• Are you constantly looking for snack food, even when you aren’t hungry?
• What snacks have you had this week? Did they make you feel better or worse?
• When you snack, are you still hungry for meals?

These kinds of questions can help you gain insights that you can discuss with your doctor or therapist. Our emotional overeating is less about the food and satisfying food cravings and more about using food to fulfill emotional needs and avoid dealing with our own negative feelings.

Practical Things You Can Start Doing Today to Help

#1: Face Your Excess Body Fat Fears

Overeating is closely linked to excess body fat and obesity due to your body being in a calorie surplus. To avoid fat gain, focus on lean proteins and non-starchy vegetables at meals.

#2: Stop Disrupting Your Own Hunger Regulation

Chronic overeating overrides hormones that control fullness and hunger, which makes it difficult for you to determine when your body needs fuel. You can counteract this effect by portioning out certain feel-good foods that satisfy you and eat them at a slower pace to allow your body to register it is feeling full.

#3: Focus Less on Food and More on Your Risk for Disease

Obesity, defined as having a body mass index (BMI) of 30 or above, is a main risk factors for metabolic syndrome. This cluster of conditions raises your chances of having heart disease and other health problems, such as diabetes and stroke.

Your doctor can see indicators of metabolic syndrome most commonly as high levels of fat in your blood, elevated blood pressure, insulin resistance, and inflammation.

#4: Fatten Your Brain, Not Your Body

Over time, overeating may harm brain function which is already at risk for dementia and Alzheimer’s. Given that your brain comprises of approximately 60% fat, eating healthy fats like fatty fish, avocados, nut butters, and olive oil may help prevent mental decline.

#5: Realize Your Eyes Really Are Bigger Than Your Stomach

The adult stomach is about the size of a closed fist and can hold about 2.5 ounces when empty. It can expand to hold around a quart. Once past that amount of food, we often feel the urge to literally get sick. While our “friends” Milk of Magnesia and Pepto Bismol may treat these symptoms, the best thing we can do is eat slower and eat smaller portions to keep us from getting sick in the first place.

#6: Eat That Burrito Calmly and Drink That Soda Slowly

There’s a reason the media and Hollywood often make jokes about seniors being “gassy.” Gas-producing food items like carbonated drinks and beans, along with certain vegetables and whole grains, are generally a problem as our stomach starts to wear out. And, if we are eating them fast as “fast food,” our bloating increases even more.

So, slow down you’re eating and wait until after meals to drink if you want to feel your best.

#7: Avoid Food Related Napping

We all know that overeating or eating a big meal can make you sluggish or tired but what it is actually doing is causing your blood sugar to dip.

Eat smaller, more frequent meals and only nap when you’re truly tired, not when your stomach is full.

There’s Real Help for Emotional Overeating

We most often turn to emotional overeating because we don’t know the right way to deal with new situations, like aging, in life the right way. With the help of others, we can stop allowing food to become our temporary solution to negative emotions and bad feelings.

We can return to or “amp up” healthy things in our lives like interacting with friends, engaging in hobbies and enjoying our independences. These first few steps are likely to chase away many of the negative emotions that can trigger our emotional overeating.

Get healthy meals at your senior center or Meals on Wheels programs. Make a plan to not eat alone whenever possible. We watch what we eat when we’re around others And, if you find sometimes you must eat alone, set a full place setting and flowers. Even these small reminders will help you realize how important you are.

If you still find yourself struggling, reach out to 12-Step Programs like Overeaters Anonymous (OA). Better yet, find a meeting in your area and go check it out.

If you’re overeating and have other addictions like alcohol or other substances, a gender specific residential or outpatient program like the ones offered at New Directions for Women can definitely help give you the support you need to tackle each addiction, one at a time.

Perhaps you’re snacking alone while you are reading this blog. I challenge you to get out the list of 7 things you can do to gain control over your eating addiction and work on just one. You will feel better both physically and emotionally with each step you take. I promise. So do it now and don’t make me eat my words.

What does emotional eating mean to you? What feelings make you reach out for food when you don’t need to eat? Do you think of this as food addiction or is it something else? What tools do you use to curb your need to eat when not hungry?

Kyle Richards’ Purple Face Mask on Her Instastories

Real Housewives of Beverly Hills 2021 Instagram Beauty

I’m sure Kyle Richards needed her purple face mask after her long and busy weekend. My skin felt worn out just looking at all the festivities via Instagram. Just kidding my skin was very much relaxed and plopped on the couch all weekend. But either way it still doesn’t hurt to keep it hydrated whether you’re in or out. And thankfully Kyle quenched our thirst for more info on an amazing sheet mask by sharing her fav below.

Sincerely Stylish,

Jess

Click Here to Shop Her Knesko Hydrating Face Mask 4 Pack

Photo + ID Credit: @kylerichards18

Originally posted at: Kyle Richards’ Purple Face Mask

I’ll be the first to admit that finding gift ideas for women over 60 is tough – even when you’re one yourself! As I’ve gotten a little older, I’ve started to notice that buying presents for my friends has become more difficult. Maybe women over 60 place less value on material things. Or, maybe our tastes simply change as we age.

What Are the Best Gift Ideas for Women Over 60, Really?

Fortunately, as the founder of Sixty and Me, a community of over 500,000 women over 60, I have plenty of people to turn to for ideas. So, to help you choose the perfect gift for the women over 60 in your life, I asked the other members of the community what they considered to be the best gifts.

Many of their answers were unexpected, and I hope that the information here helps you to choose a gift that your older friend, mother, sister, or grandmother will love.

Looking for the best birthday gifts for a women over 70? See: 50 Gift Ideas for 70th Birthday.

First, a Few Words of Gift-Buying Advice

There’s a saying in medicine to “first do no harm,” and the same can be said for choosing presents for “older women.”

