Over 40

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AngieLapsley
AngieLapsley Posts: 1 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Hi friends! I am a "generally" healthy mom in my 40s who is STRUGGLING to lose weight. I work out about 5 days a week, drink a gallon of water a day and although I know my diet could use work, eat a fairly well balanced diet. Still, the scale does not budge and my clothes seem tighter than ever. Anyone else in this boat?? I'd love feed back, tips and encouragement!

Replies

  • MaltedTea
    MaltedTea Posts: 6,286 Member
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    Hi there! What numbers did you plug into MFP to get started with your nutrition and exercise goals?
  • mrmota70
    mrmota70 Posts: 525 Member
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    AngieLapsley wrote: »
    Hi friends! I am a "generally" healthy mom in my 40s who is STRUGGLING to lose weight. I work out about 5 days a week, drink a gallon of water a day and although I know my diet could use work, eat a fairly well balanced diet. Still, the scale does not budge and my clothes seem tighter than ever. Anyone else in this boat?? I'd love feed back, tips and encouragement!

    Gallon of water? Are you using it to satiate your appetite? I take all liquids into account that I consume during the day. Watermelon, grapefruit, coffee/tea(in moderation), the occasional bai bubbles etc. On top of that I'll drink 75-100 ounces of water daily. I work out 40 mins a day. I get a pretty decent sweat on and in no way am I dehydrated.
    Depending on what your consuming you may be retaining some water weight. Like processed foods, high salt, to much caffeine. What is your current weight? Your long term goals? Any current medical conditions? And as MaltedTea asked. what are your MFP #s? That goes directly to some of the questions I just asked. Not sure how long you've been following your current routine so can't really comment if you are on a long no weight drop plateau. Stick to it don't let the scale rule you.
  • L1zardQueen
    L1zardQueen Posts: 8,754 Member
    edited February 2021
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    Are you tracking your calorie intake? I used think because I ate healthy I would lose weight but no. I started counting the calories I ate and I was most definitely eating more than I thought.
  • dragon_girl26
    dragon_girl26 Posts: 2,187 Member
    edited February 2021
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    L1zardQueen wrote: »
    Are you tracking your calorie intake? I used think because I ate healthy I would lose weight but no. I started counting the calories I ate and I was most definitely eating more than I thought.

    In addition to this, how are you measuring your portions? Do you use a food scale? Do you make sure the entries you select in MFP match the nutrition info on the labels? MFP database entries are primarily user maintained, so even the scanned entries and green checked "verified" entries are notoriously incorrect.
    On the calories out side, do you eat back exercise calories (if you are, that's good because you should be)? If so, how do you estimate them? Sometimes overestimating can be a problem, so it's good to try eating back half at first just to be sure your tracking method is close to accurate.
    As sijornial mentioned, a timeline would help, especially if you've been at this awhile. If you've only been doing it a couple of weeks, keep in mind that losses don't always show up immediately. They can be masked by water weight from new routines, hormones, or any number of things. When I start the process of losing weight, my scale usually doesn't move for about a month or so.
    Also for reference, I'm very close to 40 (I turn 40 in a few days in fact!).
  • lgfrie
    lgfrie Posts: 1,449 Member
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    If you're not losing weight you are not in a calorie deficit, which is what's required to lose weight. Water won't make any difference, nor will healthiness of the food matter (for weight loss; it's obviously beneficial in other ways to eat healthy).

    If you're trying to lose weight and not getting the results you want, it's time to approach it calorically. Go to the MFP Goals tab above, enter your stats, tell it how much weight you want to lose (e.g. 1 lb/week), and it will tell you how many calories to each each day. Then start weighing all your food to the gram and logging it so that you will have an accurate representation of how many calories you are consuming each day.

    Then you will lose the weight.
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 32,170 Member
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    AngieLapsley wrote: »
    Hi friends! I am a "generally" healthy mom in my 40s who is STRUGGLING to lose weight. I work out about 5 days a week, drink a gallon of water a day and although I know my diet could use work, eat a fairly well balanced diet. Still, the scale does not budge and my clothes seem tighter than ever. Anyone else in this boat?? I'd love feed back, tips and encouragement!

