55-Years-Old And Need Advice
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SFJULES66
Posts: 168 Member
I am a 55-year-old woman and I've been up 15 lbs from my ideal weight for several years. I've been lax about it because I look okay in my clothes. However, I was utterly shocked last weekend when I put on a swimsuit and saw myself in the hotel mirror; I look extremely different than I did just a year ago. My weight is exactly the same, but I don't recognize myself. I look and feel horrible.
I know menopause is at play because it's mostly around my mid-section, but the rest of me has no muscle tone either.
Losing weight used to be my concern but I'd take my current weight for the rest of my life if I could change my body composition and get lean.
I have no idea what to do. Is it too late? I keep hearing it is.
I know there are some knowledgeable people in the community and I'd really appreciate your advice. Thanks.
I know menopause is at play because it's mostly around my mid-section, but the rest of me has no muscle tone either.
Losing weight used to be my concern but I'd take my current weight for the rest of my life if I could change my body composition and get lean.
I have no idea what to do. Is it too late? I keep hearing it is.
I know there are some knowledgeable people in the community and I'd really appreciate your advice. Thanks.
7
Replies
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Start resistance training: barbell, dumbbell, kettlebell, machines, bands, bodyweight, whatever is most easily accessible for you. Find a program you like and will stick to for a while. Once you get that habit established you can start to hone in on optimizing for goal oriented results.10
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No, it's not too late for a youth like you. (I'm kind of kidding . . . but I'm female, myself, and 65, not 55.)
We're likely to add muscle more slowly than someone younger and male-er, but it's very possible. (It's a slow-ish process for anyone, really.)
Follow a good progressive strength training program, get good nutrition (especially but not exclusively protein), eat close to maintenance calories (don't try to lose weight fast, no need to gain fast either), and work at it patiently. The thread below has a variety of strength programs other MFP-ers have found to be productive:
http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10332083/which-lifting-program-is-the-best-for-you/p1
(There are strength programs in there that aren't strictly, literally lifting, despite the title.)
I predict that you can surprise yourself with what you can achieve through persistence and patience.
Don't be afraid of starting wherever you are now, strength-wise. Some of us, when starting older, start with bodyweight programs because the even the empty bar is too heavy for some exercises. There's no shame in that: Where we are is the only place we can start from, for any form of improvement.
As only one of many possible inspiring examples, Ernestine Shepherd started training at age 56 (reportedly quite out of shape to start), became a champion bodybuilder. I'm not saying you need to look like a bodybuilder (I don't), or necessarily assuming that you want to, but since Shepherd looked like this at age 78, I think that's a pretty strong hint that we can build muscle starting as as 55-year-old woman.
I started being active in my mid-40s, after cancer treatment, already in menopause then due to chemo, with a mostly sedentary history and very physically depleted. Truth in advertising, I'm a rower, not a committed lifter, but I'm pretty sure I added muscle after that point. I'm no bodybuilder, never will be, but I think I'm probably stronger and more muscular than the average 65-year-old woman. 🤷♀️11 -
NO, IT IS NOT TOO LATE. Since I am a guy, menopause wasn't an issue, but I can tell you that I started to address my middle age weight gain and deteriorating physique at a similar point in life at 54 years old. That was ten years ago. It took me roughly 9 months with the help of a trainer and tracking my food on MFP.
Weight loss helped get rid of the flab and exercise made me look and feel better. As mentioned above, find something you'd like to do and just start! Resistance training at a gym or at home is great, but the key is just to do something that makes you move and puts your muscles to use. The resistance training could be mixed with a day or two of swimming, riding a bike, playing tennis, brisk walking or hiking... it almost doesn't matter. The idea is to start a habit of exercising. After that happens, the combination of smart food choices and regular exercise will bring success.7 -
Thank you for your advice and support. Gyms and weight lifting can seem intimidating, but I'll check out the link see what I can do to start.4
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Not necessary to go to a gym. Dumbbells, kettlebells, bands and bodyweight can all be done at home, and build confidence to go to gym later if desired.4
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Yeah, I didn't go to a gym.
