LF women over 40 who have lost 50+ pounds

gummibear64

I love reading these stories!:flowerforyou:

chaos416

I'm 52 and finally made that dial on the scale move in the right direction. I need stories like this to keep me believing that I can do it too.

GatorDeb1

I just had to mention that I *AM* a unique snowflake

36-year-old walks out.....

sparklelioness

Started in June 2012 when I was 40 at 262 lbs. Currently at 148. 1200 calories a day six days a week, on sunday I eat what I want, but don't consciously binge - just, if I want pizza I get pizza. I've been taking a break from exercise but through most of my weight loss I walked one hour a day six days a week. Did not eat back my exercise cals most days,.. sometimes I'd eat back half.

Two larger meals a day instead of three small ones - it just works better for me, makes me feel more satisfied to have two "real" meals instead of three that leave me wanting. Lots of protein, decent amount of fat, lots of veggies, try to keep it lower-carb. Lean Cuisine a couple nights a week when I don't feel like cooking, but I always add veggies or meat to it - for example I'll get the chicken alfredo and add a cup of broccoli to it, or I'll get weight watchers parmesan noodles with spinach and add some turkey sausage to it. Dessert every night, usually 150 cals. For the last year it's been a regular supermarket brand ice cream sandwich - 150 cals and really good. Lately I've been putting a half tablespoon of cookie butter on it :>

Loose skin isn't too bad, all in all I'm very happy with how things are turning out. If you're over 40 don't think it's too late and you can't do it, because it's not true

tildastwistedlife

I'm 45 and have lost just a bit over 40 pounds so far, since about January (probably about 40 more to go).
1. I have gone from almost no water daily to trying consistently to drink 8+ glasses a day.
2. I try to maintain 1200 calories a day. If I go a bit over, that's okay.
3. I try to exercise as many days as possible per week, but usually average about 5 days.
4. I have been primarily concentrating on cardio but have seen the need to increase strength training lately to hopefully improve the flabby feeling.
5. I vary my workouts frequently. My body likes to get stuck if I stay with the same workouts a lot, so I change it up.
6. I try to make each meal meet my percentages for protein, carbs, and fat (currently 25%, 50%, 25% respectively). I also try to keep my sodium under control since I tend to hold water.

WithWhatsLeft

I needed this thread.

I am 47, 5'4, 157lbs (WHAT? yes.) and muscular. God help me I am built like my daddy. I have fat around my NECK. What worked 5 or 6 years ago to get the extra weight off, my body just laughs at now.

After a good few months, I have lost... 3 or 4 lbs that will very quickly bounce back after a night of splurging. I'm still playing around with what kind of daily caloric intake I need (certainly less than it used to be), do I eat all my calories back, what's a macro, etc etc...

In the past few weeks I'm beginning to realize that I just can't mess around anymore; it's gotten harder. I'm running a pretty good deficit but need to eat a little more, have stopped lifting (briefly!!) to run every day, and I've stopped drinking my precious gin & tonics at night. Weighing food VERY carefully, and being really honest with myself.

So somewhere between alcohol prohibiting weigh loss/increasing water retention/causing binges (I so love to drink, too), not carefully accounting for all foods, and needing a lower daily intake, I think I"m beginning to see the key somewhere.

Y'all please feel free to add me.

Greatsouthwest

In the late '90s, I weighed 180 and today it's 125. I'm 5 foot 5.5 inches tall and aged 58.

Here's a few of the things that helped, I think.
1) Walking. Good for your head, your body, your spirit. Good time to think positively about the weight you're aiming for.
2) I substituted home-made food for store bought foods that used to be triggers. For example, I often have an out-of-the-freezer home-made crepe for breakfast, rolled up with 2 TBSP ground flax seed and a TBSP honey. It tastes like baklava to me! Instead of buying a bag of chocolates and demolishing it, I'll measure a TBSP or 2 of cocoa, some icing sugar to sweeten it, a little milk to make a paste, then add coconut and voila - macaroons! Instead of potato chips, I'll stir fry minced potatoes in a Pam-sprayed fry pan till cooked, then sautee in TBSP olive oil to finish. Two salted tortillas fried in 2 tsp oil instead of taco chips.
3) Visualize. I use practices like those described in the book Ask and It Is Given. "Wouldn't it be nice to weigh 125?" (It is!)
4) Journal. Get the feelings out. Talk about how it's going. Note how much you weigh. What's working.
5) I make most of my own food and rarely eat out. It's usually beans for lunch and when you make your own, using Quick Soak method, they're pretty delicious. Love red or black beans, salsa, and light sour cream. Beans freeze well in ziplock containers.
6) Made friends with vegetables. They seemed to steer the body to a healthier state. Some of them taste pretty good too.
7) Had official weigh-in and recorded it, but could weigh myself whenever I felt like it. Had 2 month mini-goals to meet.
8) Avoided high glycemic carbs whenever I could. A good supper would be a few ounces lean protein and vegetables.
9) Minimized alcohol, but had red wine to look forward to at least once a week.
10) Stop eating by 7pm. Have a cup of tea, no-cal lemonade to mark the end of eating. Maybe even brush teeth then.
11) Drink a large pot of loose green jasmine tea a day - at least that much. Five pound bags of jasmine green tea can be had at Chinese Markets for little cost and last a long while.
13) Have a 'super salad' for supper a couple times a week. Measure into it imitation bacon bits, parmesan, sunflower seeds, any other protein so you are getting at least 15 grams worth of protein. Light or no-fat ranch dressing for me, or balsamic vinegar with a little sugar and garlic for very lo-cal dressing.
14) I aim for at least 15 grams of protein per meal. Your body can only use it a little at a time, so that's efficient, plus allays hunger.
15) I measured everything. Tablespoons, measuring cups, scale. Aimed for 400 calories per meal, or so, plus afternoon snack.
16) Got one hint from a diet book that helped: you got to get those Omega 3s. I grind 2TBSP of flax seed (buy a spice/seed grinder) every day - good over cereal, in that crepe, maybe mixed with a little honey/syrup. And take 2 fish oil capsules a day, plus various vitamins.
17) Have 'away food' options ready. Lunch away could be home-made granola with nuts, pack some cheese and it's a meal.

Best of luck to all. Those tired words, "If I can do it, you can do it" are true.