60+ and Chubby

Peppegal

I have no problem exercising at least 5 times a week but I admit I need some upper body strength. I think staying home has me snacking a little bit more. Yikes! I never did eat too much...not excessively, for the weight I have since I've tracked what goes in my body but something's making it slow. I have low body temperature that tends to have me burn less calories. I'm told my thyroid is fine.
I just like to hear from some people how it's going in their sixties as far as weight loss is concerned.
Many thanks,
PeppeGal

rosebarnalice

Well, I lost 55 lbs between my 59th and 60th birthdays. Eat less, exercise more. Log every flipping thing I put in my mouth because if I don't I'm a big fat liar-liar-pants-on-fire to myself about how much I eat.

Swimming is my savior, but the shoulders and hips are all a bit wonky now. I recently worked with a physical therapist to adjust my swimming strokes to cause less shoulder pain and damage. The swimming really helps keep my hips and knees mobile, and I can really feel the difference if I skip more than a couple of days.

AnnPT77

Pretty much like Rosebarnalice: I'd be overweight to obese for around 3 decades. The last dozen years of that, I was quite active, working out with reasonable intensity most days most weeks, even competing as a masters athlete (not always unsuccessfully either) . . . and stayed obese.

At age 59-60, I lost 50+ pounds, nearly a third of my bodyweight, went from obese to a healthy weight in less than a year, have been at a healthy weight for 5+ years since (now age 65). It was all about better managing my eating habits, for me. I didn't particularly change my exercise routine (already active), or what foods I ate (but did change portion sizes, proportions of different foods on the typical plate, frequencies of calorie-dense foods).

I *am* hypothyroid (but properly medicated). That didn't really have an effect on my weight loss or maintenance, in practice. (I have noticed that I feel less energetic when I need a dosage adjustment, probably burn fewer calories through daily life activity at those times, but it hasn't lasted long enough to have major weight impact - meds get adjusted, all is well again.)

For me, managing my weight was all about managing my eating: Getting proper calories on average over time, balancing that with good well-rounded nutrition, satiation, tastiness, practicality, and other aspects of food/eating that are important, but not central to bodyweight management in the way calorie level is.

At least some of decreased calorie needs with aging is about declining muscle mass, and gradually, subtly decreased activity levels - not just exercise, but also daily life movement, IMO. Muscle mass is slow to increase, but it's a thing we can profitably work at. Creating increased habits of movement is potentially quicker. (I think of it as fostering a bias toward movement.) Managing calorie intake is probably quickest of all . . . but even that requires wiliness and patience.

Best wishes!

springlering62

Ironically, I have an unusually low normal body temp, and assumed it meant I burned more calories trying to stay warm, because I’m so often cold.

I’m “only” 59. Weight loss was tedious but otherwise a doddle. It’s maintenance that’s work, I find.