looking for help from older members.....

I am 58, you can add me as a friend if you want.

I'm 60, slowly losing weight, exercising and have had many health issues in the past. Add me please

Hi there im 49 and it took me 26 weeks to lose 22 pounds it was slow! I wrote my weight down every week and even looking at it now there was a pattern to it. It would take me 3 or 4 weeks to lose one kilo or 2.2 pounds. But i stopped thinking of it as a diet but more a way of life, as i knew i could not go back to my old eating habits ever. Try not to worry how long it takes, it will come off it is harder for us older women but so worth it. I did not know about this site when i was losing weight, now i am using it to maintain which is great for me so i don,t slip back after all the effort it took to lose the weight.

BMR is how many calories you need to just be awake throughout the day. It's as if you got up one morning and sat on the couch all day and burned just the basic calories to stay alive. Eating that many calories throughout the day just keeps you going. If your normal activity level throughout the day is more than just sitting on the couch than your calories needed goes up.

If you spend time at work, consider what your activity level is. MFP has a general activity setting in your profile. The activity level doesn't include workouts. A workout (which includes walking) is additional calories burned for that day.

So for me, my BMR is 1789. I usually have light activity throughout the day so my daily calorie need is about 2400 per day. If I consume 2400 calories each day on average throughout the week, then I won't lose or gain any weight. But I burn about 3500 calories per week, working out. So on average, I can consume 2900 calories per day and not lose or gain weight. If I want to lose a pound a week, then I only eat 2400 calories per day and continue to burn 3500 by working out.

Eating too few calories per day will cause our bodies to compensate for that. We store as much as we can as fat and our bodies try to stop burning calories. Energy level gets lower and less necessary functions for some organs don't get used. This can cause all sorts of problems in the long run. But eating as much as needed will cause everything to function normally and our bodies don't want to store fat.

The general rule, is that if you consume 3500 calories per week less then what you need, you'll lose 1lb. that's 3500 calories equals 1 pound. But there is a need for exercise to compensate for that as well. We have to consume at least our BMR and exercise causes us to burn more, which makes up the difference to equal that 3500 per week.

Some say that we need to consume our exercise calories. In my opinion, that's relative. For someone who is overweight, it's not as necessary. But that really is the "End Game". That's how maintenance works. Consume all the calories that you need and continue to exercise and consume exercise calories. This helps build muscle.

Age, for the most part, is only a contributing factor after about 25 for most people. I've heard a lot of people say that all of this can't be the same for everyone. They say, "you don't know my body or how it works." Well in fact, Yes, I do. As long as it's a human body, they all work the same. Although, there are differences in how things work, because of height, age, sex, and even the part of society we are from. But these differences are the same as the fact that your BMR is 1400 and mine is 1700. It's just the numbers that are different.

I hope this helps.

How do you add somebody as a friend ?