Hello

kellinewby

My name is Kelli and I’m 49 years young. I have a goal of losing 25-35lbs. I do go to the gym everyday but I’m not seeing any progress and I’m feeling frustrated. Since turning 45 it has been difficult to lose weight and keep it off. I know it is partly due to hormones but I’m so frustrated. I have started tracking my food intake and eating more healthy meals. Water and protein need to be increased, so I’m working on that too. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

AnnPT77

Good news/bad news, maybe?

I joined MFP at 59, lost from class 1 obese to a healthy weight, now 69 and still maintaining a healthy weight since that loss of around 50 pounds.

The bad news: Gymming - exercise generally - tends to be a fairly small factor in weight loss for most people. The average person gets only about 5% of their total daily calorie burn from intentional exercise. It may be up to 10-15% for heavy exercisers, but it's not at all common to be more than that for people who have a normal life with things like job, family, home chores, etc.

In my case, I'd been training pretty hard 6 days most weeks, even competing at a short-endurance cardiovascular sport . . . for a dozen years, while staying class 1 obese.

The good news is that when I managed my eating better, I lost weight pretty predictably, despite being old, menopausal, severely hypothyroid (medicated for the hypo).

For me, that was all about calorie balance. I'd already been eating pretty healthy. (For example, I've been vegetarian for 51+ years, eating lots of veggies, fruits, whole grains.) I just ate too much, too many treats, too many calorie dense foods like fried stuff, etc. To lose weight, I didn't really change the foods I eat, just changed portion sizes and frequencies of calorie-dense things, making sure to keep my nutrition solid while reducing calories.

For increasing protein, you may find this thread helpful:

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10247171/carbs-and-fats-are-cheap-heres-a-guide-to-getting-your-proteins-worth-fiber-also

That thread links a spreadsheet that lists many, many foods in order by most protein for fewest calories.

Another thing that helped me get more protein at first was reviewing my food diary, looking for foods I was eating somewhat frequently that had quite a few calories, didn't have much/any protein, and that weren't important to me in then-current portions/frequency for feeling full, getting other nutrition, or just for general happiness. Those were foods I could reduce to free up calories I could spend on more protein, or foods for which I could find substitutes that had a least some protein. (Examples of the latter: Quinoa in place of rice, protein pasta instead of regular, etc.)

Besides getting one big protein source in each meal, I also made an effort to get a little protein from sides, beverages, snacks, etc. Those are small bits, and lower quality/bioavailability, but they add up through the day to be helpful.

For me, reaching and staying at a healthy weight has been a major quality of life improvement, more than worth the effort it took to accomplish. I hope you find the same thing.

Best wishes!