Free advice for the younger crowd

Sabine_Stroehm

lorrpb wrote: »

Get the weight off and improve your fitness when you are young, so you can enjoy the rest of your life and help prevent all the diseases, conditions, aches, and pain that obesity can bring. That is the reason to do it, not just because it might be harder to lose weight as you get older.

Yup. Good post.

kgirlhart

DanceDiva234 wrote: »

I'm only 18 and after a few years of feeling terrible about myself, I realized what changes needed to be made. I actually started learning about calorie counting, water weight, and cardio/strength training around 14. Although I learned early on, I never made it a conscious day to day task until recently. Hopefully learning early will give me a leg up.

I even told my mom about how I wanted to lose weight, even though she doesn't push anything. My main reason besides self confidence is one day when I do have children and when I do turn 40 and the weight comes from nowhere, I can learn to maintain my weight from a healthy lifestyle.

It is good to learn healthy habits now. But the weight doesn't come from nowhere when you hit 40. It comes from not being as active as when you were on your 20's and eating the same, or from just eating more. If you stay active and don't overeat you will not automatically gain weight as you get older.

Rocknut53

lorrpb wrote: »

Get the weight off and improve your fitness when you are young, so you can enjoy the rest of your life and help prevent all the diseases, conditions, aches, and pain that obesity can bring. That is the reason to do it, not just because it might be harder to lose weight as you get older.

You are so right. My only regret is that I wasted over 20+ years figuring this out. Once I committed to losing weight this go around, it was extremely easy. I finally figured out at 62, my days of liking my body and my body liking me are numbered. I'm working on maintenance now, which scares the hell out me, worried I'll blow it, but determined to never be that fat lady again. I accept that complacency won't be acceptable any more. I have all the successful people on MFP to thank, there are many inspirational stories here.

Marycycles

I am 49 and 5 years ago I lost 105lbs in 8 months, but gained 60lbs back. Now with menopause it IS harder to lose. I've had to cut calories more this time. And even with the extra 60lbs I have kept my activity level the same. So it is purely hormone imbalance.

lthames0810

ninerbuff wrote: »

I can't eat as much volume like I used to, but it's still CICO. As mentioned, many people as they age become less active too. I've kept up activity, so I've not had to drastically reduce. If I didn't want to reduce, then I'd have to exercise more to help offset it.
Age shouldn't be much of a deterrence though.

A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

You are right that age shouldn't be a deterrent. There are things that make it difficult for older people like myself to lose weight that were preventable, like sedentariness and loss of LBM. (And, by the way, thank you for putting this nicely and not being accusatory.) And yes CICO rules.

However, we accumulate damage over the years both physical and psychological that make getting exercise and adhering to a calorie limit more difficult. Old injuries, arthritis, depression, insomnia...I could go on. It is entirely possible to lose weight in spite of all these things, but the level of difficulty for many goes up as we age. Which I believe was the point the OP was making.