Support group for middle-aged, smart women

I'm female, in my mid-40s, and gained weight about 8 years ago due to fibromyalgia.  I'd kept in shape before by running, but the fibro makes that impossible now (and so does my weight). I would be fit and healthy at 150, but I now weigh about 210.  I'm really motivated to watch my weight and track my calories, though not able to exercise very much besides walking.

I'm looking for other women in similar situations and hoping we can motivate each other.  I love to cook and want to talk about how to prepare delicious low-calorie meals.  I also want to lose weight in a safe fashion, without diet pills or wacky diet regimes. I'm aiming at losing 1-2 pounds a week. Though I haven't had symptoms of bulemia or anorexia for over a decade, I still consider myself "recovering" from eating disorders. I've done a lot of reading about eating disorders over the years and I think I understand mine pretty well now.

Back when I was younger I used to be an athlete and a body builder. I still know a lot about weight training and exercise regimes, even though I can't do it much any more. I'm happy to share what I know.

I'd really like to meet some other smart women who have most things in their lives under control except for their weight. If you are interested in talking, please get in touch.

Shawn

Shawn,

Hi, I am 41 and at one time reached an all time weight high of 240 lbs.  I am 5'5" and am currently at 163 and falling. 

I also love to cook, even went to cooking school in Belleville, IL.  Back when I was younger I was a bodybuilder...I wanted to be the next Cory Everson!  (hehehe)  I too had the fibro but it was just one of the many symptoms that came with my dysautonomia.  I am currently in remission and hope to stay that way!!!!  I have put together my own workout routines and will be posting some new photos this weekend of my progress. 

If walking is all you can do now then do that!  When you get more strength you can add a little more.  Exercise is good for the fibro.

We have an awful lot in common.  Where ya hailin' from?

Holli

I'm from California, but I live in Germany now.

I have FM and the concurrent weight gain from lack of exercise, frustration, pain - all the stuff you know about. In the past 10 years, I had put on over 100 lbs.  37 are gone as of today and hopefully, a little bit over a year from now, I'll be back to 145 (I'm 5'6")

I have started walking again and can do 2 miles at a brisk pace without coming home exhausted.  What I need is some low-impact exercises I can do for my upper body to help tone up my arms & neck.

You in Germany with the military?  We were in Heidelberg and Baumholder.  Ex was a career man.  Germany is a beautiful country. 

impkitti, thanks for responding.  It's great to hear that recovery is possible. 37 pounds down! Congratulations.  I've lost about 15 from my highest point (well, 19, including what I've lost since I started here at calorie-count).  But the next 70 seem very daunting, so what you say is encouraging.

My husband, who is very supportive and a wonderful guy, has wondered a few times why I don't exercise more since it would help my weight loss. I agree with him, but somehow it seems too enormous to tackle both the diet change and starting to exercise at the same time.  So, like you, I'm focusing first on diet, and then I'll move to exercise...

thomolli, i'm in Germany because my husband is a German national and his work is here. Not associated with the military. I love Berlin, though -- it's a beautiful place. (I just wish it were sunnier!)

Welcome!  I'm almost 65, retired and put on nearly all my weight at menopause.  I love to cook, and I'm the moderator for the Recipes Forum here at CC.  Come and visit sometime, and do feel free to read my journal.

Hi, clairelaine, I'm just about to hit menopause (periods are getting further apart) and I'm nervous about what it will bring....

Hi Shawnscott, sounds like we have a lot in common. I'm 41 and also used to be into weight training and running in my 20s and early 30s. I had to stop because of back problems.

Over the past 8 years or so, the back problems would recur every time I'd try to start exercising again. They were bad enough that at one point I could barely walk around the block without excruciating pain, and I had to switch to full-time telecommuting because my doctor wouldn't let me drive longer than an hour. Each episode would last for months. Physical therapy was no help. I slunk into a more and more sedentary lifestyle, even took up smoking again as I wallowed in my misery!

