Hello!

One thing I've noticed is that the weight loss strategies which were effective in my younger years are effective no longer. Or as my DH often says, "I used to could".

I think, for me at least, it's important to acknowledge that things are different. That's not to say that things are bad, or hopeless. Just different. Accepting it is the first step in moving forward. I will no longer expect to see rapid results, and I will refuse to become discouraged by the seemingly imperceptible downward movements of the scale. It's overall wellbeing that matters: mental, physical, emotional, spiritual. To become obsessed with weight loss is detrimental to my being as a whole. I will strive for balance and recognize that I am so much more than a number on a scale.

There is a certain freedom that comes with age. I think these can be the best years of our lives!

I'm interested to hear what the rest of you "over 50's" think...

Hello!

I have been thinking about balance, and about how whenever I seriously try to lose weight, everything else becomes secondary. I think this is why I continue to be unsuccessful, because I can only focus on "One Thing" for so long before becoming burned out. Then, my tendency has been to drop that "One Thing" completely, because I am so weary of it. In the process, I end up worse off than before I started.

I'm going to do my best to feed every hunger in my life, be it mental, physical, emotional or spiritual, and perhaps that will help me to feel "less hungry" for the garbage I tend to binge on when I'm starving the other areas of my life to focus on weight loss. I think this is a good place to start.

Hello to anyone passing through!

I have decided to have a target date of next Monday to start moving forward. I'm still deciding how exactly to proceed, so I will take the weekend to think about it. I know it will involve the goal of weight loss that is more the result of living a simple, productive, engaged and balanced life, instead of weight loss thai is the focus of living.

Anyone interested in joining me is welcome. Otherwise I will use this space to hold myself accountable to grow in all areas moving forward.

I am not expecting rapid results either and I am giving myself a pat on the back for changing habits and making better food choices. I have been keeping a food journal and although it is not extreme in detail it does remind me to consume healthy or healthier foods throughout the day. It also is a good motivator to me to see I am getting plenty of water and making good choices. I am making sure I have plenty of fruit and veggies on hand if I get the hungries. And on those days I feel motivated and have the time I will do extra cooking and either freeze or have leftovers that are a good choice for me.

Oh, and I totally agree with your whole lifestyle approach. I like to do crafts/art so I have been crocheting some items for myself while listening to music I enjoy.

Hello HydraWoman....

I am soaking chickpeas right now in preparation for the week ahead. I'm only off every-other weekend, so I am taking advantage of today and tomorrow to contemplate how best to manage meals. My biggest problem is I work 2nd shift and have "the munchies" at midnight, so I eat a bunch of junk, then go to bed around 3am, and don't get up before 11am. Lately, I haven't even wanted to get up at all, until I absolutely have to. I'm not sure if it's menopause, my thyroid, Lyme disease, Lupus, sleep apnea, depression, or a combination of the above! Mercy. Looking at that list makes me want to crawl back under the quilt and cover my head! I think I will start brewing a giant thermos of chamomile tea to sip on my way home at night, and hopefully this will help me to be more able to sleep, instead of eating all during my 40 minute commute and then continuing to do so after I get home. If I can sleep earlier, I should be able to get up earlier, exercise, and meals will be more likely to fall into place. I think it will help me to have specific go-to meals so that I don't have to waste too much energy thinking about it, then run out of time, and order pizza or Jimmy John's as is my habit. I am also going to start reading "The Purpose Driven Life". I feel as if I've lost my way in many, many ways. I have been reading articles on "compassion fatigue" and "burn-out", which have helped me to realize that I'm not alone in the abyss.

ANYWAY...LOL...it's a beautiful day out there....nice and cool, humidity is down for a change. And here I sit, in my PJs. I have a fitbit which syncs with My Fitness Pal and they really work well together. But...I have to, ahem, get steps, and log food, or it does nothing at all!

It seems to me that you said you are in SW Ohio, which is where I am as well. Small world! I hope you are enjoying this beautiful day!

I am trying to do the exact same thing... Rebalance. I know my downfall has been/is stress eating, and it seems to me trying to focus on losing weight without also focusing on getting myself into a better place mentally is just dooming myself to repeating past mistakes because I know work is going to be stressful again this year. I've identified a few key things I want to do each day that are not necessarily to do with weight loss but about being healthier mentally/emotionally and more balanced. I have the same problem eating during my hour long commute to work. I'm planning to load some audio books into my library, and one of the rules I've made for myself is to ban eating in my car except for long trips. (If I'm THAT hungry, I can stop and actually sit down somewhere.) No more mindless chewing for me.

