Are you a retired, single woman?

[TeachMeSomething]

If you're retired (or soon to be) and single, what steps are you taking to try to remain healthy, strong and living independently for as long as is humanly possible?

For example, have you downsized to somewhere you could continue to live as you get older? Have you moved to a walkable town or city? Are you a bit fanatical about your diet?

Would love to hear your ideas!

Placemarking. I'm only in my late 50s and currently working full time but hoping to retire early in a couple of years.

I'm not worried about keeping busy - I've been increasingly involved in women's rights and environmental campaigning and work keeps getting in the way. I also don't have enough time to read and do other things that I enjoy.

But I'm finding the exercise and fitness posts really interesting and useful. I don't drive so walk a lot but it sounds as if I really need to start doing more.

Wow @Myblueclematis ! They are hardy genes!

None of my grandparents managed to get past their mid-60's. My mum was 76 when she died of cancer. My dad was a month away from his 89th birthday but he had dementia and, as a retired medical professional who specialised in geriatrics, he would have hated what his life had become.

Dementia!!!!

Is anyone doing anything yet to try to avoid it/delay the onset of it? I'm using Duolingo to learn Swedish and revisit my schoolgirl French. (The French is a lot easier than the Swedish!)

I'm 64 and about to stop work. I run four miles five times a week, spin for another four hours a week, and do Pilates. I walk my dog. I live in a house with a downstairs bathroom where I can close up the upstairs if I HAVE to (very steep staircase!). I write novels and that keeps my brain alive. I have four of my adult kids living within 20 miles so I travel to see them occasionally or they come to see me.
When I stop work I've got SO MUCH I want to do, a very good friend (who has long retired) and I want to travel more and see more of the UK, I want to take up my horseriding again and maybe get another horse. Join a book club, join a walking group, redecorate the house, get the garden properly sorted.
So I'm staying as healthy and active for as long as I can!

Eat 30 different fruit & veg a week.

That's good going @Meadowfinch ! I try to add extra f and v to everything I possibly can. I buy ready chopped and frozen so I can easily add an extra handful here and there - I find frozen spinach and onions particularly good. (Fresh spinach wilts so quickly and onions are such a faff.) Frozen blueberries and cherries are also on my list.

The other day, I found a wholefood company that does powdered, often organic, vegetables like beetroot, spinach and pumpkin. Still thinking about how I could use them but concluded that they might be useful in the event of a apocalypse! 😀

I put the packet of raw spinach leaves straight into the freezer. Then I take out handfuls and use in whatever needs it, and to add to smoothies. I bake my own wholemeal + flax/chia/wheat bran bread. A decent size loaf lasts me a week of two slices a day. Freezer friend again!

My go to smoothie recipe includes -

Full fat Greek yogurt
Soya milk
Walnuts and almonds
Spinach (straight from the freezer as above)
Berries
Protein powder

I whizz that up in the food processor and make enough for a few days and keep in lidded containers in the fridge perfectly fine. Might need a bit of a stir to reincorporate it.

When I was very ill and couldn't be bothered cooking or eating much, that smoothie kept me alive!

Oh and I'm no saint, as I make a batch of three ingredient lemon scones every week also and scoff them too. With real Kerrygold butter, or cream and lemon curd. I'm that bad. 😊

I saw this and thought of you, ladies:

In the restful houses of women who live alone

https://poornabell.substack.com/p/in-the-restful-houses-of-women-who

Retired two years ago on a modest pension. Cleared out most of my life junk, put the rest into a storage unit, and moved from rural area to a house-share in London. Joined a cheap-ish gym and spend a couple of hours there three or four times a week, and annual membership of various cultural things. Buy cheapest tickets for theatre, opera, ballet etc - mostly out of west end, but also seat-filler mailing lists. Huge amounts of free and cheap things to do in London, including free public transport. If I can get from A to B in an hour on foot, I walk. Meet up with family every couple of weeks, Women’s Institute and book group both monthly. I have a part-time seasonal job that gives my pension a bit of a boost over the summer. I mostly live on a wide variety of salads, hot meals perhaps once a week.

I am the healthiest and happiest I have ever been. No stress, fixed bills so no money worries, no significant other that I have to try and please/accommodate.

