Lets face it, we're facing a double whammy... over 50 and overweight by 50 lbs or more. Many with health problems already, and with past successful failures on some "diet". How about we don't go on a "diet" but we simply change habits. Learn to cook one new healthy food each week. Try a mixup of things that get your heart pumping. Don't do the old high school workout... you're 40 years older now! What do you enjoy? Bowling? Walking? Dancing? Who cares if you aren't a pro! Just have fun. Move your body more.

Know yourself. Know your weaknesses. Don't give in to them. If you DECIDE to eat something hi-fat or hi-sugar, then make it an EVENT. Sit down with a knife and fork. Grab a linen napkin and cut your tasty morsel into tiny little pieces as if you were trying to make it last a week. Then savor each tasty tiny morsel for several minutes. This new habit will help you break your old habits of grabbing a handful of snack size candies as you pass by the candy jar at work... a dozen or so times a day. Suddenly you've added 600-1000 calories and you ate them so fast you didn't even enjoy it. Its a small victory that can really help increase your awareness of just how much food goes into your mouth! Take a "relax and breathe" break several times a day (like on your way up and down that hallway with the candy jar). No one even knows you're doing it... but you will feel recharged and rejuvenated. Just take a deep breath, hold it a second, blow it out slowly, hold it, repeat a few times, then breathe normally. Don't do this too fast or you might hyperventilate. Just be very aware of the air filling your lungs and the used, dirty air being expelled. Consider it soul cleansing! Try some occasional "tighten for 10 counts and relax" on your major muscles. When you are in the ladies room, practice tightening those abs, just raise your feet straight out and level with your butt. Hold it for a count of 10. Then relax. Sitting at your desk, just tighten your butt muscles for 10 counts and relax. Start your morning by waking up your major muscles with a simple tighten and relax until your whole body feels alive and ready to go! Do this throughout the day until you've hit them all few times. It will become part of your routine and guess what... you'll be moving to the groove more, eating less junk food, taking in more oxygen, strengthening your core and other muscles, and as a result, you'll sleep deeper and wake more rested. Sounds easy enough. Baby steps, right? A few minor changes... you can do this right? Doesnt take any time away from anything else right? You're already walking down the hall or going to the ladies room, right? After a couple of weeks increase the count or reps if you feel you aren't getting the same results as when you started. Just never never never start sliding back the other way. Each step we takes brings us closer to our dreams... but the reverse is also true... it can take us further away from them. Take control of simple things that you have control over, even with a hectic busy life.

Move more. Simple. Be vividly aware of every single little morsel that goes into your mouth and savor it. Always. Breathe in and relax. Easy. Losing your way, or your motivation? Get on MFP and ask a friend (or all your friends) for help. Its a safe non-judging place!

I WILL BEAT HER (from a Facebook friend)
I will beat her. I will train harder. I will eat cleaner.
I know her weaknesses. I know her strengths.
I've lost to her before, but not this time!
She is going down.
I have the advantage because I know her well.
She is the Old Me. The Me I no longer wish to be.