Are you slowing down?

[LinCella]

Bamaman,

I love the idea of two big trips a year and Europe every other. That will be my new plan as soon as I get my budget in gear!

 

[RAE]

Unfortunately, while I like walking around cities on trips, I don't like walking for exercise. I need to find some way to change that mind set since I believe walking is probably the most useful exercise for fighting back age related decline.

Owning a big dog (yellow lab) has really motivated me to walk every day. He needs to get out and walk, and if we don't get out now for some reason, I feel guilty, so we almost always go (twice daily), regardless of weather. It's good for him, and it's good for me. As I approach 60, I also need to do some other exercises to stay in decent shape, so I do daily chin-ups, squats, and some plank-type back exercises. None of this takes a lot of time, and I look at it as something I need to do to remain fit and able to do the other things I enjoy doing for the next couple decades or so (hopefully). I know that I am in better shape now than when I retired 5+ years ago, and that also motivates me to keep doing these things as long as I can.

 

[ampeep]

I find it interesting that as Americans, we have to make time to do stuff like walk. We walk our 2 dogs most every day, I started playing golf again, carrying my bag & using the Wii Fit. My wife takes exercise classes, lifts weights & yoga. I'm 62 & haven't noticed a big change yet; I've heard from people that there's a big change when you reach 70.

Have traveled to countries in Asia and often & you have to walk. In Japan, your car garage could be located a block away from your house, and you still probably need to walk to the train station. If you go shopping, you have to pay for parking - rarely free, and traffic could be so bad you don't want to drive. In Singapore, cars are very expensive, so most everyone rides the mass transit, and you have to walk to the station. On Guadalcanal, only the rich have cars, so it's the bus or foot mobile.

 

[audreyh1]

Hooray for medical science... Best wishes!

As we close in on age 80, yup... slowing down.. It happened slowly and is not at all unpleasant. Just a matter of naturally adjusting to the frailities of age, and very aware that almost anything can suddenly change.

Medical science isn't there yet. I have feeling it will take a couple of decades for them to have figured out definitively how to arrest or reverse the disease. In the meantime I have to learn as much as I can to treat myself.

That's what I have observed - the "real" slowing down for many folks seems to coincide with approaching 80. That's when many RVers hang it up - just one example among many.

So I didn't want folks to write things off too soon!

Although clearly it becomes more critical to stay active if you want to enjoy active vacations.

 

[Katsmeow]

One thing to think about is hills. It is quite different to walk around on the flat vs. going up and down good hills.

This is so true. I live in a subdivision with a lot of hills. They aren't super high but there isn't much that is flat. You are usually going up or down a little bit and there are several larger hills whenever DH and I go for a walk. I don't really think about them that much as increasing the level of exertion. But, the other day I was out at midday at a mall and decided to spend 20 minutes just walking through the mall at the not terribly fast pace we walk in our neighborhood. I was shocked by how easy it was. It felt like I was doing nothing, while a walk in our neighborhood is a nice workout.

 

[kramer]

I am doing whatever I can to stave off this "slowing down".

The day after I walked off the job I have made it priority #1 to become as fit as possible. I am finding the ceiling a bit lower than it was in my 20's and 30's of course...but I am determined to become as fit as my 40-something self can be so that I can enjoy my lengthy retirement to it's fullest extent. I am going to make these early retirement years count...

Yes, this is what I have done -- retired at 41 now age 49. Exercise has been one of several core pursuits since retirement.

Many people have not run as fast as they can or jumped as high as they can for years. I try to do it at least once a week.

I don't think just walking is enough to be in good shape. You need to do a fair amount of vigorous exercise several times per week. Also, my approach has been to do both aerobic exercise and resistance exercises.

 

[Beldar]

Shoes matter too.
If you pronate, you need a different shoe than if you don't. A good shoe store, likely a running shoe store that also services walkers, should be able to tell. If they don't watch you walk or look at the wear on the bottom of your shoes, leave the store because they aren't helping you. You can also find resources on the web to help you determine the right shoe based on tread wear.

Thank you for sharing that advice. I'll never buy a walking shoe off the rack again. And thanks for the new word in my vocabulary (pronate).

_B

 

[haha]

I find it interesting that as Americans, we have to make time to do stuff like walk.

It's not as Americans, it is as suburban and rural dwellers.

If you don't wish to drive or ride everywhere, you have to live where walking and busses and trains are adequate for most local travel.