Well, I went to a pool but not for a long-term weight loss solution, it's just something I enjoy.
You can buy resistance bands and find workouts on YouTube. I mostly just walk and do resistance routines At Home.
I lost 80 pounds as a 54 year old woman over ten years ago and I am still at 21 BMI, so right in the middle of my healthy weight range. You can do it.
My best tool was logging food. If you learn to do it and do it consistently you can't help but see results.
https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1234699/logging-accurately-step-by-step-guide/p14 -
Speaking as a 61 YO who has just come back from a lovely 41 mile bike ride - no it's not too late to get fitter, stronger and improve body composition and function.
The quickest way to improve your body composition by getting leaner is to sensibly lose that extra 15lbs, your age is an irrelevance for that. But that's really diet and not exercise - exercise is for health, fitness, enjoyment and keeping us out of retirement homes as long as possible.
You definitely can gain muscle in your 50's (I did and so do many others).
Yes some gyms can be intimidating, some can be friendly, some can be neutral - it's just a room with some people and equipment in it at a basic level. Maybe a class setting would be easier for you?
I've been mentoring a complete gym newbie and at 61 she is loving the changes she is seeing and feeling as regards strength, posture and confidence. A friend to go with or a personal trainer can help enormously if you feel lost or intimidated. But as @wiigelec says, just make a start and there's loads of options. Don't be afraid to try new things, that helps keeps us young mentally and physically.
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I’m a bit younger than you and also peri menopausal. Fat patterns change around menopause due to our hormones, and gain around the middle is common. It can be lost though, don’t give up hope.
I’m a big fan of strength training and have used it to add a bit of muscle. I don’t look like the body builder above by any means though she is awesome4 -
Bookmarked this thread! I'm a 59 yo female and am very out of shape. Lots of great insights here, hoping there will be more. For the OP, we can do it!!
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No way is it too late, and if you need a bit of inspiration, check out @Dolphinine on Instagram. She's 64.
I've been doing a proper strength training regime with a PT for the last year or so (I'm 52) and am now really noticing the difference. I've been working towards recomp, so eating between maintenance and a deficit of around 300 calories per day. I do strength training 4 times per week, boxing one or two days a week for CV and mobility on day 7 (or rest if I feel the need).1 -
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Don't be afraid of starting wherever you are now, strength-wise. Some of us, when starting older, start with bodyweight programs because the even the empty bar is too heavy for some exercises. There's no shame in that: Where we are is the only place we can start from, for any form of improvement. ...
This. It's pretty common for females new to lifting to have to start with significantly less than the empty full-size bar for at least some of the lifts. (And it makes the increase in strength as you continue training feel all the more amazing). It took quite a number of months before I could move on from the small junior barbell for OHP.2 -
...
Don't be afraid of starting wherever you are now, strength-wise. Some of us, when starting older, start with bodyweight programs because the even the empty bar is too heavy for some exercises. There's no shame in that: Where we are is the only place we can start from, for any form of improvement. ...
This. It's pretty common for females new to lifting to have to start with significantly less than the empty full-size bar for at least some of the lifts. (And it makes the increase in strength as you continue training feel all the more amazing). It took quite a number of months before I could move on from the small junior barbell for OHP.
Yes! Smaller bar (standard or junior), dumbbells, machines, or alternate strength exercises (bodyweight, bands, etc.): All can be good on-ramps to increasing strength, for anyone for whom the Olympic (or even standard) bar itself is too much to start with for some or all exercises. There are pros/cons of the various options, of course.
As an aside: It really ticks me off to see people saying dismissive, snarky things about "little pink dumbbells" or "barbie weights". (Ritzvin, you didn't do that; wouldn't, I'm sure.)
Yes, we need to truly challenge ourselves in strength training (while keeping it safe, and maintaining good form, of course). But generic trash talk about the lighter end of the weights spectrum is unnecessarily discouraging to anyone who may start with limited strength, may foster the idea that they can't or shouldn't even start.
