How to lose weight when over Age 40

abbyjack2
abbyjack2 Posts: 25 Member
edited November 26 in Motivation and Support
I have found it difficult to lose weight once I hit my 40's. Things I used to do when younger doesn't seem to work as well. I am 5' 3" and have always weighed between 125-140 lbs. Once I hit 40, my weight as slowly gone up to what I am at right now of 157 lbs. I feel like I eat pretty healthy, work out on the treadmill in the morning for 30 minutes, do work out videos in the afternoon for 10-30 minutes. I don't drink soda, I have shake for breakfast, snack on almonds or beef jerky for snacks. Just want to see what other suggestions people may have who are in the same situation and what had worked for them. Thanks in advance for the input.

Replies

  • MostlyWater
    MostlyWater Posts: 4,294 Member
    I would not say I've given up, but I'm not hopeful. The best thing is to eat right and exercise and not let it go too far.
  • abbyjack2
    abbyjack2 Posts: 25 Member
    Thanks for all the input. I think one thing I used to do more regularly was log the food that I ate. I stopped after a while because I left like I didn't need to do it.

    I do feel like I am more active now than I was when I was younger. I have a standing work station for my computer at work so I wouldn't be sitting as often. I cut back on how often I eat out for lunch. It used to be 2x a week and now it is only when work brings in a lunch for meetings which is 1x month. For the month of January I gave up drinking alcohol thinking it would jump start my weigh loss, but i only lost 5 lbs and have stayed there since. At New Years I weighed 161 lbs. By mid-feburary I had gotten down to 155 lbs. Now I seem to be stuck at around 157.

    I just started the Jillian Michels Revolution workouts this week so we'll see if it helps with my weight loss journey. Maybe changing my snacks and finding something healthier than beef jerky. Thanks everyone for the help.
  • dsboohead
    dsboohead Posts: 1,899 Member
    Age is just a number so do not use it as an excuse! I am 61 and losing weight! People are noticing it to boot!
  • kommodevaran
    kommodevaran Posts: 17,890 Member
    abbyjack2 wrote: »
    Thanks for all the input. I think one thing I used to do more regularly was log the food that I ate. I stopped after a while because I left like I didn't need to do it.

    I do feel like I am more active now than I was when I was younger. I have a standing work station for my computer at work so I wouldn't be sitting as often. I cut back on how often I eat out for lunch. It used to be 2x a week and now it is only when work brings in a lunch for meetings which is 1x month. For the month of January I gave up drinking alcohol thinking it would jump start my weigh loss, but i only lost 5 lbs and have stayed there since. At New Years I weighed 161 lbs. By mid-feburary I had gotten down to 155 lbs. Now I seem to be stuck at around 157.

    I just started the Jillian Michels Revolution workouts this week so we'll see if it helps with my weight loss journey. Maybe changing my snacks and finding something healthier than beef jerky. Thanks everyone for the help.
    Weight up/down is purely math (CICO), that's a fact, but we are also living things with emotions, thoughs and commitments, so our mindset has also a lot to do with it. "Feeling" that you're more active than before, can be that you're finding exercise more burdensome than when you were younger. Eating out more rarely, and stop drinking, can make you make up for it by choosing more, and more calorie dense, food, not just when you eat out, but for every meal. You won't know this for sure unless you log.

    New exercise can make you retain water. Water has weight. Beef jerky is a perfectly healthy snack. ("Woo" means "broscience".)
  • rimir74
    rimir74 Posts: 29 Member
    44 this year. On MFP the last two years. Lost 7kg in 6 months or so. Have been maintaining successfully with very little or no exercise - eating within TDEE. Tracking, more tracking and you know more tracking is all I need it seems.
  • h1udd
    h1udd Posts: 623 Member
    healthier than beef jerky ??? .... good luck on that mission, Beef jerky is one of the more perfect food sources IMO .... 33g of protein, 25g of fat and 11g of carbs .. boooom ! ... possibly a little high on the sodium, but if you are working out and sweating loads then a little extra salt is good !
  • abbyjack2
    abbyjack2 Posts: 25 Member
    h1udd wrote: »
    healthier than beef jerky ??? .... good luck on that mission, Beef jerky is one of the more perfect food sources IMO .... 33g of protein, 25g of fat and 11g of carbs .. boooom ! ... possibly a little high on the sodium, but if you are working out and sweating loads then a little extra salt is good !

