January/February weight management challenge

[goldfinch]

You are also most likely genetically blessed. I am about your size (weight and height-wise) and yet starting at around age 45, I started getting more tummy fat, more hip fat (love handles), and yes, back fat. At 50, these things have only gotten worse, especially since I've also put on a few lbs. lately. I also wear a C cup bra so have more fat there as well. I run, I bike, I walk, I do yoga, I don't even own a car, I have strong legs and a reasonably strong upper body for my size, and yet I have a higher % of body fat than is ideal and than I feel comfortable with. I would have to get down to about 95 lbs. or less (or have liposuction) to have a flat stomach again. I have rolls of fat on my belly when I sit down, and I hate it.

I also have lots of fat people in my family on both my mother and father's side back two generations. I eat a much healthier diet than any of them ever did, and am much more physically fit and active; and those facts are all that is standing between me and obesity. I am quite sure that if I lived the lifestyles most of my relatives did, I would be obese.

I've never had a flat stomach and always have had a large chest, even when I weighed 95 pounds I was curvy. It is my genetic destiny. All the women in my family are round to one degree or another. I now wear a 32F or G bra. My body fat is higher than I want but the best I can do is be sure to work on staying fit and active, as you do.

Losing a lot of weight in my late 50s has left me with too much skin. Which is a drag but it is what it is.

[Crankin]

My genetics are a mixed bag. While my mom was very petite and slim for most of her life (and active at a time when women weren't) she did start gaining in her mid fifties. Then she got diagnosed with an autoimmune liver disease, so all of anything about diet/exercise went out the window. She died at 67. My dad has had thin and quite heavy periods in his life, but I would say he is mostly thin. But, since my mom's death, he eats terribly and still smokes. He's never exercised.
I have very heavy relatives on both sides of my family. My mom's sister is 70 and very overweight. Three of my grandparents had periods of being overweight, with only my paternal grandmother being thin (and strikingly gorgeous) until the day she died. Needless to say, no one was active. My dad thinks i'm nuts, but humors me.
I have not been thin all of my life. I started gaining when I got out of college, lost the weight and was very thin until my early to mid forties. I struggled with an extra 10-20 lbs until I started cycling at age 48. I made a conscious decision, though, to always be vigilant. And, it's not easy, as you said, Emily. DH and I always say that just once, we would like to be like "regular" people, i.e. people who don't care what goes into their bodies and are not active. But, it's not meant to be. As you said, Emily, if I didn't live the lifestyle I do, I would be at least 30 pounds heavier.