60 yrs and up

Pdc654 wrote: »

@AnnPT77 Yes, my osteopenia probably also was a factor for me in my height loss. As far as muscle loss, I have lost and regained 50+ lbs at least 3 or 4 times over the last 40 years. With each regain I am pretty sure the weight regained was mainly fat, not muscle. So that didn't help. Unlike me, you've been consistently active over the last few decades which I am sure helped you maintain your muscle. When I'm losing weight I've been pretty good about incorporating cardio in my routine but terrible about strength training. Lesson learned here... yo-yo dieting is not good for muscle mass...especially if you aren't doing anything to maintain it as you lose. My next project is to start strength training so I can keep as much muscle as I can and maybe gain some muscle after I get to maintenance. If that's possible at 70 yr old.

There's solid research demonstrating that it's possible at older than 70+. But the sooner to start, the better.

Strength gain comes faster than mass gain - and can definitely happen in a calorie deficit. Strength gain is beneficial in our age group for things like injury avoidance, daily life functioning, etc. (The first strength gains are from neuromuscular adaptation - better recruiting and utilizing the muscle mass we already have. Mass gain is a little slower.)

Pdc654 wrote: »

How many of you are significantly shorter than you were in your younger days? I have been 5' 5" all my adult life, or so I thought. I know it's not unusual to lose height as you age, and I figured I may have lost a little. However I was recently measured as part of a medical research study I'm in for a new flu vaccine and I found out that I am now 5' 3.5" !! I couldn't believe it so I had my husband measure me at home. Yep, I have lost 1.5" in height. I'm going to have to rethink my goal weight. My initial goal weight was 140 lb. I had chosen that initially because it was exactly a 100 lb loss, it was in a healthy range, and it was a weight I had reached back in 2014, the last time I had lost weight. I knew I'd probably want to lose a few more lbs after that, but now I think I'll need to lose an additional 14 or 15 lbs. At 126 I would be at 22 BMI which puts me right in the middle of the healthy range. I don't know. Guess I'll re-evaluate when I'm closer.

I kinda knew things were different than last time. I know I have less muscle which accounts for part of it. But I went back and looked up my measurements, and at the same weight 9 years ago my waist was 5" less than it is now. That's a lot of difference. So less muscle mass plus shorter in height probably accounts for it.

I feel your pain about readjusting your goals due to height shrinkage. I was 5'4" most of my adult life, and that's how I calculated my optimal weight. It was oddly disturbing to find I'd shrunk 2" by my late 60's, and now, at 75, I'm 5'1.5". Just a few extra pounds makes a noticeable difference at this height, both in how I feel and how I look.

Pdc654 wrote: »

How many of you are significantly shorter than you were in your younger days? I have been 5' 5" all my adult life, or so I thought. I know it's not unusual to lose height as you age, and I figured I may have lost a little. However I was recently measured as part of a medical research study I'm in for a new flu vaccine and I found out that I am now 5' 3.5" !! I couldn't believe it so I had my husband measure me at home. Yep, I have lost 1.5" in height. I'm going to have to rethink my goal weight. My initial goal weight was 140 lb. I had chosen that initially because it was exactly a 100 lb loss, it was in a healthy range, and it was a weight I had reached back in 2014, the last time I had lost weight. I knew I'd probably want to lose a few more lbs after that, but now I think I'll need to lose an additional 14 or 15 lbs. At 126 I would be at 22 BMI which puts me right in the middle of the healthy range. I don't know. Guess I'll re-evaluate when I'm closer.

I kinda knew things were different than last time. I know I have less muscle which accounts for part of it. But I went back and looked up my measurements, and at the same weight 9 years ago my waist was 5" less than it is now. That's a lot of difference. So less muscle mass plus shorter in height probably accounts for it.

What should I say. I started out at only 5’2” and I have definitely shrunk too! Getting old is not for sissies!! Lol Every day is a new experience!

ridiculous59 wrote: »

Pdc654 wrote: »

@AnnPT77 Yes, my osteopenia probably also was a factor for me in my height loss. As far as muscle loss, I have lost and regained 50+ lbs at least 3 or 4 times over the last 40 years. With each regain I am pretty sure the weight regained was mainly fat, not muscle. So that didn't help. Unlike me, you've been consistently active over the last few decades which I am sure helped you maintain your muscle. When I'm losing weight I've been pretty good about incorporating cardio in my routine but terrible about strength training. Lesson learned here... yo-yo dieting is not good for muscle mass...especially if you aren't doing anything to maintain it as you lose. My next project is to start strength training so I can keep as much muscle as I can and maybe gain some muscle after I get to maintenance. If that's possible at 70 yr old.

An excellent book that inspired me to stay active is "What Makes Olga Run". I've mentioned it before on different MFP forums but the one take-a-way from the book that I found very interesting is that many of the older "elite" athletes at the masters games didn't actually begin being active till they were in their 50's, 60's, and even 70's. You would think that to be a gold medal runner at 80 years of age would indicate that you've probably been a runner all your life. Not so. Because many people who have been in sports all their lives have various nagging injuries that prevent them from the serious training required to compete at this level. So yes, it's possible to make gains at any age!

And yeh, I had been basing my optimal weight on being 5'6. Somewhere along the line I've become 5'5. What the heck?!?!

Thank you @ridiculous59 for this information. It makes me feel hopeful that improvement is indeed possible even for us older people.

And thank you all for your responses. It is a bummer when you've based your goal weight on a certain height and then that suddenly changes (although I know the change in height was gradual not really sudden). But, yeah, what the heck?!?!

@AnnPT77 Yeah, I know your right Ann. I do worry if I lose too much I could look gaunt. I will definitely take it one step at a time.

