Women 60 and over...losing weight is tough!

ShadowCat14

Any females aged 60 and 60+ finding it difficult to take off the weight? I lost 5 lbs in 2-3 months but hit frequent plateaus. I began dreading the weekly weigh-in. I used a Fitbit, religiously weighed and measured food, and exercised (though I suspect it wasn't enough exercise.) I am trying to get back on the MFP after a short time of being off of it due to life's happenings. I just want to know if there are other ladies in their 60s who are having as much trouble as I am. Thanks! :-)

Expiggy

I'm not quite 60, Cat, but I'm nearly there (about 18 months to go). I can't believe how easy it is to pick up weight and how difficult it is to lose at this stage in life. Gives new meaning to the phrase: 'life ain't fair'!

You do know why that is, don't you. Back in our cave days, when the blokes came back from the hunt, the hunters got fed the best bits first; then came the attractive ladies of child-bearing age and their children. Guess who was last and only got the scraps? Older ladies adapted by developing very slow metabolisms to survive.

Just a question: did you find that you lost easily in the first couple of weeks?

MelaniaTrump

I have found that exercise does very little in weight loss. It's about eating right.
Exercise for your heart and your bones.
I opened my diary and people told me to get more fiber and protein.
This place really works, even after 50. But you have to stick to it.

Antmaril

I turned 65 yesterday and I have lost 22 pounds since January 26th (the date I joined MFP). It is coming off slowly, but surely. I weigh and measure everything, except when eating out, of course. I am retired and get very little exercise, but it seems that a calorie deficit is working for me. I just plan to stay on this course. My goal is 40 pounds by Christmas. I don't know if I can do it, but I am going try. Good luck to you! I know it isn't easy.

healthygreek

I'm 62. I'm maintaining now but when I was losing, it came off easily with my calorie deficit and working out 1 hour per day, 6 days a week.
I really haven't seen a difference between younger and older weight loss.
Exercise really helps in the maintenance phase!

ShadowCat14

Thanks all for your input. To Expiggy...no I didn't lose easily in the first couple of weeks. That's one thing I found frustrating. About ten yrs ago I lost 30 lbs on Weight Watchers and noticed weight loss from nearly the start! Unfortunately I gained it all back. So I was expecting the loss would be similar this time. Not so.

quatermore

I’m 66. I think taking weight off is always hard to do, but, this time around, it became harder because of insulin resistance. I don’t know if this applies to you, but for many of us ‘aging’ individuals glucose intolerance develops, particularly if we’re overweight.
If this isn’t a factor for you just keep at it, the weight will come off if you’re in a calorie deficit. Good luck!

cross2bear

I will be 60 in August and seriously, I have found MFP/CICO to be the easiest way to lose weight than anything else I have ever tried. It may be slow, but the scale shows a consistent loss every 6-8 weeks when I get weighed. I find the changes I have made to my eating habits entirely sustainable and anticipate eating this way for as long as I eat!! What I regret is that it took me this long to figure it out.

annieoldie

Hi I am 69 and this last year have put on far too much weight. I have just weighed myself the other week and was horrified. For 2 weeks I just tried to eat sensibly but hardly lost a pound so now I am weighing everything. Why is it so easy to put it on and so hard to get the weight off

lorrpb

Losing is hard but being obese is harder. I started at age 59, have lost 144 steadily over 2 years, and am 7 lbs from goal. I've worked out and strength trained several times a week since the beginning and am in the best shape of my life.

I feel that our maturity & life experience enables us to commit to challenging goals & see them thru. We have lived with the misery of overweight and this can give us the motivation & discipline to make hard changes.

lthames0810

Do you find the difficulty to be with compliance? Or is it that you don't lose the amount you should, going by the numbers?

I'm 61. My post menopausal self is a depressed insomniac who craves sweets. I'm taking medication that is helping me to stick to my eating plan. As long as I log consistently, I lose pretty much as expected.

markrgeary1

ShadowCat14 wrote: »

Thanks all for your input. To Expiggy...no I didn't lose easily in the first couple of weeks. That's one thing I found frustrating. About ten yrs ago I lost 30 lbs on Weight Watchers and noticed weight loss from nearly the start! Unfortunately I gained it all back. So I was expecting the loss would be similar this time. Not so.

You shouldn't compare yourselve to others even if it's you. That was 10 years ago on a different plan. How did it work long term?

