Over 40 Ladies
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Jhensley2011
Posts: 54 Member
Hi all,
We know it only gets harder to lose weight the older we get. I myself have hit a spot where no matter how much I exercise or watch what I eat, the scale doesn't move. Then I just give up for a bit and try to convince myself that bygones are bygones and this phase in inevitable.
But I don't want to give up. For the over 40 ladies - what have you done to kick your metabolism back in gear? What do you do differently now than you did in your younger years?
Send help lol
We know it only gets harder to lose weight the older we get. I myself have hit a spot where no matter how much I exercise or watch what I eat, the scale doesn't move. Then I just give up for a bit and try to convince myself that bygones are bygones and this phase in inevitable.
But I don't want to give up. For the over 40 ladies - what have you done to kick your metabolism back in gear? What do you do differently now than you did in your younger years?
Send help lol
12
Replies
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I hired a registered dietician to guide me to better health. I've eliminated most processed foods from my diet. I move quickly to get from point A to point B. Consistency has been key for my 50 pound loss.12
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I haven’t done any different. Finding the weight is coming off the same as when I was younger.haven’t hit menopause yet though. I eat 2 boiled eggs every morning, salad and feta cheese or tuna for lunch and meat without too much carbs at night. Very little snacking. 1200 calories, 159cm. Using a treadmill and going for walks.7
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Everything seemed easier when we were younger, right? I'm treating myself like a stranger in my journey knowing that I can't do the same things I did before I was in my late 40's. So I track everything (I guess, duh, that's why I'm here) and am paying attention to things I didn't before...sleep being a big one. I've really felt changes in energy and my mood as I work on getting better sleep. This helps me keep motivated to make myself dinner rather than go grab something real quick. I guess it's also about accepting things are slower and that is ok, just keep going. Best of luck to you!6
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If you have seen a doctor and are checked out ok. Then losing weight is just a matter of a calorie deficit. It might seem harder...a lot...but it is just that. I do agree, when we age sleep is very important to being well in mood and energy. I am 52 and have lost 90 lbs with calorie counting and adding in walking. It is hard but it works if you stay true. Losing weight is just math in the physical but losing weight is also a mental thing and that is where it gets hard. Don't let all the doubts and fears overtake you and make it so hard you give up. Good luck!10
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I was 54 when I originally came here to lose weight, and it came off just as quickly as when I dieted once in my late teens. I'm 62 now and recently took off another 11 lbs I didn't even expect to lose, so I'm not sure anything has changed. I suspect eating a good quality diet (whole vegetables, legumes, whole grains, nuts/seeds, fruit) and eating enough food (about 1900 calories a day) to remove all temptation to binge made the most difference for me, but it's likely exercising to increase my muscle mass hasn't hurt. It takes time no matter what age we are, but starvation diets seldom work for long. (No idea that you're eating too low calorie, but I just see a lot of that on here). Careful, accurate logging and consistency are super important.7
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I was 54 when I originally came here to lose weight, and it came off just as quickly as when I dieted once in my late teens. I'm 62 now and recently took off another 11 lbs I didn't even expect to lose, so I'm not sure anything has changed. I suspect eating a good quality diet (whole vegetables, legumes, whole grains, nuts/seeds, fruit) and eating enough food (about 1900 calories a day) to remove all temptation to binge made the most difference for me, but it's likely exercising to increase my muscle mass hasn't hurt. It takes time no matter what age we are, but starvation diets seldom work for long. (No idea that you're eating too low calorie, but I just see a lot of that on here). Careful, accurate logging and consistency are super important.
I agree with you completely. I want to add my post does not have any time limitations or expectations. It takes as long as it takes but accuracy and consistency are key to what worked for me.2 -
I find it harder to lose weight now because I can't exercise as hard as I used to. I have a bum knee, but it's gradually getting stronger. I used to run, a long time ago, and now I do low impact aerobic walking which is less calorie burn. And I bike. Maybe I will slowly work up to running again, who knows? Plus I'm retired, so my life is pretty sedentary outside of intentional exercise. But it doesn't have to be that way.
I have, through trial and error, figured out a diet that works for me. It took patience and trying new things. I have more rituals around food than I did when I was younger, such as having cookies when my aunt visits. But that, too, can change.
Overall, I'm facing my challenges and losing weight slowly. So there's hope.
