Cons and Help for Good Results in Weight Loss

150poundsofme

Hi, Binge eater/yo-yo dieter over 45 years and I mean ever day (never a "normal" meal). My highest weight was 295 but stayed mostly in the 280's and 270's. Lost approx. 50 lbs. a few different times only to gain it back. But recovering now. Have not binged in 78 days. Recently lost 30 lbs and counting (from 252 to now 221). Was wondering what to expect from more weight loss - the pro and cons and I guess I know the pros - right now I can see that indent on my face cheeks forming, my belly button has reappeared lol, clothes way too big etc. The cons - So I have the flabby underarms and stomach overhang which I have had all these years. Thighs seem more bumpy and stomach skin getting like wrinkly. I am doing a 20 minute chair video 3x a week using 3 lb. weights. 3 other days I do 5 lb weights, standing up, doing exercises. Joined a class 2x a week for chair yoga (stretching stuff).
I guess what I want to know is how to make the best of me possible. I do have knee problems and sometimes calf, behind the knee and thigh pain. I have looked on line for exercises to do for the flabby arms and stomach. I know that I can only firm the muscles around arms and stomach. I am 60 years old so I will not shrink back the way I used to. Never tried Spanx so I figure when I get down to my desired weight (123 - 150ish will see what I look like then to decide weight, 5'2"), I will wear them, only if I am wearing a dress for a special occasion. Basically I will accept myself as is because I have done enough hating of myself all these long years.
So what else can I do to help myself have a strong flexible body? And what to expect of my body when I lose another 20, then another 20, etc.?
Thank you all for your thoughts and ideas!!!!

cheryldumais

Congratulations on your loss! From 295 to 221 is amazing. Don't discount that you have been working on this a while and managed to continue to drop. That's wonderful. I have lost 105 pounds and am 61. I have the flabby arms and thighs and you know what? It beats the fat ones. I had a tummy tuck over the holidays for my abdomen and that is the one and only surgery I will do. Let's face it at our age no one looks that tight. I was watching a show with Jane Fonda (yes the workout queen) and noticed she has flabby arms. So if she can live with it I can. What you can expect down the road? Everyone is different but for me I have been on this journey for 2 years and now I find I can't overeat like I used to... Is that a con? :-) I actually feel nauseated if I do. Junk food makes me feel yucky... not sure that's a con either. The pros? I feel amazing. I look normal!!! When I get in an elevator I'm not afraid I'm taking up more than my share. If I fly I don't need an extension belt and on the bus I leave plenty of room for the next person. I finally enjoy exercise. I look forward to it. Keep going and take your time. You will learn so much more if you don't stress about losing fast. Eat less and move more and you will get to your goal. Good Luck my friend you are well on your way.

fitoverfortymom

You're totally on the right track. Keep adding strength and resistance training, or look into a program like Starting Strength for a more progressive lifting program.

150poundsofme

Thank you very much Cheryldumais and Fitoverforty.. !!! Thank you both for your support and suggestions!!!!

middlehaitch

@lorrpb & @AnnPT77, I am not keen on calling out, but I know you are two successful women who have your head strewed on right, could you possibly come in with encouragement/advice.

@150poundsofme you are doing great, it is small sustainable changes over time, plus moving more, that will make your loss sustainable.
To up your exercise look for a water fit class in your area. It is generally a friendly, non- judgement class that allows you to build at your own pace. Very easy on the joints too.

Cheers, h.

lorrpb

You are off to a good start. Congrats! What to expect from here depends entirely on what you are willing to commit to. Continue a reasonable, not overly aggressive, deficit. Strength train, lift, whatever you want to call it. This will help you out most of all. Keep progressing your fitness as you are able. Arms and belly fat are the last to go, and may not disappear entirely. Measurements, clothes, and progress pics will show your progress but you won't even begin to be satisfied until you reach your normal BMI, and then some. That said, these areas have continued to improve more than a year into maintenance with a regular lifting program. I am not one to obsess over how specific body parts look. I just want to be stronger, faster, and last longer in my daily and recreational activities, which I have accomplished and continue to work on improving. As long as you keep working on your fitness and weight loss, your body will continue to improve. I hope that helps a bit.

callsitlikeiseeit

ive lost 103 pounds. there are no cons. sometimes the weight doesnt come off where you want it to, but thats not really a con since its still weight coming off lol

i feel better, look better, and healthier, more energy.

