Over Fifty & Seriously Fab {!!!}

Hey, hey! These are some major babes that are over fifty & fab; seriously, can you believe they’re both over fifty?! Craziness. I mean, they look younger than most twenty-years olds! Anyway, meet Michele & Jennifer, both of whom are extremely familiar with a healthy lifestyle & diet.

Fact: I have stolen sooooo many tricks & tips from both of these women over the past . Since Michele & Jennifer have both effected my view on eating clean & exercising, I figured you’d all love to hear their advice too! Read on…

+ Introduce yourself: 

I’m Michele Andersen; I’m an almost fifty-eight year old mother of three grown children.

+ Describe how menopause has effected your weight.

I am going through menopause, but I don’t think it’s changed my weight much. I have exercised most of my life, I was a swimmer growing up, so I think that may have given me an amazing foundation. Right now, I try to exercise five days a week and mix it up by doing a barre class, Pilates &, some sort-of cardio. I get bored if I do the same thing all of the time. I feel like you really have to make it a part of your life and schedule around it. I was told a long time ago by an eighty-year old woman who looked fabulous that “exercise is the fountain of youth!”

+ Recommendations for someone who wants to lose a lot of weight?

For someone who needs to lose a lot of weight, I would get off my butt and at least start out walking everyday…oh, & take the stairs! Don’t diet, but start eating healthier, take notice of what you are eating. You can have dessert once in a while- just don’t eat the whole bag of cookies!

+ Quick, skinny tip?

A great skinny tip is to eat your larger meals earlier in the day, & don’t skip meals, otherwise you’ll over eat because you’ll be so hungry. At dinner, eat light. I also drink a lot of water throughout the day.

+ Cocktail of choice?

My cocktail of choice is white wine!

+ Fav healthy snack?

Healthy snack is a handful of almonds &/or maybe an apple + some peanut butter.

+ One word describing how you feel after a hard workout?

How do I feel after a hard workout? Great!

——————————————————————————————————————————–

Thanks Michele for your tips ; ). And now meet my amazing God-mom, Jennifer Bell..

+ Introduce yourself: 

Hi I’m Jennifer Bell! I’m a fifty-five years old, 5’7″ & would like to share my weight loss experience while going through menopause.

+ Describe how menopause has effected your weight.

So many women complain about severe mood changes, night sweats, occasional memory loss, depression, etc. when going through the change..it all sounded so miserable, I was dreading it. At first all was fine, I thought piece of cake, what is everyone complaining about, sure I don’t have the energy I had when I was thirty-five, but I am twenty years older now; what am I to expect?

What I didn’t realize was I had slowly gained weight over a period of two years & I was now one hundred & fifty pounds; I had to do something about it….Everyone said, “don’t worry about it, your fifty-five & most women gain weight as they get older.” I thought, not me, this is unacceptable & I am miserable. So I set out to lose the weight & break ‘the menopause myth of accepted weight gain.’

+ What was your ‘plan of action?’

I decided to join a weight loss center called Lindora. They have a registered nurse on staff and require many meetings per week to monitor health, blood work, & diet. I liked the idea of having a professional nurse on board to monitor my progress and health.

My initial diet plan was quite strict, no alcohol, little complex carbohydrates…mainly protein, lean meat and fish, many vegetables and limited fruit, mostly berries, 150 oz. of water and most importantly daily exercise. It took me six months but I am proud so say I lost thirty pounds. I’m now back to my familiar one hundred & twenty lbs.- I feel great. My knee pain went away and I have my energy back. No diet pills, no starving…about 1100 calories for weight loss and 1200-1300 for maintaining a lean build.

+ Quick, skinny tip?

My quick skinny tip…eat many small meals a day…& keep track of what you eat. I use the app. Lose It on my iPhone which keeps track of my calories, fat, carbs, protein, sodium etc…it breaks it all out for you…not time consuming…no guess work!

+ Recommendations for someone who wants to lose a lot of weight?

My number one trick for someone who wants to lose weight is to keep focused with exercise…it will give you the endorphin lift you need to keep going.

Now please know…I did not do any of this overnight…I had to build up to this exercise schedule & I did fall back from time to time. But I kept asking myself…”Am I happy at this weight,” and the answer was always “no”…so I picked myself up & continued focus on my weight loss with a new healthy and happy life.

+ Fav healthy snack?

My favorite snack is almonds that are low-sodium…they fill you up, keep you satisfied, give you energy, & are low in carbs + high in good fats.

+ How do you maintain your weight?

The way I maintain my weight is daily exercise & using the Lose It app to keep track of my exercise and calories.

+ Weekly workout schedule?

My weekly work out schedule is as follows: Monday…circuit training with weights, Tuesday…yoga, Wednesday….spinning & weight training, Thursday…gravity, which is like Pilates on a reformer machine & Zumba in the evening, Friday…weight training, Saturday…spinning & yoga, and lastly, Sunday…Zumba. I do all this at a fabulous gym called ‘The Training Club‘ in Del Mar Heights, San Diego, California.

+ One word describing how you feel after a hard workout?

The one word that describes how I feel now? Energized!