Fighting My Fifties………

Steve and Linda Oldfield

Here I am — into my fifties.

And let’s be honest – the body doesn’t lie. You hit that milestone and suddenly the niggles aren’t just niggles anymore. The knees creak a little more than they used to. The back takes a moment to straighten out after a poor night’s sleep. The mirror isn’t exactly flashing a green light either.

So yes, I’ve been here before. I’ve stood in front of that same reflection and thought: right, time to sort this out. Need to lose some freight around the midriff. Need to drop a few clothes sizes. And I did it. But I did it wrong. The last time I lost weight, I did it by pretty much starving myself. One tiny meal a day. Willpower and grit. It worked – for a while. But it wasn’t sustainable. We all know how that story ends: the weight yo-yos back, the habits creep in, and you’re left right back where you started, maybe even a little heavier and a little more frustrated.

This time is different. This time I’ve enlisted help. Serious help. Steve and Linda Oldfield are hugely experienced in the fitness and nutrition industry, and honestly, they could well prove to be my game-changer.

I met with Steve for an assessment and told him straight up: I want to get more supple. But more than that, I have to lose some weight to look after my joints. To take some pressure off this aging body that’s carried me this far – it deserves a bit of kindness.

Steve listened, nodded, and then gave it to me straight. He said, “We need to actually strengthen the muscles around your joints. There’s no point just getting supple if there’s nothing supporting those joints.” That made sense. Supple without strength is just an injury waiting to happen. So he designed a personalised program specific to my injuries and niggles – so that we could start building a foundation.

I’ve been seeing Steve once a week for my training. Under his watchful, trained eye, he can correct my technique in real-time. No guesswork. No bad habits forming. Just proper, effective work.

Then came Linda. When she learned of my eating habits and looked at my diet, I think her jaw dropped. For over 30 years – three decades – I’d been eating just one meal a day. An evening meal. That was it. No breakfast. No lunch. Just a single plate of food at the end of the day. It worked for my schedule, but it wasn’t working for my body.

Linda has helped me to change that. She’s been hugely supportive, holding me to account with regular check-ins. We’ve reshaped my eating habits entirely. Now I’m eating twice a day – a healthy lunchtime meal and then a proper evening meal. Small change on paper. Huge shift in practice. And the foods I’m eating? Let’s just say – sugar amongst other things has gone!

The first three days of the change in diet though? Let’s be real. They were brutal. I had a banging headache – sugar withdrawals, without a doubt. And the cravings? They came calling. Biscuits. Sugar. All the things I’d leaned on. But I stayed strong.

And here’s the weirdest part: after just two weeks, the cravings vanished. Completely. I no longer stood in front of the fridge at 9:30 or 10pm, hunting for a snack. I wasn’t hungry. My body had adjusted. That combination of a proper lunchtime meal and a sensible evening meal meant I wasn’t running on empty anymore.

And the results? So far, I’ve lost just about 4kg. Still a long way to go – this isn’t a quick fix – but it’s the right direction.

The best part? The fitin.co.nz website is an absolute goldmine. Meal plans. Recipes. Fitness workouts. I’ve never been one to go to a gym – it’s just not my scene – but the resources on there are fantastic for someone like me. You don’t have to be a gym bunny to benefit. You just have to be willing to try.

Steve and Linda aren’t just experts – they’re genuinely great people. Supportive, encouraging, and they actually care. They’ve made this journey so far enjoyable. Well, mostly. Let’s not pretend I enjoy getting beaten up in a training session, and I do miss some of the junk I shouldn’t have been eating anyway. But that’s the trade-off. That old junk? It was doing me no favours. It was holding me back.

So here I am. Four kilograms down. A long road ahead. But for the first time, I’m not starving myself. I’m not white-knuckling it. I’m being guided, corrected, and supported. I’m eating properly. I’m moving properly. And I’m actually enjoying the process.

If you’re reading this and you recognise yourself – the yo-yo, the one-meal-a-day then raiding the fridge late at night habits, the joints starting to talk back at you – I get it. Been there. But you don’t have to do it alone. I’d seriously encourage you to check out fitin.co.nz Steve and Linda are the real deal. Not just for the body, but for the mindset.

I’ll check in again a month from now – hopefully with some progress to report. Right now, I’ve got a session to prepare for that I know is going to hurt. But when it does, I’ll try focusing on that quote from the film G.I. Jane: “The best thing about pain is you only feel it when you’re alive.”