Where to start

Hello, and welcome!

I joined MFP at the same age you are now, 59, and was able to lose from class 1 obese to a healthy weight in a bit less than a year, and am still at a healthy weight since (now 66). I was surprised to find that it was much easier than I'd dreamed, once I committed myself to the process. (I hope you find that to be true, too.) Food logging and calorie counting were ideal for me: I could decide how to spend my calorie budget in a way that keeps current-me happy and full, but also keeps me at a healthy weight so my future self is likelier to be healthy, too.

You don't need to do everything at once: It can be overwhelming. It's OK to just pick one thing, work at that until it's a habit. Then, when that's pretty grooved in, pick something else. Yes, that will take more time than an "instantly revolutionize one's life" approach . . . but that time's going to pass regardless. Personally, I'm a believer in making the process easy and manageable, rather than making it fast (and maybe unsustainable long-term, as a consequence of extreme methods).

Different people will benefit from different eating styles, and approaches to exercise and increased daily life activity. It's IMO good to experiment, figure out what works best for you, to find new habits that are practical and can kind of go on autopilot long term. That concept does mean that there will be some failed experiments, but that's OK. Learn from things that don't work, revise the plan, let the sub-par result fail, go on with the improved plan. As long as you keep chipping away, you'll reach your goals.

For me, what worked best for eating was to start by logging what I was eating, then gradually tweak and remodel my routine to find a better balance of calories, satiation, nutrition, and all-round happiness. That process is described here:

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

That won't work best for everyone, but it's a potential thing to consider, maybe try.

On the activity front, there are ideas from many people here about how to put more movement in daily life:

http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10610953/neat-improvement-strategies-to-improve-weight-loss/p1


On the exercise front, I think it's useful not to buy into the myth that exercise has to be intense, punitive or generally miserable, in order to have benefits. That's false. Your history probably makes that clear! Any enjoyable (or at least tolerable) way of moving more is good, from traditional things like walking, biking, swimming; to fun things like dancing or active electronic/VR games; to the often-assumed (but not) essential gym-type stuff; and well beyond. Start with something fun that's a slight but manageable challenge for you now, and go from there: You can work your way back to climbing mountains, if that's your goal, I'd guess.

Wishing you much success!