Dianne If you are a woman in your 40s, 50s, 60s or beyond, who is perimenopausal or menopausal and you are looking for tips about self-care, getting rid of belly fat, and how to get motivated to lose weight, get stronger or just need some weight loss tips, this is the blog post and video for you. Fit at 55! Formula for Success, 5 Things you Must Do, Women over 50 style!
These are the 5 things I do every day to achieve my fitness goals, stay fit and trim and look healthy. So if you are looking for how to look younger, and look fit over 40, fit over 50, fit over 60 and beyond, I expect you will find this content valuable.
This blog post is all about my formula for success to be healthy and fit as a woman over the age of 55.
Beginning just before I turned 40, I decided it was time to get into the best shape of my life. My goal was to get fit and trim before my 40th birthday in August. This meant shedding my belly pooch and getting those 6-pack abs I always dreamed about having.
The problem was….
- I had a goal, but I didn’t have a plan,
- I didn’t know exactly what I needed to eat and which exercises to do, and
- I was not consistently eating healthy foods or exercising every day to achieve my goals.
I did not achieve my health and fitness goals in the timeframe I set out for myself. In fact, I went along for many years trying various eating plans and exercises, never getting close to achieving my goals, until recently.
Now I have dialed it in, eliminated my belly fat, and toned up my arms. Finally, I making some headway and now I’m working on getting 6-pack abs and a toned rear end!
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5 Steps to Better Health & Fitness
Here are the top five things I did to get fit, healthy and strong over the age of 50.
1. Have a Plan
Establish a plan that includes a daily routine that considers the whole-self, mind, body and soul, that helps you reach your health and fitness goals. My daily routine includes:
- Daily Mindfulness,
- Daily Workouts,
- Eating Whole Foods
- Having an Accountability Partner
Simple and straightforward, these are the four priorities I have focused on every day for the last couple of years to get fit and live a happy, healthy, fulfilling life.
The Big Takeaway
Don’t leave it to chance! Like the old saying goes, if you fail to plan, you are planning to fail. Set goals and establish a daily health and fitness plan with specific activities and routines so you set yourself up to achieve success.
2. Get in the Right Mindset
The first and most important factor in achieving success in anything you do is simply deciding. Here, I’m talking about deciding to get healthy and strong. Next, don’t waste a moment – get started!
Deciding and believing you can achieve your fitness goal is 80% of the battle. It is extremely important that we are in the right mindset to be a successful, especially as we start something that is not currently not part of our daily routines.
Mindset is our predetermined thoughts, feelings, and attitudes about everything. Included in our mindset is the belief about whether certain things are within our reach and capabilities. Whether you are optimistic and driven, or pessimistic and unmotivated, in both cases, you are right. Whatever your preconceived thoughts, those thoughts will prevail…. driving you to your predetermined success or failure in that endeavor.
Meditation
Therefore, it’s extremely important to start each day with 10 to 20 minutes of intentional focus on goodness, positivity and gratefulness. This may include a less formal routine of sitting idly for a period to think, set goals, and plan. Alternatively, you may choose a more formal practice of setting a timer, quieting your mind and meditating for 10 minutes a day.
Either way, unless we take time to ground ourselves each day, to focus on what is important, the busyness of life will distract us and potentially keep us from achieving our goals and priorities.
Know Your Why
Our why? What does this mean? This mean, knowing what really matters in life which drives the choices we make. Knowing your “why” is knowing your purpose, which helps us to focus on what matters to us. Personally, knowing my “why” helps me to stay motivated, grounded and focused on all things people and things that matter.
For example, my priority is serving God, loving and serving my family, my health and prosperity, and living open handedly to help and serve others. I probably have 30 or 40 years left on this planet, and I living according to my why helps me to stay centered on the things that matter every day.
By prioritizing wellness, I take steps every day to maintain my health and fitness so I can serve others and achieve my goals. The measures I take limit the likelihood of being held back by health issues and disease. Being healthy allows me to go for long walks, or do things like cross-country skiing, or long bicycle rides with my kids and someday with my grandchildren.
