So you have decided it is time to start down a healthy living path. In your 50s or 60s, getting health is vastly different than when you are younger. In our early years, the body tunes-up quickly if you can get out and exercise, or make a few diet changes. The weight seems to come right off. Unfortunately, it is not that easy as we age—our metabolism slows, and we lose muscle, which makes it more and more challenging to get in shape.
Define your healthy living plan
What does healthy mean as we get older? Oddly enough, from a blood statistics perspective, it is essentially the same as when we were young, low cholesterol, low blood pressure, low blood sugar, etc., but to get the numbers where we want them is much more difficult. Not impossible, but more challenging.
Healthy from a weight and muscle tone perspective is different for someone older. While I am sure doctors would tell you, it is the same as a young person; it’s not. It does make sense to hit those same weight targets for your height or BMI numbers everyone talks about; it is just not as easy to drop the weight and rebuild muscle.
Lifestyle changes
If you have made it to this point in life and still need to get healthy, don’t feel alone. There are plenty of people in the same spot. An important thing to realize, as you begin down the path to good health, is that diets don’t work long term. You have to make lifestyle changes. Yes, you can lose weight on any diet, but it will inevitably come back unless you make permanent lifestyle changes to your the way you eat. What I am finally learning is to make small changes that I can sustain for the rest of my life.
One change I made was to eliminate soda from my daily diet. I was a big diet coke drinker until about a year ago when I read an article saying that diet coke causes memory loss, and of course, it can cause acid reflux. Have you seen what coke can do to battery acid? I decided then to make a change. Over the next few months, I transitioned to regular coke, then clear sodas, then carbonated water, and finally to just water. Water is all I drink now. I was never a big water drinker, so it was tough, but oddly enough, once you begin drinking water, you seem to crave it. Which is a good thing, right? Your body needs water to function correctly.
You don’t have to do what I did to begin your healthy living journey, but for me, making the changes slowly worked. Some people prefer to stop bad habits by going cold turkey, others prefer a transition. Do whatever works best for you to make long term changes.
Start slow with exercise
Physically moving is essential to your overall health and mental wellness. However, exercise can be hard to restart, especially if you have issues caused by being unhealthy, so take it slowly and one step at a time. If you have arthritis in your knees or other joints that make walking difficult, look for alternative methods of exercise. Bicycling or ellipticals are easy on the joints and can be done at home if you prefer it, but don’t give up on walking either. I read another article recently that said walking when you have arthritis helps the joints. The action of walking helps the joint fluid to work better, which lubricates the joint. The more frequently you walk, the more improvement you will see.
Weight training is key to healthy living especially as you age. It is known to increase bone density and decrease the risk of osteoporosis. Weight training will help you gain back that muscle you lost through inactivity or the natural aging process and will help you lose weight. More muscle burns more calories, so keep going, and you will see improvements. Keep in mind that you do not have to go to a gym if you don’t want to, there are plenty of helpful videos on the internet to assist you in beginning a program to get healthy again.
As you start to make lifestyle changes and improve your overall health, be sure to check in with your doctor. It is a good idea to get a baseline of where you are now, so you can see the improvements as you get healthier. I have Type 2 diabetes and have been tracking my blood sugar as I have started an exercise program. Recently, I’ve focused on losing weight and walking and have seen my blood sugar drop from a morning measurement of 180 or so to about 130. That is huge! It has been years since I have seen the 130’s.
Love yourself
Lastly, be kind to yourself. Set some goals for yourself, but do not be overly aggressive at first. It has taken a while for you to get older, so give yourself some time to build a healthy living lifestyle and to feel younger again. Celebrate the milestones along the way and be forgiving. If you do not lose weight one week, you will likely lose some the following week. Remember, you are making positive lifestyle changes that will improve your health now and in the future.
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