Need to lose 15lbs and reduce waist size

[Anonymous]

Hi! I am 42 and gained about 15 lbs between pregnancy and covid. I am 5’7 and 145. Things I’m trying - get a walking desk and hit 15k steps. I’ve tried counting calories before but really struggle even with being honest when tracking so I’m just trying to have fresh fruit out in my house and go for that ahead of chips. Also doing some minor weights which is a brand new things for me. Good luck!!

[Anonymous]

You need to cut out sugar and cheap carbs. When you hit menopause, your insulin resistance decreases significantly. The sugar you eat goes straight to fat now. You need more protein and less carbs.

Cut the sugar (including alcohol) and cap calories at 1000 per day. You’ll be stunned by your rapid weight loss.

After 2-3 weeks, start adding some whole
Grain carbs back and bump calories up to maybe 1200 day until you reach your goal weight. When you hit your target, you can play with adding more calories or cheat foods at an amount that keeps your weight stable.

[Anonymous]

No gluten - many people having intolerance and don’t know it and if you don’t, you will skip a lot of empty, waist expanding calories this way.
Lots of fiber, less meat
At least 60 oz of water a day
Probiotics
Are you taking progesterone as part of your HRT? If not that will help you trim your waist and build muscle/burn fat. Maybe just 5-8 lbs but it is something.
Yoga and Pilates to stretch and tone the core. This is addition to heavy weights and cardio. Aim for 5-6 hours of exercise a week.
Dessert/sugar just once a week

[Anonymous]

I’m 44, 5’7 and 168. I’d love to get back down to pre-CoVID weight of 145. I am not disciplined at all. I eat a lot of sweets. I don’t workout beyond walking the dog. And I spend too much time scrolling instead of moving my body. I know what I need to do, it just feels hard.

[Anonymous]

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3581374/

Like you, op, I can never go off my ssri. But 6 months or so, I started metformin and it has been magic.


Ssris tend to close insulin resistance. The metformin reversed it for me and not only did the weight gain stop, I've started losing weight again with normal habits.

47 year.old female.

Your doctor should have no problem prescribing it for you.

Trust me. Life changing.

[Anonymous]

Cause, not close.

[Anonymous]

Tips for a thin person:

Stop eating 3 hours before you fall asleep -- no exceptions. Whenever I even eat a couple oreos before bed, I wake up with a tummy. No food for 3 hours, and I wake up to much flatter belly.

Intermittent fasting, if you can handle. I actually don't do this, but the IF will put your body in a state where it is burning fat for energy, so it's a good way to burn off pockets of fat.

These two things are actually really easy and save you time. You just have to have the willpower to do it.

[Anonymous]

No carbs for you

[Anonymous]

Metformin poster again. Sure, you could go no carb, low carb, restricted eating blah blah. Or you could try addressing the (likely!) underlying issue first.

[Anonymous]

Thanks all. OP here. I’m on day 6 of tracking my calories and macros. Have been cutting back. Hope to show some progress in the next few months. Not gonna go on another medication at this point, but maybe after the calorie deficit attempt.

I am taking progesterone and estrogen.

[Anonymous]

What calorie tracker are you using?

[Anonymous]

Cronometer, free version. I like it.

[Anonymous]

I’m 5ft4 and weigh about 128. You going need to count calories and track macros. You just need to cut out carbs and gluten! Plan healthy meals, and Eat nuts seeds and fresh fruit for snacks. (No chips popcorn crackers ice cream pudding flavored yogurt etc). That’s it. You will drop 10 pounds easy.

[Anonymous]

I was able to go from averaging above 150 to around 140 by making gradual changes. I am trying to avoid counting calories, as I became very obsessed with calories when I was younger and made some very unhealthy choices.


First, I stopped eating all cheese for a month - this helped me realize how much cheese I was really adding to foods. This led to me to cutting back significantly on when I eat cheese and measuring it when I do. So you might want to think about if you have any foods that pack on calories.


Next, I increased fiber by a lot. It sounds like you might be doing that already.

The nice part of gradual changes is they just become part of your life and you do not feel deprived. The bad part of course is it takes forever