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MyFitnessPal Community

Losing weight at 68

ldrag07444

I was holding steady for quite a while but then I let my eating get out of control. Mind you I don't eat any cookies or cake or any sweets. It's overeating too much food. At 68, I'm finding it harder than ever. I'm hungry after I get home from work and eat a snack, but sometimes it's too much of a snack and then I'm overeating dinner. I'm logging my food, but I probably have calories that haven't been counted. Ya know, have a piece of cheese or whatever. It's so frustrating. I've dealt with this weight issue all my life and basically kept from getting way way overweight. I want to lose about 10 pounds and its' so hard.

Replies

tomcustombuilder

It’s a matter of willpower. Try to snack on things like carrots or other low cal veggies and at dinner just take smaller portions. I’m guessing you’re fairly sedentary and as we age that becomes a huge factor in weight control.

AnnPT77

ldrag07444 wrote: »

I was holding steady for quite a while but then I let my eating get out of control. Mind you I don't eat any cookies or cake or any sweets. It's overeating too much food. At 68, I'm finding it harder than ever. I'm hungry after I get home from work and eat a snack, but sometimes it's too much of a snack and then I'm overeating dinner. I'm logging my food, but I probably have calories that haven't been counted. Ya know, have a piece of cheese or whatever. It's so frustrating. I've dealt with this weight issue all my life and basically kept from getting way way overweight. I want to lose about 10 pounds and its' so hard.

This may sound unsympathetic, but . . .

Sounds like you know what you'd need to do to solve the problem, but you don't enjoy doing that, so you don't do it.

I've been there - frequently, actually. I'm 67, had a history of overweight/obesity for 30ish years, have been at a healthy weight for 7+ years now, with some creeping up and down within that healthy range. When my weight creeps up, I need to creep it down. I know what's required. If I don't do it, it's a decision, pure and simple. I have to own that.

Some ideas for things you can do (not necessarily all of them, just some ideas):

* Log everything, even those bites, licks and tastes.
* Pre-plan your after work snack better, either to be more filling (subjective) or lower calorie. If feasible, even prep and portion it ahead of time, so it's the easiest thing to grab when you get home.
* Pre-decide your dinner portions, and stick to it. Put the food away, if any is left. Wait at least half an hour. Do something distracting. After that, if you're still actually hungry, have a pre-planned filling snack.
* Consider something like hot herbal tea or warm broth instead of a food snack after work or after dinner. Some people find those filling.
* Commit to skipping the after work snack.
* Increase your daily life (non-exercise) activity. Ideas here:
http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10610953/neat-improvement-strategies-to-improve-weight-loss/p1
* Experiment with your eating routine to see if timing other meals/snacks, or the size of them, or the nutritional composition, helps with the evening over-consumption. (If I don't eat a solid breakfast with a good amount of protein, my evening cravings are worse. That's just me, but there may be something that helps you.)
* If your sleep quality/quantity is less than ideal, work on that to see if it helps reduce your evening over-consumption. (Fatigue tends to trigger appetite - the body is seeking energy, and food is energy.)
* If your life is high-stress, consider improving your explicit stress-management tactics (breathing exercises, meditation or prayer, aromatherapy bubblebaths, journaling, whatever.) Stress triggers fatigue.
* Don't shoot for fast loss. 100 calories a day is 10 pounds in a year. I'm not saying you should take a year, I'm saying small changes are more painless. Last time I decided to creep my weight down, it took about a hear to lose 12-15 pounds. I didn't mind taking the time, it was going to pass anyway, and it was almost completely painless. Worked great for me.
* Stop telling yourself it's hard. Mindset matters. It matters especially much (for me, anyway) at those times when I don't really feel like doing what I know I need to do. The only reason to focus on challenges is to think about how to get over, around, through or otherwise past them. Just focusing on "it's hard" is its own kind of roadblock. Focus on solutions.

You can do this. You know how, more or less. Try some alternative ways of attacking the goal. I'm cheering for you to make it work.

Best wishes!

lauriekallis

How about moving up your dinner so that it happens soon after you return from work? Nip that hunger in the bud....you may be able to get away without overeating and can have a healthy afterdinner snack - some yogurt or one of those little sugar free puddings. Just to feel you have a treat/something to look forward to without adding many calories?

StaciInGa

What can you do differently?

Perhaps change the meals you are having, to focus on more protein. It may help you feel fuller longer. Add more vegetables to increase quantity of food.

Sometimes we think we are hungry, but it is thirst or boredom. Try drinking more water, or doing a hobby that involves your hands.

And it may help to change your meal environment. Do you eat in front of the tv or in bed? If so, stopping that and eating at the table may help you pay attention to what you're eating so you get more enjoyment from the meal, and stop associating the other environments with hunger/food.

zebasschick

you don't mention what those after work snacks are, but maybe you can change them to something with less calories - something pre-weighed or a single serving package so you can log it. if you want to eat cheese, perhaps individual slices are easier to log. i have issues stopping with nuts, so i get single 1 ounce packaged planters peanuts. or how about single serving cups of light yogurt? the dannon light &fit cherry is yummy, has some protein, and is under 100 calories.

perhaps your meals can be lower in calories but still yummy, too. if you eat rice with gravy or a sauce, riced cauliflower can have a surprisingly similar texture, and if you're like me and hate cauliflower, i find most sauces and gravies completely mask the flavor.

ldrag07444

Thank you all for your suggestions. I've been weight watching for years and have been able to keep a handle on my weight by weighing myself once a week and when I see a weight gain, I watch what I eat and then i use to be able to lose it in time. This time, however, it seems much harder. I think the answer is to get back to cutting out potatoes, and just sticking to a protein and veggies and sticking to a portioned size snack like a SF pudding or jello. Thanks again!

kshama2001

With only 10 pounds to lose, I'd like to caution you to use a sustainable weekly weight loss goal, as restricting too much can set us up for binging.

Those 10 pounds will be slow, and a weight trend app like Happy Scale (iphone) or Libra (Android) can be useful to show that you are indeed moving in the right direction, despite what the scale might say some weeks.

ldrag07444

Got a handle on my eating habits. Two snacks a day which includes one fruit and a fiber one brownie. It may not be the healthiest (the brownie), but it gives me a chocolate fix I enjoy. Down about 7 pounds. It is helpful to be mindful. I can easily reach in the pantry for pretzels or the frig for a piece of cheese. These add up!

AnnPT77

So glad to hear you've been making the progress you wanted! Thank you for coming back to give an update - I often wonder how things progressed for folks we interact with on threads. :flowerforyou: