Straight talk needed! Do rules change after 50?

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  • pondee629
    pondee629 Posts: 2,469 Member
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    The question is "do the rules change after 50?". But for the fact that nagging little injuries don't go away as quickly any more, no. You eat at a deficit, you lose weight. Eat at a surplus, you gain weight. You do cardio, you gain endurance, your "wind" is better and you feel better. You lift weights/do resistance training, you gain/don't lose as much muscle, get stronger and look more "toned". Pretty much as happened before getting to 50+.
  • jnunez1963
    jnunez1963 Posts: 35 Member
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    I agree with pondee629. The only difference was I could exercise harder and longer in my youth. But for the effort, CICO works. I also agree to not weigh so often.
  • rileysowner
    rileysowner Posts: 8,227 Member
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    If you have DOMS, and even for a week or so after it goes away, you are retaining water especially since the increase in calories was small.
  • Tigg_er
    Tigg_er Posts: 22,001 Member
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    sheermomentum wrote: »
    Short answer: No, the rules do not change.


    For me, the biggest challenge with being 50 is the little aches and pains that make me feel like not moving, or like curling up and eating comfort food. But, I also know that more I move and the better I control my weight, the better all those little things are going to feel.

    Same here !
  • lorrpb
    lorrpb Posts: 11,464 Member
    edited January 2016
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    You said you know it's not fat, so leave it there. People of all ages fluctuate on a daily basis.

    Here is the straight talk you asked for:
    I'm 60 yo and have lost 130 lb with 20 left to goal. I hit a new low yesterday. Today I'm up .6 lbs. I thought I would be up more than that to be honest. I've fluctuated within a 4 lb range in the last 7 days. This is completely normal. I weigh daily, enter everything into Happy Scale phone app, and visually see a graph of my trends and fluctuations. I can pretty much predict when my weight will go up or down just by looking at the past patterns.

    Yesterday I weighed first thing in morning like I always do, then weighed again after my personal training workout, just to compare my weight to the one at the studio. (I rarely do this.) I went up 5 pounds between 7am and 10am!!! Some of it was gym clothes, breakfast, & water, but not 5 lbs worth!

    Where did the extra weight come from? Who knows! What did I do? Shrugged, took my shower, and went on with my day! This morn, as I said before, 4.5 of that was gone and I sm up only .6 from yesterday morn.

    I asked my hubby about it, he's a dialysis nurse and deals with water weight on patients all day long. He just looked at me and said there is no explanation. Even when they remove a known amount of water from a patient in a 3 hour dialysis session (which is the purpose of dialysis), the change in the patient's weight does not always change the same as you would expect it to mathematically. It's the human body!
  • lynn_glenmont
    lynn_glenmont Posts: 10,009 Member
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    kristen6350 wrote: »
    JanetYellen wrote: »
    It almost sounds like you are just gaining muscle.

    No, not gaining muscle while eating 1200 calories.

    It's more than likely water retention.

    And not gaining any measurable amount of muscle in one week, much less enough muscles account for the nearly four pounds of weight fluctuation in that week.

    Good news, however, moving from 1200 calories a day to 1400 calories in way is going to move the OP from a deficit or even maintenance to a four pound gain of fat in a week either.

    The only "rule change" I noticed after 50 was that I was either finally motivated enough or experienced enough or lucky enough to find an easy online food database and tracking tool to enable me to lose more weight (in % and in raw numbers) and keep it off longer than I had ever managed before 50.
  • WalkingAlong
    WalkingAlong Posts: 4,926 Member
    edited January 2016
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    We get more sedentary as we age, typically. Often, we're sitting at desks instead of waiting tables or working in retail, we're not chasing kids around, we're not dancing at nightclubs til 2am, we pay someone to wash our cars and mow our lawns and maybe even walk our dogs and do our shopping.

    Plus the body does less cellular regeneration. It all adds up to less calories burned.
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 32,741 Member
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    +1 to the "stay the course and wait it out" theme. Give it at least 2-3 more weeks, if not longer, since you've changed so many variables at once. Several of the things you've done are things that would cause me to gain water weight.

    Overall, I've found it easier to lose weight now (I'm 60 y/o) than when younger - mainly on the psychological side, with little difference on the physical side.

    FWIW: I'm not that much taller than you (5'5"), CW around 123, and was recently still losing slowly at 1560 net - though I do seem to be able to eat a few more calories than MFP expects and still lose (don't know why).
  • jpcebu
    jpcebu Posts: 18 Member
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    Just a recommendation look into intermediate fasting or the 5:2 diet.

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