55-65 year old women's success?

Greetings from Michigan. This site was recommended by a nutritionist that's part of an orthopedic group. The surgeons found that many patients who needed surgery had a BMI that was too high to be safe and added her to their program. So here I am, aching knees and all! Keeping a food diary is easy and very helpful so my slow-but-sure weight loss plan is taking shape with accountability. By the way, my 65th birthday was last month and it sure would be nice to be healthier when I retire in a year! I'm looking forward to reading your tips and hear about your journey.

Thank you, Ladies - for the kind welcome and the good wishes. It feels great to be part of a supportive community. @rosayoder - when you mentioned the aching knees, I was reminded that I was in the same boat when I first started. Funny, I almost forgot because now, 100+ lbs lost later, I don't have that problem anymore. But for several years my aching knees and painful feet stopped me from doing much of anything. Lack of activity did a number on my head, made me feel depressed, made me eat, and I just got fatter and fatter. Then my husband had a very serious stroke in April 2015. Recovering, he worked so incredibly hard to regain his mental acuity and physical strength. He is now probably 95pct back to who he was before. Absolutely amazing!!! At around the same time my dear friend was diagnosed with Fibromyalgia, a chronic back condition, and a host of other health issues. And yet, she was out there every day walking or finding some way to get exercise in daily, doing all she could to get healthy. And it made me think, what's my excuse? I didn't have a stroke, and I don't have serious chronic conditions. All I've got is aches and pains - and for an overweight woman in her 60s, that's hardly unusual. So I decided to simply ignore the knees and the feet. I told them (the knees and feet) that they're no longer in charge - I am! Lol. Somehow it worked! At first I only walked a little bit 5mins, 10mins, 15. Over time the walks got longer and the pounds came off, and the knees stopped hurting. The feet are still a problem for me and will always be - but they're still not in charge ;-). Funny tho that I'd completely forgotten about the hurting knees... Hope the same may be true for you some day because it sure is not fun! Best wishes!

@1Nana2many - yes, I too eat basically whatever I want. I'm no cook! Don't enjoy it, don't like thinking about having to cook, don't like any part of it. And my husband is even more hopeless in the kitchen - altho he can fry up a mean set of eggs :-D. So we eat pre-made foods. Rotisserie chicken and turkey breast is our best friend. And cold cuts. Plus tons and tons of frozen vegetables. Oh, and fruit. We really eat fairly healthfully, but if a meal can't be thrown together in 5 mins or less, it won't come out of my kitchen. As long as the calories fit into my food plan, I'm good with it.

@Ming1951 - you've made fantastic progress. Congratulations!

Brigit, your experience is just what I needed to hear; thanks! You know what, I can walk for 5 minutes and I'm going to start doing that even though it will initially cause more pain. That's okay... it won't kill me!

Ann, I have a son in Lansing and one in Owosso. Often I meet my daughter for lunch in Lansing since it's roughly halfway for both of us. Nice area.

utahjulia wrote: »

Hi. I've been lurking. I'm a couple months into being 60 and two weeks into being serious about reversing years of weight creep. Today was week two weighin, and I've lost four pounds total. I hope hope hope I can keep losing two pounds per week until I like what I see again.

Keep going you can do it, maybe you'll fall off the wagon but don't give up

AnnPT77 wrote: »

Hi, Birgit & Rosa (and any other new folks my short attention span missed )!

Knees: I lost only 60-some pounds, but the reduction in knee pain is very, very dramatic (I have some arthritis, torn meniscus, some random other cartilage nonsense). It's now occasional discomfort, used to be consistent discomfort and relatively frequent pain, some severe enough to interfere with sleep. Since I'm a "delay/avoid surgery as long as possible" kind of person, this is a Great Thing. I wish I'd done it years ago - especially since it turned out to be so simple (not always easy ).

Same issues for me, and after cutting starchy carbs like bread, crackers, and such, knee pain/inflammation all but disappeared which makes exercise so much easier. My weight loss has been excruciatingly slow (52 pounds/2years) but I am so glad I did not give up or give in. I have about 25-30 more to lose and hope to make that by the end of the year. It is doable!

Thank you. ❤️

wow, birgit, that's incredible. I was just telling hubby about you, his sister has very achy knees, feet, headaches & is depressed. she did get one knee replacement & getting the other one done this year, but if she could only loose 100 lbs, I know it would change her life.