40 year old women and older who has lost 40 or more lbs - HOW THE HECK DID YOU DO IT???

solieco1

malika1976 wrote: »

Hi, I'm 42. I've lost 44.3 kg (98.7 lbs) this year. I just stick to the calorie count, and walk/run as I feel like it (which I do most days). I started morbidly obese and now I'm 4 kg from a healthy BMI. My age isn't really a factor I worry about. I can run a lot further now than I could as a teenager. I've lost another 5 kg since the bottom photo.

You look AMAZING! Great work!

NewBetterBest18

I'm 61 years old and have lost 60 lbs. I was really good with following my calorie allotments from MFP. I stayed within those limits as often as I could. Yes, I strayed sometimes, hey, I'm human but I knew on those days I just had to do better the next day. I never beat myself up. Portion control, portion control! I limited my carbs and sugars. Basically no soda....EVER! Drink lots of water and I ate lots of veggies. I'm turning into a zucchini I think. Plus I joined a gym and began doing zumba 3 times a week and I walk a minimum of 8,000 steps a day. It's a lifestyle change definitely NOT a diet. I've been doing this for 587 days so far.

Bellavita32

Eating clean and working out!!!

TnZMom

I’m 41 and lost 60 lbs. Don’t know if it counts cuz it’s taken 5 years.

Don’t give up. I had a 10-month plateau and a 7-month plateau. Just keep going.

Small habits. I went from whipped cream on my daily Frappuccino to no whip on a nonfat latte. Three cans of pop a day to one can a day five days a week. One piece of fruit a day to four servings of fruits and veggies. (Working on 5 a day ). I am nowhere near healthy eating but way better than 5 years ago.

Don’t change everything at once; pick one habit you can stay with for a month.

annette9501

Hi there! I've been going just on 12 months. I'm 56 , 5' 1 1/2" and I've lost about 55 lbs - from 185 to 130.
For me, it was a change in attitude. I'd been telling myself I'd lose weight for years, but it just kept creeping on. I've posted this in Success Stories recently, but basically I read an article about giving up alcohol for a month that said something like once you've made the big decision, it frees you up from having to make lots of little decisions. I wondered if I could apply that to losing weight, and I set up a spreadsheet for the year with a half kg weight loss mapped out for each week. When I looked at that, I could see that in a year's time, I'd be pretty much at my goal. I wondered if I could make the big decision to really change my diet and exercise for one year, and see what the results would be. The idea that I had a time frame worked for me. I also read an article by an Australian journalist who was a former professional sportsman, and he'd given up booze and sugar and got back to being fit. It was quite 'blokey', but it really flicked a switch for me. (I can provide a link, if you want) I started walking every morning without fail, cut out all junk food and most added sugar, and just started eating what I already knew would be better for me.

I got half way through the year and seemed to hit a plateau, and then I joined MFP. That was really helpful in pointing me towards other food I need to be careful about (full fat mug of latte, anyone?) and showed how much easier it was to acquire kilojoules than to use them up. I even started running a bit, and now I run most of my morning 'walk', and I do a weekly 5 km parkrun. I also learned through MFP that weight loss isn't linear (I didn't know that before), and that really helped me through a couple of stages where the scales just did not budge. MFP kept reminding me that this is a longer term project, and if I kept to what I'd already been doing there would be results down the track. This was really important a couple of times when I felt like giving up.

It has been very helpful having this one year timeframe. If I've been somewhere with something on the menu I'd really like, but it wouldn't fit in with my goals, I could tell myself that in just one year's time I could eat something like that. One year of the (very few) side effects of missing out on something compared to maybe the rest of my life with increased risks of diabetes, high blood pressure....and just generally not feeling good about myself. I know I can't go back to living how I did before, but the really hard work is nearly over. I know maintenance can be difficult, but I think I'm prepared for it and not prepared to waste all the good work I've already done.

Just a couple of things along the way...I haven't given myself any 'rewards', either food type ones or others. My rewards are my better health, my feeling better about how I look, the decreasing numbers on the scales. I also kind of think I've had all the 'rewards' of eating whatever I wanted in the past, so I've already been 'compensated' for any suffering I might think I'm going through. But really, I haven't felt like I've been denying myself anything. Rather, I'm rewarding myself every day with a healthier body and hopefully a healthier future than I would have otherwise have. This was important in the early weeks...everything was a step towards better health, and that was my main motivation.

