55-65 year old women's success?

luluinca

Thanks @Trina2040, it was expected but still a shock in some ways. We took care of her here at our home with the help of Hospice. Honestly, I'm just glad I made different decisions and worked for health before it was too late!

motivatedmartha

I really value reading about successful maintenance. I have been so close to goal weight previously and have let the weight creep slowly back up. Building maintenance strategies now and comforted to see many my age succeeding at it. Good work folks!

lovesretirement

I am 65, still here, still plugging along and refusing to give up. This has been a slow go for me losing 50+pounds over 5 years. For whatever reasons, despite multiple changes in eating/exercising, it just will NOT speed up. I am happy with my NSVs, though, as my 182 pound body is wearing a size 12 jeans! Nevertheless, I am still chipping away at the 30ish pounds I have left. Once I decided that health was the driving factor for my lifestyle and weight loss a by-product, I stopped letting the scale dictate my day. Like, Trina, I work hard at retirement which includes strength training, Zumba, Body Pump, walking, reading, and an occasional Netflix binge day!

ftchrpet

I'm enjoying reading everyone's journies particularly at this stage of life. I'll be 64 next month and retired as an RN after 40+ years of nursing back in January. I can so appreciate the struggles and grinds but that makes us who we are. The tenacity and stubbornness is hard fought and has built our character. I know for me, I put others health and well-being before my own, knowing that this was not what I should be doing. As a result I ended up at 203 pounds and over 50. How in the world did this happen I asked myself. I've always been fit! For goodness sake I was once a volunteer firefighter lugging hoses around and up and down and doing all sorts of things I never thought I could. But back to present day. I'm down to 176 with about 30 more to go. I don't feel my age and don't knw who that older woman in the mirror is staring back at me. In my head I'm about 45. Thank you all for being such inspirations to so many.

Trina2040

luluinca wrote: »

Thanks @Trina2040, it was expected but still a shock in some ways. We took care of her here at our home with the help of Hospice. Honestly, I'm just glad I made different decisions and worked for health before it was too late!

I totally understand. I have my 98 year old mother living with us. She was in hospice for about a year and half before they recently booted her out because her physical health improved (though her dementia continues to worsen). The passing of a loved one is a traumatic event no matter how much it's expected. It's wonderful that you've changed your life for the better and a wonderful way to honor your sister.

ZDandy

I have been working with the same personal trainer since October 2016. Started at once a week then up to twice a week. Plus swimming, some running, hiking and yoga. Also began working with a dietician in June 2017 after an A1C test came back in the bad zone. In January 2018, I hit a plateau. It lasted for FIVE MONTHS! Dietician tweaked my macros a bit and since the end of May, I am down almost 25 lbs! I still have a way to go but my trainer is leaving me this week (moving out of the area) and I want her to get the credit she deserves so here are my before (well, almost, the big one is from April 2017, not from when we first started) and after (well, not quite, since I still have more to lose) back shots! I am so glad I found her and had the privilege of working with her.

bonniebug50

Wow...the changes are so obvious! Great job, I’m sure you learned some valuable lessons from her!
You’re doing wonderful...keep moving forward!

Trina2040

@ZDandy congrats on your progress! You're looking awesome.

pam121354

started weight one month. 63y.o., I am lost 9 pounds. I walk briskly about 6 to 8 miles a day.
I had bladder cancer 2 years ago. NO MORE CANCER. walking is my therapy. I have 29 more pounds to go.
doctors told my that exercise will help with metabolism.

fleapowder

Thanks for that pick me up!

longkathleenann9291

May I be a jr member of this group as I’m only 53? 😂. I have enjoyed all of the inspirational posts. I’ve been part of MFP for 18 days and I’m 9 lbs down. 33 more to go to hit my initial goal. MFP is just what I needed, help with portion control. Again I have really enjoyed all of the posts on this board.

