Who can help a 50 year old women lose pounds?
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I'm done with menopause (save the ever-lessening heat flashes) and this go-round of losing weight for me has been the best. I tried low carb, low sugar and then I came here and learned that (barring medical issues) deleting food groups doesn't matter to weight loss at all. Yay.
The calorie deficit is what matters. I'm over the fact that losing is slow for me - I don't have much to lose, and I'm not in a rush.
I can't speak to bone/muscle mass impact - but I'm a big believer in exercise. I am working out with weights and resistance bands and body weight, too (push ups, planks, etc.) along with cardio, and would be hard pressed to give up exercise. It just makes everything better - including menopause.0 -
It's all about CICO. Be sure to stay in your deficit. Buy a digital food scale if you don't have one, weigh everything!! It will happen!
Good luck!! 0 -
Ninety pounds down now. I had lots of training and support. Diet drinks don't hurt. The combined calories in a day do. Learn to log all your food, and find how many calories you can afford and still lose weight. I'm in the thick of menopause so I know it is possible.0
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I recently read this answer at Ask Jillian... http://www.everydayhealth.com/fitness/ask-jillian-how-can-i-maintain-my-weight-through-menopause.aspx Thought it might be helpful. ;-)0
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Jillian Michaels is only 41!
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Hi guys it was me that brought up the bone and muscle loss, and since it was 10 yr ago I really don't have the research links I did back then.
I am way past menopause (will be 62 on Monday) but did do my weight loss during menopause and have maintained my weight since.
Sorry if I have inadvertently started something, wouldn't want to hijack a thread.
Here is a link on bones, muscles, and ageing, including menopause:
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/004015.htm
Cheers, h.0 -
Trying to get back on track and this thread has been helpful!
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I recently began my own weight loss journey due to a rather negative visit to the doctor and I thought it would be much more difficult than it's been. I am over 50 and peri-menopausal. I cut out all added sugar and white carbs at the recommendation of my doctor. That alone will did not cause me to lose weight, but I do have more energy and just feel better over all pain wise. (chronic inflammation due to arthritis)
It wasn't until I added exercise that the weight began to come off. I walk 3 miles 5 days a week, although today I walked 3.78 miles a personal best. :-) I've lost 17 lbs since beginning to walk. At this point it's all I can manage, but it has paid off. When I started I could only walk a mile and it took me about 30 minutes. Today I am walking a mile in 15 minutes.
I count my calories and exercise which equals weight loss. All this to say...YES you can do it.
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Losing weight at 50 is like losing weight at any age. You have to burn more calories than you eat. I exercise 5 or 6 days a week (but only for 30 minutes), and try to get in as much standing and walking every day as work permits, while I'm working and in my free time. I love dessert, I love to have a glass of wine. I choose not to have them every day.
I use a food scale. Careful measuring and logging help me control my food intake.0 -
vivmom2014 wrote: »Jillian Michaels is only 41!
TRUE! Wonder if her answer would change after she turns 50! LOL
But she has worked with many women over 50......0 -
Yeah, I just find her off-putting. She can talk to me when she comes out the other side!0
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Marilyn0924 wrote: »It's all about CICO. Be sure to stay in your deficit. Buy a digital food scale if you don't have one, weigh everything!! It will happen! Good luck!!
^^ This!
I'm 48 and have been steadily losing weight since February. 17 kg down.
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I'm 56 and starting a Keto lifestyle and a new product that puts your body into ketosis within 59 minutes! So far, the lower carbs,higher fat is awesome for me and the ability to burn fat is really making a difference! I've tried so many things, and this is working for me! Just "food for thought"! You can do it... No matter what you choose! Find what works best for YOU!!0
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I don't know whether to be inspired or jealous of all you 50 something's who've lost so much weight in such a short amount of time. LOL
Matzie - have you checked the accuracy of your daily calorie goals? Also, weighing foods and water intake are very important. Something I'm learning too. Hang in there.0 -
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Nice post Caitwn.
So true for me, I was slowing down gradually, and gaining weight gradually.
Once I realised that, started counting my calories and moving more the weight came off and stayed off.
Cheers, h.0 -
It's an interesting topic to me, too. I really hate to admit it because half of me still thinks that 50 makes you an old lady and well, I AM NOT OLD, so I can't be looking at things for old ladies. But it's always interesting to hear people's take on stuff.
