Obesity after 50

I would suggest a number of things to get started:
1. It would be wise to consult a doctor before doing anything drastic.
2. Educate yourself on nutrition: understand macro nutrients, micro nutrients, etc.
3. Spend some time searching the discussions, for encouragement and inspiration.
4. Decide if there is a particular diet you'd like to try. Avoid the extreme weight loss diets. The proven approach is one that aims for only 1 or 2 pounds a week.
5. Recognize that you might find it quite hard, and you might get discouraged periodically, but don't give up.
6. Also, understand that it is probably not just some short term diet that you need, but a lifestyle change that you commit to for the rest of your life.

You've taken the first step, so continue forward. You will be happy you did so.

For physical activity, start slowly, with something manageable, then increase gradually.

The sweet spot is something enjoyable that's just a small bit of a challenge, but doable, that doesn't leave you wrung out or exhausted for the rest of the day. It can be something like walking, or pool exercise, or playing with kids, or dancing, or a yoga class, or anything, really. It doesn't have to be some fancy-named thing, or feel arduous, in order to be useful.

Start at a level you can handle, maybe even just 2-3 times a week at first. (Rest and recovery is as important for progress as the activity itself.) Then, as whatever you're doing gradually starts feeling easier, make a change to keep that little bit of challenge in the picture. You can do that thing longer, at a higher intensity (such as walk faster), more frequently; or you can take on a different activity that seems fun and challenges you in a different way. Over time, with persistence, fitness builds.

I started being active a little younger than you are now, when I was around 45-46, right after cancer treatment - surgery, chemotherapy, radiation, the whole nine yards. I'd been very sedentary before that especially in the preceding few years, so I was pretty depleted. I was class 1 obese.

I did pretty much what I described. In my case, I took a yoga class a couple of times a week, then started doing a few minutes of the most helpful yoga exercises daily. I took some other group classes, trying things out, eventually a "weight training for women" class that was really good.

A couple of years on, there was a rowing team for breast cancer survivors forming in the area, and - with trepidation - I joined that. It was hard, but so much fun! I got addicted, became a regular rower (indoor on machine in Winter, outdoors on water in Summer), and started to do other activities to benefit my rowing: Adult swimming lessons, more strength training, aerobics, cycling, and more, at varied times. I even competed in rowing, indoors and out, even winning some age group place medals.

If you had told 45-year-old me that I'd be doing that stuff *ever*, she wouldn't have believed you. I surprised myself. You can, too.

Despite the activity level, I stayed overweight to obese for about another dozen years: It was easy to eat the few hundred extra calories daily that that exercise burned. Finally, at age 59-60, I faced the fact that I needed to get my eating in hand, and reach a healthy weight. That's when I started using MFP, and calorie counting. I lost from class 1 obese to a healthy weight in about a year, and have been at a healthy weight for 5+ years since, still very active. (I'm 65 now.) Losing weight was easier than I had expected, frankly, not to mention more beneficial: I wish I had done it years earlier.

Lots of different ways of eating can work, especially in a calorie counting context using MFP. IMO, personalization to our own preferences, strengths, and limitations is really key.

Myself, I pretty much kept eating what I'd been eating, just in different portions, proportions and frequencies. It was a process of gradually remodeling my eating, within a calorie goal. It was basically this approach:

http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10636388/free-customized-personal-weight-loss-eating-plan-not-spam-or-mlm/p1

There's nothing sacred about that, and many different eating plans can work. The best idea, IMO, is to find one that makes the process easier for you personally.

I think we have some advantage, as older folks. We know ourselves really well. We have experience working patiently with our strengths, and working around our limitations, in order to gradually accomplish long-term goals in other areas (education, home improvements, family, career, etc.). We can bring that knowledge and those skills to bear in improving fitness and health, too.

You can do this! It's definitely a "slow and steady wins" kind of scenario. Wishing you maximum success!

You might find this discussion interesting:
https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10841733/at-goal-successfully-maintaining-so-why-am-i-doing-this-all-over-again

Best advice I can give you in think long term goals that incorporare your diet, resistance training, & some cardio.

Resistance training is extremely important to all ages but after age 50 evidence shows that it reverses sarcopenia.

Sarcopenia is clinically important as it is a major risk factor for physical frailty, falls, prolonged hospitalisation, dependency and earlier death.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4066461/

Around age 50 we begin to lose 10% of our muscle mass every ten years if not resistance training. Our bone density decreases as the reasoning we hear of advanced age people with more brittle bones. Which decreases our quality of life and actually shortens it very quickly.

If we are eating in a caloric deficit, resistance training helps to retain muscle mass as well.

You can see why it's so important.

Another vote for starting slowly, with walking.

Also good point above about resistance training. Do consider joining a gym at some point and taking a few sessions with a personal trainer. I've moved a lot and joined a lot of gyms. All gave me 1-3 sessions with a trainer for free. Some have had small group classes for very cheap or free. I had a great small group class at a YMCA that gave me the confidence to go into any gym cold and get a workout - but I never had to do this, as all provide orientation and at least one sessions with a trainer.

Also after this and other small group classes I was comfortable creating a home gym when I moved yet again and didn't care for any of the gyms in my area.