Let's try this again!

Jenniferlbarker
Jenniferlbarker Posts: 1 Member
in Introduce Yourself

Hi- My name is Jenn. I have been a long time My Fitness Pal user but have been inconsistent with it. I'm approaching my 61st birthday and really want to feel better, lose weight, and eat more healthy to improve my health. I need help with discipline and hope joining this community can help keep me on track.

With gratitude,

Jenn

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  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 37,425 Community Helper

    Hi, Jenn!

    Y'know, I'm not a big fan of discipline - maybe that's just me. Speaking as a hedonistic aging hippie flake, things like discipline, willpower and motivation are not my strongest suit, to say the least. I think more in terms of habits - new, more positive, but still easy/happy routine habits.

    Gradually changing routine habits in manageable ways can really add up. I think the patterns we follow day-in, day-out almost without thinking about them are a power tool for weight loss. That rare day when I eat too much cake or work out for 5 hours are a drop in the ocean. Routine habits are the ocean. The majority of our days delivers the majority of our results.

    Given all of that, I'm a big fan of making the easiest possible to follow plan. What that looks like varies individually.

    I wasn't routinely active until my late 40s/early 50s, when I felt I had to be, to recover from cancer and its treatment. I was lucky to find ways of being active that are so fun I'd do them even if they weren't good for me, but they are.

    Nonetheless, I stayed overweight/obese until age 59-60. With help from MFP - both the app and the Community - I lost about 50 pounds, and have been at a healthy weight since, now age 69.

    Too many people (IMO) arrive here thinking they should cut calories to the bone, lose weight fast, adopt extremely restrictive eating rules, give up all treats, maybe stack miserable, punitively intense daily exercise on top of that. Something like that requires a lot of discipline. That type of plan doesn't usually end well, but it does typically end quickly.

    I decided I wasn't going to do anything to lose weight that I wasn't willing to continue long term to stay at a healthy weight, except for a sensibly moderate calorie deficit until my weight reached a point I liked. I'm not saying my approach is right for everyone - no one thing works well universally - but I haven't regretted thinking of it that way. It's a different mindset from "lose weight fast", I think. So far, so good - hopefully good for another 10+ years, too.

    Best wishes for success - IME the quality of life improvement is more than worth the effort it takes to achieve it!

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