What’s your reason?

Rosie3579 wrote: »

Completely agree. Doing this to be a better mom and so that I have the energy, strength, and stamina to fully enjoy all the moments with my son.

stophiding wrote: »

My reason is my Health!
Body, mind and spirit
My body was aging to fast, yes im in my 50’s, with complications from neck and shoulder issues, however i know its a slippery path and i was slding fast.
The mental health benefits from losing weight are astounding, something id never considered.
My spirit is soaring as im fitter, energized and more self confident than i have been in 15 years.
Ive lost 17 kilos ✨

JimDew wrote: »

msdersarkissian wrote: »

JimDew wrote: »

I was tired of being tired.

I found new motivation I never knew I had. Did things I never thought I could (half marathon).

I did it because I get one shot at this life.

Not going to finish it as a slug.

You’re a runner then!? I used to be a runner and I’m trying to get back into it. Have you ever heard of pace coaches?? I really wish I could pay someone to run with me and push me to maintain whatever pace they have figured would be best for me. I don’t know if I articulated that correctly! Haha!

I’m a runner, per se. Yes I’ve heard of pace coaches, but never used one.

You articulate just fine!!!

I use a garmin watch to keep my pace.

There’s lotsa choices!!

AnnPT77 wrote: »

Appearance doesn't enter into it, for me, really. (Relevant: I'm a 64-year-old, widowed, post-bilateral-mastectomy very independent woman.)

Two reasons:

1. When I was obese, I was already active, and had been for a decade.

I Started being active in my mid-40s, after cancer treatment, because I realized I needed to do so if I wanted ever to feel strong, energetic and generally good ever again, after surgery/chemo/radiation. I gradually ramped up, starting with yoga and some other classes, then joined a breast cancer survivors rowing team. Seriously addicted to rowing, I joined the local club, and even competed in races, both machine and on-water. I was working out reasonably intensely, most days of the week. I had good cardiovascular fitness, low resting heart rate, all that good stuff.

But I stayed fat (class 1 obese), telling myself that exercise was the bigger part of being healthier. After about a decade, it - duh - finally sunk in that my high blood pressure and bad blood lipids were really a problem I needed to address. I was already vegetarian, and eating lots of healthy foods (among others ). I tried more eating changes, without much positive result. On top of that, my long-term knee pain got worse, kind of suddenly, and I was diagnosed with a torn meniscus on top of pre-existing osteoarthritis.

With all of that going on, I decided I darned well better lose some weight. I was getting a good start on that when my sudden-onset heartburn and reflux was diagnosed as due to gallbladder adenomyomatosis, an inflammatory/cholesterol-related condition that can be associated with gallbladder cancer, of which obesity is a cause. When it was removed, it was thankfully not cancerous, but it was a very degraded piece of tissue, with thickening, holes, etc. Bad news. That sealed my commitment to lose weight.

That weight loss made significant improvements in the frequency and severity of my knee pain, put my blood pressure in the low normal range, and made my blood lipids solidly and consistently normal. Those are changes worth hanging onto.

2. I hang out mostly with rowers, and with mixed-media artists. Across the two, there's big diversity in bodyweight and fitness levels. Looking around at others women around my age (+/- 10 years, say), those that are a healthy weight and active tend to:
* be healthier (sick less often, for less time; need fewer surgeries, recover faster from those they do have, with fewer complications);
* have more discretionary income (don't have as high medical expenses, don't need to hire as many services because they can easily do the things themselves);
* are able to eat and drink a wider range of things (choices not so limited by health conditions or prescription drug contraindications);
* can do most leisure things they want to (the obese/inactive are limited in doing things that involve lots of walking/standing, like art fairs or music festivals; and may need to limit stairs so avoid sporting events or concerts);
* are generally able to be more independent, not requiring as much help with daily life chores and such.

Don't get me wrong: I value people in both the artists and rowers communities, regardless of body size/fitness or capabilities, enjoy their company, and appreciate their diverse talents. But when it comes to thinking about whose daily life I'd prefer to live, it's easy to see that a healthy weight and general basic fitness are things that greatly enhance quality of life among older women.

Consequently, I want to stay at a healthy weight, and stay active, so I can have an enjoyable, independent life for as long as possible, ideally another couple of decades, and to avoid the permanent move to assisted living for as long as I can.

Most folks here are younger than I am. It still might provide some motivation to look around at (say) 60+ year-old people you know, think about which ones are best able to enjoy life because of choices they've made when younger. Maybe not, though. I wasn't smart enough to do that, when I was 30. :flowerforyou: