55-65 year old women's success?
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Hi everyone,
It's great to read about everyone's journey - and see that we have new people. I'm down six pounds - which is amazing for me - because I haven't lost weight on a loooooooong time. From 196 to 190, Goal 175.
I've been going to a life coach, who has done some hynotherapy and EFT (tapping) to help me with stress and emotional drinking which leads to emotional eating. It has helped tremendously - I am not perfect - but feeling so much more in control. EFT is just opening up your meridians - and it's easy and free - so if you are interested you can google it and do it. Very simple.
Spring is always crazy with four teenagers - and I am always shocked at how busy it actually is. But we are all doing well, and I hope the same for you.
Denise1 -
After a three year time of seeing a kidney specialist, I have been discharged from needing to see him any more with great lab results. All in part to over 83 lb. loss. He said he didn't think he had seen a patient lose that much without bariatric surgery. Thanks MFP for your part in my success to date!7
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Woo hoo, MFP!2
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@2012retiree Congratulations on your medical success as well as your weight loss! Great accomplishment! It must be a relief to know how much you have improved your health.
@calmandpeaceful Sounds like you are moving in the right direction! I'm glad you're mentally feeling so much better because that can make such a great difference in your success. Keep it up!1 -
2012retiree, great job!! Keep it up; we are here for you!!1
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@kbs4725, IME it's more about eating than exercise. Calories in less than calories out, meticulous logging, food weighing, and consistency are your allies.
I've been quite active for a dozen years, while staying fat - spin classes twice a week, on-water rowing 4-6 times a week in summer, regular machine rowing in winter, and more. Only when I started modifying my eating did I start losing weight.
I'll use this opportunity for a bit of an update/recap, since @trina1049 asked: I'm 5'5", 60 y/o, hypothyroid (well controlled with meds). I started changing my eating habits during April 2015 at a SW of 183, joined MFP in July, and now weigh about 120 plus/minus 2. I'm trying to zero in on my maintenance calorie level now and hold around this weight.
I've weight-trained in the past, and am working on adding that back in (along with increased core work: planks, bridges, exercise ball stuff, etc.), but I've had to take a couple of breaks from that to deal with some minor musculoskeletal issues. On a break from weight training now (though still spinning/rowing), but back at it soon! One thing I'm working on, now that I'm lighter, is chin-ups. I did manage *one* once!
My knees (arthritis, torn left meniscus) are greatly improved since the weight loss, very infrequent discomfort now, compared to daily when I was fat.
In November 2015, my cholesterol was 176 (vs. 230 in December 2014, and that wasn't my highest ever!), triglycerides 82 (vs. 193). My blood pressure's gone from borderline/high to solidly normal.
Ann, Can you share what you typically eat in a day? I'm struggling and looking for new ideas. Anyone with success has a lot to offer
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Laney, My diary is open if you care to read to get some ideas. I'm 65, 5'3" and have lost abt. 11/12 lbs since Feb last year (2015) and now on maintenance. Biggest change I made was switching to mostly minimally processed food (frozen veggies vs. canned, half & half vs. powdered creamer for my coffee, etc.), and cutting back on the amt of sugar I ate. I still enjoy pizza, ice cream, and chocolate cake, etc., but only occasionally (except I have abt. a TBSP or so of dark choc. chips after dinner). I broke my right wrist back in Dec and only been back exercising for 2 1/2 weeks (basically sat for 3 months) and didn't gain any weight when I couldn't exercise by basically sticking to the above. I don't follow anyone's diet; I figured out what I like to eat and built my eating plan based on what I like to eat. I use frozen veggies because they keep better than fresh and are just as healthy.
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griffinca2 wrote: »Laney, My diary is open if you care to read to get some ideas. I'm 65, 5'3" and have lost abt. 11/12 lbs since Feb last year (2015) and now on maintenance. Biggest change I made was switching to mostly minimally processed food (frozen veggies vs. canned, half & half vs. powdered creamer for my coffee, etc.), and cutting back on the amt of sugar I ate. I still enjoy pizza, ice cream, and chocolate cake, etc., but only occasionally (except I have abt. a TBSP or so of dark choc. chips after dinner). I broke my right wrist back in Dec and only been back exercising for 2 1/2 weeks (basically sat for 3 months) and didn't gain any weight when I couldn't exercise by basically sticking to the above. I don't follow anyone's diet; I figured out what I like to eat and built my eating plan based on what I like to eat. I use frozen veggies because they keep better than fresh and are just as healthy.
