Is it sad that I have to come to this place for advise? Funny how you retire and those people you thought were your best friends, who still work… just fall away. I joke to my wife that I have more online friends then I do in the real world, lol. (not complaining, I like it like that… keep my numbers small.)
Any-who… Most of you that know me know that I’m a 55 year old early retiree. Been gaming since the Atari 2600 console, first PC being the Radio Shack TRS80… getting off track here, I hear that’s old age. lol.
Anyway after much hounding from my wife I went and did one of those “Life Line Screenings”. (highly recommended, quick, easy and ton of health info.) So I got my results back and for a old, overweight, white dude not to bad. Almost everything was in the NORMAL range, even surprising me, I’d say 95% of the test were normal, but there were issues…l
of course my body mass index was OBESE, at 30%, normal is 18-25.
my cholesterol was good, but not the Triglycerides, they were bad.
my glucose was middle range, not good but not bad… yet. so PRE-Diabetes.
That’s it… on the negative
So my question… The result summary was that I’m obese, need to work on my cholesterol level, and cut back on sugars. smaller meals more often. So on July 1st I started a month long, strict cleaning to get myself into better habits. I’ve always exercised with weights and jogging. So I continued that… but now eating healthy is killing me, lol… seriously, I have no energy, never in the mood to do anything, just sit around watching TV. I stopped meeting friends for lunch, stopped riding my MC with my club on weekends, and pretty much got a new PC system but have no desire to play… all because of better eating habits.
Seriously I felt much better and enjoyed life when I didn’t have to watch what I eat, when, or how much… I’m at the point just saying screw it and living life like I want, enjoying it till gone, but I know I need to do something about my weight.
Any advise? People keep telling me I’ll get back to normal if I stick with the plan for a couple of months. but I’m miserable now.
Perhaps gold is in the middle. So not full-on cut-back diet but just cut back on some of the more unhealthy elements of your diet. I would suggest not cutting out entirely but cutting back on stuff with refined sugar on it (cola!) and very fatty stuff like french fries and burgers.
Your metabolism is used to a lot of “bad” food. It does not know how to handle “healthy” food, leaving you low on energy. As you yourself have found, this is no way to live. It’s unhealthy to be miserable, so don’t be as strict as that.
Try and find how much you can cut back without feeling miserable. You can’t go from 30 to 18 in a summer. You are not 18 anymore. Take time. Have patience. We silverbacks are said to be good at that.
Honestly? talk with a dietician.
You might eat what you don’t suspect.
It’s not good to lack energy- what you want to do actually IS moving more, that could even allow you to have more engaging food.
But sugar, yeah cut that ■■■■ down.
What @schurem says. Also, on the energy issue, everyone is different and this may not apply to you. But I found that I was consuming too much caffeine, which caused me to bonk in the late afternoon. A typical day was to start with a large cup of home brewed Starbucks, perhaps a mid morning coffee to keep up the intensity, a large Diet Coke with lunch, and maybe another one of those mid afternoon, because my energy was beginning to sag. By 1700, I was completely spent. Unfortunately, this went on for years.
Now back to just that good morning coffee at home and my E stays pretty good as long as I’ve had a good night’s sleep. No more diet Cokes for sure. Caffeine management is a thing.
I am experiencing a similar challenge. I had a blood test back in March that indicated high sugar levels and an inability to deal with them. I drastically changed by diet to see how far I could push myself. I went pretty far with it, more to see what I could deal with and what I could not, hoping that when the next blood test came around, I could set a good baseline for myself on how far I could go.
It is a good test to see how much you can change, but you have to be both persistent and cautious. Changing too far and you can see just how interconnected your diet, mood, happiness and energy levels are. I pushed hard for a couple of months and recently allowed myself to pull back a bit. The key, for me, is to identify what foods and activities encourage bad habits, and to keep those in check. I love sugars and sweets and for me, that is the top item I need to consciously not cheat on. If I do, only for a day or two, they start to creep back into my diet and before I know it … I am back where I was. I found a cookie that doesn’t make me want to binge on 'em and I have 1-2 a day - no cheating.