I'm sure it's true for some other groups too, but I'm drawing on my personal experience to say this: It's very common among older women (I'm F, 65) to think weight training is not intended for us, not suitable for us, and that kind of casual dismissive nonsense talk just aggravates that.
I grew up at a time when women were actively discouraged from strength training, across common culture in my part of the US (and I believe elsewhere). Women lifting at public(-ish) gyms were even spat upon, harassed. A 75 y/o rowing buddy who started lifting at 39 (and has benefitted greatly) said she kept it secret that she lifted from friends, customers, relatives. She trained at the gym with her husband in part as a defense against others' potential bad behavior, and was routinely the only woman there (she feels safe going to gyms by herself these days).
Someone who starts out feeling intimidated doesn't need the extra burden of believing others will laugh or dismiss us if we try to improve our strength using the tools that are suitable for us.
Finding the right challenge level is the route to progress, pretty much always, and it's especially difficult for a beginner to know what's hard enough but not too hard. (Yes, good programs and good trainers can help. Bad ones can make it worse.)3 -
At age 56
At age 59
It is 100% doable at this age.
https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10177803/recomposition-maintaining-weight-while-losing-fat13 -
…..and once again. Sideways. The noise you hear is me beating my head on the kitchen table.10
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As an aside: It really ticks me off to see people saying dismissive, snarky things about "little pink dumbbells" or "barbie weights". (Ritzvin, you didn't do that; wouldn't, I'm sure.)
Yes, we need to truly challenge ourselves in strength training (while keeping it safe, and maintaining good form, of course). But generic trash talk about the lighter end of the weights spectrum is unnecessarily discouraging to anyone who may start with limited strength, may foster the idea that they can't or shouldn't even start.
I agree, but I confess to saying snarky things to myself in my head about little pink dumbbells, because I hate the fact that they even exist and are so obviously marketed towards women. We might feel that is all we ought to be using or aspiring to.
Our newspaper has a supplement dedicated to health and fitness matters on a Tuesday. Recently they were extolling the virtues of resistance training for the over 50s. They gave suggested workouts and it really ticked me off that they had a "men's" workout and a "women's" workout. The actual workouts did not contain any explanation of why you might do a particular exercise. They were pretty basic, covering most of the same bases but just different exercises to look different, with slightly lighter weights and fewer reps suggested for the women. Why could they not just have had a "beginner" workout, said what each exercise was aiming to do, and had a suggested rep range target with the advice to pick a weight that enables you to hit the rep range?
2 -
springlering62 wrote: »…..and once again. Sideways. The noise you hear is me beating my head on the kitchen table.
Go online and search for the hack for that...mine did that too until I learned how to beat it! (older iPhone, in my case.)1 -
It sounds like a sensible exercise program while losing (fat) weight is the way to go first, and that recomposition is the step after that.
So there's hope! I knew I posted at the right place. I appreciate all your advice!5 -
...
Don't be afraid of starting wherever you are now, strength-wise. Some of us, when starting older, start with bodyweight programs because the even the empty bar is too heavy for some exercises. There's no shame in that: Where we are is the only place we can start from, for any form of improvement. ...
This. It's pretty common for females new to lifting to have to start with significantly less than the empty full-size bar for at least some of the lifts. (And it makes the increase in strength as you continue training feel all the more amazing). It took quite a number of months before I could move on from the small junior barbell for OHP.
Yes! Smaller bar (standard or junior), dumbbells, machines, or alternate strength exercises (bodyweight, bands, etc.): All can be good on-ramps to increasing strength, for anyone for whom the Olympic (or even standard) bar itself is too much to start with for some or all exercises. There are pros/cons of the various options, of course.
As an aside: It really ticks me off to see people saying dismissive, snarky things about "little pink dumbbells" or "barbie weights". (Ritzvin, you didn't do that; wouldn't, I'm sure.)
Yes, we need to truly challenge ourselves in strength training (while keeping it safe, and maintaining good form, of course). But generic trash talk about the lighter end of the weights spectrum is unnecessarily discouraging to anyone who may start with limited strength, may foster the idea that they can't or shouldn't even start.
