If you are at your ideal weight...

[Gooblink]

I'm not sure I qualify but if this isn't helpful throw it out. I do think each person's body and life and preferences are different. Oh, and I am 53 and not yet menopausal ðŸ˜. I was a pretty normal weight through college but that crept up after 7 babies. I found myself 49 and 40 pounds too heavy. I made an effort to eat healthily and began increasing my exercise and activity. It started out walking and yoga and increased to include running and biking. I have kept the weight off for four years. I ate/eat in the No S pattern (no seconds, no sweets, no snacks). Weight loss probably was easier than maintenance at first. Now it is habit.

My usual pattern is to get up and drink a ton of coffee 😉, then I run, elliptical or yoga. In summer I might take a bike ride. This varies between 30-60 minutes depending on how I feel. If I have breakfast it is usually a couple eggs with veggies or salsa. I like lunch so I will usually have a salad, veg and leftovers or soup and sandwich and occasionally a piece of dark chocolate. Dinner is another salad, veg and small piece of meat. If I make bread I will eat a piece because...fresh bread, otherwise I usually skip the rice, quinoa, pasta, etc. I make for the skinny kids. My weekends aren't too different except I might add a nice dinner out with dessert or wine. This isn't set in stone though. Yesterday I skipped breakfast, had a large lunch and margarita with dh and just had fruit, almond milk and and spinach smoothie for dinner.

 

Super helpful, thanks! 

 

I'm going to be 53 in September, and still no sign that menopause is near. Which sucks, because now that I'm done having kids...I'd kinda like to get things over with! 

[Gooblink]

When I used My Fitness Pal they wouldn't advise any woman to eat less than 1200 cal/day. I don't know what 1000 looks like with the right kinds of foods, but I would worry about it not being enough for the average person. I'm sure water would be a main source of liquid as that wouldn't hurt the calorie count and would probably curb hunger.

 

While I was using the program I was permitted to eat 1200 a day and it felt like very little (of course I probably wasn't eating enough veggies and such). And it averaged out to less than a pound lost a week if I followed the formula! So it was very discouraging. Just throwing that out there to say it may be a very slow process to get or maintain a certain weight. My guess is metabolism has a lot to do with it.

 

I'm going to discuss this with my new doctor when we get together to discuss my blood work (next Tuesday). I was only losing weight when I kept my calories between 900-1100/day. However, once I started exercising, and increased them to 1200/day, everything stopped. Then, when I completely quit counting calories, but controlled portions and quality of food, I was eating closer to 1500-1600 calories per day, I cut my exercise back to walking 4-5 miles/day, and I neither lost nor gained. So...I'm wondering if all those months at 1000 average calories messed up my metabolism...or if it's just my age...or if it's a number of factors...which is likely the case. 

 

Thanks for sharing!

[Pam in CT]

Super helpful, thanks! 

 

I'm going to be 53 in September, and still no sign that menopause is near. Which sucks, because now that I'm done having kids...I'd kinda like to get things over with! 

 

:001_rolleyes: I.hear.you.  Good grief, enough already.

[Arcadia]

So...I'm wondering if all those months at 1000 average calories messed up my metabolism...or if it's just my age...or if it's a number of factors...which is likely the case.

Does insurance cover the services of a clinical dietitian? I find that a clinical dietitian can be useful when monitoring diet and bloodwork results. For example I don't absorb iron from spinach (even with orange juice), have vit c deficiency often and bananas act as a strong laxative for me. So the dietitian would suggest other sources for iron, vitamin C and potassium and see if I can absorb those better, or to resort to supplements.

 

I double check on calories and realized calories happen to be low for plain unsalted nuts, sardines and cheese which I eat more of. Potato salad would make me bloat so I can only eat a little at a time.

[Soror]

Oh, man, I've been going back and forth on trying silks!  Dd took a class last summer, and wants to again this year.  They haven't posted the schedule yet, though, so I don't know if there's a class for moms-who-don't-normally-do-this-but-decided-to-givei-it-a-shot-and-are-likely-to-be-really-awkward.

 

I used to do X number of minutes of exercise (weight lifting, calisthenics, stationary bike) in a gym setting Y number of times per week.  I love Katy's idea of integrating movement into your life instead of having it totally separate all of the time -- it was really eye-opening for me.  So now I walk 2 miles to the grocery store and carry the groceries back, stacking the activity of grocery shopping with the activity of walking outdoors.  And I also enjoy doing yoga, and even some weight lifting, just because I enjoy them.  But now there's more ... joy.  Because I'm just thinking about how I want to move around instead of thinking about, "gotta go to the gym now."

The first Silks gym I went to very much catered to the older crowd- it was all ages and sizes, I loved that. I've moved now because it is just so much closer and this new place primarily has college women and younger, I feel my age in there but I keep going. 

 

To the bolded, YES!!!! Life is too short to do things that make you miserable and there are so many ways to be active, there is no sense in doing something you hate(and most people won't stick with something if they don't like it anyway). This last month I've been having issues w/ my thyroid(and who knows what else) again and haven't been able to be as active and it really makes me sad. Being active feels good and makes me feel good. I wish I could do more if only it weren't for the constraints of time, money and energy!!!!

Edited April 22, 2016 by soror

[BlsdMama]

If you have maintained your ideal weight, or close to it, pretty much your entire life, would you share some examples of your daily eating habits? I'm interested in seeing how food quality, quantity, and calorie count vary among individuals.

