55-65 year old women's success?

longkathleenann9291

I’m still here. Down 3 pounds since Thanksgiving so doing well through the holidays. Next 3 weeks I have a birthday and 3 family Christmas’s so we will see.

mph323

Hi everybody! Still here and maintaining.<waves>

DancesWithDogz

Hello old friends... It's been forever since I have participated. I'm gearing up for 2019, hoping to make this "my year" to get "me" back. I'm going to be getting into a Keto type way of eating - basically just clean, real, no junk. Hope to keep in touch with you along this new journey.

ItsAJourny

I am 60 and I have lost 32 pounds in the last 5 months and it was not hard (about 8 more pounds to go). It seems like once I changed my habits, the weight just came off. The keys for me are
1. Good sleep (8 hours a night)
2. Drinking lots of water each day
3. Exercise (yoga 4-5 times a week does wonders for me. Makes my body stronger, reduces my stress and helps me sleep better and feel more stable and open hearted. It also helps me accept my body just as it is.)
4. Very little alcohol
5. Low sugar - I eat 3 servings of fruit a day but avoid chocolate, ice cream, cookies etc.
6. Less fatty foods (I avoid cheese, cream, mayonaise, etc. but cook with olive oil and always put home made salad dressing on my salads).
7. Lots of veggies and fruits which I love. Less carbs. I still eat sandwiches 4 times a week, but I tend to gravitate towards lots of veggies with dinners instead of the starches.
8. I start each morning with steel cut oats and applesauce and I eat a high protein fruited yogurt mid-morning with fresh berries. Eating lots of healthy food early in the day keeps me going strong and not hungry.
Once I started losing the weight, my increase in energy and happiness motivated me to continue and it just continues to fall off. I feel like maybe this is not true for everybody, but for me, the above changes have made it almost effortless. As long as I cook good healthy food for me, the rest just happens. I don't follow a particular diet or even count calories, I just choose healthy food choices.

Good luck! I feel like we each need to figure out what works for us. For me a huge part is getting sugar (cookies, ice cream, chocolate and alcohol) out of my life. My intense sugar cravings go away after 4 days of none of it and then it is easy. But if I try to eat just a little bit of it, I binge like crazy.

Good luck to everyone in the New Year!

Trina2040

Bumpity bump!

debtay123

So glad to be back as well. I maintained over the holidays and was happy. I intend to take it slowly and hopefully begin to lose again. Will count my calories - do my steps as best I can and let it take the time that it takes.

RetiredAndLovingIt

I like ItsAJourny's comments above, so much so, that I printed them off to try to remember simple steps will get the job done. On with the last 10-15#!

cory17

I like @Itsajourny list as well. I've restocked the veggies and either eaten or given away the sugar stuff so maybe I WILL get back on track with healthier choices.

griffinca2

I'm still here too; basically maintaining so only log on (using my phone most of the time) to keep up w/buds (and their progress). Had some issues starting around Thanksgiving that I'm still trying to get over; but still in better shape than some so I count my blessings. I will still check in periodically to see how everyone is doing. Happy New Year all!!

lovesretirement

Happy New Year, everyone! I log in daily but track my food on my Fitbit. The tracking is in real time so it’s more accurate in giving your calories in vs calories out...no guesswork. It also tracks water, you can set your goals just like here on MFP, the database is huge, and foods can also be scanned in with the barcode. I have maintained my 60 pound loss this past year, and my mission this year is to get rid of the remaining 30.

rimtorimgoal

I'm 61 and would like to lose 50 lbs.

jlfbw

debtay123 wrote: »

hello
dwebbqt- the healthy habits that I am working on and will continue to do is to drink my water, to get in at least 10,000 steps each day(love my fitbit) more ifpossible, keep stress down as much as is possible for me and most of all- LOG my food- without logging I just can not do it!!!!!- I even prelog which helps me decide how I want to (spend) my calories. As I have stated before some folks sometimes may it seem weird that I log- but for me- it is a must- I just smile politely and come to MFP each day

This is great advice! Pre-logging is so helpful and H2O is a must!

Healthy67Chick

Bump

debtay123

ahey where is everybody? Are you all still working on your weight loss journey? I am still here and still trying!!!!

cory17

I'm still on this journey. Anyone else have difficulty with the sodium in any outside/prepared food? Doesn't seem to matter what it is, my weight jumps 2-4 pounds.

AnnPT77

cory17 wrote: »

I'm still on this journey. Anyone else have difficulty with the sodium in any outside/prepared food? Doesn't seem to matter what it is, my weight jumps 2-4 pounds.

Sure, more sodium than usual (in outside food or added with my very own hands) can cause a temporary scale jump.

