Sister, can you lend a good word ?

[HermitGirl]

Count me in. I'm 47 and have been finding myself completely 'pausal' (not sure what phase of 'peri' I'm in) and it's put the weight on like no tomorrow. I always battled 10 to 20 pounds throughout my 20's and 30's , but since turning 40 the weight really started coming on. Of course, other factors were major blamers, such as getting depressed and not exercizing half as much as previous years, and getting angry and emotional about everything around me... the usual triggers going way off the deep end and becoming festering thorns for a downright self image crisis. Yeah, probably typical. Anyway, I am 55 pounds over my lean weight, but I'll settle for losing only 45 if that's as good as it will get. I just need to get STARTED. It seems I've been in denial about this for years now, and I'm just tired of holding the wool over my eyes.

I've not been riding at all, not doing too well at this heaviest weight, but I hike at least 5 times per week, for about an hour, with my dog. I've recently started jogging intervals in those hikes. I am just now seeing results, three weeks later, for the jogging intervals, and have gone down about 3 pounds. My goal is to trim off 10 pounds and I will then start riding again. Big excuses why I don't use the pedaling to get it going, but I loath the thought of driving to ride, and I live on top of a steep mtn which is just a little daunting to manage for the present , to even pedal for a couple of miles. So then, I know I'll be pedling pretty soon, I'm shooting for some time in March. But back to the whole exasperating battle with this BRUTAL reality of the peri/post menopausal physical changes, I'm only too happy to huddle with you girls here and talk about it ! This thread is just what I needed.