The Journey Begins
 

Greetings! 52 years young and starting the lifestyle changes necessary with a recent diagnosis of Type 2 Diabetes. I will be a 5 year survivor of endometrial cancer December 26, 2011. Learned I was spilling sugar in my urine, with a blood glucose of 257 on June 1, 2011. Since then, have not consumed bread, rice, potatoes, english muffins, cake, ice cream, or pizza. Quit cold turkey--on second thought--I eat a lot of cold turkey these days. Cravings are for dark chocolate and sugar cookies. :moo:

A small business owner, working at home, sitting in front of the computer most days. Found this site a couple of days ago, and I appreciate the support y'all give to each other. Support at home is mediocre, although the cat and dog enjoy sitting by the pool watching my new water aerobics routine. I'm in for the long haul, with a big goal to lose 94lbs. Currently 224lbs. :yikes:

My favorite hobby is gardening. Our primary growing season is during the winter months in Florida.

Hello Everyone,
I was active here for a year or so a few years ago and my weight went down, up, down, up...
You know the cycle, right? Well, about a year-and-a-half ago I was DX'd with type II diabetes, early on stage because I had worked in the health field and knew the symptoms so I got myself tested. My AIC started out at 7.8 and now wavers between 5.6 and 6.4 depending mostly upon stress and its effects on my food consumption/will to eat well.

I am married with two grown boys. I live in California in the Coastal Mountains. My passions are gardening, reading, travel and cooking.

I was a pastry chef for years and can attribute much of my weight gain to an addiction to sweets and a craving for carbs; when I was young I thought being a pastry chef was so amazing and fascinating...I loved baking up all those fabulous desserts to wow all my friends, now, however, I realize that for me that part of my diet is toxic.

I know that diabetes is progressive and I want to halt its progression in its tracks, and the best thing I can do is lose some weight and Keep it off!

My immediate goal is to lose 20 pounds. The seventy pounds I need to lose is just too huge to think about. I lost 30 pounds a couple of years ago, but have gained back 15 recently. I want to fit into that last past stage of clothing by the end of the summer!
Currently, I weigh 204 and hope to weigh 185 by the end of August...

Hi everyone,
I am new to this forum I am on 17 day diet for last 1 month. Do exercise 1hour/day for 5 days of a week.
In second cycle my weight is fluctuating. Any body on this diet plan?

Age 50+ Bios
 

I am 69 years old and live on the central gulf coast of Florida in the beautiful town of Venice. I have 2 grown children and one adorable grandson. I live with 2 precocious cats. My hobbies are photography and ballroom dance.

I woke up one morning and realized that I simply did not want to be fat any more so I started on the IP program. I am very happy with it - down another 3 pounds at my last weigh-in. Looking forward to the next one. Have not told anyone in my family of my project - can't wait to see the expressions on their faces!

Hi from San Diego :-)
 

Hi everyone!

My name is Darcy and I reside in San Diego, CA, with my husband and 3 sons. As much as I've tried to denied that another decade has snuck up on me, it truly has and I need to take ownership of that -- and after cruising through the Golden Girls thread, turning 50 seems to put me in the company of a great group of women I'd love to join, so I'm posting my bio now and then will dive in to the other thread. Sorry for the length, but thought I'd throw my story out there in detail up front. :-)

In my past life, I majored in horticulture but was never able to be employed in that capacity. Instead, I went through a 2-year internship/training program as a budget analyst for the Dept. of Defense and worked as a budget analyst afterwards for several years, where I met my husband. When our first baby was born and childcare fell apart, I quit my job to stay home with him. It didn't take long to realize that wasn't going to work the way we thought it would financially, so I was in need of a new career I could do from home, so after a training course I became a medical transcriptionist because I always loved all things medical. What started out as a part-time job quickly morphed to a full-time job with crazy hours and long nights, not at all condusive to good health. Adding on a 2nd job didn't help with that, but allowed me the chance to move into management and expand my horizons a bit, but my hours sitting in front of a computer continued to grow, and exercise and eating right took an "easy" back seat. From that point on, it seemed to be a matter of "if I exercise for an hour, that just means I'll be up an extra hour tonight working to make up for it", and with my short hours in bed every night, it was a no-brainer to talk myself out of exercising. Add in 2 more kids and.....well, you know the result!

