In the new year many people will make New Year’s Resolutions, and lots of those will involve weight loss. Fitness and gyms see the most use in the month of January. My husband and I belong to a gym, and we have enjoyed a Saturday class there called Cardio Strength Training. A few months ago one of the instructors allowed me to interview her. I wanted to learn some tips for losing weight and keeping it off as we get older. As you will see from her answers these tips really apply to any age. Sherri Wright is certified through the National Academy of Sports Medicine (NASM) as a Behavior Change Specialist, a Personal Trainer certified through the Aerobics and Fitness Association of America (AFAA), a Corrective Exercise Specialist (NASM), a Medical Exercise Specialist (Medical Exercise Training Institute), Group Fitness certified through the American Council on Exercise (ACE), and a certified Weight Loss Specialist (NASM). She has completed marathons, a Half Ironman Triathlon, and olympic distance triathlons, not to mention she is incredibly fit as you will see from my video at the end. So she knows what she is talking about! It was great talking with her, and I will summarize her tips and advice at the end of this post. I hope you find something helpful that you can use.

Cindy: I wondered if you could share with my readers some things you have learned about losing weight and keeping it off, especially for those of us over 50.

Sherri: So as you get older, and you’re not running and chasing your kids around anymore and you’re not doing the everyday activities that could naturally be movement, we have to be more intentional. More intentional about the calorie intake and realizing, “How much energy do I need at this age?” “How much energy am I putting out?” It’s probably not as much as when I was younger. So you have to come to a place where your going, “Here’s how many calories – I call it energy, managing your energy intake – do I really need for my lifestyle now?”

Cindy: So people aren’t as active when they get older.

Sherri: Yes, and when we were younger we started picking food that was easier to get to, more processed, which is full of sugar. And that’s one of my top things too is managing your insulin. …is what I call it. Because I feel like sugar is ….if you’re going to take anything out of your diet I would say definitely refined sugars. It causes your insulin to increase, which causes your body to store fat. And this starts this whole cycle.

Cindy: I’ve always heard your sugar level is supposed to stay fairly level with small ups and downs, not way up or way down.

Sherri: Right.

Cindy: And I’ve read that eating smaller meals throughout the day is a good way to keep your blood sugar level. But you’re saying we should give up refined sugar as well?

Sherri: Well, refined sugars are in things that are just not nutritionally dense. They are calories or energy that you take in that has no quality.

Cindy: What if you have a sweet tooth?

Sherri: Fruit (laughs). I mean if you’re asking me how to lose weight you have to be intentional. You can’t just think about it or say I’ll do that. I hear that a lot. So you have to…you know in the beginning you have to really be intentional about how you’re going to do that.

Cindy: So you’ve mentioned being more active and maintaining your sugar. What are some more tips?

Sherri: Definitely some sort of weight lifting. And I don’t mean going to the gym and start doing something you’ve never done in your life before, but I mean keeping your muscle mass for a lot of reasons – to keep metabolism going and refurbished, your body, your engine revved.

Cindy: Like in your class we do some weight lifting exercises but it’s fun because there’s the music and you don’t realize you’re working. It’s not on a machine. I’m so short the machines never fit me well. Sometimes the gym can be intimidating. But you’re saying it doesn’t have to be in the gym.

Sherri: It doesn’t have to be on a machine. You can use 5 pound or 10 pound weights, like we use in my class. Or it can be a medicine ball. But just keeping your muscle mass so you’re able to do the things you want to do and to keep your metabolism increased so when you take in the calories you’re efficient.

Cindy: So the more muscle mass you have, the more you’re going to burn calories even at rest. Because as we get older we lose muscle mass.

Sherri: Yes.

Cindy: So what’s another tip?

Sherri: Well from a behavioral standpoint I think creating habits of a healthy lifestyle. And some of that includes the people that you’re around a lot. If you’re around people who are on the same page and have the same goals you have more of a chance I think to continue like that. You know we all have friendships that are based on where we’re going to eat and what we’re going to drink and all that. And that’s fine, but…

Cindy: I’m a teacher, and we had a Goodie Table Day at school yesterday.

Sherri: I know. That’s hard to resist. It’s really hard not to do that, but each choice that you make in a day is taking you either one step toward your goal or one step away from your goal. And you create your goal. Come up with what you want. What do you want? Do you want to be healthy? I’m not talking about being skinny. I’m saying healthy. And what is that for you at your height and your weight? For example, are you pre-diabetic?

Cindy: How do people stick to those goals? What are some ways people can stay consistent? Because if it’s day to day choices and you mess up…sometimes you just think, “Well, I messed up so I might as well just keep going down that path.”

Sherri: You have to realize when you start that it’s not going to be easy. It does take discipline. It won’t be easy, but once you done it for – I’m just going to use 4 weeks as a measurement – and you see “I feel better. I think better, I sleep better.” A lot of the positives that come along with it, and you think it’s not worth it to me to stop. And if you mess up you know that one choice is not going to make or break things. And you say, “Next time I’m going to make a better choice.”

Cindy: So any other tips you can think of? These are all so good for any age but especially for folks like me who are over 50.

Sherri: I think just realizing that in the old days people had to expend a lot of energy just to survive, so they needed food. But think about us. When we go through a drive-through how many calories do you think it takes to talk to that person in the window, get our food, and eat it? Maybe 8 calories. How many calories did we just put in our body? 1500. So we’ve just eaten all we need for the day. I think if we are just more mindful about how much energy do we need to live and anything above that is going to be stored as fat.

Cindy: As we get older – especially us women – we have hormone changes. They go all wacky, and when we hit menopause sometimes it is harder to sleep. I’ve always heard that if you consistently lose sleep you are more susceptible to gaining weight. What are some ways to combat that?

Sherri: A lot of the ladies that I train are over 50, and we have the same conversation about abdominal fat. Your estrogen levels are decreasing, and having extra fat on your body releases estrogen. So you have to be more intentional about keeping your blood sugar level, because of the fact that your body is naturally now going to want to store fat to produce the estrogen. And just knowing that and having an education and awareness that this is what my body is doing may help us not eat the empty sugar calories. Our body is fighting to stay young. Going back to the insulin…part of the reason you don’t sleep is if you eat a large amount of calories late at night your insulin since it is way up right before you go to bed is going to plummet in the night and that basically wakes you up.

Cindy: That is one of my weaknesses – late night snacking. It’s like I try to reward myself once I get everything done. And I might not even be hungry.

Sherri: Being aware is important. Think more about what you can eat and not as much about what you can’t eat. If you think, “My body needs lots of fruits and vegetables today, so I’m going to eat that apple first.” And then most likely you might not have the cravings for as much of the other things.

Cindy: A lot of my readers follow my blog because of the travel stories. And I know when you are on a trip it is hard to maintain a regular diet and exercise routine. You and I talked before about you showing us some exercises that people can do at home or in a hotel room. So if it’s OK with you I’m going to start that video……

Sherri’s Weight Loss Tips:

1. Be more active.
2. Cut out refined sugars.
3. Begin some sort of weight lifting.
4. Be intentional, set goals, be disciplined.
5. Create habits of a healthy lifestyle. Hang around like-minded people.
6. Be mindful of how many calories we really need.
7. Keep blood sugar level. Avoid unhealthy late night snacking.
8. Focus on the positives. Make choices that bring you closer to your goal.