Moms over 40.....

loved11

I found it better to take measurements in addition to weight. I found my body put on muscle quickly so the scale was deceiving It I never too late to be your best and feel best you can. I really realized I was losing when my summer short were too big!;!! That's another good way that you can't deny progress. Hang in there

JeSuisPrest

Taking measurements is important!! Glad you found our thread!!! Sending you a friend request!

loved11

Hi! I'm new to MFP and searched "over 40 mom" and found all of you! I'd love to have friends and support along my journey.
I lost 15 pounds on my own over the first six months of the year, but then over the summer I had to welcome some back. Now I want to lose another 15 (or so, the feeling/look is important more than the number). And I know that it gets harder the less you have to lose.

One wrinkle I haven't seen mentioned in the thread is nursing. Is anyone else nursing a toddler at our "advanced maternal age?" I know it's not many calories at this point (maybe once/twice a day) but it does seem like little things make a difference.

One revelation to me has been running. I never dreamed I could pick up something like running in my 40s (with what I thought were bad knees but was probably just extra weight). I aim for HIT (although steady state is easier!), and will run a 5K in mid-October. I also do circuit training and I actually feel more energetic than throughout my 30s.

What I need to concentrate on now is eating less and tweaking my ratios. All while feeding a busy family with food around me all the time!

Thanks for your inspirational stories and tips. I look forward to following this thread and your successes!
Ciao a tutti,
--Holly
kids aged 8, 7, 4, 3

loved11

Hello beautiful moms.....how is everyone doing? I'm feeling so tired today, only slept 5 hours last night, but I feel good! I am staying on track and even found some exercise videos on the Netflix streaming that I am going to take advantage of. I'm thinking of the 30day Shred, but for now I will use what's on the Netflix. I'm thinking its time to change things up a bit, so was pleasantly surprised to find those videos. I'm totally enjoying C25K, who knew??? I've never been a runner! But am pleased w/ myself that I can jog 8 minutes. I'm on week 5 and repeated day two 3 times, I am intimidated by day 3 as it is a 20 minute jog, but I will try it. Won't know if I can do it till I try it, right??

So what is new with all of you??

can you explain the c25k? I have always wanted to be a runner, i ran in my late teens and loved it. my last baby will be in school next year and want to be running by then.

martymum

Finally my scale has moved down again. I raised my calorie intake and started eating back half my excercise and lo and behold the scale went down two pounds!!!!!

Hi

I'm 40 mum to 2 boys 9 and 11. Gave up smoking 2 years ago and used it as an excuse to eat...well everything I wanted. My weight loss stalled and hubby read the thread on why to eat exercise cals so I started eating back half my cals and am losing 1lb a week now!!

It was scary upping my cals but what I was doing wasn't working anymore...sticking to 1300 a day.

martyxx

JeSuisPrest

can you explain the c25k? I have always wanted to be a runner, i ran in my late teens and loved it. my last baby will be in school next year and want to be running by then.

It's program created to train you to run a 5k. It alternates walking and jogging over a 9 week period to get you there. But you can do it in your own time. It took me months to get to week 8, but I struggled with it and was losing confidence. So guess what, I started over and am loving it!! Check out this link and it will answer all your questions!

http://www.coolrunning.com/engine/2/2_3/181.shtml

Wallaby2

Hi. I'm a 44 year old Australian, married with two sons aged 11 and 14. I've been using MFP for a month now without worrying about the community support too much., however I'd now like to make a few friends on MFP who are genuine, mature and encouraging and at a similar life stage.

My main reason for joining was to lose a few pounds. What I am appreciating now is how poor my diet has been for a long time. I'm loving that I can monitor nutritionally what I eat. It's an excellent tool and motivator.....although addictive!

All the best to you all, well done on looking after yourselves!

jseelim

Hi, I am pushing 50 next year, it's definitely not too late. Being healthy & fit applies to all ages. I happy to join this app because it has totally change my outlook in life, I once thought excess weight comes with age & is inevitable. My fitness pal proves it wrong. You can be fit whatever age you're in as long as you stay motivated & focus. Thanks to mom like you who serves as inspiration to others. Cheers to all moms!

pegmet

I'm 44 and my kids are 19, 17, 15, and 13, all boys and the joy of my life! The oldest two are extremely athletic and I don't want to miss a minute of what's going on in their lives and what will happen in the future. I'm so excited to "meet" other women with so much in common!