Annie8 -
44 and honestly finding it just as easy to drop weight now as my 30s. I have the knowledge behind me of what worked last time (and the time before that 😏). I have pictures and milestones which are familiar and which I can look forwards to as I lose. I even have clothes in all the sizes!
Part of it is being brutally honest with myself. When I eat, I recognise that and even log MORE calories than I think I took in to allow for systemic undermeasurement. Plan my day’s meals in advance as much as possible. Weigh in when I change from work clothes to home clothes every day to head off the post-work munchies. Avoid snacking between meals, with the VERY rare exception of a piece fruit if I’m ravenous. 1300 kcals/day, IF 16/8 (basically only lunch and dinner).2 -
I'm technically not over 40 yet, just 40. lol I haven't really done anything different. My eating habits haven't been as great this past year and half and I've been trying to get that back on track, but in terms of exercise, I'm a runner so I run a lot, but I incorporate cross training and strength training to aid my running. I've found that although I've gained some weight in the last 3-4 years, the weight distribution is different because my body composition has changed. I don't know if it's from age (I have no children so can't be that) or just years of working out.2
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YESSS It is so rough. I gained 30 lbs the last year and it seems I keep gaining and losing the same 5 lbs. I just turned 39 two months ago. ugh.4
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Check your hormone levels for sure and also do not under eat. Do strength training , as some of the other high intensity cardio maybe raising your cortisol levels and stressing out your body. Do long walks, resistance training and eat lots of Protein.2
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I switched to TDEE about six weeks ago, the same time I started a new lifting programme (I'm not new to lifting though). I guess it depends how long you've been stuck? I would ignore your age as much as possible, and assess your progress and any barriers as you would have done ten years ago.
I'm peri menopausal, nearly 44. It's taken me all of these six weeks to see any movement on the scale, but in that time I've lost a friend which definitely impacted my sleep, eating habits, and tracking ability. The new lifting programme will also impact that. And also, I highly suspect my logging was a tad sloppy at the start. None of those things are age related though!
I'm really enjoying the predictability of TDEE and it suits my lifestyle much more. Consistency pays, but you have to have all the right elements I think. And it has to be sustainable.
Also Noom have a two week free trial - they have quite a good teaching program which focuses on mindset and psychology, might be worth looking at if you are starting to lose motivation.2 -
I started at 56.
1.) registered dietician visits helped tremendously. She referred me to…
2.) MFP. Calorie counting and logging forced me to understand the relationship between in and out. I had no concept.
MFP led me to….
3.) these community boards. Reading regularly, absorbing,, looking stuff up for myself, having people to yack at, asking questions, learning, tentatively sharing what I’d learned to help the next user…..earth shaking
4.) exercise. I started small- gentle yoga and lots of walking. As I lost weight, I began feeling a heckuva a lot better and more willing to try new things like weights, Pilates, challenging cardio weight classes, and running. Now I have goals.
Five Year Ago Me would boggle at the thought of having fitness “goals”…..
5.)…so don’t categorize or box yourself in. The world is truly your oyster, if you’re willing to pry open that tight, self critical little shell of expectation and doubt.
6.) have goals of all kinds and sizes and reward yourself regularly. First big goal was to lose 40. I broke it into peices. Ten pounds lost was 25% of the way. I went to the store and held up a ten pound bag of potatoes. That was my first reward. Tiny but emotionally amazing.
Twenty pounds was halfway. I got a foot massage.
Forty pounds? New clothes (big mistake, btw within two or three months they were baggy. )
I rewarded myself with a new goal and a pencil dress that was a total fantasy. I hung it sideways in the closet so I had to touch it every time I wanted to get dressed. I greeted that dress every morning like an old friend.
The second forty pounds? Bangin’ new colorful leggings every five or ten pounds.
The day I wore the pencil dress was red letter and is recorded somewhere on this site. Probably in the NSVs thread.
7.) the NSVs thread over on success stories. If ever a thread or a board helped push someone along, that one did. I’ve read every single post on that thread and recommend it wholeheartedly for the times your scale seems stuck on stupid.
8.) Goodwill. Every time I out (under) grew something I went straight to goodwill. Holding on to bigger clothes “in case” gave me an excuse to backslide. I wantweight regain to be so punishing in every possible way (financial, GERD returning, joint pain) I’ll think twice before it happens again.
I ultimately lost 97, gained 15 intentional pounds back without having to rebuy any clothes.
