55-65 year old women's success?

griffinca2

Just remember that it was the turtle that won the race; not the rabbit.

pstegman888

Cheryl, I had hip replacement 2 yrs ago. What really helped my swelling was constantly drinking water (which also gave me plenty of exercise shuffling back & forth to the bathroom, lol!) and keeping a gel ice pack on my leg almost continuously. (I had 2 or 3 that I rotated, so one was always frozen.) Even at night, I would wedge it against my leg using a towel or blanket. It helped relieve pain and reduce swelling. And as long as you aren't constantly snacking on junk food, I wouldn't worry about cutting calories right now...your body needs the extra nutrition to heal (especially protein). Even though it feels like you are not doing much physical activity, remember that everything takes a lot more effort, so you are likely expending more calories than you think. I remember how wonderful it felt to finally be able to sleep in my own bed...here's hoping you will soon be able to achieve that!
~ Pat

ilikegardens

Pat, that's great advice!

Cheryl, I hope you're able to go to a park this weekend. And enjoy!

griffinca2

Cheryl, pstegman is right about the calories; when I broke my wrist my husband had to fix dinner (so I had to eat whatever he sat in front of me). Most of it was ok, but not all of it was what I was eating before the accident (read some of it was frozen meals). Any way I ended up losing over three lbs.; I' 5'3" and weigh between 116 & 117 now. I'm over 60 and don't need to weight 111/113 lbs.; 116/117 is fine. I had to over eat to get the weight back up. Mine was only my wrist (much smaller than the hip) so your body needs the cals to rebuild. My prayers are with you on a speedy recovery!

Cheryl7777

Thanks so much everyone for your advice and support. I'm using ice and drinking water. I just need to be patient. It takes time to get back to normal but of course I want to be back to normal now. My daughter and grandson did take me out today. We had breakfast at our favorite place and the bought 3 new apple trees. My grandson was so careful and supportive of me. He walked with me and helped me get out of the chair at the restaraunt. He really is so considerate. I waited in the car while they went into the greenhouse because the ground was too rough for my walker. It just felt so good to get out and do something normal. Heck just putting on my tennis shoes for the first time in 3 weeks was awesome. I'm going to weigh in next week though and get back to restricting my calories. I think I'll set my goal to 1 pound a week for awhile instead of 2.

AnnPT77

I have to say, in retrospect I wish I had gone to maintenance calories (or at least close) for a month while I was healing (from gallbladder surgery, which was quite a minor thing). Nothing terrible happened, but I think I got more dragged-out fatigued than was healthy by trying to maintain a substantial deficit at that point. That had a cost in terms of workout effectiveness (once I was cleared to work out), among other things. My body needed more calories, and probably more protein, in order to heal. No long-term damage, but it was a low period.

@Cheryl7777, I think you're on the right track by limiting the aggressiveness of your goal for a while. Your surgery was much more intrusive than mine.

Cheryl7777

@AnnPT77 thank you for sharing your experience. I really do think that's the best idea for now. Nothing wrong with slow and steady. The main thing is I don't want to just give up and throw in the towel.

zbernie

Thanks all for sharing. I am aiming for a 90 lb loss. 5 down so far

odirish

Hi I belong to this group but I'm mostly a lurker. I have been beating myself up trying to lose this weight. I am currently at 193 and my goal is 145/150. I have problems sticking to any sort of diet. I have no willpower. I lift weights (for 18 years now) but diet is 90% of the success. I don't really have any questions, I'd just like to follow along.

1Nana2many

@odirish, First and foremost, stop beating yourself up! After a lifetime as an adult of being overweight, I think I have caused myself far more damage by mentally beating myself up over my failures then my actual overeating! Be a little more kind to yourself and understand that you are making some major changes in how you look at food. While I have not really been a yo-yo dieter, I have lost a serious amount of weight before only to gain it back because my life became too stressful and I let myself and my needs be pushed to the back burner. I was not forced to do this by some other person, but I just kept giving up on my own goals because they seemed too hard and sometimes (now) I think I was better at being a martyr to my family's needs. I guess with age comes a little wisdom.

I've decided if I don't want to be a medical statistic on women and heart attacks, I need to take control of my weight and stop shoving food in. I knew, this time, I had to be able to live long-term with the "diet" I was going on, and that it had to include all the foods I love. I really haven't changed the foods I eat a lot. I just don't eat as much of them as I used to. I do stick pretty close to my 1200 calorie daily goal. I try not to eat out of boredom which I did a lot of before I started tracking my calories. I am an admitted sugaraholic, and I keep Rice Krispie Treats in the house and even in my purse to snack on when I just have to have something sweet. It keeps me from stopping and buying something much higher in calories and it has more bulk than a cookie! I also keep lower calorie cheese sticks in the fridge when I just have to have something. I eat 1%cottage cheese, because fat free tastes awful to me, I love steamed cauliflower and cheese and it is a regular on the grocerie list even though my husband hates cooked cauliflower. I never used to buy anything that was just for me. In my mind, it just seemed too selfish, now I realize that it's ok to keep healthy foods in the house that only I like. I bought favorite foods for others for years without thinking it was unfair. We switched to thin crust pizza, but we still eat pizza regularly. We use 2% cheeses mostly now, but they taste way better than fat free and we both love cheese so we're going to have it.