I am 51 and definitely not old! I have been through menopause and did see my metabolism slow down. I think it is important to become more active and work on overall health not just weight. If you are eating correctly and logging everything even if you are not losing you will feel a whole lot better.0 -
I'm past menopause and older than the OP and don't find weight loss to be a problem. I'm 5'3" with a very small frame. I started at 167 and am currently 136. Will probably go into maintenance somewhere around 120; am currently losing a pound per week but I'm trying to slow that down to 0.5 a week.
I use CICO. I don't restrict any foods. Sugar and some refined flour is fine with me (you will not be removing tortillas from my life, thank you very much). I like to make sure there's room in my weekly caloric allowance for a serving or two of really good ice cream.
I kicked diet sodas awhile back because I simply felt I was drinking too many and wanted to temporarily eliminate them while I introduced other options. I LOVE green tea. These days I drink a couple of diet sodas a week. I'm not afraid of artificial sweetners because I know how to interpret research findings. Yay for science literacy.
My carbs are set at 35% (or 30. I forget at the moment because I've been changing them around some) only because I'm participating in a study that requests I set my carb intake at that level. I don't find carbs to be a problem and will probably set them back up to 40% once I'm done with this study.
Exercise is not necessary for weight loss, but it IS necessary for the quality of life I want as I age. I do low-impact aerobics for an hour a day, six days a week. At least 10K steps a day, 7 days a week (I have a Fitbit). I'm slowly introducing weight training 3X per week. It's only slow because I have some significant issues to deal with based on prior (non exercise-related) injuries. I want core strength, balance, and good bone density as I age. Strength training will help with that. It is NEVER too late to start strength training.
I log carefully and weigh almost everything, but admit I am not 100% rigorous about logging every food item. If my weight loss wasn't so steady, though, you can bet I'd be weighing food like crazy.
I get a little annoyed when I hear women talk about how hard it is to lose weight when they get "older". I've heard women ranging from 29 (!) to 70 say this and I feel like it's usually pretty much an excuse. We aren't attacked by magical fat hormones when we age - but we do tend to become less active and to fail to adjust our caloric intake to account for that.
Good post!!
I am 48 and well into perimenopause (confirmed by gyn), and used it as an excuse for a while. Then I decided to give MFP a good go and see if I could lose weight. I was sceptical.
I entered my information, set myself as sedentary, and selected 0.5 kg/week. MFP gave me a max calories, and I stuck to that as a net value. In other words, if I exercise I can eat more ... but not all my exercise calories because MFP and others tend to over-estimate calories burned. It is all CICO ... not restricting anything in particular ... but not going over my max net value.
And I proceeded to lose at a rate of 1 kg/week! I'm not sure why I lost double what I set myself at, but it didn't bother me.
I hit my goal of 15 kg lost mid-June ... 16 weeks after I started. Took a little break, and now I'm back at it, and have lost another 2 kg so far.
I love being active ... I think being active helps keep me feeling young. For me, it's mainly cycling and walking, but I throw a few other things in there too. Last weekend I went swimming (laps) and the weekend before I was snowshoeing, this coming weekend might be hiking. I also make an effort to climb the 5 flights of stairs to my office a few times a week. And I really like the fact that all these activities seem easier the more weight I lose.
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As I have aged, I appreciate my flexibility. As joints age it is great to have muscle/tendon flexibility. I watched my mother and aunts age into their 80's and stay active and strong. Some older ladies lead increasingly sedentary lives after 80. Soon they can barely carry their own groceries in or garbage out because of muscle loss. The ladies in my family love the outdoors, especially gardening. My mother who has RA and occasional gout has pain daily but she has found working through it helpful. My teenage son jokes that his Grandmother really could physically outdo some of his friends. My mother and my aunt both had/have health conditions that they treated with diet. A since of pride came from how few medications they took compared to others in their age group.0
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I get a little annoyed when I hear women talk about how hard it is to lose weight when they get "older". I've heard women ranging from 29 (!) to 70 say this and I feel like it's usually pretty much an excuse. We aren't attacked by magical fat hormones when we age - but we do tend to become less active and to fail to adjust our caloric intake to account for that.
