HEY!! Since when is 54 “middle age”??? I saw 54 in the rear view window a LONG time ago and I dont want to consider myself “middle age”.
My husband never had a gut because he is a runner. But he doesn’t have a Navy Seal body either, he is working on that when we retire.
But running would get rid of the gut I think, it’s hard to run otherwise.
I had gained about 15 lbs. over my previous top # in about a year and a half and really wanted to reverse the trend. Last fall I tried exercising more and just generally eating healthier and the weight did not budge at all. After Christmas I really changed my eating habits by eliminating refined sugar and refined carbs- pasta, bread, rice and potatoes. The hardest thing was coming up with a plan for what I would actually eat. Typical breakfast was oatmeal with a cut up apple and banana or 2 soft boiled eggs with half a mashed avocado, lunch was either 4 oz of plain chicken or salmon with some type of salad, dinner was whatever I would normally make for my husband and myself and I would just skip the carbs and make an extra vegetable or have some fruit. I lost 15 lbs in 4 months and I did not exercise more than usual. Since then I have added carbs back in small amounts and have been able to maintain the weight loss. I generally feel less hungry than I did before, I think the protein at breakfast and lunch are key to not feeling hungry.
I’m feeling the pain too.
I went low carb/primal a few years ago and lost 12 pounds easily. I told my doctor I had “changed my diet” (not 'fessing up to the bacon every morning) and she assumed I was doing low fat diet because my cholesterol/BP/weight were so good.
Unfortunately, my H’s numbers went wacko. Since I didn’t want to kill him (though I’d look great at the funeral) I went back to a “normal” diet. He’s now lost 20 pounds and I’ve gained back my 12. My other “numbers” have crept back up as well.
We’re clearly incompatible.
So, I decided to give up my nightly glass of wine - I only have it on the weekends now. I’m ever so slowly losing a bit of weight - maybe 1-2 pounds a month - but am hopeful it will all add up and not stop. And my grocery bill has dropped without the pricey wine!
“though I’d look great at the funeral” LOL!
BTW, losing 1-2 pounds a month by giving up a nightly glass of wine? Way to go! (Was it a very big glass, I ask, hopefully…)
To lose weight, you have to eat less. There is no choice. You can find ways to do this, from restricting eating hours (like not before x or after y) to diet changes but exercise doesn’t reduce your weight. Take it from a gym rat.
Muscle mass goes down but that varies a lot by person. As a 58 year old, I recommend everyone lift weights and work on balance exercises because those protect you the most. Yoga or pilates is also very good but you need the weights to make it a complete program. Learning how to lift weights so you develop strength in your “posterior chain”, meaning the back down through the legs, is the key to keeping yourself upright and moving well as you age. And of course the best, most important exercise for anyone getting older is squatting because we all need to stand up. But losing weight is about food intake. Sorry.
Low carb decreases the water in your system because the carbs bind to water. Add in carbs, you either commit to a long term program of dietary change or you gain the weight back. Studies have shown no short-term diet plan works well and low-carb is maybe slightly better than most over a year to 2 years. If you’re interested, I suggest a book like Brian Wansink’s Slim By Design to understand how thin people eat and behave instinctively to control weight. There are many lessons you can apply.
research body transformation
@katliamom - just a normal size glass of wine, at about 125 calories, 5 nights a week = 2500 calories. It’s 3500 calories cut to lose a pound. The remaining 1000+ for me probably comes from a more active summer lifestyle - which of course means winter will be tough!
No wonder people “let themselves go.” The idea of limiting my food intake for the rest of my life is depressing.
I will only respect books like this if the “thin people” are post-menopausal women. I was incredibly blessed in that until age 41, I could eat whatever I wanted and still be very thin. I deserved no credit - it was metabolism. Between 41 and menopause, I just had to watch it a bit and I stayed slim. Post menopause, it’s a whole new ball game.
I am no expert, but I tend to eat small amounts all day long, as opposed to eating only “meals.” I bring my lunch, and don’t pack sweets. I eat it over a couple of hours. I also generally eat dinner pretty early, and don’t eat much after dinner. (This from the person who ate a pint of ice cream yesterday… I’m not always good). I also TRY to limit my alcohol consumption to just weekends, and I do little things like take the stairs when I can, exercise while watching TV, and things like that.
Subscribe.
Dang it.
Thank you all for your comments and suggestions. I get that I need to move more, eat less and re-evaluate what I am eating. I’m just stunned that it happened so quickly. And honestly, I feel like I haven’t had a chance to sit down and yet I’m gaining weight. I need to get this under control before winter or I’ll really be in trouble.
