Help me get out of this funk, please!

[Anonymous]

I'm 40, 5'3" and mom of two. In June 2021 I weighed 175 -- the most I have ever weighed, other than when pregnant, by far. I got down to 135 by mid October. Like you, I truly had no time for exercise (long story); like not even time to take walks. Maybe this isn't poplar, but I just started eating A LOT less, knowing that it wouldn't be forever. So I started IF, cut out calories from drinks, and cut out sweets except for one small weekly treat. I meticulously planned out my meals for Monday through Friday, and made most of those days pretty similar/repetitive in a given week. (Some might think that leads to boredom, but for me it made things simple and easy -- I didn't have to rely on will power, I just had to rely on my easy plan.) I incorporated lots of little high protein snacks into my meal planning - a hard-boiled egg, a little serving of greek yogurt, some almonds, etc. -- to help me from ever feeling super hungry and then binging. It wasn't the most fun 4 months, but I'm the type who needs to see results fast. That part felt great. I've kept it off and actually lost 7 more pounds since October.

Anyways, I'm mostly sharing because at your current weight and height, you actually don't need much exercise to lose the 20 pounds you want, if you are strict about diet. There really are only so many hours in a day, and sometimes life is just such that we can't fit lots of workout time in.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

I'm also 5'4 and a mom in my mid-40s. As recently as last summer I was around your weight. Now I'm about 20lb less, losing about half a pound a week. I know people say tackle diet first before exercise, but I think what got me started was to start with lots of walking. Then gradually adding weight training and running. Exercising is what allows me to see myself as strong and healthy and to not want to ruin that by unhealthy food choices. I think if I were just dieting, I'd see it as deprivation. As for food, I find batch cooking healthy meals to be helpful. Really anything that keeps me from having to think too hard about it.

I had a similar experience (late 40's, dropped from 160 to <120 in 7 months or so by eating less junk food and walking on the treadmill). I'm not sure that I could have done this so easily if I still had kids at home, a commute to an office, a stressful job with long hours, etc. I have an empty nest and a full-time WFH job with standard hours. But I at least wanted to put in a plug for walking. My typical walk is about 65 minutes, covers 5 miles and 2000 vertical feet and absolutely burns fat.

You walk at a 5 mph pace? That’s wild. I can barely get past 3.8 without needing to switch to a jog.

2000 vertical feet in 65 minutes is also highly unlikely, especially if you need time to go back down.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

I'm also 5'4 and a mom in my mid-40s. As recently as last summer I was around your weight. Now I'm about 20lb less, losing about half a pound a week. I know people say tackle diet first before exercise, but I think what got me started was to start with lots of walking. Then gradually adding weight training and running. Exercising is what allows me to see myself as strong and healthy and to not want to ruin that by unhealthy food choices. I think if I were just dieting, I'd see it as deprivation. As for food, I find batch cooking healthy meals to be helpful. Really anything that keeps me from having to think too hard about it.

I had a similar experience (late 40's, dropped from 160 to <120 in 7 months or so by eating less junk food and walking on the treadmill). I'm not sure that I could have done this so easily if I still had kids at home, a commute to an office, a stressful job with long hours, etc. I have an empty nest and a full-time WFH job with standard hours. But I at least wanted to put in a plug for walking. My typical walk is about 65 minutes, covers 5 miles and 2000 vertical feet and absolutely burns fat.

You walk at a 5 mph pace? That’s wild. I can barely get past 3.8 without needing to switch to a jog.

2000 vertical feet in 65 minutes is also highly unlikely, especially if you need time to go back down.

These are treadmill stats