Mature women who eat more to lose?

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SparklesPlenty
SparklesPlenty Posts: 90 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
My mom and I are on this journey together. About 2 weeks ago I upped my calories and started losing weight. My mom on the other hand is eating about 600 calories a day and not eating back exercise calories so netting 400 some days. She says it is because she is post Menopausal and I just don't understand how much metabolism slows down at her age. She is turning 66 at the end of the month and I am trying to get her to eat at least her BMR which we calculated as 1300 calories. She wants to hear from other women her age who eat more and lose.

Right now she is eating all the right foods (mostly clean, whole foods, lots of protein, only good carbs, etc.) but is not losing weight effectively. If she eats a chocolate easter egg she "gains half a pound". How can I convince her that she needs to eat more and stay off the scale until her metabolism levels out? Also after eating nothing for so long, how long will it take for her to level out? I am guessing at least three months. I am worried about her and want her to get a more sustainable lifestyle while losing weight. Please help?

Replies

  • KareninCanada
    KareninCanada Posts: 795 Member
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    She's eating like an anorexic, not like a healthy woman - I see why you're concerned!!! Good on you for trying to help your mom out. :flowerforyou: One of the main reasons for decreasing metabolism in older women is their decrease in lean body mass (ie loss of muscle) which is quite preventable by doing regular exercise that includes some weight-bearing activity.

    This is one good website for figuring out your calorie needs: http://www.exrx.net/Calculators/CalRequire.html


    Maybe this article will help? http://www.weightwatchers.ca/util/art/index_art.aspx?tabnum=1&art_id=23061&sc=801
  • Lauren8239
    Lauren8239 Posts: 1,039 Member
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    She's eating like an anorexic, not like a healthy woman - I see why you're concerned!!! Good on you for trying to help your mom out. :flowerforyou: One of the main reasons for decreasing metabolism in older women is their decrease in lean body mass (ie loss of muscle) which is quite preventable by doing regular exercise that includes some weight-bearing activity.

    This is one good website for figuring out your calorie needs: http://www.exrx.net/Calculators/CalRequire.html


    Maybe this article will help? http://www.weightwatchers.ca/util/art/index_art.aspx?tabnum=1&art_id=23061&sc=801


    Thanks for that link...........I am eating way way way under my calorie goal. Gawd.
  • taiji22
    taiji22 Posts: 13
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    Wow did I need to hear this!. I'm 60, and have had a lifetime issue with weight-obese child, lost over 50 lbs in college, kept it off until the mid nineties and things went er, shall we say, south (as well as north east and west) Been trying to lose unsuccessfully by restricting calories. My daughter had been telling me for a very long time to eat more. I teach martial arts, and have just started eating back exercise calories. Let me tell you, it has been a frightening journey, as my calorie burn is about 2300 a day according to my fitbit (and I did not log in my taiji classes and karate classes) and was taking in 1600 a day.
    I walk a great deal in my normal level, am in the 99th percentile in calories burned of women 55-64, and am listed as active.
    Well, to make a long story short, this week, I started eating back exercise calories. I don't eat all of them (can't manage all that food), and so far, after a week and a half or so, I have not gained any weight (surprise!) and will check in tomorrow to see how I'm doing.
    Yes, it is hard to eat more - and the funny part of eating less is that I didn't really feel hungry, just tired. Now, as of this morning, I woke up hungry, was hungry at lunch and yesterday, the afternoon snack did not get in the way of dinner! I also feel more energetic. Tell Mom to heed her daughter - I did mine, and so far so good
  • agifford0530
    agifford0530 Posts: 1 Member
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    Your mom should definitely be getting at least 1,300 (BMR) calories a day, and if she is working out she should try and eat back some, if not all of those calories as well. Her body is going into “starvation” mode. As mentioned above this is what anorexics encounter. The body does not know when it will get enough calories to actually survive and therefore it stores every calorie it receives as FAT, making weight loss impossible.

    If she is eating a clean, balanced diet as mentioned, taking in 1,300 calories will fuel her body in such a way that the pounds will come off without much additional work. Add in some cardio and weights and she will be seeing results in no time. However you have to have the energy – from food – to burn the fat.

