60 yrs and up

@Pdc654 Good job! That's exactly how we are supposed to do it 🙂

AnnPT77 wrote: »

Pdc654 wrote: »

I have been logging the best I can, but many of the places we have been to are small and don't have calorie counts so I estimate using entries that look close. I estimate I have probably been eating over maintenance but not too bad, maybe 100 or 150 calories a day. So less than a half pound for the 10 days... of real fat gain. I know I will be up because of airline travel but that should be water retention that should go away in about a week. It's happened before.

Anyway, love love being here in Hawaii! Be back in the real world on Saturday afternoon ( overnight flight and 5 hour time difference).

Check in with you all later.

It's been over a week since we have returned from our trip to Hawaii. I think I did a pretty good job estimating my calories. I waited a week to weigh in so that the water weight from the flight would have time to diminish. I weighed in at 147.4, exactly the same weight as I did 3 weeks prior shortly before we left. I know I was slightly over maintenance while there, but did not go overboard as I have in the past. The week after we got back I returned to my normal eating and exercise which allowed me to lose whatever fat I had gained plus the extra water. I was pleased. I know now that vacations don't have to undo all my hard work. I was able to enjoy the food and not gain back the weight!

[/quote]

This is so powerful - congratulations!

To the bolded specifically: I feel like it's kind of easy to fall into a kind of negative 'magical thinking' after a lengthy, patient, successful weight loss effort - maybe especially if one has been overweight/obese for decades, as I was.

What I mean is this: There's almost a feeling as if one slip - however we define 'slip' - will flip some switch, and send us all the way back to square one somehow. Fortunately, it ain't necessarily so.

IME, it takes some time to understand and internalize the idea that it will likely take quite an extended period of under-attention to backslide a material amount, once we have some relatively sustainable new habits well in place. One day or even one vacation won't do it.

I'm not arguing that it's OK to stop paying attention, more saying that my experience (after nearly 7 years in a healthy weight range post-loss) is that there may be an initial sense of hypervigilance or impending doom or something, but that that can perhaps relax a bit over time. Obviously, there need to be some guardrails, but that "one slip = derailment" idea may not be permanent, and IMO that's good. Anxiety around food/eating isn't ideal.

For me, so far, my guardrails are the scale (a maintenance range), how I feel, and - maybe most - the fit of my clothes (because I hate clothes shopping with a fiery passion!). I've been up and down a few pounds since reaching goal weight in 2016, but haven't regained to an unhealthy level. Others might use different guardrails, but the concept may still apply.

Y'all can do this, and IME the confidence will build with each experience like the one @Pdc654 is reporting here, of having a nice vacation, enjoying some treats, getting back on track, and seeing that everything turns out fine.

Personally, I'm fighting my every-year Fall increased food cravings, but not super-stressing because I have confidence I can get on top of this and end up where I need to be, now that I've done just that, more than once, before. I'm not trying to say I don't struggle or stress about this stuff at all, still . . . but I do have more self-confidence than I did at first that I can manage.

P.S. I'm so glad to see plenty of regular discussion going on, on this thread. I see so many threads in "Getting Started" or "Introductions" where new folks our age aren't sure that weight management is realistic in our demographic, and needing help/encouragement. I hope this thread is one ray of hope we can point to.

Wishing y'all continuing success with your goals!
[/quote]

Thank you @AnnPT77. I did/do have a certain amount of anxiety around vacations and going off my planned eating routine. I think it has to do with passed experience and gaining weight after a vacation. Often I would just say to myself "Hey, I'm on vacation" and eat anything I wanted. And if I had returned to my routine after vacation maybe I would have gained a few pounds and then quickly lost them. But often times I would not resume my planned diet when I got back and would gain many more pounds. This time it was helpful to keep logging while I was on vacation to keep myself mindful of what I was eating. And yes, as you say, hopefully each positive experience I have like this will build my confidence and each time I'll be able to relax a little more until the habit is just ingrained and I won't even have to think about it. (We do plan on doing a lot more traveling in the coming years).

I am so thankful to have found this forum to take advantage of the advice and experience of all the people who have lost weight and maintained for many years like you Ann. Even though I have used MFP to log my food choices before, I had never read or partipated in any of the community forum discussions. For me, I think having this community available as I go into maintenance will be especially helpful.

designer91056 wrote: »

Yoolypr, love your last post! I needed that today. After a week of faithfulness I only lost 0.4lb. Needless to say I was very disheartened. Hopefully next week will be better.

