55-65 year old women's success?
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@jwcanfield, Welcome; agree w/Nana!! BTW, have you tried lifting weights?? I'm the same age you are and I do it; I eat close to 1700 cals a day--have to eat that much to keep from losing any more weight. Start out w/light weights and build up to heavier ones. Helps build some of your muscle back (which allows you to eat more).
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Hopeful..
I'm so glad to see all the comments. Please add me on. I'm almost 64 years old and determined to loose weight. I joined this app six months ago and have lost 19lbs so, far, though I also oattend weight watchers for a year now. I need to loose 33 Ibs more if l can. Just following the 1200 calories. It's not bad but sometimes real tough but I must loose. I have knee pains due to artritis and so can't walk as I use to because that was my main exercise that don't hurt my knees. Now I do abit of yoga, exercise with 6lbs on each arm for 10 min. It's not enough but I'm trying. Just want to know what food or meal plan that worked for all of you. Congratulations to all. Keep the inspiration going & keep trying.4 -
@19331953, welcome to our group!! I really don't follow a "meal plan." I eat pretty much anything; just watch the portion sizes. Put together something that works for you with the foods you like to eat; if you don't like something why try to eat if just because some "diet" says too, and remember that it is a lifestyle not a "diet" with an end date. Also, if you fall off (and you will); dust yourself off and start over. Good luck on your journey and remember we are here for you. 2
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Hopeful..
I'm so glad to see all the comments. Please add me on. I'm almost 64 years old and determined to loose weight. I joined this app six months ago and have lost 19lbs so, far, though I also oattend weight watchers for a year now. I need to loose 33 Ibs more if l can. Just following the 1200 calories. It's not bad but sometimes real tough but I must loose. I have knee pains due to artritis and so can't walk as I use to because that was my main exercise that don't hurt my knees. Now I do abit of yoga, exercise with 6lbs on each arm for 10 min. It's not enough but I'm trying. Just want to know what food or meal plan that worked for all of you. Congratulations to all. Keep the inspiration going & keep trying.
Hi I'm 72 and have lost nearly 42 pounds with logging food and exercise on MFP I have osteoarthritis in my knees so can't run or jog but can walk I do some weights at home and gym and I have found that strenghthening the leg muscles help support the joints and I can do a lot more. There are lots of videos on youtube, if you have internet, for low impact exercise. Don't forget you can lose weight without exercising but it is harder and I do it to ensure I am flexible and my bones are strong. I no longer have to take meds for HBP
Should have said I eat what I like but try to eat healthy most of the time, do fall off the wagon now and again but just pick myself up and start again. It's not a diet it's a way of life and that's a hard thing to accept
Good luck8 -
Nice active group here, I've enjoyed reading all the posts. I may have even commented way back, but with this not being a forum, I forgot about this group. I've bookmarked it now so I'll need to remember to check that star button!
I'm 57, full menopause now and I'm not sure how much I've lost in terms of weight (don't own a scale and dr respects that) but I do measure. I started MFP Oct '15 with a 37" waist and by Oct '16 I was down to 29 1/2"! I followed 5:2 way of eating (1400cals 5 days & 500 cals 2 non consecutive days) and just by entering daily foods here made me aware of how much I was eating. I also do a lot of walking. Now I'm up to 30 1/2" waist, due to my lack of proper logging and too many sweets, thinking "I can eat that I'm skinny" which has increased my weight. So I'm trying to just regain a little control. I agree with @spikeyhair above.... strengthening your leg muscles supports the knee joints!! An aha moment for me a year ago! Cheers everyone! I'll be checking back here... wish this was a separate forum, interesting group!2 -
I haven't see the pics talked about but if it's about aging everyone will get there0
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Welcome new peeps! We are a bunch of ladies who have been there and done that. There are times when you will think all is lost...it is NOT! Find what exercise, if any, works for you. Some of us swear by cardio, others weights. Some of us do both. Like to swim? Excellent. Walk? Great! There is no wrong way to get in shape/lose weight. Menopause means nothing to us. We are strong!10
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Welcome new peeps! We are a bunch of ladies who have been there and done that. There are times when you will think all is lost...it is NOT! Find what exercise, if any, works for you. Some of us swear by cardio, others weights. Some of us do both. Like to swim? Excellent. Walk? Great! There is no wrong way to get in shape/lose weight. Menopause means nothing to us. We are strong!
