Introducing myself

sharnamiller18

Hi! I'm brand new to this but excited to work towards healthier eating habits and maybe shedding a few pounds as well. I always had a fast metabolism and could eat anything but now I'm starting to notice that isn't the case anymore. Once I master the nutrition portion, I'd love to be more intentional in exercise. I currently do Pilates twice a week and am part of a gym I rarely go to. I also really hope to improve my overall sleep quality. But to start, nutrition and meals :) So excited to be on this journey with everyone!

AnnPT77

Hello, and welcome!

Good news/bad news: You don't say how old you are, but recent research suggests metabolism doesn't really much slow down from our 20s to around 60, then the decline is fairly gradual.

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8370708/

What does change? Lifestyle, more often: Less physical job, less physical hobbies, not chasing toddlers around the house, more door-to-door driving and less walking/biking, more labor-saving appliances, and more.

On top of that, if we don't do enough to challenge our existing muscles, we will gradually lose them. Less muscle does mean burning a tiny number of calories fewer per day, but perhaps more importantly makes moving harder and less fun, so we do less of it . . . so not only burn fewer calories, but maybe lose even more muscle tissue, in a negative down-spiral.

Exercise can be part of changing that outcome: We can work on increasing daily life non-exercise activity, we can manageably increase exercise, and we can improve strength . . . at pretty much any age.

I'm not some blithe 20-something talking theory here, I'm a 69 y/o woman - menopausal, severely hypothyroid (medicated) - who lost around 50 pounds 9+ years ago, and who's been at a healthy weight since, after about 30 pre-loss years of overweight/obesity.

Wishing you success: It IS possible, and it's very much worth the effort.