I don’t think menopause was a valid excuse for me. I got older, tireder and lazier, and simply ate everything in sight. Of course I put on weight.
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Jhensley2011 wrote: »Hi all,
We know it only gets harder to lose weight the older we get. I myself have hit a spot where no matter how much I exercise or watch what I eat, the scale doesn't move. Then I just give up for a bit and try to convince myself that bygones are bygones and this phase in inevitable.
But I don't want to give up. For the over 40 ladies - what have you done to kick your metabolism back in gear? What do you do differently now than you did in your younger years?
Send help lol
Much of this all depends on how much you have to lose. As you get closer to your goal, it will slow down. If you have double or triple digits to lose, it's a different case entirely. I've been post-menopausal for several years (turning 50 soon) and have strangely found that losing weight is easier for me now as I look back at my food diary and see what I was eating the weeks where the pounds were shedding pretty easily. Even when I had an overexertion injury and had to stop my daily walks, I was able to lose weight by cutting the calories slightly. I'm at 31 lbs lost after 2.5 months and doing on average about 1500 calories per day.
* When I was younger I'd go to the gym 5X per week. Now I've got a hybrid elliptical/recumbent bike at home and walking as my primary forms of exercise and it still works, but because what I'm putting into my body has changed entirely.
* No processed foods.
* Mostly vegetarian & vegan (Vegan Richa has a great food blog and vegan cookbook that's one of the few that doesn't worship fake meat, I love it). A holistic doctor earlier this year shared a "calorie density of common foods" chart with me that was pretty life changing, you can google those.
* Lots of beans & legumes.
* We treat meat like a special occasion in our house now....which also saves a ton of $$.
* A lot of Mediterranean, Japanese and Southeast Asian food - I get onto Pinterest a LOT for recipe ideas, and sub organic tofu, garbanzos or cauliflower for the meat much of the time. I've reinvented my relationship with those three foods thanks to great recipes
* No sugar in the house - maple syrup and honey are our only sweeteners.
* Every couple of weeks I make chocolate chia pudding made with oat milk, chia, maple syrup and yogurt - it's a good source of fiber and, um, cleans out the tubes.
* Not gluten free but light on stuff with a ton of flour in it.
* We also - gasp! - disconnected our TV 2 months ago and started checking out books from the library and taking walks in the evening. Life changing.
But the biggest thing for me is getting rid of the emotional eating. Turning that corner was a life changer, and I look at food so very, very differently. If I feel like I'm hitting a wall, I change cuisines. Anytime we change things up I think it helps jog our body out of complacency
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I cut out grains and sugar. I still eat gluten-free pasta although I started out with chickpea pasta until I developed an allergy to it. I increased the amount of vegetables I put in my diet. Where my dinners used to be meat-heavy, now they're vegetable-heavy. This means I add 1-2 bags of frozen vegetables and a half pound of meat to a casserole. I also use heavy cream and cream cheese as thickeners instead of flour or cornstarch. I've lost 32 pounds in the past year without exercising once. I have added exercise now because I plateaued.0
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aimeelynncreates wrote: »Jhensley2011 wrote: »Hi all,
We know it only gets harder to lose weight the older we get. I myself have hit a spot where no matter how much I exercise or watch what I eat, the scale doesn't move. Then I just give up for a bit and try to convince myself that bygones are bygones and this phase in inevitable.
But I don't want to give up. For the over 40 ladies - what have you done to kick your metabolism back in gear? What do you do differently now than you did in your younger years?
Send help lol
Much of this all depends on how much you have to lose. As you get closer to your goal, it will slow down. If you have double or triple digits to lose, it's a different case entirely. I've been post-menopausal for several years (turning 50 soon) and have strangely found that losing weight is easier for me now as I look back at my food diary and see what I was eating the weeks where the pounds were shedding pretty easily. Even when I had an overexertion injury and had to stop my daily walks, I was able to lose weight by cutting the calories slightly. I'm at 31 lbs lost after 2.5 months and doing on average about 1500 calories per day.
* When I was younger I'd go to the gym 5X per week. Now I've got a hybrid elliptical/recumbent bike at home and walking as my primary forms of exercise and it still works, but because what I'm putting into my body has changed entirely.
* No processed foods.
