Mid-life fitness: At 56, I lost 16kg with weight training and a high-protein diet

"The change to my body composition was amazing; I lost four inches from my waist." File photo / Kelly Sikkema, Unsplash

OPINION:

Lynne Webb, 56, from Maidstone, Kent, is a retired police officer and is training to be an ambulance call handler.

When I was in the police force, I rarely had to think about my weight and was always slim. Being on my feet all day, I was so active and always ate fairly healthily.

However, that all changed a year after the Westminster attacks in March 2017. I was working at the scene, and it was such a horrendous and deeply traumatising experience that about a year later I basically went ‘bang’. I wasn’t sleeping, felt incredibly anxious and had other PTSD symptoms, and so I was put on anti-anxiety medication and moved to a desk job.

That was when my health and fitness started going downhill and the weight started piling on. I was also going through the menopause and experiencing symptoms of what would later be diagnosed as fibromyalgia – I had terrible tiredness and really awful aches that would appear in different parts of my body on different days. It was totally debilitating and confusing, and really got me very low.

I put on weight gradually. At 5ft 8in, I’m tall, so I didn’t really notice the first stone. But when my weight hit 15 stone [95 kilograms], from around 11st [70kg], I suddenly really felt it. Then, when blood tests came back saying I was pre-diabetic, that was the final straw. I knew I had to do something about it.

Both my parents died from health issues arising from diabetes and I’ve always thought that if they hadn’t had the disease, they would have lived longer. So I knew I had to tackle my health to give me more time with my kids and my new grandchild.

Join a club to get you motivated

I joined a local running club, where I knew a few other people, and started on its 0-5k programme. It took me a few attempts, but once I was able to run 5k easily, I felt like I was taking back control, and I naturally started to lose a bit of weight. I loved the social aspect of the club; it made a real difference to my motivation.

Include protein in every meal

During lockdown, when everyone was obsessed with [fitness influencer] Joe Wicks, I started following his nutrition advice. I’ve never really eaten junk food, but I found it really helpful learning about the importance of protein in your diet, and how I needed some with every meal to fill me up and help build muscle. When you have more muscle, it revs up your metabolism and helps you burn fat. I started making the meals he suggested and a bit more weight fell off.

Add in weight training

What supercharged my weight loss was meeting a trainer called Angela Middleton who runs a company called Your Body Means Business. She was 59 when I first met her and was in incredible shape, which was so inspiring.

I think a lot of women, myself included, tend to think that once you’re past 50, that’s it. But Angela proved that you can tackle your health and diet at any age. She emphasised the importance of eating whole foods and lots of fruit and veg, and cutting back on carbohydrates. But what really made a difference was taking up weight training – I started doing about an hour a day online with her.

Within 18 months I’d lost 2.5st. The change to my body composition was amazing; I lost four inches from my waist. While before I had been living in baggy clothes to hide my body, last summer for the first time in ages I felt confident wearing a bikini again.

Dig into your biology

Losing the weight was relatively straightforward, but I found that maintaining it was a bit trickier. Then I heard about a weight management DNA test from My Health Checked, and the results were fascinating.

I learnt that my specific genotype means my body has an impaired function of the ADRB2 gene, which influences the way I process glucose. Thanks to my genotype I can’t keep the weight off simply by following a low-calorie diet – I have to do moderate exercise as well, both cardio and weight training.

It had some interesting suggestions about diet, too. My body type isn’t brilliant at processing glucose with a later dinner time or an early breakfast, so I’ve started eating breakfast later, at around 9am, and dinner earlier at 6pm. It also said that I should add in more cranberries, strawberries and pistachios, and tart cherry juice to aid melatonin production and help with sleep. Getting a good night’s sleep helps with weight management.

It was really helpful to learn that my struggles with keeping the weight off were not because I’m doing something wrong; it’s just the way my body works. I think without that knowledge I would have given up trying to diet, but now I know I just have to keep going.

This whole health journey has been so beneficial. I’ve healed some of my fibromyalgia symptoms and overall I’ve got so much more energy; I feel like I’m 38 again. For me, the point of a healthy lifestyle is so that you can live as long as possible in good health. I don’t want to be 80 and worrying about my health; I want to be enjoying myself.

My workout week

I try to go to the gym three times a week at a minimum, but four is better. I do a mixture of weights and cardio and I try to do around 10,000 steps a day.

What I eat in a day

Breakfast: Overnight oats with protein powder, nuts and berries

Lunch: Salad with chicken breast

Dinner: Steak with lots of green vegetables; I add in a sweet potato cooked in the air fryer

Snacks: Either nuts and fruit or a smoothie with almond milk and strawberries

Lifestyle tips

Sleep: It varies between six and seven hours a night, but I sleep pretty well

Carbs: I aim for lower-carbohydrate foods, and when I do have carbs, I opt for low-GI foods such as oats and sweet potatoes to give me slow-burning energy

Alcohol: I don’t really drink, but I do enjoy a bit of dark chocolate in the evenings