When did your body fall apart?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know I’m premature in saying this as I’m “only” 40, but so far it hasn’t been an issue and I cannot fathom it will ever be. I’ve managed to have three kids with normal weight gains and able to lose it without drastic measures within a year of each baby.

I work out regularly, but more importantly, I weigh myself regularly. At least a couple times per week. Weight cannot creep on if you don’t let it. 5-10 lbs can be easily gained in you live on athleisure and don’t weigh yourself ever. Then another 10 if you don’t make changes and so on. But if you are happy with your weight and monitor it, you can adjust what you eat and your exercise as the needs of your body change with age. While a few pounds may be acceptable to gain with age, there is no reason anyone has to become overweight or obese as they age if they actively take steps to maintain a heathy weight

Oh, honey.

Start fathoming it.

+1000

Yup. Because when your weight starts creeping up, as it does for most of us, here’s the thing: whatever you did in the past to keep it down will no longer work. Eating a little less for a week? Won’t work. Skipping that extra dessert or drink? Won’t work. Throwing in an extra workout? Won’t work. What most women find is that in order to stay the exact size they were previously, the lengths to which they must go are extreme and unsustainable (unless you want your entire life to revolve around staying thin).

Like you, I had three kids by 40 and lost the weight within a year of each of them. Was strong and fit (still am), worked out daily (still do). And then, almost overnight, it was as if some evil spirit injected jello under my belly button, where I had never gained weight before. Could I get it off? Probably, but that would mean a level of attention to diet - including, frankly, deprivation - that is not healthy for me, having BTDT.

So, yeah. Start fathoming it.

Hear hear, sister.

[Anonymous]

Look up Susan Nierbegall, Joan MacDonald and JJ Virgin on Instagram. I'm following their plan.

[Anonymous]

I actually have found that I have to weigh LESS at 57 to look like I did in my early 40s, because I store weight differently in menopause. Now it lands in a crescent- shaped area from hipbone to hipbone. Maddening.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know I’m premature in saying this as I’m “only” 40, but so far it hasn’t been an issue and I cannot fathom it will ever be. I’ve managed to have three kids with normal weight gains and able to lose it without drastic measures within a year of each baby.

I work out regularly, but more importantly, I weigh myself regularly. At least a couple times per week. Weight cannot creep on if you don’t let it. 5-10 lbs can be easily gained in you live on athleisure and don’t weigh yourself ever. Then another 10 if you don’t make changes and so on. But if you are happy with your weight and monitor it, you can adjust what you eat and your exercise as the needs of your body change with age. While a few pounds may be acceptable to gain with age, there is no reason anyone has to become overweight or obese as they age if they actively take steps to maintain a heathy weight

Yep. You are premature in saying this.

Extremely

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I actually have found that I have to weigh LESS at 57 to look like I did in my early 40s, because I store weight differently in menopause. Now it lands in a crescent- shaped area from hipbone to hipbone. Maddening.

Ugh, this just started for me. Am 50, work out a lot, eat healthy and it won’t budge

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know I’m premature in saying this as I’m “only” 40, but so far it hasn’t been an issue and I cannot fathom it will ever be. I’ve managed to have three kids with normal weight gains and able to lose it without drastic measures within a year of each baby.

I work out regularly, but more importantly, I weigh myself regularly. At least a couple times per week. Weight cannot creep on if you don’t let it. 5-10 lbs can be easily gained in you live on athleisure and don’t weigh yourself ever. Then another 10 if you don’t make changes and so on. But if you are happy with your weight and monitor it, you can adjust what you eat and your exercise as the needs of your body change with age. While a few pounds may be acceptable to gain with age, there is no reason anyone has to become overweight or obese as they age if they actively take steps to maintain a heathy weight

So I used to say exactly all of this when I was 40. ALL OF IT. Couldn't understand how anyone could ever let themselves gain weight like that, always thin, easily lost all weight after my pregnancies within a matter of just weeks, could literally eat whatever I wanted, etc, etc.

I'm now 46, and I am shocked at how much this has changed for me in just the past year or so as I enter the perimenopausal stage of life. The body changes in this stage of life are very real. For the record, I'm very athletic and have been all through adulthood: competitive runner, workout 5-6 days a week, very toned. And I'm still very much in shape. However, my metabolism is nothing like what it was; it has completely tanked. In my 20s I used to eat an entire pound of pasta for dinner most nights, no joke. No way would that fly now. Just over the past year or so, I gain weight way way more easily, and it's much MUCH harder to lose, even just a few pounds. My weight management strategies of years past just don't work anymore. I read some interview recently that Heidi Klum only eats like 800 calories a day to stay thin at her age. Just a few years ago I would have thought this was nuts, but now that I'm "here", I completely believe it.

