ANY 40(ish) YEAR OLD WOMEN ON WEIGHT LOSS JOURNEY??

I just turned 42 last week. I'm 5'2" & my starting weight was 271.5. I currently weigh 249.25 & started my journey in the first week of December 2012. No diet - just changed my views/thoughts on eating. I also started being more active - I joined a bowling league once a week (that ended in April, but will start back up again in September). I started taking Zumba in January for an hour once a week, but haven't gone the past 3 weeks due to starting softball & getting injured (calf muscle and now my ankle). I love softball (play double-headers on Thursday nights), but my body just needs to remember how to play (it's been 25+ years). I believe my daily caloric intake is 1730 & do my best to eat as close to it as I can. I haven't incorporated weights into my activity yet. I figure it took me YEARS to put on all the weight (21 years of marriage & 3 kids), so it's not going to come off overnight. Slow & steady wins the race!

In February of this year, I embarked on a weight loss journey. I'm 5'2" and started at 159.5lbs. I've lost 13 pounds (which I'm happy about). I've been stalking the posts regularly and see a lot of young women that are losing pretty steadily (congrats)!!!

Just wondering if there are any other women in their 40's that are out there. Is your weight loss slow??? If not, what are you doing to speed it up??? I'm eating 1200 calories a day and Im on my 2nd week of the couch to 5K running plan.

Appreciate all your suggestions!!! Keep up the good work!!!!!

I'm 41. The first year the weight came off very steadily. This last year has been VERY slow, and for the last 6 months has stopped completely!! I had been eating 1200-1300 calories.

I started couch to 5k 4 weeks ago and increased my calories to 1400-1550 to see if I can get it moving again. Nothing moving yet , but I will give it time.

I am 48 and I've lost 18 lbs (lost a couple before I started MFP). I can't tell you if it's harder in my 40's, because I never tried to lose weight before now. I will tell you that if I start to slip off the program, my weight loss stalls. Good luck!

Hello, I am 44. Been trying to lose weight for a nearly two years, I had a hysterectomy and gave up smoking, and piled on 2 stone in the following months. Then I discovered Jillian Michaels and MFP .... So far I've lost 22lbs.

I am 44 and decided to start losing weight in Jan. after seeing some photos of myself. I started at 155 pounds (I am 5'3) and lost 23 lbs. just by eating 1200 calories, eating more fresh fruit, veggies, whole grains and exercising on the elliptical. I still have about 10 lbs to go before I reach my goal. I wish you all success on your weightloss journey.

Hi there! I am 42 and I've lost 11 pounds since early January-- 5 pounds to go to get to my goal weight. It has been slow but I have learned a lot in the process as I am now more concerned about body measurements and fat loss/muscle gain than the numbers on the scale.

After the New Year, I jumped started my fitness with Jillian Michael's "30 Day Shred"-- and it made a huge difference. I run 5K+ three times a week and I started lifting heavy three times a week. I also throw in ab workouts/barre workouts from FitnessBlender.com. I try to stay around 1400 calories/day but allow myself to eat exercise calories as I gain them. What I am doing feels great and I know it's a sustainable healthy lifestyle NOT a diet. (Yes, I enjoy a glass or two of wine with dinner too!)

One issue I need to be careful about is overtraining and risking injury. I would run more but I get swelling in an ankle that previously suffered a stress fracture. Injury is more of a concern for me than slow weight loss, without a doubt.

Hang in there. You're doing great! Just stay healthy and strong throughout the journey-- enjoy every step of the way!

Bump! 44 years old, and looking for answers too...

I turned 44 in February. I'm 5'2½" - I lost ½" somewhere in my life in the last 3 years!

I actually started my weightloss journey in March of 2011. I hopped on the scale that day and I was #162, which was the exact same weight I was in May 2009 when I left the hospital after having my daughter. Depressing. I started out just walking and then added circuit training by doing some Wii Active sports workouts. I got down to #125 by July 2011. Almost #40 in 4 months. I maintained for several months and then got lazy. I quit exercising and quit coming to MFP logging my caloires. I was eating like the fat me again. In February of this year, I had my annual doctor's appointment, hopped on the scale and saw #144 staring me in the face. That day I decided I was going to do something about it.

