58, overweight, 25 lbs to go

khsaferian

Hi, I'm Kate. I'm 58, 59 next month. When I got on the scale at the dr's, I was (finally) disgusted. I looked in the mirror later that evening, and saw a big fat glob. I'm 5'5", with what I consider a curious (to me) body structure. I have a very short torso-low rise jeans come up to my belly button; 36" inseam; my lowest rib is two fingers above my hip bone; I'm "barrel chested" according to the bra fitting woman, as an underwire doesn't lay flat, but hits in a very small area on the front of my ribs, and considered shall we say, busty lol. Even at 130#, I look a bit chunky. I know I'm not the only one who is like this and hopefully there is someone here with a similar body structure and as my husband says, body dysmorphia. I have been seriously watching not so much as what I eat, but the portions. I love food and have a propensity to eat myself sick if I like something. I am going to start exercising, as I have a nice gym in the "active senior community" haha where I live. I know an elliptical is good for legs, bum & cardio but my hips do not like that movement due to arthritis. I do want to do light weight training to tone up. Believe it or not, the last time I went to the gym 3 years ago, I could leg press 435#! I actually like the treadmill if i have good music. My husband is a goof and says I'm beautiful and not to go under 125/130. He thinks that would be the lowest healthwise I should go.
I'm hoping to chat with people around my age who are in a similar situation. No offense, but please no young, skinny people, they don't get the "as you age" dynamic, and I cannot relate to them.
Thank you for reading this long-winded diatribe.

AnnPT77

Hi, Kate, and welcome -

We have a lot in common, though not everything. I'm 69 now, but started with MFP at 59, technically class 1 obese at the time. I'm also 5'5", have some arthritis (among other physical stuff), ribs not quite as close to hips as you have but a short distance (maybe 3 fingers?), though I don't have your longer inseam. I'm not large busted, I'm post-bilateral-mastectomies without reconstruction, so flat, maybe even a bit concave.

Like you, I love food. I'm basically a hedonistic aging-hippie flake, realistically, with a very low budget of motivation, willpower, discipline or anything similar.

For me, there were two surprises:

Number 1: I expected weight loss to be really hard because older, menopausal, retired so sedentary outside of exercise, hypothyroid, etc. But with a realistic plan, it wasn't as hard as that. Logistically, it was very simple. It wasn't psychologically easy every second of course, but even there easier than I'd expected. Mostly, what was necessary was to stick with the effort, tweaking my personal plan to be effective but simultaneously manageable and achievable. It took persistence, but not suffering.

Number 2: All along the way, there were meaningful benefits, starting just a few pounds down. I'm not going to go into details, but there's a huge thread here where many people share those experiences, might be worth a read:

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1275030/whats-your-most-recent-nsv#latest

(NSV = non-scale victory.)

By the time I got to goal weight, the quality of life improvements were huge: Really good blood pressure and cholesterol/triglycerides without medication, better physical mobility without the fat in the way and the extra weight to lug around, greatly reduced frequency/severity of arthritis discomfort or pain, and just generally improved sense of well-being. I don't want to go back.

When it comes to goal weight, don't worry about it now. The weights we had earlier in life may not suit our older body, and I'm not repeating the "should weigh more when older" idea when I say that. It just can be different. Goal weight has zero to do with the weight loss process, calorie goal, etc. . . . until we decide it's time to stop losing. Obviously, goal weight is where we stop, or more properly probably the lower end of a small goal-weight range, to be practical.

Once you start getting closer to goal weight, unless you have very severe body dysmorphia, you'll know it. You can decide then. You can even change your mind, lose a few more pounds later . . . or gain back a few if that's better. If you're not sure you'll know, maybe start taking some front-side-back photos in a bathing suit or something similarly form-fitting (not undies, because I'm betting eventually you'll be proud to be able to share before and after ). Do that every month or two, because sometimes it's easier to see our changes in photos than in daily life.

If in doubt, as you get close, discuss it with your doctor. (IME, friends or family aren't good consultants on this, because they're kind of freaked out at first about the meaningful weight loss. I got "too thin" critiques from people who now think I'm fine at the same weight . . . because they've gotten used to "new me". )

No one else's results really tell you what to do, because we all have different bodies and different preferences. For me, even without breasts at all, and with a fairly narrow pelvic width, my best weight turned out to be 125-130ish, IMO. I'm up a bit from that right now, typical ups and downs in maintenance - 134.2 this morning, was working on gradually creeping weight down in maintenance but currently paused while I recover from (yikes) a skull fracture - when healing, maintenance calories are a good plan, IME. As long as I'm in the same jeans size - which I have been for 9+ years now - I'm happy.

You can do this. There's no need to create revolution if you don't want to go that route; manageable, progressive positive changes can work. IMO, the big goal is new, sustainable habits that not only get a person to a healthy weight, but keep them there long term, ideally forever.

I'm cheering for you to succeed: The rewards are worth the effort!

totameafox

Hello Kate.

I'm learning that eating healthier doesn't mean that I'm not enjoying the food. I am fortunate that I don't mind eating the same thing over and over so I can cook a meal and break it out into several servings. Though I am not a fan of cooking, I have been researching different recipes so I can have some sort of variety. Some experiments have been more successful than others, but I have only one failure. Me and cucumber chips were never meant to happen

My hunger mechanism is screwed up, so I don't get that 'satiated' feeling. I too can eat until something is completely gone. Putting away the other servings of food before I eat definitely helps. It's also lowered my grocery bill, which is just an added bonus.

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