Bssh

As others have said, you don't need to snack to lose weight and maintain muscle. Just eat more at each of your three main meals.

I'm 5ft 4, female, 43 yo, 129 lbs. My goal is just 4 lbs away and YES it is harder to lose now. But I AM losing - 0.2 lbs here, 0.6 lbs there! Tedious, but inevitable I guess. I just need to be patient.

I calculated my TDEE then deducted 10-15% from it and ate that daily. I'm 5ft 4, female, 43 yo, but was still able to lose weight eating a healthy amount of food (1800/1900 cals). I would have stopped dieting if I'd limited myself to 1200 cals!

If you're struggling to consume more as you're already feeling stuffed, try drinking your calories eg milk, pure juice, full fat hot chocolate. Add more butter and oils to your foods. Snack on nuts and dried fruits.

Health benefits can be Googled. Research Mark Mattson, Krista Varady, watch the Michael Mosley BBC Horizon documentary, peruse the posts here: http://www.52fastdiet.co.uk/the-5-2-lab-f10/.

I do 5:2 too: I fast twice a week and all other days I eat at maintenance and am losing (see ticker). Fasting for me is not just about weightloss, it's about the recorded health benefits too.

I'm 43 and to be very honest, I haven't found it particularly difficult to lose weight. I no longer log on MFP but it's a terrific tool. My tip is to be consistent (stick with it!) and be patient (through the inevitable stalls or slow losses).

43 years old, female, 5ft 4. Lowest adult weight was 168 lbs. Initial goal weight was 145 lbs (BMI 25, normal) but when I reached it I realised I would still look good at a lower weight. Plus I'm Indian and normal BMI for Indians is 23 not 25. Current weight 133 lbs (BMI 22 - hurrah!). But I'm not looking gaunt or older so…

I don't have planned cheat days but my weekends are incredibly sociable and focussed on food so the weekends are generally well over my TDEE. But I take the weekly view of calories in/out and adjust accordingly. Generally my Monday through Thursdays are undereating TDEE and Fridays through Sundays are overeating my TDEE.…

I'm 43, one child, 5 ft 4.5 in. Goal weight 125 lbs or BMI 21. But will reassess when I reach it (my frame size is medium but I may decide I still look good at BMI 20).

I stalled for 4 months late last year. Didn't change a thing, just kept going and then lost 2 lbs. Have been losing consistently ever since (aside from school summer holidays when I put on a few). I stalled at the weight I'd been for the majority of my adult life (168 lbs) so figured this was my "setpoint" weight - the…

Bump. Truly shocking and a reminder to myself never to let myself creep back up in weight.

My weekly calories average out at 1800 daily, producing average 1lb loss a week which suits me fine (see ticker!). I don't eat back exercise calories.

Your progress photos are a real inspiration for lifting & weight loss. Thanks so much for sharing.

I can pick up where I left off but I am much more sore afterwards so I do alot of extra stretching afterwards.

I've lost all my weight eating anything I want, including ice cream most days and crisps/pizza etc. But I do also eat quite healthily on balance - homecooked meals, lots of veggies, whole grains. But I don't beat myself up if I fancy a Big Mac meal.

I love Scooby too and always use it when calculating and recalculating TDEE (I recalculate every 5lbs lost).

I agree with this. The majority of weight lost in my ticker has been due to eating 10-15% below my TDEE and not eating back my exercise cals. But it's taken over a year. You need to be patient. If eating that much (20% below TDEE is fine too!) scares you then increase the calories slowly until you get to your desired %…

You look terrific. Really well done. I <heart> intermittent fasting :-)

I'm a late night eater. I just save my calories for later in the day. I generally eat in an 8 hour window 2-10pm. Works for me.

I eat three meals a day with no snacks and am losing weight. I also lift heavy weights 3 times a week (cardio twice). Three meals a day suits my body and lifestyle (no time to eat frequently). Everyone is different.

When I was 210 lbs my GW was 145 lbs. Now I've hit that, my GW is 135 lbs. But I know I'll reassess again when I'm in the 130s :-) I want to build more muscle so I know I'll have to go lower than GW to build it back up with muscle.

^^ This

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I started on machines, partly out of shyness as the weights section is full of people who know what they're doing (!) and partly to get a feel for my strength. Meanwhile I researched loads of magazines, online lifting sites and You Tube for examples of free weights routines and good form. I found New Rules too complicated…

15 lb weights are fine but just remember that over time you'll be lifting progressively heavier. Make that your goal - to increase weights gradually to make each workout challenging. Reduce your reps and lift close to failure. I bet you'll find you can go heavier doing that. I do 2 sets of 8-10 reps. The last few reps on…

Azdak, each time this thread returns you return with common sense. Thank you :-)

^^ This ^^ Well said.

Very curious about this - why would you lose less exercising more? Is it about stress hormones? What exactly happens?

I'm shorter than you (5ft 4) and older (43) and I lost 46 lbs eating at 10-15% cut of my Scooby TDEE which averaged around 1800. Have lost a further 18lbs doing intermittent fasting (5:2 or ESE) which has me low calories on 2 days a week but eating my TDEE (now 2148 cals) all other days. I love Scooby! The entire time I've…