Losing weight after 50, HELP!

I lost most of my weight after age 55, eating about 1900 total calories per day AND exercising for an hour at a moderate pace 4-6 days per week.

You really don't give us much context in your post...your current weight? What you do for activity on a daily basis? Are you working? What kind of exercise? How are you logging your food? For how long? Male or female? You mentioned sleep and water. Sleep is pretty important, but you should be okay with anything from 7-9 hours. Water sounds good.


My guess is that #1. Two weeks isn't long enough to gauge. #2. You are probably eating more than you think. Logging food is an art. Takes time to dial it in.

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10012907/logging-accuracy-consistency-and-youre-probably-eating-more-than-you-think/p1

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1234699/logging-accurately-step-by-step-guide/p1

My two cents: two weeks isn’t long enough; you are expecting to lose too quickly which will make you more likely to quit; cardio doesn’t burn many calories so maybe you could later shave down to 1700 or 1800 calories. OR maybe 1900 is perfect but you aren’t using a food scale quite enough to get the best estimate of what you are eating.

BUT this is all dependent on your starting weight and what things look like a few more weeks from now.

57 and lost 89 pounds over the past year and now at a "normal" weight based on BMI. Things that could be issues are not logging calories accurately enough due to not measuring well, using inaccurate database entries, or not logging everything you eat and drink. If your logging is accurate, you may have your weight loss masked by something like water retention which can happen when one starts working out.

I am 53, 6'5 261 and started at 333. I basically made my daily caloric goal at 1400 and I burned at 1100-1300 every single day.

45 mins hard cardio (treadmill 15 incline 4.7 speed) + strength 3 days a week.

I lost almost all of my weight in the first 4 months.

I am 52 and started off at about 224. Within 3 weeks of starting with tracking and exercising, I gained a sudden and weird 12 pounds. It has been 5 months of tracking, working with a trainer once per week, and getting whatever other exercise I can 2-4 other times per week. We eat out most nights, but I meal prep breakfast and lunch. I am down 20lbs now, but it took a good 2 months before my body decided to start releasing some weight. This much focus 5 years ago and I would have been down twice that much. I know it is frustrating, but at older ages and certain hormonal changes that happen can make weight loss harder. Just don’t give up. Maybe see a dietitian/nutrionist for advice. That was helpful for me to know I am doing the right things, I just need to be patient.

Just for reference, I aim for between 1500-1800 cal per day with 130 gram of protein and 30 fiber, although I don’t always hit this numbers. When I started focusing on protein, the weight started to slowly come off. 1 lb per week or less.

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/profile/Lclawson2015 I’m also on the high protein plan- also around 130 g. Seems to work for me.

I think we get caught up with the age as the reason. For me, I think the reason I've gained weight is because my lifestyle changed. When I was younger, I was more active daily without thinking about it. Now when I hang out with friends, it's over lunch or dinner maybe with some drinks. When I was 30 or 40, I would have been more likely to go for a walk with friends with the stroller or to a park or walk around a mall. Now I have to be more intentional about walking. No way I'm as naturally active as I was. Back then I was just active and then I might also intentionally exercise.

I ma 52 y.o. an I have lost 15.7kg over last 3 months - almost twice that much in the last 11 months. The calories deficit is one thing but it is important what are you getting those calories from - what your macro composition is. There are verious calculations depending on your activity level - some base ratio would be 0.8g of protein per pound of lean body mass, not more than 40% of calories from fat and rest from complex carbs. Additionally, no buzz, sugar and eliminate processed food. If you maintain about 700-800 calories deficit per day there is no possible way that your weight wouldn't drop. How can you create calories deficit? You can cut what you eat but there is another way - steady state low intensity cardio exercise - zone two of the heart rate. You need this in the morning - preferable before your breakfast - an hour of that 5 times per week would do a magic. Don't go any higher than zone two.

derekmiz wrote: »