Thanks for starting this thread! Hope this is helpful 😊

STLBADGIRL

annette9501 wrote: »

Hi there! I've been going just on 12 months. I'm 56 , 5' 1 1/2" and I've lost about 55 lbs - from 185 to 130.
For me, it was a change in attitude. I'd been telling myself I'd lose weight for years, but it just kept creeping on. I've posted this in Success Stories recently, but basically I read an article about giving up alcohol for a month that said something like once you've made the big decision, it frees you up from having to make lots of little decisions. I wondered if I could apply that to losing weight, and I set up a spreadsheet for the year with a half kg weight loss mapped out for each week. When I looked at that, I could see that in a year's time, I'd be pretty much at my goal. I wondered if I could make the big decision to really change my diet and exercise for one year, and see what the results would be. The idea that I had a time frame worked for me. I also read an article by an Australian journalist who was a former professional sportsman, and he'd given up booze and sugar and got back to being fit. It was quite 'blokey', but it really flicked a switch for me. (I can provide a link, if you want) I started walking every morning without fail, cut out all junk food and most added sugar, and just started eating what I already knew would be better for me.

I got half way through the year and seemed to hit a plateau, and then I joined MFP. That was really helpful in pointing me towards other food I need to be careful about (full fat mug of latte, anyone?) and showed how much easier it was to acquire kilojoules than to use them up. I even started running a bit, and now I run most of my morning 'walk', and I do a weekly 5 km parkrun. I also learned through MFP that weight loss isn't linear (I didn't know that before), and that really helped me through a couple of stages where the scales just did not budge. MFP kept reminding me that this is a longer term project, and if I kept to what I'd already been doing there would be results down the track. This was really important a couple of times when I felt like giving up.

It has been very helpful having this one year timeframe. If I've been somewhere with something on the menu I'd really like, but it wouldn't fit in with my goals, I could tell myself that in just one year's time I could eat something like that. One year of the (very few) side effects of missing out on something compared to maybe the rest of my life with increased risks of diabetes, high blood pressure....and just generally not feeling good about myself. I know I can't go back to living how I did before, but the really hard work is nearly over. I know maintenance can be difficult, but I think I'm prepared for it and not prepared to waste all the good work I've already done.

Just a couple of things along the way...I haven't given myself any 'rewards', either food type ones or others. My rewards are my better health, my feeling better about how I look, the decreasing numbers on the scales. I also kind of think I've had all the 'rewards' of eating whatever I wanted in the past, so I've already been 'compensated' for any suffering I might think I'm going through. But really, I haven't felt like I've been denying myself anything. Rather, I'm rewarding myself every day with a healthier body and hopefully a healthier future than I would have otherwise have. This was important in the early weeks...everything was a step towards better health, and that was my main motivation.

Thanks for starting this thread! Hope this is helpful 😊

@annette9501 - Thanks for the tips. I would love to view the link. I like how your reading and researching led you to your own path that you could follow.

annette9501

@STLBADGIRL

STLBADGIRL wrote: »

@annette9501 - Thanks for the tips. I would love to view the link. I like how your reading and researching led you to your own path that you could follow.

Happy to. It needs a bit of a language warning. And let me know if you need any translation of the Aussie slang!

https://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/health-and-wellness/peter-fitzsimons-fatty-boomka-quit-sugar-and-booze-lose-weight-and-keep-it-off-20171229-h0b767.html

Sometimes, too, it's just timing. I might've read something like this before, but I think when I read it I was really ready to hear it.

HeyJulya

Hi There!
I'm soon to be 55yrs old/F, 5'3" (and shrinking ). Starting weight 2018.08.27: 189lbs/ lost 36lbs on the Ketogenic diet/ goal weight 150lbs.

I had radical duodenal switch bariatric surgery when I was 38yo and topping the scale at 305lbs.
It worked, I reduced to 135lbs over two years, but the pounds started returning after reverting back to the standard American diet. Just before I turned 50 yrs old in Dec 2013, I lost 25lbs and got down to 166lbs using the 1500 calorie American Diabetes Association exchange diet. I felt great, joined the theater and everyone noticed the weight loss.

That being said, The weight gradually came back over the last 4.5 yrs. Being a seasoned dieter, I found loosing weight in my early 50s more challenging. My thyroid had always been a problem, but now I was put on replacement, rather than just supplemental thyroid medication. I knew that getting my slower thyroid levels adjusted would help with my weight, so I was determined to capitalize on the adjustment and lose the weight I packed on the last few years.

Since end of September 2018 I've lost 36lbs on the Ketogenic diet and am within 3lbs of my goal of 150lbs. I may, however, lower my goal to 140lbs (any lower I look like the front end of a famine).

With Keto, I rid my diet of all sugar, refined starches/grains/starch vegetables, vegetable oils, and alcohol . The trade off was that I also lost my brain fog, afternoon sleepiness, adult acne, and aches & pains in my feet/back/hands from unexplained inflammation. I no longer had the hot flashes/night sweats, and sleep like a baby. My heartburn, acid reflux and tummy bloating were all gone. Within a month I actually found my waist again!

Maybe it is due to my bariatric surgery and the dumping of all sugars into my blood at once, but I wish I had found the low carb/moderate protein/high fat Ketogenic diet years ago. It is what works for best for me, and is now a lifestyle I am certain I can maintain for the rest of my life. It is not a diet.

ireply2u

Awesome!!!