Worse than I thought!

Hi everyone!

I put in the google bar, "50, overweight and out of shape" and here I am!!  I gained 50 lbs. in my pregnancy 25 YEARS ago and have gained and lost it a million times since then!!  I used to be a Weight Watcher leader!  Twice I lost the weight by going completely off of simple sugars.  Tough deal though.  My main problem, I think is that I use food as my escape.  To be able to eat whatever I want without restraint is FREEDOM for me.  I like FREE!  The day is so full of have to's and should's and time issues, that I eat to be free!  At least I have gotten that far.  I also eat when I don't have anything else handy or made or planned.  Whatever is easiest.  I am a dog walker, but have realized that that is just not enough anymore.  At 50, this fat is on and it IS staying unless I really do something drastic!  I want to be healthy.  I have slightly high cholesterol.  I want to enjoy my life with the things I want to do (without restraint-see a theme here???), I don't want to be sore and slow and achey!!!  I thought at 203 lbs. and 5'5" tall, I would be happy to shed 30 lbs.  The calculations on here say 67.8 lbs!!  What a shocker!!  I weighed that in high school!  Can that number be right??  135.20 lbs!!!   I like being 50, but my body sure doesn't!!!  HELP!!

Welcome!  It can be a little overwhelming at first, but the good news is that you don't necessarily need to get to 135 pounds.  At 203, your BMI is currently 33.8.  If you get down to 180, you'll bring your BMI down to 30.0 - the border between "obese" and "overweight".  At 150, your BMI would be 25.0 - the border between "normal" and "overweight."

As little as a 5%-10% weight loss can be enough to help cholesterol and blood pressure.  5% for you is only 10 pounds, so I would suggest making that your first goal.  Check out the forums here for help with just about anything.  There are people who can help with how much to eat, what to eat, how much and what kind of exercise, or just to be there for you if you're frustrated.

Welcome!  I posted in your journal, but I just wanted to say that I think you'll do great!! You have all the right reasons for wanting to lose weight, and it is great that you are already active being a dog walker.  That will help a ton when you start becoming more active...you won't have to start completely from scratch!

Good luck!

The same thing happened to me and my mom. I'm 5'2 and 190 and need to lose 70lbs. According to my BMI I should be between 106 and 134. 106?! I weighed that much in 3rd grade. My mom's 5'3 and 180. She just wanted to get down to 150, but her recommended level was in the 130s. She compromised at 140, but still doesn't think that will happen. Just lose weight until you are happy with your size. I think the BMI is just an approximation anyways, you're probably better off going to the dr. and asking her what your goal should be.

I started a year ago. Not way overweight but enough. I just followed the daily charting, tried to eat better foods, gave up soda, and just started walking. I am down 20 lbs which came off gradually. Nice and easy. I had tried Atkins which worked but was hard to maintain...and prior to that tried all kinds of diets. Now I'm comfortable and the weight is easy to maintain. Reading the forums and advice occasionally help.

Thanks for your note.  The charting sure does help and I'm sure will become very valuable in choosing the right foods.  I always grabbed a handful of nuts when I wanted "something", thinking that was a good thing.  I looked for the first time today to see that was 170 cal!!!  I am hoping to make changes I can live with.  Losing the weight has always been pretty easy for me, keeping it off is what is hard!

I used to take a spoon of peanut butter thinking that was "healthy" until I saw what the cal/carb/fat content was. Plus to be honest I usually took a second tablespoon!!