diabetes

[AZALIA]

I been lurking around in the forum for months now. I want to know is there any place in the forum where there is women over 40,over weight, and pre-menopausal. We have unique challenges and, I am interested in reading about their success. Thanks.

[Laurie]

I am 53, 5'6"/largeboned and right now, 170lbs. Up until three years ago, I had weighed from 225 up to 260 and back to 240 during 30 years of marriage. Just got tired of it. Could not wear anything near what I wanted.
Now I can. It certainly helps one's self esteem not having to buy something off the "Plus" rack all the time. Extra large "T"s used to be my favorite wear. Now I can wear Large. I do have board shoulders so some women's blouses were too narrow to fit right even as a teen. Nor do I have big hips/thighs, so some women's cut jeans generally have too much material there to be comfortable with. Men's cut fit better.

Why I did this? To have my Health, flexibility, strength back for as long as I can. A combination of taking a year's worth of college women's strength classes lifting moderately heavy weights three days a week for 90 minutes. Most of all, learning how to eat properly is what changed that. Then kept it up for another year and a half at home to drop more. Have been maintaining my present weight with proper diet for the past five months after deciding to take a break. Just went back to lifting again this past week with slightly lower weights than where I left off. Feel better because of it.


You asked about menopause. Well, I went through menopause in my early 40s and met the "7 Dwarves of Menopause" But all kidding aside, when you hit 40, you do find it harder to lose weight as the metabolism get slower and estrogen levels lower. I had both of my children, 22 & 18 years ago, by both styles of ceasarean and ballooned up to 260 to stay there for years until menopause when I was 43. Then finally drifted down to 245....mostly from not eating hardly anything. A 'Big No, No" I later found out.

During that first semester of women's strength classes, I did not lose the weight quickly but it was steady. Mostly it was inches and pant sizes than alot of "scale weight". I did lose 28lbs during the first semester and it took awhile for my body to adjust/move around the fat built up all those years. To tell you the truth, during that first semester, I was letting my built up fat to fuel my metabolism while lifting and it worked for awhile. But needed to relearn how to eat properly to keep the fat off and to keep energized to lift well. So I came here and found alot of "Female Diet myths" to throw out the window. As well as some lifting myths. There is no such thing as spot reducing, and found where the fat was deposited last...was the first to go. For me, I carried most of my fat weight in my shoulders, back and stomach rather than in my hips/thighs. By the end of Spring 2003 semester, I finally reached 200 but was starting to wear clothes sizes I had not worn since before marriage.

Went through some plateaus during the next two semesters and learned to "tweak" my diet and my routine.

Health benefits as an older woman.

I do have some osteoarthritis in my shoulders and lower back. As much from just plain age "wear and tear" as anything else. Before I started, raising my arms above my head was uncomfortable and lacked being flexible. Walking any distance hurt my back from the combination of being overweight and out of shape. Reverse crunches "killed" my back and so dropped them when first started out. Only after I had lifted for a few months did I attempt them again with better success. But this was because my support muscles had grown stronger. I concentrated on keeping good form during shoulder exercises especially because of what arthritis is there. I also have an old tear in my left Supraspinatus tendon (front) from an old fall to be aware of too. The lifting actually helped strengthened the shoulder and increased my flexibility despite it. So when I had an MRI done earlier that same Spring, no surgery was called for.

I do not have osteoporosis in my family but do know women (some abit younger and older) in my classes who did. They were taking the class to help build bone mass and to keep their joints more flexible from the increased bloodflow from lifting. There were a couple of women who were in their 40s that were Type 2 Diabetic. They were taking the classes as exercise to help control it as well as with diet and improve their overall health.

In my third and fourth semesters, there were several women in their late 30s and early 40s who had the gastric bypass taking the class as part of their aftersurgery therapy. They had all tried everything else and could not keep the weight off....and I fully realize it is not a matter of "willpower". There are other factors involved. The surgery was their last, drastic, resort to keep their health.

Success and Motivation

Still have my size 48 jeans to remind me of what I had been wearing for nearly 20 years ...and the decreasing sizes since then as the inches went taking the classes.

But what really keeps me focused is the leather belt I wore with those 48s. My husband made it for me out of thick leather and I made a decorative belt buckle about 15 years ago. At one point, I thought I was going higher in size and poked a couple of holes up to 50 with it. But never did...just stayed at 48.

Still wear it with my present size 36s....kept poking more holes, backwards, as the inches dropped. Just pull the excess through the loops. Right now, the tip goes through the back loop. A firm reminder of where I was for so long and how far I travelled.

My greatest motivation is watching so many women my age, younger or older, around town who are still trapped and hobble around with aches/pains. Or with physical/health problems from bad eating habits and lack of exercise.

Thought I would always be that way.

Then I found lifting. Then this site and all the great people here.

[joed]

Laurie, you're an inspiration.