Over 60 & not giving up

rs60175

Hi … I’ve used MFP multiple times over the years … I’m really most interested in having healthy labs when I go to the Dr and to feel good and stay active. I’d love to find motivational friends!

totameafox

hey there. I'm not giving up either! the path is long and for the rest of our lives! feel free to join my new group. I'm open to make new friends and help others make it through each day.

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/group/147555-speak-friend-and-enter

rs60175

Thanks for your reply! I’m trying to figure out the communities and the discussions
Wishing you great success

AnnPT77

Hello, and welcome (back? )!

I think I'm not a motivational friend candidate , but I wanted to post to say hi and cheer you on. I lost weight at 59-60, and that was a huge quality of life improvement for me. I want that for everyone!

In particular, part way through loss from obese to healthy weight, my cholesterol, triglycerides, and blood pressure all went from high - some of those very high - to solidly normal. They've stayed in the normal range through 9+ years at a healthy weight since, now age 69 . . . in fact, my primary care doctor recently called my cholesterol results "phenomenal".

I suspect I may not have the genetic predispositions that make it more difficult for some people, but I think weight loss can improve those things for pretty much everyone (and fitness improvement can, too, if that's among a person's goals). I'm surprised, and was very lucky, that I didn't have diabetes or pre-diabetes, too, honestly. Many people here report improvements on all those issues, so it's very possible.

Best wishes for success: You can achieve your goals!

rs60175

Thank you for replying! I’ve been a lifetime dieter even tho I’ve never been more than 30 lbs over normal by the charts … my progress has always been slow. Grateful I’m moving the scale down bit by bit. I’m down 5.5 lbs in 4 weeks. I really just want better lab numbers most of all. Sorry it took me so long to get back to you. I was traveling.. but I’m celebrating my loss even while out of my normal routines and eating out the last eeek more than usual. Have a lovely day!

AnnPT77

Actually, 5.5 pounds in weeks is a good rate, especially if around 30 pounds is all you want to lose. Really fast loss is harder to stick with, and not as health-promoting since adds physical stresses to the body and makes good nutrition harder to achieve. I hope you had a good time traveling!

rs60175

Thank you for the encouragement! Holding steady … plateau but still tracking and staying on track under 1320 calories/day. How’s it going for you??

AnnPT77

rs60175 wrote: »

Thank you for the encouragement! Holding steady … plateau but still tracking and staying on track under 1320 calories/day. How’s it going for you??

That sounds good - holding steady is better than gaining, right?

How am I doing, or Totameafox, or both?

Me, uneventful. As mentioned, I'm in long-term weight maintenance now, year 9. For me, that mostly looks like slowly meandering around in a 5 pound or so weight range, same jeans size, of course in context of the usual fluctuations from day to day as well. At 5'5" (165cm) and 133.8 pounds (59.6kg) this morning, I'm up a little from where I'd prefer to be, which isn't unusual in Winter since everything gets cold and crunchy here so I don't have as much daily life activity as in Spring through Fall. Blood pressure - which used to be borderline to high before weight loss - was 114/69 at the dentist's office earlier this week, last blood tests all still where I want them, so things are good on that front.

The biggest deal is a recovery - going well, but slowly - from a skull fracture and brain bleed, fortunately both small, that put me in the neurology ICU for a couple days in early November. I've been gradually improving, CT scans say the brain part is healed, but the bones will take a few months. Still intermittently having mild variable headaches, more easily fatigued than normal. I'm cleared to do anything that doesn't make symptoms worse, so trying for but not always adhering to my Winter exercise schedule of alternating stationary biking and rowing machine 6 days a week, occasionally throwing in some random stretching or mobility stuff. (I had started being active later in life, but before weight loss, while still obese.)

I'm sticking around maintenance calories, for me 1850+exercise, having learned my lesson after gallbladder surgery that healing is job 1, and that works best when not losing weight at the same time. I'm retired and widowed, do less social stuff in Winter, so mostly hibernating and trying to get some indoor stuff done in my house, within the currently somewhat constrained energy budget.

Hang in there, hold onto your "holding steady" as a baseline. Some stalls along the way can be perfectly normal, and only giving up the effort leads to not reaching goals, even if some adjustments need to happen at some point. Wishing you the best!

rs60175

Wow! I’ve done Ww so many times and never got to maintenance! Always a yoyo. I’m 5’7” and 182.2 as of this morning. Down from 190 in December. Making slow progress on 1360 calories. I’d feel great if I could get to 160lbs I’m sorry to hear your troubles with skull fracture! I hope you have loved ones near for support.

AnnPT77

It's great that you're making good progress: Congratulations!

For me, calorie counting fortunately turned out to be the perfect method. It appeals to my inner science geek - it's like a fun, productive science fair experiment for grown-ups. It appealed to my data geek/metrics inclinations. Since I'm deeply and unapologetically hedonistic, I like that it lets me eat every single calorie I can, while staying at a healthy weight so my future self can better odds of a happier life, too. (I'm not big on looking backward and regretting the now-unchangeable, but have to admit that young Ann did some things that have made my later life less ideal.)

I think finding the personally right methods is key to success, when it comes to weight management or fitness goals. I hadn't been a yo-yo dieter in general, because I'm not super appearance conscious among other reasons, and because my reading suggested repeat yo-yo gain/loss was probably worse for long-term health than staying somewhat overweight. (But I let that overweight part go beyond "somewhat".)

In retrospect, I think it helped that I decided not to do anything for weight loss that I wasn't willing to continue long term to stay at a healthy weight (ideally permanently), except for a sensibly moderate, manageable calorie deficit until I reached goal weight. I think my inner hedonist motivated that approach, but in retrospect I feel like that turned my attention to finding new, more positive, but happy routine habits. I think it better set me up better for successful maintenance, since maintenance was a simple matter of adding back some calories, but not finding some new set of habits at that point.

I'm not saying you should do those things: Different things work for different people. I'm just sharing some personal history and thoughts.

I can't say that I do have loved ones close for support: I'm retired, widowed, my parents long passed, an only child, no children. Fortunately, I do have some wonderful, generous kind friends. I reached out to them for help starting even when I was in the emergency room (!), and they more than came through during my time in the hospital and in recuperation when I got out. I'm a lucky woman, in multiple ways.

My primary care doctor thinks that my reasonable health and fitness helped avoid this injury having worse consequences and helped smooth recovery, compared to many people my age. I'm grateful as well as lucky. At US Thanksgiving dinner, I had a chance to thank two of the main coaches who helped me get on a path to better fitness after cancer treatment. I feel like without them helping me find that turning point, I might not be here today, from a post-cancer perspective as well as things like the skull fracture.

I'm cheering for your continuing success at weight loss, and believe you can get to 160 if you stick with it. I don't think everyone needs to do their whole weight loss process with maintenance habits in mind, but do feel like putting the focus there when closer to goal will pay off. I hope it's obvious that both fitness improvement and weight loss have had huge quality of life benefits for me . . . I want that for everyone possible.

Best wishes!

steeleraine

Hello. I don’t know if I can introduce myself here….if this is a group or what. I would like to join a group of women who are closer to my age and understand that it’s not always about overeating and exercise.

Although I have to admit this counting calories and this app seems to work the best for me. It would also help if I could get my thyroid to work. Btw nice to meet y’all.