Be very proud of what you have done! I lost my weight quickly at first, DW much slower. In the end we both hit our goals about the same time. As my loss slowed hers sped up over the last ten pounds. In the end all that really matters is to hit your goal.
Best wishes.

annieoldie

How do you cope when eating out. I see my grandchildren each week, one day with grandsons (triplets parents need the help) and one day with one of the my granddaughters (I alternate each week). I cannot weigh the food and try to be good but end up finishing off the boys lunch, I can't bear waste! I am trying to walk 10,000 steps each day but again when on granny duty, it is not always possible

AnnPT77

annieoldie wrote: »

How do you cope when eating out. I see my grandchildren each week, one day with grandsons (triplets parents need the help) and one day with one of the my granddaughters (I alternate each week). I cannot weigh the food and try to be good but end up finishing off the boys lunch, I can't bear waste! I am trying to walk 10,000 steps each day but again when on granny duty, it is not always possible

When I was actively losing, I would try to check out the menu before visiting the restaurant, and plan in advance what I would eat. It's easiest with chains that list calories/nutrients, but even if there's just a photo of the menu on Yelp or something, it can help.

Don't be afraid to ask if they can vary an item: I often order burgers without the bun, substitute a side salad or reasonable veg for fries, ask them to leave off sauce, etc. Most places will do this if you ask nicely. At sit-down restaurants, it's also often possible to order a plate with vegetable sides plus some cottage cheese as your entree. Also consider an appetizer as your entree, and of course most places have salads.

If I knew I was going out for a big/celebratory meal, I'd often plan the other meals that day to be more minimal than usual. For me, this is easiest if the restaurant meal is at supper time (psychologically easier, mostly).

For meals out, I never weighed food - I just do that at home. I eyeball the portion size, then - if the restaurant doesn't have calories on the web - use similar dishes in the MFP database to estimate calories, not picking the "lowball" entries, but something on the higher-calorie end of the similar ones, so if I'm erring it will be on the side of keeping the deficit. Logging consistently, even when one has to estimate, even when one goes over goal, is a good tool for being honest with oneself and learning from the process.

Finishing other people's food: The best answer is to find a way not to do it. Your grands will be best off if you're a fit, healthy granny, around to see them married, have kids of their own, etc., yes? Next best: Consider boxing the food, ideally for them to take home.

IMO, a lot of this is about taking control of one's own behavior, and taking charge of one's goals. As a side benefit, doing so is also an excellent behavioral example for the young 'uns.

I'm 60, and lost 63 pounds from April 2015 to around March 2016. I'm also hypothyroid (controlled with meds). As someone else said, I found the MFP method very straightforward and do-able, as long as I stuck to it. On that score, it can be better to lose weight slowly but consistently by picking an achievable calorie level, rather than trying for super-fast losses that lead to binges and a sense of failure. I'm now at goal weight (120 pounds, plus or minus 3, at 5' 5") and have been maintaining there for almost 5 months.

Exercise is a plus - especially as a way to maintain muscle while losing weight, as muscle is harder to regain at our age - but sticking to a calorie deficit is the only true requirement for weight loss. (Exercise does let you eat a bit more!) Many people enjoy walking and do well with it, but do recognize that more intense/vigorous forms of exercise will burn more calories in any particular time period, which is worth considering if you have limited time. It's never too late to try something new! Or, consider active things you can do with the grands: I see MFP friends logging exercise like walking at the children's garden, playing Pokemon Go, swimming in the pool with kids, etc.

Good luck - it is possible to do this at our age. We may have to gradually tweak our calorie goals, and try some new foods or activities, but we can get there.

debcarv

Hello everyone, I'd like to join the 60+ group if I may... I have alot of trouble losing weight due to slow metabolism, at times I have lost only 1 lb a month, other times a big fat 0. Have been on every diet out there, the last being atkins and never lost an ounce nor inches in the 2 1/2 months I was on it. Did the 1200 calories on fp a few yrs ago when the picture was from, I literally starved at 1200 cals, I was able to exercize then, is harder now at 67. My weight issues have dropped to my hips and waist area now and that seems to be a difficult area to rid the weight from. Any suggestions would be much appreciated.

Scousemaggie

I would love to join this group as I feel the support and experience of people nearer to my own age would be very beneficial. I am 62 years young, I am a mother of 3 and a grandmother to 8.5 grandchildren, we have anther grandchild due in July. I must admit that since my children have grown up and I've gotten older, I find exercising quite hard. I do have health issues, degenerative disease of the spine, I sometimes suffer with sciatica normally down my left side. I also have a recently diagnosed heart condition with high blood pressure. After working 10.5 hour shifts, exercise is the last thing on my mind when I get home. My brother has suggested I get up half an hour earlier and exercise then, which would mean I'd have to get up at 5:30 . When do most of you decide to exercise? Do any of you agree that exercising in the motioning is better.

AnnPT77

bim54 wrote: »

I would love to join this group as I feel the support and experience of people nearer to my own age would be very beneficial. I am 62 years young, I am a mother of 3 and a grandmother to 8.5 grandchildren, we have anther grandchild due in July. I must admit that since my children have grown up and I've gotten older, I find exercising quite hard. I do have health issues, degenerative disease of the spine, I sometimes suffer with sciatica normally down my left side. I also have a recently diagnosed heart condition with high blood pressure. After working 10.5 hour shifts, exercise is the last thing on my mind when I get home. My brother has suggested I get up half an hour earlier and exercise then, which would mean I'd have to get up at 5:30 . When do most of you decide to exercise? Do any of you agree that exercising in the motioning is better.

