Lifestyle

A 68-Year-Old Woman Lost More Than 80 Pounds. Then She Realized How Much Strength She’d Lost Along the Way: “Losing Weight and Getting Stronger Are Not Quite the Same Thing”

By Erica Coleman · November 2, 2026

Cindy used to circle parking lots looking for the spot closest to the door. Given a choice between stairs and an elevator, she took the elevator. Heavier chores could wait for family visits.

“If something needed to be done around my house that required a little bit of strength, I would just wait until my kids came to town,” she said in a video posted Oct. 30 on her YouTube channel, Growing Again (@growingagain25). Now she takes the extra steps across the parking lot and climbs the stairs. “I just do it,” she said.

Cindy, who gives only her first name on the channel, describes herself plainly. “I am just a 68-year-old woman who is still learning,” she said. She also says she is not a fitness trainer or an expert, and that viewers’ needs and abilities may be completely different from hers.

The first change was the scale. “I’ve lost over 80 pounds and that has certainly made a difference. But I have come to realize that losing weight and getting stronger are not quite the same thing,” she said.

She explains what she noticed next, and shows her routine, in her video on YouTube.

“As the weight came off, I began realizing just how much strength I had lost along the way and how important it is to start rebuilding it,” she said.

She admits she was slow to start. She enjoyed walking and being outdoors but did not like strength training, and she said she did not begin lifting weights until about March of this year. She began with 2-pound and 5-pound dumbbells, mostly for her arms, a couple of times a week, plus sit-to-stands from a kitchen chair. She said she has a painful hip and bad knees, so some of her exercises are specific to those areas.

Today she uses 8-pound dumbbells, sometimes 10 or 5 depending on the exercise. She said she would like to strength train about four days a week but realistically averages closer to three. The bigger shift, she said, was in her attitude: “something that I used to have to talk myself into doing has become something that I actually miss when I can’t do it.”

What the guidelines say. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says adults 65 and older need muscle-strengthening activities on at least 2 days a week, along with at least 150 minutes of moderate aerobic activity, such as brisk walking, and activities to improve balance. The CDC adds that people who have trouble meeting those goals should be as active as their abilities and conditions allow, since some activity is better than none.

Why it matters. The National Institute on Aging says muscle-strengthening activities can help older adults stay independent and make everyday tasks easier, such as getting up from a chair, climbing stairs and carrying groceries. NIA says this type of exercise is also key to slowing the loss of muscle mass and helping to prevent falls.

Starting out. NIA suggests beginners try exercises without weights or resistance bands until they are comfortable with the movements. It also advises talking with your doctor if you are unsure about a particular activity, or if a chronic condition makes it hard to be active.

Cindy’s own advice to viewers is to find a safe starting place for their abilities.

This article is for general information and is not medical advice. Talk with your doctor before starting a new exercise program. This article was produced with the assistance of AI and fact-checked against the sources cited by LightWave Reports.