I’ve been doing yoga, pilates (reformer and mat), walking, weight training–various combinations of these for a long time. Since I retired, I do a fair amount of volunteer work for a local nonprofit where I’m on the board. I’m in a writing group and I started studying a language (Serb-Croatian) which I spoke as a child but am no longer fluent (I’m probably as fluent as a school-age child.) I really enjoy the class because the instructor is a native speaker and has written the textbook, which focuses on reading/speaking. I find that class challenging. If you don’t use a second language regularly, it’s really easy to lose your proficiency.
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Since 11/16, I often find it extremely useful to my mental health to ration the amount of current event news that I consume. Whenever I feel despair about the news, I ask myself if consuming more details will make the world a better place. If not, then it’s time to concentrate on something else.
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My goal is to exercise six days per week. Three days of running (I try to run 15 miles per week) and three days of light weight dumbbell circuit training.
I stay up to date on medical/dental visits and tests.
I play classical guitar and have a YouTube channel for that - just for fun. In the past I have recorded and posted a new piece weekly, but that has slacked off with the busyness of our move. I believe learning new music is good brain exercise. I don’t memorize it, however. That would be even better.
I eat fairly healthy and maintain a healthy weight. I probably drink more than I should, but I have done Dry January for the last 3-4 years. It’s a good reset for me. I also find when I drink less (or not at all) I tend to eat healthier as well.
I’m pretty social and maintain lots of friendships.
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Is there a thread for this?
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I’m with you on the drinking too much.
Other than white wine and ice cream, my diet is pretty good.
I am trying to eat more protein, and I tried Fiber One for the first time ever the other day.
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No- just try them at our kids or friend’s houses or in restaurants. Explore them in our local liquor store.
I volunteer about 10-12 hrs a week.
I call my mom often, text my kids
I track my fiber and my calcium to make sure I am getting enough
I eat not too much, mostly vegetables. No caffeine, no smoking.
Weight bearing exercise with a goal of 150 min/week, which currently I am not even in hailing distance of 
#LifeHappens
I try to not care overly much about things I cannot do anything about
I don’t have enough friends/support network. It is so hard to make and keep friends once your kids are grown, and we’ve not been successful despite intentional efforts. Don’t have a solution for that one.
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We also find it difficult to have enough friends support group. Covid times did not help, although outside snacks and visits were more frequent then.
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Though I think I do a lot of things (mentioned above previously) I”m getting some new ideas from everyone’s posts!
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Plant-based/pescatarian-ish diet, keeping my weight where it should be, letting go of all stress.
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Exercise: walking, hiking, strength training, Qi Gong
Diet: more or less Mediterranean diet regularly sabatoged by DH’s love of BBQ
Drink: found a zero alcohol beer we like, drink one glass 2-3x a week of wine. (Zero alcohol wine sucks.) Exploring all the NA cocktail mixers. They are great.
Mind work: NYT crossword, WSJ Friday meta, Wordle, Quordle and Sequence. Learning Spanish via Duolingo, Pimsleur and Dreaming Spanish and watch Spanish TV programs
Making new friends and getting outdoors: Healthy Yards, more active in local art association,
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I’m not doing anything specifically with the target related to aging, but many things I do are likely associated with staying healthy when aging, such as
- According to my Fitbit, my dog and I average ~8 miles of walking per day, usually split as a morning walk and afternoon/evening walk. I spend several hours outside most days, which I find really brightens my day. We also go on full day hikes in scenic areas a couple times per month, sometimes multiday. The longest of these hikes are ~20 miles with ~4000 ft of elevation change. These longer hikes regularly involve a good amount of balance and stability, more so than occurs in more traditional workouts. We may walk on slippery surfaces with loose rocks or snow/ice. It’s common to cross creeks while balancing on a log or stepping on damp stones.
- In addition to walking more, since getting a dog 2 years ago, I’ve had more socialization than in the past, with dog owners an such. One of our 2 daily walks is to athletic fields or a dog park, where I socialize with other owners, while our dogs are playing. I meet and talk with new people most days. I also have mental challenges via my engineering day job and other daily activities. I’ve started playing challenging video games recently as well.