Exactly, find something you enjoy and do it. There are even chair exercises you can do if you're somewhat immobile due to knees or other issues. You can also lose weight just watching calories but a little movement is good for the soul, the body and your heart and lungs.
Everyone here who has been successful has done it their own way and I think we all prove that improving health and fitness is possible at any age with almost any limitation. Aging is a fact of life but how we age is up to us!
I also welcome all the new girls! Stay consistent and honest with your logging, stick to your calorie goal but don't make it so low that you can't adhere to it because you're over restricting, try to move a little more, and understand that it's a process with ups and downs, no end date, and there will be both good days and bad days. Stay Strong!6 -
Welcome newbies! It is good to see new faces here! As Luluinca said, we all have our own way of doing this. One thing I do most mornings before I even get out of bed is do a few leg lifts. I also try to stretch my back muscles standing next to the bed by bending over and gently trying to touch my toes and kind of walk my hands to each side. It helps keep me limber and hopefully keeps me from causing any injuries when I do things like lifting. My mother who was about three inches taller than me, could place her hands flat on the floor with her knees straight! I cannot do that but it does give me a goal and an inspiration!
I also agree with Luluinca that eating within your calorie range, logging every bite and sip in your log and being honest with yourself is the real key to success. If you are lying to yourself, who are you kidding? It is hard at first because you are learning a new way to eat, but it gets easier with every meal you log because MFP learns your frequently eaten foods and you can pick them out more quickly. You also are learning what a real serving size is, which will make a huge difference. You will also learn which foods you normally eat are higher in calories and may need to be limited ed. For me, pasta is no longer a frequent flier on our menu, bread is a lower calorie version that tastes just as good. Get a food scale, weigh and measure everything until you can see how much a serving size really is. The first couple weeks are the hardest. If you find yourself wanting to go get a snack, drink some water and try waiting thirty minutes before you eat it, then if you REALLY want it, eat a proper serving of whatever it is you think you need. Do a Google search on the 8 Traits of Emotional Hunger, it can be very helpful, if like me, you are an emotional eater. Be thoughtful about what you are actually eating. Clear the counters! Don't leave food out so you see it every single time you walk by.
Remember these things: It is not too late and you are not too old! As for those muscles and body strength you may or may not now have: Use it or lose it definitely applies! Ask any physical therapist any health professional, they will tell you the best way to age is to be active. The more you do, the more you will be able to do! If you know anyone who has had a joint replacement, you may notice the people who have the best success are the ones who do the therapy and keep doing the exercises to regain the movement they once enjoyed. That's what we're all here for, to regain or retain our range of motion and ability to live an independent life. Don't kill yourself. Don't risk injury, but don't just sit in a chair and wait to die. Move a little more today than you did yesterday. Repeat tomorrow and the next day. And in my own humble opinion, the most important thing to remember is this: You are worth it! You CAN do it!7 -
All the above are right! And the aging process you can't stop; getting old you can. Good luck and welcome to all the newbies!!2
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Hi ladies, I'm a couple of years away from 55, but I thought this might be a good place to ask. I'm 51, SW was 204, CW is 186 and GW is approx. 145. For those of you who have lost weight at roughly this age and roughly the amount that I would like to lose (max. 60 lbs), has loose skin been a real issue?0
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Hi everyone! I am so encouraged and inspired by the messages I read here.