Hello Mygoalz:

I'm going to adopt your "no food in the Jeep" rule. I will sip chamomile tea on my way home from work and invest the money I save on junk food in some music cd's or audio cd's of ministers I enjoy.

I am going to start walking in the morning before work, beginning tomorrow, eat a biggish brunch, and pack something conveniently portable for work (an egg sandwich on Ezekiel flaxseed sprouted bread, maybe a few carrot sticks, etc) and then take a walk during my dinner break (around 6pm). I will eat nothing after dinner. When I come home, I will GO TO BED. My goal is to be in bed by 1AM and up by 8:30AM. I will log all food/drink into MFP and wear my fitbit. They sync easily and give great feedback. I will not consciously restrict carbs to <50g/day, but I will make wise choices regarding the quality of the carbs I allow myself to eat. No white flour. Nothing that isn't real food gets passed my lips.

I am going to start "The Purpose Driven Life" in the morning. It's 40 days of reading and reflection. I will also keep a journal.

I am going to spend time on relationships instead of lying in bed or aimlessly clicking on this laptop. I will call my mother at least three times a week. That will make her very happy and is much more worthwhile than my clickaholic tendencies.

I will pick one small area to de-clutter each day. A drawer....the laundry area.....a closet.....a cupboard......and if an area takes longer than a day, that's ok too. Eventually, the whole house will be de-cluttered. No more ostrich with her head in the sand!

Okay....this is my plan going forward. I will weigh in tomorrow, and then not again for a month. I will be 54 next month. On my birthday, I will look back and see how I'm doing with this plan. I hope it will be habit by then. At that point, I will tweak if I need to. Figure out adding some strength training, etc. I'm excited!

Have a great Monday!

Hello...

A quick evaluation of my progress thus far: I have been consistent with walking at work during my lunch break and with reading "The Purpose Driven Life" and with journaling. I have been de-cluttering sporadically instead of daily, but that is still progress. I have been eating "real food" for the most part, but have binged a couple of times, and have gorged on "real food", which sort of defeats the purpose. I haven't done well at all with calling my mother or going to bed before 3am and getting up earlier. I did well with not eating after work for a few days, but then after a particularly miserable shift, I came home and ate half a loaf of bread with organic butter in one sitting....man oh man, that butter was SO good.... After that, I started back to eating after work. I've been craving seaweed, which I never even liked before, but now it's as if I CAN'T GET ENOUGH SEAWEED! What is up with that? Seaweed washed down with kombucha. Weird. I wonder if menopause cravings are like pregnancy cravings....

Okay. Time to refocus. This is my weekend off, so my next weekend off is two weeks from now. I will reevaluate again then.

Hello to mygoalz and HydraWoman and anyone else passing through!

Hey there! Lurchmomma, I believe that menopause cravings are quite real. When I hit menopause several years ago, I started cravings sweets....something I never craved before. I feed that cravings with fresh fruit or non-sweetened applesauce for the most part.

Hello LurchMomma and HydraWoman. I just joined TFC today, seeking some comrades in the journey. I've struggled with my weight most of my adult life and accepted my lot in life for a few years. I learned to love myself and decided I was done Dieting. After a few years, I began counting calories and moving more. I lost and kept off 50 pounds. I held that for a few years, then did a raw food DIET and lost another 45. I lost weight like crazy, stopped the DIET and gained 30 pounds back. Dieting simply doesn't work. I did better just eating what I liked, limiting the calories and moving. But losing 3-5 pounds a week in my mid fifties was so great, but it came with a price. What I'm seeking is true change. I want to not feel crazy about food. Not feel like each event I attend is a panic about what to wear.
Overall I had lost nearly 100 pounds (zenith was 250 and lowest was 152) I'm currently around 183. So I am still down 67 pounds. That is great. I feel today that I a man no longer gaining. That 30 came back like wildfire. Worse than the weight is the regret, the anger toward myself, and embarrassment. I need to let go of that and go back to self acceptance. I cannot wear the size 12-medium clothing I purchased at 152 pounds. And I got rid of my big clothes. Wearing tight clothes created a bad attitude toward myself, so I purchased A few items of clothing to wear that fit and feel great. I entertain the idea of doing the raw food diet and get this weight off quickly, then do better at maintenance. Then I say, no, don't do that. Eat less, move more. That worked over time and the weight stayed off. Unlike DIETING where it came back on like wildfire. It's just so slow! The drama of getting it off quickly is addictive. But it is pure misery gaining. Pure. Misery. Misery.
My twenty year old son counted calories and exercised. He has done great and looks amazing. And he ate food he liked. He learned how to eat normally. I would say the same happened to me on round one. So I'm planning on counting calories, moving more, and taking my sweet time. I'm not going to be at goal by Thanksgiving, maybe not by Christmas. But in a year? Yeah, I may be at goal (goal is 145 pounds..38 pounds to get there). When I consider I spent one year losing, and then gaining. I only netted a 13 pound loss. Isn't that insane? Yes. It is, dieting is insane.
I know I need to eat healthy food most of the time. But I occasionally want something that would not qualify as healthy. I do not want to be deprived, because that motivates me to rebel and launch an all out war and overeat. I'm tired of that. Tired of the self hate. So I am going to buy those cute jeans and sweater a size bigger. I'm going to enjoy wearing them. And as they get looser, I have my size 12-medium stuff in my closet at the ready.
Hoping I can figure out how to join you guys and cheer each other on. Maybe somehow we can organize?! Let me know.

