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I have slowed down.Since my arthritis flares up, I have to be careful with exercise. I am in pain if I exercise, so I go to the gym about once or twice a week. I do tai chi twice a week, and I do yoga once a week. I am a part-time teacher, so I do a lot of pacing while teaching in front of the class. I try to walk a couple of times a week as well.
I dress well, dye my hair, go to the manicurist, and get a massage once in awhile. I am 61, but am told that I look 55. Fine with me.
Since I've retired, I have become increasingly more inclined to not worry about my weight as long as I FEEL good (or at least healthy). In other words, I am no longer as concerned with even trying to look good. There are three reasons for this: First, the thinner I am, the older my skin looks; second, it is hard to be motivated now when I look old no matter what I do or how much I weigh; and third, as I am finding fewer and fewer things I enjoy doing now, it is difficult for me to say No to desserts and snacks and seconds if I feel hungry. In short, my motivation to even try to look "attractive" is completely shot.
Do any of you feel this way? And if not, how do YOU stay motivated to be as attractive as you can be?
Nope, totally opposite. Not having the stress of working( which tended to cause me to eat too many unhealthy foods)has given me more time to care about my weight, appearance, clothes(I was always a bit of clothes horse). I live in a very, walkable urban area. I don't need a car so I ditched it. I walk a LOT. I feel better than I have in years. What motivates me? Life does and having the time now to enjoy it.
I've never had a weight problem-genetics more than willpower or discipline- and ,since I've had diabetes for 22 years- controlled well.so far, with diet and oral med-, I have to be reasonable, watchful about what I eat. To be honest, I've never had a struggle about controlling weight, and I do stay away from most sugar, excessive starches,alcohol only occasionally, and exercise more than I'd be inclined to do without the diabetes. Also, I've concluded that being tall (5'8") probably helps.
So, I wear the same size clothes, and similar style that I wore twenty years ago when I was 54, I do wear minimal makeup ( eyeliner, blush ) and have my blonde/gray hair streaked. I'm not ready to go entirely gray, and the S.O. as well as my late husband were not fans of all gray for me or them, either. Maybe, when I'm pushing 80,if I live that long, I'll go gray-my neighbor made the change at that age.
I see no reason to change my clothing and makeup choices or routines; it's not as if it takes more than 10 - 15 minutes to get it all together in the morning-not really a burden, as far as I'm concerned. But, it definitely is a very personal choice.
Catsy
i was diabetic but through diet and exercise i am at prediabetic levels and no meds . but i have to run 5 miles every other day to keep it this way.
i just did a worst case scenario test .
i was away for a month on an eating fest , ha ha ha . it had to be the worst eating month i had in 3 years and came home to a waiting blood test .
a1c was 6.40 . high but lower than i expected after a month away .
Last edited by mathjak107; 07-29-2017 at 07:23 AM..
I am lucky that I am tall, have good metabolism and enjoy a lot of foods that are good for me. While I don't "worry" about my weight (or much of anything anymore) I am aware of keeping it at the level at which I feel the most comfortable.
For me it's just as much about how well I feel as how I look and I don't feel my best if I gain much more than five pounds. It takes little effort to maintain my optimum weight so far.
As far as appearance sometimes I think that I look better now with a more natural look than I ever did. Seems like I don't need to do as much fussing as I used to do with myself to feel attractive.
That could be because my eyesight isn't as good as it used to be or that I've had time to work on self-acceptance and rethinking the concept of "beauty."
Now and then a new top and matching lipstick is enough to get me excited about my appearance. Or a new style of shoe. Just something different.
The rest of the time I stay comfortable in my skin. It's been a steep climb to get here and I don't want to leave worrying about how I look.
I think because my mother, who is 82, has always kept herself up, my sister and I have done so also. Even in her early 60's, my mom could turn heads when she walked into a room. I could stand to lose 10-15 pounds but I go to the gym, dress well, wear make-up when I leave the house & keep my hair in a stylish cut that doesn't scream 62 year old woman. I am never going to wear matronly clothing and I hate capris on a short woman and even living in very hot and humid Florida I will never wear them outside of my house. I still take pride in my appearance and I find it a little sad when people just give up because they retired.
