My weight has stayed the same as it has been for years to this point, within 2 pounds plus or minus. But I know my waistline has expanded and I have lost muscle that has slacked to flab since my gym closed in April and most of my usual outing partners isolated themselves.
No excuse for my deterioration – I had a floor exercise and isometric routine I could have kept up at home. This is why I have always maintained a gym membership – creates the routine and space to maintain discipline about fitness. Too easy to find excuses and be distracted at home. The gym re-opened 2 months ago, but when I tentatively stopped in to check on protocols I noted masks were “optional” while working out and the exercise areas were pretty crowded with huffing and puffing mostly bared faces and sweat flying. And no way would I touch that dressing room. Turned around and walked out.
I am not eating as much as during my “normal” routine, largely from boredom with cooking and solo eating and usually doing smaller portions anyway at home rather than the family-sized vats that restaurants served when I was eating out with friends. I am strictly a social drinker too, which means that beer and wine in my fridge has languished since the last time I had friends over during the Winter. Being buzzed alone does not appeal.
I have avoided baking (which used to be a brief respite from boredom or loneliness) and have lost interest in sweet baked goods anyway. Probably eating more fruit and salads than I did before just because such foods create fewer dirty pots and pans and I am mightily sick of cleaning the kitchen. And sometimes I only eat once a day, more often only twice (with fruit in between). Fresh local berries and peaches have been a great source of comfort lately and I will miss them.
Honestly I am more concerned with loss of stamina, strength and flexibility than I am appearance. Vanity is increasingly futile – women of my age are pretty much invisible anyway.
Actually, I have become somewhat less invisible since I started dying my hair bright teal blue when it began to come in silvery white about a year ago. I did it to amuse myself but I now get complimentary comments on my pigmented pelt volunteered by strangers virtually every time I am in public, even from teenagers and guys less than half my age. I have even apparently inspired a number of other folks within my orbit to let their own freak flag fly. My next door neighbor sports bright pink tresses now, a fellow geezer whose path crosses mine regularly during fitness walks smiled and tipped his baseball hat a couple of weeks ago revealing that his greyed locks are now ombre purple and my favorite clerk at the local post office (who must be in her 50’s) has gorgeous layers of jewel tones worthy of a rain forest parrot.
With our faces and expressions obscured by masks, perhaps we need to rely on our topknots now to express our personalities. If anyone is considering an experiment, stick with one of the L’Oreal Colorista temporary bright colors (around $10) — one step non-bleach 30 minute goop application, then rinse (does not smell funny, burn your scalp or damage your hair). They now offer a companion shampoo that will wash it out immediately if you regret the outcome. Otherwise the color fades with each normal washing for several weeks, from vivid to pastel to just a hint.
I have become so attached to being a “blue-haired little old lady” that I have started hoarding stock of the hair color against the trend subsiding.
Primarily because I of my height, I have many natural tattoos(scars) from mishaps supplemented by the small ones from visits to the dermatologist. And a surgery.
Well, I’m down about 15 lbs from where I was last winter. I was feeling OK about that provided it keeps going.
Then a while ago I went through my wallet looking for the business card of someone I hadn’t been in contact with for ages. Along the way I found an old driver’s license. It said I was 6’4" and 165 lbs. My current one says 6’ and 210. Am I even still the same person? Feels like it, but empirical evidence says otherwise. Sigh… but I can still throw a 70 lb canoe on my back with some degree of grace - there are slimmer folks who have trouble, or are unwilling, to do that. I guess I’ll take what small comfort there is in that. And load up for paddling tomorrow morning.
Isn’t that posture a little forward with neck and head hunched down like a mild hunch back? Maybe there’s the 4". Plus the weight is just anchoring the height down.
I don’t know how old that license is but you need to clean out the wallet more often.
Well, I did shrink 4", at least according to the DMV measures, and I can still pick up and load my Grumman 17 std. Those are both facts and I mean to say I find that surprising myself.
I did a lot of physical labor for many years. I think it took a toll on my disks. Still I’m pretty flexible (more so in my lower than upper back), not permanently hunched, in pretty good shape - better than many my age who spent a lot of time behind desks.
The old license was from about 1980 (I was too skinny then and couldn’t gain a pound to save my soul.) and its true, I should clean my wallet out more often. That would be what a normal person would do. I suppose I should impersonate one at least once every couple decades. But if I had I wouldn’t have found that business card I was looking for…
The weight is what bothers me, though, and what probably poses the greater overall health threat, as is the case for many of us here, I’d assume.
Nice little paddle with grandma and grandson today. Life is good.
After I retired 18 years ago, I decided to change my eating habits and a few other things. I wasn’t overweight, but I thought since I wasn’t working, I wouldn’t need as much fuel. I also wanted to change a few other things. I was advised by my dental hygienist to brush and floss after every meal. That isn’t always convenient, so I decided to only eat breakfast and dinner and absolutely no snacks in between.
Well, my weight came down a few pounds and then leveled off for years. My doctor said your weight is fine, but don’t lose any more–period. My wife had some medical issues and ended up in the hospital for awhile. To some extent I was forced to fend for myself, but relatives and fast food joints sort of took over and kept me fed. Just the same, the weight came down a few pounds.
Finally, my wife was back home and cooking again. I had lost about 15 pounds. Lately I have gained back about 3 pounds and that seems to be about it if I stick with my two meals a day.
In my wife’s absence, I had increased my paddling and bike riding, but now she only lets me go paddling about twice a week. Just to make things go sideways, Mother Nature decided to intervene; now we can’t go outside, because of smoke from wildfires. Yesterday and today are two days that I should be paddling. The news says our air is too smoky and it’s best to stay indoors. So here I sit staring at this screen and exercising my fingers.
Oh goodie, the smoke is supposed to go away maybe tomorrow. But then it’s supposed to cloud up and rain in a couple of days.
Here’s a strange thing that I just don’t understand. My wife and I were digging around in one of the closets and found my old Air Force uniform. I don’t know why, but I decided to try it on. It was way too tight and was impossible to button up. The weird part is that when I got out of the Air Force, I weighed exactly 211 pounds and not an ounce of it was fat. I was a body builder and worked very hard at it. Now I am down 46 pounds from what I was at 22 years old (55 years ago). What happened? The uniform should be loose and baggy, but I can barely squeeze into it in the shoulder area and the buttons are three inches short of the button holes.
We lose both bone and flesh density as we age. I worked full time as an industrial construction electrician through my 30’s and weighed back then what I do now but was two full sizes smaller (27" waist is now 33"). My BMI was probably under 18 back then and now I struggle to keep it out of the low end of “overweight” (25 - 26).
Much as we can try to stay in shape when we no longer have to be active for work, the effects of a few hours of exercise, however intense, several days a week will never penetrate and streamline our structure like 8 to 10 hours of continual weight-bearing effort 5 days a week. Plus our metabolisms just can’t be revved like they used to no matter what we do – the hormones just aren’t there. Ah, the “fluffiness” of old age.