Is menopause my enemy?

IsETHome

if you have an aldi they have fit and active single drink mixes for water at 5 cals each. I put 2 packets raspberry lemonade in a big cup of water about 32 oz with lime wedges. helps a bit.... double check your water need - your amount seems low side.

AnnPT77

SueSueDio wrote: »

Logging can be a bit time consuming at first, but as you go along you'll have more and more things in your "frequent" list that take just a couple of clicks to add to your diary, If you tend to eat the same things together, you can save them as "meals" for ease of logging too, and just adjust the quantities or add/delete an item or two as needed. And you can enter your own recipes, which can be a bit of a challenge at times (watch out for the 1,000-calorie garlic!) but once you get the recipe entered and saved it's so easy to log it whenever you want.

Put in a little effort now, and it'll pay off later!

Named diet plans are successful for many people because they all reduce calories in one way or another - whether it's limiting the type of food you can eat, or limiting your portion sizes, or assigning points to everything, or whatever. The end result is the same - less calories going into your body, therefore you have to burn your own stored fat. The problem with most of them is that they don't teach you how to keep the weight off long term, which is where becoming aware of calorie counts and portion sizes can really help.

I might have to weigh and log my food, at least on and off, for the rest of my life - I don't particularly want to, but if that's the price I have to pay to keep the weight off after close to 30 years of being obese, that's what I'll do!

Oh, and strength training would be an excellent idea! Muscle does burn more calories, but I'm not sure that it's a really significant amount (someone else can probably give you a better idea)... but it would be great to do anyway. The thing I really regret is not starting that sooner, while I was losing the majority of my weight. Bigger bodies take more effort and strength to move around, so most overweight/obese people have more muscle than it might seem. We lose it along with the fat if we don't work it. Don't end up smaller but flabby like me!

Research suggests that a pound of muscle burns around 2-4 more calories daily than a pound of fat does, so not big. However, every little bit helps, and stronger/more-fit people probably tend to move more in daily life than less fit ones, so burn some extra calories that way.

Also, muscle tissue is very slow/difficult to build under the best conditions (plus "the best conditions" include a calorie surplus!). A very good result for a woman would be 1/4 pound of muscle gain in a week, 1/2 pound for a man . . . with might happen with a calorie surplus, adequate protein, and a well-designed challenging progressive weight training program, conscientiously followed.

Your point about keeping muscle is a great one, and the fact that it's slow to rebuild makes it even smarter to hang onto what we've already got!

One note: Sometimes people think they've gained muscle in a calorie deficit because they're stronger and have better muscle definition. They may not realize that most of one's fast strength increase when starting comes from neuromuscular adaptation (basically, better recruiting and more efficently utilizing existing muscle), and that the water retention from muscle repair makes the muscles look a bit bigger, then loss of overlying fat makes them show up better. It can be deceptive!

Someone may be fortunate enough to gain a little new muscle tissue while losing weight, especially if losing slowly, while obese, getting enough protein, and following a good strength training program. Of course, strength is worth having in itself, so if the worst that strength training does while we diet is help us keep existing muscle, plus make us stronger, that's still a pretty useful pair of benefits right there!

gillila

Thank you. I bought a stepper that i use in the evening. I have been trying to get 10,000/day. That helps. I am lazy and i like my tv shows. I can get up during a commercial break and get in around 300 steps. And there are bands attached that i use to work my biceps and triceps. Hopefully that will help.
I love the stepper - only $43 and it gets me out of my recliner. Money well spent - i think

jager3003

Just starting again. I am 58, have MS and struggle with fatigue and leg weakness. Following...

whmscll

There are sooooo many hidden calories in restaurant food. Can you try to cook and eat more meals at home? Especially once you have your food scale. And doing a bit more exercise will give you a few more calories to eat. Eating at 1200 is really tough. That’s what MFP usually gives me to lose .5 pound a week. The only way I can do it (to stay mostly full and not be constantly hungry/craving) is not to eat or drink anything with extra/empty calories — unless I’ve exercised and can eat back those calories.