Yes to this. Women hear so many "horror stories" about menopause. I remember getting a book from the library that promised practical ideas for getting through menopause. It was one depressing read. Point after point after point about how dismally life will change....it actually made me furious. But you know, a LOT of women believe it and brace for the absolute worst.
It occurred to me that if I view this time of my life as "the worst", I'm buying in to a bunch of negative mindsets and excuses. Who has time for that?
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I'm 59. As a cancer survivor, I'm celebrating every year as an accomplishment (15 since diagnosis, yay!). I've been in menopause since chemotherapy (i.e., it put me in menopause, as it often does to women who are in their 40s).
TL;DR warning: You seem to be asking a "how" question, so I'm going to be specific and somewhat detailed. I'm a work in progress: 5'5" (formerly 5'6" before all that cancer-treatment nonsense - wah!), SW 183, CW 153, GW 130 (probably).
Between mid-April and mid-July, I lost 25 pounds by estimating my maintenance calorie requirements at a healthy weight, and training myself to eat that daily (trying to establish sustainable, healthy habits). (For the technical geeks, this was a TDEE estimate at a "lightly active" level, which may've been an activity underestimate for me. It was roughly 1500 calories.)
I also estimated calories by learning the calorie count in my most calorie-dense foods and mentally tallying those for the day, leaving a cushion of a couple hundred calories to cover my non-calorie-dense foods like non-starchy veggies, of which I eat a lot.
I weigh daily (have for years, even when not losing) and make a tick on graph paper so I can watch it over time. The above had me losing about 2 lbs/week, which seemed OK for someone starting in the obese BMI range.
Mid-July, I plateaued, decided I needed more accurate logging, and joined MFP. I'm now logging like it was religion, with an MFP net calorie goal of 1200, eating back a good share of my exercise calories so most days I'm still around 1400-1500 actual calories.
I still have about 23 pounds to lose (based on my original goal, which I may re-evaluate when it gets closer). Since I'm no longer obese, it makes sense to target 0.5-1 lb/week loss. Too recent a change to be sure, but based on a couple weeks data, the MFP-based approach seems to be playing out OK.
I can't see that menopause is making much difference, but I did become much more active post-cancer (I'm a rower), so I may not have lost as much muscle post-menopause as others might who are truly sedentary.
FWIW, if I'm under on calories, especially if I'm feeling fatigued, I try to eat protein (because I'm vegetarian, it's hard to get enough,) or healthy fat (avocado, walnuts . . . .); both of these are satiating. I do have the occasional glass of wine or ale (maybe once/twice a week) but log it.0 -
No way. ..and the rest. ..isn't it shaun michaels in gym gear!vivmom2014 wrote: »Jillian Michaels is only 41!
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kshama2001 wrote: »I'm almost your age but am losing 1 pound per week by eating less and exercising more. I gave up wine because I felt like I couldn't afford those empty calories in my calorie budget.
Same here. I'm 52 and have lost on average 1.4 pounds per week since January 5. I'm post-menopausal and hypothyroid, too, so it can be done! Regular exercise and weights have helped me gain muscle (I'm so proud of my forearms). I never did drink a lot but I prefer not to drink my calories in any form, anyway (why I don't do shakes and smoothies... I like to chew lol).
Here's what I found to be crucial for my weight loss success: 1) log in every day to MFP, 2) record EVERYthing- even the binges or bad food days, 3) buy a scale and weigh my food, 4) exercise and lift weights regularly... at least a few times a week, and 5) change the way I view food and reverse the desire to eat from emotional responses.
If you are gaining muscle you are doing something right... don't give up.0 -
I found the basic keys to losing weight successfully in my 50's were:
Stopping making excuses by blaming someone or something else for making me fat.
Consuming the right number of calories without excluding any food or drink I enjoy
Prioritising my time to fit in exercise.
"is my problem drinking coke (the fake sugars) and a glass of wine with a meal" - Sorry OP but that is a great example of majoring in the minors!0 -
A large part of losing weight, or not needing to lose weight, at any age, is resisting the forces that conspire to keep us sitting instead of being active. Be creative. I found a way to stand at my desk. I limit my time on the couch. I walk around if I'm talking on the phone. I clean house instead of watching TV. Those things are in addition to exercise.0
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Are u my my age and can't get the pounds off? I've lost inches and gained muscle is my problem drinking coke (the fake sugars) and a glass of wine with a meal? Help me please, I gotta and wanna lose pounds.