One of the worst things that you can do is to choose a gift based on aging stereotypes or, worse, “anti-aging” messages. So, before you start searching for cookware, skin cream, bath salts, or knitting wool, take the time to understand the unique personality of the special woman in your life.

Speaking of which, women over 60 want to own things that reflect their interests and personality. After six decades of gathering “stuff,” many of us are downsizing our lives and only have time for objects which we, in the words of William Morris: “know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful.” The last thing we want is more clutter around the house, just at a time when we’re trying to get organized.

So, if more “stuff” isn’t the answer, what is? Our passions. Most women over 60 have at least one or two things that we are crazy about. Some of us are collectors. Others have hobbies or activities that we couldn’t live without.

If you want to impress us, take the time to understand what is important in our lives.

When you do, you will give us two presents – the experience or object that you choose and the knowledge that you care enough to see us as people, not as a demographic.

One final piece of advice before I share some specific ideas – don’t feel like you need to spend a lot of money on gifts for women over 60. More than any other group, most of us appreciate the thought behind a gift. When in doubt, creating something that shows your love and attention will always make us happy.

So, all that said, here are a few unexpected gift ideas for women over 60:

Give Her a New Experience

Most women over 60 are more adventurous than you think. We’re certainly more adventurous than we are portrayed in the movies! While we still appreciate objects that are “useful or beautiful,” most of us are interested in filling our lives with as many experiences as we can.

Think about the special older woman in your life. Is there a unique place that she would love to go? Perhaps you could buy her a bus pass to go on a day trip or weekend adventure. Or, how about a massage, helicopter ride, or boat cruise?

I’m not saying that all women over 60 would love to take a helicopter ride. That’s not the point!

I’m simply saying that you shouldn’t eliminate adventurous options without thinking about her unique personality and interests first.

If you are looking for inspiration, check out Tinggly, an “experience” gift site. They offer a variety of unexpected “experiential” gift ideas, and there are plenty of similar sites throughout the world.

How about a Lobster and Beer cruise in New York? You won’t go far away, there won’t be too many people around and you will enjoy the summer season on the waves.

Or maybe a wildlife safari adventure in Wyoming? You’ll be surrounded by nature – the perfect location to socially distance while still soaking fresh air and vitamin D.

Give the Gift of Style

Despite what the many aging stereotypes might suggest, many women over 60 still love style and fashion. Most of us love to present our unique personalities to the world through the clothes that we wear every day.

Once again, since women over 60 are as different as the stars in the sky, it’s difficult to suggest specific stores for you to purchase items or a gift certificate from. Some women love classical styles, while others have embraced vintage clothing.

Your best bet is to casually ask her where she loves to shop and present her with a gift card she can use in-store (if she prefers to go to a physical location) or online.

Need some clothing store inspiration? See: Best Clothing Stores for Women Over 50.

Give Her the Gift of Health and Balance

Nothing is more important after 60 than staying healthy. When you feel good in your body, you are more likely to stay social, explore, and pursue your passions.

At the same time, many women in their 60s find the idea of going to the gym about as exciting as the prospect of spending time in the dentist’s chair.

Fortunately, there are plenty of healthy gift options that don’t involve weights or running machines!

Consider getting her a National Parks Senior Pass – with 62 official protected National Parks in 29 states they provide hiking trails, picnic spots, camping spots and guided tours.

Give Her a New Skill

Women over 60 love to learn. Is there something that she has always wanted to do? Perhaps she keeps talking about learning how to cook a certain cuisine? Or, maybe she has always wanted to take an art class? Whether she is interested in sushi or oil painting, learning a new skill will be a gift that she will remember forever.

Master Class offers a variety of classes with professionals in numerous fields. A cooking class with Gordon Ramsey? Photography tips and tricks from Annie Leibovitz? Let her choose her new skill.

Give Something a Little Risqué

If you are dating or married to this woman, she might appreciate a gift that touches on the sensual side. After all, another myth about older women is that they no longer care about sex or being desirable. Nothing could be further from the truth.

So, why not nourish her sensual side by giving her some fun lingerie or a risqué book like Fifty Shades of Grey, Gone Girl, or classic erotica like Delta of Venus by Anais Nin.

See also: Lingerie Guide for Older Women.

A slightly tamer, but no less sensual option, is to create a custom perfume just for her. Check out The Greatest Smell Ever for more details on how to create a customized perfume. These gift ideas for women over 60 aren’t for everyone, but you’ll know whether it makes sense.

Give Something Creative

The first step to choosing an “unexpected” gift is to abandon the tire stereotypes about what “older women” want. Once you take the time to truly understand her passions and personality, it’s time to apply your creative skills to choosing the perfect gift. Is there a small luxury or experience, related to one of her passions, which she would never pay for herself?

Can you give her a memory that she will keep with her for years to come? Don’t go for the lazy option. Even a hand-written card or homemade gift is better than a gift based on a tired cliché.

Get creative!

Give Something Inspirational

Women in their 60s are often going through a particular challenge in life, whether it’s a divorce, the end of a career, or unexpected health problems. These women would be particularly appreciative of your love and support.

If she is going through a transition in her life, consider buying an inspirational book by authors such as Pema Chodron, Deepak Chopra, Tony Robbins, the Dalai Lama, or Thích Nhất Hạnh. Add a hand-made candle to the package for women who like to meditate.

Once again, the physical gift is just a small part of the present. Giving the perfect gift is all about showing that you care!

There are many gift ideas for women over 60. Just remember to make your choice personal, creative, and insightful. When you take the time to pick something personal, you show how much you really care. And, at the end of the day, that’s all that women over 60 want!

What do you think are the best gift ideas for women over 60? What’s the best gift you’ve received recently? Please leave a comment below and let us know.