luluinca

As a SR member of this group at 68 I'm sharing a link to a blog I wrote about injuries and how to overcome them, a bit of a surprise for me but "Whatever Works" right?

https://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/luluinca/view/injuries-and-the-gym-or-not-957008

SummerSkier

luluinca wrote: »

As a SR member of this group at 68 I'm sharing a link to a blog I wrote about injuries and how to overcome them, a bit of a surprise for me but "Whatever Works" right?

https://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/luluinca/view/injuries-and-the-gym-or-not-957008

I think you are spot on. Rest is very very important. It’s always difficult to know when something is just nagging or going to get bad and deciding whether to bully up or rest can be hard it as we get older. I tend to err on the rest today and live to fight another day tomorrow. That prevents the major injuries which lay you up for weeks hopefully. Even so I have had some set backs. We just don’t bend as well anymore.

luluinca

Thanks for the response @SummerSkier, I think age and flexibility have something to do with our injuries but I refuse to just give in............LOL I have learned however, how important it is to be a little more careful and to give my body time to recuperate.

sandicrouch1

I’m 64, just joining mfp, needing to lose 50#. Menopausal now 15 yrs. I’m trying to get inspired and not sure where to start. I’ve started step aerobics and strength training. I’m 5’4” 190# and pretty disgusted with my body. I had a hip replacement 2 yrs ago, and a messed up lower back keeping me inactive, plus my metabolism is SO stinking slow! I used to be very active and muscular and just wonder if I can get there again? I love reading all your successes! I hope I’m one!

motivatedmartha

sandicrouch1 wrote: »

I’m 64, just joining mfp, needing to lose 50#. Menopausal now 15 yrs. I’m trying to get inspired and not sure where to start. I’ve started step aerobics and strength training. I’m 5’4” 190# and pretty disgusted with my body. I had a hip replacement 2 yrs ago, and a messed up lower back keeping me inactive, plus my metabolism is SO stinking slow! I used to be very active and muscular and just wonder if I can get there again? I love reading all your successes! I hope I’m one!

You will be fine! My approach was to first decide what eating works for me. I suggest logging everything for the first couple of weeks then work out ways in which you can tweak things to get into calorie deficit. Try to reflect the way you want to eat for the rest of time eg - if you hate soups or smoothies don't use them. If you really need one piece of chocolate/glass of wine a day for your sanity, programme it in. I find prelogging my day in the morning (estimating likely portion sizes) really helps - I have to adjust it as I weigh the food throughout the day but at least I have planned and know where there may be wriggle room. I find that processed or commercially prepared foods are not good calorie economy for me- if I can cook/food prep I find I get better value. With exercise - I hate the gym - I opted to increase my activity generally. Walking as often as possible (I opt for pleasant walks - it's what retirement is for, pleasure!) I also like dancing, gardening, swimming - any of these activities can do much to retain/build sufficient muscle to help you look good as you lose. I used to leave some of the heavier (or not so heavy really) jobs for my husband - now I get stuck in and help him. I suffered terrible hip/back pain over the years but have found the help of a physio invaluable - I now do Pilates with a good instructor once a week to keep me moving (I do the exercises suggested by my physio daily as part of my getting up and going to bed routine). As we get older there is a temptation to find excuses for inactivity, in my experience there is usually something we can enjoy! I am now around 50lbs down and as I approach my happy weight I am content to let the loss be very slow as I learn to manage my calories in the way I will need to from now on. I am not planning on changing my diet moving forward from here, I will eat in the same way but may choose to have a whole cake on weekly outings rather than share one with hubby

Trina2040

luluinca wrote: »

Thanks for the response @SummerSkier, I think age and flexibility have something to do with our injuries but I refuse to just give in............LOL I have learned however, how important it is to be a little more careful and to give my body time to recuperate.

