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FIT AFTER FIFTY

By Carol Haines

Four Keys
Women face new challenges as we progress through our would gain weight. So he said, “How is that working for you?” I had
fifties and pass through menopause. Many of us gain weight and to admit that it wasn’t. After a little soul searching I decided to follow
lose energy even though we are continuing our fitness programs his program for six weeks. This meant some major changes in my
and diet regimes. My personal experience is not uncommon. From routines, but I committed to giving it a try.
my late forties into my early fifties, I put on about ten pounds. Add- Over time I learned that fitness is a life style, not a diet. I
ing this to the extra ten pounds I was already carrying was too much also learned that the benefits of this life style change are so much
for my small frame. I continued to do what has been pounded into more than just being thin. I have more energy, many of my aches
our brains since our teens, eat less and exercise more. For the first and pains have diminished, and I am strong. Oh, and I love clothes
time in my forty years of dieting, I was not getting results. Discour- shopping again. My new program consists of four equally important
aged and depressed I tried to convince myself that I was not able to parts. Each is key to long-term success and isn’t that what we all
lose the weight and should be happy that I was healthy and strong. want?
But I was not happy. I was fat. For someone who had always exer-
cised and watched what I ate, this was a disappointing reality. Key #1
My son, who is a personal trainer, noticed my depression Attitude
and asked if I wanted his educated advice. I assumed that I knew Don’t think of your new program as a diet. This program is
much more about my metabolism than he did and resisted his offer: about making a healthy lifestyle change. Let go of all the old, tired
I thought he was all about pumping iron and building large muscles. ideas we have about dieting, and accept that change can be good,
I told him about my fitness program and that I had to eat very little or even at our age. The toughest reality for me to accept was that I
needed to eat more. What? Eat more to lose
weight? This just can’t be. Well it’s true. I have
changed my metabolism to actually burn calo-
ries instead of storing them in the form of fat. All
the years I spent on restrictive diets had trained
my metabolism to run very slowly. Now that I
40 give my body what it needs to function properly,
it operates in a much higher gear.
Telling yourself you can’t succeed be-
cause: it’s hereditary, I’m too busy, I have bad
knees, or whatever excuse you use, is just that,
an excuse. We all have old injuries and aches
and pains of some sort. These are all compel-
ling reasons to commit to a fitness plan. Efficient
exercise and eating properly may improve all of
these conditions.
Keep a positive image of yourself. You are about
to take control of your physical condition. That is
a very empowering position to take. Know that
you are moving towards positive changes and
that you are worth it.

Key #2
Diet
As I mentioned before, I now eat lots of
good food. Our bodies need nourishment for
energy and maintenance. Depriving yourself of
nutrition will cause your body to store fat and
burn precious muscle in its attempt to survive.
This is counterproductive to our goal as muscle
tissue requires calories to stay alive and the
more we lose, the less calories we burn. To
avoid losing this precious muscle tissue fol-
low this basic formula to calculate how many
calories you need. Multiply your current weight
by 10. This will give you the minimum numbers
of calories you should eat during your weight
loss program. Going lower is not better, so eat at
least that much. Let your body know it does not
have to hoard fat because it will be receiving its
nutrition regularly.
November/December 2010