Please Recommend….

[Anonymous]

I am a fifty-three yr. old F who is 5’2 and weigh at 145lbs.

I am on antidepressants which have contributed to my weight gain over the years.

Anyway when I look at myself in the mirror I hate what I see.

My extra lbs. make my face look aged + bloated and nothing looks cute on me anymore.

I have never dieted before but I am at the point where I cannot bear looking at myself in mirrors anymore.
So I need to go on a diet.
Ideally lose 45lbs., but even 20 would put my BMI in the normal range.
However I am at a huge disadvantage because I know nothing about dieting.

I am thinking of joining Weight Watchers, Jenny Craig, Nutrisystem or maybe just go the SlimFast route.
Does anyone have any recommendations for me?
I have a friend who successfully lost weight w/Medifast.
Is that plan effective as well?
Thx!

[Anonymous]

Weight watchers is a reasonable plan, easy to follow, and if you track your points diligently--it works. I'm a fan.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Weight watchers is a reasonable plan, easy to follow, and if you track your points diligently--it works. I'm a fan.

I think WW is a good first stop for exploring dieting. Very practical and many support and educational options available.

[Anonymous]

I don't think it sounds like you need to lose very much to achieve your goal. It is possible that you can do it without WW or similar as well.

I would start by tracking what you do eat each day, meals and snacks and write down the calorific contents. Then when you find it's 2000-2500 per day look at reducing it to 1500 per day. So maybe this means getting 0% fat milk, or only having toast but no jelly, small changes that aren't going to leave you feeling starving but will actively have you losing weight.

I had to do this recently and I have lost 25 lbs (I am 5'7 and now weigh 145lbs). If we have pasta or risotto for dinner I will put about 1/3 less in my bowl than previously and I won't have a 2nd helping. For snacks I'll have apple slices or a banana instead of something processed.

There are a lot of small changes you can make that pay off. I hope this is helpful.

I was also disgusted by the sight of myself and have felt so much more positive since doing this. You can do it.

[Anonymous]

Losing 10 pounds would put you in the normal range, losing 45 would have you borderline underweight. Maybe start with losing 10 pounds.

Weight Watchers will allow you to eat normal food, so go with that if you think you need a formal plan. You didn't mention anything about how active you are, but adding some fat burning exercise will help if you are not already doing that.

I managed to lose 40 pounds in my late 40s without "dieting", but I had a lot of obvious problems in my diet and just stopped eating sugar and processed foods and got off my butt and started exercising daily. If a lot of your weight gain was caused by the antidepressants and you are already active and eating reasonably, it's going to be tougher and you might want to start with a more attainable goal than losing almost 1/3 of your body weight.

[Anonymous]

You don't need to diet. You just need to watch your calories. Not as much the number, but how you get to that number.

I eat the same amount of calories as I did when I weighed more. I just eat healthier things to get to that calorie total. Also I eat them evenly spread out across three meals. The only time I up them is post workout. And add in a couple of hours of exercise a week.