I need to lose weight. Am having such a hard time sticking with anything!

[Anonymous]

Honestly tracking all of my food intake was what got the extra weight moving off of me (I use myfitnesspal). Even if you don't feel ready to make changes, tracking everything you eat gives you a baseline of what you are actually consuming-- count and weigh and measure too, at least at first-- and will help you start thinking about where you can make changes. Exercise certainly helps but diet is such a HUGE part of it. Eye opening for me was realizing I wasn't getting enough protein, and also how little room there is for treats (big desserts, alcohol, etc) when you are sticking to a reasonable calorie/macro intake.

[Anonymous]

I have lost 13 pounds since May 1st And I'm down two pants sizes. I also use My Fitness Pal and I was appalled to really see how much I was eating.

I've completely gone cold turkey on all the snacks that are always out at my office. I've gone to black coffee and seltzer. I have really cut back on portion sizes.

I'm also working out. I started with some old Leslie Sansone Walk at Home DVDs. They are so simple, but believe it or not they work. I can turn out her annoying laugh. By July, I moved up to Les Mills Body Combat which I absolutely adore. I've also added in weights which are making a huge difference. I just subscribed to Les Mills On Demand so I can do all the Body- workouts at home. I am currently dating the BodyPump SmartBar on Amazon. I really want it.

Good luck. I just purged my closet of all my double digit clothes. I refuse to let myself get that out of shape again.

[Anonymous]

NP here. Any advice you have for me is welcome.

I am 175 pounds, need to lose minimum of 20 pounds to feel good. I am 50 years old.

I run 3-4 miles two or three times a week, and lift 2X week for 50-60 minutes.

My resting metabolic rate is 1600.

I have a couple problems - I eat for fun and comfort. Love carbs and wine. Have a DH who is 40 pounds overweight and two athletic teen boys to cook for. If it were just me, I'd eat regular breakfasts and lunches and make a light dinner, but my family is all big dinner eaters - think meat or beans, a starch and a veggie.

[Anonymous]

Another vote for MFP. It keeps me honest. But I also had to go on a prescription appetite suppressant to end 30 years of binge eating carbs before I saw any progress.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Another vote for MFP. It keeps me honest. But I also had to go on a prescription appetite suppressant to end 30 years of binge eating carbs before I saw any progress.

Um, I think that's the key, not my fitness pal. Duh.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:NP here. Any advice you have for me is welcome.

I am 175 pounds, need to lose minimum of 20 pounds to feel good. I am 50 years old.

I run 3-4 miles two or three times a week, and lift 2X week for 50-60 minutes.

My resting metabolic rate is 1600.

I have a couple problems - I eat for fun and comfort. Love carbs and wine. Have a DH who is 40 pounds overweight and two athletic teen boys to cook for. If it were just me, I'd eat regular breakfasts and lunches and make a light dinner, but my family is all big dinner eaters - think meat or beans, a starch and a veggie.

My advice is just that you have to account for the bigger dinners in your overall intake for the day. I'd go with high protein breakfast/lighter lunch, and then have the bigger dinner. I have found supplementing some with protein bars/shakes helps me too, if I'm really hungry. You can have a big dinner of what you describe but maybe go lighter on the starch/heavier on the veggies, and avoid extra sweets/alcohol. And maybe do the bigger/higher calorie day on your running days, just not every day. I have MFP set up for weight loss of 1 lb/week, and give myself the extra cals on days I run.

I do think it's HARD--not saying it's not--but you just need to decide if the trade off is worth it to you. I love beer and wine and sweets but I decided I really wanted the extra weight gone, and while I still treat myself, it just can't be every day or super often. I've noticed a huge difference in my metabolism compared to when I was in my 20s/early 30s, and I think this is what I need to do, if I want to carry less fat around.

