55-65 year old women's success?

I’m 61 , lost 27 lbs since beginning of Dec last year. I still have about 8 lbs left to go. I did it with walking 15 k steps on average per day and yoga in the morning. If I do 10K steps, I maintain but won’t lose. For changes in food habits, I switched from rice to cauliflower rice and stopped picking in between meals but otherwise no big changes. I have always cooked healthy home meals. One big mental change was that when I ended up eating a burger with fries or a dessert or sweet cocktail, I stopped feeling guilty. I just got back on track with the next meal. I wish I did that when I was younger instead of mentally beating myself up for days. I found the daily dozen app quite useful. You have to eat a number of servings of certain kinds of food everyday to successfully close out the day in that app. I still eat chocolate but it’s just once in a while and I don’t dwell on it afterwards. I eat something sweet everyday. Currently it’s a heaped spoon of fig marmalade after meals. I try to keep it to around that amount, a larger portion of sweet without fiber makes me hungrier faster so I try to avoid that. I have never been a big drinker but I still do have the occasional glass of wine when I want to. It really is very occasional.

The best thing was yoga. It really calmed me down. I think I was holding on to a lot of stress and trauma and that does get released with yoga, pranayama and meditation. This is three days a week for an hour with a teacher and the rest of the days about 30 to 50 mins practice on my own. If I don’t do yoga for a few days now I feel uncomfortable. I also take slow release Magnesium tablets in the evening. The magnesium and the walking really helped me to sleep better. One of my big issues earlier was not being able to stay asleep for the whole night.

ideas2 wrote: »

KimofTas wrote: »

I'm 40 so I don't totally understand your position however wouldn't you just eat at a deficit if you have more weight to lose? You don't necessarily need to exercise in large amounts to lose weight is what I understand from tracking cals and all of the info on forum here.

The problem is that if you do not exercise and you consistently restrict calories, the usual thing that happens is that your metabolism slows down and it gets harder and harder. And if you are too consistent and frequent in your eating, even if the feedings are small, you are likely to become metabolically inflexible (your body does not so easily switch back and forth between burning glucose and burning fat and weight loss is more difficult.)

Eating frequently doesn't make people "metabolically inflexible". The average person's body burns varying proportions of glycogen and fat all day every day, depending primarily on the intensity of activity. The fuel substrate consumed in the moment isn't the critical factor in weight loss anyway, rather it's the energy balance (intake vs. expenditure).

I am 64 and 5'1. My weight the last ten years had been 155. Last year through Vida I got down to 130. These past four months I have been maintaining 130. I know already to lose another ten pounds I really need to walk every day - really dedicated miles. PianoRun said it best. Our physical abilities are different in our 60s.

I would love to join your group. I am 66 and log in everyday. I try to keep my calories to 1200and try to get on the treadmill every day. I've lost about 24 pounds in about 10 weeks. Slow and steady.

Hi, I turned 58 yesterday. Started on my health journey in March 2020 at a weight of 223.4 lbs, 5’7”, post menopausal, kidney/transplant recipient with stage 4 chronic kidney disease and high blood pressure. Had recently received counseling for a binge eating disorder, overspending and low self esteem issues. Started this health journey because covid was in my area and had too many risk factors associated with a poor outcome if I caught Covid. Started out walking at only 10 minutes a day because I was so out of shape. Added a beginner weight lifting program 3 days a week at the free recreation center in June when it reopened. Though it was closed over December for maintenance and holidays. I fall into habits easily so weighing, logging food and exercising came easily but the mental aspect has been more difficult. I have had to deal with self identity, delayed gratification issues and how people now interact with me. In December 2020 my long time boyfriend died of Covid complications and the silence was overwhelming. My new healthy habits gave me a sense of security and control while I grieved. In May, MFP featured me in the Victory blogs and fears of being an imposter and weight gain came to the surface. Neither happened and life went on. In March 2021 I ripped the skin off an area of the bottom if my right foot and started weekly skin grafts in April. Was told to stay off my feet and put no pressure on right foot. Developed an infection in the bones of my right foot and spent a week in the hospital on iv antibiotics in September. I still go to my local hospital for a daily iv and dressing change. Will talk to drs. about partial amputation this week. They have already told me that I will be able to walk and lift weights after surgery but may need special shoes. I have lost over 85 pounds and fluctuate between 135 to 140 pounds despite no exercise. Maintaining and even losing weight without exercise was a huge mental realization for me. Do not know what the future holds but will keep trying to be grateful and happy for each days progress and joys.

