Women over 50, different % balance?

joylevelup

Good information for this 52 year old that is SO struggling with weight loss. Thank you!

Noogynoogs

I think my problem lies with being lazy and not as active since I hit 5o. Plus putting on two stone being on three cruises lol

Springfield1970

jvt63 wrote: »

I'm 52 and for 23 days, have weighed and measured each morsel, exercised 5 times a week, and stayed at 1300 calories a day. Macros are 25 percent carb, 50 percent protein, 50 percent healthy fat, no processed food at all. And I am losing VERY. SLOWLY. But I am being patient. Better to lose 3 pounds in 3 weeks than gain the same amount. But all this, "it's not harder to lose weight after 50" is not true in my experience. It is harder. Much harder. And I was in fantastic shape until I hit 49.

Well done on your fat loss!
I'm 44 and battling the bulge every day.
For me losing slowly is a pound every MONTH! which is what I did last year after my bulk!
I disn't want to lose any of my hard earned muscle, and I was training hard too, so needed as much energy for repair and fueling etc.

It really was amazing to see that trend line slowly dropping, tallying up with my stubborn calorie calculations.

To think that I would starve myself as a teenager and drop 10lbs in a couple of weeks....GROAN.

I'm peri now, and will be able to draw some conclusions one day about this.
I'm planning on maintaining the muscle I have, by bulking bi annually and keeping my protein levels up, and proving that menopause can be the same as any other time in your life.

My fat percentage crept up to over 30% by the time I was 41.

With education and tons of hard work I was bod prodded at 15% last year.

I'm not going to let it go over 20% whatever happens! I've no excuses.

themedalist

mamapeach910 wrote: »

I'm 52 and menopausal and "thought" I was eating well until I came to this site. I was eyeballing portions, and thought I was consuming the amount of calories my doctor recommended. I was so far off. Accuracy is key. I blamed menopause, I blamed my thyroid, I blamed other medical conditions I have (and I have a boatload of them).

It was none of those things. I was simply eating too much.

As far as macros are concerned? It really all comes down to personal preference. I feel best eating a moderate amount of slow-digesting carbs so my macros are something like 40/45 30 30/25 (Carb, Protein, Fat) and I try to get around 100 g of protein a day.

Get a digital food scale so that your logging is as accurate as it can be. Use the correct food entries from the data base. I usually confirm the ones I chose with product labels or a Google search. Once you have that sorted, go ahead and add exercise. I exercise when my health issues aren't acting up, and it contributes to an overall sense of well-being, makes me more fit, gives me more calories to eat (though I don't generally eat back my exercise calories, it's nice to know they're there), burns additional calories and preserves lean muscle mass.

This. A thousand times this. Unless you have medical issues, macro balance comes down to personal preference. I lost all my weight eating 55% carbs, 15% protein, 30% fats. And I've maintained that loss for over two years. Like the above poster, I am a 52 year old woman.

In my experience, people who aren't losing weight and believe they should be aren't tracking their food or exercise calories accurately.

One last suggestion. Try to minimize how much sitting you do. Besides being terrible for your health, sitting hardly burns any calories. But standing up and moving about frequently and often will add quite a few calories to your daily tally. On days where I'm up and about most of the day, doing this, doing that, running errands etc, I burn about 400 calories a day more than on my uber sedentary days. And yes, I have an office job. I still move a lot. Sitting makes weight loss much harder.

Best wishes!

earlnabby

I'm 58 and 5 years post menopause. I actually have found it easier to maintain a weight loss this time and I think a lot of it is changing my macros. I currently eat 35-35-30 (carb,protein, fat). I changed the percentages for a couple of reasons

1. I was diagnosed a year ago with T2 diabetes and needed to reduce my carbs to a maximum of 180 g per my doctor (a certified diabetic educator). 35% is 160 g so I have a little wiggle room when I eat back exercise calories
2. Previous weight loss attempts left me with shedding hair and dry skin. Both are common as we age and as we get into menopause, but both are also common symptoms of not enough protein and/or fat. I have mid-back length hair and am a little vain about it so I wanted to preserve it if I could.

I have been losing for almost 13 months now and feel great. I have more energy, am rarely hungry, and I still have my hair and it looks good.


