Losing weight over 45

Bjane01

What consideration should I have when trying to lose weight when I am 46 years old. It seems to be much harder than when I was younger. I used to be able to lose weight more readily with a proper food intake! Help!

harper16

Unless you have medical restrictions to follow.
Count and log everything that you eat. Weight loss is caused by being in a calorie deficit. Mfp is designed for you to eat back your exercise calories, so log any exercise separate and eat back those calories. Your activity level doesn't include your exercise.

How much weight are you trying to lose?

Jax_Grim

I am nearly 46. I lost about 50+ pounds about 10 years ago but gained it back. I started back in August of last year. I've honestly had an easier time losing weight this time. My method this time is actually trying to eat healthier rather than just staying at a certain caloric intake. The saying 'use food as your medicine or you will use medicine as your food' is always in the back of my mind. I do take a daily multivitamin but try to get the majority of my nutrients from my diet.

As far as exercising, I'm sticking mostly to low impact exercises for now. I started back at 315 pounds, so I have mostly just been walking. I'm down 76 pounds now so I have been amping up the speed and distance. I had a bad ankle when I started, but I believe I will start jogging soon. I've also picked up resistance bands for rehabbing my ankle and general strengthening and toning.

BuddhaBunnyFTW

I'm 45 and I've lost about 45 lbs through diet changes alone with living a relatively sedentary life.
I eat a diet that is plant food based and no processed foods. I eat a lot of fiber in order to feel full. The book that taught me how to eat better is called "How not to diet"

Bjane01

harper16 wrote: »

Unless you have medical restrictions to follow.
Count and log everything that you eat. Weight loss is caused by being in a calorie deficit. Mfp is designed for you to eat back your exercise calories, so log any exercise separate and eat back those calories. Your activity level doesn't include your exercise.

How much weight are you trying to lose?

Not much weight really. I am about 10 lbs away from the normal range of weight. I'd like to lose those 10 lbs this summer. Maybe next year lose another 10 lbs or so. I am pretty good at maintaining where I am at but my body just wants to hold on to those 10 lbs like a lifeline or something!

Bjane01

BuddhaBunnyFTW wrote: »

I'm 45 and I've lost about 45 lbs through diet changes alone with living a relatively sedentary life.
I eat a diet that is plant food based and no processed foods. I eat a lot of fiber in order to feel full. The book that taught me how to eat better is called "How not to diet"

What is your go to food for fiber?

Bjane01

Jax_Grim wrote: »

I am nearly 46. I lost about 50+ pounds about 10 years ago but gained it back. I started back in August of last year. I've honestly had an easier time losing weight this time. My method this time is actually trying to eat healthier rather than just staying at a certain caloric intake. The saying 'use food as your medicine or you will use medicine as your food' is always in the back of my mind. I do take a daily multivitamin but try to get the majority of my nutrients from my diet.

As far as exercising, I'm sticking mostly to low impact exercises for now. I started back at 315 pounds, so I have mostly just been walking. I'm down 76 pounds now so I have been amping up the speed and distance. I had a bad ankle when I started, but I believe I will start jogging soon. I've also picked up resistance bands for rehabbing my ankle and general strengthening and toning.

I honestly only have 10-20 lbs i'd like to lose. I lost nearly 40 lbs over the last several year and kept it off. I can't seem to lose the last lbs. They are stubborn.

AnnPT77

If you're trying to lose weight by calorie counting, those last ten pounds are where being really meticulous about logging (food scale and all that, every bite, every day) can be a big help. Even mega-careful logging for a month will help you zero in on where the issues are, and make the adjustments you need.

I was able to rough-estimate calories for a while, not even log food, and lose weight fine. As I got lighter, that stopped working reliably, and I needed to start logging. The closer to goal weight, the more helpful accuracy became, in losing at a predictable rate.

Now, with logging a super-easy, almost automatic thing in my life - the most high-payoff 10 minutes or so of my day - it's been quite straightforward to lose a few more vanity pounds in maintenance ultra-slowly, without stress or deprivation . . . around 9 pounds in the past 6 months. (Is that "too slow" for some people? Sure. But for me, to get from BMI 22-point-something to BMI 21-point-something, without feeling inconvenienced, it was pretty perfect.) YMMV, obviously.

I'm pretty sure it's not an age thing. Why? I'm 64.

Best wishes!

RunsWithBees

I’m 45.5 years old, 6+ years in maintenance mode. I “knowingly allowed” myself to eat a bit more during the lockdown and ended up a total of 6 lbs over my goal weight, which is a little bit out of my maintenance buffer zone so I decided to start logging again in mid April. I dusted off the old food scale and did more home cooking, but I think what makes the real difference for me is upping my exercise activity. I upped my walking to almost every day, even after a long day of work when I didn’t really feel like it, and I added a few extra running miles in whenever I had the time. I eat back ALL of my exercise calories, ALL of them! I‘ve learned that I have to be honest with myself about how much I’m eating and how much energy I’m expending, my mind will definitely try to convince myself otherwise Even with the extra 6 lbs I had gained I was still at a normal weight but was able to lose about 0.5 lbs per week and I’m now less than a pound away from returning to my goal weight. In the past when I felt like I hit a plateau I would go on an 8 mile hike and that always seemed to get the scale moving again, I went on an 8 mile hike the first week I began logging again in April so maybe that gave me the boost I needed. Besides being middle aged, I’m also hypothyroid and have mild PCOS yet still lost weight at a predictable rate, the key for me is really staying active though.