I have completed Jillian Michael's 30 Day shred and Jillian Michael's Extreme Shed and Shred. I am currently dabbling in Jillilan's Ripped in 30 and started Insanity two days ago. I am now down to #133. I want to be down to #127 but will be happy once I am just back into the 120s. It is MUCH harder to lose the weight this time. I have a hard time eating back my calories because in a fast paced world, we want the weight gone NOW. I started out doing my own thing, figuring out how many calories I should eat if I burn this much, blah, blah, blah. Wasn't working. I'm back to MFP guided and the weight started coming off again!

Feel free to add me

Hi. I am 41 and just lost 15#. I aimed for 1/2 a pound a week, as 15# isn't a lot and I wasn't overweight.
(sometimes people here lose weight at a completely normal rate and think it's slow. be patient. )

I ate 1400-1600 calories and exercise 2-3 times a week.

I am now lifting weights and hoping to lose 2-4% body fat.

(I am 5'6" and went from 148# to 133# after my hysterectomy last year)

Hi I'm 44 years old. I'm also 5'2". I've really been struggling with being able to lose weight since I turned 40. I tried what felt like everything. I joined MFP in January, lost 5 pounds the first week, gained 3 of them back over the rest of the month, and in February joined Anytime Fitness and signed on with a trainer. I'm losing weight consistently now, but it's taking a lot more work than it did even in my 30's. I work out 3 times a week for 30 minutes with my trainer (strength training), I'm just starting Week 4 of C25K, and I do other cardio (walk outside, treadmill or bike at gym) on 3 of the days that I don't do C25K. I do take one rest day where I typically just go for a light walk. I eat 1200-1500 calories a day, depending on my activity level and how hungry I am.

I am 43 and closing in on 60 pounds lost since September, pics in my profile if interested in before/afters. I lost the first 30 pounds fairly easily with little exercise, that was up to about the end of 2012. I was blindly following MFP calories and was in the 1200 range which was not satisfying and had me stalling, I switched to maintenance calories for a time then to TDEE less 20 percent and added lots of exercise including strength training. I upped my calories to 1600 to 1900 most days, I have lost about 13 pounds since January, which is slower then before but thanks to my exercise I am actually down about 2 full sizes in that time.

I have about 19-25 pounds I would like to lose and had hoped I would lose this in total by the end of the year, but not sure that will happen now. This is ok, for the most part I am very happy with my loss I am down from a tight 18 last summer to a comfy 10 and a few 8's as well. I also feel I am at a place where my eating habits are realistic and sustainable, and hopefully in a maintenance mode I can eat at or near the top of my current range, ideally 1800-2000 cals daily with some exercise.

It is my current plan to eat at a deficit through July 4th, then switch to maintenance slowly upping cals to give my body a rest from a 10 month pace of near constant deficit in some quantity. I will sort of allow myself to even gain back a few pounds, then hit it again at then end of summer, fully expecting it to take many months to get to my final goal, which in some ways I have yet to fully identify.

In the Beginning I was desperate to lose weight fast and that's what I set out to do and given my way I should have with good eating lost very quickly. After I Dropped those first 35 to 40 pounds I felt much more comfortable and was able to settle into a comfortable losing pace which continues today. While I still am very much focused on weight-loss I have come to a place where the number on the scale is not nearly as significant as it was in the beginning. I know continuing on this path is my only option and the weight even though it's coming off slowly is coming off.

42 this year and finding the same slow weight loss at lot of other 40's are finding. Being a shorty does not help too lol
I love MFP for the awareness it gives me of what I'm fueling my body with. (switched to fat free creamer so I can still drink
all my coffee) and have *sigh* given up my wine for the most part. I realized most of my calories were liquid form! Good luck ladies!

Hello
I'm 55, I've lost a total of 16lbs in total so far, but only came back to this site 2 pounds ago. I want to reduce around 50lbs in total, so I will see how things go. I am reducing my carb intake and living on good protient and vegetables. So far it's going good, as I spend a lot of time searching out new meal plans and experimenting with recipes. I can't believe I can eat so much food. But so far so good. Today I added excerise to my plan hoping to get to the next 10.