How is weight loss for people over 50?

[leedorr 0]

Debi

Hi I read your post and had to tell you about me. I was banded July 24, 2006.I was 311 # at surgery. 10 months later I weighed in at 211#! I am 59 years old. I was beginnign with diabetes, cingestive heart failure, arthritis and had alread bilateral knee replacements. At my highest I was 378#. I lost about 10 pounds a month, I followed the Dr. orders exactly food wise and exercixed as I was able. Now I have a personal trainer 2x a week for weight training and do cardio 3x a week. I had a slow down and due to my own stress stuff fell off the wagon so to speak. Now I am back to eating well and caring for myslef. I went from a size 3x to a 14 ladies. I still have trouble believing I can fit into these clothes! lol You can lose as slow or as fast as you want by eating Protein first veggies second and exercising as you are able. The wonderful part of this is you will become more healthy each day and stronger! God bless you and good luck with all your test!

[ckbw 0]

Hi Everyone,

I've been reading all your replies and feel so old. I'm not sure about this surgery for me. I have a date set for July 16. I had not heard of this lapband surgery until last year on TV and started reseaching it and I'm just getting older and older. Don't know if I'm wasting my money or not but I guess if I am it won't be the first I've wasted and certainly won't be the last. Maybe I can live the rest of my life not so heavy and feel like i look as good as anyone else my age. (Hopefully).

I've not posted much and am not too savvy on this sort of thing but will do my best and thanks to all of you for your support.

Carolyn

[marywalker20 0]

Wow Carolyn, I would think that age would be all the more reason to get it done. I am 52 and still have a lot of living to do, and so do you! Losing weight will give you a new lease on life and might even lengthen your life if you change to a healthier lifestyle. Women over 50 need an extra boost when it comes to losing weight and I am not ashamed to admit that I can't do it on my own. And I am betting that this lap band is the answer to my prayers. I know I am going to have to follow the doctors rules to the letter, and hold myself accountable every day. But I am willing to give it my all.

I have a niece that had the lap band put on last year and has lost 120 pounds and looks great! She is healthier, has more self esteem, and has doubled her energy levels.

Do it for yourself!

[leedorr 0]

Carolyn

I ditto what Marywalker 20 has said. You can reaad my reply before hers. I certainly would encourage you. It is never too late. I understadn that "60" is the new 40 so that must mean that "70" is the new 50! lol It will work! Blessings

[ckbw 0]

Thank you Mary, it seems everyone on these forum is so young and maybe I'm just getting cold feet but am still scheduled for the 16th. You have inspired me, thanks

[green 6]

Karey - Thanks for the Diet Power recommendation. I set it up this afternoon and think I will really enjoy using this site.

Green - I am not looking forward to aging quickly!! Did you lose a lot of weight quickly or is this something that will happen to all of us? Share more info, please!

I lost 41 lbs since last Sept and now fit into size 10 pants (down from size 18W) and my BMI is now normal but my face now looks like that of a woman getting close to 60. It used to be that when I mentioned my age people would utter little noises of surprise and then tell me that I look ten years younger; now they just nod and don't say anything. I don't know if this will happen to other older women, though.

[Devana 0]

Carolyn, congratulations on your surgery date. Keep us posted. Also remember that it's not uncommon for people to have serious doubts as surgery approaches.

Green, I hope your birthday went well. Remember, scotch can also be used as a preservative, so "bathing" in it perhaps can counteract some of the effects of having looser skin. Just a thought....

As for me, I'm nursing a sore nose after a bizarre accident yesterday. Though my staff is responsible for keeping the office clean, if I see something that needs a little attention I'll usually look after it if it only takes a minute or so. I was in the loo and noticed that the rim on the toilet need a wipe. It actually needed a bit of a rub and I gave it a squirt of our air freshener to moisten it, so I had the bottle in one hand and my tissue in the other when my glasses began to slip off my head and into the toilet. My instinctive grab at them resulted in me cramming one arm of the glasses up one of my nostrils. Holy crap. I was writhing in a fetal position for about 5 minutes before I could even stand.

Knucklehead.

[green 6]

LOL Devana, that is some kind of bizarre accident! As for me, I bathed in scotch on the eve of my 58th birthday in order to leave myself feeling numb for the day. The day of my birthday I saw my psychotherapist. She had suggested changing the appt in order to leave the day free but I said that I couldn't think of a more appropriate day to spend complaining about my childhood, yadda, yadda.... She wished me Happy B'day and I told her I was going to go shopping and drown my sorrows in fabric. And this is what I did.

Shopping these days is quite a strange experience for me. I am officially normoloid size, thinnish even, but I still feel like a big grrl. This means I have a very hard time figuring out what to try on and I often freak out the saleshelp with my requests for very large sizes. And I still do like baggy clothes; they are more comfortable, eh.

