50 year old female struggling

OrphanAnnie1967

Hello all, I'm not new to MFP-I have used it on and off several times over the years, but this time I have gotten serious about getting this weight off. I have about 75 more lbs to lose (I've lost almost 10 lbs since starting August 3), but my body seems to refuse to let the fat go sometimes. I started at 1200 cal and felt like I was starving (which knowing myself like I do, is the perfect set up for binging) so I changed the weight loss to 1.5 lbs per week and now I have 1470 cal per day. This has worked much better for me, but even with doing cardio for 30+ min 3-4 times per week and weights on the off days, except Sunday's, there are weeks when I've not lost anything or even gained a minimal amount. I use a Garmin heart monitor to track my calories burned, as the machine I use seems to give me way too many calories burned. Any older women have any advice/input?

I am 50 years old
SW 226.4
CW 216.8
GW 140
Hysterectomy in 2003 but still have ovaries-maybe pre-menopausal?

2011rocket3touring

While not a women, we are of similar age.
As someone who started the same age as you; drop your goal to 1lbs per week or .5.
For the time being focus on the process, developing new habits and accurate (and faithful) logging.

DebLaBounty

I'm 57. I've found that the whole menopause thing may have made me gain most of my ugly weight in my stomach, but it hasn't made it harder to lose weight on MFP. I just use MFP (not a Garmin) to plug in my exercise calories and eat about 75% of them back. I've had a few stalls, but eventually the weight resumed slowly dropping. I started having more success after I bought a digital scale and started weighing my foods more accurately. Actually, it looks like your overall rate of loss is pretty good! Ten pounds lost in 5 weeks deserves congratulations!

If you're a visual person, consider loading the Happy Scale app on your phone. Input your weight (I do it daily) and it will show your weight loss trend. Have you looked at MFP's report to see the graph of your weight loss? I personally like the Happy Scale graph better, because it smooths out all those plateaus and spikes and you can see that you're really making progress, even though it might be slower than you like.

Try taking your body measurements. Sometimes your weight will stall but your waist will be shrinking. That's success, too!

kommodevaran

Tighter logging, more patience with water weight fluctuations. Not age.

Tacklewasher

Male, 52 and dropped 100+ lbs in the past year.

Most likely you are not eating in the calorie range you think you are. I'm sure someone will come along and post the "flowchart", but the short version is get a food scale and weigh everything that goes into your mouth to be sure you are eating the amount of calories you think you are.

Packages lie. They save a serving is 2/3's a cup, of 45 grams and give you a calorie count for that. But if you weigh out 45 grams, it's much closer to a 1/2 cup. Or if you weigh 2/3's a cup, it's 70 grams. I was happily eating granola for breakfast and using the 2/3's as my measurement, only to weight it and find out I was eating ~ 50% more calories then I thought I was for breakfast.

I also use a Garmin and find it to be pretty close for me on the activity calories, maybe a bit high for weights, but pretty close for running.

gabriellejayde

I'm also 50. I've lost around 60lbs in 5 months. very little exercise (just walking a few times a week). My guess is that you're not logging everything correctly. Make sure you don't overdo it with cooking oil, dressing, or portion sizes and you drink plenty of water.

cyranda63

10 pounds in 6 weeks is a remarkable loss. That is over 1.5 pounds a week and that is exactly what you state you modified your calorie intake for. Weight loss is a marathon, not a sprint. Be good to yourself, you are doing great!

fleapowder

I am 61 and it has been about two months and I have lost 19 pounds so far. It was going good but now I am for some reason getting hungry more often. I try and to keep the carbs down and I do I am averaging 2lbs per week. I am happy with that. Keep holding on and I am sure this will pass.

50 yo
sw: 249
cw: 228
gw: 150

quiksylver296

Fix the things from this chart that you are not doing.