You might try a weight trend tracker like Libra or Happy Scale. I use Libra and find it helpful. Helps you see that downward trend, even when you have a slow week.

alteredsteve175 wrote: »

Greetings, all. I haven't checked in here for a month or so. Good to see so many of you continue to strive for better health.

No major changes here. My wife's health continues to deteriorate slowly. It's so frustrating to watch someone who won't do anything to improve their condition. It's existence, but I can't call it living. 🙁

I'm continuing to hold the line, poundage wise. Still logging weight everyday. Logging most meals. Walking some (not nearly enough😁).

Have been attending a couple of local support groups. Still seeing the counselor at the cancer clinic once a month. All that helps to keep me in a reasonable state of mind.

Hang in there, all. It's inspiring to read your posts.

It's good to hear from you again, @alteredsteve175! You're doing so wonderfully, under such difficult circumstances. I'm glad you're taking advantage of the support groups and counseling. Too many people don't want to do that, but they can be so helpful.

I don't know whether it will be true for you, but my experience was that declines were slow, until they suddenly weren't. There was a sudden knee in the curve, a steeper down-slope, at an unpredictable point The doctors predictions about timelines are approximate, only. Your persistence in support is inspiring to see. Hang in there, you're doing great. Sending positive rays your way!

Hello @kmenier and @crazyhorse8, and welcome to the 60+ thread!

crazyhorse8 wrote: »

Hi everyone!
Just turned 61 years old today and I'm still here and kicking after some health problems kept trying to knock me down. Was diagnosed with A-fib and Hoshimoto's Thyroid disease (Low Thyroid) in the last two years. This has made weight loss extremely challenging! I have lost 40 lbs. since May of 2020. Also survived the Delta version of Covid in 2021. I am stubborn and don't give up easily, but could use some insight if anyone else has these issues. The scale is stuck and has been for a while now and nothing seems to work! I work out 5 days a week doing heavy weights and cardio. I walk too. Any ideas would be appreciated.

I don't have A-fib, but am severely hypothyroid, though properly treated with synthetic thyroid hormone. I was able to lose from obese to a healthy weight despite that. Can I recommend that you take a look at this thread about they hypothyroidism part?

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10767046/hypothyroidism-and-weight-management

It was written by an MFP-er, a scientist in the hypothyroidism field, hypothyroid himself, who lost weight by calorie counting. It's sober, solid information . . . unlike some of the crazy web sites out there who are trying to sell us something.

You're doing great with your weight loss so far: Hang in there, and keep doing those good things. It can work!

How long has the scale been stuck for you? Did your weight loss taper off gradually, or stop relatively suddenly when sticking to the same calorie level? What to try is kind of situation specific. Loosely, a slow tapering of loss might suggest (sadly) cutting calories a bit more, while a sudden stall might be more likely to yield to a maintenance break. Details on the latter in this thread:

http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10604863/of-refeeds-and-diet-breaks/p1

That's just generalities, though, and your situation is specific. I hope you can find a way to break through!

Happy Birthday @AnnPT77! We are both November girls!

Hey all, has been glorious Fall weather where I am, sunny & breezy, colder overnight (right around freezing) but reasonably warm by afternoon (like 9C or 48F).

I must say though that I have been mostly witnessing it all through a window, I am in a bit of a funk lately and not sleeping until close to sunrise, then sleeping until noon or so. This contributed to an overeating problem (is it still considered LNS when it's 4am??) But I also think shorter days heading into winter triggers something in our hunger levels; struggling to manage our calories/portions etc and I believe the time of year is impacting us all - and maybe my funk too?

Anyways, good news is this week I seem to be able to manage a deficit again, albeit a small one (reset my MFP goal to 1/2 lb a week) and that seems to be doable.

I reread the 'Ann Plan' and that definitely helped! Reviewing my diary in that light,
all to easy to forget about basics.
Couldn't post a link though - Ann, perhaps you could 🙏?
WITH THE ANN PLAN - WE CAN!

I am also very thankful we Canucks already had Thanksgiving so I can have a clear run diet wise for next month or so before Christmas 🇨🇦 😃 🎄

Keep sticking with it folks - the alternative is not pretty 😘