Weight Loss over 45 - Old Greenwich,CT

Make better food choices. Good quality protein at each meal with lots of fruits and veggies. Cut back on treats and carbs.

Exercise and moderation

Eat less, work out more, and use moderation.

Don't flat out stop a routine.. Ease into it, drink lots of water, serve your dinner on a salad plate, drink water before your meals, NEVER take a second helping of food.

Be aware if what you eat and when as well as when you need to eat.

I eat about 4 small meals per day with heaviest meal being in the morning and lightest in the evening. I drink a lot of lemon water daily.

You can do this... I am not nor ever have been on a "diet" to lose weight. I just try to be healthy!! It's no perfect calculation... It's a frame of mind and how you eat and exercise.

Good luck!

heh. wish i just had 10 to lose.
there's no plan that works for everyone and is easy.
you need to figure out your own unique metabolism, your own psychological stumbling blocks, and your own motivators and work within those parameters.
good luck.
khairete
S.

I'm 72. I'd gained 45 lbs over the years. I ate less and walked and lost 25 lbs in a year. I had help in that my tongue was sore And I didn't want to eat much. However, with comitment, anyone could do this. I used salad/luncheon sized plates, left spaces without food and rarely had seconds. I did have dessert often. I ate for the most part only when I was a bit hungry.

1200 calories per day - any way you want it.
Count your calories - use a food diary - MyFitnessPal or SparkPeople are both good.
Skip the diet drinks (the artificial sweeteners are horrible for your kidneys and they mess up your metabolism).
Low fat isn't any better.
It was explained to me like this - if you throw a match onto a big log of wood the log is not going to burn - you need a much higher temp of fire to get that wood to burn. You've got to use kindling, get the fire going and the coals hot and THEN add the log to the fire. It's the same with the stored fat in your body. A little fat in your diet helps unlock the energy in your fat cells so it will be used/burned.
Granted you don't want to eat a lot of bacon every day but some olive oil in some salad dressing is fine, a tiny bit of butter on your toast is ok - you get the idea.
Salt - you need some but it's a lot less than you think - too much can mess with your water retention - so if you're eating anything salty, up your water intake.
Carbs are not bad but they should be complex carbs as much as possible.
A serving of hot oat bran cereal with 1 spoon of nut butter on it will keep you from getting hungry again for a real long time.
Nothing wrong with a protein shake every now and then but a chicken breast about the size of the palm of your hand is easy and can be worked into so many meals - on rice, with veggie, in a kabob, on a salad, in a taco, in a soup, etc.

If you still eat sugar and other carbs...stop. You will lose weight.

I have found cutting back on carbs is painless and gives you the will to live.

What's your exercise plan and diet like now?

I always put winter weight on, then drink lots of water and get out walking when the snow melts.

Get some baby carrots (or whatever is easy for you - if you are organized cut up celery, carrots, etc.) and keep handy. Always reach for the water, the veggies, fruit .. BEFORE another snack.

And up the walking :) good luck. I've got to get some off too!

Dear R.,

I notice that the majority of your posts are about weight issues, losing weight, gaining weight during pregnancy, etc.

I highly recommend you seek the guidance of a family therapist who specializes in weight management issues, or eating disorders, specifically with emphasis on how we view our bodies. The Dove commercials on Youtube have a lot of positive spins on how we see ourselves and I hope that you will eventually find peace with how you are built, and how you live your life and the food choices you make on a daily basis.

From prior posts your personal height / weight description do not put in the overweight category at all. But you are quite obsessed about your calorie intake and weight loss goals.

Be kind to yourself. Love and accept who you are today. At any moment you can enjoy who you are.

Good luck!

P.S. I am 5 ' 7 " and would feel emaciated and look too thin and gaunt if I weighed 140 lbs.

Good for you to set a goal & decide to move forward to accomplishing it. THAT is the hardest part of being successful!

Now, forget about "plans". There are no plans that work for people... instead, there is perseverance towards attaining a pre-set goal. If plans actually worked, then everyone who started one would be successful, & that is sadly not the case.

Since you mentioned that you have tried diets & exercise already, I'm going to assume that you are not overeating, & don't need to cut back on food. In fact, you might need to eat MORE. Our bodies will naturally resist losing weight if we drop our calorie intake too much. Make sure you are within the normal limits for your body & your exercise regimen. If you are working out quite a bit, you will need to increase your food intake to meet that energy need.

There is a great website/app available called My Fitness Pal. It allows you to enter what you ate, & the exercise you did each day, to help you manage your calories. I also find that just the act of entering my food each day makes me aware of what I'm eating, & helps me to continue to make healthier choices.

That said, don't forget to allow yourself small indulgences. If you have a hard time stopping (seriously, a package of cookies is one serving, right??), then only buy treats that come in pre-set servings. I'll spend extra $$ to get Klondike bars, because I can have one, & be done vs. trying to figure out how much ice cream in a bowl is one serving (& way overestimating).

Some of the suggestions below are good - increasing your intake of natural foods (fruits/veggies) & decreasing processed food is key. Cutting out carbs entirely can be difficult to do (& maintain) but limiting the highly refined breads & pastas may help. Also, be careful of your sodium intake, & make sure to increase your water consumption. Sometimes the last 5-10 pounds is water retention that can easily be dropped by making these small adjustments. Get a water bottle & fill it up 2x a day - make sure to drink at least 1 liter (8 glasses) of water a day.

Regarding exercise, make sure you get aerobic activity every day, even if it is just a 15 min walk (briskly). In addition, try to get 2-4 days of strength training each week. Work on increasing your repetitions towards fatigue. For example, if you are doing arm exercises with weights, it's better to do 8-10 reps with a higher weight, than 15-20 reps with a light weight. Do your reps for at least 2 sets, & alternate your muscle groups (arms one day, legs the next, abs & core, etc.)

Finally, don't focus on the scale. 10 pounds is not much - you may never reach that NUMBER, but you may increase your muscle tone & reduce your body fat %, and end up with a healthier, fitter body. Un-diet, and enjoy your accomplishments of eating healthy & staying active. :)

We need more info. What are your obstacles? Can you lessen carbs and exercise? Do you emotionally eat? Not plan well? Love to bake?

Weight Watchers is a great option. I know you didn't ask about it, but just thought i'd mention it. You can do it online and it's pretty easy to follow.

The Harcombe Diet. Straight forward, explains the whys and whynots, no gimmicks, no stuff to buy unless you can't get the book from the library.

You're given some direction to follow for getting started, but the ultimate goal is a lifestyle change that lasts forever.

Find a sensible weight loss program, like Weight Watchers. Avoid anything that has you skipping certain foods ... those are just trendy diets. Also avoid anything that puts you on a very limited caloric intake. I did the free SparkPeople.com diet and they had my 5'7" self on just 1,200 calories a day. My body went into starvation mode and I lost absolutely nothing (not to mention, my stomach was growling all the time and my hypoglycemia was a mess). Weight Watchers upped my food intake and I lost immediately.

Also, with exercise, find things you enjoy doing and don't stick to just one thing. I love yoga, but also walk, do weight training, ride an exercise bike and do workout DVDs. If you just do one thing, it's a lot easier to get bored.

My husband is in his early 50s and he lost about 30 lbs last year by following the advice of his MD:

- No breads
- No pasta
- No dairy (yogurts have a lot of sugar)
- No white rice, no white potatoes
- No sugar (a lot of foods - store bought tomato sauce - have sugar in them)

I lost 7 lbs in the past 2 months doing an Arbonne 28 day Detox.