Thank you!0 -
@kbs4725, IME it's more about eating than exercise. Calories in less than calories out, meticulous logging, food weighing, and consistency are your allies.
I've been quite active for a dozen years, while staying fat - spin classes twice a week, on-water rowing 4-6 times a week in summer, regular machine rowing in winter, and more. Only when I started modifying my eating did I start losing weight.
I'll use this opportunity for a bit of an update/recap, since @trina1049 asked: I'm 5'5", 60 y/o, hypothyroid (well controlled with meds). I started changing my eating habits during April 2015 at a SW of 183, joined MFP in July, and now weigh about 120 plus/minus 2. I'm trying to zero in on my maintenance calorie level now and hold around this weight.
I've weight-trained in the past, and am working on adding that back in (along with increased core work: planks, bridges, exercise ball stuff, etc.), but I've had to take a couple of breaks from that to deal with some minor musculoskeletal issues. On a break from weight training now (though still spinning/rowing), but back at it soon! One thing I'm working on, now that I'm lighter, is chin-ups. I did manage *one* once!
My knees (arthritis, torn left meniscus) are greatly improved since the weight loss, very infrequent discomfort now, compared to daily when I was fat.
In November 2015, my cholesterol was 176 (vs. 230 in December 2014, and that wasn't my highest ever!), triglycerides 82 (vs. 193). My blood pressure's gone from borderline/high to solidly normal.
Ann, Can you share what you typically eat in a day? I'm struggling and looking for new ideas. Anyone with success has a lot to offer
Sure, in general terms. And if you want more specifics, feel free to send me a friend request - diary's open to friends, but I prefer not to make it fully public.
Context: I'm ovo-lacto vegetarian, have been for 41 years (gained weight that way, stayed fat that way, lost that way). I have a very strong preference for eating mostly one-ingredient foods or simple foods that I cook/combine myself. This isn't a crusade of any sort, it's just what I personally find tasty and satisfying.
Breakfast is one of two meals: (1) Oatmeal, mixed berries, plain Greek yogurt, walnuts; coffee with lots of skimmed milk; cold matcha. (2) Ezekiel pita or Coco-lite Pop Cake (a 20-calorie large cracker-ish thing) with peanut butter, hot skimmed milk with vanilla extract, kefir. The latter is what I eat if it's right before exercise, otherwise the former.
Lunch: If I didn't have oatmeal for breakfast, I often have that meal for lunch. If I'm going out for dinner, I'll eat a light lunch, such as (1) apple with peanut butter, or (2) plain Greek yogurt with fruit and chocolate PB2 peanut butter powders, sometimes with coconut or nuts in it. Otherwise, I eat the same sorts of things I'd eat for dinner (more details below).
Dinner (and sometimes lunch): These are just common examples. While I eat the same breakfasts all the time, I range wildly for dinner. Main dishes are things like:- Scrambled eggs or omelet with veggies and cheese.
- Refried beans with plenty of chopped onions, chopped bell pepper, salsa, and a bit of cheese
- Bean, pea or lentil soup with veggies or quinoa and maybe a bit of cheese, plus seasonings.
- Veggie chile with beans & assorted veg.
- Chickpea pasta with tomato sauce and parmesan cheese (or spaghetti squash plus edamame or beans or tempeh fixed the same way).
- Edamame or edamame pasta stir-fried with veggies and peanut sauce (made with PB2 powder, soy sauce, brown rice vinegar, toasted sesame oil & seasonings), or tempeh stir-fried with a more basic sauce (without the PB2) and veggies, sometimes with an egg or two in it.
Snacks are usually protein foods, like crispy chickpeas, nuts, crispy snap peas, Indian puppodums, string cheese, etc., or very low-cal flavorful things like kim chi, or whole fruit (citrus, pears, guavas, more).
I drink scads of water, a bit of green tea and matcha (both cold), and some herb teas that I enjoy. These days, I drink alcohol maybe once or twice a week, usually craft beer (IPA, yum) or wine.
