New Journey

silvertogolden86

Hi! I'm Theresa and I'm a middle-aged Nonna who is back on MFP because I have new health goals to reach. I specifically need to lose about 25 lbs, lower my cholesterol and A1C. Over the past few years overeating and lack of exercise have contributed to these issues as well as general laziness and lack of self-discipline. My doctor recommended cutting my calories to 1200 a day and in the past week I've realized that I can sustain myself on smaller portions of lovely delicious food. This week a Thanksgiving potluck on day 3 as well as Thanksgiving dinner did not side-track me. I'm looking for encouragement from people who are in my age and stage of life.

AnnPT77

Hello, Theresa, and welcome!

You're looking for people in your age and stage . . . but I'm not sure exactly what that is?

For example, I'm a li'l ol' lady and an MFP long-timer, but not a nonna or even momma. I've been on MFP since 2015, about a year of weight loss (around 50 pounds) and maintaining a healthy weight since. I can empathize with over-undereating and under-exercising, because I have a hedonistic streak about a mile wide. 😆 I was lucky to find a form of exercise back in my mid-40s that was so fun I'd do it even if it weren't good for me, but it is. That's kind of magical, TBH. But I didn't lose weight until 59-60. (And yes, that normalized my formerly-high cholesterol.)

It sounds like you're doing great, even keeping things moderate through the Thankgiving holiday: Excellent start.

May I make a small suggestion? I understand that your doctor suggested 1200 calories, and I'm a big believer in listening to my doctor about health issues. Still, 1200 is sometimes a generic number doctors suggest to women. It can be right for someone who's older, not very overweight, somewhat petite, and reasonably sedentary, but it's not universally the right number.

For one, I'd suggest seeing what MFP says your calorie goal would be to lose maybe 1 pound a week. MFP uses solid science-based estimating methods that are somewhat personalized to our demographics. That might be a useful comparison.

Also, for anyone, I suggest following a particular calorie/activity regimen for 4-6 weeks (one whole menstrual cycle for women who have them), logging as completely and accurately as practical. The actual average weekly weight loss rate over that multi-week period is a great reality check. I lost too fast at first by accident, got weak and fatigued, then it took several weeks to recover. No one needs that, with a busy life! (I was lucky there weren't worse health consequences, honestly.)

MFP and even fitness trackers just give us a calorie goal that would be the average for people demographically similar to us. That's close for most people by definition, but it can be noticeably far off for a few, maybe for non-obvious reasons.

Wishing you success: If your experience is anything like mine, it's more than worth the effort it takes to accomplish!