The only thing that works for me now (at 46) is to put on some muscle and cut carbs after 6 pm. If I even sniff alcohol I gain 2 lbs.
I’m also voting for hormones and/or sluggish thyroid.
The struggle is real.
second the checking thyroid thing if for just peace of mind.
My own crashed last summer and I gained 12 lbs during a time that I was super active and careful.
No–not gaining but at 65 it is not coming off either.
Menopause. Ugh. I was doing ok, dropped a few extra pounds (like 5) for a wedding last August with LOTS of hard work and discipline, then gained 12 lbs. in 8 months without really changing anything, just when my periods became really irregular. Can’t lose it no matter how hard I try! I have always been “overweight” but looked ok (I am a pear and carry my weight in my hips and booty), but now for the first time ever I’m technically “obese” and it’s driving me nuts!
I’m trying to increase my activity, and eating really healthily, to no avail. I drop a pound or two, then poof, it’s back on. I’ve tried walking around the block a few times a day, I hike, swim, dive, and get active in the yard on weekends, but the scale doesn’t move. And it’s not “muscle is heavier than fat” because I’m fat (my back, thighs, and timmy are all not where I want hem to be).
Aaaargh! I do not want to be this heavy! I know if I starve myself that will backfire, but cutting back moderately doesn’t seem to help a bit. Nothing that used to work, works now. I think about my weight many times every day, just can’t stop being miserable about it, but can’t seem to get anywhere with it. Things that used to work, do not anymore.
I have lost 62 pounds in the last four years. I’m female and age 60. I went through menopause at 50. No, not easy but doable to lose weight. I have 7 pounds more to go and hope to be there by December. Slow but steady with a small deficit.
- Track calories and exercise. Seriously. Watch portion sizes. Expect to be hungry. Hunger is your friend. Aim for a slight an hour after eating, and don't eat unless you are actually hungry. Watch out for social eating.
- Remember that the only way to lose fat from your body is by breathing. Breathe more (walking faster, exercising) and you will burn more fat.
- Don't eat junk food. Eat lots of veggies and fruit. Eat unmodified food. A whole apple, not juice.
- Sneak up on weight loss. A pound a week is fine. Half a pound a week is fine. A pound a month is fine. The goal is to never let the weight you lose find you again.
I believe you when you say you’re active, but I’d also bet you aren’t as active as you think. I thought I was, too, but when I got my first Fitbit 3.5 years ago, I was only walking about 7k steps a day. At this point, I average around 15k steps.
I’m in full agreement with @dmd77 . Only eat unprocessed foods. Feeling a little hungry is your friend, just like a little bit of ache from working out tells you that you’re staying healthy.
I’m a lifelong fitness fanatic and since hitting an age milestone, like you, the tummy weight started. Cutting calories and continuing to work out did not remove the tummy fat. I was not pleased.
Currently I’m using the 8-hour eating plan, which seems to reduce the tummy fat. The plan allows you to eat whatever you want, but only between any 8-hour period you choose. It’s an “intermittent fasting plan.” The idea of the plan is that we didn’t evolve to eat three square meals a day plus snacks. While walking through the scrub brush looking for our next meal, we weren’t pulling behind us a cooler filled with Twinkies and Haagen Dazs and Pepsi. Breaks in eating change how we metabolize food. Who knows if this is true. But I’m trying the plan any way!
For me, the plan seems to shrink the tummy fat. It seems to have changed how much I want to eat and what I want to eat. I don’t want to eat junk food. I do not want to eat French fries any more. Ice cream looks unpleasant now. Creamy sauces and melted cheese no longer look yummy. I could eat it–and every so often I do–but it doesn’t taste all that good. Ice cream sits in our freezer so long that we have to throw it out. True story. I used to eat it every night as a routine.
Breakfast is a cup of coffee with milk, made at home.
Work out–run 5 miles at least 6 days a week (one day rest but walking instead), and/or yoga for 10-15 minutes. 1-2 a week, small wimpy weights routine for my chicken arms. (This was my same routine before the 8-hour fasting plan!)
No food until noon. 11-12noon I’m pretty hungry but I know I’ll eat soon and soldier through. It’s just an hour. If I must eat, an apple usually gets me through, or a hot cup of tea.
Noon–small lunch (salad or small soup with a whole-wheat bagel, toasted, no butter). I don’t force myself to eat small. That’s all I want now even though I’m hungry. If I really want more food, I get more food. This is my 8 hours!
Snack: coffee and something small and indulgent, like a small cookie or chocolate; i keep roasted nuts and raisins in my desk drawer at work if I’m ravenous. During this time I can eat what I want!
Dinner–I’m not that hungry believe it or not. But I allow myself to eat whatever I want. Sometimes it’s a huge portion, probably to feed the running. Limit 0-2 glasses of wine, depending on the occasion.
Also: Use olive oil and not butter mostly. Whole-grain pasta and bread. Cook rather than eat out.
I am once again losing the 20# I gained over the last six months. Twice a year I have to go no-carb, no alcohol in order to do it. Seems like I’m always on a diet since 40. Even when I’m not dieting I’m a very healthy eater, but Iike my wine, and I indulge in pizza and pasta occasionally. Its a never-ending battle for which I have to keep a closet of clothes 8-14. I had my metabolism checked about 10 years ago and there is no problem. And honestly, with two jobs (well, until this week), I just wasn’t up to regular exercise. I wish I could find some type of activity that I enjoy in my down time, but I like to lay out the beach, read in my chair, and visit my message boards with coffee in the am and wine in the pm. What I really want at this point is to be “okay” with me. I’m turning into my mother, who has been dieting for as long as I can remember, never happy with herself.
