Weight loss in middle age and beyond

[KungFuPanda]

37 minutes ago, regentrude said:

Can you switch to a regular bike? And up the biking, for example bike home for your lunch break? That's 10 miles a day and about an hour total. I definitely notice the extra exercise when I do that.

I can just not use the power assist. The bike is heavier than a regular bike so it’s a real workout on level 0 or 1.  We do go on evening rides about every other day. I’ve done 200 miles since mid May. I only work a half day so I go home at 1:30. It’s just so hot now. I am loving the bike and plan to do longer trails. My thighs are perpetually sore so something is happening. 

35 minutes ago, Ottakee said:

I don’t know if you have a planet fitness near you or not but they offer tons of free classes each week and membership is just $15/month.

I have met good friends there and have certainly improved my fitness level.

Fitness schmitness! I just want my waistline back. I know I’m being pouty and difficult, but I don’t know if I’ll ever get myself back into the dance studio and I relied on that exercise a bit too much. 

[Terabith]

I am right this second feeling a little bit irrationally angry about weight loss and lack thereof.  We have a male middle aged friend who has clearly been working hard on his own fitness and weight loss and has lost an absolutely tremendous amount of weight.  Like probably a hundred pounds or so in the last year.  And I look at me, who has been working so hard at fitness and diet and everything, for like a year and a half, and I've lost....15 pounds.  

It's maddening.

[wintermom]

3 hours ago, KungFuPanda said:

I’m convinced I need to do some weight training in order to activate my metabolism, but I haven’t made it out of the planning phase. I was naturally thin until about 46. I just don’t know how to do this and I’m not happy I have to make an effort. I’d love to lose 10-15 lbs. I’ve started bike commuting but a measly 5 miles round trip on an e-bike can’t possibly do anything. 

That's great you're getting outdoors! You could mix up biking with walking. You'll build up some great muscles in the lower legs with the weight-baring activity of walking. You can adapt the speed/pace to raise your heartrate and improve your cardiovascular fitness with either biking or walking, too. If you have the option to pedal for certain parts of your ride, and just use the electric motor on uphill stretches (until you can bike the uphills on your own) that would be another way to increase your fitness. 

I don't like making an effort to do actitivities I don't enjoy, but if you find things you like or can tolerate if you do them with friends, it helps a ton with motivation. 

[barnwife]

I'm just going to commiserate with everyone. I really should lose 20 lbs, but it's hard. And, I am definitely a stress eater and I am in a very stressful season of life (unhealthy marriage plus more). Basically, if food is around, I am going to eat it. And with 5 kids, I can't just not have food around. 

Sorry, OP, for whining, and not really having any helpful ideas...

[PeterPan]

On 6/2/2024 at 12:11 PM, Ottakee said:

My latest sleep study showed that I no longer have sleep apnea.  So another win.

Hold it, mind blown. Did your weight loss improve the sleep apnea? Or it's literally the Wegovy?? 

[PeterPan]

1 hour ago, Terabith said:

15 pounds.  

I'll take that if you don't want it. 🤣 I had some stress (person on hospice) and gained 10 pounds. Now I think I may be on the mend, as I've been working with weights again and am looking slimmer despite the scale staying the same. However 15 pounds I wouldn't sniffle at. That's a pound a month and solid, something you're keeping stable. Seems like congrats are in order. 🙂

[Ottakee]

2 hours ago, PeterPan said:

Hold it, mind blown. Did your weight loss improve the sleep apnea? Or it's literally the Wegovy?? 

Likely the weight loss from the Wegovy.  Not positive.  My brother that passed away had severe sleep apnea but was at a healthy weight so ????

[klmama]

He might have had more central apneas, which aren't related to weight like the obstructive apneas can be.   

[Scarlett]

18 hours ago, KungFuPanda said:

I’m convinced I need to do some weight training in order to activate my metabolism, but I haven’t made it out of the planning phase. I was naturally thin until about 46. I just don’t know how to do this and I’m not happy I have to make an effort. I’d love to lose 10-15 lbs. I’ve started bike commuting but a measly 5 miles round trip on an e-bike can’t possibly do anything. 