    I always liked beef jerky too because of the high protein. I'm glad other people think that beef jerky isn't that bad to eat. Thanks,
  • mom23mangos
    mom23mangos Posts: 3,069 Member
    Keep the jerky!!! Make your own if you are concerned with salt/preservatives.
  • abbyjack2
    abbyjack2 Posts: 25 Member
    So this week I am limiting the amount of snacking I do in the evening. It seems to be helping with my weight going down this week. I think if I can get below 155 lbs, I will consider it a small victory.
  • NovusDies
    NovusDies Posts: 8,940 Member
    Just make sure you log the jerky. It is not without calories and you can eat too much of it. For that matter you should log everything. As far as your evening snacking as a rule I try not to eat anything 4 hours before I go to bed.

  • WilmaValley
    WilmaValley Posts: 1,092 Member
    It is a bit harder as we age because our energy level wanes. Just do it anyway and you will succeed!!!!
  • bikecheryl
    bikecheryl Posts: 1,432 Member
    Almonds are my nemesis. I'm 58 and had no trouble losing weight, count your calories accurately.

    lol.... wow.... everything is the same for me.... including the age.....lol.

    And it's exactly what I was going to say.
  • angel7472
    angel7472 Posts: 317 Member
    edited April 2018
    I turned 46 just a couple weeks ago. Been maintaining my weight for the past 4 years. I have gained and lost the same 5-10 pounds. Nothing hard about it. Sometimes I work out sometimes I don't (hence the gain). I log everything!!! Get a food scale!! Measure it out. Don't count out 15 almonds, measure then by grams. I stalled and found out the measuring cups and counting them out was drastically over in calories. Got a food scale and got down to 122. I'm 5'5". I'm at 128 as we speak. I eat whatever I want within my calories. No secret science here. It's all CICO. That's it. Good luck :)
  • abbyjack2
    abbyjack2 Posts: 25 Member
    It is amazing on how much calories is in a sub. I had a cheesesteak sub from the local sub shop for lunch and it had 688 calories!!! Needless say, i busted my calorie limit today.
  • NovusDies
    NovusDies Posts: 8,940 Member
    It is amazing how many calories there is in almost all restaurant food. Last week I thought I was being smart and ordered vegetarian fajitas. They came swimming in oil. They had actually cooled just enough to see the nasty orange color starting to form. It was too disgusting to even consider eating.
  • PowerliftingMom
    PowerliftingMom Posts: 430 Member
    I'm 59 and lifting weights was the best thing I've ever done! I'm only 5' and I consume 2200 calories. And that's actually a maintenance diet for me now. Lifting will help increase muscle mass and the more muscle you have the more calories you will burn. Doing 100% cardio is boring and is great for heart health but not as good as a combo of cardio/lifting.
  • abbyjack2
    abbyjack2 Posts: 25 Member
    I'm 59 and lifting weights was the best thing I've ever done! I'm only 5' and I consume 2200 calories. And that's actually a maintenance diet for me now. Lifting will help increase muscle mass and the more muscle you have the more calories you will burn. Doing 100% cardio is boring and is great for heart health but not as good as a combo of cardio/lifting.

    I had heard that lifting weights is good to help build muscle. I started doing jillian michels revolution workout and alot of the moves use weights. I may need to get heavier weights since the biggest i have is 5 lb weights. I do have a kettleball that I don't use very often. thanks for the advice.
  • LivingtheLeanDream
    LivingtheLeanDream Posts: 13,342 Member
    edited April 2018
    Losing weight over 40 is no different than at any other age - eat less than you burn :smile:
    I didn't 'find' MFP until 2012 and I was 42, once I started counting calories and moving more weight loss happened and I've not looked back since. (I'm approaching year 5 at maintenance)
  • abbyjack2
    abbyjack2 Posts: 25 Member
    I am 42 years old, trying to lose 20 lbs . Seem to be stuck at 156 lbs. My goal weight is 140. Seems even with the logging what I eat, being active, working out, eating healthy, nothing seems to work. Starting to think there is no hope..short of eating nothing...not sure what else to do.
  • rimir74
    rimir74 Posts: 29 Member
    Perhaps the preset logging calories are wrong? If CICO still has you maintaining and you feel you need to lose - log in a multiple of a food item. If food xx is 400 calories - log it in as 1.1 or some multiple. Perhaps that's the more accurate calorie count. If it gets you losing weight - then it likely is...
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