A bit of water retention is how the body maintains electrolyte balance in that scenario. Unless sodium causes a medical problem for someone, that fluctuation is just how healthy bodies function. It's not fat weight, so - again, absent a medical issue - why worry about it? For me, it'll drop off a day or so after sodium intake returns to my usual levels.

Eating more carbs than normal, even within one's calorie goal, can cause a similar scale jump: A few grams of water is needed temporarily as part of metabolizing the carbs. The water weight drops off after the process is over. Again, not fat, part of healthy body functioning, I don't worry about it.

Restaurant meals, for me, often include more than my usual of both sodium and carbs. (I'm not a low carb or keto person, but restaurant meals for vegetarians - which I am - are often more carb-heavy than my typical at-home days.)

Long term weight trend, not the day to day bounces, is where actual fat loss (or gain) is going to show up. That's where I focus. Saves some stress.

mph323

I'm still here and still maintaining! in fact, this month is my one year anniversary!

I'm 68 and lost 50 pounds over about 22 months. No special diet, just logging my calories and staying reasonably active. It's become such a habit that I really dont think about it much, and I've developed confidence that this is really my new normal.

I would like to encourage those of you who are struggling, and perhaps questioning whether its even possible to lose weight after a certain age, to stick with it. Its absolutely possible, and the rewards are the same at any age, and so worth it. Best wishes to all :flowerforyou:

longkathleenann9291

I’m still here! After losing 5 lbs through the holidays I stalled out in January despite upping my activity. But I am now within 20 of goal and I am not stopping now!

workinonit1956

I’m still here! I managed to maintain my 43 pound loss over the holidays, which I consider a victory in and of itself. I’ve lost weight before (never this much though) and for the first time I actually changed my habits enough to keep it off—at least so far!

SummerSkier

Still here. Ladies if I can do it SO CAN YOU!!! 60 and maintaining since Oct 2017....

MaryLeuelu

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griffinca2

Still here too! Still maintaining; lost more than I wanted to and my doc wants me to put on a few more lbs. Have added a few things I quit eating back into the diet, just don't want to over do it. Too skinny doesn't look good when you get older anyway.

Trina2040

Yup, still here. Greetings everyone. Still logging and weighing my food because I still want ALL the food. So sad.

debtay123

I really think that I will always be logging my foods- well for the very long future at least- STILL have no sense of "stopping when full"- it is not intuitive for me or anything yet- oh well- I will log and be happy for mfp

Kamille68

Hello. I'm 51 years old and am in the menopause. I'm living in Holland. I must lose approximately 20 kilo. Because I had cancer a few years ago I'm taking medication that causing me to gain weight. I want to be more active but since I had chemotherapy my energy is very low. I have a fitbit and am doing exercises now regularly. Please add me with your friend group and I know we can support each other.

lovesretirement

I am here! I don’t log food here anymore since I started logging on my Fitbit. Kinda like it better as it logs calories in/out in real time which is a little ymore accurate. I started leaning towards more plant based eating 3 weeks ago. I had already been eating relatively all whole food, only ate chicken/turkey breast on occasion and virtually no processed foods, so incorporating more greens, fruits, starch or grain, and a few nuts/seeds has been the menu. I am down 8.6 which puts me back to my lowest weight since October. I feel sure that a new decade will FINALLY be reached in February which will certainly make my heart happy!

Trina2040

debtay123 wrote: »

I really think that I will always be logging my foods- well for the very long future at least- STILL have no sense of "stopping when full"- it is not intuitive for me or anything yet- oh well- I will log and be happy for mfp

I feel the same way -- logging forever. I have no sense of "stopping when full," nor any sense of portions; they always creep up if I don't measure. I really have to control my portions. So many members on here write about "intuitive eating" and "listening to your body." If I did that I'd be 100 lbs heavier because my body intuitively tells me that if some food is good then more is better.

HEAVYweightlifter

Hello: I am 56 and I weigh 165 at this moment. I want to return to 135 which I was when I did marathon training 10 years ago. I can not run or walk far, now that my knees are shot from 20 years of long distance running. Instead I lift weights 5 x week. As we get past menopause, we lose muscle tissue more readily so our metabolism slows down. Each pound of muscle added to your body mass will burn extra calories all day long! Lifting weights and adding 30 minutes of cardio by rowing or biking has helped me relax and eat less! Good Luck Ladies!

griffinca2

Been doing weights for several years (and I'm well past 56)! Totally agree with the lifting of weights; I do full-body three times a week at the local parks & rec fitness center with a short (15-20 min) walk on a treadmill.

debtay123

Fabulous to know what everybody is doing to either maintain or lose weight for fitness. I LOVE you tube videos- so I mainly walk or do body weight exercises. Soemtines I life light weights to help sculpture my arms etc. I think i am doing pretty well for a 58 year old lady.