Same.  It is quite annoying. 

[Scarlett]

21 hours ago, Corraleno said:

I lost 40 lbs by going WFPB and using Cronometer to track both calories and exercise. One of the most useful things I learned from using Cronometer is just how critical exercise is for losing weight. If I plug in my height, weight, age, and click "sedentary" for activity level, my maximum calories for maintenance are ~1400/day. That means if I wanted to lose 1 lb per week without adding exercise, I'd have to limit calories to 900/day — which is not sustainable. So I generally aimed for around 1200 calories/day plus burning at least 300 calories through exercise.

For me, the most effective way to use Cronometer is to log a full day's worth food and exercise in advance. So I will plan out my meals and snacks the day before, add in the amount of exercise I expect to get, log all that in Cronometer, and then add or remove things as needed. So if I log 3 meals and 2 snacks and I see that I'm spot on for calories but a little short on protein, I might add some nutritional yeast to the lunch or dinner, and then take out something of equal calories. If I eat something extra that wasn't logged beforehand, then I'll add however many extra minutes I need to do on the exercise bike to offset that. Or if I end up going way over on calories or I'm short on exercise one day, I'll try to cut back a little on calories and increase exercise the next day. It doesn't always work out that way, but I try to stay as consistent as possible.

I have an account there. I always get hung up on something there and give up.  Are you using the paid version or the free one?

For instance I just went to log my water goal and it wants me to use grams instead of ounces.  

[Corraleno]

48 minutes ago, Scarlett said:

I have an account there. I always get hung up on something there and give up.  Are you using the paid version or the free one?

For instance I just went to log my water goal and it wants me to use grams instead of ounces.  

I have the paid version. I can log water in ounces (with various other options, see below) in the Diary section, but the Profile & Target section, where you set your daily goal for water, does ask for grams. You can just multiple the number of ounces you want to drink per day by 30 to get grams for the Target section, and then log it in ounces in the Diary.

[Lady Florida.]

16 hours ago, PeterPan said:

Hold it, mind blown. Did your weight loss improve the sleep apnea? Or it's literally the Wegovy?? 

Not the person you asked but dh had sleep apnea. He lost 40 pounds through just CICO and did another sleep study. No more sleep apnea. And this is purely anecdotal but I used to notice his apnea before he lost weight and since his weight loss and I noticed the lack of it. His snoring (which is why I would wake up and realize he had sleep issues) also greatly reduced after he lost weight.

[SHP]

Make sure your thyroid is not being a jerk.

If my thyroid meds are off I cannot lose anything. When all things are correct the weight comes off with just diet changes. It flies off if I add exercise.

[popmom]

I agree about bmi being a poor indicator. I have the opposite problem. I’m not at all athletic. I don’t have much muscle or bone, so my bmi is technically “healthy”, but I’m definitely a little overweight.
 

I got a Withings body composition scale. Then I restricted calories and lost 7 lbs. I lost as much muscle as I did fat which was really alarming. So I saw irl how the yo-yo dieting happens. Losing muscle lowers basal metabolic rate which makes it super easy to gain the weight back. So I’m finally in the camp of the women doctors I have been following on Instagram—Mary Claire Haver, Vonda Wright, Sarah Ballantyne—among others. The first 2 emphasize lifting heavy and being big and strong. 
 

I stopped restricting calories and am currently focused on getting all my nutrients from food and getting lots of protein. And resistance training, of course. I’m not tiny anymore like I was in my 40s, and that’s still hard to accept. But my main goal is to be healthy and stave off frailty as I age. I’m 54, so now is the time. I got my Sjogren’s dx in 2021, and it’s been a slog to build up the stamina to even do a full workout at the gym. But I’m doing it! 
 

My weight is currently stable and the scale says I’ve gained a little muscle. It’s very motivating to see that. 

[Clarita]

I'm so grumpy over this right now. I picked an exercise that I like to do (ballet). Super happy about it well, I got hurt last week. So I had to do nothing for a week. There goes the exercise. 