Bottom line, our bodies are like our cars. If we take care of them, they will take care of us.
Practice Positive Self-Talk
Practicing positive self-talk goes along with focusing on goodness and kindness, especially self-kindness. Previously, if my friends spoke to me like I spoke to myself, they would not be by friend. Speaking kindly to yourself and encouraging yourself is an important first step in having a positive, productive mindset.
If you fail, get back up again – tomorrow is a new day. Give yourself love and lots of grace. WE ARE ALL HUMAN.
The Big Takeaway
Know your why. If you don’t know your why, think about what matters to you and write it down. Next, write the things you need to do to prioritize what matters to you and make choices every day that are in line with your priorities. When you get derailed and you will, get back up again, dust yourself all, and keep going. Never stop trying.
3. Eat Whole Food & Eat Less
Our overall health is HIGHLY dependant upon the food we eat. Unfortunately, much of the food readily available to us, especially fast food, processed foods (anything in a box, carton or package) and restaurant foods are not good for us.
Unfortunately, much of the food offered on-the-go, along with many of the offerings in grocery stores, include unhealthy ingredients such as unhealthy fats, sugar, excessive salt, preservatives and other chemicals. Many of the ingredients manufacturers and restaurants incorporate in the food they prepare food may taste good, but unfortunately, many of those ingredients cause inflammation, which ultimately leads to bodies riddled with illness and disease.
While it typically takes more time and effort to prepare and eat WHOLE FOODS, foods in their natural state, fresh vegetables, fruit, eggs, free-range chicken, grass fed beef, and wild-caught fish are the food we need in our daily diets to be healthy and strong.
On typical days, I eat two meals, mostly made up of vegetables and some form of protein. For lunch I typically have a big salad with lean protein, and for dinner I have a variety of roasted vegetables and protein.
The lean protein I eat is typically free-range chicken or hard-boiled eggs. I load up my salad with a lot of vegetables include items such as tomatoes, avocados, peppers, green onions, and beets. I like to throw some nuts on my salad once in a while for some crunch and texture, such as walnuts or sunflower seeds.
Water Intake is Important
Drinking a lot of water throughout the day is also very important to ensure our bodies are functioning well. While not always perfect, I do my best to drink two large water bottles each day (~32 oz).
I stay away from gluten, dairy and sugar. While initially this was very difficult because these foods were part of my daily eating habits. Once I incorporated new recipes, eating habits and new snacking habits into my life, it all became much easier to stick with the plan.
For a snack, I usually have a handful of nuts, like cashews, almonds but usually walnuts.
You Don’t Need to Be Perfect
Give yourself some grace and don’t be too strict or too tough on yourself. If you’re on vacation, celebrating a birthday, anniversaries, or holiday and the food choices are not ideal, or if you want a piece of cake or a cookie, enjoy. Indulge in food you enjoy once in a while, just don’t live there.
Caveat: I’m not a doctor, so while all the things I’m sharing are based on good eating habits, and things that have worked for me. If you have serious health conditions, check with your doctor prior to changing your daily routines, to ensure the things I am sharing in this blog post and video are right for you (ie. If you have diabetes or other serious illnesses).
Life-Changing Moment
After watching a video about intermittent fasting, I learned I was simply eating way more food than my body needed. I always believed that we need three meals a day to be healthy, and that simply is not true. Even with daily exercise (burning calories) , and eating healthy (primarily vegetables), I was eating way more than was necessary – simply taking in too many calories. Since I incorporated intermittent fasting into my daily routine, I have never felt healthier or stronger.
If you want to know more about my journey and why I incorporated intermittent fasting, check out my video: How to Look Better & Feel Sexy
The Big Takeaway
Stay away from processed foods, fast foods and minimize eating inflammatory foods such as gluten, dairy and sugar. The formula for success if to eat healthy, whole foods and just eat less.