[Anonymous]

I love carbs and wine too but I have a couple tips. First is PORTION CONTROL. My DH is overweight too and serves up huge portions, and then goes for seconds. Like he's wasting away or something. I have stopped having seconds as a general rule. Also, while eating at the family table, try the trick where you put your fork down in between each bite. It slows you way down and gives your full signals a chance to catch up. Even better if you take a sip of seltzer or regular water in between bites too. And set your plate up to be at least 2/3 veggies or salad.

Second is try to reset your taste buds. I have a huge sweet tooth that I indulge when I'm pregnant (in place of wine!) and then it always takes me a couple months to rein it back in after the baby is born. Try cutting sweets and dessert for a week and slowly reintroduce small portions of richer, less sweet stuff. Dark chocolate instead of milk, full fat ice cream instead of froyo, etc. It really does work, I swear. I go from craving cookies to the point of finishing the bag, to being able to have one and then stopping. My DH has recalibrated his taste for salt over the years too because I like a much less salty meal and because we eat less takeout than we used to.

And then finally I try to avoid alcohol during the week. I'm a moderately heavy casual drinker, so it's no biggie for DH and I to split a bottle of wine with dinner. Lots of extra calories right there, but even cutting a regular glass will help.

GL to all of you! I'm 5 lbs from pre-pregnancy weight on my most recent pregnancy and it has been stubborn!

[Anonymous]

If you make an extreme effort to drink a bottle of water before you eat anything, you will lose weight. Try it.

Cut soda and wine. Both of those make you gain weight.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:NP here. Any advice you have for me is welcome.

I am 175 pounds, need to lose minimum of 20 pounds to feel good. I am 50 years old.

I run 3-4 miles two or three times a week, and lift 2X week for 50-60 minutes.

My resting metabolic rate is 1600.

I have a couple problems - I eat for fun and comfort. Love carbs and wine. Have a DH who is 40 pounds overweight and two athletic teen boys to cook for. If it were just me, I'd eat regular breakfasts and lunches and make a light dinner, but my family is all big dinner eaters - think meat or beans, a starch and a veggie.

I'm one of the PPs who has mostly eating advice, but something about your workout caught my eye, which is that 50-60 min is a long time to be lifting. Can I ask what you're doing and whether you still get any muscle soreness after a lifting day? I have a quick workout that basically cripples me but only takes about 20 minutes to do. I would encourage you to make sure you're still working hard at the weights. You should have no more than 1-2 minutes between sets and should be pushing yourself a little on weight or, if you're worried about bulk, on # of reps. And try to change it up a little bit to make sure your body doesn't get too used to the same old thing. That's true on the runs too. You can try to vary distance, or run at an uneven pace, sprinting one block followed by a slower jog and then sprint again, and so on.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:NP here. Any advice you have for me is welcome.

I am 175 pounds, need to lose minimum of 20 pounds to feel good. I am 50 years old.

I run 3-4 miles two or three times a week, and lift 2X week for 50-60 minutes.

My resting metabolic rate is 1600.

I have a couple problems - I eat for fun and comfort. Love carbs and wine. Have a DH who is 40 pounds overweight and two athletic teen boys to cook for. If it were just me, I'd eat regular breakfasts and lunches and make a light dinner, but my family is all big dinner eaters - think meat or beans, a starch and a veggie.

I'm one of the PPs who has mostly eating advice, but something about your workout caught my eye, which is that 50-60 min is a long time to be lifting. Can I ask what you're doing and whether you still get any muscle soreness after a lifting day? I have a quick workout that basically cripples me but only takes about 20 minutes to do. I would encourage you to make sure you're still working hard at the weights. You should have no more than 1-2 minutes between sets and should be pushing yourself a little on weight or, if you're worried about bulk, on # of reps. And try to change it up a little bit to make sure your body doesn't get too used to the same old thing. That's true on the runs too. You can try to vary distance, or run at an uneven pace, sprinting one block followed by a slower jog and then sprint again, and so on.

50-60 minutes is about right for a heavy lifting program, which I hope OP is doing.

20 minutes of heavy weightlifting shouldn't cripple you - perhaps you're doing metabolic workouts with some weights, instead of heavy compound movements?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:NP here. Any advice you have for me is welcome.

I am 175 pounds, need to lose minimum of 20 pounds to feel good. I am 50 years old.

I run 3-4 miles two or three times a week, and lift 2X week for 50-60 minutes.

My resting metabolic rate is 1600.

I have a couple problems - I eat for fun and comfort. Love carbs and wine. Have a DH who is 40 pounds overweight and two athletic teen boys to cook for. If it were just me, I'd eat regular breakfasts and lunches and make a light dinner, but my family is all big dinner eaters - think meat or beans, a starch and a veggie.

I'm one of the PPs who has mostly eating advice, but something about your workout caught my eye, which is that 50-60 min is a long time to be lifting. Can I ask what you're doing and whether you still get any muscle soreness after a lifting day? I have a quick workout that basically cripples me but only takes about 20 minutes to do. I would encourage you to make sure you're still working hard at the weights. You should have no more than 1-2 minutes between sets and should be pushing yourself a little on weight or, if you're worried about bulk, on # of reps. And try to change it up a little bit to make sure your body doesn't get too used to the same old thing. That's true on the runs too. You can try to vary distance, or run at an uneven pace, sprinting one block followed by a slower jog and then sprint again, and so on.

50-60 minutes is about right for a heavy lifting program, which I hope OP is doing.

20 minutes of heavy weightlifting shouldn't cripple you - perhaps you're doing metabolic workouts with some weights, instead of heavy compound movements?

PP, yes, I'm not doing heavy lifting at all. As a mid-30s woman, I was definitely assuming that a 50 yo woman probably wasn't either, which may be off base. I played a sport at a quite mediocre D1 college and did more serious weightlifting then. Now I stick to dumbbells or even weight-free exercises like squats and lunges.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:NP here. Any advice you have for me is welcome.

I am 175 pounds, need to lose minimum of 20 pounds to feel good. I am 50 years old.

I run 3-4 miles two or three times a week, and lift 2X week for 50-60 minutes.

My resting metabolic rate is 1600.

I have a couple problems - I eat for fun and comfort. Love carbs and wine. Have a DH who is 40 pounds overweight and two athletic teen boys to cook for. If it were just me, I'd eat regular breakfasts and lunches and make a light dinner, but my family is all big dinner eaters - think meat or beans, a starch and a veggie.

I'm one of the PPs who has mostly eating advice, but something about your workout caught my eye, which is that 50-60 min is a long time to be lifting. Can I ask what you're doing and whether you still get any muscle soreness after a lifting day? I have a quick workout that basically cripples me but only takes about 20 minutes to do. I would encourage you to make sure you're still working hard at the weights. You should have no more than 1-2 minutes between sets and should be pushing yourself a little on weight or, if you're worried about bulk, on # of reps. And try to change it up a little bit to make sure your body doesn't get too used to the same old thing. That's true on the runs too. You can try to vary distance, or run at an uneven pace, sprinting one block followed by a slower jog and then sprint again, and so on.

50-60 minutes is about right for a heavy lifting program, which I hope OP is doing.

20 minutes of heavy weightlifting shouldn't cripple you - perhaps you're doing metabolic workouts with some weights, instead of heavy compound movements?

PP, yes, I'm not doing heavy lifting at all. As a mid-30s woman, I was definitely assuming that a 50 yo woman probably wasn't either, which may be off base. I played a sport at a quite mediocre D1 college and did more serious weightlifting then. Now I stick to dumbbells or even weight-free exercises like squats and lunges.

I am in my mid-thirties and I know plenty of women older than me who are lifting heavy - it's all relative. I agree that you shouldn't need much rest if you are doing bicep curls with a weight you could curl 20 times! I find that as I am getting older and more injury prone, it's better for me to stick to heavier weights in a lower rep range.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:NP here. Any advice you have for me is welcome.