Despite this lack of exercise, I managed to maintain my weight within +/-5 lbs for all these years. I had learned how to eat healthy and follow my appetite back during my athletic days. But then I developed a horrible case of heartburn, and after months of over the counter meds, my doctor put me on nexium and .... BOOM.... I gained 20 lbs in only two months!!! I'm only 5 feet tall so 20 lbs makes a huge difference on my frame.

The doctor kept telling me it wasn't the nexium.. "welcome to your 40s"... but I was tracking my calories and I knew that the weight gain was from the drug. I weaned myself off of it... but still had heartburn, because now my weight was high enough that the fat was pressing on my stomach!

I started walking every day, back around June '06. No return of back pain... so I got up to one hour and more. I was also doing yoga on a daily basis, which is the best thing I've found for my back. I lost 6 lbs just by walking, betweeen June and January. It came off ever so slowly!

So now I am on c-c since January and I've lost another 3 lbs and have not had any heartburn since I got back down to healthy BMI range.  I'm now within striking range of my goal. Also I am not just walking, but I'm back to running 3x's a week. Tomorrow I compete in a 5K. My times will be pitiful, I had to really baby step my way back to being able to run 3 miles, but I will finish and there's still no back pain!

Weight training is the last thing. I know I should get back to it, but I am terrified about throwing out my back again. So I'm taking this in baby steps and we'll see. I'm in no rush. The important thing is to remain pain free.

I will be 45 in a few short months.  Once upon a time I was thin...still trying to figure out how I let this happen to my body.  Stress is my biggest struggle.  When I am stressed I eat.  I have had a lot of stress in my life...and now I have a lot of weight to lose.  I know I have to get it under control before menopause hits...I fear it is beginning...I hear it gets harder after menopause.

Nice to meet you shawnscott1.

I have the post menopause weight gain and always had worked out. I'm 52. What I have found to help when I can't walk, and helps upper body strength (since I am an artist and need to have  a strong body in spite of what I think is osteoarthritis happening) is rowing.
I actually bought a machine and it's the best money I've ever spent on myself.  It's in my house, and you don't need high numbers on it, level 2 or 3 is just fine since the resistance isn't the thing any way.  It's the best workout I've ever done and my back and arms are incredibly strong.  I started slow, but now I burn 300 calories in about a half hour.  I need stretching to balance it out, and I walk as well.  I take turns for all of it and sometimes, not often, do two things a day.  It is a HUGE heart and aerobic plus.  I found the  pain and weaknesses I have had over time, which have been called chronic fatigue by some, to be allergy and barometric pressure related.  Humidity goes up and I hurt like hell.  I keep moving because I'm afraid that if I stop I'll freeze in place!  I need to loose 30 lbs and it's much harder to do than before I finished my periods.  I hope this helps.  You can row inside in bad weather and good:)

Thanks for your postings.  Everyone keeps emphasizing exercising (within one's means), and I also believe that's incredibly important.  It's just... I can't seem to make myself do it right now. For some reason, I find exercise horribly depressing  -- it doesn't feel good physically and it makes me want to cry.  I have an exercise bike at home and I don't manage to use it, even though it sits in my office right behind me and I THINK about using it all the time.  I do walk with the dog three times a day (over an hour, total -- some days longer), but it's very relaxed and doesn't feel like exercise at all (except for the dog, who runs circles around me). I'm trying to think positively, but this is a hard block to get past.

Hi everyone!
Thanks for starting the thread shawn. I'm 49, just started on the website last week and it's working out great for me. I was 173 last week, after trying to do a high fiber, low fat diet. It was my own creation, which is probably why it didn't work, lol.
I've been exercising for a month (AGAIN), I do Leslie Sansone's walk away the pounds program. She has great DVD's, at all fitness levels. And, basically it's just walking, with a few variations. Why not give one of those a try Shawn. It's how I started.
When you go thru the activities section and log in everything you do every day, I was surprised at how many calories it's possible to burn in a day.
I was eating a little more calories than the website suggested for me. Today, I'm lowering it and trying to stay in that zone. That's the hardest thing for me. But, as long as I burn more than I eat, I feel I'm doing something good for myself.
Nice to hear that other women like to lift weight. I use free weights at 5lbs for each arm now, and workout as hard as I can for at least 30 minutes. As time goes on, I hope to increase the weight, but i'm not going to overdo it.
Hoping to make some friends on here, so we can all do this together. Peace.......

