Over 70

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kilkenny49
kilkenny49 Posts: 4 Member
in Motivation and Support

hi, I am 75, struggled with weight since my late 30’s. Been trying hard for 1 1/2 years to get my weight down. Lost 25 last year then over Christmas and a cruise put back on 10. Struggling to get my number down. Started going to the gym for classes.

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  • nsk1951
    nsk1951 Posts: 1,322 Member

    Hi, welcome aboard. I hope you find MFP helpful; and that you win in your struggle to trim down. It does get harder the high the age number gets to be!

    I've noticed that most apps I have visited for weight loss insights and helpful tips don;t go beyond the age of 70. I turned 80 a couple of months ago. Plus, I didn't start using this app to help me trim down until 2012. I did lose 60 pounds over the course of 10 years; with lots of ups and downs that slowed things down; like you have experienced in losing 25 and then gaining 10 back. I've gained back 15 of my 60 lost and have, today, returned to tracking and posting on MFP.

    I hope activity on the app and conversations on the community pages help me this time around as they did last time.

    Hope to see you post again. I've bookmarked your post so that I can find your post again.

  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 37,038 Member

    For me, logging has been the perfect tool. The idea is to get a calorie goal from MFP or some other sound source, following it reasonably closely for 4-6 weeks (whole menstrual cycles for those who have them, but I'm betting you, like me, have put that in the past). The average weekly results from that 4-6 week experience will tell us whether that's the right calorie goal for us, or needs adjusting.

    I'm not suggesting losing fast. I think losing very fast is always a bad idea, unless there's medical necessity to do it fast, and a person's getting the right medical oversight while losing fast. What I'm suggesting is that the above approach will give us the personalized data we need to lose somewhat predictably. The post above is correct, we can vary from the average calorie goals that MFP and other calorie calculators suggest. Using personal results to adjust is a way to address that.

    Beyond that, I'd say it's important to choose foods we like, we find filling, that give us reasonable overall nutrition, and that fit together to end up close to that calorie goal. It can take a little experimenting to find the right mix of foods, and the right meal/snack timings, to give us our personal best outcome. During those experiments, not every experiment will succeed. That's not "failure", that's learning something we can use to improve our plan and head toward success. As long as we keep chipping away at finding the right tactics, success is ahead. Only giving up entirely results in failing the effort.

    (Side note: Thinking we need to give up all foods we find tasty, eat only superfoods, follow some bizarre trendy named diet, do punitively intense/miserable exercise . . . none of that essential, and it makes giving up more likely. Moderation and a gradually improving plan is a good way to go IMO.)

    As context, I'm near your age now (turning 70 this November). MFP helped me lose 50 pounds, obese to healthy weight, back in 2015-16, and has been a good tool for me for staying at a healthy weight since.

    In our age group, doing some strength-challenging exercise and getting overall good nutrition, especially adequate protein, are helpers to improving health and making weight loss progress. Anything that challenges current strength is useful: It isn't about struggling lifting giant weights, it's about finding what's manageable but challenging for us as individuals.

    I'm cheering for you to succeed: The quality of life improvement that results is more than worth the effort it takes to get there!

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