 

Also, are you physically active, moderate, or sedentary? Active would be a regular exercise regimen. Moderate would be no formal exercise program, but not a lot of sitting. Sedentary would be mostly butt-in-chair.

 

I'm assuming there aren't many forum members under age 30, but  I'm mostly interested in hearing from the over 30 crowd. 

 

I'm curious because I'm trying to get to the bottom of my own weight issue. Until my mid-30s my weight stayed close to ideal, but over 12 years I'd gained almost 80 lbs! I lost 50 of it on a highly restrictive diet, but plateaued about 25 lbs from my goal and stayed there for about a year and a half, no matter how I tried to lose that remaining weight, nothing worked. Now, my weight is creeping up again, and I'm in a panic.

 

I am having blood work and other testing done this week to see if there's some underlying problem, but barring health issues - I'm guessing it's just that I'm eating too much, even at under 1500 calories a day, and will need to cut back and/or move more.

 

Thanks in advance for your help. I haven't been on the boards for a long time, so if there's a similar thread, don't hesitate to point me to it. I did a cursory search, but couldn't find what I'm looking for.

So, gooblink, a lot of it is hormonal - as we age we are no longer protected by the same hormones that kept us trim most of our lives, especially, it seems belly fat.  I thought Trim Healthy Mama did a really good job of explaining it to me.

 

While I have fluctuated slightly my whole life, after a traumatic miscarriage in December, my weight started going up rather than down.  I was really surprised.  I've just naturally stayed at the same weight.  I am *very* active.  I rarely sit except my computer time in the morning and we do a lot of "projects" - which includes building our basement bedrooms and doing heavy landscaping projects over the last couple years, so no real exercise regimine, but far more active than just walking around picking up toys.  

 

Food - while I am not above a ho-ho ;) I've been whole foods minded most of my 20s and 30s - whole grain breads, some from scratch, no milk except cheeses, yogurt, kefir, lots of veggies, plenty of fruit, etc.

 

And then.........

 

And then started that weight gain.  I assumed after we lost that baby, my weight would very steadily make it's way back down.  But I really had to evaluate my habits.  I was  consuming more sugar than ever - mostly through drinks.  A raspberry tea (boughten) on the run, a couple "extra" cups of coffee (complete with cream AND sugar) during the afternoon or mid-morning.  I am especially sensitive to gaining weight from drinks. 

 

I've had to rethink my snacks - go from fruit for every snack to more protein based snacks for the most part, but an apple or something is fine a few times a week.

I consume healthy fat and a lot of it - intentionally.

 

I've been following THM since about early March again and I'm down 12 pounds.  I hit 145 again which looks good on me.  I'd like to see 135 - that's my favorite weight/appearance for my body.   But you are absolutely right - the whole ball game changed this last year.  I'm 39 and this is the first time I saw the change.  I know every woman is just a little different about when they start to see that hormonal flux.  

 

ETA: I will also blame coffee for my fairly new habit of skipping breakfast.  I honestly believe this was the second biggest factor in weight gain. (Sugar consumption, especially in liquid form being the first.)  Coffee suppressed my appetite so that I didn't feel like eating until mid-morning and I found I could skip morning eating altogether.  I didn't do it intentionally, I just wasn't hungry.  We always thought it was odd that my DH would gain weight - he ate like a mouse compared to me.  I love (LOVE) food.  And I can see clearly now the difference in our metabolisms.  Once he began (in March) to eat breakfast, he had to start eating a mid morning snack, lunch, an afternoon snack, and would be starving by the time he got home - something totally new for him.  And he's losing weight, albeit slower.  

Edited April 22, 2016 by BlsdMama

[Joyofsixreboot]

:001_rolleyes: I.hear.you. Good grief, enough already.

We should start a club....that no one wants to belong to.

[J-rap]

I'm 5'6" and my weighed has generally fluctuated between 120 and 130 my entire adult life (though it has definitely shifted!).  I never paid attention to my weight or how much I ate until these last few years, after menopause.  Menopause definitely slowed my metabolism, and I've had to become more disciplined about not grabbing something whenever I feel a tinge of hunger, or my weight creeps up.  I think the amount I eat has changed as a result.  I eat less at lunch than I used to (probably half as much), my snacks are smaller, I usually cut out extra bread at dinner, I usually only drink water with my meals, and I stick with one small dessert/day.  

 

Breakfast:  coffee and a protein bar.  (I've never been a breakfast eater.)

 

Lunch:  a veggie smoothie with a little fruit to sweeten it, plus something like a piece of toast with butter and peanut butter, or a cheese quesadilla, or half an egg salad sandwich, etc.

 

Snack:  could be:  a handful of almonds, a few crackers with cheese, a banana, fresh berries, yogurt with peanuts, etc.

 

Dinner:  could be anything.  I'll eat a moderate serving of chicken and veggies, or veggie lasagna, or teriyaki beef over rice, or veggie pizza, or cabbage rolls, or black beans over rice, etc.  We eat a real mix of stuff, usually meat half the time and vegetarian half the time. I try and serve two veggies with each meal.  I eat till I'm full, though I've learned to give myself a chance to eat slowly and feel full before eating more than I really want.  (Otherwise I feel super uncomfortable afterwards.)

 

Sometime during the day, either in the afternoon or evening, I have a second cup of coffee and a little dessert.   :)

Edited April 22, 2016 by J-rap