Hello, my name is Cheryl and since I'm 62, hopefully you'll let me join this interesting group. I joined the LC Forum back in 2006 and lost close to 100 lbs. I then proceeded to gain and re-lose the same 20 lbs over and over during the next few years by thinking I could eat "normally". THEN about 10 months ago I began gaining at a rapid rate and just lost all control.

This time around I'm using the Atkins '72 plan and keeping my carbs at 10-20. This keeps me in ketosis and I have no cravings. I also have been able to stop taking all my prescriptions medications....I no longer need them.

Welcome Cher. This group has been much too quiet. I have been able to drop a couple of drugs that were messing up my kidneys since I lost 35 pounds.

Let's see if we can get some discussions going here.

How about. What is the best thing for you about being over a certain age. I am going to take the easy one: No more Time of Month (TOM) which is biggie for me although it was 20 uyears ago.

Any guys reading this? Tell us what is the best thing about being retirement age?

It seems like when you get older, you're expected to put on a few pounds. Society seems to think it's okay for older women to be overweight. If you have health issues, your doctor just writes you another prescription instead of telling you to cut out carbs. All of the pills i used to take for all my health problems....high blood pressure, osteoarthritis, pre-diabetes....and all i really had to do was change my WOE.

At my last doctor visit I told him that maybe I just had to accept my health problems as part of getting older. He said, "No way." I love my doctor.

Hello All,

I know some of you already, so you've heard me talk about my age all the time. I wear it as a badge of courage and pride. However, now that I've reached the top of the mountain, I plan to stay here, telling everybody that I'm 70 until I get ready to graduate to 80.

Like so many in our age group, I was laid off. In my case it was in 2001. I was a computer programmer in San Francisco who went from a six-figure job to unemployment and from that to bankruptcy, followed by divorce and much depression and weight gain.

Since crawling out of the black hole, I've been rebuilding my life. Yes, I'm retired, but I can't bear to be bored so I work from my living room as a webmaster and website designer. I'm an independent contractor and only work for people I like. There were too many years of working for mean bosses and crying myself to sleep at night. I don't ever want to do that again.

I found this Forum when Jimmy Moore closed his forum down and signed up in January. At that time, I had been eating LCHF without result for 6 years. In February I found a protocol here, and it's working for me. I've lost 10 pounds, but am now on a plateau.

I'm quite healthy and stubbornly believe in the one pharma I take ~ estrogen. Please don't try to talk me out of it. The medical profession has been wrong about so many things over the years that I see no reason to believe much they have to say, especially about women's issues.

Since last May, I've been wearing an activity tracker and I walk every morning before dawn,( usually 3-5 miles ) for a total of over 1400 miles. I visit the gym when the desert heat makes walking outside too hard for me and I do casual yoga and planks in the living room.

Sorry about the length of the post. I just have a lot to say, I guess. Let's see how we can keep this thread productive for us.

Thanks for sharing your story, Glenda. We each have to find our own way back to health. I had a defining moment in 2006 that changed my life. I was having dinner with a group of friends (all single, overweight women) and the conversation turned to health issues and which prescriptions we were all taking. Of course, everyone at the table was on blood pressure, osteoarthritis, cholesterol, mood elevator and thyroid medications, just to name a few. As I listened to each woman talk, it hit me like a ton of bricks: ALL OF THESE HEALTH ISSUES COULD BE SOLVED BY LOSING WEIGHT!!

I had a friend who years ago had lost a significant amount of weight using DANDR and so I bought a copy of the book and it became my Bible. I lost 100 lbs in 2006-2007 and was able to wean off all prescriptions.

In my never-ending attempt to become NORMAL, I eventually began eating carbs again and now find myself back here with a huge weight gain. I now know that this is my WOE from now on. I accept that. I have 10 grandchildren and I've promised to dance at all of their weddings and spoil my great-grandchildren.

YES! YES! and YES!

It takes a long time to accept that being healthy after being fat requires a life change. I went on original Atkins in 1972. Over the years I've gained and lost enough pounds to make several people. The past 6 years I've been dedicated to LCHF. However, I had become so insulin resistant that wasn't enough for me to lose. We all have to find the WOE we can lose with, be healthy with and stick to.

Thanks for the welcome.