I still wear the same size, and I'm still the same healthy weight I've had all through adulthood. However, it is MUCH MUCH MUCH harder to keep it that way. I'm definitely eating crow from the way I viewed this earlier in life, even just a few years ago. More power to you and your 40 year old self, PP, but it's not nearly as easy as you think it is now.

100 percent agree. I was 15 lbs lighter at 40 not watching what I ate and working out infrequently with 3 kids. Now at 45 the kids are older and I work out 7+ hours a week, eat zero processed food, limit carbs, extremely healthy, no sugar, one glass of wine a week, count calories and the fifteen lbs are impossible to lose.

Why didn’t you do that when you were up 5 lbs instead of 15?

This right here is, I believe, the difference between those who gain 15-20+ lbs and those who don't gain beyond 5-10: the ones who feel uncomfortable with 5 do something about it asap. The people who don't notice 10, 15, 25, etc or who rationalize (too busy, too stressed, I want to enjoy life, etc) get to the point where it's beyond tweaking. I have maintained my weight into my 50's and, even though I'm definitely softer, I am trim.

[Anonymous]

I one couldn’t fathom it. No choice but to fathom it at 59. I eat great, work out almost every day and look pretty good (size 8-10. Was never super small to begin with).

Life is short. Eat dessert. Learn that many foods and drinks are a “sometimes” food. And no one cares what the scale says but you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know I’m premature in saying this as I’m “only” 40, but so far it hasn’t been an issue and I cannot fathom it will ever be. I’ve managed to have three kids with normal weight gains and able to lose it without drastic measures within a year of each baby.

I work out regularly, but more importantly, I weigh myself regularly. At least a couple times per week. Weight cannot creep on if you don’t let it. 5-10 lbs can be easily gained in you live on athleisure and don’t weigh yourself ever. Then another 10 if you don’t make changes and so on. But if you are happy with your weight and monitor it, you can adjust what you eat and your exercise as the needs of your body change with age. While a few pounds may be acceptable to gain with age, there is no reason anyone has to become overweight or obese as they age if they actively take steps to maintain a heathy weight

So I used to say exactly all of this when I was 40. ALL OF IT. Couldn't understand how anyone could ever let themselves gain weight like that, always thin, easily lost all weight after my pregnancies within a matter of just weeks, could literally eat whatever I wanted, etc, etc.

I'm now 46, and I am shocked at how much this has changed for me in just the past year or so as I enter the perimenopausal stage of life. The body changes in this stage of life are very real. For the record, I'm very athletic and have been all through adulthood: competitive runner, workout 5-6 days a week, very toned. And I'm still very much in shape. However, my metabolism is nothing like what it was; it has completely tanked. In my 20s I used to eat an entire pound of pasta for dinner most nights, no joke. No way would that fly now. Just over the past year or so, I gain weight way way more easily, and it's much MUCH harder to lose, even just a few pounds. My weight management strategies of years past just don't work anymore. I read some interview recently that Heidi Klum only eats like 800 calories a day to stay thin at her age. Just a few years ago I would have thought this was nuts, but now that I'm "here", I completely believe it.

I still wear the same size, and I'm still the same healthy weight I've had all through adulthood. However, it is MUCH MUCH MUCH harder to keep it that way. I'm definitely eating crow from the way I viewed this earlier in life, even just a few years ago. More power to you and your 40 year old self, PP, but it's not nearly as easy as you think it is now.

100 percent agree. I was 15 lbs lighter at 40 not watching what I ate and working out infrequently with 3 kids. Now at 45 the kids are older and I work out 7+ hours a week, eat zero processed food, limit carbs, extremely healthy, no sugar, one glass of wine a week, count calories and the fifteen lbs are impossible to lose.

Why didn’t you do that when you were up 5 lbs instead of 15?

It happened in 4 months. Sister died tragically and I didn’t sleep more than an hour or two for 4 months straight and hormones got out of whack. Don’t be rude.

[Anonymous]

I’m 47 and this has suddenly hit me over the past year. I went on an SSRI because of some life circumstances and was pretty sure the weight gain was that but now I’m wondering if it’s just the age. I’m up 10 lbs over the past year on a small frame.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I know I’m premature in saying this as I’m “only” 40, but so far it hasn’t been an issue and I cannot fathom it will ever be. I’ve managed to have three kids with normal weight gains and able to lose it without drastic measures within a year of each baby.