* Mostly vegetarian & vegan (Vegan Richa has a great food blog and vegan cookbook that's one of the few that doesn't worship fake meat, I love it). A holistic doctor earlier this year shared a "calorie density of common foods" chart with me that was pretty life changing, you can google those.
* Lots of beans & legumes.
* We treat meat like a special occasion in our house now....which also saves a ton of $$.
* A lot of Mediterranean, Japanese and Southeast Asian food - I get onto Pinterest a LOT for recipe ideas, and sub organic tofu, garbanzos or cauliflower for the meat much of the time. I've reinvented my relationship with those three foods thanks to great recipes
* No sugar in the house - maple syrup and honey are our only sweeteners.
* Every couple of weeks I make chocolate chia pudding made with oat milk, chia, maple syrup and yogurt - it's a good source of fiber and, um, cleans out the tubes.
* Not gluten free but light on stuff with a ton of flour in it.
* We also - gasp! - disconnected our TV 2 months ago and started checking out books from the library and taking walks in the evening. Life changing.
But the biggest thing for me is getting rid of the emotional eating. Turning that corner was a life changer, and I look at food so very, very differently. If I feel like I'm hitting a wall, I change cuisines. Anytime we change things up I think it helps jog our body out of complacency
This is amazing! Watching TV is the worst when it comes to over eating. I'll have a decent day but once we start to watch a movie I'll want popcorn or chocolate. Knowing I'll have to log it keeps it in check.
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Anniesquats100 wrote: »I find it harder to lose weight now because I can't exercise as hard as I used to. I have a bum knee, but it's gradually getting stronger. I used to run, a long time ago, and now I do low impact aerobic walking which is less calorie burn. And I bike. Maybe I will slowly work up to running again, who knows? Plus I'm retired, so my life is pretty sedentary outside of intentional exercise. But it doesn't have to be that way.
I have, through trial and error, figured out a diet that works for me. It took patience and trying new things. I have more rituals around food than I did when I was younger, such as having cookies when my aunt visits. But that, too, can change.
Overall, I'm facing my challenges and losing weight slowly. So there's hope.
Annie
This! I am 41 and can drop weight when I need to as always. But I cannot work out as intensely as before due to pain here and there—hip, knees. So I have been reworking what fitness looks like. Way more functional strength training. No more running.
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Jhensley2011 wrote: »Hi all,
We know it only gets harder to lose weight the older we get.
According to recent research, metabolism is pretty consistent from our 20s through our 60s:
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34385400/
What mostly changes is our body composition and lifestyle.
It's common to lose muscle mass as we age if we don't do things to challenge our current strength, and also eat adequate protein. A pound of muscle burns only a tiny number of calories more at rest than a pound of fat . . . but being less strong tends to make movement harder and less fun, so we burn fewer calories through daily life movement.
Also, for many of us, our life habits gradually become less active as we age. I don't know about you, but my job in my 20s was more physical than my job in my 40s. I drove my car more door to door, instead of mixing in more walking, biking, bus. I wasn't doing as many yard/garden and home projects to make a nice home environment. I can afford to hire out annoying or boring tasks I once would've done myself. My social life has more dinners and theaters now, vs. dancing and frisbee (or whatever). I don't have kids, but many women are chasing toddlers when younger, becoming empty nesters in our 40s or so.
The changes happen slowly and subtly, but they add up over the years. It matters.
Reduced activity burns fewer calories. For most of us, our daily life calories - job, home chores, non-exercise hobbies, etc. - represent a bigger calorie burn than does official exercise . . . even for those of us who are pretty active exercise-wise.
Various MPF-ers share their ideas for increasing daily life movement here:
http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10610953/neat-improvement-strategies-to-improve-weight-loss/p1
There is some potential for people who have a history of repeat extreme yo-yo dieting to have accelerated that muscle loss and some related effects, in small but cumulative increments.
A common dieting pattern with women in my demographic - that I'm not saying applies to you - is ultra-low calories, mostly salads/veggies (not enough fats/protein), and intense cardio. That can't last, and what follows is often little/no exercise, eating heavy in fats (fried foods, rich desserts, pizza) and low-nutrient carbs (breads, pasta, baked goods, candy), but still inadequate protein. The result is losing unnecessarily much muscle mass - even if only a little - in each dieting episode, then regaining almost entirely fat afterward. It's a down-spiral in physical capability and in calorie expenditure. Not helpful.I myself have hit a spot where no matter how much I exercise or watch what I eat, the scale doesn't move. Then I just give up for a bit and try to convince myself that bygones are bygones and this phase in inevitable.
