As We Age....A Series in Who Knows How Many Parts Because I've Got A Lot of Issues (Part 1)

I am 55. At least that's what the calendar and my math told me on September 13th. And don't think I didn't double check my math! I still can't believe it. How did I get so old??

My mind thinks I'm 21 but my joints are telling me otherwise.

And now the doctors are telling me too.

It all began when I turned 50.  Literally 3 months after turning 50 in 2019, I was down on the floor watering the Christmas tree when I couldn't just get up.  It's like my knees mysteriously decided they were done.  I had to use my hands to push myself up off the ground and it's been that way ever since.

That's exactly the same time that I started (also mysteriously) gaining weight. Literally nothing changed in my diet or my exercise but every morning when I would weigh, the number on the scale would be slightly higher than the day before.  I blamed covid, I blamed perimenopause , I blamed myself for not being "better".  But now, I believe it's just aging(so also maybe perimenopause because being in perimenoapause means you are getting old).

How do I know it's aging that was causing the weight gain?  Because when I asked my gynecologist about it I got a speech that started with "As we age...."  Basically saying you are getting old and there's nothing you can do about it.  I saw this doctor (a male) and got this speech year after year so I switched gynecologists.  I found a nice woman and thought she might be more helpful.  After I described my symptoms and complaints, she started with "As we age...."  and I got the same speech. Again it was just you are getting old and you have to deal with it.

So, for 4 years, I kept gaining weight even though I was trying different things.  Different diets, different exercises.  No diet.  I even tried less exercise and more calories because a lot of things I was reading about  weight gain as we age said that I wasn't eating enough and that I was exercising too much. And still, nothing happened EXCEPT that I continued to gain weight. 

Fast forward to February of this year.  I decided enough was enough.  I was officially in menopause so even though I was old and aged, I was going to do what I've done before to lose weight.  I was going to limit my carb intake.  

In February, I was a whopping 35 pounds over my actual weight in the spring of 2019. That's the equivalence of a pregnancy weight gain without the joy of a baby at the end.

I started limiting my carb intake to under 20 per day.  This meant I cut out sweets, adult beverages, potatoes, rice, bread.  All the things that make life delicious.  But it was worth it.  By July, I had lost 23 pounds.  Since then, I've added back in a couple of adult beverages on the weekend and also some other tasty weekend carbs and I've maintained by 23 pound loss.  

I have decided that my goal through the end of the year is to maintain my current weight loss and then start back up in full force in January to see if I can get these last 12 to 15 pounds off.  It's going to be hard but I think I can do it!

I'm feeling better about myself and in general, just feeling better.  My knees still don't work though but that's just because, as we age...

This was June of 2019 when I was feeling good and looking good!  No clue of what was yet to come.  This was 3 months before I turned 50.

This was October 2022.  Who is this woman?  I don't recognize her.  

This was last month.  It's a definite improvement and I'm feeling so much better in my own skin these days.  We'll see if I can drop some more pounds next year.  But if I can't, I'm perfectly happy at this weight and hope I can maintain it. 

This is part one in a series of all of my aging woes. So if you want to hear me complain more about my old body, stick around!  :)