Thanks.
OP, I am so with you. And what’s really irritating is that I do everything right. i walk 7 days a week, i do 3 workouts a a week, i eat no processed foods of any kind. i drink only water…BUT…egads! It literally does no good. I have two downfalls…I said that i drink only water and that’s true with meals but I have also began having a glass of wine most nights…mostly because i’m bummed out about the weight. And I’ve been thinking about cheese more than I should.
But dang it…its hard to have a lifetime of good habits only to have them not work anymore…
I hear you, Southern Hope… makes me wonder if life without a nightly glass of wine is a life worth living… thinness COULD be over rated, no?
I was 12-15 pounds over what I wanted to be post menopause. I hated the way I looked. Being that I have a tiny frame I looked dumpy. I got serious about changing my diet a year and a half ago. I stopped eating sandwiches and almost no desserts. I might have bread once a month and if we get ice cream we have to walk to the ice cream parlor, two miles. I increased my intake of fruits and vegetables and started moving more. I also used My Fitness Pal app which is a food diary. The weight has been off for a year now.
Recently, H & I belatedly discovered that ALL our phones (even our old ones that we don’t have phone service for) have pedometers or activity meters. I have used that to motivate me to move MUCH more. It’s sad to see many days with fewer than 1000 steps, so yesterday when H was having some lab work done, I went with him and paced the corridors while he was in the lab. I got up to 5000 steps! It makes you just a bit more conscious of how much sitting we can end up doing without thinking about it. Going to Costco and Home Depot are good ways for me to get high #s of steps in as well, but I have to be careful not to put too much in the grocery cart at Costco!
Seriously, eating on a smaller plate can really help. H and I often order ONE entree that we split and are perfectly happy with or we order two and each eat half and take the other half home for another meal.
Have started being MUCH more conscious of portion sizes, especially carbs and sweets, and it has made a huge difference for us. Cutting out all sweetened beverages and drinking only water has made a huge difference for us as well.
When clothing starts getting tight, then we start being more mindful and conscious of moving more and more careful about portion sizes and sweets. It has worked for H & me; I am post-menopausal. I noticed that it has been easier to gain weight since I reached about 40 years of age.
Alcohol influences your metabolism in more than one way… So while a glass of wine might have only 100 calories, it can have a different impact than a 100-calorie piece of chicken.
I’m 20 years post-menopause (I was menopausal early, and now I’m older than almost all of you) and I weigh less than I did before menopause.
When I was 58-ish, my osteopenia changed to osteoporosis, and I freaked out. Since I’m petite – 5 feet tall, on a good day – I knew I was at high risk for osteoporosis. Also, both my grandmothers and my mother had it, and my sister has it now. So once I was diagnosed, I got really serious, and I started lifting weights.
I’ve gotten into a routine of three times a week at the gym, two of those days lifting weights or using machines for my shoulders and back. (The third day at the gym I do core stuff.) I also do half an hour of cardio every time I’m at the gym, and at least another three days a week I walk the dogs vigorously for about two miles in the woods. I also watch the quantities I eat, although I don’t deny myself anything in particular. And I do have a glass of wine (or two) every night of the week!
I think the muscle that I’ve built uses more calories than the fat that I used to have. That, and the fact that I’m very active, and the fact that neither of my parents had a problem with their weight. I do believe a large part of it is genes. I know I’m very lucky.
My mom weighs about what she did when she got married and had many kids, over 60 years ago. The weight has redistributed itself over the years and is more in the hips than before, but she is still light for her height and so far doesn’t have osteoperosis, though she is at risk since she is slim.
As has been said, as we age we lose muscle mass unless we are actively engaged in a strength program. This results in less metabolic tissue and a decreased resting metabolic rate. At the same time as our female hormones are flagging we are more subject to “male pattern” weight gain which is in the mid-section. DO NOT get attached to a number on the scale. Too many women go on very restrictive intake programs while not adding weight bearing activity and their bodies essentially eat their muscle mass. You also release the equivalent amount of water that was stored intracellularly in the muscle so if your body burns 5 pounds of muscle because you went on a very low calorie diet you will loose a quick 10 pounds. This may feel great until you start eating again and now you’ve magically lowered your BMR by decreasing your muscle mass. Also, as we age we may lose bone mass so you could weigh the same but the composition has shifted to more fat and less bone and muscle (lean tissue).
So . . . do watch intake and particularly be careful of simple sugars and alcohol. Do add resistance training in addition to regular moderate cardio (at least).