Britqueen, LurchMamma, mygoalz and HydraWoman.

I'm 48 soon to be 49 in November and have been doing some soul searching as well. I'm probably four years out from my biggest weight loss and while I haven't gained it all back, I've gained a considerable amount. Work, life and stress played a role and I need to learn to manage all three better. As I wrote in another post, there are world leaders, CEOs of major corporations, working parents with small children, etc. who manage to prioritize their health so it makes no sense why a single woman with no children and her own life to lead cannot. You'll be pleased to know that my Adminstrative Coordinator who is two years from retirement has lost about 30 pounds since when I hired her in March. She has a side business as a flower arranger and also takes care of her aging mother with Alzheimer's disease. She is doing Weight Watchers and while I'm not a program kind of gal, her steady weight loss in her mid-60s provides a lot of inspiration. Of course every body is different, but it actually makes me more determined and hopeful that I can do this again.

Britqueen, like you I have the foundation to a fantastic wardrobe and I don't even need to lose ALL my weight to get into some things. Twenty pounds would get me into a few skirts and a couple of pairs of brand new pants! And I agree with you; buy a couple of new things that fit and anticipate the day you'll be able to shop your closet!

I, too am in it for the long haul. At 62 this has got to be my last stand at getting this right. I retire in 3 years and want to be in great shape and lean to do the things I want to do! And to be healthy. Fortunately, I have not suffered serious health consequences of my overweight and have been relatively active but I know it is only a matter of time. Setting aside money to even take care of the tummy, the thunder thighs and the bat wings when I get to where I want to be.

I am doing the Bright Line approach because I have talked with a number of post menopausal women who have finally had success there and I am eating healthier than I have ever eaten in my life so its a lifestyle change.

Hello everyone! I wanted to share that I was 2 lbs down this morning when weighing, yay! I seemed to have hit a plateau for a few weeks and that is fine, I just stayed away from the scale and told myself to not fret and worry and I pretty much stayed on track with healthy eating. Due to lack of planning ahead about a week ago I ordered takeout and the very next day I told myself, "it's fine, you know you need to have healthy and yummy choices at hand"....so I learned from that.

Hi! I'm new here! I had to post because you all seem to be having the same struggles I am. For the last 2 or 3 years, I feel like I've been in such a rut! I turned 50 over the summer, and up until the last 3 or so years, never had to watch my weight. I was an avid walker through my early 40's. I went through a divorce (and lots of other life changes/challenges), and just had too much on my plate to have the energy. I feel like I've been in "survival mode". My twin sons are almost ready to move out, and my daughter is 15 and stays with my ex every other week. With 2 20-year olds PLUS a girlfriend (who basically lives in my house), my house is almost always a disaster. I find it drives me BONKERS-way more than it ever did before. I am feeling like I need ORDER.

So....I'm up 20 pounds from 8 years ago and I feel MISERABLE. I hate looking at myself in the mirror; my clothes are uncomfortable, and I'm sick of it. Yesterday I started Atkins 20. I went to bed feeling awesome for the first time in a really long time. I'm hoping this is the beginning of enjoying my middle years a whole lot more.

It's good to find people who are where I am

Cheers!