Hi, wyldemane, thanks for writing.  I've never heard of the Sansone DVDs before, but I'll see if I can find them. (Not everything is available in Germany...)  The exercise I do most is walking since in Berlin having a car just isn't feasible and the metros are everywhere.  The more I get out, the better it is for me because there are lots of stairs here, too.  I've mostly been keeping track of my intake and not my exercise calories, but I think I'll start that soon.  I also just started keeping a calorie-counter journal, which I think has been helpful to keep my in touch with my own feelings and thoughts about food and activity. (Often I seem to just push those thoughts out of my mind.)

I'm grateful for the responses I've gotten; reading other people's journals has been doing me a lot of good, as well.  Please feel free to read mine.  Also, I just put up a "before" image for my friends to see. I'll take another photo every 30 days.

I'm so thrilled to see a support group for women of a "certain age" (whatever that is!). I'm 42 and just restarting my plan- need all the support I can get! Wyldemane- I use the Sansone DVD's too- she's terrific and the steps are easy to follow. Someone had mentioned emotional eating being a problem for them- me too. It's a real effort to use the feelings that usually would make me eat toward my goals of taking care of myself. At this moment, what I'm also struggling with is the urge to sit in front of the computer! I just found this site last nite, so I keep playing with it! Time to get off my butt! I look foward to getting to know you all!

Hey all. I'm 43 and have been struggling for the last year to find the formula that works for me. I think I've found it, but then again thought so before. Time will tell. I started out a year ago at 186 lbs, lost about 15 lbs and then became pregnant at the end of april. I was estatic as we have been trying for 2 years. The pregnancy failed just after the three months mark and me back up to 186 lbs where I pretty much stayed-- actually bounced between 186-183 for EVER. In the past two months I have stopped the bouncing (unless I go over board with the sodium) and slowly dropped to 182. In the past couple of weeks after upping my calories I have seen the scale drop to 180.5 for a brief moment, then I went into a salt crave and the scale bounced up to 183 again and is slowly going down, 182 this morning.

I struggle. But I dont give up. I want to get to 160 and then take it from there. I've taken estrobalance, a vitiman to balance hormones, as it is getting closer to "the change". I just hope it doesnt happen before we miracoulsy have a baby.

No I'm not crazy to want children now. My two are grown up and I soooooo miss children in the home. And my new husband, 9 years the younger, doesnt have children so. I'd love to share the experience with him, He would be an amazing father!

Hey all!  I want to be included in the club, too.  I am 42, from Georgia, current weight 172-176 depending on water weight, etc. and I'm 5'6".  I don't like being this weight, I'm walking a mile a day, trying to watch my calories. 

I, like Shawn, am not motivated to use the equipment here at my work, but I'm hoping to get there soon. 

Anyway, good luck to us all!

Chris

Welcome to the club, chrisannb :)
Shawn, as far as the Sansone Videos go, try amazon or go directly to her website, here's the link :   www.lesliesansone.com    Good luck.......they're great, it's so nice to see so many women joining the group (thread) that you started! It's good to know we're not alone.....I tried to make the link clickable, didn't work. Just cut and paste I guess. On google it has many links for her products, so check that out too. I guarantee you'll love the program.

It's so great to keep meeting new women here!  I'm adding everyone who signs on as a friend and starting to read your Journals. It's very helpful to hear from people in the same boat!  I love the Journal facility here, and the fact that I can see what my Friends post on their journals just by clicking the "Friends" link.

I'm really looking forward to talking more and to getting to know you better.  This conversation is already helping my dieting program!

Just wanted to also add, that at 42, I had to have a hysterectomy, so that didn't help with my metabolism and the addition and removal of weight. Going into the instant change really sucked.
I'm also bipolar, and the only good thing about that, is that when i have a manic episode, it seems to be the only time that I lose weight...although it's a terrible way to do it, and wouldn't recommend it. That's why i'm on meds.