40 year old women and older who has lost 40 or more lbs - HOW THE HECK DID YOU DO IT???

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  • odirish
    odirish Posts: 82 Member
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    You need to raise your calories if you are not losing anything. Try 1500. Or there is also another site that you can incorporate with MFP. It's called IIFYM.com Once you fill out the calculator, it will give you your macros. Go back to goals in MFP and edit them to reflect these new numbers. I use 35% Carbs, 35% fats and 30% Protein. I have talked to 2 different personal trainers and this is what they use. You can eat what you want (but try to make decent choices) just stay with those macros. I have just started doing this also.
  • vicky1947mfp
    vicky1947mfp Posts: 1,527 Member
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    amflautist wrote: »
    I'm 74 and I've lost 65 pounds in the past 4 years. I did it because I wanted to be healthy. I was lucky to have a small group of mfp friends - all dedicated and all rigorous about logging and walking every day. Open diaries count! Exercise works! I lost 50# in the first year. I'm still working on the last 10#. I will get there!

    One of my favorite mfp friends during the journey is 15 years older than I am! Anyone of any age can do this. It's your attitude that counts, not your age.

    Love your story.
  • blankiefinder
    blankiefinder Posts: 3,599 Member
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    I am 44, and have lost 38 pounds. 2 shy of what you asked for, but that was all I had to lose. I am now at a BMI of 21, and weigh ~131 lbs at 5'7.

    I did it through calorie counting (with a food scale), making food choices that allowed me to not be hungry (so looking at the calories in food and choosing foods that would fill me without high calories), and listening to all the so called 'meanies' here. I learned a lot from them.

    I've now been in maintenance for 7 months, and that is it's own adventure :D
  • STLBADGIRL
    STLBADGIRL Posts: 1,693 Member
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    Every time I come in this thread I am blown away. I really thank you all for sharing your story. It means so much toe and apparently other posters that are reading your story. They always say that your story, isn't just "your story" it's ither people's story and it helps free them!!!!
  • rockstar53
    rockstar53 Posts: 215 Member
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    Bookmarked this thread. It keeps me going! Thank you to everyone who have posted their stories!!
  • STLBADGIRL
    STLBADGIRL Posts: 1,693 Member
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    njtm wrote: »
    Thank you all for sharing. I'm 45 and 237 pounds. I've been a member of MFP for a while, but have never committed to it consistently. Your stories and advice are so inspiring that I'm making my shopping list now and am ready to do this! Thanks, again!

    How awesome!!!! We can do it!
  • vicky1947mfp
    vicky1947mfp Posts: 1,527 Member
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    Batlady49 wrote: »
    I am the oldest of the group! I am almost 67 and I have lost 78 Pounds. I am still working on my last 50. Then it will have lost 128 pounds. I am going to complete this!

    Not quite the oldest. I am 68 and have lost 40 lbs and started an excercise program all after 65. I walk so fast now I start jogging for about 10 min intervals and have never been "athletic " in my life.

    Feel so much healthier now.
  • zichab
    zichab Posts: 1,440 Member
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    I'm going to be 63 in December and I have lost 101 pounds in the last 2 years. Calorie counting, walking, and weights were all that I did, but I did buy a Garmin Vivofit and I log into that every day as well as MFP!

    I am a foodie, so looking up new recipes and then changing some ingredients to get the calories down is how I focused on the days the scale refused to budge! Lord I HATE plateaus!!!!! :laugh: I decided that I needed to focus on food because trying to not eat it got my weight up to 235 pounds! :noway: Oddly, when I made friends with food, the pounds started to come off.

    Being older is not a problem for weight loss in and of itself. I really learned that the 40, 50 & 60 year old me cannot have a sedentary job and eat like the 20 & 30 year old me could. I love the job, so I needed to get healthier. I cannot tell you how many aches and pains that I thought were part of "aging" were really part of carrying around 100 pounds of stuff! My knees, back and feet love to work out now and cause me no discomfort at all! Who knew???? :blush:

    Anyone can do this-it just takes dedication, patience and following a few simple rules, CICO, exercise for cardio vascular health, life weights for functional fitness and do not sweat the small stuff. At 63, I may not have the time left to do anything that is too complicated! I gain a few lose a few all the time-I think they call it maintenance? :smile:



  • trina1049
    trina1049 Posts: 593 Member
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    Hi, everyone! 66 here (this month) and I've lost 50 pounds over the last 1 1/2+ years. Age is no excuse -- it's totally doable. It takes time, patience, calories in / calories out, and making the decision to do it, no matter what. You have to wrap your head around the idea that your food and exercise are important in maintaining your health in every decade of life. For some of us (me) that means calorie counting forever along with staying active. There's just no other way. Balancing both keeps you healthy, wealthy, and wise.
  • agbmom556
    agbmom556 Posts: 694 Member
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    Thank you for the encouraging weight loss testimonies. I am in my early 40s and started taking my health seriously last year when my mom was diagnosed with breast cancer. She is in remission and I am still working on my health. 20 pounds down and 25 more to go.
  • TBeverly49
    TBeverly49 Posts: 322 Member
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    Where have you all been hiding? Zichab: I have a site on garmin called Walkers from Washington. You more that welcome to join us.
  • PatriciaAnneDavies
    PatriciaAnneDavies Posts: 10 Member
    edited October 2015
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    I was 48/49 and my weight was going up and up. I went from 11 stone to over 13 stone and it was rising. Nothing I did would stop the weight gain and I thought it was my age and hormonal. Then I got a salivary gland stone and a bad infection in the gland and eating became very painful so I lived on soup and soft things for a month until it settled down. I lost 14lb that month and realised that I COULD lose weight. I kept up that diet and started to excercise and got down to 9 stone 12lb.
    I had to have the gland out so that problem will never recur...but it was that which sparked it off.
    I am 53 now and putting it back on again and have to watch it so I have joined this group...I am really glad to have found it.
  • vicky1947mfp
    vicky1947mfp Posts: 1,527 Member
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    PatriciaAnneDavies wrote: »
    I was 48/49 and my weight was going up and up. I went from 11 stone to over 13 stone and it was rising. Nothing I did would stop the weight gain and I thought it was my age and hormonal. Then I got a salivary gland stone and a bad infection in the gland and eating became very painful so I lived on soup and soft things for a month until it settled down. I lost 14lb that month and realised that I COULD lose weight. I kept up that diet and started to excercise and got down to 9 stone 12lb.
    I had to have the gland out so that problem will never recur...but it was that which sparked it off.
    I am 53 now and putting it back on again and have to watch it so I have joined this group...I am really glad to have found it.

    Good luck here Patricia. You will find such good support. Just find some of the great supportive groups and log in every day. You will do it if you want it.
  • LaceyBirds
    LaceyBirds Posts: 451 Member
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    LaceyBirds wrote: »
    I started reading the Success Stories thread every single morning, and now have several other threads that I find motivational bookmarked and read those too . . . I'm down a total of 51 pounds, 30 of those since starting MFP. I have 44 pounds left to my goal . . .

    My own quote from 9-26 above. I just wanted to add that this has now become one of my inspirational threads that I read every morning, so thanks to the ladies who continue to add their stories to it. As of yesterday, I'm down 55 pounds with 40 left to go. :smiley:

  • STLBADGIRL
    STLBADGIRL Posts: 1,693 Member
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  • STLBADGIRL
    STLBADGIRL Posts: 1,693 Member
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