Hi! As I've posted elsewhere, I'm almost 64 and manage chronic "neuro-muscular shenanigans", but am otherwise metabolically healthy. Worse than chronic pain is my CHRONIC JOB where I have to endure high levels of stres and urgency while holding still at a keyboard. Cortisol much??? Although I am the smallest woman in this horrible situation at my job (other than the ones on semaglutides as life-saving measures) I could stand to lose about 70 pounds. ANY weight loss will help with pain and inflammation

but 70 would get me to my lowest adult weight. Although the way I can still pack on muscle, even at my age, my best LBM might make that weight unrealistically low. I'm genetically blessed with extremely heavy, dense bones.In her 80s my mom had the bone density of a 35 year old, and bone scans revealed that my bones got MORE dense during menopause.My LMB is going to skew high even at my leanest. So. given how unsafe it can be for me to move AT ALL, I am using only the CHLOE TING WARM UPS for now. Specifically the 6 minute one where she is in yellow with pink shoes.

Last week I was able to get one or two of these in, most days. (Familiy in town over Memorial Day weekend messed up my schedule a bit.) Over that week i used modifications that in some cases made the exercises unrecognizable as exercises, but I knew which joints and muscle groups I was safely engaging. I was sending a signal to my body: "WE CAN DO THIS. we are doing this! we will keep doing this!" Starting today I did two warmups back to back, and I was able to incorporate a tiny bit more spinal rotation, a tiny bit more bending, a tiny bit deeper, wider stance engaging my knees.

I understand that it takes muscle to burn fat, and I have lost so, so much muscle. It's hard to move safely and that means it's hard to get muscle, but with Chloe's example and with this community's support I will succeed!

I also understand that while you can add muscle through exercise, you only really lose fat in the kitchen. It the risk of spiking cortisol, I am doing a bit of IF and I'm emphasizing getting plant protein over animal protein. This makes it hard to get ENOUGH protein. Plant protein is abundant and delicious, but it comes packaged in starchier forms than animal protein and I'm trying to keep my carbs down, even my complex carbs down, to get a little ketosis going. I'm not vegan but I am totally learning to eat a wider variety of plants, thanks to our vegan friends online who are so generous with recipes and cooking tips. Thank you, Vegans!

What else? My highest weight is 210, but the main trouble with my appearance is the worn, saggy, pouchy, drawn face I get from having to choose between the problems of PAIN and the problems fo PAIN MEDS, Pain meds are a life-saving mercy but they involve water retention, memory problems, and mood swings. Both are aging my face very rapidly. I am hoping that fat loss will mean less inflammation, and muscle tone will mean better posture, and alignement.