I shoot for 100g protein daily, some healthy fat with every meal, and let carbs fall where they may. I try to get close to the recommended 9 servings of fruit/veg daily, mostly because I love them a lot.
Even while overweight, I ate a lot of healthy things, just way too much of them, with too many snacks/treats, too-big portions, too many higher-fat items (cheese, nuts - both of which I still eat regularly in smaller amounts), unnecessary amounts of optional carbs (lots of pasta, for example) and an alcoholic drink or two most days.
(edited to correct some typos)1 -
Ann:
Thank you so much for sharing, I really appreciate it! I can definitely relate to the eating healthy but too big of portions. I've cut out a lot of what they say to cut out, so I know it's portion size.
My other struggle is going out to dinner. We go out to dinner a lot as our stress reliever and social networking. I have to learn to back away from the bread and butter and just eat lean when I go out!0 -
@ 1Nana2many
You are rockin! Doesn't it feel grand when you realize your old jeans can slide down over your hips without unbuttoning them?
I'm another who'll have to weigh, measure and log from now on. Yup, staying honest.
I've gotten pretty good at eyeballing amounts, but I still weigh and measure a lot, just to check.
@calmandpeaceful - congrats on your loss! It's not "just" six pounds - it's 29 percent of your goal!
@2012retiree -- Wow! Great loss, and great result! Are you planning to lose more, or are you maintaining now?
@griffinca - my diary's open to friends. I can't say I'm a great example as far as a fresh-food, well-balanced diet, but I've maintained since early November.
@laney4818
Another eating-out tip: save half of everything you get and take it home. That keeps portions under control *and* stretches out the treat/provides another meal you don't have to cook. I may eat all the veg and keep half the entree and starch for the fridge. And if I eat dessert, I'll usually split it 2 or 3 ways. On my birthday, I got the 660-calorie (!) carrot cake muffin at Panera. Split into thirds, the calorie cost was much more reasonable. Or if Larry gets cheesecake, I'll eat the tip - about 1/4 to 1/3 of the total.1 -
EATING *MORE*- believe it or not- has worked for me!!! I am ASTOUNDED at how EASY it has been for me- at age 61 (almost 62) to 22 lbs so far- in the past 4 months!!! The weird part is, I eat MUCH MUCH MORE (in bulk as well as calories!) than I did when I was heavy! No joke- and this is NOT my imagination. When I was heavier, I used to go all day eating maybe a couple small yogurts and a reasonable dinner. Now I eat **constantly** every couple hours- usually until around 2 am! I have always eaten VERY healthy (no processed foods, no chemicals, almost all organic) but now I eat MUCH MORE- a minimum of 110 grams of protein per day- and I have stopped eating low fat dairy (it's highly processed!!) and have added FULL FAT dairy (yum!) I started on Jan 1, 2016- eating between 1000-1100 cals per day, then after about a month moved to 1200 cals per day and still lost at the same rate (about 2lbs per week). I'm currently eating 1400 cals a day (at 5' 4" and 165.2 lbs). I started going to a nutritionist a few weeks ago (my insurance pays for it, 100%) who tested my metabolism- and she thinks I should eat EVEN MORE- though seriously, that would be difficult. I could easily have kept eating 1200 cals- I was NEVER hungry and quite satisfied- but I started to worry that I would get saggy skin, so I have purposely slowed it down a bit- and am now losing about 1lb a week (I highly advise going to a nutritionist and getting your metabolism tested so you'll know *exactly* what your resting metabolic weight is.) Could it be that for decades, I was in "low level" starvation mode? Not enough to starve, but enough that my body thought it needed to hang on to every bit of fat in storage? It make sense to me that my body knows I'm going to feed it- CONSTANTLY- good quality actual FOOD and get some exercise (I swim at a very leisurely pace for about 40 min 3x per week- but I've always done that so that's not the variable that has changed). My focus now is going to be building muscle and losing slowly so that- hopefully- I end up w/a nice, toned shape. I want to lose about 20 lbs more, but even now I'm looking pretty good- and have gone from a size 14 pants to size 10 (and I can even get into size 8 sometimes!!) I'm bigger on top, but it's fun to be able to buy a regular "large" or "xl" top (before I was a 1x). Best of luck to all!!!2
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JanetMMcC I have around fifteen more pounds to lose. I won't be as low as the charts show, but healthy and hopefully easier to maintain that level at age 60+. Think I may just go to 100 lbs. to say I've lost that big. Another "one" as good as onederland was!0