And for occasional rides, Uber or a taxi is far cheaper than owning a car.

Ha

 

[freebird5825]

I cannot walk on hard surfaces because of a mild case of plantar fasciitis. I wear arch inserts in all of my shoes and boots, so that keeps it at bay.

My yard is 100' wide x 400' long. I can walk back and forth on the soft grass with no problems. In the course of getting things done in the yard, I get a lot of walking in, pushing a wheelbarrow or using my golf bag wheeled carrier or light duty hand truck for heavier things.

During the winter, I am constantly dancing and working out with a two handled resistance band (purple color) and light weight hand barbells. I am also shoveling medium amounts of snow on an almost daily basis. So I maintain muscle tone from head to toe.

I can no longer do hand intense type of activities because of carpal tunnel and chronic tendinitis. But I find my own ways to compensate for not being able to play sports or do traditional exercise machines.

Bottom line...move it or lose it !

Age : 56.5

 

[tmm99]

Great to see everyone's comments. We would consider ourselves active, but we don't do a ton of aerobic exercise. We ride bikes (some trips as long as 14 miles), walk several miles at a time, kayak often, sometimes row and use the elliptical...We do lots of hard yard work (right now we are setting large natural stones into grass that weigh 75-100lbs each) and such. All of our own DIY.

We just felt more tired and sore at the end of the day of long walking (anywhere from 6-10 miles) than we remember in Italy 2 years ago. We also noticed this when doing these large yard projects - a few years ago we would work for 4-5 hours. Now we will work for 2-3.

Another point is Spain has pretty much all hard surfaces - stone, rocks, cobblestones, etc. I can't remember stepping on a soft surface once. When we walk here it's on softer surfaces like compressed dirt paths. DH has always had a questionable bad lower back and it was sore. We took advil!

Overall I am not really worried, I just sort of feel a little tinge of sadness that we would spend hours out (maybe until 2 or 3) and just be too tired to go back out again. Does that make sense?

Also, I think I will push DH to do these bigger trips earlier. At least the ones that would include hiking - like NZ. Save the cruising for later. ha!

I am a bit confused. Initially when I read your original post I just thought you were just out of shape but now you say you are very active. Why do you explain the weight loss of 5 lbs? Very curious.


Sent from my iPhone using Early Retirement Forum

 

[outdoorgirl02]

Interesting article in USA Today about staying fit in retirement.

Retirement: The payoffs of an active lifestyle

http://www.usatoday.com/story/money...etirement-fitness-physical-activity/70726862/

 

[Derslickmeister]

I'm 52 but most days feel much older. Of course I'm still working full time, getting up at 4 a.m., commuting 2 hours and not exactly eating all that healthy. Can't wait to retire, get off this treadmill and have time to get back into shape.

 

[Leonidas]

I'm speeding up at 56.

Four years ago I was sick and heading toward an early grave thanks to a sedentary retirement lifestyle and the standard American diet. Metabolic dysfunction and plenty of mobility issues woke me up to the fact that the remaining years were going to be short and miserable if I didn't fix it. I started studying everything I could about health, fitness and nutrition and began to make radical changes. What put me over the top was hiring a personal trainer and training 4-5 days a week with him. That eventually transformed to adding in extra training sessions on my own so now I work out every day, most days twice a day, and recently experimented with three sessions in one day.

It's all an n=1 experiment for me to see how healthy and fit I can become. The experience has been phenomenal. I've progressed to the point where physically I've fixed almost all of the mobility issues and my overall fitness and athletic ability is better than when I was a 19-year-old Marine just out of boot camp. A couple of years ago my biggest compliment was a twenty or thirty-something coming up to me in the gym and saying "I want to be as fit as you are when I'm your age". Now, they say they want to be as fit as me at their current age and they want to work out with me or have me help train them.

It hasn't been cheap, and I spend a lot of time on it, but the rewards are worth every penny and second of time I've invested.

The two lessons I have learned are: First, even though I thought I knew how to train - I was so wrong about so many things that I would never have achieved anything close to my results if I had not broken down and hired a trainer. Second, high-intensity athletic training is the best way to improve health, fitness, metabolism, mobility and increase longevity and life satisfaction. Every year I get stronger, faster, healthier and happier.

I've steadily increased my travels in the last year and walking and getting around are not an issue at all.

