At the risk of sounding shallow and vain I will admit (since this is a place of "truth" for me) I am not happy with my body. I manage my weight (at 5'4" I weigh 115 lbs) however I've found that after age 50, "thin" alone does not necessarily make for an attractive body. Friends who struggle with weight "chide" me for my efforts to find a way to "build a better body"...I think because they see me as someone who is not having to fight the pounds that are characteristic of adding another decade of life onto one's frame so I should be content. That is not it at all for me. I am the poster child for those articles that talk about how a person loses muscle mass with age...yes some of us add pounds of fat...but we also lose muscle mass in some cruel double edged sword of nature. Those of us who are thin see that muscle loss very quickly ...and without a layer of fat tissue, the skin on one's arms and legs start to look like stretched out pantyhose. I can still wear a pair of jeans pretty well but I dread the tank top and shorts season as much as my friends who are weight conscious. Women who carry "saddlebags" of fat and envy those of us who are "thin", don't understand that at some point, a "smaller butt" is really NOT the goal. The butt is muscle...and an attractive butt is a well toned/built set of muscles. I guess my "question"...or maybe just my "quest" is whether at "my age" I can still build muscle that gives me more youthful looking arms, legs, and yes, booty!
I'm not a "grouper" (no not the fish)...I don't really enjoy hauling myself to the gym where I sweat it out with a large group of women while some sweet young thing shouts "you can do it" at me. [The visual here would be...what would Maxine say in that situation?!!]
So....today I researched and ordered 2 exercise DVDS. The reviewers whose feedback I read (I love that "review" feature often included on the on-line stores sites) included women who are no stranger to exercise and they found the routines challenging but effective. I could not find anyone in the "over 50" age demographic whose opinion I could read though. I am determined to work with these materials and report whether those of us in the 50+ group (assuming I am representative) can realize enough positive change to make the effort worthwhile.
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