over 55 and in shape?

[mizach]

I am almost in the same age group! Am on vacation now and love, love, love to hike. So I made a pact to myself to keep on with healthy habits so I can hike for a long, long time. Time to work on my legs and have some hiker's thighs, knees and calves and hopefully a healthy heart as well .
When I eat, I think "time to nourish my body". That works most of the time. Until I see ice cream hahaha. It's a good thing I indulge on ice cream on vacation days and not on a daily basis.
When I get back, I plan to try Sweat on Demand since DH and DS are going to buy mountain bikes when we get back. They loved biking with my older son when we visited him in Newport.
Sorry for rambling.

[Demeris]

What a great thread. I turned 57 in March, and I'm very pleased with my level of activity and my ability to move.

Yesterday I started the morning with Sahra in Stretch in Motion. I taught a class for 3 hours, came back to the apartment where I'm staying and did a 3 mile Leslie walk.

This AM, I'm about to get off the couch and do Leah's Lower Body.

When I look at my aunts on both my mom's and my dad's sides of the family and their health at my age, I'm unbelievably grateful for my health, for my mobility, my flexibility, my cardio-vascular ability--I'm grateful to be living in an era where so many opportunities for healthful movement abound.

[Sollamyn]

Hi, I'm 55. I'm not overweight but I lost about 15 pounds last fall and I would, ideally, like to lose 5-10 more pounds. However, I'm not unhappy at my current weight/size. I'm in the normal range, at least.

I walk quite a bit, always take the stairs when I have the opportunity and I strive for 10,000 steps a day, although I don't always achieve it. I also do physical therapy exercises on a regular basis for my knees and lower back (lots of core work and leg work), plus 15-20 minutes of daily stretching. My biggest weakness right now is my upper body. I have shoulder and elbow issues which are uncomfortable when doing most upper body exercises. I may just have to resort to using very light weights and giving up on pushups altogether. It is disappointing, but better than doing nothing, right? Oh, and I do my own lawn/yard work and housework. I know people who hire out for those types of tasks, but not me!

DVDs: Mostly Jessica Smith, Chris Freytag, and Kathy Smith, plus yoga by various instructors.

Donna

[momof10]

Well, I am 58 for a little while longer and yes, where did the last 10 years go????getting old wasn't suppose to happen to us just to our parents. LOL

I am like Debbie in that I am a hardcore exerciser who loves a challenge and love to work up a sweat. I also have no dread factor with the workouts that I do. Currently I am doing Tonique, TRX, Spinning, HoCo, Yin, Ballet Body, kickboxing on rebounder, Buti. I work out every day of the week, except if I am really sick, so I do miss a couple days a year. I hope to keep this active indefinitely.

Cheryl

[yogapam]

I will be 57 in October and want to stay in shape. I recently retired after working with the elderly for many years. I have seen the results of not staying active and not taking care of oneself, and often it's not pretty!

My tastes are eclectic to say the least! My first love is yoga and right now it's primarily long reclined stretching & yin, although I have done my share of power yoga and dabbled in kundalini. I taught hatha yoga for two years. I am finishing up month 2 of Drop 2 Sizes and I am enjoying doing strength work with weights which is something I haven't done much of in the past (although I did do 2 months of P90X last year). I am bit of a cardio junkie and I love outdoor walks especially at this time of year. I also like to freestyle rebound while I watch tv, I do low to moderated impact aerobics, step, and so on. I used to run and I loved it but injuries sidelined me. I just started running short intervals again with my outdoor walks and am hoping to make it part of my regular regime again, fingers crossed! I am wating for PiYo to arrive and plan to incorporate it in with my last month of D2S.

[Debbir]

I'm 57 and after 3 very rough personal years am back on the bandwagon-joined a 90 day fitness challenge and have been doing Les Mills COmbat and Chalean Extreme for weights-not bad for 57 My goal is to get in the best shape of my life given constraints of wonky knees and not great wrists. But I am bringing it! Great thread!!

[bee]

Thanks for being awesome, inspiring women! I am 52, so am watching this thread with great interest as it is my very near future. :-) I have "always" worked out in some way and been active, but have had to scale back a bit in the last year -- still, trying to maintain consistency with something enjoyable, and it's a rare day that I don't get in at least 10,000 steps just going about my normal life. Love reading your posts, friends!

[Marylandmom]

Thanks ladies for such great and encouraging post. I'll be turning 50 on Monday and these posts encourage me to keep fighting the good fight with my exercise and nutrition.

Paula

[Pat58]

Originally Posted by cherimac

I'm 49 and love this encouraging thread. My routine is a mix of Joni's and Carol's, so that's encouraging. I just wanted to tell Pat not to be so hard on yourself. You look beautiful.

Aw {{{Cheri}}} thank you.

Mizach's post reminded me that I also love to hike and trail walk - being outdoors keeps those aging stress levels down for me.

What a great thread - keep up the good work! I hope we are all posting together for many years to come!

[mandie123]

59 here,but wasn't I just 20 yesterday lol. I try to do at least an hour of some type of workout 6 days a week.Have had Chronic Lyme disease for a few years now which has had an impact on my workouts.Was doing mostly walking and barre type rotations,but just joined a small gym where I go for PT.Really enjoying it,adding more strength and they offer great yoga classes.One of the best things I ever did was to start working out at a very young age(14),as it is such a habit for me now,and think it has helped me thru all the illness etc.