Second thing I found with energy was to try and separate how I felt from what I was actually capable of. I felt tired and lazy, eating all that greenery and rabbit food, and if I sat on a couch, I could stay there. Instead, I had to kinda yell at myself like that guy does in Full Metal Jacket to get my arse up off the couch and move. If I was moving, I wasn’t thinking. If I wasn’t thinking, I wasn’t convincing myself I was low on energy. There is a difference between feeling low in energy (which is more a factor of motivation) than actually being low on energy. I can’t run (due to shin splints) but getting on a bicycle 30 minutes to an hour after my largest meal (which was the recommendation of my doctor) was something I could do and, after a month, started to enjoy. I had to mentally turn it around from something that I had to do and make it into something that I wanted to do.
I am waiting for the results of my latest blood test, and I am trying my best to not relax or feel depressed if I was not able to turn things around 100%. This, really, is more of a mental battle than a physical one. You have to frame it well in your head, keep it positive, and keep moving. I figure that is what the Marines would do.
A big problem with health advice is the multitude of advice that’s avaliable…
I think that there are a lot if good advice out there, but few that will work for you.
What works for me is low-carb. In less than a week of little to no carbs in my diet will lead to ketosis and the metabolism will change into fat burning. Because of this the hunger sensation will fade and the desire for food and sugar is reduced.
But I can’t really recommend this to anyone, as I don’t know if it’s the right thing for them. I mean, on a metabolic level it should work for anyone with excess fat to burn, but I find it is hard to maintain a low-carb diet when eating out, which I do regularly when I’m working. It’s also a bit booring to be the one who says no to cake at birthday parties or cookies when grandma wants to have tea with you…
While it’s good to have a conversation and share experiences, this is the right advise at the end of the day.
You’ve got all your medical data and now also a specific energy issue to discuss - that will give a professional all the data they need for an initial consultation.
It’s likely to be a journey - our bodies are all different and some things work while others don’t…but a health professional will be best placed to give results.
That said, nothing wrong with a good chat about our experiences We’ve tried to reduce our meat consumption for climate reasons and while my energy levels haven’t been affected, I have definitely noticed that the energy intensity of most vegetables is much lower…I need to eat more and more often to keep going.
Similar situation. Was age-retired at 56. After a couple of years I kind of deteriorated a tad. My bad.
My philosophy now is simple: Keep Moving.
I found a good hobby that I combined with a bad one; walking and – golf! I carry my bag and I get from 8-15 miles of light ‘hiking’ in per week. I even play when I don’t really want to - I know I need to ‘get moving’. My calves are firming up but my golf game…not so much
100 push-ups every third day for the upper-body. Not a lot but it helps; when the coffee machine is going I knock out 50. When I come back to nuke it another 50. That sort of thing - not 100 straight (I’m not 22 anymore).
A hike in the hills/forest/[insert your local features here] should work too.
Around 60 I really noticed it when I missed a week - seems as you get older you must actually exercise more frequently (you loose any gains quicker). When I was 20-sum I could miss the gym for a week or two and be back to ‘even’ quickly. Not anymore.
And I cut out everything except water and the mandatory 1 cup of coffee in the morning. Cut out extra salt a long time ago. You get used to it. I semi-fast every week too; skip a meal that I might’ve eaten before just “because it was time”; eat smaller meals. Since you’re retired you have the time to “get used to it” I guess.
I guess I would say that all this is my new ‘job’?
My biggest ‘pain’ now is the ‘connective’ tissue(s); joints, ligaments. Hopefully the above keeps those parts working a little better a little longer.
Someone said once, “Getting old ain’t for sissy’s”. Yup.
Socially? Well, I realize it’s important, but…this is my most difficult challenge. I’m not a “people person”. Pretty content by myself 90% of the time. So I’m not a good example
PS: I HATE exercise. Just loath it. Thus I have to combine activities. I know people that are really into it – very regular. But, they LIKE it. Not the same, IMO.
