55 yrs old and cannot loose weight -help

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catbird1261
catbird1261 Posts: 1 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I'm 55 yr female, active but I'm finding it to be impossible to loose weight ! I watch my calories through this app, I stay @1200. I'm 5'7", 160. This is so frustrating because I'm trying for a 15lb. loss, not a big amount but I'm not able to loose Any lbs.!! Any suggestions???

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  • need2belean
    need2belean Posts: 353 Member
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    How long have you been at 1200? a week, 2 weeks? A month? A year?
  • deksgrl
    deksgrl Posts: 7,237 Member
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    Are you tracking everything? Are you measuring with a food scale and logging properly?
  • TeaBea
    TeaBea Posts: 14,517 Member
    edited April 2017
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    With 15 pounds to go 1/2 pound a week would be good progress. The problem is that 1/2 pound could be masked by natural water weight fluctuations. Water weight - higher sodium, sore muscles, hormones, waste cycles.....all of these things can mess with the scale.

    Your maintenance (TDEE) is around 1680 (for sedentary) so 1200 calories would be a 480 calorie deficit......that should be a 1 pound a week loss but everything is estimates. Your calories in is an estimate - a digital food scale is more accurate. Check your database selections as many are incorrect. Your calories out - activity level is a range of activity; you could be on the high end or the low end, but again the numbers are an estimate.

    http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/
  • pinuplove
    pinuplove Posts: 12,874 Member
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    Noel_57 wrote: »
    Your profile says page not found. Which usually happens when you open a brand new account. I'm assuming then that you just joined today. So how have you been tracking your food?

    Thanks, I was wondering what that meant! The only time I've seen that happen is when the user changed his/her user id.
  • middlehaitch
    middlehaitch Posts: 8,483 Member
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    Put your stats into MFP to lose .5 lbs a week (1lbs at the most). That is a reasonable expectation for the small amount you need to lose.

    When counting your calories it is useful to use a food scale for accuracy. You don't need to use it forever, but it certainly helps you get you use to the size of portion you will need.
    The MFP goals are adequate, but I would encourage you to eat .8-1g protein per lbs of your ideal bodyweight. (Mid BMI)

    It is no harder to lose at 55 than it is at 25, you just have to log your calories as accurately as possible, and make sure your choose the correct daily activity level.

    Even sedentary expects daily household and work task movement, about the equivalent of 3500 steps. We do naturally slow down as we get older, so if needed make a point of makeing lots of extra daily movements. Take stairs, walk instead of short drives, when tidying the house; single items instead of an arm full.
    All these little things keep your metabolism ticking along throughout the day.

    If you choose to exercise, do both cardio and strength/resistance work, log it and eat back those calories, MFP expects you to. A lot of methods of calorie burn estimates are for the masses not the individual so you may want to eat 75 or 50% back and adjust so you are losing at your goal.

    Do get a check up at the doctors. There are a number of problems that can arise due to the hormone dusruption of menopause. Once detected, and medicated the should not influence your loss.

    I lost at 54, mid menopause.

    Cheers, h.
  • onward1
    onward1 Posts: 386 Member
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    1200 seems too low for someone your height. I'm 57, "almost" 5 feet tall and I eat more than that. And I'm losing. Do you weigh and log everything? Do you do any exercising or walking?
  • Gisel2015
    Gisel2015 Posts: 4,136 Member
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    The OP closed her account so don't bother posting your ideas anymore peeps ;)
  • joanthemom8
    joanthemom8 Posts: 375 Member
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    I have the same issue....I'm 51, 5'6" and weigh 155. I've been trying to get below 150 for years... (at least I haven't gained). BUT I do notice that when I weigh and measure everything and log accurately, the scale goes down. The thing is I usually sabotage myself when I get to about 152. I'm trying now to focus on fat loss and fitting into the next size down in my clothes, instead of depending on the number on the scale.

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