Last Updated on June 20, 2024 by Michelle

Looking for tips for improving your health, at any age?

At two very different stages of life, I had to make lifestyle changes to improve my health… in my 30s and now in my 50s.

My story towards improved health, as a young mom and later in menopause

The first time, I was a very busy homeschooling mom to 4 girls. I put on 5-10 pounds with each pregnancy and just never lost any. Until I had a wakeup call one night, while holding a bag of Chips Ahoy cookies. I got serious about my health and everything changed. I lost 38 pounds over the course of about 7 months.

Fast forward a decade+ , tack on a year’s worth of intense grief and stress, and I had put back on too many of those hard-earned-lost pounds. And, yet again, I had chosen to not care about my health and fitness. This time the weight loss was a much more up-hill battle and I tried–and failed–numerous times, until I took 4 key principles to heart… That’s what I’m sharing here today. Find all the information here:

6 Tips for Losing Weight

If you are in the midst of grief or stress, I hope you find encouragement here:

A Series I Wrote on encouragement in grief

Some encouragement if you have a child in pain

If you’d like to hear about my weight loss struggles, success, and encouragement at these two distinctively different times of life, I spill all the beans in this podcast episode:

Tips for Improving Your Health, at any age

There are 4 take aways I’ve learned after drastically improving my health 2 times now, in 2 very different stages of life.

1. Respect what really works.

Do what works in your stage of life! Try different tactics until you hit on things that truly motivate you.

In my late 30s, to cut calories I chose to go for 2 days straight, every 7-10 days, with only eating fruits and veggies. This didn’t require a lot of preparation or special cooking on my part, so it was very doable, as long as I always had plenty of fresh food on hand for those two days that I could grab and take on the go.

In my early 50s I had time to devote to learning new cooking techniques and new recipes, and I enjoyed the challenge. So I focused more on eliminating as much processed food as I could and having one nutritious, from-scratch meal a day, full of good-for-me, nutritious calories, and the other meal was most often a large salad.

In my 30s, I needed a special treat I promised myself at the next milestone to keep me on-track (often every 10 pounds, and always very coveted things, not expensive but items I truly longed for).

In my 50s, probably because I only had to loose 1/2 the weight I originally did in my 30s, and also because my daily schedule was more relaxed and I had more time to commit to food prep and daily exercise, I didn’t find I needed milestone treats.

2. Take accountability seriously.

In some way, have a system of accountability. No matter what stage of life you’re in, there will be hard days or weeks and you’ll want to get off track, but having a system in place where you have encouragement and accountability will make all the difference.

A few possibilities:

Encourage a spouse to join you on your quest for a healthier lifestyle.
Find an exercise a child wants to do with you daily.
Make your new thirst for nutritious food a chance to spend more fun time in the kitchen with children who want to learn alongside you. Go here for tips on Motivating the Family to Help in the Kitchen.
Keep a journal, jotting down what you eat for snacks and meals, what you do for daily exercise, and exciting milestones
Use your calendar for accountability. Write in food prep time and daily exercise time and stick to these, as if they were business appointments and they’re non-negotiable.

3. Be prepared for the hard moments.

Have a verse or quote or mantra to go to on all those hard moments. When you have zero motivation to go for the walk you scheduled on your calendar or the hike you committed to with a friend. When you crave the chocolate cake or ice cream when you’re up still at midnight. Whatever your hard moments are–some weeks there will be many–it makes a world of difference to have a mantra that motivates and encourages you to do what you know is right for you. My two verses I mentioned in this podcast episode:

Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer every part of yourself to him as an instrument of righteousness. For sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace. Romans 6: 12-14

You come to the help of those who gladly do right. Isaiah 63:5

4. Commit to a lifestyle change.

I explained when I recently lost weight it was motivated by a desire to be in better shape before Hayley and Cai’s wedding, last summer. While it’s okay to have a goal like that, that can’t be the real reason behind weight loss. If your ultimate end goal isn’t a lifestyle change, you will never succeed in the long-term.

More details about Improving Your Health, at any age

In today’s podcast episode, all about Improving Your Health, at Any Age, I mentioned many exercise videos that helped me:

In my late 30s, I discovered pilates for first time ever and a very retro (hilariously 80s retro, to be honest) workout video that is still wonderfully effective, 4 decades later. Now, in my 50s I’ve been enjoying doing routines from the FIT app with Kira Stokes:

Buns of Steel

Anna Caban Pilates Abs workout

The FIT app

I mentioned in the podcast episode that I try to enjoy a big salad w all fresh-picked veggies in the summer and fermented foods in the winter:

This podcast episode (S4 E11) discusses the benefits of fermented foods and drinks and how they help you loose weight

This podcast episode (S4 E13) offers you 6 encouraging tips for weight loss, even during menopause

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