Over 50 year olds

woodswalker99

Hi. I've been on MFP about 6 weeks and have lost 8.6 pounds. I'm 52 years old (53 in July) and i was afraid of gaining weight after reaching menopause. I really wasn't sure I'd be able to lose at first. I've reached my first goal of being under 130 pounds and now I'm shooting for 120 pounds. I haven't weighed that since I've been in my 20s! I've seen that my caloric needs have gone down a lot with age and even with exercise i have to keep my calories down. This has forced me to be more aware of my nutrition and not eat all those empty calories out there! One of the biggest changes was to stop myself from being a garbage can for the food my kids leave behind. I also spend a lot of time cooking and not snacking when I'm cooking has been one of the biggest challenges. Two things I read which helped me were that you own everything you eat so i track EVERYTHING I eat. All those little snacks and leftovers add up pretty quick. Also, you have to be patient and give your body time to adjust. Long term changes have to happen on the cellular level and that takes time. I had my kids pretty late (they're 14, 11 and 9) so staying healthy for them (and not wanting to look like their grandmother!) has been motivating for me. But probably the most effective changes have been the mental ones: to go easy on myself and if I slip up, then I slip up. It's okay. This is for the long term and I only made the goal of losing 1 pound per week so I'd be more likely to keep it off. I'm also a stress eater and becoming more aware of that (MFP has helped tremendously with that) has been a huge help. Good luck to all the over 50s out there. I now truly believe that weight loss is possible after 50.

mukamom

I am 53 and would love to have some more 50+ friends!! Add me too!

irishcanadianwoman

I'm a beginner here at 56. Working hard to lose about 20 lbs.
Anybody else like me?