I've rambled a lot here, but the simple fact is that it's doable. Take every day as a new day. Remember that you want to be healthy and don't let anyone shove food at you. You are in control. It's not about others at all, it's all about how you perceive yourself. I don't know if I really believe it's about will-power at all. I think it may be a lot more about acceptance. I accept that for me, food is an issue I have to be very aware of. I believe I will most likely need to track and log forever, but I'm ok with that if it means I am more accepting of myself. I don't really want to sound selfish here, but I really need to be able to look in the mirror and be comfortable in my own skin, saggy, a few extra wrinkles and even the silver hair. It's nice to see a shirt that hangs straight down in front instead of draping over my belly! My weight goal is nowhere near the insurance company goal charts for my height, but if I can maintain it, I will be comfortable, have less knee pain, a side effect I've already achieved by losing 50 pounds. I am healthier, have more stamina and I feel so much better. I have thirty more pounds to go, but it feels good knowing that I'm doing it for me. And it's definitely ok for me to value myself enough to care about what I am eating. I am worth this small effort. So are you all!

If you have not read the success story called "how the CHOICES I made helped me lose 80 pounds" you should. Godlikepoetyes has written a great post about her journey. Well worth reading.

I'm done rambling now...hope you're all having a great week!

Cheryl7777

@1Nana2many Well said, thank you for sharing.

mk2fit

Woo hoo @1Nana2many!

griffinca2

Agree w/1Nana2many; it needs to be a lifestyle and not a "diet" with an end date. Make changes you can live with the rest of your life--if you can't stand cauliflower (I don't like it either); then don't buy it because some diet tells you to. I use regular half & half in my coffee (ditched the powdered stuff) and eat regular cheese--the other stuff had added sugar (helps with the texture & taste). I still eat cake, cookies, pizza, etc., but not all the time. I too am a sugaraholic (mostly chocolate), so I try to keep it under control. It may take you a while to play with your portion sizes and macros; but do what works for you and don't leave out the foods you love, just eat smaller portions of them less often. Good luck and keep us posted on your progress.

odirish

Thanks for the replies. I need to get back into the gym. I definitely don't drink enough water either. I hate water, but I'm not a soda person either. I'll go back into my food diary and fill in exactly what I ate yesterday and I'll probably be blown away about my mindless eating. I'm going to stick around this time and try to stay on track. I just had a scare. My left arm and my lower lip went numb but only for maybe 10 seconds. I had an ultra sound done on carotid artery and good news there is no blockage. Drs think this is viral. (I never heard of that)

odirish

Well I didn't do too bad. Hopefully this will post
Totals 1,624 199 54 78 13
Your Daily Goal 1,510 189 50 76 21
Remaining -114 -9 -4 -1 7
I actually thought that I didn't eat enough

odirish

Well I didn't do too bad. Could be better
Totals 1,624 199 54 78 13
Your Daily Goal 1,510 189 50 76 21
Remaining -114 (calories) -9 (carb) -4 (fats) -1 (protein) 7 (fiber)

griffinca2

odirish, take it one day at a time and if you mess up get back up and start over. Rome wasn't built in a day and you're going to have bad days and good ones along the way. You only fail if you give up. BTW, never heard of going numb as viral either; did they check to see if there was a blockage anywhere else?

odirish

yes, I had an ultra sound on my carotid artery and everything is clear. I also have bursitis in my left arm and technician said it's possible that the inflammation could be pinching the nerve.

JanetMMcC

ilikegardens wrote: »

I waited too long for the surgery, but as my doctor said, that's water under the bridge.
Slow and steady, my new mantra...
Karen

Yup, water under the bridge, like my waiting until I was 62 to get serious about weight. We start from where weare, and all progress is worth celebrating, so welcome and celebratory cheers.

JanetMMcC

Cheryl7777 wrote: »

Thank you. I'm glad to hear your making progress on the stairs. Right now I can't walk up the stairs to my bedroom. There are 10 of them and my legs are still so swollen it feels like they weigh an extra 50 pounds each. I'm doing my exercises and practicing on the stairs twice a day. I have a hard time walking as my house is small and the walker makes it difficult. I sure hope all this will be worth it in the end. I guess I'm suffering some post operation depression too.

How are things going? Has the past week brought any relief from the swelling?