I never completely lost the "baby weight" from my first son and have just seen it inch up since. I can't wait for my body to be as young as I feel inside!

JeSuisPrest

Hello lovely ladies....today I am doing a happy dance. Once again after the scale not moving for a couple of weeks, I have had a 3 lb weight loss. And......it moved me into that "healthy" weight range on the BMI chart. I am no longer officially over weight. I'm not done yet, still have 13 lbs to go to meet my goal but I am so happy I could shout it from the rooftops.

fairbanksd

I'm 49 and the mother of 10 kids ranging from 27 to 8 years of age, and yes I gave birth to all of them. I started my journey in June of 2010 when my blood pressure kept going higher and Dr. wanted to order tests we couldn't afford as we have no health insurance. I took some drastic measures to lower blood pressure initially (fasting) which started my weight loss. Fasting is not a realistic or healthy way to diet so I struggled with eating correctly attempting to follow Dean Ornish's eating plan to improve my heart health. Friends told me about MFP and it has helped me greatly as I thought I was eating good when in reality I was consuming more calories than I should have. I try hard to stick to 1200 calories a day, I started walking 5 miles a day in spring of 2011, and in August added working out with a trainer 2 days a week. I am at 108 pounds lost in 16 months. I get frustrated too at how slow it has been, but it is what it is, "Never give up! Never surrender!" (yeah we watch a lot of kid movies). My mind is still conditioned to want to taste more calories a day but 1200 is really enough to satisfy hunger. I try to only eat a healthy carb (whole grains) or a heart healthy protein with either fruits or veggies to help keep cals down. Benefits besides weightloss: depression drastically improved, blood pressure better (still on meds though :-( ), insomnia gone, knees no longer hurt, and my husband won't leave me alone. Draw backs: I miss my boobs.

keeponkickin

Hello. I'm 44, been married almost 25 years and we have 4 children, ages 24, 21, 10 and 9. I joined MFP on January 11, 2011 and I am down 101 pounds so far with 26 more to go. I am in the best shape of my life. I workout hardcore at the gym 4 to 5 days a week and just started P90X. I can't believe what a difference almost 10 months has made.

wiglet23

Wow. This is such an awesome topic. So many wonderful inspiring stories.

I'm 40. Have 17yo and 14yo daughters. Was solely responsible for them for 6 years after divorce and never felt like I had the time to take care of me. My girls moved to their father's 2 years ago. Depression kept me from taking care of me for about a year. This past May (when I turned the big 4-0) I decided it was past time to get off the couch and JUST DO IT. Since then I have logged 104 activities (including beginning with walking and elliptical only to now running, hiking, some cycling, strength training & elliptical) burning over 35,000cals.

When my youngest was still in diapers I did lose weight using Slim 4 Life's low carb/hi protein diet - sure it was nice that 35 lbs slid off in a quick 6 weeks, but, obviously since I'm here now, it did not stay off! That is a hard diet to maintain. I am here to keep it off!

I have found I now actually LOOK FORWARD to working out (maybe because it means I can eat more that day! , but, hey, whatever works, right ?) This is huge for me. And, all of the support from people here on MFP and reading others' success stories is also so encouraging and keeps me going. I have my bad days diet-wise (this week has been one of my worst since starting) but I have my goal in mine and KNOW I can just keep hitting the "reset button" and keep going.

You are so close to your goal. You have the tools and know-how. You will get there!! :flowerforyou:

*Let me amend.. I started exercising end of May. Not seeing much result in weight loss itself (but did see endurance building), I started MFP in late August. MFP has been a tremendous help in the weight loss catecory!

JeSuisPrest

Ladies, such wonderful stories. You keep me inspired!! Please feel free to add me as a friend! I'm so grateful that we have one another to support and help!

SnowmamaM

I am joining the conversation late but hey, at least I am here. I am 43 - I have three kids, 5, 3.5 and 2. I am still 13 pounds over my prepregnancy weight and 21 pounds over my ideal weight. I have given this a few tries over the past year but not whole heartedly. Now I am really ready to make a difference. I am signed up for walking a half-marathon in April. I have been counting my calories for a few days and generally watching what I eat over the past two weeks.