    I got fat then obese eating a pretty balanced diet with plenty of whole grains and veggies/fruit, vegetarian for 40+ years, not at all a fan of fast food. Later, I stayed obese for over a decade, even while training 6 days most weeks, even competing as a masters athlete in a short-endurance sport.

    Then, at age 59-60, I lost 50+ pounds, and have stayed at a healthy weight for 5+ years since, still eating the same general foods, and actually training a bit less than back then because no longer competing. Now 125ish pounds +/- (depending on the day 😆) at 5'5", age 65.

    Weight loss is about calories: Portion size, proportions of foods (less of the calorie-dense but nutrient-sparse ones, more of the nutrient-dense but calorie-efficient ones), and frequencies of especially calorie-dense non-nutrient-dense ones. Age is not the problem, in your 40s, I'm pretty sure.

    Calorie counting is not the only way to control calories, but it's the way most people here on MFP do it, because it's a calorie-counting site. Calorie counting does require developing some skills in logging foods, for best results. Folks above have mentioned some of them.

    Best wishes!
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 27,902 Member
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    There are mistakes that people commonly make that cause them to not lose weight that we might be able to spot if you change your Diary Sharing settings to Public: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/account/diary_settings
  • sgt1372
    sgt1372 Posts: 3,978 Member
    edited February 2021
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    Eat less.

    If u do nothing else than that (keeping @thing else constant) you gave 2 lose wt (regardless of any errors in logging ur food intake or otherwise).

    If u think that ur eating less but dtill fon't lose wt, then u really are NOT eating less.
  • Speakeasy76
    Speakeasy76 Posts: 961 Member
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    I was kind of like you as well. At age 35 I lost about 35 pounds after my 2nd baby and got to a healthy weight range (never had issues with high cholesterol or anything like that, so that wasn't an issue). I did so by using MFP back in 2012. Then, I stopped tracking. I still considered myself a healthy eater, but slowly but surely my pants seemed to be a bit more snug. I also wanted to lose about 10 more pounds, and even though I thought I was eating healthy and eating in a calorie deficit, the scale didn't really budge. I also continued to work out regularly, with more of my focus on strength training and really building muscle. While I was getting a bit more muscle definition, weight stayed about the same.

    A couple of times I did the "Body Reset" diet and would actually lose about 3-5 pounds and kept it off, but the scale didn't really go any further. This past April, I decided to see if I actually could lose what was now about 8-9 pounds. I got back on MFP and aimed for a 250 calorie deficit. Slowly but surely, I reached my goal--just in time for my 44th birthday! I've kept it off since then (September). I really think I was just eating more than I think I was. So, if you haven't started already, I"d highly recommend tracking what you eat.
  • MsMelloDoggerello
    MsMelloDoggerello Posts: 14 Member
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    I'm over 40....
  • sgt1372
    sgt1372 Posts: 3,978 Member
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    I'm 70 and shouldn't try to post anything on my phone. Fat fingers, LOL!

    I'm sure people can figure out but what I "meant" to say above was the the following"
    sgt1372 wrote: »
    Eat less.

    If you do nothing else than that (keeping everything else constant) you have to lose weight (regardless of any errors in logging your food intake or otherwise).

    And, if you think that you are eating less but still aren't lose weight, then you really are NOT eating less (and need to recalibrate).

  • Safari_Gal_
    Safari_Gal_ Posts: 1,461 Member
    edited February 2021
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    Agree, I don’t think it has anything to do with age. I lost weight in mid 30s far easier then my early 20s. The only difference was I ate less, counted every calorie and exercised more. Maybe a more stringent diary? Good luck!! 🍀
  • Courtscan2
    Courtscan2 Posts: 498 Member
    edited February 2021
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    Eating a balanced diet and drinking lots of water is great for general health, but has zero impact on fat unless unless you are also in a calorie deficit. Start tracking what you are eating. Weigh everything. Figure out what your caloric goal should be for weight loss, and eat that much.

    Also - I'm 43, and calorie deficit works for me :)

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