New Member Kinda Sorta

Well I would send a request if I could work out how to do it. They seem to have changed the profile pages and I do not like it.

Hey, there, hi there, all: Welcome, and/or welcome back!

I'm a similar-ager to most of you, currently 66. I've been on MFP since 2015, lost from class 1 obese BMI to a healthy weight in just less than a year, and have been maintaining within the healthy BMI range (up and down a few pounds along the way) since then.

Unfortunately, the "add friend" process, when started from the Community area, got kind of broken in a recent upgrade of the Community software (which is supported by a company called Vanilla, separate from MFP).

So, adding friends is clunky, until they find a way to fix it how it works in its integration with MFP. Here's how to do it, for now:

On web MFP, look up another user by using the Find Members link to search for their username. On the Apple/Android apps, navigate to the More menu in the App, then Friends or Messages, and click the "+" icon to start a new friend request or private message using another user's username. That will send a friend request to that person, and when they accept, you'll be MFP friends.

Me, I do accept friend requests, but I'm kind of a sub-par flaky MFP friend, I'm sorry to say - more of a Community forum kind of gal, I guess.

Wishing you all success with your goals, both short and long term!

Hi all I’m also in your age group at 66. I have a very hard time losing weight. My habits don’t help and I’m hypothyroid. I had several years where I couldn’t walk much due to bone on bone knees. Got one of them fixed and never want to go through that again so I keep pain in the other knee down to a dull roar with acupuncture. Trying hard to develop better habits. Nice to “meet” you all!

Wendy898 wrote: »

Hi all I’m also in your age group at 66. I have a very hard time losing weight. My habits don’t help and I’m hypothyroid. I had several years where I couldn’t walk much due to bone on bone knees. Got one of them fixed and never want to go through that again so I keep pain in the other knee down to a dull roar with acupuncture. Trying hard to develop better habits. Nice to “meet” you all!

With apologies to OP for the slight digression on the thread:

There's a really good thread here about hypothyroidism and weight management, written by a (former?) MFP-er who was a scientist in the field, himself hypothyroid (surgically removed IIRC), who had himself lost weight by calorie counting. It's here:

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10767046/hypothyroidism-and-weight-management

Like you, I'm hypothyroid - pretty severely, for 20+ years now. However, I'm properly medicated for it - I don't know whether you have that settled in, or not. (I know it can be more complicated in some cases.) I, too, have some knee problems (at least one torn meniscus, I suspect two, plus OA) - I think not as severe as yours, though. My orthopedist told me knee replacement was in my future, but that I could defer it without burning any bridges, as long as I could tolerate the discomfort/pain.

For me, getting stronger and losing weight made really huge improvements, fortunately. A near-immediate help was physical therapy that helped me learn how to walk and especially climb stairs in ways that would reduce stress on my knees. That let me continue with carefully-selected exercise, and build strength. Losing down to a healthy weight was the biggest contributor, though, I think: I went from pain to the point of limping probably a couple of weeks each month, pain a good share of the time, to a point where pain is rare and discomfort only occasional. There was noticeable improvement along the way during weight loss, but the better situation seems much more solid now that I've been at a healthy weight for some time.

I think you're on a great track with establishing more supportive habits . . . at least that helped me a lot. Best wishes!

Hi Carolyn! 62 year old here! Had heart surgery back in 2020 and now I am embracing life and trying to get to Onederland before this fat kills me permanently. Feel free to friend me! (Anyone looking for a supportive friend who comments every single day on your posts, please friend me, too! )

Carolyn, so glad to see other 60s are still hanging in there. We can do it, even at our age. I am 69 will be 70 in December of this year. I have lost 100+ lbs. since July 2020. I went in to see about having knee replacements, and the physician said he would not touch me until I lost at least 100 lbs. Well going back a year later he told me that I will always have arthritis, but it was not emergent for me to have it right away. I was slowly progressing from a cane, to a walker and was going to look into getting a motorized vehicle. That is now a thing of the past. Thanks to losing the weight. I still have about 60 lbs. more to go from a beginning weight of 320. If I can do it, you and everyone here can also. Best wishes everyone in living a healthier lifestyle!