I'm grumpy because DH's response to me getting injured was I started too hard in exercising and I should have stretched more. AKA I should have been exercising more this whole time. I hate that conversation because "what are we going to do with the kids" question still falls on me to figure out. I don't want to be the joy sucker and bring up to DH that I don't get to just have weird spontaneous game schedules like he does to do his softball leagues, to just leave for the weekend on a frisbee tournament. 

I've worked a full job before. No matter how stressful that was my down times were my down times (sure I'd have to work off schedule sometimes or have 12-14 hour days or 50+ hour weeks). That's still totally different than I'm responsible for 2 people's well being 24/7. Exercise just doesn't always fall neatly into the schedule because it's hard to stretch fully, do all the things I'm suppose to do while having to handle my children. When I was working it was easier because I just schedule everything. 

[Kanin]

I'm trying to lose 10 pounds. Thankfully, I've been blessed genetically and used to be able to eat whatever and stay the same weight. However... it's become really clear to me that for the past ten years, I've let exercise go in a big way, and I've also been eating way too much. I started adding up the calories in everything I eat and it's way more than I need to consume for my size.

Doc says thyroid, everything good. 

My biggest trouble is that I'm hypoglycemic, so I don't usually feel hungry, but frequently I've been feeling the hypoglycemic symptoms of shakiness, sweating, etc. I used to be able to avoid this with just eating carbs, but now that I'm trying to exercise and lose weight, I'm not sure how to manage it. I'm trying to eat more protein and slightly fewer carbs, but I'm having trouble getting the formula right. If I exercise, I feel like I need to eat more, which undoes any mild calorie restriction. Maybe my body will adjust to less food. Right now it seems to notice if I eat 5 calories less a day... and then it rebels. 

Ugh! I want to be 25 again (in body... not in mind! 😄)

[Alicia64]

I just thought I'd chime in: I've had weight issues since I was 7 (at least my mom convinced me that I was too big). But my situation just got worse as I got older. I know: you know.

In by mid-30s I had a surreal aha-moment where I just got very serious about eating right.  I'd been living on junk food with my husband. He didn't gain, but I did) Then I got pregnant so I'd had to stop losing. After preg. I went right back to eating well, I lost 55- lbs., but more importantly I've kept the weight off for 18 yrs.

There's nothing special about me. I was tired of the health problems too. Anyway, join us at www.theInspiredEater.com. I'm not a coach, everything is free and above board.

Wendy

[QueenCat]

4 hours ago, Alicia64 said:

I just thought I'd chime in: I've had weight issues since I was 7 (at least my mom convinced me that I was too big). But my situation just got worse as I got older. I know: you know.

In by mid-30s I had a surreal aha-moment where I just got very serious about eating right.  I'd been living on junk food with my husband. He didn't gain, but I did) Then I got pregnant so I'd had to stop losing. After preg. I went right back to eating well, I lost 55- lbs., but more importantly I've kept the weight off for 18 yrs.

There's nothing special about me. I was tired of the health problems too. Anyway, join us at www.theInspiredEater.com. I'm not a coach, everything is free and above board.

Wendy

Your blog and newsletters have helped me in so many different ways. I encourage others to check out your extremely practical advice and story-sharing. 

[Eos]

18 hours ago, Corraleno said:

I have the paid version. I can log water in ounces (with various other options, see below) in the Diary section, but the Profile & Target section, where you set your daily goal for water, does ask for grams. You can just multiple the number of ounces you want to drink per day by 30 to get grams for the Target section, and then log it in ounces in the Diary.

Thank you for showing us that Caffeine can have a Nutrient Target 🙂 

I have a short term weight loss goal that I don't have faith that I can meet because it has always seemed to me that the more I think about weight loss, the more I gain. My BMI is fine, I'm very strong though my cardio is currently down, but I'm so confused by why this happens.

[Alicia64]

11 hours ago, QueenCat said:

Your blog and newsletters have helped me in so many different ways. I encourage others to check out your extremely practical advice and story-sharing. 

That's wonderful! Thank you for saying so! ♥

Wendy