55-65 year old women's success?

Hi All! this is my first time posting on MFP. Your stories are so inspiring! I'm 56, 5'4 and 139lbs and I've been using MFP for 10 months. Logging has become an obsession lol. I've only lost about 5 lbs and I'm feeling pretty frustrated. I'd like to lose another 10 (preferably all around the belly:) I've been doing yoga 2-3 times a week and periodic pilates classes 1 a week. Based on the posts I've read, it doesn't seem like I am getting enough exercise?? I just got a bike, hopefully that will help! If anyone has similar goals, let me know, what tips you have for success!

OK, @trina1049 and @AnnPT77 and all us 55+ ladies. I started here October 2014 at 187#. My high weight was 190 in August, same year. My doctor told me about MFP (thanks Dr. H, wherever you are!). CICO has been what works for me. Exercise has become a huge part of my life. I love running. What? Way back in the olden days, I hated running! I don't know what changed...it has become "my time." Oh, yeah, I am on maintenance, in fact working to get back to normal weight. I'm 57 yrs. old and 5'7".

Anyone who wants to friend me is welcome. I like to know who's knocking, so just drop a note to say where you saw me. If there's something in particular that strikes you, I'm always up for learning what I've done or said right.

baharal - sorry that 1derland felt anticlimactic. 31 lbs is great! Given an eastern pound of butter 2.5" high, that'd be a stack 6 1/2 feet high.

californiagirl - yup. it took me until my 60s to finally feel that I've got this weight thing beaten, and can maintain without feeling obsessive.

Nana - another great shedding. Your mid-march fat stack would be about 5.8 feet high. And very cool about your husband.

Wow, Roaringgael! Impressive as all get-out! Your butter stack is 32.8 feet high!

grshaadi - what do you want to learn? I find that logging every bite and sip is key for me.

chuckyjean - Wow. I'm in awe of your exercising.

shirinian - are you weighing and measuring everything? If you are, you might try relaxing your calorie limit, just to see what happens. (later) I see you broke the plateau! Huzza!

veggiecanner - Maybe you'll need to work up to maintenance more slowly, maybe 100 or 50 calories at a time? I didn't have any trouble with the increase to full maintenance, but we're all different.

phnxrth - Congrats on maintaining! I've also given myself a weight range - 140 to 145 lbs. Interestingly, the trend seems to be slowly downward at maintenance calories. If I find myself at 135-40 for a couple weeks, I may give myself more than 1510 to play with.

Eleted - I'm maintaining. Mostly walking, and not a whole lot at that, but my hips are down an inch and the size 12 jeans that were tight a couple months ago now have a 2" overlap, or would if I had a button 2" to the right of where it is.

AKgramma - have you tried high intensity interval training? Me neither, but I've heard great things about it.

Cobourg - Try logging as you eat and drink during the weekend, rather than waiting. Maybe even log before you start drinking that glass of wine or eating that piece of cake. Don't let your eating and drinking be mindless: pay attention and savor the tastes and textures, rather than just eating and talking.
This isn't being mean to yourself. Don't beat yourself up. But make yourself pay attention to yourself when you need it most.

jayrow - Since you can walk longer than you could two months ago, you're doing well! Congratulations!
Have you considered an activity tracker? It can help with goals - say, working for an increase of 10 steps a day, or 20, or 50, or 100. Even without, you can look to increase the number of laps from your bedroom to the door and back each day or each week.
You might ask your doctor about what other sorts of exercise might be possible and useful. Perhaps you could do wall push-ups. See the first exercise here: http://www.papafit.com/easy-exercises.html
If you're nervous about that big an angle, don't go all the way to the wall to start with. Or start with your feet closer to the wall. But I'd ask the doc first, and maybe see if he or she has some pointers.
Here are some others to ask about:
http://breakingmuscle.com/bodyweight/simple-and-effective-strength-the-perfect-beginner-workout
This is gonna sound weird, but I've come to like eating frozen veg while they're still friz. It makes me eat more slowly, and pulling a 12-oz bag from the freezer is less work than making a big salad.
Scales and measuring cups are the best way to be sure you're being honest with yourself. I keep a scale at work and even have a folding model that lives in my pocketbook and can come out in restaurants.

Wow, Karen in Ga! You're really doing well! Your stack of butter is 17 1/2 feet high! Keep it up and you'll keep going down!

Cheryl Dumais - congratulations! You might want to check out recipes for no-sugar bbq sauce -- there's quite a bit of sugar in the commercial stuff, and in commercial ketchup.

lonelywombat - welcome! To start, try just cutting out all white carbs (eat whole grain breads, pasta &c) and paying attention to portion size. A doc's suggestion to cut out white carbs when I was getting too close to diabetes was like turning on a light for me. Its greatest effect was that I had to stop snacking on candy, ice cream and cake ... but for some reason, it didn't *feel* like dieting. Every time I'd tried to lose weight in the past, it felt obsessive and punitive. This time, it didn't. It was just a change. You can do it, too!

trina - I was on maintenance when I started, and still am. I'm interested to note that although MFP says I'm generally within my calorie limit, the Fitbit site says I'm eating more than maintenance ... and my general weight trend seems to be downward.
Here's my 6-month graph.

