Category: Senior Fitness

I am consistently being asked, “How can I lose weight?” or “What is the best weight loss diet?” I can answer that very simply in four words: “I don’t know, but . . . ”.

I do know that there are lots of ways to lose weight and a lot of diets. Many of the various weight loss diets work. You will lose weight. You may not keep it off. Many of the diets might not be the healthiest way to eat long term, but most will result in weight loss.

There is a huge difference between a quick weight loss diet, and a healthful long term eating program. The problem is that there are bookstore and library shelves filled with books on both quick weight loss diets, and long term eating and nutrition plans. They are all written by experts and they are mostly different with contradictory concepts. There are Vegan, Vegetarian, Paleo, Mediterranean and others. These are different than basic quick weight loss diets. So, what do you choose?

I have no idea what really is “best”. But I can tell you what worked for me. I was 197 pounds in 2010. Today I am 165 pounds and have been at 165 pounds for years. I was not terribly “fat” but I was noticeably overweight. I had a big stomach and a layer of fat all over my body. I was exercising, but mostly just going through the motions. I was certainly not fit.

I made a “sea change” in 2010. I created a new self-image goal for myself. I decided — that’s a key word —  to take back my health and get fit again. It worked! I started doing a “real” exercise program. I still do the same basic exercise program today. I cut out all alcohol (I had let it get ahead of me). I changed my eating habits by cutting slightly back on red meat. I didn’t cut it out; I like a good steak. I increased my vegetable intake. I eat broccoli now (with some herbs and spices to disguise the taste). I cut way back on refined sugar and white flour (certainly the two unhealthiest culprits). I still eat French and Italian bread once in a while, and pizza on Friday night occasionally. I was never a big dessert eater except for occasional ice cream on weekends. I’ve recently cut that out and surprisingly, don’t really miss it. And by the way, my wife, Edie, is right beside me 100% of the way.

I feel fantastic and I have a “glimmering” of six-pack abs at age 76. I don’t miss eating junk. It took a little while to develop a taste for some of the vegetables, but now I love most of them. I have not been “sick” a day since I started, other than an occasional very short term cold. I did have some surgery to replace a defective heart valve (nothing to do with clogged arteries).

The point is that losing weight can be a simple process if you let it. Yes, you have to make some changes in your eating habits. It took a long time for me to lose the 30 pounds of mostly excess fat. But it worked. There are some subtleties that need to be addressed individually. Some people are allergic to gluten, others are allergic to other foods. These are easy to deal with as long as they can be identified. But if you are overweight and want to lose, I can offer up what worked for me. Don’t expect miracles. You won’t lose 14 pounds in 14 days as advertised on TV. That’s probably not healthy anyway, and it’s definitely not long term.

Mentally, you might do a little visualizing and imagining. Visualize what you want to look and feel like and move toward that. Moving toward a real goal is far easier than moving away from what you don’t want. And as you watch your body change, your self-image and attitude toward life will change dramatically.

If you are overweight and really want to lose a bit, try what I did. Just don’t look for that overnight miracle. Healthy weight loss doesn’t work that way.

Thank you for reading.

The mind and the body are intertwined far more than most of us realize. There is an epidemic of depression and feelings of unworthiness among many seniors. This is nothing new and has been going on since the first person started aging and younger people started observing. And the words, the thoughts, and the expectations that we express about aging can actually affect the way we age.

“The expectations of aging will age you”, says Maxwell Maltz, author of the famous self-help book from the 1960s, Psycho-Cybernetics. He asks the question:

 “Do We Sometimes Think Ourselves into Old Age?”

 The traditional thinking was that a person becomes pretty much useless as he or she passes through seventy years old. The mandatory retirement age for many companies has traditionally been 65 or 70 years old. My father was a “young” 70 years old when he was forced, in 1978, to retire from being a well respected Law Professor at a prestigious Law School. I think they have discontinued the practice of mandatory retirement at age 70 by now. Seniors of that age used to be considered well past their functional prime and pretty much useless to society. No wonder many seniors experience those feelings of depression and unworthiness as they get older.

Maltz goes on to say:

“Or, in expecting ‘old age’ and fearing its onset, we may unwittingly do those very things necessary to bring it about. We begin to taper off on both physical and mental activity. Cutting out practically all vigorous physical activity, we tend to lose some of the flexibility of our joints. Lack of exercise causes our capillaries to constrict and virtually disappear, and the supply of life-giving blood through our tissues is drastically curtailed. Vigorous exercise is necessary to dilate the capillaries which feed all body tissues and remove waste products.”

 Beliefs are a powerful motivator, both positive and negative. If our beliefs tell us that we are getting old and there is nothing we can do about it, then we will fulfill our expectations, and get old and decrepit. If, on the other hand, we believe that we have the ability to take positive action in both mind and body to slow the aging process, then we will fulfill those expectations and keep our youthful vigor.

What are those positive actions? Exercise, eating well, breathing deeply, getting plenty of rest of sleep, and equally important, maintaining a positive mind-set that is optimistic about our longevity and our own usefulness as we age.

Hmm. That’s a pretty powerful incentive to exercise and to maintain a positive and optimistic mind-set as we move through our 50s, 60s, 70s and beyond, and to continue with physical exercise and optimism the rest of our lives.

Thank you for reading.