- I also have planned exercise with specific goals in mind. I typically have a 6 day cycle, with 3 days of weights (mostly free weights) and 2 days of cardio – both constant pace and HIIT. My Fitbit says I have I have a resting heart rate of ~40bpm and VO2Max of >80 mL/kg/mi. I am extremely skeptical about the latter, but I do feel that I am in good cardiovascular shape, and have noticed marked improvements over a few years ago. It takes longer to warm up than in the past, but once warmed up, my performance is superior to a decade ago in weights, cardio, and hiking. I still regularly set PRs in my workouts and find that rewarding.
- I maintain a 5-10% body fat all year round, which primarily relates to the active lifestyle mentioned above and listening to my body. I eat when I am hungry or due to activity planning/expectations – not because I have to eat a large meal at a particular time of day or because of emotional feelings.
- In addition to paying addition to how my body feels + reacts to foods and adjusting accordingly, I have tracked nutrition with Chronometer to review which nutrients I may be lacking and other issues about which foods I eat are more/less healthy, and have made some minor adjustments. I believe my diet is adequate in all Chronometer-measured nutrients except possibly omega-6 EFAs. I say “possibly” because different organizations have different opinions about what is adequate.
- One area where am lacking is utilizing traditional medicine. In the past I’ve had one physical per year and little traditional medicine beyond that – not taking any meds. I am planning to request a cholesterol reducing medication next physical. I have a hypercholesterolemia gene, which leads to a borderline high cholesterol. I’m right on the limits of lab ranges. I am also planning to do more for cancer screening/prevention, which is a far more common problem for males in my family than heart disease, in spite of many having sky high cholesterol. I am planning to take steps to improve my vision and hearing, as well.
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After reading this thread, it’s obvious I am not doing nearly enough. Time for me to step it up a HUGE notch. Thanks for the motivation, you emergetic,engaged, and active people!
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I know, I feel the same. I’m obviously slacking off too much.
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Are you related to @sushiritto ?! 
(It sounds like @sushiritto could have written this!)
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Personally, I don’t think there’s a “one size fits all” to aging. Clearly most of us believe regular exercise is important. It’s also important to recognize and accept (something that was really tough for me) that our bodies slow down and working harder physically does not mean we’ll continue to have the same results. Before I used to think the day was a failure if I didn’t get a run in. Now I might just pull out my bands or take a walk with the dogs.
What has made the biggest difference for me is alcohol - or rather, the lack thereof. I realized earlier this year that my first instinct for “relaxing” after a bad day was a glass of wine which invariably led to another and from there, overeating. It was a problem for me!
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Eating healthier, and reducing sugar and carbs
Eating less, including periodic fasting
Exercising more
Getting outside more
Drinking less alcohol
Taking fish oil and vitamins
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Tomorrow, Today Me is doing something for Future Me … dh and I are touring a local continuing care community.
They start at age 62, but there is a years-long waiting list for larger apartments so we figured why not. We toured a place near ds1 and his wife a year or two ago just to see and really liked it. Now, the residents were OLD – I’d be shocked if the average age was younger than 85 – but the apartments were beautiful and the community trended academic, which is right up our alley. We wouldn’t want to live there anytime soon, but the local place is where all my friends put their parents and I’ve never been there so we figured why not scope out the local scene.
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No harm in getting on a wait list!
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Well, since I posted that someone called to confirm we would make the open house, and I got to ask a lot of questions. The pricy buy-in is per unit, and a second person would pay a one-time fee that is less than $20k. On the website, only one bedrooms are listed so I asked whether there were larger ones, and she said yes, but that’s where the long waiting list comes into play. She said the two- and three-bedroom units had at least a two-year wait. Oh, and it turns out the age of entry is 62. I told her that we aren’t there yet and asked whether we would be totally out of place at this open house, but she assured me that there are people of all ages at these things because there are a lot of kids looking for their parents. Maybe we’ll pretend to be those people! 
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