That low November "plateau" was a vacation at my brother's house, without a scale. I was very pleased to get home and find myself just a half-pound above the 5-pound range I'd set.
I've gone way down on asthma meds, and while I'm at the same dosage on bp meds, the bp is much better controlled.

Cheryl177777 - way to go! You'd need a tall ladder to build that 20-foot-high stack of butter pounds.

Gayle - I'll be 64 on Sunday. It's a fight, and I got no beef about people who choose the surgery route. But, as jayrow said, it's not the only way.

kbs4725 - the last 10 to 20 pounds are the hardest. If you're eyeballing rather than weighing and measuring, pull out the scale and measuring cups again. If you've read through all this, you've seen my whole-grain spiel. I've found my activiy tracker useful - helps keep me honest about my walking.

Ann - wow. Impressive! And very convincing reasoning.

mk2loser - very cool! I've never been a runner, even in my 125-lb, 5'-7.5" adolescence. But in the past few months I've found my 5'-6, 63-year-old self running places, just because I can.

griffinca2 wrote: »

Eleted, Understand, been watching the weather. Live in the South and so far it's been fairly nice (a few cool days), but we pay for it come summer (90 degrees + humidity). Doc let me start back at the gym (broke my right wrist in Dec and have been out since). Anyway, I'm 65 workout with weights (can't go heavy w/the right wrist just yet) and some cardio (mostly for heart health). Do what you can (especially the weights==good for your muscle and bone mass. Start out slow and increase your reps, sets, and weight as you get stronger and make sure you maintain good form (most important). There are several books out there (New Rules for Weight Lifting for Women, etc.), and all kinds of programs on line; so check it out and good luck.

I've done the broken wrist thing! Took about three months to heal and get the rehab in. Mine required a plate once we tried just setting it. Hope you are doing better!

swimm, Many thanks; it's better; just have trouble w/my fingers (they kinda "froze"). Had two months of Phys Ther.; they are better (though still have days). Friend said it can take six months to a year for everything to get back to "normal." Anyway, Rome wasn't built in a day and it could have been a lot worse (I've heard a few stories). Hope you have a great week.

@2012retiree Congratulations on your medical success as well as your weight loss! Great accomplishment! It must be a relief to know how much you have improved your health.

@calmandpeaceful Sounds like you are moving in the right direction! I'm glad you're mentally feeling so much better because that can make such a great difference in your success. Keep it up!

AnnPT77 wrote: »

@kbs4725, IME it's more about eating than exercise. Calories in less than calories out, meticulous logging, food weighing, and consistency are your allies.

I've been quite active for a dozen years, while staying fat - spin classes twice a week, on-water rowing 4-6 times a week in summer, regular machine rowing in winter, and more. Only when I started modifying my eating did I start losing weight.

I'll use this opportunity for a bit of an update/recap, since @trina1049 asked: I'm 5'5", 60 y/o, hypothyroid (well controlled with meds). I started changing my eating habits during April 2015 at a SW of 183, joined MFP in July, and now weigh about 120 plus/minus 2. I'm trying to zero in on my maintenance calorie level now and hold around this weight.

I've weight-trained in the past, and am working on adding that back in (along with increased core work: planks, bridges, exercise ball stuff, etc.), but I've had to take a couple of breaks from that to deal with some minor musculoskeletal issues. On a break from weight training now (though still spinning/rowing), but back at it soon! One thing I'm working on, now that I'm lighter, is chin-ups. I did manage *one* once!

My knees (arthritis, torn left meniscus) are greatly improved since the weight loss, very infrequent discomfort now, compared to daily when I was fat.

In November 2015, my cholesterol was 176 (vs. 230 in December 2014, and that wasn't my highest ever!), triglycerides 82 (vs. 193). My blood pressure's gone from borderline/high to solidly normal.

Ann, Can you share what you typically eat in a day? I'm struggling and looking for new ideas. Anyone with success has a lot to offer

griffinca2 wrote: »

Laney, My diary is open if you care to read to get some ideas. I'm 65, 5'3" and have lost abt. 11/12 lbs since Feb last year (2015) and now on maintenance. Biggest change I made was switching to mostly minimally processed food (frozen veggies vs. canned, half & half vs. powdered creamer for my coffee, etc.), and cutting back on the amt of sugar I ate. I still enjoy pizza, ice cream, and chocolate cake, etc., but only occasionally (except I have abt. a TBSP or so of dark choc. chips after dinner). I broke my right wrist back in Dec and only been back exercising for 2 1/2 weeks (basically sat for 3 months) and didn't gain any weight when I couldn't exercise by basically sticking to the above. I don't follow anyone's diet; I figured out what I like to eat and built my eating plan based on what I like to eat. I use frozen veggies because they keep better than fresh and are just as healthy.

