55-65 year old women's success?
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I just turned 60 this week. I thought it was going to be traumatic, but instead I feel so much happier and healthier that I did when I turned 50! I started MFP 195 days ago. So far I've lost 48 lbs with another 25 to go. I've just been tracking all of my foods, portion control and staying under my daily calorie/sodium goals. Plus I joined a gym and now do Zumba 3 times a week. Thanks to that class, I've even met some new people. I love going. It gets me out of the house during the day. (I work the 4-mid shift at the local VA Hospital). I have noticed that as I get closer to my goal weight of 160 the weight loss is definitely slowing down. That's OK though, I 've gone from wearing size 20 pants down to size 12. My tops used to be 2x. Now I'm in a medium. I haven't seen that since the early 80's. I also found that I truly like to cook! Who knew?17
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gailballs1031 wrote: »I just turned 60 this week. I thought it was going to be traumatic, but instead I feel so much happier and healthier that I did when I turned 50! I started MFP 195 days ago. So far I've lost 48 lbs with another 25 to go. I've just been tracking all of my foods, portion control and staying under my daily calorie/sodium goals. Plus I joined a gym and now do Zumba 3 times a week. Thanks to that class, I've even met some new people. I love going. It gets me out of the house during the day. (I work the 4-mid shift at the local VA Hospital). I have noticed that as I get closer to my goal weight of 160 the weight loss is definitely slowing down. That's OK though, I 've gone from wearing size 20 pants down to size 12. My tops used to be 2x. Now I'm in a medium. I haven't seen that since the early 80's. I also found that I truly like to cook! Who knew?
Thanks for your story....I too am 60 and was wondering if it were possible. Glad I read your post.
Ive come onto the thread for this age grouping but most of it has been postings of personal life challenges....health issues and the like. Would love to see goal successes and before and after images in this age group. It would be so motivating! Continued success for you!1 -
59 yo shorty here 5'1+. I just went from 131+ to 100+ in 5 months. I would post before and after pictures but too embarrassing. For me what helped was a combination of things. #1 I started the CT5K program to jumpstart my moving. #2 I got a fitbit Alta HR to track about everything and keep me moving during the day #3 my synthroid dosage was tweaked up a little bit - i think I have to credit that a little also. And most importantly I was religious logging EVERYTHING and staying at my calorie in goal. I did not eat back my exercise calories although some folks do but lost about 5-6 pounds per month avg. I agree that a lot of this is about overcoming health issues but my biggest mantra has been "don't get hurt". LOL.. Mostly because at our age it takes FOREVER to recover. sigh.
I started my calorie increase the beginning of Oct and am continuing to slowly increase every other week or so until I level out. I am a BAD YO YO er so my focus from the start this YO is on maintaining and not ending with a binge or series of binges like every other diet has in my life. I know some folks just increase all at once when they reach their goal range but for me that would trigger so I am slowly increasing and continuing to weigh and track food until I see what my true maintenance calories will avg. I am learning that you don't really maintain EVER. You are mostly just keeping yourself in a certain range and making tweaks and adustments all the time. like life.
good luck all!
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SummerSkier wrote: »59 yo shorty here 5'1+. I just went from 131+ to 100+ in 5 months. I would post before and after pictures but too embarrassing. For me what helped was a combination of things. #1 I started the CT5K program to jumpstart my moving. #2 I got a fitbit Alta HR to track about everything and keep me moving during the day #3 my synthroid dosage was tweaked up a little bit - i think I have to credit that a little also. And most importantly I was religious logging EVERYTHING and staying at my calorie in goal. I did not eat back my exercise calories although some folks do but lost about 5-6 pounds per month avg. I agree that a lot of this is about overcoming health issues but my biggest mantra has been "don't get hurt". LOL.. Mostly because at our age it takes FOREVER to recover. sigh.
I started my calorie increase the beginning of Oct and am continuing to slowly increase every other week or so until I level out. I am a BAD YO YO er so my focus from the start this YO is on maintaining and not ending with a binge or series of binges like every other diet has in my life. I know some folks just increase all at once when they reach their goal range but for me that would trigger so I am slowly increasing and continuing to weigh and track food until I see what my true maintenance calories will avg. I am learning that you don't really maintain EVER. You are mostly just keeping yourself in a certain range and making tweaks and adustments all the time. like life. good luck all!
