55-65 year old women's success?

I should have added that you should put yourself in the second row so you can see what the instructor is doing. Also let the instructor know you are new. Usually they do more explaining of steps if they know someone new is in the class.

Datarn, there is Zumba Gold for us not so young ones, well really it suits anyone starting on fitness. It is a little slower, and very low impact. Still a good workout though.

Being the uncoordinated soul that I am, I found it a great starting point, I can actually follow most of the steps, still go left instead of right a lot of the time though. The classes are lots of fun and people are very friendly. A new session has just started for me ( my 2nd) and it was really nice walking in the studio, and being greatest by lots of friendly faces.

There is also Zumba & Zumba Gold toning where you do the class with hand weights, I really like that one.

Bonniepwest, congratulations, you got back in the groove!
25lb is nothing to sneeze at, the good thing is it has gone off not on, hooray.
I am a belly dance lover too, as bad at that as I am at Zumba, no coordination, and am amazed at how many of us have done it. My friends thought I was weird when I started doing it, didn't care, it is fun.
Bos10ft, please invite your client to join us, the more inspiration the better.

I really recommend belly dancing -- it has done wonders for my core strength. BUT -- you have to really really really not mind looking stupid. what with thrusting out your chest and gyrating your hips, you just cant be self-conscious about it or you will be paralyzed. i don't think i could have done it when i was younger, so i guess that is another advantage that has come to me with age -- the capacity to dance as if no one is watching.

middlehaitch and cathy120861, I so totally identify! Although I could do each belly dance move separately, I cannot learn choreography and am extremely uncoordinated. I've never been able to do aerobics and Zumba scares me to death! Fortunately, I don't mind looking silly. Since my Achilles and knee replacement surgeries, however, my body has forgotten how to do the moves. Can't for the life of me remember how to do a hip drop!

Middlehatch, I will see if our Y has the Zumba gold. Snowflake930 I definitely know I would not be good at belly dancing.

I am 58 (59 in March) and have lost and gained weight over the last 10 years. In 2014 I reached my highest weight ever at 182 and decided I needed to get serious. Well all I did was check in here on MFP, logged in food occasionally and exercise more often. During 2014 which was quite an emotional year for me and I just couldn't wrap my head around fitness I slacked off. I have done sprint triathlons in 2010, 2011 and 2012 and some half marathons in 2011, 2012 and 2013. I now concentrate on century bike rides for charity since 2013. This year I am also doing two half marathons with my niece, she's 27. We started training in November and I contribut that to my not gaining weight over the holidays, but I did not lose. Like I stated earlier, I only occasionally logged my food. I am trying to be more diligent about logging my food and have started to see a little bit of weight loss since the first of the year.

I know for myself when I previously did WW and kept track of each item that passed my lips and all my exercise (10 years ago) I lost 30+ pounds and felt fantastic! Of course, I then knew it all and did not need to track or maintain a continued exercise regimen. A few years ago I found MFP and used it, lost a bit of weight and then again went back to hold habits. I know that I MUST weigh and measure my servings for me to lose weight. I also know that I must keep active to lose the weight as well.

My family has a health history of heart disease and diabetes. I want to outlive my mother who passed away just one week shy of her 68th birthday. My dad lived to be 90. I firmly believe that I can do this as long as I remain committed to weighing and measuring my food and remaining active.

The only problem is that work gets in my way of being as active as I would like! That's my excuse and am sticking to it! Seriously, I wish I could work part-time and workout to my heart's desire. I currently run, as slow as a herd of turtles moving through peanut butter - but I'm moving!, ride my bike on the trainer until spring, elliptical, workout DVDs (calisthenics) and some hand weights. I also enjoy knitting and work gets in the way of that as well!

I will try and read more of peoples posts as time goes by. It is inspiring to read about others successes and knowing that it can be done if you are willing to put in in the time and effort needed for yourself, which for myself is why I am doing this. Have a great day! The sun is shining!

Hey, JeanMK56, I'm also a WW girl (lifetime member, LOL). WW is a great program but with counting the calories rather than points I feel like I have so much more control over what I'm eating and I now understand how it's all about the calories in calories out. I guess what I'm trying to say is that I educated myself about nutrition and that didn't happen with WW. I think I've just evolved enough to take more control over what I'm eating and understand that at my age I'm going to have to keep track of calories and exercise.

I was also thinking about how to manage the exercise as I age -- I've seen 90 year old women lifting (light) weights at the gym so I suppose that's going to be my future. It's something that I'll have to keep doing forever.

I used WW in the 70s. Lost 50 pounds fairly quickly. I would say I learned quite a bit about nutrition then because they were focused on "balanced" eating and portion control. But, there were still so many restrictions, like limiting how many proteins or how many grains, etc., that I had a mindset of "when I finish losing I can eat X" and believe me when I did get to my goal weight I ate that! I wish I had stuck with it and succeeded in maintenance, but unfortunately I didn't.

When I finally made the decision a little over a year ago, to seriously lose weight, really on the second time in my life that I was determined to lose, I thought I could just use the info I still had in my brain from WW and do some portion control. I did lose a bit of weight, probably about 10 pounds in a few months, but I had no real structure and soon learned that for me, "cutting back" and "watching what I ate" was not enough to generate consistent weight loss.