I ma 52 y.o. an I have lost 15.7kg over last 3 months - almost twice that much in the last 11 months. The calories deficit is one thing but it is important what are you getting those calories from - what your macro composition is. There are verious calculations depending on your activity level - some base ratio would be 0.8g of protein per pound of lean body mass, not more than 40% of calories from fat and rest from complex carbs. Additionally, no buzz, sugar and eliminate processed food. If you maintain about 700-800 calories deficit per day there is no possible way that your weight wouldn't drop. How can you create calories deficit? You can cut what you eat but there is another way - steady state low intensity cardio exercise - zone two of the heart rate. You need this in the morning - preferable before your breakfast - an hour of that 5 times per week would do a magic. Don't go any higher than zone two.

Overall this is good advice IMO, but I disagree about the exercise. Zone 2 and below is good for beginners, absolutely, and has less fatigue penalty than more intense exercise for pretty much everyone (but not zero fatigue penalty, especially for beginners). Fatigue can bleed calorie burn out of the non-exercise side of life, and most people can only do a limited amount of higher-zone work without over-fatiguing.

Timing of the exercise isn't going to make a material difference, though. Making the exercise convenient and practical (so a person does it rather than skipping it often) is much more important than the timing.

There's no documented significant benefit from exercising fasted (i.e., before breakfast). Fasted exercise makes me miserable, and I underperform, so I never do it. I lost weight fine anyway.

An hour a day of zone 2 is probably too much (too fatiguing) for beginners, but it's a good thing to work up to. (However, it is more than the mainstream minimum recommended for basic good health - twice as much.) People who are more conditioned/experienced can mix in some higher zone work in reasonable doses, of course keeping an eye on recovery and fatigue management.

Anyone relying on exercise to lose weight still needs to control calorie intake somehow. I was training hard 6 days most weeks for a dozen years, even competing as an athlete (not always unsuccessfully), and stayed overweight/obese. We see people here thinking just adding exercise to their routine (not controlling eating) should result in weight loss. It ain't necessarily so.

An hour of zone 2 might be worth 300 calories or so (depending on the person's size). That's about the equivalent of 2 tablespoons (32g-ish) of peanut butter on one slice of hearty bread. It's easy to eat that much extra without noticing, when not calorie counting or otherwise controlling the eating side. (That's especially true if the calories come from things less filling and more calorie dense than PB and bread.)

Exercise is good for a person, and potentially useful in a weight management situation, but I wouldn't call it "magic", personally.

I'm skeptical of "no more than 40% of calories from fat", too. I eat less than that, but some of the low carb/keto folks probably eat more than that, and do fine.

1900 calories seems a bit high to me. I am 72 years old and a man. I think they recommended 1500 calories for men and 1200 calories per day for women.
I've been trying to do this now for a month and a half and I have lost about 12 lbs.
I find that if I actually use all 1500 calories it goes even slower for me. I am more successful if I can keep it down to about 1300 calories.
I work out by doing water jogging for about an hour three to four times a week

If you have just started, one thing I do have to say is it takes time. You may be building muscle, which is heavier that fat. I am 69 and have lost 30 pounds over the last year. It has been slow and I have, at times, lost hope. And in those times, I find that I eat out of control. You will have ups and downs and times of plateauing. Which I do frequently. I will lose about 5 pounds, plateau going up and down a few pounds, and then I will re-evaluate what I am doing and make some adjustments. I do mostly strength training, which burns more fat than aerobic exercise. I just increased my weight on my exercises and am at a plateau for now because I am building more muscle. I can tell by the soreness. LOL! I know that given a few more days, I will begin to lose weight again. I try to stay under my calorie limit. It does not always work, but usually I am only a few calories over. I also try to watch my carbs and get healthy fats (avocadoes, avocado oil, etc) into my diet. Which does help. I do know that it takes constant review and changes over time to lose it. Changes not only in your physical fitness routine, but also you diet. I hope this helps.