Over 40 and can't lose the weight

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think it can be a real (sad) eye opener for some of us as we enter our fourties how few calories we need to operate. My body needs about 1500 calories to maintain its 5'10, 177lb self. That is plenty of good healthy food, but not much margin for junk. To stick to that I have to both track my calories (I use Lose It! app) and I weigh my food often, usually things I tend to overeat, like chocolate. To lose weight I've been doing intermittent fasting, which has helped me lose 15 lbs over 15 weeks or so. Twice a week I skip breakfast and lunch, and just eat a 500 calorie dinner with my family. You get used to it.

My body needs 1500 calories to maintain my weight as well at 5'4, 132lb. However, that is not enough food for me so I exercise to burn an additional 500 - 600 calories a day. I eat about 2,000 calories a day and am rarely hungry. I'm 45 years old and have maintained this weight for 3 years after losing 15 lbs.

[Anonymous]

I think the portion control piece is right, but it is really hard.

I am 5'7 and right now weight about 150. I would be happy at 140. I am quite active and really don't eat any junk.

But I am hungry - at lunch I want a big salad with protein and some soup. At dinner I am not anywhere close to full, eating 3-4 ounces of lean protein and a lot of veggies.

How do you ladies keep the portion sizes reasonable without being really hungry all the time?

[Anonymous]

I think the portion control piece is right, but it is really hard.

I am 5'7 and right now weight about 150. I would be happy at 140. I am quite active and really don't eat any junk.

But I am hungry - at lunch I want a big salad with protein and some soup. At dinner I am not anywhere close to full, eating 3-4 ounces of lean protein and a lot of veggies.

How do you ladies keep the portion sizes reasonable without being really hungry all the time?

I was the PP that first mentioned portion size above. A couple tricks that I did...

I tailored my diet to cover my own cravings and weaknesses. Specifically, although I am sure this is not standard, I "backloaded" my eating in the early "strict" weeks, because I just cannot handle going to bed hungry. So I would eat a light breakfast, a bigger late lunch, a light dinner. Then I would still have e.g. 200 calories for a night snack, which really helped tide me over. I think figuring out how to "indulge" your own comfort eating is important when you are "resetting" your portions significantly.

Tea or other caffeinated drinks. It helps.

Splitting lunch. On my "big" meal, I would often split the amount from the outset (which I often purchased out - only for convenience), and would immediately stick the second half in the fridge. I would totally allow myself to eat the second half after two hours, so I did not feel like I was deprived, which probably happened at least 50% of the time. This helped because (1) Even when I ate both "halves," I got used to a more "normal" portion size, and (2) sometimes after 2 hours I found I really didn't want the other half.

Semi-intermittent fasting. With all the research showing that skipping meals is not actually detrimental, I would follow my hunger cues. In particular, breakfast for me I could sort of take or leave some days. If I wasn't really hungry I would just skip or do a handful of cashews and tea.

Individual "fun" size for junk. If you have to get a hit, those mini bags are a good way of doing it. For some reason we had a leftover box of skittles fun packs in the house, and it was the ideal cheat b/c it was pure crap but very limited in amount.

*Note. I am not AT ALL suggesting the above as healthy eating techniques in and of themselves. Quite the opposite. I think these are just a crutch for the month or two necessary to get used to significantly smaller/more reasonable portions. Now that I've lost the weight and am just maintaining (and have slightly higher calories as well), I am really fine with the smaller portions and can eat more "normally."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think the portion control piece is right, but it is really hard.

I am 5'7 and right now weight about 150. I would be happy at 140. I am quite active and really don't eat any junk.

But I am hungry - at lunch I want a big salad with protein and some soup. At dinner I am not anywhere close to full, eating 3-4 ounces of lean protein and a lot of veggies.

How do you ladies keep the portion sizes reasonable without being really hungry all the time?

Protein. I eat things like almond butter, eggs, chicken, greek yogurt to fill up. Supplement with vegetables, but as few carby things as I can (no white carbs, but I do eat whole wheat English muffins for breakfast, or a grain like barley with dinner). A meal without enough protein in it means I am hungry in 2 hours. Cereal in the morning doesn't do it for me.