I am 64, 161 lbs, 5'9". I began using MFP last year and lost 15 lbs using the Zone diet. I have 15 more pounds to go. I'm eating 1200 calories (ocassionally a little more or less). So far I am losing about 2-3 pounds a month. I do a lot of cooking at home to control the quality of food I eat. I try to eat six cups of veggies and two of fruit each day. Except for bread and pasta, I steer away from eating processed foods, HFCS, fast food (well, once in awhile) and soda. I go to restaurants infrequently because they often use processed ingredients and deep fry everything. I still have a small glass of wine daily. In all, I am just ordinary human who never met a frozen custard she didn't love.
I have RA, so weight lifting doesn't work for me. I do manage to walk 6,000 steps a day, three days a week. Two days a week, I go to the rec center pool and do Classical Stretch style exercises in the water.
I am hope after losing 30 pounds that I will able to take less blood pressure and cholesterol meds. I also hope the weight loss will mean less pain in my knee joints, feet and back.
I am so glad that I found all of you. I wish everyone here good luck in their quest for weight loss and good health.
Glad to be here!
P
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@LovesDogsAndBooks: I am 60 years old, SW was 244.7 on January 2, 2016. I have lost just shy of 85 pounds since then. My worst loose skin is actually the dreaded upper arms, but I am 60 years old and do not expect to look 20 ever again. I have come to realize that I am far more critical of my own body than anyone else even notices. Surprisingly my belly is not as bad as I feared it would be, though I won't be posting photos to share ever! I don't cringe when I look in the mirror naked! I'll be honest and say that being post-menopausal and getting the slightest case of crepe skin is bothering me more, emotionally, but I also have hip bones, not bad legs, collar bones, a neck and no more double chin! Wait! And thighs that don't rub together! That is all major stuff! Also my blood pressure is back to normal, I have energy to do things, I actually sleep better at night and don't wake up with an aching back. My knee has stopped screaming at me. I rarely take pain reliever unless I have physically overdone something. I just laid a new floating floor by myself and I'm telling you right now that counts as squats! For several days!
I guess I am simply saying that you have to determine what you can live with.
Here's what brought me to MFP: The week of Christmas, 2015, I was vacuuming my living room and got so out of breath I had to sit down and wait for my heart to stop racing. I had gained 25 pounds after retirement because it took me a while to get used to it. My poor heart was telling me something. I sat down and looked up the symptoms of heart attack in women. It was not a good thing. I decided then and there that as soon as the holiday was over, I was going to do something about my weight! Not so much because I was worried about dying of a heart attack, but because I was worried about LIVING with the consequences of a stroke. I do not want to end my life sitting in doctors offices or worse, looking out the window of a nursing home because I was too lazy to take matters into my own hands and do something to improve my health. I may well develope health issues down the road, but nothing's says I have to hold the door open for them to come on in!
If not now, when? I will repeat: You are not too old and it's not too late! And YOU ARE SO WORTH IT!
My goal here is to motivate not criticize! I have personally decided to LIVE EVERY SINGLE DAY GOD SEES FIT TO GIVE ME. If I can do this after being overweight for most of my adult life, anyone can. Start by talking to yourself as if you are speaking to someone you truly love. You don't have to be perfect, you just need to take steps forward for you. This is a good place to start.15 -
1Nana, thanks for sharing! And definitely, I'd rather get to a healthy weight and have to deal with some loose skin, than stay overweight. I guess I'm just trying to get a feeling for what to expect in terms of skin.1
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LovesDogsAndBooks wrote: »Hi ladies, I'm a couple of years away from 55, but I thought this might be a good place to ask. I'm 51, SW was 204, CW is 186 and GW is approx. 145. For those of you who have lost weight at roughly this age and roughly the amount that I would like to lose (max. 60 lbs), has loose skin been a real issue?
