For me, 2025 is a year of 50th birthday parties, a wedding, and a reunion. This created the motivation I needed to start a weight loss regimen. In January, I coined the term “Bridesmaid Bootcamp” to counter the “COVID-19 pounds” and to fit attractively in a formal dress. The events were at my alma mater at West Point in May, so I had four months to lose weight. I knew my Army peers would look fit at any age, so I had some positive peer pressure. I had motivation, a goal date, and I needed a plan. I was determined to implement a home-based plan with a few lifestyle tweaks and not a gym membership. If you have a special occasion coming up and you want a low effort, low-cost plan to lose weight, then this approach might be for you.

There were four main components to this home exercise plan: walking, light weights, low carb diet, and intermittent fasting. However, I did not implement all of these at once. The concept of behavioral momentum suggests implementing small, successive changes tends to be more successful long-term than trying to implement numerous changes at one time. This was true for me.

I really enjoy walking and running, but the snow and ice during the first months of the year make outside exercise in winter unappealing. Fortunately, treadmills now have lighter versions that can be shipped to your house and for lower prices (starting at $150 on Amazon.) Walking desks have become very popular too. I walked on the treadmill for an hour three times a week. I positioned my treadmill near a large window frequented by wildlife, and I put my headphones on with music. I enjoyed this scheduled self-time, and I encourage people to find a form of cardio exercise (biking, swimming, skiing, etc.) that they enjoy. It also proved to be true that a person does not need excessive cardio to lose weight. To be honest, I was not exerting myself in this effort, but I did need to be consistent.

Walking is the easiest way to kickstart your metabolism and has many health benefits for the mind and body. Harvard claims that walking is the “next closest thing we have to a wonder drug,” and reports five surprising benefits of walking:

In May with the warmer spring weather upon us and more access to the beautiful outdoors of Colorado, I plan to incorporate 20 minutes of High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT), using bodyweight without any need for equipment or technology: sprints, squats, mountain climbers, burpees, and push-ups.

Healthline reports seven benefits of HIIT workouts:

I needed to build back some upper body muscle lost in middle age, so I added in some light hand weights of 6, 8, 10, and 12 pounds and focused on toning up my arms to wear a formal sleeveless dress at the wedding. Can a person tone-up with some small dumbbells and inexpensive resistant bands? Yes. A gym membership is not required, which is good news for those of us who live in small rural towns in Colorado which do not have a fitness center. I lifted weights twice a week, but three days a week is better for consistency. The additional motivation for weight training is that muscle burns more calories at rest. Again, I was not exerting myself with these weights. My take-away is that exercise does not need to be strenuous to get results, rather consistency on the calendar is far more important than intensity. If your plan is easy and enjoyable, then you are more likely to succeed. (Obviously, the diehard gym guys will disagree with me but remember this is a Bridesmaid Bootcamp for vanity not strength development.)

So how strong should we be? My 72-year-old mother is still farming acres which requires strength, but I could not find a practical task list for minimum strength standards to maintain. Tim Henriques Strength Standards specifies that men should be able to do 30 push-ups and 10 pullups to be in the “decent” strength category. Likewise, women should be able to do 5 push-ups and 1 pull up to be in “decent” strength category. The Tim Henriques tables provide additional weightlifting standards for Decent, Good, and Great categories.

I was already eating pretty “clean” and avoiding processed foods. However, I needed a more nutrient dense diet. Carnivore diets (high protein) and Ketogenic diets (high fat) are very successful for weight loss and overall health. Fermented foods (sauerkraut, kimchi) and probiotic rich foods (yogurt, kefir) also have many health benefits. GoodFood lists seven benefits of fermented foods:

Obesity has many factors, but in the U.S. the main factor is eating too many carbohydrates and refined grains. I adopted the “Keto” diet, and I can attest that you do not feel deprived or hungry. I also became mindful of excessive sugars when ordering at coffee shops. When I needed a “cheat meal,” I indulged about once a week. I usually prepare meals for the week on Sundays, and there are no complicated recipes when eating mostly protein and fat. Good fats include avocado, nuts and seeds, coconut oil, and quality (raw, organic) dairy products. Overall, I just became more mindful of what I was eating; drastic changes were not needed, and perfect adherence is not required.

Research has found that intermittent fasting is better than daily calorie restriction in losing weight. This can be achieved by a 1 to 3 day fast on a monthly basis, or by fasting daily after dinner until breakfast. Fasting triggers autophagy, detoxification, and regeneration. Autophagy is a self-eating process where the body breaks down cellular debris so that the body can function more efficiently. I was most successful with implementing a two-day fast with homemade bone broth, which helped overcome plateaus in weight loss. However, I have since learned that optimal fasting is a little more complicated for women and should be coordinated with their unique body rhythms, not just when it is convenient on your calendar.

I asked my fellow Bridesmaid and Fast Like A Girl certified coach, Susan Alden, (pictured above with me on the right), who is looking fabulously fit at age 50 about tips to weight management for women at age 50.  She recommended Fast Like a Girl: A Woman’s Guide to Using the Healing Power of Fasting to Burn Fat, Boost Energy, and Balance Hormones by Dr. Mindy Pelz.

In four months, I lost ten pounds, which is not impressive. However, I lost three inches in the bust, three inches in the waist, and three inches in the hips. This loss in inches is noticeable in a fitted formal dress, thus vanity goal was achieved! It also indicates that weight is not the only measure for weight loss goals.

The adage of “you manage what you measure” is true in weight loss. For those of us who can justify excess weight in a culture of obesity, the Body-Mass-Index (BMI) chart can give you an objective idea of what you should weigh. But the BMI scale is based on height and weight and does not consider muscle and fat composition. There are other objective measures for women which are helpful such as the waist to hip ratio (ideal at .80 or less) and the waist to height ratio (ideal at .50 or less). Likewise, men should have a waist size below 37 inches to avoid risks for heart disease, diabetes, and cancer.

Measurement is a strategy to maintain motivation and achieve goals. “To be healthy” is not a measurable goal. To reach a healthy weight on the BMI chart is a measurable goal. To reach that healthy weight by a date on the calendar increases motivation. When you are tracking basic weight and measurement data, you can adjust your food plan and exercise plan as needed when you are not making progress from week to week towards your goals.

A May 2025 MAHA report outlined four main drivers of chronic disease in the U.S. First, most food in American diets is ultra-processed which overrides satiety mechanisms and increases caloric intake. Second, environmental chemical exposures, such as weed killers and pesticides, are harming health. (Fat cells store toxins to protect the body, making it harder to shed fat with high amounts of chemicals from non-organic food.) Third, pervasive technology use has changed our active lifestyles to sedentary lifestyles, with declines in physical and mental health. Fourth, overmedication, with excessive prescription drugs and excessive vaccines, has become the norm to manage the physical declines (resulting from processed diets and sedentary lifestyles) and psychosocial stressors of loneliness, chronic stress, and sleep deprivation (resulting from technology overuse). Periodically, we all need to re-evaluate our diet, exercise, toxic exposures, and technology use.