I drink quite a lot. But other than alcohol I never, ever, drink my calories. Just water. I only eat between 1200 and 2000. I do pushups, leg-lifts and situps the instant I get out of bed. I also run and bike but have taken very extended breaks from both due to injuries and each time there was ZERO difference in my weight, look or perception of health. Eating in moderation and at the right time is everything.
A good friend of mine was a sport nutritionist among his other degrees/certs. The best advice I ever got on this topic (besides see a professional) is eat healthier. Not healthy, healthier.
If you are a bacon double cheeseburger plus size combo kinda guy (which I totally am), that does not mean getting a salad. It means getting a single bacon cheeseburger plus size combo, or maybe a double bacon cheeseburger with a regular sized combo. Eventually that healthier option turns into your normal default option. Now order healthier again, get a single bacon cheeseburger with a regular combo, do this long enough and you’ll actually be eating healthy.
To quote “You didn’t get here over night, you’re not getting out of this overnight either.” The small incremental SUSTAINABLE improvements eventually lead to a healthy lifestyle. Massive sudden changes most often lead to failure.
Yep. I am absolutely anal about time zones. Wherever I fly that’s the time I am in. I don’t even want to know the time back home. I also try (but don’t always succeed) to eat just twice within the 8 hour (12p-8p) window; and no snacking. Again, it’s anal. But I’ve seen too many of my compatriots begin to fall apart by 45.
Yeah. I would second that. In my case, I had a bit of a health shock and wanted to see how far I could go - so that I could relax back to an ‘acceptable’ level. A year before I started to try healthier choices - and the first thing I cut was cola. It was intensely hard to not order a large Coke with every meal, it was habit and I loved the taste, but once I convinced myself that water was sufficient, and I kicked the cola addiction, it made a world of difference. In the end I had to make harder choices but pushing yourself to move to healthier options is a good habit to form.
@Magnum50 ,
You are not sad. I am so glad you come to us open hearted.
I never thought we are all close in age… no 20 somethings here lol.
Im 57 in a few days. Just had my appendix removed a month ago. I’m about 10 to 15 pounds overweight. How do I feel? FANTASTIC!
I was kind of serious about trying to get healthy before. After I recovered from sur6i went ballistic.
Rule 1 Stay active… whatever that means to you. And yes, be bull headed about your diet. Whatever you do, you’ll get used to it. Then choose to treat yourself sometimes. That means 2 or 3 beers on a weekend, not a case. Plan activities. Remember that people never plan to fail, they just fail to plan.
Rule 2. Dont set yourself on fire to keep another warm. I often say, im going to bed so I can get up early. She will watch TV till 1 am. But at 5 im up and in the gym by 7. I am on my plan. She is on hers. As millennial as this sounds… “You do you”
Rule 3 Be true to yourself. I think its taking a wakeup call to make me realize this last one. I love myself more. I e. Go to bed early, skip the drinks, plan healthy meals and I stay more active.
Hope you hang in there brother.
I have advice! You can eat much more if you burn more. Burning more WILL make you feel better. You are not too old to try new things, I practice Taekwondo and we have a 68 year old lung physician who started recently.
Do what is necessary to keep your pre diabetes condition from becoming a full blown case of diabetes. It is a pain in the rear to make the adjustments necessary to deal with it at any age but in your 50’s… You will, just like I have, make those adjustments if you continue towards that end but I do hope you find what works for you so it does not get that far.
A change to diet of this magnitude is a shock to the system somewhat on the level of drug withdrawal. It’s hard and why so many can’t do it. Stick with it and you will be rewarded in ways you perhaps didn’t expect (allergies, other ailments may reduce or go away) i did this 8 years ago and never looked back.
We’ve tried to reduce our meat consumption for climate reasons and while my energy levels haven’t been affected, I have definitely noticed that the energy intensity of most vegetables is much lower…I need to eat more and more often to keep going.