That is so true about getting hurt! I am constantly watching my footing!
I would love to see your before and after pictures (clothed of course) . You are a serious success...why embarrassed? Thankyou for your tips and what worked for you? How long did the loss journey take?1 -
HAhahaa... Here are my pics. I always hid my weight pretty well. Left was June and I was already down about 6 pounds from my heaviest. Middle is start of Maintenance end of Sept and right is Halloween (hippy cher costume). My goal right now is to maintain for a year and let my body trust that I won't yo back. again.
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SummerSkier wrote: »HAhahaa... Here are my pics. I always hid my weight pretty well. Left was June and I was already down about 6 pounds from my heaviest. Middle is start of Maintenance end of Sept and right is Halloween (hippy cher costume). My goal right now is to maintain for a year and let my body trust that I won't yo back. again.
Great job...you are a beauty with maturity too...hahaha!2 -
@dsboohead, I consider myself an over 60 success story. I started at 179lbs at 5'2.5 and 64 years old. It took me 15 months to lose approximately 50lbs (fluctuations). I've been at maintenance for almost 3 years, maintaining around 128 - 131lbs; I've just turned 68. I went from a Size 14-16 to a size 6 Petite or size 2 Misses. I was still losing weight when I first posted on this thread a couple of years ago.
As I lost a few pounds I began moving more, first by walking around my neighborhood then eventually joined a gym taking weight lifting and cardio classes. Lately, I've had to cut back at the gym, so I cut back on my maintenance calories but I still get in 20k -21k steps per day. I use a Fitbit Blaze for tracking my calories out and while not exact, it's pretty accurate allowing me to keep within my maintenance range. When at the gym 3 days a week I eat around 2,000 calories. Just staying active (no gym) I eat around 1650-1750 calories.
It's normal for weight loss to slow as you get closer to goal and finally stop once you reach a goal range. I re-evaluate my calories needs (calories in) depending on how active I am (calories out) all the time so that I stay in maintenance. I balance my maintenance like I balance my checkbook.
As of today, I've logged in 1386 days; probably will forever. Some strategies that worked for me were eating smaller meals throughout the day (I hate feeling hungry), portion control (I eat anything I want), and staying hydrated. I've also committed to weighing my food and logging consistently. I'll never look like I'm 20 again but now I feel like I'm 20 again. All my health markers have improved; I'm ready to face my 70s with a smile.11 -
@dsboohead, I consider myself an over 60 success story. I started at 179lbs at 5'2.5 and 64 years old. It took me 15 months to lose approximately 50lbs (fluctuations). I've been at maintenance for almost 3 years, maintaining around 128 - 131lbs; I've just turned 68. I went from a Size 14-16 to a size 6 Petite or size 2 Misses. I was still losing weight when I first posted on this thread a couple of years ago.
As I lost a few pounds I began moving more, first by walking around my neighborhood then eventually joined a gym taking weight lifting and cardio classes. Lately, I've had to cut back at the gym, so I cut back on my maintenance calories but I still get in 20k -21k steps per day. I use a Fitbit Blaze for tracking my calories out and while not exact, it's pretty accurate allowing me to keep within my maintenance range. When at the gym 3 days a week I eat around 2,000 calories. Just staying active (no gym) I eat around 1650-1750 calories.
It's normal for weight loss to slow as you get closer to goal and finally stop once you reach a goal range. I re-evaluate my calories needs (calories in) depending on how active I am (calories out) all the time so that I stay in maintenance. I balance my maintenance like I balance my checkbook.
As of today, I've logged in 1386 days; probably will forever. Some strategies that worked for me were eating smaller meals throughout the day (I hate feeling hungry), portion control (I eat anything I want), and staying hydrated. I've also committed to weighing my food and logging consistently. I'll never look like I'm 20 again but now I feel like I'm 20 again. All my health markers have improved; I'm ready to face my 70s with a smile.
Wow!!! A great success! Before and after images please
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Hmmm. I thought I'd posted my story on my thread, but a quick search suggests I maybe haven't (though it's on a lot of others).
I'll be 62 in a couple of weeks. I'd been overweight since my 20s (obese for most of that). At 43, I was widowed (cancer) then at 45 diagnosed with stage III (locally advanced) breast cancer, among other life challenges around that time.
I'd been pretty inactive for my adult life, and in a stressful sedentary IT job. After bilateral mastectomies, 6 months of chemotherapy, and 6 weeks of radiation, I was very physically depleted. Then I was diagnosed hypothyroid in addition. I came to realize that if I was ever hoping to be happy or feel strong and good ever again, I was going to have to really work at it.
I started becoming more active, largely through group classes (yoga, weight training, etc.). Soon I joined a breast cancer survivors rowing team, fell in love with rowing, and it transformed my life. I improbably became an athlete, even racing (badly - LOL) in big events like Masters Nationals and the Head of the Charles regatta, and getting place medals in some local/regional on-water or rowing machine races. I did other activities (like spin class or weight machine circuits) regularly to cross-train, get fitter, and improve my rowing.
But through all this, I stayed obese. My cholesterol & triglycerides were high, my blood pressure prehypertensive. My torn knee meniscus and (mild, localized) osteoarthritis were a regular source of discomfort/pain. I tried some eating changes to improve blood tests and BP, with very limited results.
Finally, I got diagnosed with gallbladder adenomyomatosis - not stones/sludge, but an inflammatory/cholesterol-related condition that's sometimes associated with gallbladder cancer.
At that point, in 2015, the switch flipped in my head, and I committed to lose weight. From April to July, I tried just eyeballing foods & estimating calories, trying to eat around maintenance calories for a healthy weight, and lost about 26 pounds. When that loss started to slow/stall, I joined MFP to start logging. Since I was already active, I didn't change that significantly.
To me, MFP was like a big, fun science fair project for grown-ups, so manageable and straightforward! By early 2016, I hit 120 pounds (at 5'5") and even overshot goal by a few pounds while searching experimentally for my maintenance calories, which were higher than expected (low 2000s, net).
Fast forward to now. I've been in maintenance for almost 2 years, and weighed 128 this morning. I feel great: My bad knee is uncomfortable only occasionally, and other joints fine. My cholesterol and triglycerides are solidly normal. My blood pressure is low normal. I'm fitter than a lot of people in their 40s (I know because I work out with them ). I used to lumber through life, now I kinda scamper.
I wished I'd done this decades ago. You can do it, too.
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Hmmm. I thought I'd posted my story on my thread, but a quick search suggests I maybe haven't (though it's on a lot of others).
I'll be 62 in a couple of weeks. I'd been overweight since my 20s (obese for most of that). At 43, I was widowed (cancer) then at 45 diagnosed with stage III (locally advanced) breast cancer, among other life challenges around that time.
I'd been pretty inactive for my adult life, and in a stressful sedentary IT job. After bilateral mastectomies, 6 months of chemotherapy, and 6 weeks of radiation, I was very physically depleted. Then I was diagnosed hypothyroid in addition. I came to realize that if I was ever hoping to be happy or feel strong and good ever again, I was going to have to really work at it.
I started becoming more active, largely through group classes (yoga, weight training, etc.). Soon I joined a breast cancer survivors rowing team, fell in love with rowing, and it transformed my life. I improbably became an athlete, even racing (badly - LOL) in big events like Masters Nationals and the Head of the Charles regatta, and getting place medals in some local/regional on-water or rowing machine races. I did other activities (like spin class or weight machine circuits) regularly to cross-train, get fitter, and improve my rowing.
But through all this, I stayed obese. My cholesterol & triglycerides were high, my blood pressure prehypertensive. My torn knee meniscus and (mild, localized) osteoarthritis were a regular source of discomfort/pain. I tried some eating changes to improve blood tests and BP, with very limited results.
Finally, I got diagnosed with gallbladder adenomyomatosis - not stones/sludge, but an inflammatory/cholesterol-related condition that's sometimes associated with gallbladder cancer.
