Up and Down Weight Rant!

pattywedge

I am 47 years old and so I know I have things going on with my body that I can't do much about but I can sure try my best to eat right and exercise! I walk 5 miles a day and do 3 to 5 days of Aerobics. I am having a hard time getting the scale to move, it stays around 173 and it will start to go down and one week I will be 172 etc. but I can't seem to get in the 160s. I am trying to get down to 155 lbs but I am not sure that is going to work. I don't know what to do.

diannethegeek

Hi Patty! It's tough to answer these questions sometimes. If you're willing to open your diary (Settings > Diary Settings > Public) it might help to get you more specific advice.

These are my really general tips. Maybe something here will help:

1. If it's been less than 3 weeks or so since you last saw a drop on the scale, don't sweat it! Normal fluctuations happen and unfortunately sometimes we stall for a week or two even when we're doing everything right. Give your body some time to catch up with the changes you're making.

2. If you aren't already, be sure that you're logging everything. Sometimes people forget about things like veggies, drinks, cooking oils, and condiments. For some people these can add up to enough to halt your weight loss progress.

3. Consider buying a food scale if you don't already have one. They're about $10-$20 dollars in the US and easily found at places like Amazon, Target, and Walmart. Measuring cups and spoons are great, but they do come with some degree of inaccuracy. A food scale will be more accurate, and for some people it makes a big difference.

4. Logging accurately also means choosing accurate entries in the database. There are a lot of user-entered entries that are off. Double-check that you're using good entries and/or using the recipe builder instead of someone else's homemade entries.

5. Recalculate your goals if you haven't lately. As you lose weight your body requires fewer calories to run. Be sure you update your goals every ten pounds or so.

6. If you're eating back your exercise calories and you're relying on gym machine readouts or MFP's estimates, it might be best to eat back just 50-75% of those. Certain activities tend to be overestimated. If you're using an HRM or activity tracker, it might be a good idea to look into their accuracy and be sure that yours is calibrated properly.

7. If you're taking any cheat days that go over your calorie limits, it might be best to cut them out for a few weeks and see what happens. Some people go way over their calorie needs without realizing it when they don't track.

8. If you weigh yourself frequently, consider using a program like trendweight to even out the fluctuations. You could be losing weight but just don't see it because of the daily ups and downs.

9. Some people just burn fewer calories than the calculators predict. If you continue to have problems after 4-6 weeks, then it might be worth a trip to the doctor or a registered dietitian who can give you more specific advice.

I also find this post really helpful when you get down to those last stubborn pounds: http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/113609/relatively-light-people-trying-to-get-leaner/p1

Sued0nim

Don't use your age as an excuse ...it makes no difference really

rhtexasgal

While I do not use age as an excuse, there are age-related things that seem to make weight loss that much harder (and slower). The biggest culprit is peri-menopause. I am almost 44 and have already been dealing with this for about 2 years. This stage of menopause can last 5-10 years or more! That means, you just don't know when those hormones are going to get wild and crazy, stalling weight loss. And sometimes, you can do everything right food and exercise-wise and still gain weight or at least tread water without going anywhere. I have experienced this many times during my weight loss journey.

I have also noticed that the older I get, the more I feel those sore muscles and the fact that they retain water during healing, often for a longer period of time than when I was younger. This means I hold onto water weight longer and it takes me longer to shed it.

MarcyKirkton

I truly was amazed at the proper portion size I SHOULD have been eating versus what I was eating. I ate like I'd always eaten in my past, until finally I realized that I was in the "unhealthy" bmi range. I set my goals on this application, didn't find it working, and adjusted for my age and height (older than you and shorter). The results are great now. I'm losing steadily. More important, I'm very aware of nutrition now, since I have no extra calories to spend on junk food. And EVEN more important, I have a much clearer sense of what's reasonable portion-wise to eat for my age.

My bloodpressure even is down.

Just have to find your weight loss groove. I do think the application works fine. There are lots of entries, so that helps logging food.

Sued0nim

The older you get the more important it is to follow a progressive resistance programme to preserve / build your musculature and maintain your TDEE

Which also, for some, helps in some way with stabilising hormonal fluxes ...

SueInAz

If you aren't losing weight, you aren't eating at a calorie deficit, it's almost always that simple. As others pointed out above (love that flowchart!) it often comes down to verifying your portion sizes via a kitchen scale. Sometimes it's a lackadaisical approach to logging, too.

OP, your ticker says you've lost 20 pounds with 17 more to go. Have you made adjustments to your calorie goals since you've lost that 20 pounds? Your body now burns less calories doing the same things because you weigh less and that needs to be taken into account. Also, the closer you get to goal, then more accurate you need to be with your logging and measuring because you can't create as large of a calorie deficit. Being a little off and forgetting to account for things can erase your deficit and you won't lose weight.

I'm closing in on 50 in a few months and I've learned a few things these past few years. I'm in much better shape now, and my metabolism is higher, than 15 years ago. Blaming age as the reason for difficulty in losing weight is pretty much nonsense. Hormones don't have much affect (other than on water retention) and it isn't age itself that causes a slowdown in metabolism, it's a loss of lean muscle mass. Every time we've dieted in the past, and especially when we tried to do it fast, we've lost muscle. We sat on the sofa instead of exercising? We lost muscle we weren't using. What I've been doing these past 18 months is working on regaining that muscle mass and it's working for me.

I am in the gym 2 or 3 times each week lifting weights, heavy weights. I run on the days between. I weigh 10 pounds more than I did a few years ago, but I'm still in the same size clothes and I can eat more and maintain that weight and size. I'm much happier, I'm not having to watch every single thing I eat (although I'm still careful) and I'm enjoying myself much more. My intent is to continue to do this until the end. I know that I'll live a much more complete life and isn't that the goal?