 

[Amethyst]

How do you get your Dr. to test for female hormones? Mine act like "if you don't have hot flashes, your hormones are obviously OK." I have had several blood tests in recent years, and the only hormones I recognized on the read-out were Vitamin D and thyroid.

Amethyst

I started not sleeping well at night - something that had gradually worsened over a few years, and when my progesterone was found to be low and out of balance learned poor sleep was a symptom among many others. And I just thought I had "poor sleeping habits" or just spent too much time reading my iPad at night. Take progesterone and suddenly I'm sleeping through the night after years of not doing so.

I was also very low in Vitamin D and a few other essentials which I have been correcting through vitamin supplementation and my health and sense of well being has improved.

 

[oldtrig]

At almost age 68 I am slowing down. I can tell a big difference since I retired over three years ago. I still walk two miles a day but some days I have a hard time. I keep on going though.

 

[braumeister]

I'm speeding up at 56.

That's a very impressive story. Congratulations!

I couldn't see myself putting that much effort into it, but I know that many can. As long as you enjoy it and see the benefit from it, you're doing the right thing.

 

[BellBarbara]

Interesting follow-up: I talked with a couple of HS girlfriends who recently took similar trips and I would consider them about the same level of fitness/activity. They both said they did feel the difference on their trips and they attributed it to slower recovery in the sense that they took no days off. So it wasn't just us.

 

[audreyh1]

How do you get your Dr. to test for female hormones? Mine act like "if you don't have hot flashes, your hormones are obviously OK." I have had several blood tests in recent years, and the only hormones I recognized on the read-out were Vitamin D and thyroid.

Amethyst

I think you need to find a new doctor. Mine is somewhat aggressive about testing for and treating hormone imbalances. He only prescribes bioidentical hormones however.

Mine new immediately that I was likely estrogen dominant because I had suffered from fibroids, and recently my endometrium had started to thicken. These are signs of "estrogen dominance", fairly common in premenopause, and with some long term health risks - same as taking estrogen supplements without progesterone.

I did the blood spot test from ZT Labs and the results showed progestone quite low and estrogen normal. My doctor aims to maintain a certain ratio, thus my progesterone supplementation.

The ZT Labs blood spot (from a finger tip) or saliva tests are best for measuring hormone levels. Drawing blood to send to be tested is apparently not reliable enough.

 

[2017ish]

I think you need to find a new doctor. Mine is somewhat aggressive about testing for and treating hormone imbalances. He only prescribes bioidentical hormones however.

Mine new immediately that I was likely estrogen dominant because I had suffered from fibroids, and recently my endometrium had started to thicken. These are signs of "estrogen dominance", fairly common in premenopause, and with some long term health risks - same as taking estrogen supplements without progesterone.

I did the blood spot test from ZT Labs and the results showed progestone quite low and estrogen normal. My doctor aims to maintain a certain ratio, thus my progesterone supplementation.

The ZT Labs blood spot (from a finger tip) or saliva tests are best for measuring hormone levels. Drawing blood to send to be tested is apparently not reliable enough.

OK, a guy here. But, FWIW, DW is OBG, and therefore following hormone research for almost 30 years. She finally quit the "monthlies" recently at 54. Based on what she has read (and subjective "scatterbrainedness"), she is doing progesterone transderm patch, 6 months after stopping.

_______________

ETA: She deems "bio-identical" to be akin to voodoo or homeopathy.

 

[Amethyst]

Thanks, Audrey. I'm looking for someone else, although it is a hit-or-miss ("hello, can you tell me before I make an appointment, what is Dr. X's attitude toward HRT?")

As for the Internet, either it's crack/quack sites hawking dubious supplements, or extremely generic verbiage from MDs (even the NIH papers don't want to commit to anything). Frankly, I think women's hormones, like everything else about the female reproductive system, are ridiculously taboo, considering half the human population is female.

Amethyst

I think you need to find a new doctor. Mine is somewhat aggressive about testing for and treating hormone imbalances. He only prescribes bioidentical hormones however.

Mine new immediately that I was likely estrogen dominant because I had suffered from fibroids, and recently my endometrium had started to thicken. These are signs of "estrogen dominance", fairly common in premenopause, and with some long term health risks - same as taking estrogen supplements without progesterone.

I did the blood spot test from ZT Labs and the results showed progestone quite low and estrogen normal. My doctor aims to maintain a certain ratio, thus my progesterone supplementation.