Now, I'm 61 and retired. When I was working during the day, I preferred to exercise in the evening. My standard morning mode borders on the comatose. Getting up extra early was just not gonna happen.

Some people find that vigorous exercise in the evening interferes with sleep. For me, it doesn't. The time of day you exercise isn't really important, other than how it fits into your day and other habits (like the sleep thing).

Now that I'm retired, I'm more likely to do certain active pursuits in the morning, just not early morning. This is not so much about my personal preference (which would be afternoon/evening) but about pure logistics. I row in the morning because there's less power boat traffic and because I row with others who prefer to do it in the morning. I go to spin class in the morning because that's when the spin class I like happens.

Bike rides, walks, swims, weight training or other individual activities still tend to be afternoon or evening. (This makes it sound like I do lots. I don't. I usually do at least one active thing that makes me happy daily, 6 days a week, but I sometimes slack off, especially in Winter, to 3-5 days a week.)

In my opinion, the very biggest factor in making exercise a part of one's life is to find active pursuits that you truly find enjoyable. I'm a weak character: If something isn't fun, I'm less likely to do it. Finding something fun requires experimentation; the experimentation itself can be stimulating and fun, if one allows oneself to be a beginner at them.

What does that mean? When starting some new thing, it's completely normal to feel awkward, clumsy, or confused. If one allows oneself that "beginner-dom", finds a way to feel OK about it, that creates the room to try something a few times, get past the awkwardness, and start to have more fun. In the long run, super-simple things - those at which one feels instantly competent - IMO get boring fast. The more complicated, fun ones are harder at first, so it's necessary to make it past that initial feeling of incompetence in order to enjoy them long-term.

I freely admit I don't face the extent of physical problems that you do, but I do have some (arthritis, scar tissue from surgery/radiation treatments, torn meniscus, etc.). I've found that the stronger and fitter I become, the less those problems cause discomfort, pain, or functional problems. Others' mileage clearly may vary in this regard.

cross2bear

I lost my 115lbs without doing any intentional exercise, due to medical issues. Some of those are now resolved (at least partly) so now I am just naturally more active. But without doubt, counting calories, using a scale and keeping a log are what really contributed to the losses. And its sustainable.

Without exercise I have had to be really vigilant about my eating habits but thats fine with me.

My point is that its not any more difficult to lose weight at my age (61) than other ages; it doesn't matter (other than preference) when or even if you exercise; and that losing weight is accomplished in the kitchen, while firming, toning and even abs are created in the gym.

I would never have believed this two years ago. Now when I look in the mirror, I cant believe it for a different reason!

spiriteagle99

If you are physically able to exercise, do it. You'll feel better, look better, and it gives you a lot more flexibility in what you can eat. I'm 60 and I run, walk daily, and bike. Losing weight was easy. Keeping it off is easy as long as I am home and doing my normal schedule of home cooked meals and exercise. Travel is where I have trouble. We go on long road trips a couple of times a year and end up eating out a lot more often, even though we camp. Although we hike often, we get less exercise on the road than at home, so I usually end up gaining a few pounds, but then I lose it again as soon as we're home.

Carolynnr59

Hello, everyone!
I turned 62 in May and have been gaining weight over the last few months. It might be all the extra meds I'm on, but I believe a large part of it goes to not exercising! I use to exercise daily...about 2 years ago. Then we sold our house and moved 3 times within the past 2 years. I lost some weight with each move but gained it back and then some.

My health issues have increased to the point that even walking takes my breath away. But I have to do something! So, I'm going to the gym and walk on the treadmill at 2.0 for 30 minutes. My biggest issue is a balance problem. If I use the treadmill, I can hold onto the bars and walk at a pretty good clip. Walking with a cane helps my balance but I tend to go slower.

I would really love to join this group. I've seen too many other forums with very skinny, young gals balking about losing 5-10 pounds. I need to lose 40 lbs!!! It looks like such a mountain to reach!

Thanks for your consideration!

AmyM831

@Carolynnr59, I am 62 as well. I need to lose 20lbs. At my age 135 is where I look my best. Then just work on toning up, if that is even possible. My husband has health issues and can't walk with me and I don't like going by myself, so I walk on the treadmill unless my daughter can go with me. I broke my foot back in October and it has been hard to lose the extra weight I put on while rehabbing. I was 2 weeks into my new exercise program when I got hurt. So not only do I have the weight I wanted to lose originally, I now have about 10 exra pounds. I looked for an over 60's group to join after I came here and didn't see one. This one looks abandoned.