AnnPT77

You've made amazing progress, and are on a good path to achieving much more. Congratulations . . . and respect. It isn't easy to revamp our lives at our age - I'm 62 - and you're absolutely doing it. Good show!

In terms of pros and cons, there are a bunch of things I see as big pros in my life from being strong and at a healthy weight, vs. when I was obese and out of shape. These are just a few:

- My bad knee (torn meniscus) hurts only occasionally, and usually only slightly when it does, vs. always being uncomfortable and frequently painful enough to interfere with sleep. Other joints with more minor arthritis pretty much never hurt anymore.
- My balance is better: I'm less likely to fall, which is a huge health risk for women our age.
- I can navigate the world more easily: I fit easily in narrow store aisles, restaurant booths, airplane and theater seats, etc. It's easier to get in/out of vehicles. I can walk farther, and do more things (lifting, carrying, stairs, etc.), without pain/discomfort during/after, without frequent rest breaks, without getting out of breath.
- I'm more independent. Because I can lift things and move better, I can do more chores myself, and impose less on others for help. For me, because I live alone, this is especially important.
- My digestive system works better (I used to struggle with IBS-C and sometimes reflux).
- My sleep apnea is less severe (not all the way gone, though that happens for some), and I sleep more restfully and comfortably overall (without pillows and props for problem areas).
- My blood pressure, formerly high, is low normal (without drugs).
- My cholesterol (formerly bad) and triglycerides (formerly very high) are solidly normal, without drugs.
- Perhaps surprisingly, I enjoy food more now that I'm more selective about what I eat, instead of just shoveling in whatever presents itself. Everything, from grocery shopping through cooking to eating, is more pleasurable.
- My clothes require less drawer space, make fewer loads of laundry, and fit in a smaller suitcase.
- I'm not very appearance conscious, but I will say that there are way more clothing choices, in more styles, at a wider range of price points. Even good finds on clearance racks! (Seemed like the only plus-size clearance items would usually look like a small army tent, only with large bright-pink sequinned flowers and a low-cut neckline. )
- For reasons I can't fully pin down, my overall sense of well-being has increased noticeably. Part if it is less pain/discomfort and greater task/fun-stuff capability, but there's more. I've wondered if this could be an effect of reduced systemic inflammation?

I could keep going on a long time with pros, but that's a decent sample. And some of them started showing up en route to better fitness/healthy weight, so you don't have to wait for "the end".

Truly, there aren't, in my view, very many cons. Here are ones I can think of:

- I have to continue paying attention to how much I eat. It's not painful or hard, and doesn't feel like a sacrifice. But it takes a few minutes a day, and some mindshare.
- In some scenarios, I had to understand that other people would perceive me differently, or even treat me differently. I don't want to overstate this, it's not a huge thing, but I've had to adjust. As a simple example, I've long tried to make friendly overtures to new people in group fitness classes I've gone to for a while, and encourage them. Fat me saying "You can do this!" to a maybe-overweight beginner was more likely to be perceived as I intended. Coming from healthy-weight kinda fit-looking me, it can be perceived as condescending. Since I feel like the same human on the inside, more or less, it's taken some insight to handle my different outside appearance.
- I hate to clothes shop. I tried to minimize it, and relied on resale shops to save money, but I still had to do waaaaaay more of it along the way than I can happily tolerate. Then there's the time to sort, discard, and donate old clothes. Boring.

I can't think of much more, really.

In my view, many people worry disproportionately about loose skin, especially when only part way to goal. Yes, it's a real thing, and it does tend to be less willing to shrink as we age. But it can still shrink! I lost about 1/3 of my body weight in about a year. My loose skin kept shrinking well into my 2nd year of weight maintenance.

One thing to understand: If we have a good amount of weight to lose, there are some scary phases along the way that can make it seem as if the end result will be worse than it actually will.

For many/most, we don't lose fat starting neatly with the outermost layer (I wish! ). Instead, fat cells can deplete anywhere in the fat mass. A fat area that was firm and kind of self-supporting becomes squishy, maybe hang-y or even floppy. Think of how a totally-filled water balloon is firm and round, but if you let out half the water without letting in air, if becomes shapeless, soft, and floppy.

This in-between phase can be discouraging . . but most of it can be temporary.

True loose skin is rather thin, like wrinkles in fabric. Think about pinching up the skin on a body part that's bony for you, like elbow, kneecap or back of hand. It's pretty thin. Thicker folds, like 1/2" and more, still have a layer of subcutaneous "squishy fat" conspiring with gravity to keep surrounding skin stretched. As that fat depletes to a more negligible level, that skin can begin to shrink.

My advice on the loose skin subject would be to try not to stress along the way, but rather simply keep exercising and eating nutritiously (because good circulation and nutrition contribute to healthy, supple skin). At goal weight, you'll have a clearer idea about how much loose skin and residual fat you have (we all need some body fat ). The true loose skin (smaller wrinkles) has a decent chance to keep shrinking over time.

Many people find their end results to be better than they'd feared. Probably you will, too.

To have a strong, flexible body, you're on the right course. Persistence and consistency are your best friends. Do what exercises you're able, without unreasonable risk of actual injury. (Recovery from injury is slower at our age than for young people, so it takes a bigger bite out of our progress.) Expect some minor aches and pains, and think about how to work around them.

When in doubt about whether something is injury or not, consult your doctor. Ask for a physical therapy referral, whenever that's an option. Those people can be genius at identifying our weak points and helping us improve or work around them.

For minor aches and pains, learn how athletes deal with them: Learn how to use ice, epsom salt soaks, massage (if you can afford it) or self-massage tools, sauna/steam-room (if you have access to one), warm bath, strategic rest, stretching, etc. (YouTube has some good self-massage and rehab stretches/exercises. Look for videos from well-credentialed physical therapists )

As you get lighter, stronger and fitter, keep gradually and sensibly increasing the challenge of your exercise. Try new things, and give them a fair shot (as long as they don't risk/cause injury).

Everyone feels awkward and incompetent for a surprisingly long while, when starting a more complicated new thing. Expect and embrace that. Things that are easy right away become boring fast. Things that are not-quite-totally-unachievably hard at first will stay interesting and fun much longer. Give yourself time to get through those newbie blues: Don't give up after one or two awkward sessions.

You can do this! Furthermore, with patience and persistence, you can and will surprise yourself with what you can accomplish, and how great you can feel both physically and psychologically.

If you had told an earlier me - say the 45 y/o, obese, recently-widowed, just-out-of-chemotherapy, hypothyroid, weak, physically depleted me - that one day I'd be rowing boats (and rowing machines) in races, working out intensely most days, and weighing what I had in college - lowest adult weight - I wouldn't have believed it possible. Sure, this took a few years, but it was fun and so worth it.

You can surprise yourself, too, even at 60 - probably already have, given how far you've already come. Given your great start and determination, there are lots of wonderful surprises on the path ahead.

Best wishes!

(Apologies for writing a book . . . and probably one with typos. )

middlehaitch

@lorrpb & @AnnPT77, thank you both for jumping in and shareing your wisdom and experience.

Cheers, h.

AnnPT77

middlehaitch wrote: »

@lorrpb & @AnnPT77, thank you both for jumping in and shareing your wisdom and experience.

Cheers, h.

Thanks for whistling me in. I loveLoveLOVE seeing people, especially women, especially our age-mates, succeed, and appreciate a chance to help.

Go, team li'l ol' lady! Today, our health, tomorrow, the world!

I may not have the right advice in the right words, but someone will.

150poundsofme

Middlehaitch, thanks for your support and the reminder to try a water fit class!
Lorrpb, I will check my BMI as to how I am improving over time, thank you for your input!
callsitlikeiseeit, thank you!
AnnPT77, wow, what can I say but a deep thank you for taking the time to help guide me in my continuing weight loss and stronger body. I do appreciate everything you wrote!!