heatherluuu wrote: »

I have found that after 40 my metabolism is saying, "no ma'am" to weight loss. I am adding resistance training to build muscle and hopefully make my body a calorie burning machine. What do you do for exercise?

Yes, my metabolism has slowed down tremendously. I am 46. I have run marathons and ultra marathons this past year and still no change. Frustrating. I added strength training this past year which has been somewhat helpful and I am looking to add core exercises. And of course, I have cut calories. Good luck to you!!

Have to cut down on refined carbohydrates and processed foods in general. Animals dont get fat because they don't eat that junk.

I lost the most weight taking up kickboxing and focusing on nutrition.

I see this was an old discussion, but new here so thought I would add my thoughts.

Resistance training will give the biggest benefit to weight loss if you focus on the larger muscles. Quads, abs, back, etc... Building up small muscles like biceps won't do much. But getting a bit more muscle in the large ones will increase your overall calorie burn throughout the day, even once you're done exercising.

I relate so much to this! Calorie cutting doesn't quite cut it. It drives me up the wall when people tell me that it IS that simple. I can eat my baseline-weigh my food, not eat back my exercise calories and the scale may or may not budge.

I did notice that when I do two workouts a day, even if neither are major burners...say a couple hundred calories per session I will lose at a better rate. I am guessing this is because I keep re-igniting my metabolism.

If I stick with one workout a day and burn the same amount of calories (in the 400 range or more) I'm stuck at that minimal loss. Metabolism is only firing up once a day.

This is very different from how my losses happened as recently as when I was in my 30's. It's been a trial and error to find how my body wants to lose nowadays. I'm not even in menopause yet so I wonder how much more it'll change when that happens.

@Aztec, I do get moving. Like you, I have lost a tremendous amount of weight. Congratulations to you by the way. I've lost over a hundred pounds myself (127). I went through a bunch of crap (divorce, injury, etc) a few years ago and regained some back. I've bounced back, got the negatives out of my head and am back at it only to find I'm not losing the same way as I did before. All while doing much the same things with food, calorie levels, and exercise. Besides my age, the only other difference is that I'm now stronger than I was from the first time I was losing.

After trial and error for the past year the only thing that seemed to get the scale moving (still slower than before but faster than a year ago) is breaking my workouts into 2 separate sessions. I do one midday, another at night. I recently ran into another injury but am still losing weight. This time I have not stopped my 2-a-day workouts, and keep within my calorie levels.

I'm sure you know from your experience of losing that much weight, sometimes you need to find what is or isn't working for your body. This is what works for me now that is different from when I was in my 30's, early 40's.

@heatherluuu I know what you mean about the slowing metabolism!!! Mine really started slowing after 40. I'm 46 now, but I've helped speed it back up some by keeping moving as much as possible. Hiking, bike riding, anything to keep busy on my feet and out of the recliner! I do body weight exercises too like pushups, situps, and pullups too.

Good luck! You got this!