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

lorrpb wrote: »

Here are links to my recent updates. 61 and in the best shape of my life, BY FAR!
http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10450329/i-cant-beleive-i-ran-the-whole-thing#latest
http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10419681/2-year-transformation/p1

pita7317 wrote: »

I just turned 58 a few days ago. I have lost 51 lbs, quickly ? Not by any means but what matters is, I did. CICO. Once I learned portion control and that feeling stuffed was not normal the journey was enjoyable each and every pound. Small goals help too. A lb a week or less was fine versus thinking I need to lose 50 lbs ???? At first my goal was to lose 40 lbs, never dreamed that would happen. And here I am. I still laugh thinking about my husband rolling his eyes every time I brought out the food scale in the beginning. That stopped when he saw my progress.

AnnPT77 wrote: »

STLBADGIRL wrote: »

Do you really watch butter and Olive Oil? I think this may be my hang up. Although I love healthy foods, I like to cook with butter and Olive Oil so it can taste delish? I don't want to totally forgo good tasty food for bland food. If you have other alternatives than butter and Olive Oil, that would be great too.

I "watched" all caloric foods while losing 63 pounds. That doesn't mean I didn't eat them! It just means making intentional decisions about how much to eat, when, so that one's overall way of eating is nutritious, delicious, and satisfying, within one's calorie goal.

Personally, I ate olive oil nearly daily while losing - often a small amount ( < 1/2 oz, usually) to saute or roast things, but occasionally on a salad.

I didn't eat much butter, but that's not new - when I was a tiny child, my aunt let me eat as much home-made butter as I wanted, with a spoon, in one sitting. I couldn't eat butter for years. I kind of got over that, but I'm still not a major consumer!

spookmobile wrote: »

I am 53 yrs old - actually almost 54 - I've lost 25 pounds. I've maintained the loss for several months.

I had tried everything, have every piece of training equipment, gym membership, video workout - etc. I found the my main difficulty was the food I was eating.

Everything we eat has hidden sugar. Diet foods, low carb foods, fat free food - everything! There is documented information regarding the real addiction to sugar. I have a friend whose husband is a personal trainer and she always talked about foods and "the real life changer" being how we understand food ingredients and how our body processes hidden sugar. By not cutting all sugar and dairy out of my diet I was fighting a losing battle. I did their 5 week online "jumpstart" program. They provided approved foods, their web site with recipes and support and a tailored for me exercise program I could do at home - through an app on my phone complete with progress and accountability alerts. It was the best thing I've ever done for myself. It was $90.00 and exactly what I needed to retrain my brain.

What I learned was that the food industry wants us to eat as much sugar as possible. Our children are heavier at a younger age because they burn the sugar in the food they eat, sugar causes us to crave more food and sugar and destroys our natural God given metabolism. We yoyo up and down and make it worse - we are forever on a diet.

I cut all sugar out of my diet - all sodas - most dairy. I read all labels, I'm not much of a cook so I find meals in the frozen organic section at the grocery that have no sugar. I do like to make a yummy stir fry with fresh veggies occasionally. I eat nuts, fruit, salad with a balsamic dressing and seasoning, I drink black coffee with Stevia as sweetener, tea & LaCroix flavored carbonated water. Stevia is the only sweetener I use for anything. The bread I purchase is frozen - Ezekiel raisen bread or wheat bread. I use coconut oil to cook with and coconut flour too. I've found an all natural peanut and coconut spread for sandwiches too. Once you start looking and reading labels there are a lot of options that are sugar free - I don't have to count calories - most every thing I eat has NO SUGAR or is sweetened with very little natural agave. I can have a "cheat" occasionally but have found out now that I'm "sugar free" if I binge too heavily I will have a massive migraine headache. Did one time and was cured to not repeat!

The best part is that I no longer crave the sweets like I constantly did before. I had actual withdrawal from sugar - my daily diet consisted of sweetarts, Diet Coke, KFC chicken littles, ice cream - every day ice cream - and never never ever never drank water. When I stopped eating sugar the first three days were a living hell. Headaches, shakes, nausea- withdrawal- actual withdrawal.

I'm not even really exercising a lot any more. I stay active but mostly it all had to do with food. My family is all genetically predisposed to obesity- my mother found comfort in eating. Before she passed away she was home bound for several years because she was afraid of the looks she would get from people because she was obese. People never looked at her beautiful spirit - all they ever saw was the 450 lb 5'6" woman in a wheel chair. I had to break that cycle, had to find what worked for me - for me it was sugar.

Hope this information helps.