HELP! My 30's are doing me dirty!
FeistyFox89
Posts: 3 Member
Hello from a total weightloss noobie!
I am extraordinarily lucky. I have always been able to eat whatever I wanted without gaining weight. I could eat candy, burgers, beer, all the things without having to worry about it. I was livin' life and fancy free. Until now.
I turned 30 last year, and it was like my body was done with all that childish nonsense! I didn't even notice really until my clothes stopped fitting and I started passing out. In a few months, I gained 30 lbs, and was diagnosed with hypoglycemia. Super fun, amirite?
I was a dancer when I was young, but then I turned my focus to acting, which requires some physical conditioning, but not enough to really engage the body in the way that working out does. Other than that, I practice a lot of yoga.
I started a workout regimen about a month ago that I enjoy, but I'm not losing weight. So I guess I have to start looking at my nutrition. For me, this is a problem. I love food. All food. I can think of two foods that I dislike: eggplant and baked peanut butter. I did some research, and I understand calories and basic nutrition. What I need help with is how do I not eat five oreos, or a bag of chips, or (insert sugary not good for you food here).
I'm 5'7" and I weigh 160lbs. I would like to get down to 130, but I want to do it safely. I'm not looking for a fad diet, or a super restrictive one either. I would like to make subtle changes to my eating habits, but not in a way that's going to make me want to binge at the first sign of trouble. I am also going to need help with motivation and staying on track. I'm not very patient, and I know that this is going to take some time before I see results.
Anyone out there feelin' my pain!? Help a noob out!
Love and peace!
I am extraordinarily lucky. I have always been able to eat whatever I wanted without gaining weight. I could eat candy, burgers, beer, all the things without having to worry about it. I was livin' life and fancy free. Until now.
I turned 30 last year, and it was like my body was done with all that childish nonsense! I didn't even notice really until my clothes stopped fitting and I started passing out. In a few months, I gained 30 lbs, and was diagnosed with hypoglycemia. Super fun, amirite?
I was a dancer when I was young, but then I turned my focus to acting, which requires some physical conditioning, but not enough to really engage the body in the way that working out does. Other than that, I practice a lot of yoga.
I started a workout regimen about a month ago that I enjoy, but I'm not losing weight. So I guess I have to start looking at my nutrition. For me, this is a problem. I love food. All food. I can think of two foods that I dislike: eggplant and baked peanut butter. I did some research, and I understand calories and basic nutrition. What I need help with is how do I not eat five oreos, or a bag of chips, or (insert sugary not good for you food here).
I'm 5'7" and I weigh 160lbs. I would like to get down to 130, but I want to do it safely. I'm not looking for a fad diet, or a super restrictive one either. I would like to make subtle changes to my eating habits, but not in a way that's going to make me want to binge at the first sign of trouble. I am also going to need help with motivation and staying on track. I'm not very patient, and I know that this is going to take some time before I see results.
Anyone out there feelin' my pain!? Help a noob out!
Love and peace!
5
Replies
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I'm a foodie and what works best for me is trying to eat fairly clean most of the time but allowing myself some indulgences here and there. The more I avoid carbs, the better I feel (but I still drink beer)... I do lots of sauteed veggies and meats. Using the calorie counter on here helps me tremendously to stay in check a bit. Anything is allowed, but it needs to bit my daily allowance. I also use an app called Happy Scale - and go off trends/ave weight to avoid freaking out over daily weight.1
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In no particular order when i realized I needed to do things differently (wasn’t losing weight) this is what helped me;
1) gave in and bought a food scale. Boy, what an education. I logged everything in MFP.
2) had an outfit I remember feeling my best in. Would look at it daily and try it on weekly - that was my motivation.
3) as great as that motivation was, it wasn’t as important as discipline. I had to stick to my diet and exercise program (strength training) even when I didn’t want to. No alcohol. Gallon of water daily.
4) kept anything I knew I had no control over out of the house! That was bbq chips for me.
5) increased my NEAT. I cooked and squatted. Did laundry and danced. Anytime I could I was moving.
6) I’m a data geek, so the Fitbit helped me.
7) weighed daily so I would learn how certain foods impacted me.
8). Increased my fruits and veggies. Decreased sodium.