I'm 67 and have lost about 60 lbs with about 6 or 7 more to go actually. I don't really have much loose skin, a little on my tummy, the inside of my thighs and a bit on my arms close to my armpits, but that seems to be disappearing for some reason. I started weight lifting fairly quickly into my weight loss in 2013 and took a long time to lose the weight but whether or not it's a factor I have no idea. I had two serious injuries last year so put the loss on hold temporarily and just maintained about a 50 lb loss, got back on the deficit wagon this year and have lost about 10 with a few to go still.
I don't share pics that often but here are a couple to show you but I do think we're all different and perhaps a lot goes into play when it come to loose skin including genetics. I'm not unhappy with the results but of course it could always be better.....LOL I was also athletic pretty much my entire life until my 50's when I seriously injured my back and was on the sidelines for about 10 years, that's when I gained the weight too. I really thought I'd have more loose skin than I do but either way health and fitness are the most important things. If I had to I'd just wear short sleeved shirts and I won't be parading around in a bikini anyway so most of it is covered by clothes, and my husband seems to think I look great so I'll go with that.
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Thank you, luluinca! I think you look great!
I've been strength training and eventually would like to get into heavier lifting, but I have a 2 week vacation coming up and don't really want to start before that. I've even thought of stopping to eat at a deficit once I've lost 20 or 25 lbs and maintain and try to build up more strength and muscle before I go into a deficit again to lose more. Don't know yet. But it is very encouraging to see that others have lost this amount of weight without considerable loose skin.
For the first time in my life I feel good about my chances of getting rid of this weight!2 -
@LovesDogsAndBooks I took maintenance breaks about twice a year while I was losing weight, generally for a couple of weeks. It really helped me adhere to the deficit the rest of the time and I think it was good for my strength training. Most people who are more knowledgeable than I say that losing weight slowly is the best way to lose it. It takes patience but when you think about the fact that you're creating habits for the rest of your life it really makes sense.
Good luck on the strength training, I love it and although I know it's not for everyone, some people say it's mind numbingly boring, it's worked great for me and I truly do enjoy it. I also do a 30 min StairMaster program 4 times a week and walk/run a couple of days. During the summer I swim in our backyard pool but I wouldn't say I burn a lot of calories doing it.........love it though.
Anyway, I love your positive attitude and wish you the best!1 -
I'm not in a hurry with losing this weight, I also think it's better to lose it slowly rather than too fast. What you're saying is just confirming what I thought I might do, taking maintenance breaks. So far I've lost 18 lbs and even though I do cardio and strength training, I feel I'm not building up much endurance and muscle because I eat at a deficit. These breaks might help me do that. The only concern I have is that it might be difficult to go back to the deficit once you've been at maintenance. Don't mean to hijack you here, but you were okay with that?2
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@azundancer...........thanks, I appreciate the compliment. I'm enjoying it so I just keep going, getting stronger all the time which does surprise me at my age.....LOL
@LovesDogsAndBooks, that's something you'll have to figure out for yourself I guess. I think if you truly stick to maintenance and not go crazy eating the things that got us all "fat" you'll be okay. I really just added a little more lean protein, an extra healthy snack and didn't really increase the usual treats I gave myself anyway. I don't normally stay away from foods unless they're truly trigger foods for me, and then I avoid them at all costs even in maintenance. Maybe you don't have any of those, if you're lucky.
One thing I did this year after maintaining for a year was also switch up my exercise routine so it went hand in hand with the deficit.........sort of re-created some goals for myself, if that makes sense.