By the time I heard about MFP (thank goodness for that!!!) I had gained a few pounds of the 10 or so I lost.

Counting calories works for me because I can make the decision to eat whatever food I want on any particular day, as long as its within my calorie goals. This means that when I really "need" to eat something greasy and salty, I can. Now, I don't do that very often because it uses up so many of my calories. But I *CAN*. That, along with not having to give up the flavored creamer in my coffee, has allowed me to stick with this.

I have learned so much about the science of weight loss, thanks to the MFP forums. I now understand my maintenance calories and know that if I'm super hungry I can eat at maintenance without gaining. Sure, I might not lose that particular moment in time, but at least I won't gain.

This is a really big deal to me. I have so much more to learn about my eating habits, but I am comfortable saying I think I will spend the rest of my life at a reasonable weight.

I think WW is an awesome program, it just didn't work for me in the long term. The points system never got to feel like a lifestyle, and i got too good at gaming the system. (i used to be a lawyer -- maybe all of that legal training was the problem).

Following up on Sodakat's post on the importance of learning the science of weight loss, I have no idea what macros are. anybody have a suggestion for a good reading that would fill me in?

Trina -- over winter break, i had an opportunity to take some lessons with a professional boxing coach. He told me that he works with a couple of women who are at least 15 years older than i am (53) who are really impressive boxers. That's gonna be all of us!

cathy120861 wrote: »

I have no idea what macros are. anybody have a suggestion for a good reading that would fill me in?

Cathy -- Click on this link; Click on page 1 then scroll down to the section on macros. Actually the whole post is excellent; it explains a lot. Message me if you need more info.

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/819055-setting-your-calorie-and-macro-targets

Hi I am 54 I lost 35 lbs by logging my calories at around 1200 and max 1500 calories. I need exercise half an hour a day and got down to 10 st 7. Stopped looking at what I was eating and got back into old habits and gained 17 pounds oh dear. Now trying to re motivate myself to start the journey again. toyed with joining slimming club but will try and start the journey again. You are doing so well keep it up.

cathy120861 wrote: »

Senco -- good job taking action now, while you are still down 18 pounds. that is a significant amount to have lost.

I was like a feral child in the middle of the night last night -- just eating everything i could find. i am totally keeping up my exercise and i have been right on track for almost two weeks with daytime eating, but between about 11:30pm and 4:30am i just seem to lack all self-control.

Interesting, because I've noticed if I happen to fall asleep in the living room for an hour or so instead of going right to bed when I get tired, when I wake up I might feel ravenous. I have to make an effort not to head towards the kitchen. Its odd because I never, ever wake up hungry in the morning.

middlehaitch wrote: »

Ooh, aren't we all doing well!
I would love to join the over 60 group mentioned above. Could you post a link please?

My Story.
I haven't had a lot to lose, but I have maintained my loss, 30lb for 6 years ( I never realised it was that long until I found the original of my wake-up call pic)
I was 130 Christmas 2008 and 105 by Christmas 2009.

I am 5'1, 61yo, small boned, apple shaped, and try to maintain between 102-105. I say try because I dipped down to 100 at the end of the year when I changed my exercise routine. That is why I am tracking right now.
My BF is about 20,5% according to my measurements and the USMC calculations on the web.

I was eating at MFP low activity maintenance 1200 and eating back half by calories, but because I started losing on that I have changed to TDEE and upped that from maintenance x5 to maintenance x5 intense = 1480 cal.

I do aqua fit x3 and, at the moment Zumba x2, with swimming, x1, rowing machine intermittently, and the Nerd Fitness body weight programme x2.
I do change my routine every 4 months or so to keep me interested- I loath exercise.

Here I am Christmas 2008, 5'1, 55yo and a menopausal 130lb



And this is me this Christmas 5'1, 61yo, and a post menopausal 100lb.



Sorry if it is sideways, click and it will open correctly, something to do with uploading from iPhone.

I am 105lb in my avitar. That is my lilac haired 60th birthday pic.
We can lose it, it just takes commitment.

Cheers, h.

cathy120861 wrote: »

oh dear. i love reading this thread, with its emphasis on success, and taking action. i am rereading some of the posts now, because i am in a whiny self-pitying mood. i am sniveling to myself because i am having one of my not-so-great lung days, when it feels like i am breathing salt water rather than air. and so, i have skipped my pilates class and eaten more than i should have -- exactly the opposite of the things that i know would be helpful. i wish one of you guys was here to shake me or something.

dianeEESI wrote: »

Wow ! Thank you so much for that Trina and congratulations!... I don't belong to a gym but have a treadmill and dumb bells and I know I won't "go" to a gym but I go to my basement every morning at 5:30, is it possible to do the weight lifting at home or should I suck it up and join a gym? Thanks again for the awesome answer!

sun_fish wrote: »

trina1049 wrote: »

A bone density test revealed that I had osteopenia and that I needed to do resistance training. So there you go. My bones are fine now and I even have muscles showing in my arms now that most of the fat is gone. Go figure.

This gives me hope - I also have osteopenia and am counting on resistance training to prevent it from progressing to osteoporosis.