Male over 50 and my body does not lose weight

Well at least we know its not because of menopause.

Given that you have told us nothing about yourself and the details of what you eat and how you have gone about trying to lose weight, we're really only making wild guesses but here's my best shot.

1. You eating the wrong number of calories.
2. You could be insulin resistant in which case the amount of carbohydrates you are eating is making it hard for you to lose weight.

I can't tell you how many times over the past year i have passed on this sort of advice to individuals on these forums. I pass it on because these basic tips work for me.

1. Do not radically cut your calories. Work out your TDEE and then cut back as few as you need to see the scale start dropping. Do not try to eat as little as possible. Its not sustainable.

2. Exercise is not the answer. Exercise is good for health but its not the weightloss solution that most people depend. I have lost weight with exercise many times but have found when you stop exercising, the weight comes back. So this year i have lost all my exercise leading a sedentary life. Its only recently that i've taken up tennis as my regular form of exercise but i am close to goal.

3. Stress and emotional stuff plays havoc with your appetite so you need to manage these psychological things effectively. The strategy i have chosen for myself because i have no other means of support is to talk to a councillor when i have had no success any other way and i try not to wait until its too late to do something.

4. Do not try to cut out all fats from your diet. Low fat diets are problematic for health and are unsustainable as a weightloss strategy because fat is what makes food taste palatable most of the time. Choose healthy fats like olive oil 99% of the time. But you can still eat meat. Processed meats such as bacon are not a great choice for health and weightloss so limit them.

5. Ensure you eat enough protein. There are resources on the internet to help you determine how much protein you need to eat for your body weight, age, activity level and height and gender. There are a wide variety of sources of protein and its not all meat. Diary is not bad for you unless you are lactose intolerant. Dairy is the easiest way to ensure you get sufficient calcium to prevent osteoporosis. Look into and choose beans, chickpeas and lentils more often. Hell there is even protein in vegetables.

6. Eat A LOT more vegetables. If you refuse to eat a lot of vegetables and resist learning how to love them, you will always have a weight problem.

7. Fruit is NOT the source of sugar you need to cut out of your diet. It's virtually every other source of sugar that you need to either cut back SERIOUSLY or eliminate totally. And by sugar i do not mean carbohydrate, i mean sweet stuff. So fruit is always a great snack food. It is the best snack food. And its hard to eat too much fruit. You can of course get fat on fruit but you have to eat a lot of it to make that happen. Avoid fruit with added sugar. you do not need added sugar. When you significantly reduce sugar from your diet, you will find that everything else that is healthy will taste a lot better.

8. Processed foods and takeaways foods have lots of added salt and these foods tend to be low on nutrition compared to whole foods cooked at home or in a decent restaurant. So you can safely eliminate almost all of these foods from your diet. If you are not willing to make these sorts of significant changes to the way you eat, you will always be fat. You will never successfully keep the weight off.

9. Eat a lot of fibre foods. watch this you tube show. CATALYST - GUT REACTION. parts 1 and 2.

10 If you have insulin resistance or metabolic syndrome or diabetes weightloss will be slower. You have to be patient. and stick with a sensible program of reduce carbohydrates and whole foods, and everything in reasonable balance including fats. You can get your energy from fat instead of carbs. You must eat more fruit and vegetables as meals and quite all the snacking.

How bad do you want to lose weight? You can do it just have to want it more than you want the extra serving of anything, the excuse to go for a walk or any exercise. One step at a time and you will get to your goals.

Life is a struggle and it doesn't get any easier as you get older - the challenges just change. But there's upsides too - I've got more "me time" now the children are grown up, I've learned more and the tools (such as MFP and the internet generally) make things far easier.

But the good news is a calorie deficit plus time and effort works whether you are over 50 or not.

OP, you are here and that is a great first step. Input your goal and stats into MFP and start logging your food. Read the sticky posts at the top of the Get Started forum. Good luck!

I am 68 year old an still exercise and watch my calorie intake. I keep my mucles in tone by exercising daily. I keep my weight in line by keeping track of the calories I consume daily and eating with nutrition in mind. I keep track daily on MFP. I also watch how much fast food I eat. Stay away from fast food if possible. Eliminate added sugar. Sugar is a hinderance to any weight reduction program. We use Suzane Summers, Sumer Sweet to use for tea sweetener. Never sugar. Never drink pop. Be consistant with your calorie intake, exercise & eat as natural as possible. Unprocessed fruits and veg are great.