I would not even go to the store without at least mascara and lipstick. And if you ever see me wearing crocs, please shoot me. In my opinion they are the ugliest shoes ever created and they just scream "I've given up". Ditto for walking around without your dentures or with missing teeth. I could never do it but I am from NYC and many of us just seem to be a little more stylish than Jane Doe from the Midwest. No insult intended, it's just the way it is, just like our different accents.
Some women just don't want to make that extra effort after a certain age, especially if they weren't that attractive to begin with (OP - I'm not saying you are unattractive), it's just something I've heard some woman say.
Diabetes runs in both sides of my family so I must concern myself with keeping my weight down so I don't wind up like my dad who died from diabetes complications.
Last edited by chiluvr1228; 07-29-2017 at 08:20 AM..
Nope, totally opposite. Not having the stress of working( which tended to cause me to eat too many unhealthy foods)has given me more time to care about my weight, appearance, clothes(I was always a bit of clothes horse). I live in a very, walkable urban area. I don't need a car so I ditched it. I walk a LOT. I feel better than I have in years. What motivates me? Life does and having the time now to enjoy it.
That's exactly like my friend who took early retirement a few years ago! He said he lost weight right away from no longer dealing with the stress, stress eating and just moving more.
He told me he used to be bloated at the end of every workday from stress. (Not sure how that works but I feel it).
Today, he looks tanned and healthy. He remarried, loves to bowl and play horseshoes, travel.
According to the calculator, I am just on the edge of needing to lose weight but am healthy as I am. My own feeling is that I need to lose 20 lbs. But I realize it may never happen. Trying to lose weight over 50, especially for a short woman (I'm less than 5' 2"), is like chipping cement. So I'll be OK with myself if I stay as I am, and I exercise regularly, so I think I look good despite being slightly zaftig.
This is good to know. According to the calculator, I only need to lose 3 pounds.
I was size 4 in college, then size 6 after the first kid. Now I'm size 8. But my youngest daughter said the size has since ballooned, 8 now is the old 10 or 12. So who knows.
Last edited by NewbieHere; 07-29-2017 at 10:16 AM..
Since I've retired, I have become increasingly more inclined to not worry about my weight as long as I FEEL good (or at least healthy). In other words, I am no longer as concerned with even trying to look good. There are three reasons for this: First, the thinner I am, the older my skin looks; second, it is hard to be motivated now when I look old no matter what I do or how much I weigh; and third, as I am finding fewer and fewer things I enjoy doing now, it is difficult for me to say No to desserts and snacks and seconds if I feel hungry. In short, my motivation to even try to look "attractive" is completely shot.
Do any of you feel this way? And if not, how do YOU stay motivated to be as attractive as you can be?
I am 63. I most certainly still care!
I watch what I eat and maintain my weight pretty well. But these days it's more for comfort & health (and medical bill control) than vanity. But I still care about my appearance. I've never been skinny, though. I'd say I'm a normal weight. I'd like to be 10 pounds less, but that would require too much sacrifice, so I settle for this weight, which is acceptable and I still get to eat some good stuff (just not all the time).
When I gain weight, I don't feel as good and am not as comfortable. To gain weight, I have to eat bad things, which affects how I feel. (I don't gain weight from eating too many apples & salads & green tea!)
I am more likely to run to the grocery store not dressed as well or with as much care in my appearance as in the past, but I still take care to dress so I don't look like a homeless person, and always wear at least a little makeup. If my roots are showing, I wear a hat.
Both my wife and i have been gym rats for more than 15 years.
We hate it but it is a way of life at this point .
My doctor says while i have exercised and dieted my drugs away running 5 miles and weight lifting odds are good i will eventually need my diabetes meds back. That is just the nature of it .
I do see my lipid profiles getting higher and higher each year as well so it reaches a point your body can not control things by itself.
But because we are working out daily i do tend to eat more of what i shouldn't with not to much of a negative effect.
My wife and i came out of the local bakery one day and ran in to some women from the gym . We each had a big eclair in our hand.
They go we can't believe you work so hard at the gym every day and eat that. We said you have it backwards . We are at the gym every days so we can eat like this every so often
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