Back in 2005, I was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis, but at the same time I was waiting for a diagnosis, my doctor was worried about my blood pressure and blood sugar and was so focused on those that he dismissed the RA symptoms (told me just to take a couple ibuprofen a day until I saw the rheumatologist for confirmation of the diagnosis -- like that type of pain would be fixed with ibuprofen? I think not! Not to mention the pain and stress of the condition definitely raised both blood pressure and blood sugar). He threatened that if I didn't lose weight and get my blood pressure and blood sugar under control, I'd be on 5 different medicines for the rest of my life. I didn't like his attitude at all, but I started dieting and after the prednisone started helping with the pain and stiffness, I also started walking -- I lost 19 lbs in 6 weeks, 10 of that while on prednisone. I was so excited about my next appointment and showing him what I accomplished, but when I got there he walked in, looked at the sheet on the chart with the current weight and said "If you think you can control this with diet and exercise alone, you need to lose at least 10 pounds." I was so hurt. I said "Did you not notice the 19 lbs I already lost?" To which he replied "well, obviously you're working at it." The tone was so condenscending and I was crushed. It took all I had to keep it together through that appointment, but I broke down in tears back in the car, bought a very off-limit treat on the way home, and began a downward spiral food-wise that undid all that hard work and I gained the weight back. Needless to say, I never returned to him -- and never took the time to find a replacement doctor either. I obviously had done all the work for him rather than me, and that was a huge mistake.

Two years ago, I got sick with a fever and then a cough that wouldn't go away. My OB/GYN and rheumatologist both had appointments with me during the weeks I had that and both thought it sounded viral, so I didn't bother getting it checked. But after 3 weeks, it was still there, so my husband finally called and got me an appt. with another physician because I hadn't done so. I was diagnosed with pneumonia but also found a great doctor I felt I could really work with, who actually took his time with his patients. I was sick, but oh-so happy too! I never scheduled a physical, but saw him for a couple of acute visits, still kind of in denial of any lurking problems there might be.

In May of this year, I saw my rheumatologist, who noted my blood pressure was high. I got home and had a call waiting from my primary doctor's office asking me to schedule a visit to discuss it. It was high that day too, and I could no longer deny there was an issue, since these 2 visits were both when I was feeling good! I bought a blood pressure meter and tested many times a day for 2 weeks and took in the readings -- not really high, but with the history of high readings and mine in the 120s/130s, he opted to start me on lisinopril. Didn't take long after turning 50 in Feb to start falling apart. LOL He ran a bunch of labs and while glucose was borderline, everything else was normal and surprised me (and allowed me to stay in denial). I had a follow-up in July, with the same labs run again, and glucose had increased, as had A1c and cholesterol -- and my weight was up by 4 lbs, despite no real change in a not great diet and no exercise happening over those 2 months. Blood pressure was great, but suddenly that wasn't the real concern. I told him I knew what I needed to do but hadn't managed to find the time to do it. He said "I'm giving you 2 months to get your butt in gear and start walking and watching your diet, and then we'll repeat labs and go from there." If it's not better, I'll be on the meds for blood sugar, cholesterol, aspirin, etc. Having a doctor who is willing to work with me, supports me, encourages without threatening --- wow, makes a huge difference in how I accept it. I'm truly willing to work with him and make this happen this time!

So, I'm not on any specific program or diet yet, as I'm not sure which way I want to go, but I'm watching portions and have cut out all snack foods, cookies, etc. I'm finding it much easier to reach for veggies, cashews, fruit, etc. for snacks rather than the easy carbs I would have grabbed before (at least in these early days). I'm not able to walk consistently every day yet due to work demands, but I have worked in some walks since my last appointment, and have even gotten my kids out with me for some. I've only lost 3 pounds, but it's a start and the eating habits have to be helping, even if just mentally right now, to set me up to keep going later on. I think the support and accountability from 3FC and the Golden Girls will help me stay on track, and I'm really looking forward to becoming part of the group!

