Can you still squeeze into your pants from a few seasons ago? How about your decades-old wedding dress? If so, here’s even more news to feel good about yourself.
Earlier this year, a Dutch study revealed that older women who stayed within 21 pounds of what they weighed in their 20s enjoy better health and longevity.
Researchers from Maastricht University Medical Centre found that women who gained less weight over the course of their lifetime were most likely to reach their 90th birthday.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, most of us gain an average of 1 to 2 pounds a year. So, a typical 25-year-old weighing 130 pounds would be expected to reach between 155 and 180 pounds by the time she hit 50.
But what does it take for a mature woman to physically match her 20-something self? A whole lot of work.
The Post asked five women, between ages 49 and 73, who meet the criteria to share their health and fitness tips.
And, for a bit of fun, we persuaded them to pose in the wedding dresses they first donned in their 20s to see if they still fit after all these years.
“It runs in the family”
Wendy Phillips Kahn, 62, of Tarrytown, New York, was a willowy 120 pounds when she married in her grandparents’ backyard in 1979 (pictured above with her father).
Now the teacher and costumier, who also makes wedding cakes as a side gig, is just 5 pounds heavier than her 22-year-old self.
Although she and her husband separated after 20 years of marriage, the separates that she designed and sewed herself for the big day, while yellowed, are still going strong.
“I kept it, because I keep everything,” says the 5-foot-10 mother of 33-year-old Samuel and 30-year-old Julia. “I even wore the blouse a few times for social events, but never the skirts.”
Kahn reckons she owes her trim physique to “genetics” and “keeping active” over the years by walking, bicycling and doing dance classes such as ballet and flamenco.
“I am mostly vegetarian but not vegan,” she says. “I don’t deprive myself of anything but think everything should be done in moderation.”
With both her pregnancies, she put on about 25 pounds but claims that breast-feeding helped her lose weight. “It was that and running around after young children,” she says. “And I’m a strong believer in taking the stairs whenever you can.”
“I see a personal trainer twice a week”
Melissa Seifried, 58, of River Vale, NJ, and Manhattan’s Upper West Side, is happy she still fits into the $330 silk gown, which she bought after selling the beloved powder-blue ’67 Chevy pickup truck she drove in college.
The simple dress and matching hat, which she had stored in a box, evoked memories of a gorgeous day tying the knot with her husband, Paul, now 60.
“I couldn’t resist the hat because I’ve always liked them,” she says. “I didn’t want to wear a veil.”
She credits twice-weekly tennis sessions and a $75-an-hour personal trainer for keeping her in the same great shape she was in when she married in June 1982.
The mom of two, who is a size 4 to 6 and 138 pounds — just 5 pounds heavier than her 21-year-old newlywed self — works out with her personal trainer twice a week.
“I take my health very seriously, especially now [that] I have 3-year-old twin granddaughters,” says the 5-foot-6 Seifried, who generally follows a fresh Mediterranean diet with little red meat or processed foods and lots of fish, fruits and vegetables. “I want to enjoy the same things with them that I did with my children.”
In reference to the research that shows that a consistent weight leads to longevity, she adds: “It is encouraging as long as you can keep your mind active into your 80s and 90s. I believe it’s as much about your mental as your physical state.”
“I do power yoga daily”
Last summer, Jill Aronsky’s husband, Jeffrey, threw her a surprise 50th birthday party on the Lower East Side. He took a chance and presented her with her original wedding gown so she could look the part while they renewed their vows in front of a rabbi.
“I was worried that it wouldn’t fit, but it did,” says the certified yoga teacher from Armonk, NY, who also has a home in the East Village. “The only problem was we didn’t have time to fix all the [intricate] buttons on the back because our guests were waiting for me to get changed.”
Nonetheless, Aronsky received plenty of compliments and is pleased the dress still fits a year later for The Post photo shoot. She weighed just 115 pounds on her July 1998 wedding and now weighs around 5 pounds more, despite having had three daughters, now ages 17, 14 and 9.
“After each baby, I was able to put my jeans on the next day, and my stomach was flat,” she says. “But I had very healthy pregnancies and kids.”
The blonde credits her lithe, 5-foot-9 figure to Vinyasa power yoga (which she practices for anywhere from a few minutes to an hour each day) and sound nutrition.
“I don’t diet but I lead a healthy lifestyle, and I’m all about balance,” she says. “I don’t keep junk [food] in the house because I want my girls to eat well and I grow all my own organic vegetables.
“We like juicing and making smoothies. But I must also admit a soft spot for French fries when we’re eating out.”
“I never weigh myself”
Writer and communications specialist Karen Roberts, 49, wasn’t surprised when the white silk slip dress she wore for her wedding in Jamaica to husband Merrick in July 1998 easily slipped on again.
“I still like the style and it feels good to wear it,” Roberts says. “I didn’t want a poofy thing for a beach wedding, so it’s simple and form-fitting.”
Hopping on the scale is off limits for the 5-foot-4 Roberts, who keeps tabs on her shape by making sure she fits into a size 6 pair of tight black pants and a tailored leopard-print shirt she keeps for that purpose.
“When you get stuck on numbers [of pounds], you go insane,” says the Canadian-born mom of 7-year-old daughter Sasha. “Clothes are a better gauge.”
But apart from her pregnancy when she put on 35 pounds, she believes she has stayed within 5 or so pounds of her wedding-day weight 20 years ago.
“I’m really a mind, body and spirit person,” says the Nyack, NY, resident. “I drink six 8-ounce glasses of water per day and have been doing yoga for more than 20 years.”
She avoids soda and processed foods — “My daughter has never been to a fast-food restaurant,” she says — and takes 30- to 40-minute walks three to four times per week carrying 3-pound weights for an optimum workout. “It’s one of my stress relievers,” says Roberts.
“I eat the same thing every day”
When Carol Ventimiglia Weitz was hunting for wedding dresses in the early ’70s, she wanted one that emphasized her trim waist.
“I felt really good — like a million dollars,” she says of her big day.
Nearly half a century on, she still looks fabulous in the satin and lace number which, though a little yellowed after being stored in a garage, fits like a glove.
The 73-year-old retired secretary from Colonia, NJ, is proud of her 5-foot-4, 124-pound figure she has worked to maintain since getting married in October 1972 at the age of 26 to husband, Stu.
“I’m the sort of person who, if I have one doughnut, I have to take six,” says Weitz, a mother of two and grandmother of five. “I need to watch what I eat and pretty much eat the same foods every day.”
Her typical diet consists of plain oatmeal or cottage cheese for breakfast, peanut butter and crackers for lunch with a dinner of vegetables and beans. “I eat two to three apples a day, which I slice and dip into diet raspberry or strawberry Jell-O crystals — my version of a low-calorie jelly apple!” adds Weitz.
“I don’t think my diet is restrictive, because I’ve never been a big meat eater,” she says. “But if I go out for dinner, I’ll order chicken or fish.”
Although she feels “flabbier” these days since an injury curtailed her daily treadmill running habit, wearing her wedding gown again has boosted her confidence, especially as there was no issue zipping it up at the back.
“The only thing is, it makes me wonder where 47 years have gone,” she says. “It just doesn’t seem that long ago.”