Losing 50lbs in your 40s

I'm a 46 year old female, 5 feet tall. I had never really exercised let alone gone to a gym before this year. Going up hills and stairs was agonising - I was out of breath, my legs hurt ... I hated going on walks with others because I was always the slow one left behind, gasping like I was dying and then by the time I caught up to everyone waiting for me, they'd start walking again and I'd have to gasp to keep up again.

I was eating like a pig without even thinking about what I was eating - lots of baking, lots of eating out, lots of chocolate, buying tonnes whenever I went to the bakery .... I also have a very sedentary job - at my desk most of the day. I realised I had spent my life trying to improve my mind (studying, reading, languages, writing etc) without giving a single thought to my body and over the last two decades or so, really piled on the weight. At my heaviest, I was 86.6kg (191 pounds) which was my starting weight this year. I'm now down to 54-55kg (119 pounds approx).


I really, really like food and wasn't prepared to cut out carbs, give up junk food (chocolate, cake, biscuits, fries etc) so I've used exercise as a way to let me still eat all the things I want to eat, but just make sure I eat in moderation (portion control) and within my calorie budget. If I want to eat another biscuit, a giant gelato waffle cone with two scoops of super dulche de leche caramel ice cream .. I exercise more. There are times when i decide that that extra slice of cake, that extra row of chocolate, that extra biscuit are worth taking the dogs for an extra long walk ... but equally, there are days when I decide I can live without the extra snack. But here's just a snap shot of the yummy food (in addition to the healthy food) I was able to eat and continue to eat but still managed to lose weight, so long as I stayed within my budget:


For me it was important to find an exercise I enjoyed, so it was a combination of:
- elliptical
- walking the dogs
- zumba and Just Dance
- strength training (nothing mega heavy)
- HIIT class / circuit

I discovered I didn't like tread mill, step classes, running although I enjoy walking/jogging to Zombies Run and audiobooks. When I found a fun exercise, it made things easier.

Good luck! You can totally, totally do it.

That is amazing