Darcy

PERSONAL INFORMATION: Hi. I am 59, 60 in November and my original plan was a balloon flight but, given that it will be nasty and cold, am opting for a helicopter ride down the Rhein. My partner and I have been together for thirteen years (three failed marriages prior) and are devoted. We met online playing a text MUD, she a necromancer and I an animist, so she `killed' me a lot. A couple of real life meets later and now here we are! No kids.

I read a lot, any genre as long as the writing is excellent but a particular fondness for Orson Scott Card and Neal Stephenson at the moment. Huge fan of John Irving and John Le Carre. I lean towards classical music and it depends on the mood I am in whether I want Beethoven or Prokofiev, or even choral.

I am an inveterate fantasy gamer, starting from Dungeons and Dragons and leapt right into computer multiuser games with indecent haste and enthusiasm starting with MUD1 before there was an internet, and racing up through all other games from text muds up to the likes of Everquest, World of Warcraft and now Rift.

I do not watch much telly. I really like How Do They Do It, and How It Works type programmes and some nature series ... and then, on the other scale I get totally immersed in Strictly Come Dancing, The X Factor and would not miss Dr Who and Torchwood for the world. We tend to watch a lot of DvDs and I enjoy anything other than vampires and mafia normally. If we watch series we get them on DvD rather than follow them on the telly so at the moment we are fans of Dexter, Sons of Anarchy etcetc

We live in Germany, have been here for over four years now, having left Britain after far too many traumas there. I am originally from what was Southern Rhodesia (when I was born) and now is Zimbabwe and I have lived in various countries ... Portuguese East Africa, South Africa, Eire, Eqypt, UK (Wales for several years). I feel very comfortable and at home in Germany, for the first time since I left home (Rhodesia). I do not see myself moving again and I do see myself being a citizen.


DIET / EXERCISE REGIMEN: I am 5`2" and weight 229.80lbs (as of today). I hope to lose another 90lbs, I would love more but I am being realistic ... I shall not be 8 stone again I think!

At the moment I do two exercise sessions in the day, 40 minutes on the dancemat plus upper body exercises, and later I do 40 minutes on the treadmill. I am adding both time and speed and extra upper body exercises each week, nothing too manic ... just notching up the treadmill speed in increments of .1 per week so only doing 3.2 kph right now, plus the dancemat is in simple, beginner tunes, I will go another few weeks before I go intermediate. And upper body, just added the pound wrist weights last week and upped the number of rolls, swings and things.

I do have a Wii and the fitness programs. I shall do another session in the evenings when the cold weather sets in again using the Wii. My balance really sucks right now with this tummy of mine so things like the cycling session really kill my back. That will come right as my muscles improve and my tummy weight drops.

Foodwise, I am on low fat anyway due to gallstones - so was used to no cheese, eggs, milk or marbled meats etc. I was never a sweet person - not into the chocolate but I do love savories. I miss fries still! I was vegetarian (macrobiotic) for a time and that really kept me trim but I find it hard to maintain now and meat crept back in the diet. I use a lot of chicken and turkey breast, and salmon, fresh vegetables, salads and fruit. The only thing that works for me is low cals and exercise. I don't count calories, I don't want to be that immersed in case I lose it.

I am more concerned with fitness and health rather than how I look, though I would not mind being a gorgeous old woman I cannot see that quite happening so will settle for sprightly and twinkly with wrinkly.

SPECIAL HOPES / ASPIRATIONS / ACHIEVMENTS / CHALLENGES: I mentioned that I have lived in Germany for more than four years now .... and I do not speak German. So this is my aspiration. I am agoraphobic so I don't speak to anyone other than my partner and I never go out unless with her. She speaks fluent German so I never really have to open my mouth. So, yes, I want to read and write German excellently.

I am not going to reach beyond agoraphobia right now. I have a wonderful, happy life which I spend with the best person I have ever known. Sometime in the future I may venture forth alone but right now the only pressure I see in it is if I need to be in hospital or some other place she cannot or would not want to be. We have had all `those conversations' relating to the agoraphobia and I know and trust that if she were feeling pressured or badly about it she would tell me and I would break heaven on make something change. Right now we are just happy and we go wonderful places around here.

I also want, next year, to be able to go cycling with her. She goes out alone now and brings me back photographs, or she tries to show me where she cycles when we drive around. We are so near the Black Forest and some amazing cycleways. I want to have the weight dropped and be fit enough to go with her come next summer.

And I have an electronic keyboard which I am practising daily at. My mum was an amazing pianist, she was concert pianist standard. As a child I was `promising' and won an eistedford against juniors twice my age (I played Beethoven at six years old!) For some reason I lost my way on this one. I would just like to knock out a couple of tunes for now... the grand piano can come in time.

And I want to write again. I had three novels published some years ago and I loved it. Tragedies intervened and I put down the pen and have not picked it up. Lately, though, my imagination and muse are revisiting and I am tentative. Who knows. I have drafted some ideas for a synopsis and fleshed out a few characters ...

I did the uni thing ... psychology and philosophy. For a while, weirdly enough, I also lectured ... in marine law. I had a career, made a lot of money, lost it, lived wildly...

Right now I feel the best emotionally, the least best physically. I am aiming to get the latter up to the level of the former and then I reckon I have it whipped!

Hello from a LAWL DIYer!
 

Hello All,

I'm turning 55 in November which motivated me to get on the ol' weigh loss train again. The weigh has come and gone over the years (mostly come.) Three years ago I got down to 170ish and kept it off for a year before sliding back to those old habits. . . boo

So I'm married and we have a 17yo son who JUST got his drivers license. :eek: I teach art to kids and own a KidzArt franchise. I dabble doing my own art. We live in the Raleigh, NC area.

I am following the LA Weight Loss program. I did the program twice in the past with success so I have all the program materials. LAWL is sensible plan of healthy eating, similar to WW. You eat X number of food servings per day. The plan incorporates snack bars which is great for me cause I have a huge sweet tooth. Today I'm on the second day of the "TakeOff" two day pan where I drink a nutritious juice and eat just raw green veggies and lean proteins. This helps jump-start the weight loss and is supposed to reset your metabolism

I'm 5"8 and two days ago weighed 240 - I'm down a lb or two - yea! My goal is to get to 180 or 170. 180 sounds huge, but at that weigh, I fit into a size 10 and look attractively curvy.

I'm looking forward to getting to know you!

Just wanted to say hi. I just joined the forum and I am looking for some support and some friends on the same adventure!

I am 55 yrs old, married (just had our 19 anniversary yesterday). We have three grown kids; all living their own lives. We live in the country in central WI, and just love it. It is probably the best thing in our lives, other than having each other. We have two dogs, which are spoiled rotten.
I love to quilt and do machine embroider. I do work full time, in health benefits, so sometimes that can be a bit stressful. So quilting helps with that. I also love to read. Menopause has moved in with me, and I am handling it ok, but this belly weight is killing me, where does it come from?

I started on South Beach two weeks ago, and made it through P1, now starting P2. Don’t really understand how it works to add back fruit and different carbs. I feel a lot better now, I don’t find myself coming home from work having a cup of coffee, a donut and eating salty snacks. Almost wondering if there is some other meal plans that would work or should I just stay with SB.

Currentyl I weigh 190 and would like to get down to 155. I don’t do much in the way of exercise, and my job and hobbies both involve sitting, so I know that is not good.

I would like to find someone to buddy with during this, to keep me going and also to help him or her. Just someone to chat with about this and other things. My DH supports me in this adventure, but it would be nice to have a support person/group that lives it.

Hope to hear from you guys. Oh, and I never thought of myself as a Golden Girl, but I guess I am. Where does time go?

Chickadeee

May I join you?

I posted in the general introduction section, but I'm happy to re-introduce myself here.