I'm almost 70 and have no intention of retiring. I'm a career musician and going to work (play) is a high point of any day. As long as I can fog a mirror or find an audience that appreciates my music, I'll be gigging. But I no longer take lesser gigs just to work.

I've been LC since 2000 and happy with the results. Down 50 pounds and kept it off.

I'm no longer obese, but could probably lose another 5 pounds to get under the line that divides normal and slightly overweight, but I realize that isn't going to happen.

The good thing about LC is that all my blood work registers in the normal range, and I'm not on any prescription drugs. I'm extremely healthy for my age, and still walk 4 miles a day (in about an hour).

Bob

Lucky you! At my last doctor visit, he tried to write me prescriptions for the pain in my knees. I just looked at him and said "I NEED TO LOSE THIS WEIGHT AND THE PAIN WILL GO AWAY". The next time I see him, I hope he is pleasantly surprised! As for me, the pain has gone away.

Welcome to Glenda and Bob. I'm glad to see a little discussion going on. Glenda write as much as you like. There is no such thing as too long.

I have been on some kind of "diet" since I was 18 years old. I had no problem losing in college as I was so stressed I could not eat much. I stayed ultra thin until my second child was born 45 years ago. I have been a weight watchers life time member twice. I just sort of gave up trying about 20 years ago, although from time to time I would work at losing some. Then one day last August I stepped on the scale and I was fast approaching 200 pounds. That day I went to a local senior education program and the speaker was a local psychologist who does weight loss counseling. He showed part of the movie Fat Head and I was sold. I had never even read an LC book before. I jumped on board, starting seeing the counselor and I have lost 35 pounds. Most of it came off in the first 4 months. It has been slow since then. I love this plan, I am happy, I feel healthier, more awake and I have dropped several meds. I am now on a running battle with my PCP on the subject of statins. My LDL is sky high. But I have controlled it with niacin for years, and I quit taking it in the fall. I have started back and I am counting on winning the statin battle.

I am having to find all new clothes this spring and summer. I am also getting all of my nice "fat" clothes ready to go to a consignment store.

I love almost everything about being 65. It definitely helps to have lost weight and resolved persistent health issues, but mostly I am just happy in my own skin and with my own company. I have friends I can call up anytime and say "wanna meet for a drink or dinner", and I go out on dates, but I also thoroughly enjoy puttering around my nice little home doing things in my own time, without being held to a schedule. I work fulltime, so not being held to a schedule on evenings and weekends is a huge luxury for me.

25 years ago my last family member passed away, the man I fell in love with and moved to America to marry turned out to be rather awful and I got divorced, I had no job, no savings, and temporarily nowhere to live. I felt very much alone in a strange land. I considered returning to England with my tail between my legs, but decided to stick it out until things got better and then return with pride rather than like a kicked puppy. So, figuring I was so far down I had nothing left to lose, I took the opportunity to change careers to something I LOVED and had always wanted to do. I made friends within that career who are still my friends today. I even managed to save enough money to buy a little home and somewhere along the way I lost all desire to leave the U.S.

It wasn't all plain sailing. There was another setback 10 years ago but, again, things got better. Now I'm looking forward to retirement, having learned so many life lessons. I know the value of friends, the value of having a good laugh, the importance of eating healthy and exercising gently, and that it is essential to save some money for emergencies. I never take anything pleasant for granted, including health, possessions, good times. Surprisingly, I'm happier now - old and wrinkled - than I ever was as a spoiled young woman who took everything for granted.

Susan,
I loved your last post...I too have been on a diet all my life...or at least since I was 15. My mother took me to TOPS way back in the '60's. HORRIFYING!! Now days my weight of 155 lbs would probably not be considered obese since I was already 5'6" at that time. It has been a continuous roller coaster ever since. I lost 175 lb in 1981 and kept it off for 20 years. Then slowly gained back 100! So I lost 100 lb in 2006. Seems like I can lose weight when I get on 10-20 carbs, the maintaining has been difficult.

Well said. When you can look back and see your mistakes BUT see where you came through the storms of life...that is awesome. I know I have earned every single wrinkle and gray hair and I am happy. I enjoy being with other people, but I also enjoy being alone.

Good for you. Sounds great.