A friend described a diet where he limits his food intake on two days a week (a.m. coffee, nuts, plain salad). He lost 35 lbs. over 6 months. He now requires less food to feel satisfied on the other 5 days, he attributes to better find the middle between hunger to stuffed.
He maintained his exercise routine (cardio/weights 4 days a week).
I am contemplating it...

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Where do you all do spinning? I've been looking for a class. I used to spin but it has been years, so really need a beginners class where I won't feel intimidated.

FWIW, my personal trainer thinks spinning -- unless you have a job where you never sit -- is not the best kind of cardio. Who needs to sit more?

Spinning has been very effective for me -- intense and burns a lot of calories. My spin classes always have some pedaling while standing off the seat. It's also fun -- I like the music and the 45 minutes flies by.

Anonymous wrote:Start at 800 calories and go down 500 if you are sedentary

Sure. Great way to completely screw up your metabolism and ensure you're malnourished.

OP I don't know what the real answer is but I'm right there too. Theoretically exercise and weight training should allow us to eat like normal human beings, including the odd splurge. It doesn't work that way for all of us though.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

over 40, every few years I have to cut back. I just can't splurge anymore and all the calories have to be the ones needed for good nutrition.

This. Every. damn. calorie. has to have meaning and a specific purpose (salmon, green leafies, berries, quinoa. an egg).

Otherwise -- random panini with provolone? caramel latte? -- you add an inch to the mid-section that will never go away.

-- 48 yr old

OP here: Ugh. I'm so afraid that's where I am. Food and wine are my passion; we planned our honeymoon around reservations at French Laundry. My husband, of course, gives up his afternoon snack of candy bars and loses 5 pounds. Sigh...

Annoying isn't it? Every time I go on a diet, DH loses weight. And I don't. Um, what?! Anyway, skipping meals is never a good idea--I could not lose weight that way in my 20's. Only thing I have found to work now, at 40, is SUPER low carb. No grains, no dairy, no fruit. Carbs from vegetables ONLY. But I have dropped 11 pounds in 3 weeks. I have a lot more to lose so I wouldn't expect such fast results for you, but give it a try.

Maybe, but for those of us for whom impact workouts (running, aerobics, even some low-impact) are a problem for a bad back, spinning would be one way to get cardio in without not being able to move the next day.

Anonymous wrote:Where do you all do spinning? I've been looking for a class. I used to spin but it has been years, so really need a beginners class where I won't feel intimidated.

FWIW, my personal trainer thinks spinning -- unless you have a job where you never sit -- is not the best kind of cardio. Who needs to sit more?

Where do you all do spinning? I've been looking for a class. I used to spin but it has been years, so really need a beginners class where I won't feel intimidated.

I'm 45 and don't really limit and I am somebody that has always gained weight easily...

Because of that last statement--I have always been a 6-day per week intense exerciser.

UXF twice a week, 1 hour spinning 1 day, run 4-5 miles the other 4. Weights 3-4 days.

Sun-Thursday very healthy eater. Thurs night, Friday night and all day Saturday steak, sausage, wine, chocolate.

I am pretty Spartan Sun- Thursday.
Coffee and whole grain cereal;
Whole foods salad:
Dinner fish and veggie.

This has been a recipe that's worked for a decade. Never depriving and stepping up and cutting back when I gain a little.

I don't do scales--but I have weighed the exact same amount at every annual Drs appt. size 4

Anonymous wrote:Start at 800 calories and go down 500 if you are sedentary

Add 1000 to that and you may be on to something!

OP - I did it but with great difficulty. I am 44 and lost those last 10 pounds finally. I cut out all sugar and processed carbs and get my sugar fix from fruit and dried fruit. I also exercise. It took me six months.

But its harder work than it has ever been and at some point i can see myself giving up.

Anonymous wrote:OP here. I like lifting weights, definitely more than cardio, but I've mostly been doing interval training. For weigh lifting, do I need to go to a gym, or does lifting with hand weights count?
BTW, many thanks for the differing perspectives on this and for making me feel like I'm not alone!

You definitely don't need to join a gym to do weight training. You don't even need free/hand weights to do weight training! Google body weight workouts or search for them on fitsugar and you'll be all set. Vinyasa yoga is also a great workout that includes some body weight training. I'm 43, struggling with a stallings metabolism myself. I do vinyasa yoga 3x a week for weight training and flexibility, and spinning for cardio. Still working on my diet, which is why I still have weight to lose despite my workouts.

I lost 35 lbs at 41, and it took extreme calorie and food restriction to do. I also started running, but that was for heart and muscle health and I doubt the amount I do (2 times a week for 20 minutes, but as hard as I can go) does much for the waistline. I dropped sugar and flour and potatoes for about 4 months, lived on protein, veggies, and coffee with cream. The coffee with cream is my own personal non negotiable, I'd rather be fat than give up thing. And I ate of salad plates only and didn't have seconds. But I didn't calorie count, which for some reason always failed for me...I just kept reducing the calories, and I just kept not losing. But this did work. After I'd lost most of the weight I added back in modest amounts of sugar, potatoes, and flour, and gained a modest amount (6 lbs) of the weight back and have found a happy, somewhat plump, set point. Good luck, OP!

OP here. I like lifting weights, definitely more than cardio, but I've mostly been doing interval training. For weigh lifting, do I need to go to a gym, or does lifting with hand weights count?
BTW, many thanks for the differing perspectives on this and for making me feel like I'm not alone!

I'm 50 and lost 45 lbs over the past year. I agree with lifting weights, which I do 3-4X week, plus running 12-16 miles/week. I definitely have to watch the booze and carb intake and count calories.

I don't think you should be skipping meals. If your metabolism is slowing (which it likely is), the last thing you should do is do things that could make it slow even more.

Limit booze. Limit nutritionally empty things like sweets. If you're not doing much cardio, limit carbs.

And if you don't already do weight-bearing exercise, you really, really need to start.

I'm 43 and while I weigh about 10 lbs more than I did at 35 before I had my kid, I exercise daily and look pretty good. I could be better with my diet, and if I want to actually lose those 10 lbs I'll have to be.