PERSONAL INFORMATION: I'll be 50 on November 30th, my husband of almost 30 years turned 50 this past summer. He's a very fit tennis player, and, well, I'm not fit. :o We have two sons, ages 26 and 19, still living at home. 26 y.o. is getting married next summer to a young lady I love very much. 19 y.o. is in college. We have a 3 year old dog who's been with us since he was 8 weeks old and he's my joy. I haven't worked outside my home since my children were younger, so I guess that makes me a happy housewife.:) For fun I like cooking exotic recipes, making scrap books, taking my dog to the park every day, listening to all kinds of music and watching scary movies. As you can see I'm not very physically active, but not because I can't, just because I guess I'm lazy. But I'd love to get out of that mode and be an active 50 year old.

DIET / EXERCISE REGIMEN: I'm 213 lbs at 5'4". I never had a weight problem until my 19 year old was born. I became a big eater of all thing bad. I did get sick of it once and easily lost 30 lbs in 4 months by low-carbing and walking, but unfortunately 9/11 and the terrible scare we had here in NYC got to me and I ate myself back up to 200-plus lbs.
I'm ready to change my life now, especially since the big 50 is here. I want to be fit and healthy and sexy as I age. I'm low-carbing again, as breads and sugars make me CRAVE more like there's no tomorrow. I bought myself a pair of walking/jogging shoes yesterday to exercise with my dog every day, as he's a bit overweight, too.


SPECIAL HOPES / ASPIRATIONS / ACHIEVMENTS / CHALLENGES:My special hope is that I can be fit and trim in time for my son's wedding in 8 months, and that I'll stay that way for the rest of my life. Inside, I'm SO different than how I look outside. I yearn to be how I was back in my 20s and 30s when I was physically active with yoga, jogging and just generally more health-conscious. That's the real me. I can cry thinking how ashamed I am of my fat stomach. I want to be free from it.

I promise to be an active participant here, helping as well as being helped. And I look forward to getting to know you all better.

Thanks for reading. :)

50 + years and pounds
 

Greetings from the NJ Shore.
Personal Info: I'm enjoying being 51 cuz I can do whatever I want, whenever I want... My two children are adults who live independently.

Diet/Exercise: I've tried lots of diets and still hoping to find the magic pill. But in reality, I know what works for me, lean proteins, veggies, minimal fruit and plenty of water. Unfortunately, I don't stick to what works which is why I'm fat. Due to a second job, I gave up my gym memberships (yes, I had 2) so I'm transitioning from daily visits to the gym to home exercises. I LOVE Step Aerobics but it's not the same when I'm at home in the living room. Thus, at home, I'm doing more Interval training which gets my heart rate up and works my muscles. Also, can be done in a tight space. Recently returned to walking outdoors 2 - 4 miles twice a week.

Achievements: No longer wearing "supersized" clothing. Yippeee. Able to push my body way past what I thought was possible. Fell completely in LOVE with exercise for the first time in my life.

Challenges: Motivation, Consistency, Exercising with arthritis, plantar fasciitis, tendonitis, and general joint weaknesses.

New Member Introduction/Bio
 

Hi everyone. I am brand new here, having just this minute signed up!
I need some moral support and maybe also some educational help. :dizzy:
I am Bobbi, age 62, married, retired after working just about all my life.
I was always a sedentary person. Never worked that hard at anything!
I spent 13 years in the Navy and that point in my life was probably when I was in the best shape I ever was in (and it wasn't all that good then lol).
Anyway, over the past two years, this weight has crept up on me insidiously. I literally ignored it, and now I find myself weighing 185! I am 5'6.5", shrunk from 5'8". I have never weighed this much! I hate it! My tummy is huge and my knees hurt from the weight and I am tired all the time.
Okay, well on to the plan. I am going to start some kind of diet on Monday. I have a target date because today or tomorrow I am expecting to receive my Gazelle Edge I ordered (aerobic work out thingee) and I want to start fresh.
I quit smoking one month ago, using a target date and that seems to work for me.
I find the quitting smoking rather easier than I had anticipated it would be. I use the nicotine replacement but now less and less and I am proud of myself. I smoked for 46 years!
I figure this weight loss thing will be MUCH harder for me! I will do it though!!! I will!
My mother died at the age of 78 weighing 500 plus #s mostly due to her obesity and breathing and heart troubles from it, and my sister is following her footsteps with 350 plus#s at age 48. :(
I refuse to have that happen to me!!!
So, I guess I am just introducing myself and hoping to make some friends and find some support here. :^:
Any suggestions for a diet would help, but I figure if I cut out the goodies (which I eat ALOT of) and just cut the sugars, and watch the fattening stuff, I should be all right...I think LOL!
I plan to use my new Gazelle, several times a day and every day, because right now I don't get ANY exercise, so I figure any moving around is good. :carrot:
Thanks for reading.
Bobbi

Hi, I'm Jen & this is my first post on 3FC.

