I am turned fifty this year (2012) and decided that my birthday present to me was to become strong and to lose weight.
What brought me to this new determination? The poor health of my parents and the loss of my father last year. I look at my parents and see myself in 22 years and that is frightening - I want to be able to enjoy my "golden" years, not suffer health problem after health problem, or hardly be able to move.
My goal is to get to a weight that is close to what I weighed in my twenties, plus to get off my blood pressure meds and avoid descending into diabetes, increase my strength and learn how to enjoy life. I have the support of my marathon-running husband (who first got me out biking when I was so weak he had to help push me up hills!) who got me to bike with him when he ran. So far I have learned to love being outdoors (only took 35 years) and that a little sweat won't kill me. I have a love/hate relationship with my health club, but am learning to make exercise a habit. I found this website when I realized I wasn't losing any weight and figured I would have to just buckle down and count calories and think about what I was eating.