To my 50+ Women out there. Have you been able to lose weight?

I am also 52 (will be 53 at the end of the month). It is harder for me to lose weight now, but not impossible. I started back on MFP in late-September with a goal of losing only about 12 lbs. I was not exercising at the time and was too overwhelmed to start. I also have a very sedentary office job. I set my calories at 1200. For the first 2 weeks, I did my best to stick to them and I did for the most part. Oh, I went over here and there but nothing major. I believe in the first 2-3 weeks, I had shed 5-6 lbs. I realize that most of that was bloating/water weight from all my previous overeating. Then I was stalled for awhile. I increased my calories up to 1380 and start Couch to 5K (which is VERY minor exercise at first). My weight since then has taken a downward trend. As of today, I am down 14 lbs. It is coming off in "whooshes." For instance, I may go 3 weeks without losing anything and them, bam, 3 lbs are gone.

Now that I've been doing this for almost 3 months, I don't feel that my weight loss is any slower than it was in my 40s. It just takes longer for my body to let go at first, then it seems to get back to normal weight loss.

My biggest takeway is that most of the work/weight loss happens through diet with very little help from exercise.

loha2328 wrote: »

Of course, you can lose weight at 50+. It's just a matter of accurately recording your caloric intake using MFP and balancing that with your calories burned.

This. I'm 51 and in peri-menopause, and have lost almost 50lbs since January with very little exercise. I haven't cut anything out, I just learned what a "reasonable portion" was and how many calories were in my favourite foods. It's not necessarily easy, but it is very simple and age has nothing to do with it.

In all honesty, being laid up with an injury does not (generally speaking) prevent a person losing weight - it's ALL about the calories. Exercise can help to increase your deficit, or give you a few extra calories to eat, but other than that it's great for health and fitness but not a requirement for weight loss.

You can do this, regardless of your age or fitness. You just need to be willing to take responsibility for it, and be completely honest about what food and drink goes in your mouth.

Edit: To echo what @CMNVA said above, don't expect to lose the same amount every week. My weight loss has been similar, with weeks of bouncing around the same couple of pounds or so and then a couple of weeks of losing steadily, then repeat the cycle. The overall trend is downwards and that's all I really care about, although I admit it can feel a bit frustrating at times when you feel like you're doing everything right and the scale isn't cooperating! You just have to be accurate, trust the process, and have patience.

I'm 50 and I just lost 40 pounds( just over my 1 year anniversary) I think I look younger than I did, and feel great. That said I have exercised more and kept logging! MFP has really opened my eyes. Keep at it. If I can do it, anyone can!

I am 67. I have lost 57 lbs. At the moment I am trying to lose the 2 lbs I have gained back in the 3 years I have been at maintenance. It originally took me 18 months to lose the weight. At the beginning it was relatively easy, but it got harder the nearer I got to goal.
I do a lot of exercise first thing in the morning after breakfast. 600 calories worth. I always ate back nearly all my calories and that worked for me as I love my food. After 3 years I am now finding that I am having to cut a bit of that back to actually trim off the couple of pounds. So instead of 1800, I'm eating 1700 or so. I hope that will do it.
I log every day and I weigh everything. I am incredibly happy with the way I look and feel and I really enjoy my healthy eating. I never feel deprived.
If I couldn't exercise for whatever reason I would find it hard. I think I would increase the size of my already large pile of fresh vegetables with every meal to fill me up. It can be done, but I applaud anyone who can stick with 1200 calories.

i'm 51 and had lost 30 pounds by my 49th birthday, then regained 20 or so over the next year because a) i was lifting and wanted to eat more for that and b) i just got bored with logging and all the micro-management involved in all that.

it's been coming back off over the course of this year. pretty slowly but i'm still lifting and have been making actual real progress there. so i haven't been trying especially hard to lose weight at the same time, which means the fact that it's come off even for me should be encouraging.

loha2328 wrote: »

Of course, you can lose weight at 50+. It's just a matter of accurately recording your caloric intake using MFP and balancing that with your calories burned. I started in January of this year. I got a fitbit so I would know how many calories I was burning, a food scale to weigh my food for more precise input into MFP, and I just try to stay 500 calories under what I burn daily in order to lose about a pound a week. I've lost 58 lbs. so far. It's just Math. Feel free to add me as a friend.

your soooooooooo right,its a case of use more cals than you eat,but many including me fall short of actually recording the wieghts and guess which is fatal as its always 10x more than you think.