turning 50 this december

I turned 50 in Feb..and need to get this weight off once and for all......Would love support and be supportive for others..
I have 3 children.....son 32, daughter 30 and daugther turning 6!!!!so yes I need to be here!!!
Over 100 lbs to lose!!!!

Hello, well like most of us. I am trying to loose some weight. I am female 5'2" wieghing in at 185.2, trying to get some weight off before I turn the golden age of 50.

Hi there. I will be 52 soon and at 5'1" and I weighed over 170 lbs, it took me two years to lose 60 lbs. I lost the first 40 on my own and then kind of accelerated the process at the end by following the Venus Index plan which has a workout but is more of a lifestyle that helped me lose the last bit, achieve my "golden ratio", and keep it off for a year now. I followed the principles they have for a weight range goal and some lifestyle principles from Eat Stop Eat and Anything Goes Diet (which is not a diet but a way of looking at food that fits your lifestyle). My story here http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/740340-i-lost-60-lbs-at-age-51-anyone-can-any-workout

Since you are short like I am I'll post the following and you will get a lot of contradictory advice on the forum so you will have to decide for yourself how you want to do things.

You will find the the number 1200 is quite controversial around here. It is allegedly the minimum amount of calories needed for each and every person to survive regardless of their size or RMR.

The 1200 calorie minimum is relative to your BMR. If you are a bigger person this is a low number, if you are small like me this is a large number, barely below my RMR. This 1200 may work okay for most people but for short females like me it's way too much. If you are like me, petite and short and you think you might fall into the same category then you need to seek approval of your doctor if you want to go lower. I went lower and when I showed my doctor the research links for eating less in Brad Pilon’s Eat Stop Eat and the calorie guide for me in “The Venus Index Workout Manual” he said “Great. Do it!” So I did and it worked, but I think that is because I am short.

Taller people have more room in their calorie budget to go up or down. Shorter people like me have less room and get frustrated with "eat more" because that typically does not work for us. If you are confused about it don't just listen to the "eat more" bullies, do some research and get approval from your doctor, then tell the bullies who "call you on the pad for eating too low" that you are under a doctor’s care and to please leave you alone.

Once I got leaner I had to taper UP my calories. The leaner you get the less of a calorie deficit your body can handle. It needs to be a long slow shallow deficit. For me still under a doctor’s care, this is around 1000-1200 calories because I am so short, petite, and am under 12% body fat where I truly can go into starvation mode if I ate under 1000 calories. I have supporting documentation below. Again, you must seek your doctor’s advice. No one here can tell you how many calories to eat, either up or down.

Seek advice from your doctor. Myself or anyone else on here can’t tell you how much to eat, or to go up or down. If you have a lot of body fat reserves you would be surprised at how little you can eat (unless you have emotional eating issues or disorders). The leaner you get the less your body has to draw from and then you have to taper up your calories. There is no such thing as starvation mode for woman over 12% body fat or men over 6% body fat. I pretty much proved that for myself by staying strong and building muscle and doing what I did. I'm the leanest, most muscular, and most fit that I have ever been in my life at almost 52 years old. My doctor looked at my blood work throughout my journey and it remained fine even with “taking breaks from eating” for periods of time and eating less. Even now at less than 12% body fat everything is A-OKAY. I am healthy, active, and vibrant, muscular not skinny. I have never had eating disorders nor do I now. If you have eating disorders you should not be on a diet unless you are under a doctor’s care and/or get those issues resolved first. I do not advocate unhealthy eating or promote eating disorders.

I found the following quotes helpful for sorting through all the myths plastered all over the place.

What is the exact number of calories for you?

We’ve been trying to figure out an exact NUMBER of calories that everyone should be eating, without recognizing that everyone is slightly different. In truth, the calories aren’t the end game. Your body is. So the EXACT amount of Calories that are right for you is the EXACT amount that will allow you to maintain your ideal bodyweight no matter what some calculator or chart says.

In other words, an online calculator might tell you that you need to eat 2,500 calories
per day to maintain your ideal bodyweight. But the only way to know for sure if this is
the right amount for you is to test it out. If you gain weight or can’t lose weight eating
that much, then you know you need to eat less to lose weight no matter how many
calculators and text books say otherwise.

This doesn’t mean your metabolism is broken, it just means the estimate of your needs
was just a bit off.

-John Barban (The Body Centric Calorie Guide from the Venus Index and Adonis Index Manuals)

The Theory of Fat Availability:
•There is a set amount of fat that can be released from a fat cell.
•The more fat you have, the more fat can be used as a fuel when dieting.
•The less fat you have, the less fat can be used as a fuel when dieting.
•Towards the end of a transformation, when body fat is extremely low you
may not have enough fat to handle a large caloric deficit anymore.

At the extreme low end, when your body fat cannot ‘keep up’ with the energy deficit
you've imposed on your body, the energy MUST come from SOMEWHERE. This is
when you are at risk of losing lean body mass during dieting (commonly referred to
as ‘starvation mode’). This happens at extremely low levels of body fat, under 6% in
men and 12% in women [Friedl K.E. J Appl Phsiol, 1994].

-Brad Pilon and John Barban (from The Reverse Taper Diet in The Adonis Index and Venus Index manuals)

Ever since I finally lost the 60lbs and went from Obese to super fit I've realized that tiny people like me simply need less calories than most other people. Even now as healthy and vibrant as I am, with 100's of people stalking my diary, I get questioned almost daily about my calories seeming to low. Why do people ask when they don't even know my height or RMR? Since I'm so small my RMR is only 1380 and that is based on my recent DXA scan which isn't nearly as accurate as going to a lab and blowing into the tube several times to fine out a more accurate number, but it is certainly more accurate than an online chart. I will never be able to eat the 2000 calorie diet everyone thinks is necessary, I'm just too small for it. Again if you want to eat anything lower than 1200 you must seek the advice of a doctor. No one here can tell you how much to eat. You and your doctor must decide.

Never again will I let anyone tell me what to eat, when to eat, or how much to eat. I learned what works for me. I OWN IT. No one will ever pressure me to eat birthday cake at a party or anywhere else, I DECIDE. No one else decides for me. I eat when I want to eat and I don't eat when I don't want to eat.

But I do have some pretty exciting things going on in my life now because of my recent achievements:

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/752246-i-m-afraid-to-try-an-new-weight-lifting-program-now

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/745151-i-got-a-compliment-from-rusty-moore-from-fitness-black-book

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/734011-desserts-always-make-me-wake-up-ripped-with-pics

I just turned 50 in March, have 50lbs to lose, friend me if you like.

I just turned 55. Best of luck to you. Friend me if you like.

Yep! Turning 50 too. 10 months to get my act together! Support welcomed.
K