Generally when I'm on vacation, or away from home for awhile, I don't really log but try to stay mindful and not go crazy eating everything in sight because I'm on vacation. I keep my portions small and try to exercise whenever it's feasible. I try to focus on the fun and not the food or drink.2 -
@luluinca Your welcome! Is there a specific strength training program you do?1
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@luluinca, well, I don't intend to go crazy on vacation, however, it'll be my first test, so I hope I can stay on track!1
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@azsundancer, I've had a few trainers over the last 3.5 years who helped me, and have an online trainer now who I worked with for about 10 weeks in person before we went to an online program. I've also done "New Rules of Lifting for Women", "Strong Curves" and "Strong Lifts" with and without trainers. The 5 big compound lifts are the most important but sometimes you need to work up to them gradually with some body weight and dumbbell accessory exercises. The most important compound lifts are.......Squats, Dead Lifts, Over Head Press (shoulder press), Bench Press and Bent Over Row. These use all of your large muscles and lots of stabilizing muscles but you have to make sure you're doing them correctly using the right form.
I'm doing something different now, incorporating those still but doing a 4 day split with a lot of accessory stuff which I love because sometimes even I get bored with the 5 main lifts. I also do a warmup everyday and a shoulder rehab 10 min session as a warmup because I had frozen shoulder last year which was quite debilitating and I don't want it again......LOL
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LovesDogsAndBooks wrote: »@luluinca, well, I don't intend to go crazy on vacation, however, it'll be my first test, so I hope I can stay on track!
You will!0 -
@azsundancer, I've had a few trainers over the last 3.5 years who helped me, and have an online trainer now who I worked with for about 10 weeks in person before we went to an online program. I've also done "New Rules of Lifting for Women", "Strong Curves" and "Strong Lifts" with and without trainers. The 5 big compound lifts are the most important but sometimes you need to work up to them gradually with some body weight and dumbbell accessory exercises. The most important compound lifts are.......Squats, Dead Lifts, Over Head Press (shoulder press), Bench Press and Bent Over Row. These use all of your large muscles and lots of stabilizing muscles but you have to make sure you're doing them correctly using the right form.
I'm doing something different now, incorporating those still but doing a 4 day split with a lot of accessory stuff which I love because sometimes even I get bored with the 5 main lifts. I also do a warmup everyday and a shoulder rehab 10 min session as a warmup because I had frozen shoulder last year which was quite debilitating and I don't want it again......LOL
@luluinca Thank you for your detailed past and present programs! I will be sure to look for a workout program that incorporates the 5 big compound lifts you stated.1 -
Today at the gym, I signed up for group personal training classes for only $10 more/month. They actually got rid of all the regular free classes & I really miss them & started this program. Nutrition help is also included. I meet up Monday & go from there4
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@Evamutt, Excellent; sounds like a good plan!! Good luck and let us know abt your progress.1
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hey group- I too agree that it is worth it to keep our bodies and our minds strong and healthy- I am trying to eat healthy- eat more fruits and veggies- less processed snacks etc- and I love walking/ light jogging . I also do simple youtube exercise videos- I am seeing a little definitionin my arms and legs- now I have NO double chin(lol) and I am now working on this waist line- they say that the weight or fat in your waist in most dangerous3
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@debtay123 I, too, tend to keep my weight around my waist. When I was big, oh boy! It is also the easiest fat to lose. Keep exercising and eating those veggies. I run, walk and exercise along with peeps on youtube as well. You've got this!1
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Hi all,
I'm 58 and have been logging on MFP since July 2016, with 40# total gone. My final goal changes, but is somewhere between 25-50# yet to go. I have no intention of being 'old' in any way except by the calendar.
My struggle is to be more active, since I have an desk job and 50 minute commute, but I walk on the treadmill at lunchtime, outside a couple times a week, as well as a Zumba class on Tuesdays and exercising/treading water in the pool once or twice a week. Just got a book of kettlebell exercises I can do at home a couple times a week. We have a big garden, and I have chickens, so lift 50# feed bags a couple times a week.
I'm pretty healthy, although I had Lyme disease about 5 years ago, which kept me inactive for about a year, and helped add fat. I still feel stiff and less flexible than I remember being before - may or may not be related. It might be plain old arthritis.
I always thought of myself as kind of bad-kitten and am trying to keep my body from contradicting that.
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