I'm turning 50 on January 2nd. On my 49th birthday, I promised myself I would get in shape so I'd hit 50 looking & feeling better than I did at 40. Needless to say, I broke my promise. I'm techically only about 11 pounds overweight, but according to my scale, my body fat percentage is somewhere between 35 & 38%. When I started having babies (I have 4 - between 27 & 15 years old), I weighed under 120, so I feel like most of the 35+ pounds I've gained since then is fat. Ugh.

I'm in the process of reading 'Younger Next Year' (women's version) and it has motivated me to do something so that when I'm 70, I'm still able to be active & healthy. Working out 6 times a week is part of the plan, and I need support to get that done! My 20 year old son (who just moved back home) is a great cheerleader for me, but he's on a completely different playing field.

My diet has been pretty healthy since I became vegan almost 5 years ago. My problem is that I just eat too much! And this time of year, of course there are too many sweets - whether or not they contain eggs & butter is pretty irrelevant! I'm firmly in the 3 meals a day, no snacks camp (ayurvedic style), but still struggle with wanting food when I'm not really hungry.

So here I am, looking forward to getting to know some of you as we strive to become better & smaller in 2012!

Jen.

PERSONAL INFORMATION: HI there. I'm 59 years old and I hope to be around for many more years. I'm married and I have 2 grown children and 4 grandchildren. I'm an RN but that holds no shortcut to losing weight.
DIET / EXERCISE REGIMEN: What haven't I tried? Some diet plans have worked for me and some have not. I'm still searching for the right plan to get healthy and stay that way. I hope that making friends here will keep me on track with my goals. I need encouragement on the good days, and the not-so-good ones.
SPECIAL HOPES / ASPIRATIONS / ACHIEVMENTS / CHALLENGES: I recently figured out that I've had issues with overeating and being overweight for 53 of my 59 years. I think that most of my discomfort, physically and mentally, is a direct result of my overeating. I'd love to get back to the weight I was when I got married - about 150 pounds. Unfortunately, that's 80 pounds from now.
I'm looking forward to being an active member of 3fc and helping others along the way. TrudyFay:carrot::

Hello, my name is Carol and I am at my wit's end. I just turned 50 in December 2011, and every year about this time I say to myself "I am the fattest I have ever been", and then another year goes by, my clothes get even a bit more snug, and I sink a little deeper into what feels like a pit I can't drag myself out of.

I am married, no kids, but 2 wonderful grown stepsons and 3 step grandchildren. I am a homemaker but keep very busy with volunteer work and trying to take good care of my loved ones.

I have always been gangly thin, and 2" taller than I am now. This weight gain, which started out gradually is now piling on despite my best efforts to do something about it. I try to get in 45 mins of cardio 5x/week, lift weights 2x, and take a yoga/Pilates class on Fridays. I try to focus on lean meats, lots of vegetables and whole grains, and watch portions somewhat. but despite what feels like trying really hard, clothes keep getting tighter and tighter, and I am becoming very discouraged. last night I was in tears while packing for an upcoming trip to Hawaii. it should be a happy time, but I am so upset about my weight I can hardly think of anything else.

I am feeling desperate, and have come here hoping to find people that can understand and maybe kick me in my a**. Thanks for reading this. Hopefully once I start to figure things out for myself I can be a good support for others as well. Thank you for reading all of this!

PS: I came here 2 years ago with the same hopes and aspirations and frustrations, but lost my focus and stopped coming, because I was ashamed at my lack of progress. I am ready to really focus and make it happen this time, no excuses.
Carol