I'm sure it's true for some other groups too, but I'm drawing on my personal experience to say this: It's very common among older women (I'm F, 65) to think weight training is not intended for us, not suitable for us, and that kind of casual dismissive nonsense talk just aggravates that.
I grew up at a time when women were actively discouraged from strength training, across common culture in my part of the US (and I believe elsewhere). Women lifting at public(-ish) gyms were even spat upon, harassed. A 75 y/o rowing buddy who started lifting at 39 (and has benefitted greatly) said she kept it secret that she lifted from friends, customers, relatives. She trained at the gym with her husband in part as a defense against others' potential bad behavior, and was routinely the only woman there (she feels safe going to gyms by herself these days).
Someone who starts out feeling intimidated doesn't need the extra burden of believing others will laugh or dismiss us if we try to improve our strength using the tools that are suitable for us.
Finding the right challenge level is the route to progress, pretty much always, and it's especially difficult for a beginner to know what's hard enough but not too hard. (Yes, good programs and good trainers can help. Bad ones can make it worse.)
I second the comment about how hurtful it can be when others make fun of the little weights. For all the reasons Ann pointed out, but also because sometimes that’s how much a disabled person can lift. Period. So haters can definitely please keep their pie holes closed about small, pink, weights.
Mine are a half pound. And that’s OK.6 -
springlering62 wrote: »…..and once again. Sideways. The noise you hear is me beating my head on the kitchen table.
Great job! Here ya go:
6 -
So freakin' inspiring, at any doggone angle, that @springlering62!SnifterPug wrote: »
As an aside: It really ticks me off to see people saying dismissive, snarky things about "little pink dumbbells" or "barbie weights". (Ritzvin, you didn't do that; wouldn't, I'm sure.)
Yes, we need to truly challenge ourselves in strength training (while keeping it safe, and maintaining good form, of course). But generic trash talk about the lighter end of the weights spectrum is unnecessarily discouraging to anyone who may start with limited strength, may foster the idea that they can't or shouldn't even start.
I agree, but I confess to saying snarky things to myself in my head about little pink dumbbells, because I hate the fact that they even exist and are so obviously marketed towards women. We might feel that is all we ought to be using or aspiring to.
Our newspaper has a supplement dedicated to health and fitness matters on a Tuesday. Recently they were extolling the virtues of resistance training for the over 50s. They gave suggested workouts and it really ticked me off that they had a "men's" workout and a "women's" workout. The actual workouts did not contain any explanation of why you might do a particular exercise. They were pretty basic, covering most of the same bases but just different exercises to look different, with slightly lighter weights and fewer reps suggested for the women. Why could they not just have had a "beginner" workout, said what each exercise was aiming to do, and had a suggested rep range target with the advice to pick a weight that enables you to hit the rep range?
Some are pink. Some are green, blue, teal, red, gray, black, whatever: It's the lower-weight ones of course (up to about 20 pounds, usually, I think), graduated in small increments, with the neoprene coating. Personally, I like the neoprene. I wish I could get heavier ones in neoprene, because I need heavier ones for most exercises, and I sweat buckets when doing nearly nothing, so that's a nice surface for me. (I like a similar surface on my oar handles when I row shells.)
For some exercises, like things where I'm rehabbing my (bleep) recurrent shoulder nerve impingement for example, I like the fine gradations in lower weight, too. I can replicate it with small plates, but that's so fussy.
I have those neoprene ones down as small as 1/2 pound, because fingers need certain kinds of tough love, too, sometimes. I may not have pink ones. I think the 1/2 pound are orange? Pink seems to be 2kg or 5lb in a lot of such neoprene lines. I have 5lb, but they're the standard grey metal type with the a smooth grip surface in the light range: Annoying.
Yes, I don't like it when women are assumed to be inherently weaker, stupider, bad at math, more emotional, or whatever. People are individuals. Yeah, "beginner" is a good category, and it has so delightfully much potential. I can't imagine how difficult things are for men who, for whatever reason, find themselves starting out less strong than the presumed average.
We all need to start from where we are, for anything. Starting, then continuing, ought to be respected and admired, in a rational world.4
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