Improving strength and fitness, and consciously increasing daily life movement, can reverse the things I mentioned above.
The strength/fitness idea is kind of obvious, but also a whole other essay if we got into details, so I won't.
But I don't want to give up. For the over 40 ladies - what have you done to kick your metabolism back in gear? What do you do differently now than you did in your younger years?
Send help lol
It's probably clear that I didn't kick my metabolism into gear at age 59, because I don't think it was out of gear.
Though it's not typical, I'd gotten quite active when I was around your age (after treatment of locally advanced breast cancer - surgery, 6 months of chemo, 6 weeks of radiation, 7.5 years of anti-estrogen drugs). I'd become the semi-mythical pretty-fit fat person, training pretty hard six days most weeks, even competing athletically. Not going to lie, getting more active was a big improvement in quality of life. But I stayed fat, eventually class 1 obese. (I maybe vaguely thought my metabolism was low, but the reality was that it was easy to eat the 300 or so extra calories from that exercise, since I wasn't counting calories or anything.)
At 59, I finally had to admit that I was too fat to be healthy: High cholesterol, high blood pressure, joint pain, etc. When the switch flipped and I committed to doing what was needed to lose weight, I found it surprisingly doable. The hard part was committing, and meaning it.
I didn't particularly increase exercise: Like I said, already active. I put a little more emphasis on strength training while losing, in order to keep existing muscle, even though I'm usually a bit of a weight training slacker. I didn't dramatically change what I ate, since I was already eating a lot of nutrient-dense foods, just way too much. I changed portion sizes, proportions on my plate, frequency of some calorie-dense foods. Eventually, I was able to reach an appropriate calorie level and get decent nutrition eating foods I enjoy. (Life is too short to eat yucky stuff, even if someone calls it "a superfood".)
"Appropriate calories" is not what some calculator (or MFP, or fitness tracker) spits out. Those are just statistical averages. Those can be a starting point, but I counted calories, monitored my weight loss rate, and adjusted my calorie goal to dial in a sensibly moderate weight loss rate, and stuck with it.
For me, that worked fine. YMMV.
I'm cheering for you, because reaching a healthy weight is a huge quality of life improvement, IME. My cholesterol and blood pressure are solidly normal, have been since part way through weight loss. My joint pain (arthritis, torn meniscus) are infrequent, and much milder. My daily sense of well-being is just ineffably better (maybe less systemic inflammation? don't know). At 67, I feel younger than I did at 45, honestly.
Getting to a healthy weight, plus reasonable fitness: The combination is gangbusters.
Best wishes!
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I have not found that losing weight has been any more difficult now, at age 70, than it was when I was younger. Maybe less difficult because I have less stress and time constraints now that I am retired and also no longer have caregiving responsibilities for either children ( now grown) or elderly parents ( passed away). I found so long as I followed my calorie deficit consistently, I lost weight. I weighed and logged all my food, and incorporated much of the advice I got from reading the posts on the MFP boards. As I lost weight, exercise became easier and more fun so I became a lot more active. I lost 120 lbs over 2 years and recently entered the maintenance phase.
My advice is weigh your food in grams and log everything you eat so you can determine clearly if you are eating the right calories for you. Don't go overboard trying to lose too quickly. It won't be sustainable long term. Don't do anything you won't do after the weight is off. It makes weight management so much easier if you develop good lifelong habits now.2 -
I am going to agree with most here, I don't think it is harder to actually lose the weight. I am 48 and this is not my first rodeo...
Our bodies can be more injured, we need to account for that and find exercises that work for us. Also, since we are in our 40s, my best suggestion is to add some weights to your routine. We lose bone density and that is a great way to hang on to as much as you can and add to what you have.
I found that tracking accurately was probably the most important. You want a wake up call? Get a scale and weigh your food for a few days to see how far off you are, it is humbling.
I am again starting nearly over because I got complacent, stopped doing weights regularly, stopped walking during work breaks, and started eating crap again. I made excuses to do ALL of this together, so of course I gained again.
I want my cute clothes back, definitely, but I also want my lower blood pressure back, and I want less migraines. Why I trade all of the health benefits for crap food is beyond me, but I am here, and MFP is the biggest motivator and I have been successful (a few times, haha...) because of the support here.3
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