@AnnPT77 Yes, that sounds like a good idea. I can fine tune things as I get closer to goal. And you're right, gaining back a few pounds is always an option if it seems right for me.

Hello, I’m new to this. I’m 67 and the heaviest I’ve ever been. Lockdown then moving to Scotland and exploring new eateries have helped pile the pounds on. My knees and ankles are arthritic, so I’m not really into exercise. A 20 minute walk is about my limit and I struggle with stairs. I thought MFP might be full of fit young things trying to shift a few pounds, so I’m really happy to have found you all. Any help and tips are very welcome.

Welcome @ valjaniszek4220
This is an informative and supportive thread. There are many of us here and throughout the forums that have lost a significant amount of weight. Keep reading and you'll learn so much. I agree with BCLadybug888. Weigh and log every bite. Be consistent and you'll get there.

@valjanuszek4220 Welcome! There's quite a variety of people on here so you'll fit right in, where ever you are in your journey.

Between 2013 and 2016 I lost 90 pounds by faithfully logging everything I ate (the good, the bad, and the ugly!). I'd always been fairly active (walking my dog, cross country skiing, skating, etc) so that was never a problem for me, but I did become more disciplined and made sure I did something every day.

And then three years ago, at age 60, I retired. That has been my biggest challenge and I am fighting with about 15 pounds that have crept back. Fighting. Every. Single. Day.

So like I said, there are people at every stage of their weight-loss journey on here. I'm just happy you found us!!

Welcome to @michaeljoleksak, @valjanuszek4220, and welcome+apologies to any other new folks I may've missed greeting by name! With patient persistence, MFP can take us to some better places, for sure. Myself, I underestimated the quality of life improvement I'd get from reaching a healthy weight - it's been a big deal, for me.

valjanuszek4220 wrote: »

Hello, I’m new to this. I’m 67 and the heaviest I’ve ever been. Lockdown then moving to Scotland and exploring new eateries have helped pile the pounds on. My knees and ankles are arthritic, so I’m not really into exercise. A 20 minute walk is about my limit and I struggle with stairs. I thought MFP might be full of fit young things trying to shift a few pounds, so I’m really happy to have found you all. Any help and tips are very welcome.

LOL at the "fit young things" comment! Yes, there are some of those here . . . but also a mix of quite unfit young things, fit old things, etc. IMO, we can have more in common with the young'uns than might initially be imagined: Some of the same confusions, obstacles to get around/over/through, habits to change, etc. Sharing information in the Community in general, with all ages, can be helpful.

What we have as an advantage at our age, I think, is a pretty shrewd understanding of our own preferences, strengths and limitations, and how to work within or game them to gradually achieve big goals. We've done that - patient work toward big goals - many times in our lives, maybe to get an education, build a career, make a home, raise a family, plan for retirement, and more. We can use some of those same skills and insights to manage our body weight and improve our fitness.

My big tip is always to focus more on making the process achievable than on making it fast.

Often, getting excess weight off is easier (!) than keeping it off long term, and that puts a premium on figuring out new, relatively happy eating and activity habits that will get us to a healthy weight and improved fitness, but also keep us there nearly on autopilot long term. That "formula" will be a little different for everyone, but we can get ideas to try from other people. It isn't "one size fits all".

Have you been able to access physical therapy (PT) for your arthritis? I got a decent benefit from a course of PT to work on how I could improve my walking and stair-climbing patterns to put less stress on my knees (where there's some arthritis, plus at least one torn meniscus for which I'm deferring surgery as long as possible).

Exactly what to do in that area will differ depending on existing movement patterns, which is why I bring up in-person PT. For quite a few people, strengthening the thigh muscles (quadriceps) is useful, but for me a bigger deal was loosening up some tightness in my hips (via assigned exercises). A key thing - for me - with stairs was that I was letting my front (upstairs) leg do too much of the work when going up, i.e., kind of pulling my weight up with the front leg. Learning to push with the back (downstairs) leg was helpful. But, like I said, that may just be me.

Of course, weight loss itself (50-some pounds in my case) had a huge positive impact on my joint discomfort/pain. It's less frequent, less severe, and less restrictive than it was when I was obese.

For weight loss per se, eating habit changes can do the trick, but the best route there can be quite individual, too. Many people on this thread benefit from low carb, but I just changed proportions of foods I like to hit my calorie goal, didn't need to do a major low carb or other rules-oriented eating regimen. YMMV. Experiment! If something works for you, great; if an experiment doesn't work out, try something else. Just keep going, you'll make progress.

There are also a bunch of YouTube exercise videos for people who have difficulty with walking, like seated yoga, or other seated exercises. Those can help build fitness and burn a few extra calories, too. A search on YouTube will yield lots of options. I like "Bob & Brad" YouTube channel for physical therapy exercises when I can't go to an in-person physical therapist, too. They're physical therapists of long experience, with lots of useful videos. I don't much like their diet advice (which is outside their scope of practice anyway), but that's a small fraction of their content.

Another thing that helps many people with walking issues is water-based exercise, if you have access to a pool or even lake. The water supports part of our body weight, so even walking in water is less joint-stressful than on land . . . but not necessarily easy in other ways. Gradual increases, keeping just a manageable challenge to current fitness level - I think that's a great route. It's what I did when I was first getting active after cancer treatment, and now I probably am more on the fitter side for our demographic, after working that "gradual improvement" route for a long time.

You don't need to fix everything at once, just pick one thread in the tangle to pull on, to start. You can do this!

I just read an article on the CBC News about a person who is the oldest woman to climb K2. She's 62 and didn't take up mountain climbing till she was 50.

I have no desire to take up mountain climbing....but stories like this inspire me to not let my age define what I can and can't do. Or worse, what I should and shouldn't do. There are a couple of things on my bucket list that I need to either delete, or get serious about doing!