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I regularly went to the gym when I was working and even in retirement I continued at least twice a week.
But now
I have even stopped going to the walking group.
I really feel I need to kick start myself but have no motivation.
I am not totally sedentary I garden and have a good walking pace when out but after reading we loose 1% of our muscle mass per year after 50 it's got me worried.
I don't drink milk or eat cheese so am also concerned about my bone density.
Should I take a calcium supplement or not?
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Thanks everyone for your comments.
I do take vitamin D, B12 (I eat very little meat) Omega 3 and Glucosamine.
Someone suggested speaking to my GP which I will with regard to the calcium supplement.
I do eat a healthy diet mainly Pescatarian but because of having high cholesterol I have to watch what I eat so no cheese. I am never quite sure if I get enough calcium in my diet not knowing the amounts you get from food or the amount I need.
One of the reasons I wanted to start strength exercise in the gym was to prevent osteoporosis.
One week in now and I'm into a routine and have to say I feel so much better in myself than I did.
I received a booklet today on the free health walks in our area so I am going to try and fit at least one walk in a week.
Total respect to all the contributors here but my initial feeling is that most of them are too ambitious and involved if your current problem is a total lack of motivation. I'm heavy on little and often at first. Ten minutes at first is okay. Walk to the shops, bus, cinema etc at all times. I'm making assumptions here that you perhaps drive and have local facilities. I'm fortunate enough to have a beautiful riverside walk nearby but it took me ages even to get over the threshold. At first I did short visits and now I do a daily hour circuit. See something different every day, meet the regular dog walkers etc and yet I still sometimes dilly dally about getting over the doorstep. I'm basically@ trying to encourage you to start small. Yep, even resort to a remonstrating spell with yourself if need be. I've found it well worthwhile and hope it proves the same for you. Good luck!
If you never eat any dairy food it can be more difficult to get enough calcium. Depending how worried you are about your bones you could ask for a DEXA scan. Calcium with Vitamin D might be good but a chat with GP first, everything has possible side affects.
I did a gym session first time for must be 3 years and I really felt I was helping these old bones of mine.
I wanted to do weights for prevention of osteoporosis mainly.
Anyhow I am motivated at the moment so have every intention of trying to start walking with a local walking group.
I enjoyed reading all you comments on how you are taking care of yourself.
GabriellaG I had a thorough check-up at the doctor's recently. All my blood results were fine, but my Vitamin D level was a little low. The doctor said that a large proportion of people he checks have a Vit D deficiency, even those who spend quite a lot of time outdoors. He recommended a one-a-day D supplement, and I am to have a re-test after 8 weeks.
I began to have pain in my hip and knee this year, which has prompted me to finally get going on losing some weight. Just by cutting out cake, biscuits, crisps etc (all the things I love most, unfortunately) i have taken off 16lbs in 9 weeks. I need to lose at least as much again though. I take part in an indoor kurling session each week, and have started going to tai chi. I find it difficult to motivate myself to exercise, and colder weather gives me the excuse to curl up with a good book. I am determined to take a lot of the strain off my dodgy joints, though. My daughter gets married in 12 months, too, which is an added incentive. She wants me to walk her down the aisle.
My 'ideal' weight, according to the charts. is between 7 and 8 1/2 stones! Too much to hope for, I think, but I'm down to 10 1/2. I just have to try to keep motivated. Wish me luck!
Pilates or yoga are gentle but good for fitness with causing friction on your joints.
I.Have recently started playing rounders in a league something i.haven't done in 40 years, I'm 56 but there is another lady who is over 60 and is a very good player.
Find something you enjoy and it will be easier. Our council are doing lots of get women into sport and even have guided bike rides with bikes to borrow. Check out your local sports centre.
I there a friend or.relative who would go along with you, makes.it easier to keep up with it if you are meeting someone, and maybe go for a coffee or tea after to make it more social.
Good luck. Xa
LIZZYPOPBOTTLE my dad did exactly the same thing with untied laces and ended up with a broken hip and total replacement!
My local authority charges £10 a month for over 60s which includes swimming and all sorts of classes at 6 different centres. When I joined the receptionist told me it covered everything except the climbing wall!
I walk the puppies 1 1/2 km each week day and a 3 km each weekend day. I rejoined gym on Monday after an absence of almost a year. I am going to do 45 mins in gym and 1/2 mile swim on Monday and Friday and a 1/2 mile swim, steam room, sauna and jacuzzi and sometimes a treatment as well on a Wednesday. I have recently lost a stone in weight so now I need to tone up a bit. I have to do the treat on Wednesday to motivate me to go the other days. I must say I do like Wednesday best. I want to lose another 1 stone so I must keep at it.