As for looking my age, I don't have any loose skin, a good thing, but what has happened is that I now look kinda stringy and tendony,...you know, like one those skinny old gals. Ugh!

One last comment concerning my weight loss: everyone has been giving me huge compliments on it except my ma-in-law who told me that I could stand to lose another 10 to 15 lbs. Jeez! If I lose much more I will be looking like an old crack whore. Double ugh! The ma-in-law also told me that I should be wearing much tighter clothes in order to show off my new figure. Whatever....

[Devana 0]

I guess some people always find the negative, hey? As for myself, I'm still not yet at the point where I can shop in a regular size store. As a matter of fact, I shouldn't shop at all, I just need to keep digging out all those bags of clothes I put away a few years ago. However, I still compelled to make the odd jaunt to Antels.

[green 6]

Yep, my ma-in-law is pretty talented at finding the clouds around the silver lining. haha Sometimes I am entertained by this and sometimes this drives me nuts. It all depends upon my own frame of mind and how much exposure I am receiving from the in-laws. I always require a lot of downtime and they are labour intensive.

This means that spending time at the cottage with them can spell trouble for me. Though she can be truly kind she is also very vain and entirely self-absorbed, a narcissistic personality type. She was a great beauty and a gifted athlete when she was younger. She was used to being the centre of attention for most of her life and she also places great value on physical perfection. I have never, ever been remotely athletic; I was an artsy, klutzy kid. And as for my looks, although I have had tons of fun, my looks are more in the way of an acquired taste, eh. On the other hand I am much brighter than she is and she is in the way of being a brains groupie, and so she is awfully fond of me for that. In fact she went through a period of being most anxious that I provide her with a brainy grandchild!

This strange attitude results in all our contacts containing a weird mixture of love and poison. Her comments concerning my weight loss are characteristic of her way of relating to me. She can be quite nasty at times. Of course the fact that I am 9 years older than my husband doesn't help. Nor does the fact that I am a divorcee and that we are living common-law. But to give her credit she is inclined to treat everyone the same.

[theshank 0]

I hear your concern. I am 65 almost 66. I had the band surgery on May 29. So far I have lost 40 pounds - 31 since the surgery. My highest weight wa 349 so I would optimally like to lose 200 pounds but that becomes overhwleming when I think about it. So I am opting for a little each time I weigh myself.

I also had to have the nuclear stress test - I have wrecked knees and can't do the treadmill. It was very simple and uneventful. Nothing painful - a couple of injections and a scan. Hope it works well for you.

I couldn's encourage this surgery enough. I have tried every weight loss program available - my last was weight watchers early this year. The whole thing became so overwhelming for me. My PCP suggested this and I jumped right on it. Best thing I have ever done for myself. Not one regret. Good luck

[Devana 0]

Theshank...welcome and congratulations on your weight loss so far. I wish this was available years ago.

Green, I really lucked out with my MIL. We just have the weird love mixture without the poison.

[phyllser 3]

Just thought I'd jump in on the age discussion. I'm 63... 64 in Nov. I wish I'd done this a log time ago, but jusy happy that it's available to me now and that I was able to persuade my husband that it's the right thing to do.

My surgery is two weeks from today. I've already had my blood work done and my consult with the dietician. She gave me all the post=op diet instructions so I need to make a shopping list. I was pleasantly surprised that the first two weeks are full liquid as opposed to clear liquid, so I can have things like runny cream of wheat , creamed Soups, etc. 1/2 cup at a time 6 times a day. then on to "mushies".

Monday I see anesthesia and then my pre-op appt with the surgeon. SO...... I AM READY TO GO!!!

:confused:

[sunshine6855 0]

I am 52 and having my surg on 7/26. Hi Phyl. I too wish this surgery had been available years ago. I have been researching WLS for years but could never bring myself to have the gastric bypass (risks, re-routing insides too scary), but when I heard of this I thought "This is it". It is so good to see positive results from those over 50.

BTW, it is hard to find this thread sometimes. Is there anyway I can mark it so I can get to it easily when I sign on.

[phyllser 3]

I am 52 and having my surg on 7/26. Hi Phyl. I too wish this surgery had been available years ago. I have been researching WLS for years but could never bring myself to have the gastric bypass (risks, re-routing insides too scary), but when I heard of this I thought "This is it". It is so good to see positive results from those over 50.

BTW, it is hard to find this thread sometimes. Is there anyway I can mark it so I can get to it easily when I sign on.

SUNNY,

You can mark your favorite threads by going to "Thread Tools" at the top of the page and choose "Subscribe to this thread". Then when you come back to the site you choose "Quick Links" and then "Subscribed Threads" and the page that pops up lists all your threads.

So you think you might go visit Marcy in AK and check out some of those "law wnforcement" dudes she mentioned?? :confused: