60 yrs and up

sandramarshall200 wrote: »

Good Morning. Well, Ann, I was in a way, glad to read that you are just now dropping the holiday excess. I have spent January and February trying to kickstart the weight loss, glad to know it’s not just me..

You're definitely not alone. I'm in year 7+ of maintenance now.

Early in weight loss, I got used to my "short cycles" - the way my body weight would be up and down on the scale daily because of water retention or food in my digestive tract, even when the overall weight trend over weeks was downward.

After multiple years in maintenance, I feel like I have a better feel for my "long cycles", and that seems to help me stay calm and feel in control.

Everyone will differ, but I tend to have a really crave-y phase in Fall, as it gets colder, days shorten, and my favorite summer activities become weather-unviable. I have more incidents of eating over goal at that time, but usually get things reined in again. In November, I always indulge around my birthday, and then there's US Thanksgiving, a big food celebration here.

On Thanksgiving, the Concept 2 Holiday Challenge starts (machine row 200k or bike 400k or a combo between then and Christmas Eve). That gets me into Winter exercise mode (and burns a couple of calories, but I eat them).

Then comes December, with Christmas Eve, Christmas, New Years Eve & Day. I try to keep it as holiDAYS, not holiMONTHS. But I usually gain a few pounds over the Fall/Winter, need to creep it back down post-holidays. Come Spring, my TDEE goes up a little (more outdoor chores and stuff), so things get a little easier.

I've learned to trust and manage that "long cycle". So far, so good.

Finally it is beginning again. I am swimming most days now. I know weight loss is about calories, but my body does better when I move more, Problem is that I get out of the pool ravenous. I have to breakfast 1st thing as I take medication with the food, and it’s often hours until the next meal is due. I try to go straight into housework or gardening, but my muscles are already tired. I’m wary of snacks, I dont have an off button for them. Also, I observe that my dogs are always most crazy for food immediately after being fed. Think I’m the same.
How do others manage this? It may be that just distracting myself is best.

I agree that it might be worth trying a warm beverage after swimming, to see if that helps. You might even take some herb tea or something to the pool in an insulated Thermos jug/mug or something, to drink right after. Pools - even warm ones - are usually cooler than body temperature, and that can potentially spark appetite, IMU.

Personally, I do find quick exercise hunger easier to manage with food. Technically it's a snack, but I eat something that contributes to my all day nutrition, so I don't stress about it. When I was taking 2 classes back to back at my Y (spin class and kettlebell, say), I found I did much better if I ate something between the two, such as a small carton of milk (shelf stable), one of those little packets of no-sugar applesauce, or something like that. If it was not between classes but after (so not as big priority on quick to consume), I'd eat something protein-y but fairly low calorie like lowfat string cheese, hard-boiled egg, or crispy broad beans. Doing that helped both energy level and appetite, for me.

This will horrify some dieters, but if I feel low-energy before a scheduled workout, I will eat something small that's pretty much just sugar. For a while, it was Tootsie Roll lollipops that are green apple flavor with a bit of caramel in the middle, energizing for me and only about 60 calories. Sometimes it's dried pineapple, mango, or prunes. Since I ate it right before the workout, it wasn't sparking my appetite in any troublesome way. (I'm not diabetic or insulin resistant. This might not be good, for a person who is.)

Second issue I have is that a lot of you seem very precise people, and I’m just not, I never can accurately count my lengths at the pool and I cook in dollops and handfuls, not pounds and ounces , or cups. I am trying to weigh my food more, but when someone else cooks and that would be rude, I wonder if there is some rule of thumb for a reasonable portion. I try to fill half my plate with salad or non starch veg, and I’ve probably halved the amount of carbs I would put on my plate, but still not sure if I always get it right, and how do I know I’m not fooling myself?
Sorry this is long. Hope it makes sense.

I'll second (third?) the food scale idea. I'm also an impromptu cook, and I think the scale is perfect for knowing what my portion was. What's important is to learn the tricks. Here are a couple:

If you're scooping out some peanut butter or whatever from a jar, take the cap off, put the jar on the scale, zero it out, and take out whatever amount you want to use. A negative number will show on the scale. That's the amount you took out. Log that. (I usually note it on a piece of scrap paper until I'm done cooking, so I don't muck up my device with food.) Same works for (say) hunks of cheese or meat: Whole thing on the scale, zero, cut off however much you want, log the negative number. Easy.

For a sandwich or salad (even something I'm going to cook in one pot), I'll put the plate/bowl/pot on the scale, and zero. I'll use the sandwich example: Put the bread on the plate, note weight, zero. Put the mayo or butter on the bread, note weight, zero. Put the cheese on the sandwich, note weight, zero . . . and so forth.

I do a similar thing with stuff I'm chopping up to add to a dish(es): Chop little piles of stuff on the cutting board, put the board with foods on the scale, zero. Pick up the board, push ingredient one into a pan or onto a dish, put board back, note negative number, zero. Repeat with ingredient 2 and beyond.

No extra dishes for measuring, no fiddling, very quick, very easy, no rigorously regimented portion size, very accurate. I do have common combinations saved as MFP meals (not recipes). When you log a saved meal, it brings the whole list of ingredients into your diary, then you can adjust some of the portion amounts or delete/add for minor variation - less work than repeatedly looking up and logging those common combinations.

If you're saying you don't even want to log food, just manage it by eye . . . that I don't have advice about, other than what you're already doing. For me, calorie counting is perfect: After getting past the early-learner phase, it takes me at most less than 10 minutes per day, lets me eat every delicious calorie I'm entitled to alongside achieving my weight management goals. I love it.

The time is a very small price to pay for reaching and staying at a healthy weight, which has been such a quality of life improvement for me.

I agree with others that with practice, you'll get good at estimating foods you eat elsewhere but can't weigh/measure. I do take phone photos of my plate sometimes (no flash, ever!) in cases/places where it wouldn't be rude to do so, keeping something standard sized (like a fork) in the photo, so it's easier to log the meal later.

Just a few ideas (embedded in my usual ridiculously long essay 😬).

Hello all. I used to be on a lot,but life & my health took over. Doing better now. Nice to meet everyone. Tleona

@Kmcintash1988
I am a salty crunch person and sometimes I just gotta crunch. I found a company called schoolyard snacks, and yes unfortunately they are pricey. For me I found it’s worth the few extra bucks then to eat everything in sight and still not be satisfied. One bag is 110 or 120 calories and they are keto as well. If you are like me you might want to give it a try. It’s like Loreal….. and yes I’m worth it😉 My guess is you are too!

bethe wrote: »

Just a few ideas (embedded in my usual ridiculously long essay 😬).

AnnPT77 - I'm glad you write these, because i find them inspiring. Thank you!

Bethe

[/quote]

Aww, you're so kind: Thank you!

Followed by a random status update/rant:

I love physical therapy. I will encourage my docs to give me a referral at the mildest excuse - not fraud on my US insurance company, but maybe a tiny bit shameless in how I want it and use it to keep my body functioning well so I can stay healthy. I choose PT providers carefully, then go, do the exercises they give me faithfully, but also pepper them with questions so I can learn more about exercise and my body.

Recently, I had some fairly minor (but unpleasant) shoulder pain, genuinely interfering with daily life, which my osteopath (real doc at a university clinic) diagnosed as rotator cuff irritation, unlikely to be an actual tear. So, off to PT. The symptoms are improving for sure, but I got lucky and drew a physical therapist with pretty extensive sports-movement certifications. So good!

He's had me doing some resistance band and weight exercises that use smaller rotational muscles I usually neglect, plus some stretching and self-massage to wake up my neuromuscular connection to some under-used areas.

