Anyone here over 50?

I am 51 and struggling with my weight for really the first time in my life and I hate it. I am through menopause and also went through a divorce a little over a year ago. All the changes that came along with that sent me reeling and I picked up some very bad habits as coping mechanisms. I relied on alcohol and caffeine as my "escapes" when things got progressively more intense with the split. And 20 pounds went onto my 5'3" frame before I knew it.

Now, here I am, recovering from the huge change in my life and the new little friends I adopted - booze and Starbucks - don't seem to want to leave me! I went from have willpower of steel most of my adult life to giving into every craving. I look at myself and can't believe where I am and how lousy I feel physically. Workouts went by the wayside too when insomnia hit me hard and sapped my energy to do my usual morning workouts.

I was an avid MFPer a few years ago and just came back this week to look for inspiration and to make myself accountable. And lo and behold, I find all of you guys here in this over 50 board to motivate me and help me feel less alone in my struggle!

I would love to be friends with any of you! Friend me!

Thanks for being my inspiration. We cannot give up - there is so much of life to live and enjoy!

minigirl2

I'm 49. I just spent the last 10 yeares gettingin the best shape of my life. I don't think it's harder at all.


I think it's just never easy.

56 here.

I have never lost so much weight and kept it off as I have since I joined MFP.

Lift heavy
Eat at a deficit
Up your protein

The weight will come off no matter how old we are, we can do this.

^^^ THIS. I am 50 years old. After 18 years of failing diets on my own, my son set up an MFP account for me and I have never looked back. 35 lbs lost since July 1st - and desire to lose at least 25 more. Keys to success: LOG EVERYTHING - including weigh and measure portions. LOG EVERYDAY. Use the data to see what is working and what needs adjusting. It is easy to think you are eating healthy until you start logging and see how all the "bites of this" and "tastes of that" add up.

Is it hard? Yes. Losing weight at any age is hard. Putting it on is the easy part. Losing weight takes dedication, disciple, consistency, and patience. Exercise will boost the metabolism to help the process happen faster and will help reshape your body as you go. Cardio for fat burning and weights for retaining lean muscle mass (also needed for healthy metabolism).

Feel free to add me, and good luck to you!

I just turned 50 and I find that I can still lose weight if I work hard at it -- I've found it's hard work at any age..............

Anyone, please fell free to "friend request" me. I find my MFP friends make the difference for me. I try to be supportive for you as well. You can't have enough friends or support on this journey.

Have a great weekend!

I can't recall if I did this already but I'm over 50 and on a mission to get back to my college weight of 165.

going on 60b and yes the last 10 won't move very quickly or really any of it and the worst is the allotted calories for 59 is close two 0 ;-)



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Its been much harder for me at 50. Hard at 40 harder at 45 and even harder now. I think I need to exercise more to make it up

Yes I am over 50. I just started the program on Jan. 17, 14. I have a class reunion coming up .I an determine to lose .

I am staring 52 in the fact! It is definitely harder to lose it at this age. I am finding Patrick Holford's low GL healthy eating plan incredibly good though. You eat good quality but small amounts of carbohydrate and protein 5 to 6 times a day with lots of veg and a little fruit. I am really increasing the kinds of food I eat and it is making a big difference. Commitment to exercising is important too though, especially to protect our bones. Feel free to add me if you like.

That a lot of weight to lose, I love what you wrote.

I'm 52, and after a year of working at it I'm in the best shape I've been in since my mid-twenties. Definitely have to work harder at it, but as some of the earlier posts have said some basic weight training goes a long way to maintaining muscle mass and hence BMR, and I seem to have responded really well to some HIITs in the last couple of months. Us "slightly oldies" can do this, just stick to it!!! I'm so inspired by my Dad at 82 and still walking 5 - 10 miles a day (plus the odd game of table tennis) and see myself as building the foundations now to be like that should i be lucky enough to reach his age.

(Happy to accept that blokes probably have it easier though without some of that hormonal stuff going on....)

I am exactly 50 years old and am not having any problems yet. I am losing at the exact rate I set my goals for- 10 lbs. a month. I've only reached one plateau so far, and I increased my exercise and I continued to drop off the pounds. I still have a long way to go -97 lbs. to be exact. But I started out at 265 lbs. and am down to 230 lbs. in 3 1/2 months.Hopefully this will continue. I am not quite in menopause yet- and maybe this is why it's been easier for me.