Old Guys Losing Weight -- What's Your Experience?

[redietz]

The horror that is the "What Have We Learned" thread under "Las Vegas" at least generated something useful: we discovered that both Rob and Arci, who I suspect are in their 60's, are managing weight by walking. Rob walks four miles a day with his wife; arci walks about the same playing golf four to five times a week. After my weight peaked at an ugly 188, I finally got the jogging up to about three miles a day. What I have found is that getting in better shape is easy, but actually losing pounds is hard. It's gotten better in the last week or so, but only after I reached the point where I could handle a three mile plus jog -- down to 180 with a target of 172 or thereabouts, which I want to reach by the end of June.

Alan looks fit as a fiddle.

So old guys -- any tips on how to cut weight? Did low levels of exercise work, or are you like me, having to reach a certain level before anything happened? Did you work out once a day, twice, or did you do really hard stuff every other day?

[Alan Mendelson]

Well, I'm sixty and anything but fit as a fiddle. I do walk about a mile a day -- usually to the post office and that round trip is 1.1 miles. There is another thread with my new year resolution about losing weight, and I have a lot of losing to do to keep it. In my case, it's on doctor's orders to keep me post-transplant healthy.

redietz one thing you will discover is that as you build muscle it is harder to lose weight -- because as you add muscle you are adding "good weight."

My running days are over and I have to avoid "shocks" because my eyes are now sensitive for possible internal bleeding, so walking and some low weights are in order -- I have to avoid straining which can trigger a bleed.

But the key to weight loss is eating. Fortunately I have an active job -- I rarely sit in one place for very long, except if its the car driving to a shoot.

An interesting article I read years ago is how keeping your weight UP as you get older is actually an indication of living longer. This is not about obesity, but about the problem that elderly people have keeping a healthy diet. And if they lose too much weight from not eating enough they risk illness and deterioration. I tried to find the article on web but didn't.

[redietz]

So you've got to avoid all shocks and such -- and jogging does create a lot of internal banging. Wow -- I know I've been warned about retinal detachment and damage as we get older from bumping as simple as jogging. Well, good luck, Alan, with keeping weight down as per your doctor's orders.

Your answer served an interesting purpose for me today. Gym is closed, so jogging must be outside today, and it's 85 degrees. I just remembered the MS literature saying temperature and body temp trigger MS episodes. Well, I have not been diagnosed with MS, but with my family history (mom, uncle, aunt), I should probably not jog until things cool down. No sense tempting fate in case I have some underlying sub-symptomatic issue.

[Alan Mendelson]

redietz, about ten years ago I had a treatment for a "tearing retina" which wasn't quite detached. It involved laser treatments which, as I understand it, caused scar tissue to build up which prevented the retina from actually tearing. This might have been the result of several things inclluding my running, my years playing basketball and tennis, plus my earliy years boxing. Yes, I was a boxer as a teenager -- never won a fight but I clearly remember when a punch by Sammy K. came straight at my face and knocked me out, even though we wore head gear as teens. Another possible explanation for the tearing retina was that I used a magnifying glass a lot to examine rare coins that I collected and the strain did its damage. I gave up the hobby shortly afterwards and I will not touch a magnifying glass now.

My mother died of MS. What we found out is that it is not hereditary. I remember the first time my mother lost her balance and fell -- the early sign of the disease. It was in 1970 and she was 41 years old. She died in 2001. Unfortunately she never tried to fight it and let herself go. Today there are medicines and treatments.

[redietz]

The causes of MS are still being debated. A genetic element is still plausible, but it's not simple or clear-cut. MS is worse in the northeastern parts of the country, which suggests it may correlate with (1) ethnic genetics, (2) sunlight exposure or lack thereof, (3) dietary elements, again with ethnic roots, or (4) toxins more severe in the northeastern environments.

Our family was so unusual that we had a team of Ivy League researchers come down to survey us as part of their data base.

My mother contracted the disease in her late 30's, and it was around 1973-74 when it started. She lasted a long time, including 10 years plus as a quadraplegic. My aunt and uncle had similar tracks.

What I learned, and what scared me, is that late onset MS is generally worse. If you begin showing symptoms late in life -- 50's on -- the disease is usually more severe and progresses faster.

[Rob.Singer]

I've always been a runner but once I hit 60 that was over. Now it's walk walk walk. My high school graduation weight was 180 and now I'm 205, so the running and walking has really helped. Cindy gained a bit of course after our two children, but she's been losing from all the walking since we began this RV life.

But I think just as important is what one eats. I've always been a stickler for eating very little fat or cholesterol, although no one else in my family much cares about it. But I am also the healthiest one of the bunch, once age is accounted for. I also know the good run will end soon enough, which is why I try to stay active while I can.

[Alan Mendelson]

I'm sorry to say that my eyes have worsened with more blood leaking from weakened blood vessels and yesterday I started a round of laser treatments in both eyes. Luckily I caught it in time and the treatments will be routine and my vision will be saved. The danger is if you have "floaters" in your eyes that you ignore. This can indicate bleeding inside the eye which can cause blindness as well as indicate other problems. A few months ago my right eye started to have a large number of floaters and then my eye filled up from a big bleed -- and then last week I got a bleed in my left eye. I had the appropriate angiograms to find the problem spots inside my eyes.

Fortunately this is an "easy course of treatment" and is really nothing more than sitting in a chair while your eyes are zapped with bright lights from what you might think resemble nuclear explosions. But 20 minutes later you get into your car and drive away. Better this way than to risk the damage increasing and having to undergo surgery.