I work out regularly, but more importantly, I weigh myself regularly. At least a couple times per week. Weight cannot creep on if you don’t let it. 5-10 lbs can be easily gained in you live on athleisure and don’t weigh yourself ever. Then another 10 if you don’t make changes and so on. But if you are happy with your weight and monitor it, you can adjust what you eat and your exercise as the needs of your body change with age. While a few pounds may be acceptable to gain with age, there is no reason anyone has to become overweight or obese as they age if they actively take steps to maintain a heathy weight

LOL. Send us a postcard when you hit your mid-forties.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know I’m premature in saying this as I’m “only” 40, but so far it hasn’t been an issue and I cannot fathom it will ever be. I’ve managed to have three kids with normal weight gains and able to lose it without drastic measures within a year of each baby.

I work out regularly, but more importantly, I weigh myself regularly. At least a couple times per week. Weight cannot creep on if you don’t let it. 5-10 lbs can be easily gained in you live on athleisure and don’t weigh yourself ever. Then another 10 if you don’t make changes and so on. But if you are happy with your weight and monitor it, you can adjust what you eat and your exercise as the needs of your body change with age. While a few pounds may be acceptable to gain with age, there is no reason anyone has to become overweight or obese as they age if they actively take steps to maintain a heathy weight

Oh, honey.

Start fathoming it.

+1000

Yup. Because when your weight starts creeping up, as it does for most of us, here’s the thing: whatever you did in the past to keep it down will no longer work. Eating a little less for a week? Won’t work. Skipping that extra dessert or drink? Won’t work. Throwing in an extra workout? Won’t work. What most women find is that in order to stay the exact size they were previously, the lengths to which they must go are extreme and unsustainable (unless you want your entire life to revolve around staying thin).

Like you, I had three kids by 40 and lost the weight within a year of each of them. Was strong and fit (still am), worked out daily (still do). And then, almost overnight, it was as if some evil spirit injected jello under my belly button, where I had never gained weight before. Could I get it off? Probably, but that would mean a level of attention to diet - including, frankly, deprivation - that is not healthy for me, having BTDT.

So, yeah. Start fathoming it.

Omg the evil jello spirit hit me, too. Wore a bikini until 50ish but now forget it.

[Anonymous]

Now 50 and have put on 10lbs over the past 2 years. I am very fit - lift really heavy (220lb deadlifts etc), had a VO2 max test (properly done) - put me in the top 5% for someone in their 20s. I also eat really well. No sugar, don’t snack etc. I am still a normal BMI however but now at the upper end.

The weight gain is mind boggling but seems consistent with what others are going through with peri-menopause. I have cut out breakfast so only eat two meals now. Have been doing this since April but no change to my weight. Can’t even imagine if I ate three meals.

[Anonymous]

I’m the pp.

Want to also add. I just don’t get hungry anymore. Which also surprises me given how much I am exercising, how much less I am eating and the fact I am gaining weight. It’s like I have suddenly become so efficient in burning minimal calories.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Now 50 and have put on 10lbs over the past 2 years. I am very fit - lift really heavy (220lb deadlifts etc), had a VO2 max test (properly done) - put me in the top 5% for someone in their 20s. I also eat really well. No sugar, don’t snack etc. I am still a normal BMI however but now at the upper end.

The weight gain is mind boggling but seems consistent with what others are going through with peri-menopause. I have cut out breakfast so only eat two meals now. Have been doing this since April but no change to my weight. Can’t even imagine if I ate three meals.

You weren’t thin to begin with if you put on 10 pounds and are now at the upper end of a normal BMI!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Now 50 and have put on 10lbs over the past 2 years. I am very fit - lift really heavy (220lb deadlifts etc), had a VO2 max test (properly done) - put me in the top 5% for someone in their 20s. I also eat really well. No sugar, don’t snack etc. I am still a normal BMI however but now at the upper end.

The weight gain is mind boggling but seems consistent with what others are going through with peri-menopause. I have cut out breakfast so only eat two meals now. Have been doing this since April but no change to my weight. Can’t even imagine if I ate three meals.

You weren’t thin to begin with if you put on 10 pounds and are now at the upper end of a normal BMI!

Stop being rude, being thin isn’t the end all be all. If you’re hanging your hat on that as a measure of success, I would say you probably don’t have a lot going for you.