Weight Loss Over 40

As you can tell by the pictures in the right sidebar of this site, I’ve been working on losing some weight.

Late in 2009, I had a doctor’s visit and when they checked my weight, I weighed in at 205lbs.  I’ve “NEVER” weighed that much and it really hit home that day!  I had to do something!

I really struggled with what I should do.  I don’t mind exercise, but I was really out of shape and knew that getting back into it would be tough.  And I really didn’t like the idea of “dieting”, although I knew I would ultimately have to change my eating habits.

I had tried the “low carb” diet before and knew that if I could get a week or two of it under my belt, I would lose some weight.  And just losing “some” weight can really make a difference for some long term health changes.

So that’s what I did…low carb eating and walking during my lunch hour.  While I don’t really advocate a low carb diet for long term weight loss, I think it’s an excellent way to “jump start” your weight loss.

Within about 3 weeks I had lost about 8lbs and could really feel a difference in the way my clothes fit.  Let me tell you…when you get to this point and can actually see & feel some results, it really makes you want to keep on going & do more!

Again…I don’t really like the idea of “long term” low carb dieting, so at about 1 month into this, I switched to more of a “low fat” diet.  I started eating LOTS of fruit, vegetables and really watching my fat intake.  If food had much in the way of fat calories, I tried my best to avoid it.  (I later found that this is not the best way to eat either…I’ll go into “why” in an article I’ll write later)

Along with changing my eating habits, I increased my level of exercise.  I had gone from strictly walking to a combination of walking & jogging.  I’ve never really gone crazy with exercise.  I’m not trying to set any speed or endurance records.  In fact, I’ve learned a lot about how the body burns fat vs. burning carbs, and if you’re looking to lose fat, you’re actually better off working out at about 70% of your target heart rate.  70% of your target heart rate is relatively low intensity and pretty easy for most of us to do.

I weigh myself most mornings…first thing in the morning.  At the time this article is being written, I’m at about 177lbs.  It’s hard for me to say exactly what my goal weight is because I’m beginning to add some weight training into my exercise routine to try and recover some lost muscle mass, (which will hopefully add a little lean muscle weight).  My goal is really “fat” loss.  I could probably see myself in the 160-165lb range because I feel like I’ve probably got another 10 or so pounds of fat on me.

I’m going to write more about some of the specifics I’m doing to lose weight because I know it’s probably of interest to most of you.  When you pass 40 years old, it can become harder to lose weight, but it is certainly not impossible.  I’m living proof as are so many others.

More info to come.  If you have questions, PLEASE feel free to use this contact form, and let me know what I can do to help.