Health & Wellness

 
 
 As a frequent contributor to the Financial and Life Planning sections of TOS50 and a life coach focusing on retirement life planning, the recently posted interview with Richard Simmons about losing weight after 50 resonated with me. I’ve often observed that so many of us focus on the financial aspects of retirement or seniority planning that we forget that we also need to focus on who we want to be and what we want to do with the funds we’ve so diligently been putting away in IRA’s and pension plans. We also tend to forget that the most important component of having the life you want after 50 is to be well enough to enjoy those 20 or 30 years. Even if our accounts have been depleted by recent downturns in the market, what a shame it would be if we’ve saved and worried about that money only to spend it on doctors and hospitals because we didn’t take all the steps we could, or even the most basic steps to assure our good health and fitness. A healthy weight and a good exercise program should be essential components of your retirement plan.
 
My own story is a case in point and confirms Richard Simmons’ view. Overweight my whole life, not a lover of exercise, impacted by arthritis, I was prediabetic but had avoided the usual cardiac ill-effects of obesity.  As I started putting together my “financial” retirement plan in my 50’s, I realized that a key element of the plan involved having long-term health care insurance. Imagine my surprise when I learned that because of my weight I couldn’t get that insurance at any price.
 
For some, the wake-up call is a heart attack or the onset of diabetes; for me, it was the fear of being old and infirm with no resources to maintain myself. Self “insurance” was not practical and the problem seemed an insurmountable barrier to having the life I wanted in my seniority.
 
After exploring and rejecting surgical alternatives, in 2006 I began an 18-month life-changing journey to a healthy relationship with food and exercise and to an 80-pound weight loss – a loss that I have maintained for the last two years. What, you may ask, was the secret? In short, there was none – no magic pill, no silver bullet, no miracle cure. Like so many things we strive for in life, in took time and effort.
 
It was slow. I took small steps, made small changes, and set small, realistic goals – goals I knew I could achieve. I celebrated my success when I achieved those goals. I focused on losing a pound or so a week, not 50 pounds. I knew I could lose one pound a week; I had done it hundreds of times before. I made small changes to my then almost non-existent exercise program – walking ten minutes around the block, climbing a few steps (at first, not even a flight) at my office. The “Sweatin’ to the Oldies” Music became my I-Pod walking companion.
 
I avoided setting “big” goals and seeing change as something drastic, big, miraculous or fast. I gave up my unrealistic personal expectations and weight-loss timetables. I rejected the concept of observing a strict “diet” or mandated foods I might not even like. All of that was setting myself up to fail – something I had done my whole life. Slow and steady were my watch words. I became the tortoise, not the hare.
 
I ate pretty much what I wanted but limited the high calorie, empty calories like fats and butter. I put myself on a “food budget” of calories based upon my age, weight and height and no “deficit spending” was permitted!! I became more mindful of eating fruits and veggies rather than cheese and chips and of eating because I was hungry, not because the food was there.
 
In the process I realized you really can change your life one small step – one small goal at a time and learned that by taking small steps I could see big change.
 
So now, four years later, I am healthier, weigh less, am more active, buy different clothes, am enjoying the myriad benefits of a major weight loss AND I HAVE LONG-TERM HELTH CARE INSURANCE. It wasn’t all done in a day or a month, but few things worth having happen instantly.
 
Here are a few suggestions, lessons, observations, techniques and facts I learned during the journey:
1.       If you add an extra hundred calories a day to your diet – that’s a pat of butter or an extra cookie or two – you will gain ten pounds by the end of the year. The good news: the corollary is also true. Cut 100 calories, lose ten pounds!!
 
2.       Breakfast is the most important meal of the day – don’t skip it!!
 
 
3.       Over 90 percent of people who lose weight and successfully keep it off, exercise  at  least 30 minutes a day, five days a week. What’s the most common exercise – WALKING.
 
 
4.       Drink lots of water. Sometimes when you think you’re hungry, you are actually thirsty.
 
 
5.       Don’t start changing your eating immediately. Instead, spend the first week or so preparing, eating as you would normally. Write down what you eat and determine your calorie intake using one of the popular calorie counting books (Calorie King) or websites (FitDay.com). BE HONEST. RECORD EVERYTHING. Use FitDay or other websites to determine how many calories you need to maintain your current weight (given your age, gender and height), then subtract 500 calories if you want to lose a pound a week, 250 for a half pound. Look for the empty calories – the extra mayo, the extra piece of bread, the after-dinner cookies and get started. What small changes can you make to save 500 calories a day? Add some exercise and a Richard Simmons’ video and you’ll be in great “shape.”
 
6.       Keeping a food journal (with calories) is a helpful (but not essential) way to see the changes you are making and regulate your calorie intake.
 
 
7.       Make the scale your friend. Weight yourself several times a week. It’s just a number and record. Expect fluctuations.
 
 
Richard Simmons is so right. You can lose weight after 50. Don’t wait until next Monday or your birthday, or January 1 to get started. You can make today the first day of your healthy relationship with food and exercise. Like good financial planning, it’s one of the next steps to having the life you want on the other side of 50.
 
ROSEMARY BYRNE
Step-By-Step Coaching LLC
Sbscoaching.com
rcb@sbscoaching.com