50 and older

I’m 61. I’m really happy with my progress so far here. I’m half way to my goal. I let mfp give me my calorie allowance and I chose a loss rate of 1 pound per week.

Trust the process. It works.

Theoretically, we burn slightly fewer calories daily per pound of bodyweight as we age, but it's a very small amount year to year. Calculators estimate my sedentary TDEE around 1500 at age 63 (which I am) vs. 1650-ish if I were 33 . . . that's only around 50 calories difference per decade.

Much of that difference is down to two things: Less active daily life (non-exercise activity), and reduced muscle mass. The good news is that both of those are things that we can individually work on changing.

Of course, you can offset some of that slow-down via exercise, but don't ignore the potential contribution of increasing daily life activity. There's a thread here where folks discuss their ideas for doing so:

http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10610953/neat-improvement-strategies-to-improve-weight-loss/p1

The muscle mass issue's solution is obvious: If you're not already doing some strength-increasing exercise, it's never too late to start. There's research showing strength and muscle mass increases are possible for people into their 80s at least. If that's not something you're already doing, there's a thread about it here:

http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10332083/which-lifting-program-is-the-best-for-you/p1

In the short run, you may have to cut your calories a little further than someone younger, but you can still work on the above, if you wish. Since MFP uses your age as part of its calculation, its weight loss calorie goal is still the best place to start. If you only have 10 pounds or so to lose, best strategy would be to take it slowly, at 0.5 pounds a week, for best energy level and retention of current muscle mass. To feel confident that good stuff is happening, since a slow loss rate can be hard to visualize amongst normal daily weight fluctuations, a weight trending app is a good adjunct tool (Happy Scale for iOS, Libra for Android, Trendweight with a Fitbit account (which I'm told is free even if you don't have a Fitbit device), Trendweight, others).

Best wishes!

Age alone doesn't mean you need to cut calories - if your lifestyle is becomming more sedentary as you age then it's the lifestyle not the age that is meaning you need to eat less.

Personally I found it far easier to lose weight in my 50's compared to earlier attempts as I got more "me time" and I became more active and did more exercise. Plus of course the tools available to regulate your calories are far better.

I retired at 57 and saw a noticable increase in calories required to maintain, I sit less, I drive less, I move more whether on my feet or a bicycle.