4. Move Your Body Everyday
To be successful in achieving your health and fitness goals, it’s imperative to move your body every day. What I find key to ensuring I meet my personal move goals every day is wearing a fitness watch.
Especially on days when I am busy writing, traveling or doing things that require a lot of sitting, keeping track of my movement is critical. I wear an Apple Watch to help me with tracking my calories, active movement and standing goals.
My personal goal is to get 50 minutes of active movement every day. Shopping and casual movement rarely count unless you move with intention and you get your heart rate elevate to an aerobic level. If overall fitness and/or weight loss is your goal, walking is ideal.
To achieve 50 minutes of movement a day, I start in the morning doing 30 to 40 minutes of exercise, made of up lifting weight and walking. My weight-lifting routine comprises several compound exercises that take me through my routine quickly.
Weight bearing exercise is important to maintain our metabolism, muscle mass and bone density as we age. I focus on both upper body and lower body strength training every day, with an emphasis on arm, abs and glutes. I am not a gym rat, so I do not dillydally. The sooner I get done, the better.
During the warmer months, I head outside for a 20-minute walk around my neighborhood in the morning. My walking pace is fast. When I’m out doing my daily walks, my focus is on intentional speed (~4 mph), to get my heart pumping.
Getting daily cardio exercise is important for overall health, heart health, & flexibility. During the cooler months, I have a treadmill to get me through the extremely cool days, but my preference is to get outside whenever I can. Breathing crisp, clean air does a body good.
Most days, I will take a second walk in the afternoon (rain or shine) which is usually 20 to 40 long depending upon the weather. Besides walking in my neighborhood and surrounding neighborhoods, I periodically drive down to a local nature trail with my pup for a change of scenery. Changing-up my routine periodically keeps it interesting.
The Big Takeaway
If you want to get fit at 55 or whatever age you are, get started! How many times have we said to ourselves, “I will start this or that, after something else?” Stop making excuses. We are human and can rationalize just about anything. Commit to getting unhealthy food out of your diet and moving a minimum of 30 minutes every day. Walk, bicycle, skip, jump, do something every day. Consistency matters.
5. Have an Accountability Partner
Probably the most important factor in achieving success in anything we do is the support system of people that we choose to have in our lives. Doing anything alone is always much harder than having a supportive community to share in the struggles and the joys.
My accountability partner is my husband. He is my best friend, my confidant, and one of the greatest blessings that God could ever give me! We are fortunate to have common fitness goals, which make being each other’s accountability partner a no-brainer.
We encourage each other to take quiet, meditation time each day to reflect on life, exercise, and eat healthily. There is absolutely no question, my husband’s involvement in my daily routine helps to make me better and more consistent than I could ever be on my own.
I encourage you to recruit your spouse, significant other, friend, neighbor or find a community group to walk with you along your health and fitness journey. If you’re not sure where to turn, consider reaching out to a local community organization, community church or recreational center to find a walking or exercise groups to join.
The Big Takeaway
An accountability partner and/or a community who shares common goals and interests are more likely to achieve success. Besides meeting your health and fitness goals, who knows? You may make a few new friends too!
Consistency is Key to Achieving Success
I hope that my video and blog post has been valuable to you by providing ideas and inspiration that help you incorporate health and fitness into your daily routine so you can live a quality life fill with good health and joy.
Especially, if you’re in currently in an unhealthy place, I hope this information has shown you that by simply changing your daily habits and being consistent you can get healthy and fit.
If you are interested in more information on this topic, please contact me ([email protected])! I am considering building an online program that will walk you through everything I did and continue to do everyday to achieve and maintain my self-care, health and fitness goals.
Looking for More Health & Style Inspiration?
- How to Get a Natural Look with a Radiant Glow | MERIT Cosmetics
- My Daily Self-Care Routine | Skincare over 50
- How to Look Good in Jeans and a TShirt over 50
