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Recomp, Schmeecomp... lol

birgitkwood
birgitkwood Posts: 486 Member
edited November 2024 in Goal: Maintaining Weight
No offense, all you wonderful Maintainers.. but I don't care about "Recomping" and I'll bet I'm not the only one.

I'm 62 years old and have been "overweight" "fat," and "obese" since I was about 12. In those 50 years I have lost, and regained, probably about a thousand pounds and have NEVER managed to "Maintain," not even for a day. Each time in the past I would happily be plodding along losing weight effectively when suddenly some switch in my brain would toggle to the other side and I would start eating like crazy and gain weight again. Over and over...

So now, with the help of MFP and my on-line friends here, as well as TRACKING, I've successfully reached goal. Over the course of 14 months I have lost 120 lbs, and - most miraculously - have managed to stay at goal for over a month (I know - not very long, but still much longer than ever before for me).

So now I'm looking in the "Maintenance Support Community" and most of what I see is threads about recomping. I don't really know what that is! As I said, I'm 62 and yes - I'm flabby! In some ways my body looks like a bag of skin that a fat woman used to be in. In the past I used to care about that and that's partially what would then derail my weight loss efforts. This time around? Mehhh... not important! Yes, I have wrinkles. Yes, I have lose skin. Yes, I have bulges in areas that maybe I shouldn't. I don't care!

I track my food intake daily and I faithfully walk my dog every single day for at least 4 miles (takes us an hour). Somedays I walk more. Somedays I also swim. Somedays I also ride my bike. Somedays I play with my grandchildren and lift a 25+ lb toddler over my head - I consider that weightlifting. Somedays I dig in the garden. Somedays I even clean the house... lol

I don't want to exercise any more and I don't want to do anything else! If I live the rest of my days with lose flabby skin here and there, and a few wrinkles - then so be it. I feel 9000pct healthier than I did 120 lbs ago, and that's really all that matters to me at this stage in my life.

Life in my 60's... can't beat it! :)
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Replies

  • birgitkwood
    birgitkwood Posts: 486 Member
    Not discrediting, @deannalfisher - just not a goal of mine.
  • birgitkwood
    birgitkwood Posts: 486 Member
    @cwolfman13 - that I can totally get behind, and I agree! Hence the lifting of the toddler grandchild ;)
  • Need2Exerc1se
    Need2Exerc1se Posts: 13,575 Member
    Congratulations on your loss. Recomp is not a necessity. Some people prefer it and some don't.

    If you stay active you may find yourself doing it without even trying. And if not, so what?
  • icemom011
    icemom011 Posts: 999 Member
    Your story is a lot like mine, op. I had a lifetime of weight losses that i couldn't sustain, and regains with an extra chunk. I hope that you've learned from this time, congratulations on maintaining for a month, great start.
  • deannalfisher
    deannalfisher Posts: 5,600 Member
    You dont know what it is... but you know its not for you? :huh:

    my thoughts exactly...

    I guess it falls into the definition - I know what it is when I see it...
  • alondrakayy
    alondrakayy Posts: 304 Member
    sgt1372 wrote: »
    ndj1979 wrote: »
    if you don't care about re-comping why are you ranting about it?
    It's something that took a lot of effort to accomplish and something that I am proud to have done, which can't be dimished by your protestation that such effort is unnecessary and impliedly of little or no consequence.



    This

  • lorrpb
    lorrpb Posts: 11,463 Member
    Not trying to put you down OP, you've accomplished a lot and if recomp isn't your goal, more power to you.
    But aside from improving body composition, resistance training is great for many reasons. A huge one, that is especially important as we get older, is general strength.
    After working as an aid in a nursing home, this video really stuck with me - "Why Fitness Actually Matters" (getting off the toilet)

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vZRCkUzROr0

    This is true. I tell people lacking motivation to visit a nursing home. Sad, depressing, but true. Anyone with parents or grandparents in this age group has seen it.
  • ndj1979
    ndj1979 Posts: 29,136 Member
    JeepHair77 wrote: »
    Congratulations on meeting your goals, and your thread title makes me laugh. I think it's perfectly fine to do exactly what you're doing, so keep on keeping on.

    But I think the reason you're seeing so much info here about "recomp" is that a lot of us hit our goal weight and then say to ourselves, "now what?" So we find a new goal to work towards, we find new ways to improve our bodies and our appearance. I find straight maintenance to be weirdly challenging. Mentally, it's MORE difficult for me than losing was, because it feels like I'm not aiming for anything. Recomping gives me a new goal to strive for and it keeps me focused.

    Thank you, Jeephair77 - that makes sense to me! And who knows, the day may come when I'll join all of you in the recomp camp :) . But for now... Just gonna keep on doing what I'm doing.

    And truly, truly - my intent was not to offend anyone!! It's just that I was confused about so many threads in the "maintenance" section being about recomping. Guess if I were looking for info on recomp, I'd have looked in "fitness and exercise." Again, Jeephair, thanks for the explanation.

    But mostly - congrats to all of you on striving for, and reaching your goals! Lots of blood, sweat and tears go into that and not for one minute do I want to diminish that!

    Peace out, Friends

    Not offended just don't understand the need for your OP
  • birgitkwood
    birgitkwood Posts: 486 Member
    Thank you @CoueCoue, that was EXACTLY my intent!
  • cnbbnc
    cnbbnc Posts: 1,267 Member
    JeepHair77 wrote: »
    Congratulations on meeting your goals, and your thread title makes me laugh. I think it's perfectly fine to do exactly what you're doing, so keep on keeping on.

    But I think the reason you're seeing so much info here about "recomp" is that a lot of us hit our goal weight and then say to ourselves, "now what?" So we find a new goal to work towards, we find new ways to improve our bodies and our appearance. I find straight maintenance to be weirdly challenging. Mentally, it's MORE difficult for me than losing was, because it feels like I'm not aiming for anything. Recomping gives me a new goal to strive for and it keeps me focused.

    This is what I was going to say. I've always had a hard time sticking to my goal weight too. Having a new project to work on has kept me motivated this time around to where I've kept the pounds off for over a year.

This discussion has been closed.