I'm another one enthusiastic about Tai Chi. It doesn't help with weight loss but it does give you a good work-out without putting any strain on your joints. It's helped my balance, flexibility and breathing, and any sort of exercise where you actually look forward to doing it (as opposed to finding any excuse not to do it!) must be a good thing. Our teacher also incorporates Qi Gong exercises into our sessions, which is also seen as being a health benefit.
Go to YouTube and find the Hasfit site, it’s a very good American website with exercises from 15mins to 1 hour with different levels suitable for Seniors, Obese, and those who are already fit. I do a 15 min Senior one each morning and go for at least 30/40 min walk every day. I like to swim in the sea in the summer but am not very keen on pools.
Good luck, hope you find something that suits you.
You might find a Silver Ballerina class near you, or a Moves Lite, or dancefit sessions. I do all three because you need to do aerobic and resistance. Moves Lite has a few exercises with weights etc. Balance exercises are good for preventing falls. I tried Tai Chi but it’s too slow for me as I am uncoordinated, and yoga and Pilates involved floor exercises which I can’t do. Just walking is also great.
Even the most vigorous activity won't entirely prevent stupidity, even though it's great for your brain. I practise Shotokan karate and it definitely maintains balance (among many other benefits) so should help prevent falls. I decided to empty my kitchen compost caddy (Oh! The alliteration!) so I slipped my walking boots on to go outside to the garden compost bin. It's about ten metres from the back door so I didn't bother doing up the laces. Five metres in, a loop from one boot caught in a hook on the other and, effectively, tied my feet together. I went down hard onto flagstones and gravel, bashing my elbow and hip. Ouch! I'll be doing my laces up from now on. Still it's only bruises I've got so exercise definitely protects the bones.
Why not try dancing? You could join a line dancing club or a sequence dance class, neither of which are too energetic and they are very good places to meet people, have a chat and laugh and at the same time, keep active and feel brighter.
Swimming and walking. Can't beat it.
Another thumbs up for Tai Chi. I've been doing it for 18 months and love it. Feel really good afterwards so do it at home as well, though not every day.
I was pleased to hear MM recommend it as as good as Zumba which I would hate.
I also have a treadmill which I use for just five minutes a couple if times a day, just at walking speed. Feel better all round since taking up these simple changes.
Can you team up with somebody who has a dog and walk regularly. When you walk with somebody, and chat on the way, the walk doesn't become a chore.
Vitamin D cannot be got rid of by the body and being outside for 15 minutes daily, is sufficient to keep vitamin D at an acceptable level.
There is a possibility that, by taking vitamin D tablets, your body has more than it can use and cannot get rid of the excess.
Michael Mosley discussed this in one of his programmes but more info can be found via Google and in videos on YouTube.
I walk 3 miles to my daughters place twice weekly( to take kids to school) and then walk 1 mile back into town and get bus home. 1/4 mike walk from bus to home. Do gardening or h/work , get lunch then do it all again at 2pm to get youngest from school...get their dinner , wait for first parent to get in...then walk the 1 mile into town again and bus home (1/4)milewalk. I swim three times a week total (100 lengths) in all.I walk all the time in between school duties as I don’t have or need a car( bus pass gets well used as well). I weigh in around 10 st...but would love to be 9st 8lb but don’t fret it! I’ve come off my blood pressure pills and cholesterol pills. Yippee!! All down to exercise and portion controlling you food.
At least take a vitamin D supplement daily. I take the Holland & Barrett one, vitamin D3, one daily. It's only about £3.99 a bottle for 100 tablets, and they're tiny so easy to swallow.
Coincidentally, earlier this week I returned to Pilates after 10years. Although not as supple I was amazed at how much my body remembered and how much I enjoyed it; it was a good experience - go for it!!
As Lunne59 has pointed out there are lots of foods that are rich in calcium. If you take a calcium supplement you may find it causes constipation. My DH is trying to reduce his cholesterol level through diet rather than going on medication as he did for this successfully for his type 2diabetes. Among other things we switched to soya milk and yogurt and reduced our cheese intake but we were concerned about our calcium intake so we both started taking a calcium supplement. DH became constipated, I like me something that he never suffers from and we found that the calcium supplement can cause this. He stopped taking it and things went back to normal and when we thread the information on the soya milk we found it was calcium enriched anyway.
sorry,I meant to say,it's worth looking at
I found a local keep fit class,it's fun,we're all older ladies,we do a mixture ,dance moves to music,chair exercise,I feel better for going each week.Also,I started going to one at our local museum each month called Feel Good Friday,a mixture of table tennis and other exercise.It's worth looking at what is out there,and choose something that you enjoy.
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