Woman over 50 - Any supportive sisters on here?

Hey California! You are not alone!! I am in the latter side of those 50's and been there, done that and doing it again. On Jan. 7th, I stepped on the scale (which had been in storage for over a year due to relocating) and confirmed my fear that I was up yet again. I already knew it because my clothes were getting tight(er) and I felt bad and disappointed about myself - again. I am a married woman, with babies who are 32 and 34 with babies of their own - can't blame pregnancy weight any longer... lol My husband, bless his heart, has no idea what it is to struggle with weight issues - hasn't for the 36 years we've been married and I doubt at this stage he ever will. Unwittingly, he has sabotoged me on more than one occasion and, like I said, in January, I decided it was enough. He needed to get on board and be a supporter.

I decided it wasn't time for another diet, but a real lifestyle change that I could live with for the long haul. In the fall we had joined a local gym to benefit us both. Even though husband doesn't have weight issues, he does have health issues and his doctors wanted him to get moving too. So.... we started - actually with baby steps as both of us had been very inactive due to "life" for the previous year and have injuries we were dealing with.

Following my aqua therapy in the fall to rehab my knee injury... with the new year, I decided to give swimming a go since the water was a safe place for me to workout. Took a refresher course at the gym where they have a wonderful aquatic area with a lap pool, exercise pool and warm water therapy pool. I wanted to use swimming as my form of exercise as back and knee injuries pose challenges for me when exercising on land. As a disclaimer, I really have never enjoyed exercise. Since January, I have been at the gym/pool 4 times a week. Initially, I could barely swim for 30 minutes at a time, but included water aerobic classes in the mix which gave me good workouts. Now, I primarily swim exclusively 4 days a week for 75 - 90 minutes at a time and add my own interval training and water aerobics and water jogging to round out my time.

Since January, I have dropped 19.7 lbs. and 8 inches. While I am really trying not to sabotage myself with focusing on the number on the scale, I admit it can be a motivator as long as the number is moving downward. I have noticed, however, on the weeks when I didn't see much movement, I noticed the inches dropped and then later the pounds lost seemed to catch up.

I have broken my overall goal for weight loss into mini goals of 10 lb. increments. Ideally, I'd like to lose 40 lbs. more. On the PLUS SIDE... those clothes that were tight(er) in January, I can wear comfortably now. It's a wonderful thing to be able to shop my own closet and wear something other than the yoga pants and loose tops that seemed to be my mainstay for well over a year now and were looking very tired. (I decided I wasn't going to buy anything new until it was smaller.) Those size 18 jeans that were too tight to button, let alone sit in, I've worn with confidence. I look forward to when they are loose.

My husband and I have an anniversary cruise scheduled for July. My goal is to wear a couple of the cocktail dresses that are hanging in my closet that had been too tight while on the cruise. I haven't tried them on yet - somewhat afraid they may not fit quite yet - so I'm looking to lose a bit more weight before I do - again don't want to sabotage myself. Bigger than that goal for me is to buy and wear confidently a swimsuit that does not have a skirt attached. I haven't purchased a swimsuit that didn't purposely have a skirt, for YEARS!

You asked for success stories... mine is still a story in progress, but I am seeing successes. I remind myself that I didn't put on these 60 lbs. overnight and, sadly, will not lose them in a healthy way, overnight either. But, in the past 2 months I have dropped 19.7 lbs. without starving - but by eating better, keeping track of my food and exercise, eliminating most of the junk/processed foods, making it clear to my support team (husband) that he needs to be on board, and being committed to physical activity on a planned/regular basis - something I had never done. My success story is making new, healthy habits - with the long haul in mind.

Please feel free to add me as a friend. I would also love the support and motivation and would be pleased to offer same to a fellow sister over 50! You can do whatever you set your mind to.

Regarding irregular times for meal: look into 16:8 or your own versions of it (like 14:10 or any modification). I always skip breakfast and some days skip lunch and eat when I get home and then again later in the evening. They call this Intermittent Fasting although I basically go that way anyway. When I started MFP in May 2014 I added lots of fresh and frozen green leafy vegetables to my days along with other vegetables such as broccoli, swiss chard, kale, spinach, romaine, cabbage, mushrooms, asparagus, avocados, okra, cauliflower, bell peppers, snow peas, eggplant, zucchini, yellow squash, winter squash, brussels sprouts, cucumbers, green beans.
Sometimes it helps to think about about adding foods instead of focussing on what you are giving up.

I'm 56 and trying to stay fit and maintain around 120. My goal was originally to get down to 115, which was my lowest post-baby weight, but haven't been able to get there or maintain below 120. It's so much harder to take the weight off and keep it off because metabolism does slow down post-menopause. I try to stick to around 1200 + exercise calories during the week and have one cheat day on the week-end. I exercise at least 5 times a week -- yoga, strength training, sometimes zumba or kickboxing, and walking at least 30 minutes a day.

CaliforniaRower wrote: »

Hi there Roda - thanks for the tips. I don't know what 16:8 means, though? Can you explain, please?

http://dailyburn.com/life/health/intermittent-fasting-methods/
Basically Intermittent Fasting for me means having two good sized a meals a day instead of snacking throughout the day.
The 16:8 means going for 16 hours without food (coffee, diet soda, and that is o.k.) and the rest of the day's food for the other eight hours of the day.
Probably I eat closer to 14:10 most days.
This lifestyle helps me not think about food all day like I was before and allows me to have nicer/larger meals when I do eat. I am not doing it everyday, . . . probably five days a week.