I’m interested in your seat-filler mailing lists, @LoserWinner - I vaguely remember signing up for one years ago, but I don’t think I ever got any offers…

Central Tickets - at least one event every couple of weeks (also Today Tix occasionally). Royal Opera House has free lunchtime concerts of opera and ballet. Greshams do free lectures.

But I'm finding the exercise and fitness posts really interesting and useful. I don't drive so walk a lot but it sounds as if I really need to start doing more.

All women should weight train, especially as we get older. Bones deteriorate alarmingly if they are not strengthened through regular weight-bearing exercise. I had osteopenia but managed to reverse it through my dedicated exercise routine.

You don’t even need to go to the gym - all I do is work out with various dumbbells, plus I have a pull-up bar and I do push-ups and planks - as well as a bit of flexibility yoga.

There are so many trainers on YouTube, though some are better than others. My favourites are:

• Lucy Wyndham Read (mostly for novices, though her Thighs and Glutes workout is quite tough)
• Rebecca Louise (short, straightforward, a bit more intense - but she chats too much…)
• Heather Robertson (an excellent all round trainer)
• Growingannanas (mostly HIIT, with and without dumbbells - excellent cardio exercises - I particularly like her Tabata sessions)
• Caroline Girvan (the best for serious weight training - life-changing!)
• also regular yoga - there are loads of videos but my favourites are Livinleggings, Yoga with Kassandra and Charlie Follows
• plus the Bowflex 3-minute plank every day (for a really strong core, which makes everything else soooooo much easier)

One of the wonderful things about being old and retired is that I actually have the time to do this stuff!

I put the packet of raw spinach leaves straight into the freezer. Will try that @annzen Also like the idea of the 'life-saving smoothie'!

Shocking! 😂

@LoserWinner Cleared out most of my life junk

I love a good clear out! One of the benefits of having moved a lot - I usually wore a path between home and the local charity shop. For the rest, I just hired a skip...

Looks like I'll be spending a lot of time on YouTube for the forseeable. Thanks for the recs!

I agree with this! I’m 59 and my intention was for DH and I to find a bungalow when he retires because, as a friend said to me, that no one wants to end up with a bed in the living room. After reading about the deterioration in leg strength when you don’t go upstairs, I’ve readjusted our retirements to a house with at least one bedroom and bathroom upstairs and downstairs. That’s the ideal.

My parents still got up and down the stairs in their three bed semi at 89, albeit slowly and coming downstairs backwards.

Couldn't edit but just adding - now I just buy a lot less. I reckon I have enough clothes to last me for the rest of my life. Now I just replace stuff as it wears out or becomes shabby, I've always tried to buy fairly 'classic' furniture rather than buying the latest trend and I now just buy kindle books rather than physical ones.

I live in a one bed property with stairs and I consider it one of the best exercises as I am up and down numerous times a day. I also try to run up them if I can, although I never run down, too blooming dangerous.

Bungalow legs is quite a thing and although so far, I am ok to still live here, my mobiity etc. is still good, I dread the thought that I may have to move to a bungalow in the coming years.

My parents lived in a bungalow from 1958 and I think that they probably both suffered from bungalow legs in later life.

I do it while my porridge is cooking - 1 minute on each leg, but only once a day. I used to do it while having a shower - until I made the stupid mistake of trying to wash my hair at the same time, fell, and bruised my ribs on the side of the bath!

Oh not this again. Most people in some countries live in "bungalows" and seem to remain fit and healthy - and I can still manage the stairs in the library, which go higher than in a house, no trouble.

When I managed the retirement complex (see upthread), we had some residents who always used the lift and some who would never dream of it. (I'm not talking about the peeps with mobility issues, obviously). Guess who struggled when the lift went out of action and we had to wait three weeks for a part?

DM lives on 3 levels. It has a lift, but it’s a badge of honour to her, to say “I never use it”.

She’s 85.

Love this thread. Thank you for starting Op. I immediately stop reading posts whenever poster says “we” when discussing retirement, money and life plans.
I’m 51 and got 7 1/2 years left on the mortgage. Will then retire and move to cheaper area/downsize- haven’t decided where yet.
I eat hardly any UPFs, walk my dog daily, gym for cardio and weight training (also have weights at home) and try to go on extra long hike at the weekend involving steep hills.
No intention of ever being in another relationship.