At that point, in 2015, the switch flipped in my head, and I committed to lose weight. From April to July, I tried just eyeballing foods & estimating calories, trying to eat around maintenance calories for a healthy weight, and lost about 26 pounds. When that loss started to slow/stall, I joined MFP to start logging. Since I was already active, I didn't change that significantly.
To me, MFP was like a big, fun science fair project for grown-ups, so manageable and straightforward! By early 2016, I hit 120 pounds (at 5'5") and even overshot goal by a few pounds while searching experimentally for my maintenance calories, which were higher than expected (low 2000s, net).
Fast forward to now. I've been in maintenance for almost 2 years, and weighed 128 this morning. I feel great: My bad knee is uncomfortable only occasionally, and other joints fine. My cholesterol and triglycerides are solidly normal. My blood pressure is low normal. I'm fitter than a lot of people in their 40s (I know because I work out with them ). I used to lumber through life, now I kinda scamper.
I wished I'd done this decades ago. You can do it, too.
What a success and you look as good if not better than most of the 20 and 30 year olds!
Did you pay for the premium mfp? Tracking foods are easier with premium as far as seaching for calories of foods?2 -
Hmmm. I thought I'd posted my story on my thread, but a quick search suggests I maybe haven't (though it's on a lot of others).
I'll be 62 in a couple of weeks. I'd been overweight since my 20s (obese for most of that). At 43, I was widowed (cancer) then at 45 diagnosed with stage III (locally advanced) breast cancer, among other life challenges around that time.
I'd been pretty inactive for my adult life, and in a stressful sedentary IT job. After bilateral mastectomies, 6 months of chemotherapy, and 6 weeks of radiation, I was very physically depleted. Then I was diagnosed hypothyroid in addition. I came to realize that if I was ever hoping to be happy or feel strong and good ever again, I was going to have to really work at it.
I started becoming more active, largely through group classes (yoga, weight training, etc.). Soon I joined a breast cancer survivors rowing team, fell in love with rowing, and it transformed my life. I improbably became an athlete, even racing (badly - LOL) in big events like Masters Nationals and the Head of the Charles regatta, and getting place medals in some local/regional on-water or rowing machine races. I did other activities (like spin class or weight machine circuits) regularly to cross-train, get fitter, and improve my rowing.
But through all this, I stayed obese. My cholesterol & triglycerides were high, my blood pressure prehypertensive. My torn knee meniscus and (mild, localized) osteoarthritis were a regular source of discomfort/pain. I tried some eating changes to improve blood tests and BP, with very limited results.
Finally, I got diagnosed with gallbladder adenomyomatosis - not stones/sludge, but an inflammatory/cholesterol-related condition that's sometimes associated with gallbladder cancer.
At that point, in 2015, the switch flipped in my head, and I committed to lose weight. From April to July, I tried just eyeballing foods & estimating calories, trying to eat around maintenance calories for a healthy weight, and lost about 26 pounds. When that loss started to slow/stall, I joined MFP to start logging. Since I was already active, I didn't change that significantly.
To me, MFP was like a big, fun science fair project for grown-ups, so manageable and straightforward! By early 2016, I hit 120 pounds (at 5'5") and even overshot goal by a few pounds while searching experimentally for my maintenance calories, which were higher than expected (low 2000s, net).
Fast forward to now. I've been in maintenance for almost 2 years, and weighed 128 this morning. I feel great: My bad knee is uncomfortable only occasionally, and other joints fine. My cholesterol and triglycerides are solidly normal. My blood pressure is low normal. I'm fitter than a lot of people in their 40s (I know because I work out with them ). I used to lumber through life, now I kinda scamper.
I wished I'd done this decades ago. You can do it, too.
What a success and you look as good if not better than most of the 20 and 30 year olds!
Did you pay for the premium mfp? Tracking foods are easier with premium as far as seaching for calories of foods?
Thank you!
I used just regular MFP, no premium, with careful food weighing (learn the tricks!) when possible, estimating when necessary (meals at others' homes, non-chain restaurants), eating foods I like, getting solid nutrition, sticking to a reasonable calorie goal the majority of the time. I made a firm decision not to do anything I wasn't willing to do forever, other than a sensibly moderate calorie deficit.
