Could use some support

mindymauro
mindymauro Posts: 1 Member
in Motivation and Support
Am at my highest non pregnant weight of 154.7 and my goal weight is 135. I want to lose the weight in the healthiest way possible but don’t want to “diet” meaning restrict, avoid food groups, be obsessive and have it be the biggest thing in my life. But if I’m not “mindful” I eat whatever I want and the weight keeps creeping up. I’m 64 and I do some type of exercise every day- walking or weight classes. I believe support is key to staying motivated and have never tried this on MFP… hope it helps!

Replies

  • Hobartlemagne
    Hobartlemagne Posts: 564 Member
    It sounds a little like you're approaching this with a have-your-cake-and-eat-it-too attitude.
    If you want your weight to change, you'll have to make some compromises in how you approach your eating.
    I like to recommend- for 1 week log EVERYTHING that you eat on MFP with no exceptions, but also no thoughts on diet or weight loss. This gives you a behavior-baseline to work from. You may be surprised at what you see- most of us forget what we ate after 2 or 3 days. The bad choices add up without us noticing.
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 34,197 Member
    mindymauro wrote: »
    Am at my highest non pregnant weight of 154.7 and my goal weight is 135. I want to lose the weight in the healthiest way possible but don’t want to “diet” meaning restrict, avoid food groups, be obsessive and have it be the biggest thing in my life. But if I’m not “mindful” I eat whatever I want and the weight keeps creeping up. I’m 64 and I do some type of exercise every day- walking or weight classes. I believe support is key to staying motivated and have never tried this on MFP… hope it helps!

    With only about 20 pounds to lose, I'd suggest extreme measures aren't necessary.

    A while back, I'd let a few pounds creep on (over 4 years or so that had followed major weight loss), but I was still in the same jeans size, still a healthy weight - sounds similar to where you are now. I was about your current age, too. I decided to eat at a level that would let me lose weight at half a pound a week or even slower, just eating a little under maintenance calories the majority of the time, and on the rare occasion somewhat more. It took over a year, I averaged around a pound a month ( :D ) . . . but it was practically painless.

    You mention two scenarios in your post: "restrict, avoid food groups, be obsessive and have it be the biggest thing in life" vs. "eat whatever I want". To me, it feels like there could be a space in the middle: Eat somewhat less (in calorie terms) of foods you like, prioritizing those that help you stay full most of the time and happy.

    If you don't want to log food long term, that can be viable. But I do like Hobartlemagne's suggestion that you log carefully for at least a week or two, if you haven't done that recently.

    For me, when first logging, the process was eye-opening. Things jumped out at me that I knew I didn't need to eat in their then-current portions or frequencies in order to stay full, feel happy with my eating, or get good nutrition. Those first cuts were easy ones.

    If your weight has been "creeping", you may not need many or difficult reductions. (Eating around 100 calories over maintenance daily on average adds roughly ten pounds in a year! That's like an extra dollop of of mayo on a sandwich, y'know? Or, it could be a some bigger cheesy, fried, or otherwise high-calorie thing once a week, even.)

    During initial loss (at 59), I focused on habits, the things I do day in and day out as a routine. I figure it's the majority of my days that deliver the majority of my results, not that one day I eat too much cake or work out for 5 hours.

    By changing those routine habits, weight loss went better, and long term weight management has been quite manageable. (I'm now 68, still at a healthy weight. Yes, I did mention some minor and very slow regain, but I haven't been out of the healthy weight range, out of the same jeans size, or anywhere near my original class 1 obese weight in 8 years. In my book, that's winning.)

    You can do this, and I'm betting it won't take major changes in lifestyle, just some new insights and a bit of habit-tweaking. I'm cheering for you to succeed: The results are worth the effort.

    P.S. How's your protein intake? It's common for that to be on the low side in our demographic, and/or to be focused in one meal. Since we metabolize protein less efficiently as we age, it's important to get enough, and more important for us than for younger folks to spread it through the day. Maybe you're fine on that score, I don't know. But I mention it because your work with weights wouldn't pay off as well, if you weren't getting enough protein. That can affect calorie needs long term, as well as quality of life.

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