Getting fit at 50 and beyond...200+ pound club

AnnPT77 wrote: »

You could try variations on the recipe to use peanut butter powder (like PB2 or PBFit - there are others) or defatted peanut flour. For sure, the recipe would likely require other changes because for most things, cutting fat content by a lot would make quite a difference. Since you don't mention what general thing the recipe is (baked goods, BBQ sauce or dip, etc.) I won't try to guess what changes might be needed.

Its a Thai dish with peanut butter, chicken, peppers and coconut milk. I ended up just using a lot less peanut butter and it wasnt too bad but still open to ideas of how to get that peanut flavor without too much fat.

Good Morning! I'm 53, 350.4 lbs and 5'10". I have a torn miniscus in my left knee and underlying osteoarthritis in both. So glad to find a thread in my age group. I really need to lose some weight to help my knee situation. Are any of you going thru something similar and if so what kind of exercises do you do? Right now I'm just using a pedaler as a bike and doing some PT, but it seems I get pushed a little further then my knees get "angry" and my fear holds me back until they decide to forgive me and feel better, lol.

^ shes very right. Weight is so much a function of diet. Are you doing any kind of food tracking? I've not drastically changed my diet but let me tell you, having to write down each thing I put in my mouth really makes me think about what I'm eating.

However, exercise is just good for you all around. Pool activity is a classic for those with joint problems. Do you have any kind of access to a pool? (I know this time of year outside isnt happening in the northern hemisphere and inside YMCA etc might be closed/questionable due to covid)

Smart_Beautiful_and_Strong wrote: »

Thank you for the welcome! I started a few years back at 389.9 and got to 321 but have yo-yoed since. I do CI/CO at 1600 but usually try to hit lower. I log here on MFP, but I do admit, sometimes life takes over and I fall short at times. I work in a medical office so I'm on my feet a lot, but not many steps. I am doing PT but a few times I have had a few instances that as I progress, the progression really aggravates my knee and I take a break until it calms down because I'm afraid of the intense pain I had before seeking treatment. Not to mention my office is pretty fast paced and I know I'm slower and I'm in fear of more of an injury I could lose my job.
I do not have pool access yet, but I may have in the near future, my ortho just put in a referral at a fitness center.

Hi, there! I'm post weight loss now (in maintenance) but pop in here occasionally as an age-grouper. I started out at a little lower weight (but obese) and much shorter than you, but with torn meniscus in at least one knee (suspect the other, but it wasn't imaged) and osteoarthritis in both.

A few thoughts from that perspective:

It's great that you're doing PT - that helped me a lot. One thing my PT helped me with was improving my movement patterns in ways that reduced strain on my knees when walking and (especially) climbing stairs (in addition to giving exercises to strengthen or stretch body parts that needed it, to improve). Also, have you talked with your PT about whether any kind of wrap or bracing might help you with stability or pain reduction in the exercise context, as a temporary thing?

Every individual case is different, so I think it might be individual which exercises hurt and help. I agree that pool exercises are usually good. For me, walking was not a good idea, as I found that impact and torque/twisting on my knees were the things that increased pain. Instead, I found that things that required leg strength, but that involved only straight-line hinging motions of my knees, were the best for me to do. So, I settled in on rowing (on water and machine) and cycling (stationery and road/trail) as things that worked well for me. Things like aerobics and martial arts were pretty disastrous, for me, in addition to high-volume walking (let alone jogging/running).

For me, a thing that helped along the way was using ice after the more strenuous/lengthy exercise (I kept one of those gel packs with a velcro strap in the freezer, and would apply it for 20 minutes or so after exercising, whether there was significant pain at that moment or not). At other times, I would use a moist heat pad, usually not right on the knee but on muscles that felt tight and might be stressing it. (Self massage and foam rolling also helped with that sort of thing.) Your PT would perhaps have insights about whether you could do things like this, or not.

I don't know if you're having pain that interferes with sleep. If so, I found that experimenting with pillows under or between knees helped me find positions that were more restful, less likely to cause discomfort.

The other thing I wanted to say that weight loss alone made a huge, huge improvement for me in discomfort/pain frequency and severity. Now, after a period of time at goal weight (and still focused on the less stressful-to-me forms of exercise), it's a very negligible factor in my life. I had been told I might need scope-type surgery to clean up the joints, and would need knee replacements eventually, but at this stage (now age 64 and about 5 years at a healthy weight), I feel like I've pushed that need far into the future. Even the first 20-25 pounds made a noticeable improvement in average pain level and frequency.

As others have said, the weight loss is pretty much all about calorie intake. I wouldn't encourage you to eat way below a sensible routine calorie goal to go faster, because that can backfire (binges, fatigue/weakness, other effects of the physical stress from a large deficit - you want to keep your metabolism in a state that will foster healing). Learning and practicing ways to stay right around calorie goal, including strategies for handling times when life gets busy or stressful, are really very powerful

Wishing you all the best!

At 10:00 BST tomorrow morning I shall be slipping the moorings for a weekend on the boat.....Bliss!

A bit gutted that my boat time was cut short in the early hours. It does mean that scales day can go ahead as normal though....

It's Scales Day!
I have let the Scaley Beast out of its corner and it appears that the fat boy is now within 1 stone of the first milestone.

Weight was 314.4.....Now 312.2.....A loss of 2.2 lbs

I'm just back from a mini getaway --- postponing weigh in until Monday morning. The relaxing, beautiful time away was wonderful for the mind and soul, but I'm sure the body(improvement) took a hit. I was mindful but didn't deny myself; I could have (and would have in the past) done much worse, so maybe it won't be too much of a climb.