Getting back into the swing of things

charlottenewberg

Hi everyone, I haven't been able to workout out or do cardio for quite awhile now. Since May of 2020. I had back surgery in July of 2020, that was a disaster. Apparently one of my disks slipped right after they did surgery so, I haven't be able to stand up straight. I got a second opinion as to what needed to be done. I need to have disks replaced and 4 fusions. Well, that's going to cost a fortune so, we needed to wait to get the State issued insurance. Saying that, I just found out 2 days ago I will be having surgery on the 11th of February. My weight has gone up to 150, which isn't really bad but, I am not working out or doing cardio at all so, what 125 use to look like on me when I was working out compared to 150 not working out is a big difference. So I starting today, I need to get back on track and start watching what I eat. I have never blogged about this before so, it will be very new to me. I am a personal trainer, and I will be 62 in April. I know it won't be as easy as when I was younger to get back in shape and lose some extra bodyfat but Hey, I am not getting any younger and I would like to see it I would be able to compete maybe next year.

AnnPT77

Hello, and welcome. I can't even imagine how challenging and painful it will have been for you, both physically and psychologically, to have gone through all of that. I admire your resolve to take control of the factors you can, and make as much progress as that strong commitment will allow, both before and after surgery. Kudos!

Your professional expertise can only be a huge help, in that process (much as it may also make the current physical compromises more difficult psychologically).

Speaking as someone in a similar age band (I'm 65 now, started with MFP at 59), I want to encourage you not to put *too* much stock in that "harder when older" idea, especially in someone like you who's been doing good "preventive maintenance" in the form of staying strong, active and at a healthy weight for many years beforehand.

I didn't start becoming active until my mid-40s (after cancer treatment), and stayed obese for more than a decade even while active (training and even competing as an on-water and machine rower). In 2015, I committed to weight loss, and went from class 1 obese (183 at 5'5") to a healthy weight (120s) in just under a year, and am still at a healthy weight 5+ years later (125.4 this morning). I won't pretend that weight loss was easy (psychologically, logistically) every single second, but it was very doable - the rules, as you know, are simple. The challenge is in compliance with them.

I'm hearing your concern about loss of fitness coupled with weight gain, and that's more than understandable. I think you have all the raw materials you need - knowledge, commitment - to make really good progress. At most, age may slow things a tiny bit by requiring more thoughtful exercise dosing to get going again, and allowing adequate recovery en route (harder for sure when you remember and want to be right back at what you could formerly do), not to mention injury avoidance so you don't need to take more breaks. I don't think age will be as big a factor as you may believe, necessarily.

I wish you great success at starting down the weight-management path, a smooth surgery with excellent recovery (during which I'd encourage you to eat at maintenance for a while, not go straight back to calorie deficit!), and eventually success at your goal of returning to competition. I'm over here cheering for you!