55-65 year old women's success?

I'm just in to welcome new folks, and give a bit of a personal update/recap. (I posted more details earlier in the 140+ pages of this thread).

I started weight loss in April 2015 at age 59, joined MFP that July, lost from just over the line into class 1 obese (183 pounds at 5'5") to a healthy weight (120s pounds, reasonable for my build) in a bit under a year. Before that, I'd been overweight/obese for around 30 years. Since early 2016, I've been maintaining a healthy weight, up and down a bit over that time, but staying in the low/mid normal BMI zone and the same size 6 jeans. (I hate to clothes shop, so if those get a little snug, I cut back a bit. Very motivating.😉 )

To lose weight, I didn't significantly change my eating style, just changed portion sizes, proportions of various foods in a meal/day, and frequency of some calorie dense foods. I can't think of anything I intentionally cut out altogether, but the frequency of some less enjoyable so-called treats probably dropped to zero, realistically. I've been vegetarian for 47+ years, but that's not a good "diet strategy", IMO: I got fat, then obese, then thin again, all as an ovo-lacto vegetarian.

This is the "eating plan" I used:

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

I'm not suggesting that will work for everyone, because personalization of strategy (to one's own individual preferences, strengths, limitations, etc.) is IMO really important. It's one possible approach, that's all.

I also didn't hugely change my exercise practices in order to lose weight, because I'd already been quite active since my mid-40s, after cancer treatment. Yes, it was easy to stay fat and obese while training 6 days most weeks, even competing (not always unsuccessfully) in races. The exercise calories were maybe a peanut butter sandwich worth, most days, or a bit more? I can eat that much more, quite easily, demonstrably. 😆

I did make strength training a little higher priority during loss: I know it's good for me, and it's gone in and out of my schedule over the years, but I don't personally enjoy it (many women do). But, recognizing that muscle preservation was important to me personally for performance (and independence), I made it more of a point to keep it in my routine while actively losing weight.

I don't think that history implies that people need to exercise to lose weight. In fact, I think it implies pretty much the opposite, that one can choose to keep one's current routine and lose weight by changing eating. (I recommend exercise, specifically fun exercise, because it's life-enhancing on its own, even without weight loss. And it does burn a few calories.)

Now, age 66, 6+ years into maintenance, I'm still active. As an on-water rower in a Northern US state, I've shifted from on-water rowing and paved-trail cycling to machine rowing and stationary biking for the Winter. (Pre-pandemic, I went to spin classes twice a week at the Y all year. During the pandemic, early in 2021, I got a stationary bike for home instead.) I also push myself more to strength train in my rowing off-season, so I'm working that in now, along with some core exercises. I'm retired, so schedule-flexible, usually do something active for half an hour to an hour 6 days a week, take one full rest day.

Generally, lately, I'm in the mid-120s pounds somewhere, though this morning I was at a recent peak of 130. Most of that is water retention from holiday indulgence, but most years I go up a couple/few fat pounds in Winter (birthday and holidays), drop back down a bit in Summer (more incidental walking and such). I expect I'll settle back down to maybe 126-127ish within the next week or two, if life is routine.

I don't have any sensible current photos, so here's one from June 2021 that I took to show how stupid-thin this rowing jacket made me look because of the black side panels, and it's not a good or flattering photo at all - maybe that makes it more convincing that it's a real photo of real me? 😆 (FYI, I'm post-bilateral-mastectomy, in case the photo makes you wonder.) I'm around 125 pounds in the photo.



Being older, being post-menopausal: Not things that will prevent losing weight or increasing fitness, IME.

Hi I am 59 with back, hip and knee issues but keep preserving, I needed to lose a stone and half as I felt uncomfortable and it added to my knee issue, I feel loads better but still have 12lbs to lose and i need to make sure I exercise regularly to keep my joints flexible as I get older.

Logging my food helps me keep on track as well as adding friends on here to keep me motivated.

At 50, I started logging in my food and was able to lose 49 lbs pretty easily. Considering that I'd never kept track of calories before. I exercised, but the online food diary was really what did it for me. Once I quit keeping track of foods, I started slowly gaining some of the weight back. I'm now 62, and the weight doesn't just fall off. If I exercise 30 min a day, my weight stays the same. If I exercise a bit more AND use the food tracker, I lose (slowly....much slower than 12 yrs ago.) It's frustrating, but I see a diff in my attitude between now and then. Back then, I was def overweight and needed to lose. This time I don't have as much weight to lose (altho I've creeped closer to being overweight.) I don't feel like going to bed hungry. My determination isn't as strong as it used to be. Whenever I join exercise/weight-loss challenges, it helps to keep me motivated. The illusion of having others to answer to means that I'm now making sure I do at least the 30 min walk/ride everyday. I move everyday, but I def see a shift since retirement. We def sit more than we ever used to.

Well 55 years old here and I have had success in losing 75 pounds and keeping it off for 9 years now. One thing that is working for me is to keep doing what I did to lose the weight. It was nothing strenuous it was activity that I actually enjoy and foods I love to eat. What is different is when I crossed the finish line I didn't revert back to old habits. Don't get me wrong, I might slip now and then but I catch it quickly enough to get back on track as soon as I see that 2 pounds up on the scale or favorite clothes o longer fit me.

Activity for me looks like weight training (circuits) three days a week and cardio is a minimum of three days (1 day HIIT; 2 to 3 days of LISS). If my body is a little sore then it is something gentle like yoga. I don't look at the number on the scale now to define me...I look to how I look in/out of my clothes and what my bloodwork says about my health.

There are a lot of women out there like us...and a lot of us are living our best lives ever...the weight didn't come on overnight and it sure as heck won't disappear overnight. We've got this.

At 66, my yoyo weight loss cycle is over. 5'2" I weigh 113#'s. I'm surprised. My goal here was 135#. My spirits are high and I am recovering from a 55 year sentence of misery, suffering & neglect from the medical industry. Some of you have been there, too. I'm sorry. Biggest surprise of all - with CoVid came grace and the cure.

Always active, 25 years a gym rat, I run a farm. Just one of 200,000,000 victims of mystery illness in the US, I was sidelined from life for the past 2 decades by "manufactured illnesses" in my case lyme, bartonella, Epstein Barre, Strep, ??? ... CoVid19. I did the rounds of medical humiliation between workouts and ate a traditional healthy style diet minus take out / restaurant food. Living on a farm, real life activities are all exercise.

CoVid changed everything. A month of misery in December 2019 supersized the above for over a year. I was eventually led to the only dietary suggestions that have also been a cure. Bottom line, I eat only real food, mostly plant based. I make it myself, as is my way. Baby steps and suggestions from Anthony Williams "Life Healing Foods" (#1 NY Times Bestseller) and his other books & recipes are making a big difference in my quality of life..

The flavors of real food are exquisite. Weight loss was not my goal, just a bonus. Healing a broken body is my endgame. It's been a work in progress for a long time. I now have hope.

I welcome new friends. Just a few words so I know you're not a robot.

63 year old female here... not my first rodeo...not my first MFP rodeo...
Highly motivated after a long and drawn out divorce followed by an amazing and miraculous connection on an on-line dating site... 250.8 on December 28, 2021 to 234.2 on February 14,2022. Blood sugar numbers have dropped as well. Crazy good!