Just turned 50 what do you do to keep in shape? Diet?

Calorie counting -- or more accurately, careful measurement of my food intake, as much as possible, and logging it. I'm in my early 50s, and I have lost more and maintained the loss longer using MFP than I have with any other approach I've tried (Atkins, low-fat, restricting "junk" food, eliminating snacking, mandatory snacks to reach six "meals" a day, grapefruit diets, cabbage soup diets, various food-elimination diets, various prescribed meal plans, diet shakes and bars -- none of these things worked as well for me as consistent tracking and logging).

The first few weeks to first month will be the hardest... You need to allow your body and brain to adjust to the new changes...

You can do it! xx

If you read your food log, you sure can tell what your strengths and weaknesses are. I see right now that I need More protein and less coffee with C/S. wasted food calories there. Exercise will speed your weight lose and improve your over all health. If your are able, walking ,swimming and bicycling are the best. I can't do them but surprised at what I can do at home. Floor exercises including squats. (surprised myself). hope you can find a web page that shows you some of those for balance, and strength. If you are not working away from home, include your normal activities in your exercise count. Pushing a mower, pulling weeds, washing floors and walls. Chasing after grandkids.:) I am using MyFitness Pal everyday, but I also meet with a weight loss group once a week. great companionship as we talk about how each other is accomplishing their goal. We share low cal recipes too. Best wishes in achieving your goal. http://www.seniorexercisesonline.com/index.html :flowerforyou:

What's the best diet you've tried?

No diets; just moderation.
Make sure you're calorie goal is in sync with your nutritional needs. With only 12 lbs to lose, your goal should be set to 1/2 lb of weight loss per week. This is important because if you restrict your calories too much, you'll likely fail. You want to lose the weight in a healthy and sustainable manner.
In general, for eating habits, eat more veggies at meals in order to fill up and keep your calories in a maintainable range. When looking at your plate, look for 1/2 veggies, 1/4 starches, 1/4 protein. It's a rough guide but it's in the ballpark.
Measure everything (with a scale) at first and study the portion size so that you can recognize a portion without a scale one day. This will help you from gaining the weight back once you're in maintenance and stop weighing everything. It's a good tool to have.

As for exercise, just start doing more than you currently do. It doesn't have to be a lot of strenuous things. If you add that right at the beginning, it may be too much and you may stop completely. You want something sustainable and if you want to increase it in the future, you will.
Start with walking for a half hour every second day. Increase the time per day or number of days as you see fit. This will help you build a core of stamina for the other activities you want to add later.

For myself, I weighed and measured everything while losing weight and learned to "eyeball" a portion. So far, now that I'm in maintenance, it seems to be working.
I currently run 3x a week and do some tai-chi exercises as well.

In weight watchers (which their new plan did not work for me at all and that is why I joined here), you are accountable to other people. You go and weigh in etc. I find that when I do my best is when I have my head set that this is something I need to do for me. I am accountable to me and me alone.

I do think that the first couple of weeks is the hardest, you have to learn to shop differently, make sure you have things in the house, everything has to be looked up and you aren't at the point where you can eyeball things or just estimate. It is labor intensive, once you get into the swing of things it is not a big deal and takes just a few minutes. I find the phone app really helpful as I can add foods and exercise and such when I am waiting in line or driving somewhere (not me driving)

No diet! Ever! Just logging everything that I eat and staying within my calorie allowance. Supporting my friends and they support me back. Walking and light hand weights, WII dancing, chair yoga and WW exercise DVD's.

I have been using MFP for almost a year and it has taught me how to retrain myself in my eating habits. I do not feel deprived of anything. If you are really graving something add it to your food diary and see what it does to your calorie count. Then you can really see if it is worth it or not, or adjust for it through the rest of your day.I also exercise about 3 to 4 times a week. I stopped keeping track for a little while and felt myself slipping into old habits with my eating but did manage not to gain weight. MFP is the best thing I have ever used in help with weight loss. It gets easier the more you use it. Good luck to you.

* 1 hour/ 4 days a week Elliptical
* 1 hour/ 5 days a week circuit training
* 1 excellent nutritionist
* 2800 balanced calories (40% carbs/ 30% protein/ 30% fat) a day to maintain my current weight.
* Remind myself every day that I may slip up or be discouraged, but it isn't the end of the world. It's just one slip and it can be dealt with.

Starting a solid exercise and healthy eating (notice I didn't use diet ) in my 50's was the best thing I ever did. It's nice to know that us 50 somethings (54 here) can be in the best shapes of our lives. Progress comes in time and you will have plenty of encouragement from us.

The ONLY thing that works for me is calorie counting. Adding in some exercise as i can.
I have done about every diet invented and even if i lost weight, once i stopped that fade i gained it all back.

My Dr. told me that at my age (44) i couldn't physically work-out enough to lose weight WITHOUT calorie counting. There would be no way for me to exercise enough to maintain a health weight, without staying in control of my calories..She was right. I walked 3 miles per day for about 5 months EVERY DAY and only lost 2 pounds...LOL..thats because I was eating so many calories that any i burned didnt count.
I strictly followed my calorie allotment and lost about 10 pounds per month.

I go to the gym 6 & 7 days per week. I walk for one hour and thats all.

Exercise....no diet.

the previous posters said:

No dieting, watching calorie intake, exercise - no dieting, watching calorie intake, exercise - no dieting, watching calorie intake, exercise -

I'm starting to see the outlines of a pattern here.

I am 63 and weigh less than I did in high school.

I am a vegan - so no counting calories. Which is one of the things I love about being a vegan. I was a vegetarian for about 15 years before I made the full switch. (I use MFP to track vitamins to make sure I stay healthy there.I've just started - so it's fun to see where things fall.) I do yoga 4-5 times a week in class and then practice at home every day. Long walks with the doggies - which probably counts more for fun than exercise and I meditate for 20 minutes a day. I am on no prescription medications at all and my BP hovers at 110/70. My cholesterol is normal and my triglycerides are 85. (Normal range is 150 or below.)

I feel incredibly good, healthy and happy! :-D

I own a vegetarian cafe and, no word of a lie, I have vegan costumers who are grossly overweight. You can be a vegan and still eat a lot of calories and junk food.

HMR that my doc put me on for 12 weeks. My chol went from over 300 down to 103 1st mo.

I agree! I'm close to 50 and this has been the best form of keeping my weight healthy! Logging!!!! You can stick with this forever rather than fad diets