60 yrs and up

Hi
I would love to be included here
25lbs is crying to be reduced but at 69 i will be happy with anything.
Motivation is lacking as i live in isolated spot.

Welcome to all returning or new folks - lots of wisdom here!

Copied this over from another thread, post was made by mtaratoot:

The trick for weight management is calories. The trick for being healthy is nutrition. If you can do both, you win!

Isn't that a great summary? I want to be a winner in 2024!

@tnh2o - get fully well soon!

lisaannbogdon wrote: »

Im 63 suddenly my body is becoming a square .I’m trying to get some weight off. I have a bad knee but not at all ready for replacement. I need good tricks that can fill up my voracious appetite.

From reading posts here, appetite seems to be quite individual. That makes it hard to give advice!

@lisaannbogdon, I don't know what your eating style is now, but it's fairly common to find so-called "whole foods" more filling than "highly processed" food products. There's some reasonable research behind that idea, as well. The definitions of those quoted terms are kind of squishy, but the underlying idea is to get the majority of one's calories from lean proteins, whole grains, veggies/fruits, and that sort of thing. That's not to say "never have treats". Quite a few people seem to do fine with something like an 80/20 rule.

Beyond that, some people find protein filling, some find fats filling, some need high-volume foods to feel full (such as low-calorie veggies, though there are other options). Some people find that carbs/sugars spike their appetite, so choose lower-carb eating styles. Experimenting and noticing how one feels can shed some light on the best individual tactics.

Timing of eating can also be an important variable, but again people seem to vary. I've seen people here say they find their best appetite management on anything from one meal a day (OMAD) to all-day grazing on many small snack-y meals, and anywhere on the spectrum between. That's another thing to experiment with.

Personally, one thing I enjoyed about calorie counting was that it felt like a fun, productive science fair experiment for grown ups. Logging what I ate, and paying attention to how I felt, helped me figure out what helped me feel full and happy the majority of the time.

I think that process can work for many, but I don't advocate that others do the exact eating strategy I did: We all have our own preferences, strengths, challenges, lifestyles. The right tactics IMO are personalized to that.

Of course, it goes without saying that cutting calories ultra far to lose weight fast can backfire via appetite, so setting a sensibly moderate loss rate is IMO an important part of the process. If we can't stick with it, it won't succeed. Sometimes a slow loss rate can get us to goal weight in less calendar time than extreme approach that causes deprivation-triggered bouts of over-eating, breaks in the action, or giving up altogether.

As a final thought, I'll mention that there can be an adaptation period to any new routine, however great a choice that routine is. Roughly, I'd say it's fairly common to have a couple of weeks at the start where one feels hungry near habitual eating times (that are maybe now being skipped) or after eating different meals than one's previous routine.

Someone else once compared that influence of habits to training a puppy: If we stick with the new rules firmly, our body gets used to the new routine and settles into it. If we give in frequently to the influence of old, undesired habits, that useful adaptation to new habits takes much longer, and may not happen at all.

I'm not saying "white knuckle it all the way through, no matter what". I'm saying "give a new tactic a couple of weeks to settle in, using willpower/discipline initially". If things don't settle down and become manageable in that couple of weeks, it may be time to try something else.

I'm cheering for you to succeed: IME the results (in improved quality of life) are very worth that effort.

In particular, my orthopedist told me knee replacement was in my future (and I'm sure it is) . . . but that was around 10 years ago. For sure, reaching a healthy weight around 8 years ago greatly reduced my knee pain frequency/severity a lot. (Another thing that helped was physical therapy aimed at helping me walk and especially climb stairs in ways that would reduce stress on my knees going forward).

Best wishes!

Hi to all the new people! I lost 90 pounds on MFP but then over the last couple of years have re-gained 20. I'm 64 with no health issues other than a bit of a temperamental back from a car accident (one of the reasons I put on the weight was I couldn't exercise in my usual way during recovery). But now I have a tangible goal in my sights: my daughter is getting married in July! So I am highly motivated to shake off these few pounds.

But one thing I have learned over the years is that motivation is not a reliable friend. It's an emotion, and we all know how fickle emotions are! Discipline is the stand out friend on this journey. That same discipline that got you up in the middle of the night to deal with a sick child, even though you were just as sick as they were. That same discipline that got you to work every day, even when it was the absolute last thing you wanted to do. That same discipline that sees you brush your teeth every morning. That same discipline that has you pay your bills every month. In other words......we know how to do discipline. Now we just need to apply it to this part of our lives.

Let's get 'er done in 2024 🙂