put on 10 pounds in my 40s - help

[Anonymous]

Hello - it is me, the typical DCUM poster.

I was a smug pretty thin person through my 20s and 30s. Five feet tall, a healthy and fit 115 pounds - kept myself that weight by not drinking much and not eating a lot of sweets, and otherwise more or less eating what I wanted. I walked then - and now - about two hours a day. Sometimes went for long hikes or bike rides, but walking is and has been my standard exercise.

In my late 30s I put on five pounds. I tried to take it off but found it did not want to budge. In my mid-40s it's another five pounds. Used to be I could take off extra weight with a little less food and a little more walking, but these 10 pounds are very stubborn. I'm a lifelong vegetarian. I don't drink alcohol or soda. I don't eat a lot of sweets. I do eat carbs - but not excessively so, I don't think. I still walk about two hours a day.

Are my options either radical changes to my diet, or accepting being heavier?

[Anonymous]

Accurately track calories for a week (weigh and measure food) to get a baseline of how many you’re really eating. Based on that eat 300-500 less calories a day, be patient. Or you can take your goal weight and multiply it by 10-12 to get a calorie range to eat in.

[Anonymous]

Lift some weights. Move some more. Eat a little less. Loss of muscle mass, being more sedentary and not adjusting eating for these things is what causes most of the weight gain as we age

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Hello - it is me, the typical DCUM poster.

I was a smug pretty thin person through my 20s and 30s. Five feet tall, a healthy and fit 115 pounds - kept myself that weight by not drinking much and not eating a lot of sweets, and otherwise more or less eating what I wanted. I walked then - and now - about two hours a day. Sometimes went for long hikes or bike rides, but walking is and has been my standard exercise.

In my late 30s I put on five pounds. I tried to take it off but found it did not want to budge. In my mid-40s it's another five pounds. Used to be I could take off extra weight with a little less food and a little more walking, but these 10 pounds are very stubborn. I'm a lifelong vegetarian. I don't drink alcohol or soda. I don't eat a lot of sweets. I do eat carbs - but not excessively so, I don't think. I still walk about two hours a day.

Are my options either radical changes to my diet, or accepting being heavier?

My sister is an endocrinologist so I’ve heard her talk a lot about weight. One thing I’ve learned from her is that height makes a huge difference in terms of how many calories someone should consume. Her general rule of thumb is 100 calories an inch - meaning a woman who is five eight can eat 800 calories more than you can. You are probably eating more calories than you should but don’t realize it because taller women (or men) around you may be eating more but staying skinnier.

[Anonymous]

Wow, you walk two hours a day! I am impressed. I would decrease rice and flour-based carbs. Have no bread/flour after breakfast. Try it for a few weeks, and see if that helps. Any chance you’d stop being a vegetarian?

[Anonymous]

What does your typical day’s food intake look like?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hello - it is me, the typical DCUM poster.

I was a smug pretty thin person through my 20s and 30s. Five feet tall, a healthy and fit 115 pounds - kept myself that weight by not drinking much and not eating a lot of sweets, and otherwise more or less eating what I wanted. I walked then - and now - about two hours a day. Sometimes went for long hikes or bike rides, but walking is and has been my standard exercise.

In my late 30s I put on five pounds. I tried to take it off but found it did not want to budge. In my mid-40s it's another five pounds. Used to be I could take off extra weight with a little less food and a little more walking, but these 10 pounds are very stubborn. I'm a lifelong vegetarian. I don't drink alcohol or soda. I don't eat a lot of sweets. I do eat carbs - but not excessively so, I don't think. I still walk about two hours a day.

Are my options either radical changes to my diet, or accepting being heavier?

My sister is an endocrinologist so I’ve heard her talk a lot about weight. One thing I’ve learned from her is that height makes a huge difference in terms of how many calories someone should consume. Her general rule of thumb is 100 calories an inch - meaning a woman who is five eight can eat 800 calories more than you can. You are probably eating more calories than you should but don’t realize it because taller women (or men) around you may be eating more but staying skinnier.

