Loose weight at 50

grickrock7526

I am finding it harder to loose weight now I'm 50 does anyone have any tips

capgordon76

Weight training is more effective the older u get to lose weight so don't go to hard with cardio and am intermittent fasting as well . I wake up and fast till 3 pm

laurasclever

I have found water really is the key! 64 oz a day and weight training and I don’t eat anything from 7:30- 11:30 am use the fasting app. Lost 27 so far. Good luck!

briscogun

Yes, the older we get the more challenging it can be to lose the weight, but the same rules still apply: eat less than your body burns.

What works for some people may not work for you, for example IF stated above. IF is a tool that can help people with their total calorie intake by limiting the hours in which they eat, but I could do a 23:1 IF schedule and if during that 1 hour I eat 3 cheeseburgers, 2 large fries, a whole pizza and a milkshake, my body isn't going to care that I didn't eat for 23 hours. It's still all bout the total calories you take in versus how much you burn. Period.

Same for water. Some people find that increased water intake helps keep them feeling satiated for longer periods, but water intake has zero to do with weight loss. Once again some people just find its a helpful tool along their journey.

As a 55 YO male, I find that being very intentional about my calories, measuring and logging as accurately as I can is Step 1 for me. Second, I try to have a form of INTENTIONAL exercise every day. This isn't to help with my weight loss, per se, but to help with my health. As a lose weight I don't want to be a "skinny fay" flabby mess, and like to be somewhat healthy.

So for me, I watch my intake to lose weight, and I exercise (cardio, weights/bodyweight workouts, etc) every day for at least 30 minutes of active, intentional exercise (not just walking around during my day).

There are tons of good resources for folks our age online (YouTube videos, threads here, etc) for exercise plans and diet plans, but I would just experiment with things you like to eat and activities you enjoy, track your progress for a few weeks/months, and make adjustments as you see fit.

Age isn't a barrier to doing this. You can make it an excuse if you want, but it is doable at any age! You've got this!

AnnPT77

Make a plan that will be relatively easier for you personally to stick with, but that delivers gradual weight loss . . . then buckle in and follow it. That'll work.

Too many people try to lose weight fast, choose extreme eating restrictions and maybe punitively intense exercise on top of that. That usually backfires. A slow weight loss rate can potentially get a person to goal weight in less calendar time than an aggressive plan that causes deprivation-triggered bouts of over-eating, breaks in the action, or even giving up altogether.

Choose foods you like that add up to reasonable calories, don't put all treat foods off limit if they're something you can successfully eat less frequently or in smaller portions to fit them in your calorie goal, and choose ways of moving more - exercise or daily life activity - that ideally are fun, but at minimum are tolerable and practical.

It's a different mindset from treating weight loss as a quick project with an end date. If the golden prize is not just reaching a healthy weight, but staying there - which I think it is - then a more moderate approach also helps build the habits needed to maintain a healthy weight long term.

Other things that are arguably more important as we age are strength-challenging exercise, and getting good overall nutrition that includes ample protein. If we don't challenge our muscles, they slowly lose strength and mass as we age, which isn't good for health and general life functioning (not to mention appearance). If we don't get enough protein, ditto.

Personally, I feel like women are even more likely than men to short-change those things. Too many women act as if "dieting" required eating mostly salads and veggies. Those are good foods, but often don't deliver enough protein or healthy fats. Too many women, maybe especially older women, think strength exercise will make them "bulky" quickly. (Female bodybuilders wish it were that quick and easy. 😆)

I'm not saying a person needs to be a bodybuilder, just that there needs to be some manageable challenge happening, something that requires all our current strength and gradually increases it. Lots of things can do that. And I'm not saying "no cardio", because that would be silly. Cardiovascular challenge is also important for health, but it doesn't need to be some miserable, intense gym-y thing a person hates. Anything that raises heart rate makes a contribution, and lots of potentially-fun things can do that.

One of the things that affects people with later-in-life weight loss is that our daily lives can require less movement: Less physical jobs, less physical hobbies or social events, more use of paid home/lawn services or labor-saving machines, etc. All of that adds up.

Another thing that affects some is a history of yo-yo dieting. Unfortunately, multiple rounds of "lose weight fast, then regain" tend to reduce our calorie needs somewhat, making each successive round of weight loss more challenging. There isn't a reliable cure for that, but my advice would be not to do it for one more round. Instead, get good nutrition, move more, rebuild fitness, and lose weight sensibly gradually.

As context, I lost around 50 pounds at age 59-60 after about 30 previous years of overweight/obesity, and have stayed at a healthy weight since, now age 69. I was not only old, but menopausal and severely hypothyroid (medicated) at the time, things people will claim are weight loss doom. IME, they're not. I think if a hedonistic aging hippie flake like me - a woman with a severely limited budget of discipline, willpower or motivation - can do this, most any average adult can.

Wishing you success, because the quality of life improvement is IME more than worth the effort it takes to get there!