The only real issue I have is that years of wear and tear on my body from life in general, and carrying around extra weight, has given me aches and pains I didn't have which makes activity harder. 10 years ago, I could walk 20 miles in a day without an issue, now my feet and knee hurts after about 2-3 miles. I swim instead which is actually better because it strengthens the upper body as well as burns calories without stressing the arthritic joints. I still walk shorter amounts because I know that weight bearing exercise is essential for bone health.

trfree1

I am 50 years old and have lost 105 lbs in 16 months using my fitness pal and a fitbit. I eat 30% CHO, 30% protein and 40% fat. CHO is only from fruits and veggies and dairy...no refined CHO (no bread, pasta, etc. although I do eat brown rice and other whole grains on occasion). Walk/jog combined 5-6 miles a day with strength training twice daily. I have gone from size 24 to size 14 during this time. I am in better shape now than at any time in my life (overweight since I was 6). Key to me is creating a new way of eating. I plan everything on Sunday for the week. Cook lean meats to have in fridge for putting easy meals together. pre-portion healthy nuts and snacks into single servings for grab and go. Prepare a 'salad box' with ingredients ready for a salad for lunches or dinners. Bake sweet potatoes so they are ready to reheat. I plan and log my meals for the day in the morning BEFORE i got to work so I know what I am eating for the day. Alcohol which used to be a daily glass of wine with dinner is now limited to twice a week. While a little hard at first, after settling in to this routine its now a habit. I don't think twice about eating refined CHOs when I used to crave bread and butter.

Make it a lifestyle and not a diet and things change! At least they did for me!

NancyB422

Interesting discussion!
I'm turning 55 this year and I have to say, since 2011, I have had a really hard time taking weight off. At the beginning of 2014 after 3 years of nothing (seriously same 3 pounds up and down), I changed the weigh I ate drastically with real "clean" eating, 99% eliminated bread and that was the only way I was able to lose 10 pounds. I've since put back on 5 but hopefully going back to really focusing on my food choices and the support here, I can reach my goal.

jvt63

Just one more thing, again from experience: Weigh yourself once a week, and measure once a week. Weighing daily makes me feel discouraged and negative. If you really are logging everything you eat accurately and exercising to break a sweat, don't sweat the results each day. They will come, albeit slower than you'd like. And at the very least, you won't GAIN more weight.

aaliceinw

I'm not sure why there are many who say it is not harder to lose the weight then when we are younger? Up until the age of 49, I never went on a diet and stayed at constant and very healthy weight: menopause hit and I my life flipped! I finally realised that I can no longer eat what I want and that I HAVE TO move if I am to lose this extra weight.

So I have to live differently and I have to put effort into things that were previously effortless for me, I also have to count calories and weigh food. All of these things are working now that I have come to terms that it is harder and I now have to work at becoming healthy - whereas before, I was healthy without conscious effort.

Salligraphy, I am also learning to balance between carbs/fat/protein and lowering the carbs, whilst increasing the proteins seems to be working for me.

fit4lifemom

I have to chime in on how things change as we age. I was very active through my 20's and 30's. I never had to count calories or watch my food choices. I had 2 children in my early 40's, and while I was not as active as before kids, I lost the pregnancy weight fairly easily, again without counting calories. Then the hot flashes and weight gain started. Now I am trying hard to lose the almost 35 pounds I gained over 2 years. I am counting (including weighing) and I am reasonably active. I know that before this would have been enough to get the weight off. Now every pound is a struggle. I am also learning what works with my balance of protein/carbs/fat as well as what is satisfying for me to avoid binges.

It is not impossible, as a number of success stories in this thread point out, but don't kid yourself that is not harder past a certain point in the aging processes. My expectations had to reset accordingly and belief in the process has been the only thing to carry me through sometimes.

meltsaway

Thanks for this thread! I'm 48 and new to this site (about one month). Going through perimenopause and finding it harder than ever to lose weight, and easier than ever to gain. Yes, I love food, but even ten years ago, when I needed to lose weight, I'd count calories and lose 3 lbs a week easy. Now. It's Lose one pound this week and gain it back next week. Plus I'm exercising more than I ever have in my life.. I have been eating about half of my exercise calories, so maybe I will stop doing that and see if it helps. I'm not discouraged though-- exercise is making we feel so much better health and mood wise, so

I'm in it to win it. But I do believe for some of us, peri and menopause change our bodies signifcantly and weight gain is an effect-- that's a fact. Sleepless nights & anxiety-- bad for weight loss. Look at how many older women have bellies. I don't believe we have to look like that-- but it requires more effort than when you are younger.

My doctor put it very well: she said menopause and mid life is the time when your body is done with you-- reproduction is ending-- you no longer serve that biological purpose--so the body says: you want to stick around or not?

windeecity

I'm 61 and have lost 14 pounds since November. I count my calories and stopped drinking sodas, starbucks and plan my meals ahead of time. But the worst thing I can't control is the increase in sagging skin on my arms and face due to my weight loss. I am 5' 2", weigh in at 140 now and my goal is 130. What are you Ladies doing to avoid the sag?

lrozner

Most helpful group yet. Can I join?
I am 51 and struggling to lose 38 pounds of fat. I have great LBM % and no trouble gaining muscle, but losing fat has been very, very difficult. I've tried just about everything to lose the fat and its kinda making me crazy. My BMR is 1600 calories and I exercise at least 5x per week (HIIT, spin, hike/walk, weights) so my nutritinist put me on 1800 calories per day 50%C/20%P/30%F. It's not working, so I just reduced my calorie goal to 1600. Any recommendations?