It is early in the game but it is working

Hopefully one day I will be back at the
weight in this picture, by mid summer
I will be halfway there.

Todays ago I weighed in and I have lost 6 pounds. The app MyNetDiary is working. Most days I am below my calorie goal. The information feedback I'm helping me make decisions. That is almost 2% of my body weight. OK, I am still early with this idea. What I really like is the control it gives me to help me make decisions both what to eat and when to say no. Because of the app, I chose certain foods to be within the limits set. At Arby's, I chose a classic beef because the calorie count was 360, at Boston market I chose mash potatoes with no gravy and saved a few hundred calories.
At home, I am more likely to stay within one serving. The app told me to pick up more calories at breakfast. At night I know I can't do the night runs through the kitchen. It is rewarding knowing what I did on my eating that day I am losing weight without having to check the scales.
Another change I am working at is to be awake more in the daytime and sleep more at night. I want to experience more of the warmer part of the year up and around. More time to bike outdoors and sunshine. I think I will move as well. The more movement greater the weight loss.
can we lose weight healthily when we are older? That is what I want to find out.
Today I will strength train with bands, body exercises, dumbells, and TRX.  I can only imagine if I

lose weight I will look like a prune. I want to retain my muscle. Muscle is harder to develop as we age. Our ability to grow muscle is slower than when we were younger. With work, we can grow muscle at about 10 to 20% of what we used to. That is our new reality, but the good news is we can grow muscle. We knew we could slow down the decline, but new research suggests we can grow muscle if we work at it.
It is widely recommended that we strength train 2x's a week. Dr. Ken Cooper realized he had to change the % of exercise to more strength training over aerobics. This has influenced me to spend more time with resistance training. Feel good about it if you follow the recommended guidelines of twice a week. 150 minutes a week of walking, the exercise of all kinds is a very doable number for most of us. You and your doctor know what is right for you. Any kind of exercise can help our weight loss. Considering my weight I burned 200 calories in my 16 minutes of resistant training. If I factor in my 30 minutes of biking on recumbent which will add 285 cal. to my day. That is 46 minutes of exercise of the 150 I need for the week. My heart is purring.
My confidence in taking off the weight becomes a real thing. Keep walking

Include weight training in your fitness goals.

While my weekly goal of 150 minutes is ongoing, I have already reached it with a day and a half to go. Included this week, were minutes dedicated to strength training using body exercises, exercise bands, dumbbell exercises, and TRX training. None of these programs are new to me, but they count in a senior fitness program.
In an article, May 9, 2018, from AARP Why it gets harder to drop pounds after certain age, list two reasons to lose weight; loss of muscle and decreased activity. Caroline Aprovian MD sites we lose 5 to 10% of your muscle mass each decade after the age of 50. She recommends a diet in which 30% is protein and at least two days a week a weight lifting. One study, reported 3 pounds of muscle gain after 10 weeks.
Another article dated May 16, 2018 Get Moving! A Fitness Plan for Dropping Pounds gives practical advise on getting started and recovery.
There are many types of exercises of light resistance that add muscle to our body. Swimming and
water resistance, light exercise bands, all can help. Taking weight training to another level when we are increasing the weights and reps as you improve. Overall I think this is a good idea, but each of us have our own goals to consider. Being in touch with yourself and your doctor is always the first step in starting an exercise program. Being 50 years old or 80 years old are two different realities.
As we get older we do not process food as well as we did when we are younger. When we exercise we do not get the same rate of return that we didn't we were younger. For example the benefits of exercise may only increase 5% to 10% when we are older, but the important thing is there can still be a positive return as we age. There have been 90-year-olds who through the effort of weight training have been able to put on 2 or 3 pounds of muscle. Not only did they stop the decline of muscle loss but they actually added it to it.
If you are on the younger side of 50 it is a great time in your life to add on muscle. I like to think of it as saving for a rainy day. Having muscle to lose is a good thing.
There is flexibility in 150 minutes a week. There are days where not much is done. I have been at this awhile and I know there are set backs. I hope at least to be encouraging as that point. As long as we draw breathe we can get up again and bugger on. The week allows one to get back on tract. Having many ways to exercise has a way of adding up. Am I improving? I think so, but the return is not as fast as when I was younger. Being at it 4 weeks is cool. Keep walking
Ps.
Harvard Medicine reported on a study in April 2018 Jama Internal Medicine, extra protein does not add muscle in older men average Age 73. Looking the exercises done in the study may be a reason why. Training may have to be more vigorous. Protein drinks may not be as able as real protein from natural food?  Aging a muscle loss is the norm. Most believe life style changes can slow the process down. Finding strategies that actually add muscle is a new thing. It does take some doing.