100 calories per inch away from average you mean? So what’s the baseline average height and calorie intake she’d be working from then?

[Anonymous]

How are you carrying the extra weight? My answer to whether you should accept being heavier depends on how unhappy you are with how your clothes fit, not the change in the number on the scale since it sounds like you are active and aren't experiencing any health issues.

[Anonymous]

I'm in the same boat, although a bit taller. I've concluded that I am going to eliminate calories from places where I don't enjoy them (instead of getting the crappy sandwich at work at lunch, I get the crappy vegetable soup or something like that with half the calories), but I'm not going to cut pasta or dessert out of my life. Maybe if I did, I'd have a body like Courtney Cox. But my livelihood doesn't depend on fitting into a size 2, so I'm going to eat pasta. I now treat calories like money -- I'm not going to spend a bunch on something that I don't enjoy, and if there are two things that I'd enjoy equally, I go for the "cheaper" one. But I'm not going to cut out everything I enjoy just to "save."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wow, you walk two hours a day! I am impressed. I would decrease rice and flour-based carbs. Have no bread/flour after breakfast. Try it for a few weeks, and see if that helps. Any chance you’d stop being a vegetarian?

Hi - yes, I love walking! I find it so relaxing and enjoyable. My legs actually crave more more more, even with the two hours a day. I honestly think I'd be happiest if I could walk about five hours a day but there just isn't really the time.

No chance of giving up being a vegetarian. Decreasing carbs might work. Maybe I'll try carb free lunches for a while?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How are you carrying the extra weight? My answer to whether you should accept being heavier depends on how unhappy you are with how your clothes fit, not the change in the number on the scale since it sounds like you are active and aren't experiencing any health issues.

Carrying it in my middle - my pants are getting tight. It is really annoying.

I just now got back from the doctor. He said he'll get my thyroid checked but that he thinks it's just normal getting older stuff, and not to worry unless I hit 130. So, from a health perspective, that was good - but from a vanity/don't want to buy new pants perspective, I'm still going to try to get them off again.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm in the same boat, although a bit taller. I've concluded that I am going to eliminate calories from places where I don't enjoy them (instead of getting the crappy sandwich at work at lunch, I get the crappy vegetable soup or something like that with half the calories), but I'm not going to cut pasta or dessert out of my life. Maybe if I did, I'd have a body like Courtney Cox. But my livelihood doesn't depend on fitting into a size 2, so I'm going to eat pasta. I now treat calories like money -- I'm not going to spend a bunch on something that I don't enjoy, and if there are two things that I'd enjoy equally, I go for the "cheaper" one. But I'm not going to cut out everything I enjoy just to "save."

This is OP - and I love this approach. Acceptance plus a little more conscientious eating.

[Anonymous]

Gaining weight is normal and healthy as you age.

[Anonymous]

Sigh.. Same age (about to turn 40) and same situation. My pants are too tight. I am vacillating between exercising/watching my eating, vs. just giving up on pants and going with dresses and skirts from here to eternity.

I could always eat whatever I wanted pretty much, but the weight has snuck up in the same way (5 pounds after 35, 5 pounds closer to 40). So sad for those bygone days!

[Anonymous]

I'm the same size as you and close to your age, OP. I'd also like to get back to 110-115 and a size 2-4. I already work out 4-5 times a week, lifting heavy weights and mixing in HIIT/cardio. I feel good about my level of fitness, and I know my problem is diet and I'd need to restrict to about 1200 calories to really start losing. I would be ok accepting that 125 is the new norm, but I love clothes and am so discouraged that the things I want to wear don't look good on me at my current size (especially pants! what do I have to do to find a flattering, fashionable pair of pants?). So then I go back to restricting, and I don't lose much, get discouraged, decide I'm going to be a middle-aged frump. Repeat cycle.