Just some quick thoughts. Some may work for you, others won’t of course. Great that you have a workout program you enjoy. I hear ya on the eggplant but never heard of baked peanut butter!!😀6 -
What is important is to find out what works for you! Some like Cayenne_007 are feeling better low carb, other like me rely solely on calorie count while still prioritizing wholefoods over refined as I couldn't live happily without sandwiches or pasta.
The key however is to log every single morsel in order to have an idea of how many calories you are eating vs how many you are burning. And remember that food control is 80% of your weight loss strategy - 20% depends on your workouts.
Motivation and disciple are important, but we are all humans, so you need to set up a strategy for the moments that you will lack motivation or discipline and try to figure out how you will cope (rolls eyes at herself while writing this
) Also know that you will fail at some point and yes you will eat 5 oreos. The big thing is what you will do next: let it all go or decide that this has happened and now you're good to go again. Luckily, this board is an excellent help for staying on track.
Some very useful tips here: https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10300331/most-helpful-posts-getting-started-must-reads#latest
Good luck !!1 -
You need to take it one day at a time. Set a reasonable goal and track it. For example: a goal to lose 1 pound per week. Actions required to get their: track food in MFP, strength train 3 times a week, cardio 3 times a week.
Start with making a small change. For example: if you drink pop, then switch it out for water. Do that for a month. Evaluate your progress. Then make another small change.
You’ve already made one change by creating a mfp account and joining a community. So, I suspect you are already off to a good start.
Good luck!
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I gained most of my weight in my 30s as well. I was convinced I had a thyroid issue, but nope. I was just shoveling too much junk in my face and my metabolism had decided to take a vacation.
I think @CeeBeeSlim gave you lots of great advice - especially about the food scale - Once I went from estimating to actually measuring my food I realized how much I was actually eating.
To that I'll add that fruits and vegetables are less calorie dense than other foods - so you can eat way more of them and feel fuller longer. I love food too, and I like to feel like I've really had a substantial meal when I eat. Upping my intake of fruits and veggies has kept me feeling sated, increased my nutritional intake, and kept me in my calorie range.
Here's a great reference for comparing 100 calories worth of different foods:
https://www.bhf.org.uk/informationsupport/heart-matters-magazine/nutrition/weight/what-does-100-calories-look-like2 -
There’s a group called eat more weight less on MFP and I really identify with it. I turned 30 this year but really, I’ve never been skinny in my life ahahaha and I’ve been yo yo dieting forever. I recently did Noom which helped me lose the bulk of what I had gained last year and finally fit on my clothes again, and now I’m back on EM2WL mentality and oh my gosh it makes a difference.
Mind you, I don’t mind eating vegetables or anything, but eating around 1500 calories a day when you spend about 2500 makes a difference on the long run (i’d have this stupid tendency to binge every now and then). Now even if I’m close to have my period at most I’m only able to eat like 2 more pieces of chocolate tops, since I’m already full 🤣🤣
If you have a fitbit or Apple Watch the basic idea is to eat 10%to 15% less of your daily calories, which is very little less but on the long run makes a difference. If not you still have to calculate your daily expenditure which I’ve always been crap at and clearly underestimate how much I actually walk.
Basically you don’t want your body thinking you’re having a diet. You want to keep it burning as many calories as possible and not slowing down. I actually lost a bunch of weight when I stopped eating just 1500 calories to eat again around 2200. And my weight became a bit more stable after than before.
So yeah, my advice would be to eat up as much as possible with a low deficit 🙂 on the long run it should make a difference.1 -
Baked peanut butter? that sounds nasty.
I agree with the oreos being a dangerous treat...I can't keep those in the house.
I do have a bag of dark chocolate baking morsels and a bag of peppermint patties on hand to help keep my sanity. The peppermint patties are in the freezer. They taste awesome during the summer and bonus the peppermint eases congestion from my allergies. And pasta. Its hard to tell someone who has Italian heritage to cut out their pasta. I was eating a very carb heavy diet and cut waaaaay back. I let pasta in a couple nights a week a small small serving to keep within my deficit. crazy thing is as much as I love the carbs, I have felt fantastic since cutting them back. (Im 37. I also was one of those who could eat anything and hovered around 127-135 most of my life. A couple years ago I upped my calorie intake due to a physically demanding job and when I left that job I never reduced the calories. So That along with the age allowed the pounds to pack on up to 148. What got me to realize was I was having digestion issues and a ton of painful gas and bloating.) since I started the calorie count I haven't had any issues since!0