Last appointment, in casual conversation, I mentioned that I was striving for better quad/hamstring balance (front/back of thighs), which obviously is completely unrelated to the shoulder . . . so he set me some shoulder-stabilization exercises that are single-leg Romanian deadlift variations - things that help the shoulder problem, but also work the hamstrings (which I tend to under-utilize in my routine workouts). I have (mildly) sore hamstrings and glutes from my "shoulder physical therapy" exercises now! This seems pretty excellent to me.

Repeating: I love physical therapy!

Pic where I live for fun, the aurora sure was incredible all around the globe a week ago. Waiting for spring!

Hi, @marci320 - glad you've joined the group!

Can I ask a question? If so: How is your protein intake compared to your goals?

As context, protein and fats are essential nutrients, in the sense that our bodies can't manufacture some of their subcomponents out of any other nutrient. (Subcomponents = essential fatty acids (EFAs) in fats and essential amino acids (EAAs) in protein.) Carbs are more flexible, though of course some people need to manage them carefully, such as people with diabetes.

For myself, I think of my fats and especially protein goals as minimums to hit, but it's OK to exceed. Because I don't have any relevant health conditions these days, I just use carbs as the balancer to hit my calories, pretty much. (Some people do find that carbs spike their appetite, but I don't - maybe because most of my carbs are veggies and fruits? Also, some people find that going low carb hinders their energy level. I'm not sure if that's true for me, because I love my fruits and veggies! )

Protein in particular is really important as we age. You probably know that many of us have declining muscle mass as we get older, and that that can link to declining health. Protein is one key thing to prevent or reverse that (another is activity/exercise, of course). It's super common for seniors not to be getting enough protein, at least here in the US.

In general, if carbs and fats are higher than you want, it implies that protein may be low. If that's the case, this thread is helpful for getting more protein:

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10247171/carbs-and-fats-are-cheap-heres-a-guide-to-getting-your-proteins-worth-fiber-also

I'd also say that it's really not important to be exactly exact every single day on your macronutrients, even if improving nutrition is one of your key goals. Yes, if there's a pattern over many days of always being over/under on one thing at the expense of others, then it's worth trying to chip away at improving that. But close, when averaged over a small number of days, is just fine.

You also don't need to be spot on right away: Fine-tuning is a bit of a process, and it takes time. Most of us eat well enough that we won't be instantly malnourished in a dangerous way, so it's OK to take some time working it out. If you keep reviewing your diary, and adjusting your routine eating patterns gradually (using tasty and convenient choices for you), you'll get there.

Also do keep in mind that the food database here is crowd-sourced, i.e., entered by average MFP users like you and me. There are some inaccurate entries there as a consequence! I've even seen entries for things with high meat/fish content that don't have any protein grams, for example, and that can't be right! So, it may be worth taking a look at your diary, noticing whether some entries have implausibly many zeros in carbs, fat, and protein. (If you consume alcohol, that should be zeros, because alcohol is its own thing, not carbs, fat or protein. Most other foods you eat in significant quantities should not be all zeros, though a super-tiny serving of something might be.)

As far as the Fitbit connection, a couple of things. One thing to know is that Fitbit and MFP won't give you extra calories to eat until your activity (as your Fitbit sees it) is more than what MFP expected (based on the activity level in your profile). So, if calorie adjustments aren't showing up, that's one possibility.

I don't have a Fitbit myself (I'm a Garmin gal), and I don't even link my Garmin to MFP (long story, good reasons, not a technical problem with linking). However, there is a great group here for Fitbit users that you might want to check out: Lots of very knowledgeable, helpful, experienced Fitbit users there, and I'd bet someone can help you make sure things are set up right. (Sometimes there are bugs that affect connections, but that group will probably know more about that subject, too.)

Here's a direct link to the MFP Fitbit group:

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/group/1290-fitbit-users

Again, welcome . . . and best wishes for success with your nutrition and health improvement goals!