Thank you!

Ann:

Thank you so much for sharing, I really appreciate it! I can definitely relate to the eating healthy but too big of portions. I've cut out a lot of what they say to cut out, so I know it's portion size.

My other struggle is going out to dinner. We go out to dinner a lot as our stress reliever and social networking. I have to learn to back away from the bread and butter and just eat lean when I go out!

EATING *MORE*- believe it or not- has worked for me!!! I am ASTOUNDED at how EASY it has been for me- at age 61 (almost 62) to 22 lbs so far- in the past 4 months!!! The weird part is, I eat MUCH MUCH MORE (in bulk as well as calories!) than I did when I was heavy! No joke- and this is NOT my imagination. When I was heavier, I used to go all day eating maybe a couple small yogurts and a reasonable dinner. Now I eat **constantly** every couple hours- usually until around 2 am! I have always eaten VERY healthy (no processed foods, no chemicals, almost all organic) but now I eat MUCH MORE- a minimum of 110 grams of protein per day- and I have stopped eating low fat dairy (it's highly processed!!) and have added FULL FAT dairy (yum!) I started on Jan 1, 2016- eating between 1000-1100 cals per day, then after about a month moved to 1200 cals per day and still lost at the same rate (about 2lbs per week). I'm currently eating 1400 cals a day (at 5' 4" and 165.2 lbs). I started going to a nutritionist a few weeks ago (my insurance pays for it, 100%) who tested my metabolism- and she thinks I should eat EVEN MORE- though seriously, that would be difficult. I could easily have kept eating 1200 cals- I was NEVER hungry and quite satisfied- but I started to worry that I would get saggy skin, so I have purposely slowed it down a bit- and am now losing about 1lb a week (I highly advise going to a nutritionist and getting your metabolism tested so you'll know *exactly* what your resting metabolic weight is.) Could it be that for decades, I was in "low level" starvation mode? Not enough to starve, but enough that my body thought it needed to hang on to every bit of fat in storage? It make sense to me that my body knows I'm going to feed it- CONSTANTLY- good quality actual FOOD and get some exercise (I swim at a very leisurely pace for about 40 min 3x per week- but I've always done that so that's not the variable that has changed). My focus now is going to be building muscle and losing slowly so that- hopefully- I end up w/a nice, toned shape. I want to lose about 20 lbs more, but even now I'm looking pretty good- and have gone from a size 14 pants to size 10 (and I can even get into size 8 sometimes!!) I'm bigger on top, but it's fun to be able to buy a regular "large" or "xl" top (before I was a 1x). Best of luck to all!!!

NewMEEE, You were probably under eating. a lot of folks don't realize that under eating will not help you lose weight, but eventually messes with your metabolism and actually makes it harder to lose weight. MPF recommends eating no less than 1200 cals a day (I have fallen below that, but don't make a habit of it). I'm 5'3," 65 years old and weight abt 116/117 (which is fine) and I eat close to 1400 cals a day. I lift weights three days a week and do a good cardio walk another three - four days a week. You're right abt the REAL food; it is so much better for you. We ditched the powdered creamer and now use REGULAR half & half (non-fat's second ingredient is corn syrup (sugar); why?) and use frozen veggies (vs. canned) because they keep longer than fresh. Good luck on your journey!

I am 65, have lost 25 pounds since January 9 and am thrilled with my progress. I want to lose another 35 before having knee replacement surgery. If I am able to keep up this rate of weight loss, maybe I will be ready by October. I love this thread!

0505jen, I had the same problem you are having; thing with the cravings is the more you eat, the more you want. Try cutting out your trigger food and substitute something else for it. I love chocolate (I can easily eat half a bag of the chocolate chips; I cut back and changed the regular chips for dark chocolate (less sugar)). I still have the occasional cravings; when I do I chew some Trident peppermint gum (kinda kills the taste for anything else). You may have to experiment to see what works for you; just don't give up!!

luluinca wrote: »

I'm 64 and started here in Sept of 2013 with 70 lbs to lose, still recovering from a back injury (which really piled on the pounds), and have so far lost 56 lbs. I won't pretend it's been easy but I've been pretty determined. The difference for me was really exercising my little heart out. I go to the gym at least 4 days a week, right now I'm going 5 days to see how that goes, where I do strength training/weight lifting, lots of calisthenic and circuit type workouts, swim, and generally work my butt off for 90 minutes or more. The other two or sometime three days I walk the dogs between 3 and 4 miles each day.

I've found that my metabolism isn't as slow now as it was when I started so I'm actually eating more than I was and still losing weight, albeit a little slowly. I'm enjoying myself though and I'm certainly not starving to death or anything on an average of 1650-1750 calories a day.

Good luck with your goals.