I am inspired by what I have read on this thread. I look forward to being a success story by Valentine's Day!

modernsoul

I'm 45 (46 in January yikes) and have a 19 year-old son. Today I hit my half-way point, 15 pounds. 15 more to go. This past week has been hard. I was sick at the beginning of the week and I didn't work out much and yet I still dropped 2 pounds. Must have been my lack of appetite. When I got pregnant with my son so many years ago I gained 50 pounds and topped the scale at 190. Ouch. Since then I've been up and down and with age more on the up side. I married for the second time six years ago and since then both my husband and I have been putting on the pounds. We started MFP together the end of September. This is definitely a lifestyle change and we're both committed to see it through.

Thanks for sharing all your wonderful stories.

Trina

JeSuisPrest

Trina...how wonderful that you and your husband are on this journey together. One of my biggest struggles was my husband being so thin. Can't tell how many times I felt like strangling him when he mention how his pants were getting lose and needing a smaller size. It was a struggle knowing I weighed more than him. My youngest is 10 and I tipped the scales and about 185 just before he was born. I'm only 5'2!!! One of my victories along this journey was finally weighing less than him!!!

hemlock2010

I'll be 47 in a month and have two kids, 21 and 16, who have been my cheering section since day one of MFP. The 16yo was a little skeptical at first b/c he hates change and thought that if I got fit, I would be different. Now he's my motivator when internal motivation fails. The 21yo has always been supportive but struggles with her own weight issues, so we have to be very careful not be enablers for each other's self-destructive impulses.

I've been stuck at 172 lbs for about five weeks--obviously not the worst thing that's ever happened in my life-long weight loss journey (since my high was 217) but still kind of frustrating. I took a break from exercise during the worst of fall allergy season, but now that the air is a little more breathable, I'm ramping up the Turbo Jam again.

This past week I've been having sort of a mid-life crisis (brought on by the approaching 47th birthday) and the sudden realization that I'm really old. Age has always been just another number for me until suddenly--starting this past Tuesday--it's been this awful thing I can't escape. I feel as though no one in the history of the world has ever been as old as I'm about to be and that there's no point in trying to be fitter or to learn a new sport because I'm so OLD. It does help (a little) that Tony Horton is also in his forties, but he's still not as old as I am about to be . . .

Leigh_D

Hello lovely ladies....today I am doing a happy dance. Once again after the scale not moving for a couple of weeks, I have had a 3 lb weight loss. And......it moved me into that "healthy" weight range on the BMI chart. I am no longer officially over weight. I'm not done yet, still have 13 lbs to go to meet my goal but I am so happy I could shout it from the rooftops.

OHHHHH YEEEEEEAAAAHHH!!
"Healthy" BMI is my goal! 20 more pounds to go until I reach that point, 30 pounds to maintenance, I think. I haven't ever been in the 140's since I passed it the first time when I was, like, 12.

Hi, I'm Leigh. I'm almost 40 (in March '12), with a 4-year-old. I knew I started "late" for kids, but it has really made an impression on me reading through this thread through everyone's story. So many of you my age with teenagers! I'm 10 years "behind" my peers! But otherwise, same old story -- major sweet tooth, heavy all my life, blah blah blah. Learning about Basal Metabolic Rate has been the "magic potion" for me, and I've shed 60 pounds in 10 months.

Way to go, Ladies! Keep up the good work!

circusmom

Hello lovely ladies....today I am doing a happy dance. Once again after the scale not moving for a couple of weeks, I have had a 3 lb weight loss. And......it moved me into that "healthy" weight range on the BMI chart. I am no longer officially over weight. I'm not done yet, still have 13 lbs to go to meet my goal but I am so happy I could shout it from the rooftops.

OHHHHH YEEEEEEAAAAHHH!!
"Healthy" BMI is my goal! 20 more pounds to go until I reach that point, 30 pounds to maintenance, I think. I haven't ever been in the 140's since I passed it the first time when I was, like, 12.

Hi, I'm Leigh. I'm almost 40 (in March '12), with a 4-year-old. I knew I started "late" for kids, but it has really made an impression on me reading through this thread through everyone's story. So many of you my age with teenagers! I'm 10 years "behind" my peers! But otherwise, same old story -- major sweet tooth, heavy all my life, blah blah blah. Learning about Basal Metabolic Rate has been the "magic potion" for me, and I've shed 60 pounds in 10 months.

Way to go, Ladies! Keep up the good work!

Your not that late!! I'm 42 and have a 23, 12, 5, & 3 year old. Congrats on your weight loss so far!! Keep it up!