Hi All, here I am, OLD, unable to believe that I'm old, and just NOT READY to settle into a rocking chair and continue to spread. I've spread enough sitting at my desk in the office, and now I'm good and tired of it. I am sixty - yes, SIXTY years old - and other than the fact that I'm carrying around about 35 extra pounds, I'm not ready to give up and get progressively older and fatter. Well, the older I can't do much about (except buy every new anti-wrinkle cream that comes out) but the overeating - which is the crux of my problem - I CAN do something about, right???? My son is 25 years old. After he was born (I gained sixty pounds) I lost all that pregnancy weight plus a little more on the Atkins plan. Stayed on Atkins maintenance for seven years, stayed at my ideal weight, and then blew it all with a hot fudge sundae that triggered an eating binge that continued until I'd gained 35 pounds. Since then, I've been up and down. I do Atkins for a while, get sick of it (I'm starting to like meat a lot less, and on Atkins, that's a problem) so I go off it, and gain back more than I lost. NOW I'm calorie-cutting, which in the past always left me hungry, but so far, so good. I made a big pot of cabbage soup with carrots, onions, black beans, brown rice and 93% lean hamburger, froze it into nine individual containers and have been bringing it to work for lunch every day along with exactly 11 wheat thin crackers. I've also been drinking four or five 16 oz. bottles of water every day, which is a first for me, because I've always hated drinking water, but *they* say it's good when you're trying to lose weight, right? Wondering, though - can you drink TOO MUCH water? I'm sort of "floating", here. Got up three times during the night to pee. Isn't that a little extreme? Help? Thanks, all, and have a great, pound-losing, inch-demolishing day!
I'm older than you and I'm also fatter than you. So you do not need to feel that you are alone, Chickie.
You've made a very important first step on the long and winding road to better health and fitness by joining 3FC. It's a very big and very supportive place. Just have a good wander round and jump in and start posting wherever the spirit moves you. You will be welcomed with open arms wherever you land.
Keep on sluggin in the water. It's hard t drink too much and eventually your bopdy will adapt. Have a great moving and shaking kind of day.
I know what you mean about the "old" thing... yes, you can still be active and lose weight and be more healthy. Good for you for starting again!
I count calories in versus calories out using FitDay. I'm not good at cooking, so I rely on pre-packaged foods--which means I have to be careful to supplement what I eat with enough fresh vegetables and fruits. I take vitamin and mineral supplements.
It is possible to drink too much water. You only need to drink 80 ounces a day (8 to 10 8-oz. glasses. That's 8-oz, not 12-oz.). So, you can cut back on that and not have to get up so much...
Slow and steady... nothing too extreme... that seems to be the key.
Thanks, Linda & Jay!!!! Okay. 80 oz. is good? So, 8 - 10 8-oz. glasses = 4-5 16-oz bottles, which is about what I've been drinking. Yup, I've got to believe that my body will adjust. I'm making some pretty radical changes, actually - quit smoking two months ago after 32 years. Can you imagine? I started smoking at 28 because everybody else did. Then everybody else quit and I kept on. Just part of my addictive personality, I'm convinced. But, I did some reading about self-hypnosis, made myself a tape, listened to it, and bingo! I quit - no cravings, no desire to smoke whatsoever! Tried it with dieting - the self-hypnosis tape, I mean, and it flopped. I was fine for about a week, and then was ravenous - ate everything in sight. I don't know why I can't make it work for dieting when it worked so well for me for smoking, but of course you don't need to smoke to live (in fact, the opposite!) while you sure can't cut food out entirely. Well, so I'll cut down and try to work myself up to doing some mild exercise - I'm so sedentary that it's ridiculous. Yep - for once, Jay, I'm going the "slow and steady" route rather than trying to lose it all at once by starving myself and binging later. Thanks for the support & good advice. It feels awfully good knowing that I'm not alone, here.
60 is the new 50! I think in this day and age where people are living longer, 60 really isn't that old! You still have GREAT years ahead of you, so forget being old!
You've gotten some great advice regarding weight loss! Exercise is important so start small, walking is always a good place to start. Don't forget weights, they do wonders!
Well, thanks, Aimee - if sixty is the new fifty, I've just gained ten more years that I didn't know I had. I'm going to keep on slugging the danged water, and just eat WAY less and WAY more healthy. Actually, just cutting out sweets makes a big difference for me, although the starches need to go - or at least get cut way back too, for sure. I think as far as exercise is concerned, walking would be the best thing for me to start with. And work UP to more strenuous. maybe? Anyway, I've had a real good day diet-wise so far, and have a low-fat, low-cal supper planned. NOT overly hungry, which is GREAT!
Take care all,
It doesn't get any easier the older you get. I am 64 and really have to watch my diet. As you get older, you put on weight more easily. Also as you get older, you need fewer calories in. I am within 10 pounds of my goal weight (which may be a little unrealistic, as I cannot break 140). I have to be extremely strict with myself at least 6 days a week to maintain.
Apart from the aches and pains that come and go, I don't feel 64. It's all in the mind. I got blown away the other day, when I was approved for Old Age Security later on this year!
ellabella, gosh! So we are drinking the same amount of water. DUH! Well, I don't have to get up at night, so maybe your body will adjust also.
CONGRATULATIONS on quitting smoking, by the way!!!!
Nope--it doesn't get easier when one is older--which is why all you Chicks who are in your "younger years" have such a great opportunity by losing weight now!
Here I am again, another day older, and maybe, just maybe, a tad bit more healthy and maybe (?) an ounce or two lighter? I’m looking outside and thinking it might just be possible to go out for a walk. Not a long one, but just enough to get some fresh air and move around a little bit. I’ve got a little something going on with my right leg - aching a lot, and complains pretty loudly when I over-exert - but that’s probably because I so seldom over-exert, right? I’ve got to believe that a lot of my aches and pains are self-induced from sitting about on my arse for so long. I trimmed some bangs for myself the other morning (I’m never happy with what the hairdressers do, so I don’t go very often. I had a perm about nine months ago, my hair is somewhere just below my chin with only residual curl - just enough to look pretty decent wet, but gets straighter as it dries. Time for a new perm, but I always put these things off) and I like how my hair looks a lot better now - and thus feel a *tad* better about how I look in general (except for the extra weight, of course). Okay. I have this picture of myself as a slim, elfin-type “woman of a certain age”. I see myself in a nice, TINY pair of jeans, a black turtleneck, and some Frye boots. (You can tell my age from my clothes choices, right? LOL! I have to dress up for work, but this is how I‘d like to look at home) I’d LOVE to get my hair cut REALLY short (can you imagine how easy that would be?) and have it bleached all silver. If I did that now, my head would look like a golf ball sitting on top of a couple of basketballs. Arrrgh! I haven’t weighed myself because I’m too *scairt*. I’m figuring to do that after I’ve eaten VERY healthily (high fiber, low fat, low calorie) and gotten in some exercise. By then, maybe it won’t be as bad as it’s bound to be right now. Thanks again - so MUCH - for all your input. It helps SO much to feel a little less alone in all of this.
Keep up the good work, all of you! You’re all doing so well, and should be proud of yourselves. Me too, soon...
Good morning, good day!
So you do not need to feel that you are alone, Chickie. 
You've made a very important first step on the long and winding road to better health and fitness by joining 3FC. It's a very big and very supportive place. Just have a good wander round and jump in and start posting wherever the spirit moves you. You will be welcomed with open arms wherever you land.