@SummerSkier I'd like to add that you're both so right about rest days, flexibility, and age all playing an important part in losing/maintaining our weight. I think we need to look at our weight loss from a whole mind/body perspective. Adding yoga, tai chi, and rest days to our routines gives us the best balance (pun intended) for a new healthy lifestyle. Cardio and weights are not the only paths to success. Staying flexible and maintaining good balance well into our 70s, 80s and beyond is equally as important as maintaining a good weight.

SummerSkier

@trina2040 yup and here is my stupid example complete with picture. I woke up last Sat and the back of my thigh was hurting. Something we all experience waking up and going wtf? right? Anyway, I decided the 20+# cat must have stomped on me in my sleep or something and continued on my day - following the rule of it's either going to get better or worse. Went for a nice run. Didn't seem to make it worse or better. Just nagging. Well it kept nagging me so I eventually decided it was a minor hamstring tweak. Never had that before. Wracking my brain I remembered oh yeah - Fri at the barn I was helping to put a hay bag up and felt like it was a lot of work on my leg. It annoys me to no end that simple stuff injures us so much and sometimes we don't even know it at the time. Or we take a fall and have to wonder for a day how badly we are hurt. Sorry about the size of the pic. No idea why it wants to be a GIANT image.

1Nana2many

Trina, I love your illustration!
I have definitely become a proponent of the “use it or lose it” premise. I have been listening to music I have down loaded to my iPad this morning while I crocheted and a song I love with a little beat came on, I decided nothing was preventing me from getting up and dancing to the tune. I keep seeing this video advertisement for a dance-based exercise routine on Facebook and thought what the heck I can do that to music I already have and nothing says I can’t turn it into a stretching and movement improving event. My husband just finished a round of physical therapy for a pulled muscle that really opened his eyes to how much he has been limiting his range of movement without realizing it while being quite active on and off the job. There is no doubt that weight-bearing exercises help with bone density way more than a calcium supplement can, but there are many ways to get weight lifting into our day and we just have to do it. One of the exercises the therapist had my husband do was simply putting his hands up on a door entry at different levels and walk through the door past where his arm was, gently stretching his shoulder to extend his range of movement. I was looking at YouTube and found Bob and Brad by searching for Physical Therapy and you can learn a lot of simple moves to keep or get your body into a better place if you have been sedentary for a little too long. Many people use YouTube for exercise videos. I don’t foresee myself being a person who goes to the gym, mostly because I live far enough away that I know my motivation would lag much too quickly to make paying the membership a good investment so I feel the need to do something right here at home that I will repeat regularly.

Just know this: doing something regularly is better than doing nothing. There is no reason we in this age range have to accept every ache and pain as just another symptom of our growing older. I used to joke that I had to die of something, but what really motivated me to do something was when I thought I was teetering on the edge of that something, I realized I didn’t really want to find out what it was like to actually live with the consequences of that something.

I committed to logging my food daily and it made a huge difference for me. I started at 244.7 pounds and I logged every day for over 500 days until I was down to 159 pounds which was my personal goal. In recent months I had thought I was going to try logging on a different site and life happened and I just didn’t get going there. I had a very emotionally stressful summer and went off the rails with my diet. Now I am back here realizing that to achieve my goals I HAVE to log and MFP is where I do it the best.

My best advice: value yourself enough to know that you are worth this effort! Start every single day as if it is a new day no matter how well or how bad you did yesterday. Log every single bite, every sip, every single day and be honest with yourself about the amounts you are eating, if you’re not, who are you lying to? No one else has to see your food diary. It is a tool for you to use to evaluate what your food intake is. You will see what things you are eating are raising your calorie count rather quickly. It gets easier every single day, but the first couple weeks are tough...do it anyway. YOU ARE WORTH IT!!!

debtay123

I am so glad to hear from you all. I to love mfp- I love the community boards. I enjoy looking and seeing what others are doing. As for activity- my favorite right now is walking to youtube videos- sometimes i will dance or do any old movement. I also have a fitbit- but ZI use it mainly as a way to TRY to get my 10,000 steps in some days I do more other days -not so many- but each day I TRy. I also log my food.