Over 50 ladies - how did you finally lose the weight?

I use MFP and work out quite a lot (at least 60 minutes per day). I like variety in my working out so I do water aerobics, Zumba, strength training and yoga - mixed up throughout the week. I know if I were eating at this deficit and exercising this much before menopause I would most likely be losing at twice the rate. It seems like after menopause our bodies really go into "survive by hanging on to every calorie" mode.

First, ignore the trolls who lay in wait to say snarky things on any thread on any iteration of "why isn't the weight moving?" Your question has attracted one or two of them here--these people pop up over and over to say the same unkind things on every thread of this nature.

As a pre-menopausal woman (I'll be 50 next year), I have noticed losing weight is a very different experience now than it was when I was in my thirties and forties. It's harder. The reasons, I think, might be myriad:

One, we know from science that we lose muscle every year. It's common sense that, unless you've carefully maintained muscle tone through adulthood, you have less muscle now than you did in earlier decades, so you have a smaller percentage of your body mass that burns calories at rest.

Two, women in their fifties and older no longer have regular cycles for natural cycles of water retention and elimination. I worked for 3 months, carefully counting calories, maintaining the right nutrient balance, and exercising, but did not begin to lose weight until I had a cycle. Where you are in that hormone cycle is manipulating your water retention, which will mask for some period the weight loss you are achieving. But stick with it! Eventually, your body will stabilize and you will experience results. It can take, sometimes, quite a long time. For me, it was 12 weeks of consistency before the scale budged. But it has started to regularly move down as I continue with my good habits.

For me (and to more directly answer your question), the number one thing that helped me, as a woman in my (almost) fifties has been:

*Weight training*

It's a strategy to accomplish the goal that requires some faith, because initially, weight training keeps the scale from moving. As your muscles are being torn-down and rebuilt, there is water involved, and some studies (not all) say that muscle weighs more than fat. But keep going. You will first notice a difference in the way your clothes fit. But eventually, your weight will also start to decline. It will happen. It is happening (finally) for me.

From there, my remaining list of "most effectives" would include:

Bumping up Protein in the Diet, Trying to Diminish Sugar/Carbs

Drinking Lots of Water

Buying an Inexpensive Food Scale (you probably are already using one; I just thought I'd mention it)

Using a Heart Rate Monitor to Track Calorie Burn Accurately (again, you probably already do. Just in case you're in the market, Polar makes very good ones. Here's the one I use: http://www.amazon.com/Polar-Heart-Rate-Monitor-Purple/dp/B005M1P85O/ref=sr_1_1?s=sporting-goods&ie=UTF8&qid=1395609027&sr=1-1&keywords=heart+rate+monitor)

And Lastly (as unfair as it seems because after all, the MFP formulas are supposed to have a calorie deficit BUILT IN), Not Eating All your Exercise Calories Back. (It took me a while to accept this. Exercise is such hard work--why do it if it doesn't mean you can eat more?) But in the end, NOT eating all my exercise calories (I try to leave 100-200 in my account at the end of the day) DID help. Darn it!

Good luck. For some of us, weight loss is an exercise in patience. I'm with you on the "Sure and Steady Wins the Race" team.

I've spammed this in hundreds of threads... I figured it was about time to give this info a permanent home.

1. don't trust the initial setup that MFP provides. If you put in the wrong/inaccurate information, it'll tell you to eat an amount that may not be applicable.
2. Make sure you eat enough.
3. Figure out what works for you and is sustainable/healthy/long term.
4. avoid fads. don't buy in to any "Hey, try the twinkie and vodka diet"
5. Don't cut out anything now that you don't plan on literally giving up forever.
6. GET A FOOD SCALE. Weigh everything. No, seriously.
7. Get an HRM with a chest strap. You'll at least have a better idea of what you're burning. It'll be more accurate than the generic info in the exercise database.. and even more than the cardio machines. This is great for steady state cardio (run/walk/etc)
8. Don't go balls out. You'll burn out. I see 300 lb people show up here, instantly start working out and cutting their intake SEVERELY... trying to cut out all of their carbs at once.. whatever. Take it slow. Figure out how much you need to eat FIRST in order to lose.. then incorporate exercise.
9. Don't cardio yourself to death.
10. Take the information on the forums with a grain of salt. A lot of people that have been here for a while.. and have been successful, may seem jaded. They give out GREAT advice day after day, only to be met with people that refuse to listen.
11. Eat real food. Not diet food. Not "low fat, sugar free, now without X." It's easier to get/find/count.
12. don't set time restrictions.
13. measure yourself weekly. Don't just weigh. Measure and take pictures.
14 BE PATIENT.
15. Avoid forum topics that have "1200" in the title. It's just full of butthurt. Lots of it.
16. If you ask a question on the forum, give as much information as you can ("yes, I have a food scale and weigh my food" is worlds better than "I eat a palm full of miscellaneous boiled chicken parts..sometimes.")
17. Be honest with yourself and honest with us.
18. This isn't a game, it's about changing your lifestyle. Do that.

pretty much that.

...and don't fall into the "1200 calorie" vertigo of suck because of:

the typical MFP users does this:
1. I wanna lose weight, let's try MFP.
2. OH! Wow, it tells me I can lose 2 lbs a WEEK? AWESOME!
3. I just sit at a desk when I'm not working out, I guess I'm sedentary.
4. MFP tells them 1200 calories, and they don't even eat that.. then they work out on top of it.. creating an even bigger deficit.
5. Lose a lot, fast, brag about 1200 calorie success.
6. Come back in a few months trying to figure out why they're dizzy, tired, not losing weight.
7. Get on the forums, ask why they aren't losing.
8. Get two responses (I eat 1200 and lose) (I eat 2200 and lose)
9. Argument ensues about who is right.

Now. That being said. These threads happen hundreds of times per day. Most times, and I mean really.. seriously.. 95% of the time.. people get the 1200 number because they don't put the right information in when they set up the account. There are a great number of people that are trying to help. I'm one of 'em.

I'm a hardcore advocate of actually finding out what works for the individual.. by means of other calculators, averages, time, practice, and patience.

Blanket prescriptions of 1200 calories "because it worked for me" is more harmful to the generic new user than the "figure out what you need to eat." Unfortunately, one is a LOT easier to type.

Find out what you need: http://scoobysworkshop.com/accurate-calorie-calculator/

and make sure to read: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1080242-a-guide-to-get-you-started-on-your-path-to-sexypants

...and here's another approach.

Block off 6 weeks. log EXACTLY what you eat for those six weeks, weigh at the beginning, weight at the end. If you've lost, you're eating under your TDEE. If you haven't lost, congrats.. you found your TDEE, if you've gained... then you're above TDEE.

From there, look at how much you lost or gained and you have a rough estimate of how to shift your intake to balance it out.

Online calculators are great, but they're just estimates. They give you decent ideas for starting points. From there, it's on you to fine tune it.