What a great message board. I am 64 and joined MFP today. I retired in December 2019 and I weighed 221 pounds. It was awful. I started a journal after I retired with goals for my life. The main personal goal was to lose 61 pounds by the end of 2022. I know that sounds like a strange number, but after I lose 61 pounds I will have a normal BMI. My second goal will be to get down to 150 pounds. I am now 177 pounds (44 pound loss). I worked out in the gym when they opened back up in October 2020. I went 3 days per week and used the treadmill, elliptical and lifted weights. I recently stopped going to the gym because I was getting so bored. I now ride my bike 13 to 14 miles three days per week. Those miles are completed in an hour. The other three days I work out at home, strength training and cardio for 90 mins. I also walk our dog every day for 2 or 3 miles. I use to jog and had to stop three years ago when I had my right knee replaced. Got the sign off from my orthopedist that I can start running again (just not long distances). That made my day and my year. You have no idea how much I love to run. I start a Couch to 5K program on Monday, November 1st. I fast intermittently (basically eat two meals per day, eat pretty clean and no food after 6 pm and stay within 1500 calories). This took awhile to get use to, but it really works for me.

It sounds like we all have our own plan that works for our needs. It’s great to see so many successes. Gym costs are high, but there are so many other free things you can do. There are tons of You Tube fitness videos, and walking/jogging, riding a bike. Just look at what others are doing and maybe something will peak your interest. So proud of everyone. You are all an inspiration.

My birthday is next Sunday and I'll be 63. I'm in better shape than I've been in a long time. The first photo is from Sept. 2019 when I visited Tanzania and the second photo is from yesterday's hike in the mountains of Colorado. Sixty+ pounds down and 40 to go.

@coblujay what a transformation and inspiration!

New to the group here - I'm 58, post-menopausal, had a heart attack in June 2021, fell into the great depression, and gained a bunch of pounds on top of the pounds I already had to lose. My cardiologist says 40 pounds is the goal, my personal goal is to get back to 150 pounds (I'm 5'5") and feel comfortable in my body again.

I forgot how eye-opening food tracking can be and I'm glad to find this group.

Under regular medical supervision, at age 63 (I am 5'8" tall), I have lost 55 pounds.
My weight was 240 pounds when I began, and this morning it is 184.8 pounds.

I did this, through a combination of committed determination, eating within the same 8 hour time window each day (to give my digestive system a rest 16 hours a day), and an average of 60 minutes of walking around my neighborhood 6x a week.

My eating way of life since late summer 2021 eliminated sugar, starchy carbs, oils, dairy, fatty or fried foods and alcohol or sodas.
My eating has included chicken, fish, filet mignon, tons of different vegetables, fresh fruits, fresh berries - and 2 ounces of salted nuts or 2 tablespoons of Skippy peanut butter a day.
With 8 - 10 glasses of water a day;

(with the exception every Saturday of a 'cheat' meal at lunch with something like a hamburger & fries, or half of a pizza, or a cheese & spicy corn quesadilla, or ceasar salad and bowl of pasta carbonara or chinese food.)

So I can tell you that for me, being after menopause didn't cause me any issues.

My Doctor has been monitoring me closely with once a month check-ups. My blood tests results have shown a wonderful improvement. My HbA1c went for 6.9 to 5.5 and became non-diabetic, (I was not on insulin or taking any pills); triglycerides went way down, and so did CRP heart inflammation levels.

55 pounds down - 35 more pounds to go by June 2022. Wearing smaller clothes is fun:)