I am 175 pounds, need to lose minimum of 20 pounds to feel good. I am 50 years old.

I run 3-4 miles two or three times a week, and lift 2X week for 50-60 minutes.

My resting metabolic rate is 1600.

I have a couple problems - I eat for fun and comfort. Love carbs and wine. Have a DH who is 40 pounds overweight and two athletic teen boys to cook for. If it were just me, I'd eat regular breakfasts and lunches and make a light dinner, but my family is all big dinner eaters - think meat or beans, a starch and a veggie.

I'm one of the PPs who has mostly eating advice, but something about your workout caught my eye, which is that 50-60 min is a long time to be lifting. Can I ask what you're doing and whether you still get any muscle soreness after a lifting day? I have a quick workout that basically cripples me but only takes about 20 minutes to do. I would encourage you to make sure you're still working hard at the weights. You should have no more than 1-2 minutes between sets and should be pushing yourself a little on weight or, if you're worried about bulk, on # of reps. And try to change it up a little bit to make sure your body doesn't get too used to the same old thing. That's true on the runs too. You can try to vary distance, or run at an uneven pace, sprinting one block followed by a slower jog and then sprint again, and so on.

My 2X lifting sessions are with a personal trainer and he does a good job increasing the weights or reps as necessary. He also advised me to do more intervals on my runs. Thank you for responding!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:NP here. Any advice you have for me is welcome.

I am 175 pounds, need to lose minimum of 20 pounds to feel good. I am 50 years old.

I run 3-4 miles two or three times a week, and lift 2X week for 50-60 minutes.

My resting metabolic rate is 1600.

I have a couple problems - I eat for fun and comfort. Love carbs and wine. Have a DH who is 40 pounds overweight and two athletic teen boys to cook for. If it were just me, I'd eat regular breakfasts and lunches and make a light dinner, but my family is all big dinner eaters - think meat or beans, a starch and a veggie.

I'm one of the PPs who has mostly eating advice, but something about your workout caught my eye, which is that 50-60 min is a long time to be lifting. Can I ask what you're doing and whether you still get any muscle soreness after a lifting day? I have a quick workout that basically cripples me but only takes about 20 minutes to do. I would encourage you to make sure you're still working hard at the weights. You should have no more than 1-2 minutes between sets and should be pushing yourself a little on weight or, if you're worried about bulk, on # of reps. And try to change it up a little bit to make sure your body doesn't get too used to the same old thing. That's true on the runs too. You can try to vary distance, or run at an uneven pace, sprinting one block followed by a slower jog and then sprint again, and so on.

50-60 minutes is about right for a heavy lifting program, which I hope OP is doing.

20 minutes of heavy weightlifting shouldn't cripple you - perhaps you're doing metabolic workouts with some weights, instead of heavy compound movements?

PP, yes, I'm not doing heavy lifting at all. As a mid-30s woman, I was definitely assuming that a 50 yo woman probably wasn't either, which may be off base. I played a sport at a quite mediocre D1 college and did more serious weightlifting then. Now I stick to dumbbells or even weight-free exercises like squats and lunges.

The 50 year old poster here..yes, I'm doing what for me is heavy lifting, eg 115 pounds for deadlifts.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:NP here. Any advice you have for me is welcome.

I am 175 pounds, need to lose minimum of 20 pounds to feel good. I am 50 years old.

I run 3-4 miles two or three times a week, and lift 2X week for 50-60 minutes.

My resting metabolic rate is 1600.

I have a couple problems - I eat for fun and comfort. Love carbs and wine. Have a DH who is 40 pounds overweight and two athletic teen boys to cook for. If it were just me, I'd eat regular breakfasts and lunches and make a light dinner, but my family is all big dinner eaters - think meat or beans, a starch and a veggie.

Read the Bethany Frankel book, I can't remember the title. It may be "perfectly thin."