The ZT Labs blood spot (from a finger tip) or saliva tests are best for measuring hormone levels. Drawing blood to send to be tested is apparently not reliable enough.

 

[audreyh1]

Thanks, Audrey. I'm looking for someone else, although it is a hit-or-miss ("hello, can you tell me before I make an appointment, what is Dr. X's attitude toward HRT?")

As for the Internet, either it's crack/quack sites hawking dubious supplements, or extremely generic verbiage from MDs (even the NIH papers don't want to commit to anything). Frankly, I think women's hormones, like everything else about the female reproductive system, are ridiculously taboo, considering half the human population is female.

Amethyst

My doctor suggested reading "What your Doctor doesn't tell you about Menopause" by Dr. Lee. Dr. Lee is a proponent of natural progesterone (as opposed to Premarin or progesterone that is not bioidentical) when I asked him about the progestone I am taking. That book may answer some questions for you or at least give you the background you need to find the answers.

 

[ls99]

It is likely that I am slowing down at age 67. Between figure skating, workouts, Ju-jutsu, kayaking in the summer, lumberjacking year around at the mancave's 14 acres I have not had time to notice it.

Do feel a lot better compared to when my workouts consisted of commuting to and from w*rk in [-]hell hole[/-] charm city, dealing with union crap all day, attending useless meetings, generating reports that no one gave a damn about.

 

[Options]

No. Not at all. I believe "aging" or "stamina" or "energy" is a function of diet and exercise, as well as anything else we choose to ingest. I've been lifting weights since 20 and been on a strict healthy diet since late 20's. What most people consider as "eating healthy" I do not. Masseurs have said mine is the body of someone in their 30's and I have never looked better physically.

I was just thinking this week how I'll be 60 in about a week and feel like about 37. This business about one's metabolism slowing as one gets older is nonsense--mine sped up when I turned 50. As to stamina, this year I've been going out dancing (hard for cardio purposes) for up to 4 hours at a time without stopping.

While I love getting older, since the age of 30 I have constantly tuned out the noise regarding age as a limitation. Many people choose to see getting older as moving into "end of life". I choose to not see it that way at all, but to see it as expanding into the next phase of life.

Age is a mental disease, socially contagious, and one which must be mentally inoculated against, IMO.

 

[jerome len]

We know we're slowing down as we get older......otherwise 50 and 60 year olds would still be playing major leage baseball. On the other hand, diet and excercise will keep us healthy and slowing down less than those that don't. People tell me I don't look my age....am in better shape than most my age but I know I can't do today what I could do 10 years ago. I go a little slower on my treadmill, lost a little balance.....don't run up the steps two at a time any longer.....but I feel great.......FOR MY AGE.

 

[haha]

We know we're slowing down as we get older......otherwise 50 and 60 year olds would still be playing major league baseball. On the other hand, diet and excercise will keep us healthy and slowing down less than those that don't. People tell me I don't look my age....am in better shape than most my age but I know I can't do today what I could do 10 years ago. I go a little slower on my treadmill, lost a little balance.....don't run up the steps two at a time any longer.....but I feel great.......FOR MY AGE.

This is so clearly true. Over 20 years ago Sabremetricians pretty well proved that major league ballplayers were mostly over the hill by the time they were 30. What are the chances that some 60 year old retiree is not?

Zero. I am now 74. I gauge how I am doing by how well I can keep up with the sidewalk traffic coming up the hill out of the public market, about a 1 1/2 mile walk pretty much all up hill but far from the worlds steepest hill. In fact, far from Seattle's steepest hill. Hint: I have lost a bit, even in the ~10 years that I have been living here. And since I think that there are somewhere between 0 and very few 84 year olds making good time up this hill, I'd say I will likely lose more over the next 10 years.

Another thing is how often I want to do anything very strenuous. If I keep things moderate, daily is best, it keeps me grooved. But when I start pressing, I am looking for a day off. For a while anyway my plan is to row moderately every day. and add whatever walking or other non heavy duty exercise as the opportunity arises. The last 2 weeks I've been doing about 10k
per daily session. Today I went up to 11k, and after a week if I feel good I'll go to12k. I arrived at this strategy because when I go to bed early after this type workout, I sleep much better than my background level, and I love to sleep long and well.

As far as looking good, I'm biased, but if I were a young woman, I would not be tempted. Not even a tiny bit.

Ha