Late 40s', trouble losing weight but not hormonal?

TurquoiseViolet828

I am 49 and have been maintaining the same weight for awhile now (about 20 lbs over a healthy weight for my height). I spend about 30-40 minutes a day, 6 days a week working out, I could do a little better with nutrition but its not horrible. Because my periods are still very regular my doctor does not feel I am perimenopausal and stresses diet and exercise. I re-joined MFP to really tighten up the nutrition but just looking to see if there is anyone else in a similar situation if they have had any success.

Please feel free to add me as a friend.

zebasschick

losing weight is as simple as cutting your calories. if you cut 500 calories per day off what you currently eat, you'll lose about a pound a week, and in around 20 weeks, the 20 pounds will be gone.

the catch for me was that i had no idea at all how many calories i ate, which is where myfitnesspal comes in. learning to log your food - including getting used to weighing everything you eat and finding accurate database entries - has been the most effective way for me to figure that part out, and it's been informative as well as effective. i've lost weight, and i've also gotten stronger, and i've even made some friends along the way.

spiriteagle99

One thought, did your doctor check your thyroid? When I was in my mid-40s, I started having a hard time losing weight, even though I was active. Eventually I got a doctor to listen to me. (A couple just said, "You're over 40. What do you expect?") He asked if I had any family history of low thyroid. My mother did, so I got tested and, sure enough, my thyroid function was low. Once I was on medication, I was able to lose weight normally. It doesn't make a huge difference, but it can make it harder to lose weight.

TurquoiseViolet828

spiriteagle99 wrote: »

One thought, did your doctor check your thyroid? When I was in my mid-40s, I started having a hard time losing weight, even though I was active. Eventually I got a doctor to listen to me. (A couple just said, "You're over 40. What do you expect?") He asked if I had any family history of low thyroid. My mother did, so I got tested and, sure enough, my thyroid function was low. Once I was on medication, I was able to lose weight normally. It doesn't make a huge difference, but it can make it harder to lose weight.

I did have some bloodwork done, my numbers were at the low end of normal but not low enough to warrant medication. A friend was saying that the basic bloodwork they do doesn't always show the whole picture so I may look into getting more extensive testing done.
And yes, I have gotten that you're over 40 what do you expect comment as well, always fun.

RudeJu

Definitely worth having extensive blood work done. Just a thought for you to consider about being perimenopausal you can still have periods while perimenopausal. There are all kinds of symptoms such as weight gain, headaches, sleeplessness anxiety just to mention a few that doctors fail to consider is due to perimenopause. Even a blood test doesn't always show you're in perimenopause because results can change in any given day. Its a nightmare to be taken serious by gp's. Experts in women's health can really help to get a diagnosis. There's only so much diet and excersise can a achieve at our age..! I've learnt the hard way!

I hope you manage to find a way to lose what you'd like to lose in weight.

kshama2001

There are mistakes that people commonly make that cause them to not lose weight that we might be able to spot if you change your Diary Sharing settings to Public. In the app, go to Settings > Diary Setting > Diary Sharing > and check Public. Desktop: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/account/diary_settings

AnnPT77

Maybe I'm an outlier in attitude, but I think there's a lot diet and exercise can achieve at our age.

Well, kind of our age: I'm 67, substantially older than you, OP.

I started becoming more active in my late 40s, and it was a gradual thing. But within a couple of years, I was training pretty hard 6 days most weeks, and even competing athletically (not always unsuccessfully, in age-group competitions).

It was a huge surprise to me that it was remotely possible for me, especially starting after a almost entirely sedentary adult life, and right after locally advanced cancer, the whole nine yards of treatment (surgery, chemo, radiation, anti-estrogen drugs), then a diagnosis of severe hypothyroidism. I'd been one of those "chosen last in gym class" kids, so this was a pretty radical thing. It was not only a surprise that it was possible at all, but that I could fit it into a fairly busy adult life (full time job plus, normal home responsibilities, etc.).

I'm not saying everyone should want to do that sort of thing, but I think the culture at large has low expectations of us we age, and that we sometimes have low expectations of ourselves, too . . . and that's not helpful. A lot can be accomplished.

Unfortunately (and stupidly) I stayed fat (class 1 obese) for another dozen years, despite a pretty robust workout schedule. (It's really easy to eat those few hundred extra calories from the workouts: A couple tablespoons of peanut butter or creamy salad dressing will wipe out much of it, and one of those sweet coffee drinks with whipped cream can easily offset a couple of days of pretty intense workouts, calorically.)

At age 59-60, it finally sunk into me that while being pretty fit was a big quality of life improvement, it wasn't enough to keep me healthy. My cholesterol/triglycerides were high, blood pressure high. I started calorie counting, then joined MFP. I lost 50-some pounds in just under a year.

It won't be true for everyone, but for me calorie counting has been the perfect tool. I can eat every nutritious/delicious calorie I'm able to eat and still accomplish my weight-management goals, and still fuel my athletic performance besides.

Part way through weight loss, my blood tests and blood pressure normalized, and they've stayed in the healthy range (along with my body weight) ever since (7+ years so far).

Like I said, getting fitter was a big quality of life improvement, but combining that with reaching a healthy body weight has been gangbusters: So. Much. Better.

You can do this. Patience and persistence are important. Chipping away in small, repeated steps can accomplish a surprisingly set of things over a few months, let alone over a small number of years. Very honestly, I feel better and "younger" at 67 than I did at 45 when I was obese and inactive.

I'm cheering for you to succeed: The results are worth it!

MaggieGirl135

I agree with Ann, starting in my late 50’s and into my early 60’s (now), I believe that I have increased my metabolism due to daily (not just sporadic) exercise. And I don’t do excessive exercise, by any means. I would guess that my daily maintenance calories has increased by at least 200, maybe 300. Losing weight is possible in menopause, and certainly before that. The key, at least for me, is tracking my calories and staying within my ‘calorie’ budget.

herringboxes

I agree with Ann and Maggie. I absolutely do not discount that there is some form of difficulty losing weight around this age, but I’m not sure if the difficulty is what we assume it is. I’m not sure what is going on, but I think some factors include busy and stressful lives that lead us to kind of crash and veg out any minute we can, leaving us no extra mental space and energy to meal plan, cook, pursue enjoyable activities, and most of all devote self discipline (which really does take energy).

Added to that, we culturally reinforce this outlook, everyone running ragged and eating convenience foods that are not nutritious or satiating, and telling ourselves it’s just the way it is.

I had a very hard time losing weight a few years ago. But now at 46, things came together and it worked. I think it was a combination of somewhat reduced stress in my life (it was sky high before and now only moderate) and getting my blood sugar under control (I used to eat not for hunger but to manage the crashes).

So while I know very well it’s not easy peasy, I think the idea that losing weight in perimenopause or after menopause is more difficult might not be as true as we think. And if I’m right, it’s great news!

There may be a difficulty that needs to be solved, like the blood sugar problem for me, or maybe your thyroid needs support, or maybe something else. But it’s probably solvable, whereas perimenopause wouldn’t be if it truly were the thing standing in the way.

PeachHibiscus

TurquoiseViolet828 wrote: »

I am 49 and have been maintaining the same weight for awhile now (about 20 lbs over a healthy weight for my height). I spend about 30-40 minutes a day, 6 days a week working out, I could do a little better with nutrition but its not horrible.

I'm also 49 and I could easily out-eat any exercise I do. I recently lost 41 pounds, which was easy so long as I was accurately tracking and logging my food to keep within my calorie goals. Speaking for myself, it's very easy for me to overeat, not even really meaning to, just by having a little bit extra here and there or by not weighing/measuring food portions.