Hello

shawnnaarmstrong5463
shawnnaarmstrong5463 Posts: 12 Member
edited May 30 in Introduce Yourself
I’m a 59 year old woman trying to loose 20 pounds. I work out 4-5 days a week, and count calories. Thus far things are going very slowly. Any suggestions would be appreciated!

Replies

  • nossmf
    nossmf Posts: 12,109 Member
    First, welcome!

    Second, if you are new to either exercising or counting calories, it is perfectly normal to experience a slow start. New exercisers often retain water as their bodies adjust to exercising, which makes the scale think nothing has changed when in fact you may have lost fat but gained water; new calorie counters often need time and practice to improve accuracy of logging, either from forgetting to add food, posting an incorrect volume, or relying on a prebuilt entry which may not be entirely accurate. Females also have the additional complication of, well, being female on a monthly basis.

    All of this adds up to one result: be patient. Keep doing what you're doing for at least 4-6 weeks, then take another look. If things still haven't changed we may need to change something to kick start things rolling.

    In the meantime, you can double-check a few things: if you are using a smart watch to record workouts, make sure it's not double posting results to MFP so you think you burned twice the calories you did; are you using a scale to measure food?; check whether food entries are being done with cups, grams, or some other measurement; check the MFP setting for how fast is it trying to help you lose weight, set to pounds or kilograms, etc.
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 34,638 Member
    Hello, and welcome!

    Nossmf up there gave great advice, as he routinely does.

    Personally, I think slow can be good. By contrast, fast weight loss can be a trap.

    Going slowly, IMO, helps us find new habits that are relatively sustainable, not requiring constant white-knuckled willpower. We'll need those relatively pleasant, tolerable, practical new habits long term to stay at a heathy weight permanently, which in my opinion (and experience) is the real prize, and possibly the more difficult goal.

    Coincidentally, I started on MFP at age 59, too, except class 1 obese, needing to lose around 50 pounds to be at a good weight. I reached a healthy weight, and have been at a healthy weight for around 8 years now, after 30 previous years of overweight/obesity. For me, MFP has been an amazing tool.

    Honestly, I think that if a hedonistic aging hippie flake like me - one with near zero willpower/discipline - can do this, I'm betting a lot of people can.

    I'm cheering for you: The quality of life improvement is entirely worth the effort!
  • shawnnaarmstrong5463
    shawnnaarmstrong5463 Posts: 12 Member
    Many thanks to both of you for your encouragement.
  • JeanCricket
    JeanCricket Posts: 176 Member
    Give it time. Slow and steady really does ‘win the race’ for weight loss. Good luck and I know you’ll be successful! Be patient. It’ll pay off.
  • SamB0991
    SamB0991 Posts: 1 Member
    Hi. I'm new too and 52, trying to lose 8 pounds of fat... (3-4 kg). It is VERY slow. But if to lose a pound of fat you need to be in a calorie deficit of 3500 then it will be slow if you are not in a huge calorie deficit (which I am not and is unsustainable for me). That's what I keep telling myself anyway.

    Good luck!

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