Hi and Help please

That's best undertaken with the help of professionals. If you are looking for a DIY approach, you can still get professional guidance through some resources like Tom Venuto's book "Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle". (I have it in hardcover and audiobook). It's a common sense approach with no extreme requirements, and the objective is more about establishing a lifestyle that supports sustainable weight loss as opposed to a race to a scale weight you might find with other programs. Tom is a 20+ time champion bodybuilder, but he is also very down to earth and approachable. That's where I would start. Good luck!

Good advice there from @Lietchi. I only lost 50-some pounds, at age 59-60, but pretty much took the approach she outlined. That was 6+ years ago, and I've been able to stay at a healthy weight since, because the habits I established during weight loss were sustainable enough to continue almost on autopilot.

Best wishes for success!

I’ll take a whack.

I lost about 100 starting at age 56. I am now 59 and have been in maintenance for a while.

I’m not special. I have no weight loss superpowers.

It’s all a matter of setting a goal, calculating how many calories you can eat per day to achieve that goal, and teaching yourself to weigh food and log it accurately.

It requires diligence and persistence. You can’t quit when your weight goes up a couple of pounds. You’ve got to keep hacking with the calorie machete.

Reading these boards religiously was THE best thing I did. I got tips, motivation, help, and the occasional well-earned friendly-intentioned browbeating. I can’t stress enough how integral following the boards was to my success.

You’ll also have to develop a thick skin to the friends and family who tell you you’re too old, it’s too hard after menopause, that there’s a better faster way or you should try some pill or whacko diet plan they saw on Tik-Tok. You have to learn that the screaming headlines “Lose 120 pounds in a Week!!!” at the checkout counter or that will start showing up on your feeds are utter BS designed to sell magazines and supplements.

It all boils down to CICO (Calories In/Calories Out).

Losing slowly is best. You learn new habits and have enough calories to play with to avoid Hangry. Hangry is when people deliberately undereat and is THE quick backslide to failure.

Exercise isn’t required because “weight loss is made in the kitchen”, but it will buy back some calories to eat (not as many as you think-something that astonished me) and will aid in overall health.

The more weight I lost, the more active I got, which contributed to more weight loss, which led to more activity. Now I find I can’t sit still unless I make myself, which is for me, a happy place to be in.

You are welcome to send me a friend request. I post the occasional tip or discovery (mainly about desserts lol- I loooooove my sweets so always feel obligated to share my latest greatest lo cal dessert) and lots of posts of my needy rescue dog.

@jlm1292 I'm just starting out, so I won't offer advice, but I will tell you what I've learned so. Food tracking has been an eye-opener. I didn't realize the portion sizes and calories I was taking in while mindless eating, so that awareness has been so helpful. Also, restrictive calorie-cutting is a recipe for failure. It's not sustainable. Try incorporating tiny bits of physical activity throughout the day because it all adds up. Mostly, be kind to yourself, be patient (weight loss will come, and take it one day at a time.