Poll:Age-related issues in retirement

[FreeBear]

Used to love backcountry camping, either by kayak or backpacking. DW used to join me and pretend to enjoy it.

I miss this stuff greatly, but I our backs are weaker and the ground is harder. Now it's restaurants and hotels in the evening, and we get overuse injuries or nasty colds if we push too hard.

I wish we could have FIRED in our 30's when the ground was softer and more comfortable to sleep on!

 

[FreeBear]

I bicycled a lot and worked out at the gym almost daily when younger, but started getting lazy and gaining weight by the time I retired at 48. A diagnoses of prediabetes scared me into losing weight, but too slowly. Although I lost 80 pounds by Jan 2017, I had progressed to full diabetes. I improved my diet (a lot), upped my exercise and started daily insulin and a statin.

I have since lost 28 more lbs, dropped my A1c from 10.9 to 5.8, cholesterol from 234 to 111, triglycerides from 596 to 79, etc. While I still cycle, I mostly walk now, twice/day 2-4 miles each time. Eat a lot of spinach salads, greek yogurt, meat (mostly fish now instead of beef), and burrito bowls.

Sounds familiar!

But I got a grip on things too with DW in charge of meals. Fortunately, I managed without a need for drugs. It was a wakeup call!

This happened a few years before FIRE. It is easier to maintain good habits in FIRE. Almost no stress eating because, well, there is almost no stress!

 

[Alan]

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[H2ODude]

Think it was 30's when started running, kind of made it a habit to deal with stress. I feel bad if I am not getting aerobic exercise. Gave up running for mtn biking several years ago because of plantar fasciitis. Sadly, its returned last year or so and even biking aggravates it. Thinking about just running with it and gritting my teeth but mornings out of bed or just getting up from sitting on couch I look like an old man. I mean really old.

DW and my exercise has morphed into one we do for health since retiring. She does classes at y every weekday, I either join her for elliptical or go out on trails if weather is willing. It's as much a part of mental health as physical. All our numbers are great, but I take a beta b since blood pressure was creeping over 135/85. We're trying to back off the meat and enjoy some really good veg cooking, but then I read Robbie's posts and it's off to the butcher shop. Seriously, trying to burn some cash is hard to do with vegetables!

All told the doc said he's happy to see the rare person who keeps weight down and pays attention. We're genetically fortunate although my parent's lives were both cut short by smoking. Her mother had a horrible back, and now she's taking meloxicam for that. When she comes out of classes at the Y she looks as good as the women in their 30's, hence I'm keeping her .

All told things are good at 66. Then I look at articles where someone younger croaks suddenly and realize it could all end any time. Or worse, that long agonizing slope of some slow debilitating crush. Hence I try to be thankful, do my part, and enjoy life as best we can. It's waygu tenderloins for dinner tonight by the way, thanks Robbie!

 

[RAE]

I've always been reasonably active, but I did put on some weight and my blood pressure started creeping up in my early 50s. So when I retired at age 54 1/2, I decided to start a regular fitness regimen, and I've kept it up since then (8 years ago now). My regimen is not all that demanding.......I do some bodyweight exercises every other day (chin-ups, squats), I walk the dog 3X daily (our route goes up and down hills). I also do lots of other things by hand that I could have someone else do, like mow the (large) lawn with a push mower, work a big vegetable garden every year, rake my own leaves by hand, etc, etc.. The main thing is to keep moving, really. Sitting for more than an hour or so is not good for your health, so I try not to do that, even if it means just getting up and doing something in the kitchen. The other thing of course is to eat healthy..........I eat a modified paleo-type diet, so I try to really limit the carbs and sugar, and eat mostly veggies, fish, meat, eggs, etc.. My annual blood test still shows that I am doing pretty well overall, so something must be working. I just hope I can keep this up for a long while yet, but I'm sure it will get harder as I get older.....

 

[DrRoy]

I would say I started considering it around 40 but at 58 it has not become so yet.

 

[ChiliPepr]

Started to think about it around my mid thirties and fifth orthopedic surgery.... still think about it, but now up to nine surgeries (I think my tenth is free! )

 

[kcowan]

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Also you can click on any numerical result and get the responses by member. I had no idea when I created the poll but it has been fixed now.

 

[NYEXPAT]

Young wife is into belly dancing which has led me to take better care of my eyes!

 

[2017ish]

Young wife is into belly dancing which has led me to take better care of my eyes!

 

[kcowan]

When I got into management in the 70s, I had to walk off my frustrations at noon. I would make do with a can of V8 and return refreshed and ready to deal with another round of mediocrity.

After work, I got into something a little stronger. After 8 years, at my going away party, all my direct reports thanked me for teaching them how to share stress. Of course, it helped them all to be outrageously successful too.