68 and Still Going Strong!!

I've gone from about 220 to 150 but it seriously took about 3 years and now I'm hanging on by a thread maintainting..............ugggghhh

I’ve been thinking about a few things lately regarding my fitness and general health. On September 18th it will be 5 years since I turned my health around by joining MFP. My personal physician suggested that I check the website out because she knew that after coming off a year (2012) of being deathly ill, losing weight and then gaining it back plus more that I really wanted to lose weight. I didn’t know at the time that to be really successful, I might also have to exercise……………uggghhhh

It shouldn’t really have surprised me that much because I grew up as an athlete even though in the 60’s it wasn’t that cool to be a female athlete. I played softball, field hockey, swam and my best friend and I were the badminton champs of all the local schools 3 years in a row. Away from school I surfed in the summer and skied in the winter……………yes we have mountains in California. Hence, I never had a weight problem in those days and pretty much ate whatever I wanted………..LOL

Fast forward to having 3 kids, two husbands, working and trying to keep up with everything and by the time the kids were all off to college, Lulu’s exercise routine and menopause derailed her weight numbers and fitness endeavors. Hubby and I bought the business he’d worked for over 25 years in 2001 and so we’ve been a little busy. It’s not a valid excuse though!

The summer of 2013 I began swimming again in our back yard, lost a few pounds, felt well and when the weather changed in September I joined a gym so I could keep swimming. One thing led to another and I hired a trainer to help with a lingering back issue and to help me lose weight.

That first year was stretching, beginning some core work to help my back (most important thing ever), low free weights and some cardio to burn calories. I lost about 45 lbs that year. My amazing trainer left the gym and assigned me to one of her friends there……………yikes………….a former Marine. He worked me hard and I became pretty strong that year and lost some more unwanted pounds! At my age (I was born in 1950, so you can figure that out) I felt amazing.

Here’s the thing though…………….I seem to either be injury prone or maybe I’m pushing myself too hard, not sure which, but I have had numerous injuries over the last several years. Here are a few: Frozen left shoulder (it took 8 weeks of PT and an extra month to fix that), left knee meniscus tear, 3 hip flexor injuries over the last 3 years, right shoulder impingement, right knee undiagnosed pain and 2 gluteous maximus tears, one of which is ongoing………….uggghhh

What have I learned? My husband keeps saying it’s time to slow down, I am after all 68 now, and I keep saying NO! I will keep working around injuries, trying to increase the weights I can lift instead of settle for less, eat as healthy as our lifestyle permits, hire a trainer if I need some inspiration and help and never give up.

I love the gym………..it’s my home away from home, and I love feeling strong even when things aren’t going according to plan.





If I can do it I really think you can too. It’s all about attitude!