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NewMEEE, You were probably under eating. a lot of folks don't realize that under eating will not help you lose weight, but eventually messes with your metabolism and actually makes it harder to lose weight. MPF recommends eating no less than 1200 cals a day (I have fallen below that, but don't make a habit of it). I'm 5'3," 65 years old and weight abt 116/117 (which is fine) and I eat close to 1400 cals a day. I lift weights three days a week and do a good cardio walk another three - four days a week. You're right abt the REAL food; it is so much better for you. We ditched the powdered creamer and now use REGULAR half & half (non-fat's second ingredient is corn syrup (sugar); why?) and use frozen veggies (vs. canned) because they keep longer than fresh. Good luck on your journey! 1
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I'm 57 next month, I lost 43 lbs from April 2014 until Dec. 2014 I have gained approx. 10 lbs and now it seems very difficult to lose it again. I know I am overeating on the junk side I find it really difficult to curb my cravings.
I exercise either walking or exercise bike/weights at least 5 times a week. My goal is to lose 2 lbs this month.0 -
I am 65, have lost 25 pounds since January 9 and am thrilled with my progress. I want to lose another 35 before having knee replacement surgery. If I am able to keep up this rate of weight loss, maybe I will be ready by October. I love this thread!1
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NewMEEE, You said you ate abt 110 grams of protein a day, meant to ask what you ate. I'm trying to up my protein but am struggling to get it done. Many thanks. 0
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0505jen, I had the same problem you are having; thing with the cravings is the more you eat, the more you want. Try cutting out your trigger food and substitute something else for it. I love chocolate (I can easily eat half a bag of the chocolate chips; I cut back and changed the regular chips for dark chocolate (less sugar)). I still have the occasional cravings; when I do I chew some Trident peppermint gum (kinda kills the taste for anything else). You may have to experiment to see what works for you; just don't give up!! 2
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@NewMEEE - very cool, being able to eat more and lose. And what you learned from the nutritionist (and that your job pays for her counsel).
@2012retiree - sounds reasonable. 15 more or 100 total, whichever makes you feel better.
@0505jen - I was snacking hugely until the doc told me I was near diabetes and should ditch all white carbs for whole grains. The funny thing is, thinking about that way let me can the chips, candy and cake without feeling deprived. It was white carbs, and therefore off limits.
I've been on maintenance since November, and in the last couple month have let myself eat very limited amounts of good chocolate. I've almost always kept it under control, and when I didn't I stayed within 500 cals of my calorie limit and went back on program the next day. (Okay, yesterday at Jazz Fest I went 800 over ... but walked off 500 (Fitbit measurement, not mine). And some of it was because I didn't say "VEGGIES! NO SAUCES!" when Larry went out to buy food while I wrote my article.)
Tonight, I had my allotted four squares of Lindt Intense Orange. And I'm still within bounds, even though my Fitbit calories have dropped from 250 to 222 for the day.
@Cedarwren - well done! And the loss will make your new knee last much longer.
@griffinca2 great suggetions for 0505jen. 1 -
I'm 64 and started here in Sept of 2013 with 70 lbs to lose, still recovering from a back injury (which really piled on the pounds), and have so far lost 56 lbs. I won't pretend it's been easy but I've been pretty determined. The difference for me was really exercising my little heart out. I go to the gym at least 4 days a week, right now I'm going 5 days to see how that goes, where I do strength training/weight lifting, lots of calisthenic and circuit type workouts, swim, and generally work my butt off for 90 minutes or more. The other two or sometime three days I walk the dogs between 3 and 4 miles each day.
I've found that my metabolism isn't as slow now as it was when I started so I'm actually eating more than I was and still losing weight, albeit a little slowly. I'm enjoying myself though and I'm certainly not starving to death or anything on an average of 1650-1750 calories a day.
Good luck with your goals.
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