    Hope this helps.
    Good luck!
  • SparklesPlenty
    SparklesPlenty Posts: 90 Member
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    Any other mature women here?
  • taiji22
    taiji22 Posts: 13
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    Okay, I'm down 1.2 pounds today, eating MORE this past week! While I am happy, I still can't believe it and will wait until next week to see if this continues!
  • mukamom
    mukamom Posts: 207 Member
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    I am "mature" (53), and am eating more to lose. Got stuck for a month eating at 1670 + exercise cal...upped my intake to 1800 and no exercise cal and now for almost 2 weeks 2000 and no exercise cals...and I lost 3.5 lbs in those last two weeks. I work out 2 day cardio and 3 day strength. I am supposed to be eating 2300 for my activity level, and I might have to go up if I plateau again.

    For now, its working and I am feeling great.

    Not too hard to up cal 200-300 without stuffing your face...olive oil, full fat cheese, avacados, nuts
  • doccnm
    doccnm Posts: 20 Member
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    I really enjoyed reading these posts. I'm 58 now and really struggle to maintain my weight. I've done alot of reading & found that if calories are too restricted your body goes into starvation mode and burns muscle not fat. I am experimenting right now with a balance of protein, carbs and fats. I am also lifting heavy weights and cutting back on cardio. We mature women lose alot of muscle once we go through menopause and that really affects our metabolism. My goal is to maintain my weight and conserve muscle. I don't want to become frail or heavy.
  • Snooozie
    Snooozie Posts: 3,447 Member
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    tell you mom there are a number of groups on MFP of women her age that are all dealing with the same challenges and succeeding! These are just a few links to a couple of them but there are probably loads more she can search out too... hope it might help


    http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10047153/55-65-year-old-womens-success#latest


    http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/group/506-near-or-post-menopausal-group


    http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/group/9239-the-ladies-who-lunch



    http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10039781/women-ages-50-for-january-2015



    http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/group/6894-menopausal-mad-hatters



    These are just a few of them, but if you use the search feature with various keywords for whatever you're looking for (i.e., women; 50; etc you will find them..
  • SezxyStef
    SezxyStef Posts: 15,268 Member
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    doccnm wrote: »
    I really enjoyed reading these posts. I'm 58 now and really struggle to maintain my weight. I've done alot of reading & found that if calories are too restricted your body goes into starvation mode and burns muscle not fat. I am experimenting right now with a balance of protein, carbs and fats. I am also lifting heavy weights and cutting back on cardio. We mature women lose alot of muscle once we go through menopause and that really affects our metabolism. My goal is to maintain my weight and conserve muscle. I don't want to become frail or heavy.

    no your body does not go into starvation mode...otherwise those poor children in Africa wouldn't be in the state they are in. And no it doesn't burn muscle and not fat...it burns what it can find and in actual starvation it is muscle including the heart muscle...and that's why people who are starving die...our bodies do not save "calories/energy" nor does it create it from non existent intake.

    There is something called adaptive thermogenesis where your body after a long period of time does adjust itself if you are on a very low calorie intake but it takes a while.

    Losing weigh is CICO...if you burn more than you take in you lose weight and the reverse is true, the key is to find the right balance in that equation to lose weight.

    http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3673773/
  • esjones12
    esjones12 Posts: 1,363 Member
    edited March 2015
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    Refer your mom to a good dietitian. Around where I live you can get a package of multiple sessions for not that much (maybe $120). It is worth it's weight in gold. Taught me so much. And they will be able to bust all the myth's she seems to think exist with her age and losing weight ;)
  • maxit
    maxit Posts: 880 Member
    edited March 2015
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    <--63 Six hundred calories per day is a recipe for disaster. At our "mature" age, we need to preserve and if possible, increase, muscle mass. At 400-600 calories muscle tissue is being broken down ... not just the muscles that keep a person upright, but also the ones that do important stuff to maintain actual life, like circulate blood and obtain oxygen. Second concern is bone density & inability to preserve bone mass with such low nutrient intake. There are so many other things wrong with a diet that low, it boggles the mind. If your mother seems obsessed about keeping her caloric intake so low, please call her primary care provider to alert her/him to this catastrophe in the making.

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