[Anonymous]

I'm 5'3 and 44 y.o. I crept up to 145 a few years ago, and then 2 years ago up to 150. I've had a couple spurts where I've cut out carbs and sweets (my downfall) - and got down as far as 145 (and to 147 for one year) - basically by eating only around 1250 calories a day (and I do some exercise). But then I can't keep myself going on it, and am back to 150 this week! And this is only really the difference of eating 1600-1800 calories a day vs. if I was at 140 and wanted to sustain would need to keep to 1500 average, let alone the 1250 to 'lose'. AGING SUCKS!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm 5'3 and 44 y.o. I crept up to 145 a few years ago, and then 2 years ago up to 150. I've had a couple spurts where I've cut out carbs and sweets (my downfall) - and got down as far as 145 (and to 147 for one year) - basically by eating only around 1250 calories a day (and I do some exercise). But then I can't keep myself going on it, and am back to 150 this week! And this is only really the difference of eating 1600-1800 calories a day vs. if I was at 140 and wanted to sustain would need to keep to 1500 average, let alone the 1250 to 'lose'. AGING SUCKS!

Have you considered intermittent fasting? I find that it is much easier to keep my total calories down by paring down to around 500 calories 3 days per week.

[Anonymous]

Protein.
No artificial sweeteners.
No lax weekends.
Cut out the booze.
Cut out the unnecessary carbs (stuff out of a package, protein bars, etc)
Weight training
HIIT.

It isn't fun, but I feel so much better than I did 20 pounds ago. I've also been able to add a donut here with the kids or a few glasses of wine back in now that I'm at goal weight.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm 5'3 and 44 y.o. I crept up to 145 a few years ago, and then 2 years ago up to 150. I've had a couple spurts where I've cut out carbs and sweets (my downfall) - and got down as far as 145 (and to 147 for one year) - basically by eating only around 1250 calories a day (and I do some exercise). But then I can't keep myself going on it, and am back to 150 this week! And this is only really the difference of eating 1600-1800 calories a day vs. if I was at 140 and wanted to sustain would need to keep to 1500 average, let alone the 1250 to 'lose'. AGING SUCKS!

Have you considered intermittent fasting? I find that it is much easier to keep my total calories down by paring down to around 500 calories 3 days per week.

How can you do that? Do you not move at all? I'd feel woozy and awful - but I'm a hardcore exerciser.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm 5'3 and 44 y.o. I crept up to 145 a few years ago, and then 2 years ago up to 150. I've had a couple spurts where I've cut out carbs and sweets (my downfall) - and got down as far as 145 (and to 147 for one year) - basically by eating only around 1250 calories a day (and I do some exercise). But then I can't keep myself going on it, and am back to 150 this week! And this is only really the difference of eating 1600-1800 calories a day vs. if I was at 140 and wanted to sustain would need to keep to 1500 average, let alone the 1250 to 'lose'. AGING SUCKS!

Have you considered intermittent fasting? I find that it is much easier to keep my total calories down by paring down to around 500 calories 3 days per week.

How can you do that? Do you not move at all? I'd feel woozy and awful - but I'm a hardcore exerciser.

I'm a hardcore exerciser too. I have always exercized in the morning, usually before breakfast. On 500 cal days I consume those calories at dinner time, and I'm not hungry first thing in the morning. When I do feel the hunger is early afternoon (but I never feel awful). On those days I have dinner early. I feel more energized while fasting than not.

[Anonymous]

At 5'10", I was at 182 (lots of muscle) and just a little body fat at 40. But once I started taking blood pressure meds at 42, my weight has gone up to 193 (but still lots of muscle mass so it's not too bad). I think it would have continued to go up but I started a daily weigh ins on a scale that integrates with my iPhone to plot my weight. Once I did that, my weight stabilized because the data helps me to quickly adjust my eating. I've lost about 3 lbs over the past 6 weeks by tracking calories, using my Apple watch to track exercise, cutting out all alcohol, and exercising more. It hasn't been too bad, but I miss my weekly beers