If you're over 30 do you regret not getting into shape in your 20s?

[babybabybabybabymother]

just that really. I'm getting there but I am not working out. I wonder if I'll regret it

I've always been in great shape & then i changed to a sitting down job at 40.

I'm always around 2 stone overweight now.

Not sure which way to respond to the poll

I was very fit, slim and active in my 20s- gym going & regular team sports.

This continued into my 30s and even after first baby at 35

Baby number 2 aged 39, definitely felt more unfit during the pregnancy as I was much more sedentary & tired with a little one to look after

I've found after turning 40 & my exercise levels reduced/less intense the weight started creeping on

I'll blame the first lockdown last year, I put on weight from eating/drinking too much & barely any exercise apart from the park with kids which doesn't really count!

I'd like to lose 5kg to get back to an "acceptable" weight for me

Getting to the point of the thread, I don't think it's ever too late to "get into shape"!

No the joy of being young and in your 20s was not worrying about such things. Now I’m in my 30s and have birthed 3 babies I’m much more aware of my weight and staying in shape but when I was younger it didn’t cross my mind, don’t regret that

I regret giving up yoga after getting quite good at it. I’m not good at home practice so once I lost the routine of going to classes that was it

Lockdown and WFH have just locked by body up and getting aches and pains

Totally. I've lost 11st and 4lbs over the last two years and am in mid 30s. The saggy crepey skin is bloody depressing!

I started putting weight on in my early 20s and have got bigger and bigger (I'm 36 now).
I've just realised lately that I'm huge and I really regret not dealing with it sooner.
I put a lot of weight on after pregnancy last year and every time I look in the mirror I feel shit about it but can't be arsed to work out.

For me it was late 20s into 30s the weight started rising. And I think the main thing that did it was getting a car. I went from walking to and between bus stops all the time to, well, not doing that.

No it's never too late to start! X

In my early 40s I was in the best shape I've ever been. Late 40s now and not so much. I think it's an age thing as I don't eat that much and I do exercise. But I had a baby mid 40s.
In my 50's I'll get fit and healthy I hope

I’m late 30s and getting fatter all the time. I’m actually quite alarmed by myself, I felt quite unwell walking round the (flat) Park the other day.

So yes, I wish I’d done something about it earlier. I have a history of disordered eating that started after I was raped and the lawyer for the defence asked me at the trial why I’d gained weight and dyed my hair brown. Horrible man.

This was one of the reasons I’m glad to have had/be having my kids in my mid twenties. I snapped back easily after DC1 and hopefully will again this time. The best shape I’ve ever been in was around the time I got pregnant with this baby. Much as I wish I could make myself keep working out and eating well I just can’t do it in pregnancy. But I know I’ll get straight back to it as soon as I can post birth and will be back to being tiny quickly, which I think is easier now than it would be in ten years time.

I'm older - 50's. I was extremely fit in my twenties and if someone had suggested I would ever stop working out I'd have thought them crazy. But here I am 3 stone heavier, noyscle tone and stiff as a board. When you do achieve your aim don't stop.

Muscle tone!

Its interesting that most people on this thread equate 'fit' to mean ' thin'

I was thin in my 20s and fit. Then I was thin and very unfit because I never ate and didn't do any exercise. Then I got fat because I started eating again. I was also actually the fittest I've ever been because I was regularly running and exercising most days.

It all went to shit in my 30s with depression, kids and stuff. Now I am working on my fitness again in my early 40s. Bodies change over time. A fit and healthy 20s doesn't guarantee you a fit and healthy life.

Nope. I did no exercise until I was in my late 30’s. I didn’t need to until I was in approx my mid 30’s!
I am in my 40’s now and in decent shape.
I was never overweight so I probably could have been in incredible shape in my 20’s & 30’s if I’d started training then, but I was really too busy having fun!

Lol, no it never crossed my mind in my twenties

Late forties and due to a medical condition I can’t exercise but it also means I’m underweight. Weight and fitness are two very different things.

Yes I regret this, now want to be fit by 40

I’m reading the Why We Eat book recommended by so many mumsnetters. It’s really opened my eyes as to how I got to this point and that there is a very simple way back to good health

I’m hoping I can help my children avoid the obesity epidemic by modelling healthy eating

Weight and fitness are two very different things

This is so very true

Yes. I regret spending most of my life being overweight.

Wouldn’t have made much difference for me - two kids have completely changed my figure. I’m as wide as a barn door (hips, rib cage, shoulders) and carrying three stone too many. If I’d worked really hard to get in shape in my twenties I’d be absolutely gutted now!

I’d love to know how people snap back after pregnancy. I’m not lazy nor greedy, but I blew up like the Michelin man with each baby and I don’t think I’ll ever be the same again ☹️

20s was young and didn't especially care. Being young you mostly look fine anyway

30s pregnancies, breastfeeding and young kids so no time for gym

40s have had time and money to throw at it and probably in the best shape of my life.

I don't especially regret not doing it sooner as it would just have been unrealistic to think I would. I just had different priorities then. I was never hugely overweight or anything just not very fit.

Occasionally now I think it's a bit wasted from an aesthetic POV given that my face is wrinkly and I have thread veins, age spots etc but from a health and functional POV (which is increasingly all I care about) it's so worth it.

I regret not enjoying my physicality earlier. I’m 44 and only now am I really getting into outdoor sports. I’m
Going to events with people literally half my age and I wish I had done more of it when I was their age-more flexible, more stamina and enjoying life!

Yes!!! I was a size 12 until about 31 and now a 14. I think I am a big 14 as I cant even squeeze into my old 12 trousers. I keep trying and failing. If I could just get to the 12 I would be a lot happier in myself again. I have tried slimming world and lots of other diets. I can loose a few pounds but I find it hard to stick at it. I need to lose ideally 1.5 stones but 1 stone would probably do the trick. In comparison to some people I'm so close but I feel so far!!!

I would have because you get busy, have children, less free time, there is never as good a time as your 20s. So that’s when I played a lot of sport, got to the gym enough to be genuinely fit, ran a half marathon- I couldn’t fit a training schedule into my life right now, but it will be so much easier to get back into when I can as I know how the habit works and how good it feels.