■■■ Diet soda may not raise blood sugar but it does raise insulin. Insulin is the fat producing hormone. If you always have too much floating around in your blood you will always struggle with weight loss. Consider a ketogenic or low carbohydrate diet; if you find success here you will know you have a metabolism problem with sugars & carbohydrates. I or my diabetic symptoms into remission in 3 days eating a high fat diet. I eliminated over 400+ insulin shots in these 11 weeks and losing 2 to 3 lbs a week since week 5. Without hunger. I do use saccharine in coffee & tea, but stopped diet pop completely... I eat 65 -75% fat; 20% protein, 5% carbohydrate on my ketogenic plan.
Most people have no clue that their weight and health problem are in hidden sugars with many in clever packaging listed as healthy foods. So in my opinion you should become a carbohydrate sugar expert and limit these in your diet.
This is especially true if you put weight on in your midsection. To determine if you have a sugar problem get a glucose Meyer with free strips at any Walgreens. I've seen.them as low as 10.00 in the store with 10 free test strips. Eat a normal meal that you typically eat. 2 hours later test your blood sugar. If it's 140 or more you are either insulin resistant or prediabetic... This means you need to consider excess carbohydrates & sugar and excess insulin as enemy#1 to your body. To get control of this condition you need to reduce blood dugar levels & insulin simultaneously. That's done well with either a ketogenic or Atkins eating style...
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I just turned 50 in May. Not in menopause yet, though.
Losing weight has always been a struggle for me; turning 50 hasn't made it any harder. It's still about CICO, and I've always been much better at putting the calories in than getting them out.
I can see that this topic is really super important to the OP because she's been back so many times to comment.0 -
Are u my my age and can't get the pounds off? I've lost inches and gained muscle is my problem drinking coke (the fake sugars) and a glass of wine with a meal? Help me please, I gotta and wanna lose pounds.
■■■ Diet soda may not raise blood sugar but it does raise insulin. Insulin is the fat producing hormone. If you always have too much floating around in your blood you will always struggle with weight loss. Consider a ketogenic or low carbohydrate diet; if you find success here you will know you have a metabolism problem with sugars & carbohydrates. I or my diabetic symptoms into remission in 3 days eating a high fat diet. I eliminated over 400+ insulin shots in these 11 weeks and losing 2 to 3 lbs a week since week 5. Without hunger. I do use saccharine in coffee & tea, but stopped diet pop completely... I eat 65 -75% fat; 20% protein, 5% carbohydrate on my ketogenic plan.
Most people have no clue that their weight and health problem are in hidden sugars with many in clever packaging listed as healthy foods. So in my opinion you should become a carbohydrate sugar expert and limit these in your diet.
This is especially true if you put weight on in your midsection. To determine if you have a sugar problem get a glucose Meyer with free strips at any Walgreens. I've seen.them as low as 10.00 in the store with 10 free test strips. Eat a normal meal that you typically eat. 2 hours later test your blood sugar. If it's 140 or more you are either insulin resistant or prediabetic... This means you need to consider excess carbohydrates & sugar and excess insulin as enemy#1 to your body. To get control of this condition you need to reduce blood dugar levels & insulin simultaneously. That's done well with either a ketogenic or Atkins eating style...
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please dont derail the thread and make it into a sugar discussion
she is asking 50 year old woman with the same experience
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booksandchocolate12 wrote: »I just turned 50 in May. Not in menopause yet, though.
Losing weight has always been a struggle for me; turning 50 hasn't made it any harder. It's still about CICO, and I've always been much better at putting the calories in than getting them out.
I can see that this topic is really super important to the OP because she's been back so many times to comment.
Hardly any one ever does. They post one question .............................................. and vanish.
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Mattie ... Losing inches is a good thing! You seem to be on the right track! I am 51 and slowly loosing weight but happier to see the inches go and my body changing! The one part of me that doesn't seem to be moving at all is my stomach area but I think that as I lose more weight, that will come! It is all about being patient! I enjoy my wine too but limit it to weekends and totally stopped drinking pop .. Changed that out for water but that is just my personal choice ... I think that as long as we keep being aware of our eating habits, exercise and try to keep a deficit with our calories, we will do fine ... Every step forward is a step on the right direction! ☺️ all the best to you!
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