What are your biggest challenges from being 50+ ? Topic

LMK 07/20/14
I wonder how many of the folks who posted to this group are still actively using MND. I seriously need someone to be accountable to. I do well for a few weeks and then I get too busy and stop tracking what I eat, and the rest is history. I wouldn't say I am way overweight, but I could stand to lose. But most of all, I need to figure out how to MAINTAIN. Anyone else like that out there?

Malpeg 07/22/14
I check these boards daily. I still have 25 or so pounds to go before I reach my goal. My goal is 15% body fat. I'm 59. I've lost weight multiple times in my life. I am committed this time to keeping it off. I'm going to have to log foods from now on.

Bloggins 07/24/14 replied to LMK
I am still actively using My Net Diary (18 months and counting), and for the first time in my life I am maintaining a major weight loss. It's early days yet as I hit my goal sometime in the late winter, and I won't consider this a done deal until I've been in the middle of the BMI normal range for at least five years. (Yes, five whole years.) So far, the price of "normality" seems to be frequent and regular attendance at the gym for rigorous workouts, backed up by constant attention to the quality of what I eat. That attention boils down to three questions: first, "Am I actually hungry?" followed immediately by "Is it delicious?" and "How nutritious is it?"


Oddly, by combining the "delicious" and "nutritious" criteria, I have adjusted my idea of "delicious" away from many foods that I used to find irresistible. The entire range of fried potato options, from crisps and chips to hash browns and home fries, has dropped right out of my personal repertoire. I just don't eat them any more. The "cake" food group has shrunk dramatically, as my taste for butter cream icing has atrophied. Likewise, white bread has lost its charm.


Throughout, I find myself listening to a constant debate between my child self, which screams for the simple fatty, carby sweets I craved at age eight, and my rapidly aging adult self, which wants its somewhat tattered digestive tract to operate quietly and efficiently. The child self is louder, the but the adult self has all the best arguments. My job is to refrain from eating until the adult self has clobbered the child self into silence, and then carry on with a dinner of broccoli and a lamb chop as if I were sane.

Malpeg 08/21/14
My biggest challenge as I get closer to 60 is exercise. I am not very patient when it comes to making progress. My muscles respond to training but I now have to be very aware of my joints. I am taking a slow, measured approach so that I don't suffer an injury and have to stop training. My approach when I was younger was that if a thing was worth doing then it was worth overdoing.

Hippo50 10/27/14 replied to Malpeg
53 with an arrhythmia and have put on 16 lbs in the last year. Gave up cigarettes a year ago so that's good. Now 207 lbs. might try the b12 to help with metabolism. Have as a symptom exercise aversion which means that any exercise is exhausting. Takes me 2 days to mow the lawn,not a big lawn ! Anyway trying this app to loose weight before an operation in 3 months. Wish me luck.

U6096552 10/28/14
Hi, just started thanks to the new HealthKit app on my new iPhone 5s.

55 and have been heavy all my life; had my annual physical and I was the heaviest I've ever been. Finally decided I need to focus on me a little bit. Probably biggest challenge is getting on a better eating/sleeping schedule; my husband and I are both retired, but he spends a lot of time helping take care of his mom and brother (both disabled; mom is in skilled nursing but we do her laundry because she has an allergic reaction to the detergent they use, brother is in a supportive home environment and husband takes him grocery shopping every couple of weeks and such). It sometimes makes it hard for me to plan meals because I never know when he's going to be home, so we've both been eating way too much fast food. Tomorrow is going to be grocery shopping, and I'm buying food I can have even when he's not home. Also starting out at the gym in the next week or two, at least to get in some work on the exercise bikes and some weight training, then as I lose weight I can add in more activities once my knees can handle them; did a lot of walking yesterday and my knees were definitely complaining!

Malpeg 10/29/14
Great! For on the fly meals I keep steamable vegetables around as well as some health entrees I can microwave. Berries and Greek yogurt make a good desert. (I sweeten the yogurt with Stevia)

Alice 04/28/15
B12 kicks up metabolism? Any other tips my 50 friends if gray--lol

Kimdanurse 06/10/18
Sorry, I hear “I can’t exercise outside because of the rain”???? Nice warm rain jacket then great excuse for warm shower/bath afterwards. I really want to cycle more but carting an extra 100 pounds makes it daunting & I think I would cycle more if I knew back up was available but it’s challenging to buy a pedal assist electric bike for the cost. I love cycling but I LOVED the “Specialized E (electric) mountain bike. I could go on & on about how great it was to pedal one but go to a bike store & try one!!!! It really is as fantastic as “sliced” bread. I want to ride more but I find that I can’t keep up with the gang so don’t get to go with them at all! I have 100 pounds to lose and anything that increases my activity level I should consider but hard to overlook the impact on my wallet, when I have so many other expenses to consider.

Kimdanurse 06/12/18
Reading about posts about middle age spread & the wish to rid belly fat. Knowing that visceral fat is the worst & waist to hip ratio is as much a goal as a good BMI. It's hard to get rid of but super important to get it off!

What are your biggest challenges from being 50+ ?