I'm a great believer in the power of regular MFP diary review. Especially early on, I'd review frequently, looking for foods that - to me, personally - "cost" more calories than they were worth in terms of tastiness, satiation, or nutrition. I'd reduce or eliminate those, replacing them with others I like that better meet my goals. (Life is too short to eat things I don't enjoy, especially when there are so many foods I do enjoy. )
If I had an over goal day (other than planned, intentional special occasions), I'd look at that day & even the day before, trying to figure out causes/triggers. These could be specific food choices or macronutrients (too much or little), timing of eating, stress, boredom, sleep, social situations, timing or type of exercise, etc.
Then I'd try to figure a way to handle similar situations better in future, rehearse the new script in my head a few times to make it real, then try it out next time. If it worked, swell: Repeat and groove in as a new habit. If it didn't work, repeat the "find a new plan" process.
By the time the weight was lost, I had already practiced a lot of the new habits I'd need for maintenance . . . it was just a matter if gradually adding back calories until my weight stabilized.
I don't want to pretend that everything is now super easy or perfect. There are still things I struggle with (buffets and potlucks: Aaargh! ). But those are fairly rare occasions. Everyday life is pretty manageable. I feel pretty good about how that process worked, for me. 10 -
Hmmm. I thought I'd posted my story on my thread, but a quick search suggests I maybe haven't (though it's on a lot of others).
. . .
(rest of post deleted for thia reply)
Too late to edit, but this is really bugging me: I thought I'd typed "I thought I'd posted my story on this thread". This thread is not my thread!
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OK, I am just checking in. I have now gone from 208lbs to 179lbs!! Would like to lose another 41lbs so I am going to keep going and fingers crossed will make it by the Spring!! Thats a daunting 70lbs altogether so wish me luck?11
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Agree w/Ann on the eats; it has to be a lifestyle not just a "diet" with an end date. Do what works for you (not someone else, whether it's keto, veggie, or whatever. I "splurge" every once in a while (pizza, burger & fries, etc.), but eat healthy most of the time.2
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bethany1954 wrote: »OK, I am just checking in. I have now gone from 208lbs to 179lbs!! Would like to lose another 41lbs so I am going to keep going and fingers crossed will make it by the Spring!! Thats a daunting 70lbs altogether so wish me luck?
You're making your own luck. Great results, great goal. Cheering for you!!!2 -
114 to 193.5 in 10 months so very slow but getting there and is sustainable. Will be very happy to get to 100kg by Christmas and then start heading for 90kg,1
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Whoops. 114kg to 102.5kg loss to date!4
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I'm another just turned 60 lady- down 18 pounds and about 15-20 to go. At the halfway mark I'm really starting to see a difference- been walking 5 days a week as my primary exercise (I love just getting outside in the sun/fresh air)- bravo to all the ladies here! We still got it going on girls!8
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I am so happy to see ladies is this age bracket making successes for themselves with MFP. I am new to it all and my motivation is just knowing it can be done!
I find it hard to relate to the much younger crowd in the weight loss arena cause the challenges are different now! Keep it coming cause it's a good shot in the arm!6 -
@dsboohead and all of you who are wondering...it IS doable! Believe in yourself and remember every single day is a new start. Put any mistakes made yesterday behind you and start every day fresh! Value yourself enough to keep plugging along. I know there are plenty of people who complain about a low number of calories being too low or impossible, but if you can stick out a couple weeks, you realize it is doable and you’re not really starving. Your stomach gets full on less food. Remind yourself that you really only need to eat when you truly are hungry, not bored or stressed or frustrated. Putting food out of sight does help. Having healthy low calorie snacks available can prevent you from picking up a high calorie food that puts you over your limit in no time flat. Serving sizes make a huge difference, so learn what they are. It’s ok to put your health first once in a while. You are worth the effort! You are not too old and it’s not too late! And there are lots of people here who can tell you that the effort does pay off in feeling better and better blood test results and a whole new sense of self-worth! Just keep putting one foot in front of the other and log every sip and bite...you will see good things happen!7
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