I vote hormones plus gradual muscle loss. Weight lifting made a big difference for me, in lieu of the cardio I used to favor.
Unless you have medical issues such as metabolic syndrome, insulin resistance, diabetes or other metabolic or endocrin system disorders, losing weight and maintaining weight loss and as importantly achieving and maintaining healthy body composition only requires adherence to some basic concepts. It’s very easy to turn yourself into a ball in a pinball machine with fad diets and seductive nutritional myths that are either counter-productive or not sustainable and result in frustration. Want to lose weight and keep it off:
- It's a matter of calories in vs calories out. In many ways it's just that simple. If you burn up more calories than you take in, you lose weight. Period. Where people get screwed up is that they really don't know what they are taking in vs what they are burning. On the intake side, people often don't know how many calories they really need, don't know how many calories are in a meal, and don't keep accurate track of how much they eat during the course of a day. On the calorie expenditure side, people don't know what their base metabolic needs are based on age, gender and lean tissue mass and how many additional calories are needed to support the degree of activity in their daily life. Related to this is a tendency to overestimate the caloric burn from exercise and to view exercise as a license to eat more.
- Ok, I kinda lied in #1, it's not quite that simple. What you eat plays a big role in this too. Eating nutrient dense unprocessed foods facilitates weight loss while eating processed foods, junk foods, foods with added sugar causes your body to react in ways that promote fat storage and retention, increased hunger and higher caloric intake. In addition, if you cut your calories too much you trigger your body's starvation reflex which lowers your base metabolic needs and suddenly you are gaining weight and fat on what you think is a weight loss caloric intake. If you react by cutting your intake more, it just becomes a vicious cycle.
- Don't know what your actual caloric needs are? A Registered Dietician or Certified Nutritionist can assist you. Don't want to go that route? There are several good, science based online applications that can dial you in pretty closely. The USDA's Supertracker website, MyFitnessPal and Livestrong's My Plate are good examples. I use MyFitnessPal to calculate my caloric needs and it comes out to within 40 calories of what was given to me by a nutritionist. Word of caution, however. They are all based on generalized formulas even though you input your specific metrics. You may need to play around a little with the results to dial it in specifically for you. Also, do not rely on the activity trackers in these apps for an accurate measure of how much you burn from exercise. They can be wildly off, particularly for cardio exercise (I have verified this using performance lab quality technology to calculate wattage and heart rate based calorie burn compared to the calorie burn estimated by these applications). In stead, simply use these apps to calculate your daily caloric needs.
- Understand portion control. Eating a packaged food, read the nutrition label. Eating unpackaged foods, measure what you are eating. Use a food scale, measuring cup, etc. Not in a position to do that, like at a restaurant, ask the weight or measure of the foods you are ordering. Self conscious about that or not interested in being a food weighing weenie, learn how to estimate portion sizes using your hand as a relative measure. See www.choosemyplate.gov for good info on that. One of the biggest problems in weight management is that people really don't know how much they are eating whether it be total calories or apportionment of carbs, fats and proteins.
- Understand the role and function of macronutrients - protein, carbohydrates and fats. Neither carbs nor fat is the "devil". Bad "science" has led to all sorts of crap being promoted about carbs and fats. You need them all in a sound nutrition plan. (The problems most people really have with carbs and fats are that they don't really know how much of each they are really eating and they get them from unhealthy or non-nutritious sources.) Proteins should come from lean meats, chicken and fish for readily available complete proteins with all essential amino acids (if you are vegan, it's a lot more difficult because you need carefully mix and match vegan protein sources to get all the essential amino acids). Carbohydrates should come from whole grains, veggies and fruits. Fats should be mostly poly and mono unsaturated fats with limited saturated fats. Not sure how much of each macro you need in your nutrition plan? Again see choosemyplate.gov for good info. Also see these articles for some solid science based advice: http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/maki1.htm http://www.jtsstrength.com/articles/2016/01/04/carbs-the-training-fuel/
- Understand the importance of getting all the micronutrients you need. Eat the "rainbow". See the following article for good info as well as some other good nutritional advise: http://www.niddk.nih.gov/health-information/health-topics/weight-control/myths/Pages/weight-loss-and-nutrition-myths.aspx
- Avoid fad diets. They generally fall in and out of favor, are often not science based, are frequently unsustainable and unrealistic. Stick to basic sound balanced nutritional concepts. You are looking for a sustainable lifestyle change, not a "diet".
- Spread your meals out throughout the day. Don't skip meals. You not only will cause peaks and valleys in blood glucose levels that increase hunger and promote over-eating, but you won't have consisten energy levels as you go through the day. Think it's a good idea to skip breakfast? There's a lot of good science that says you shouldn't: http://www.acefitness.org/acefit/fitness-fact-article/2671/don-t-skip-breakfast-to-cut/ http://www.webmd.com/food-recipes/most-important-meal
- Be accountable. Track what you are eating if necessary. Far too often people lose sight of what their intake really is. Whether you using a tracking program or keep a written log, until you have established a well developed rhythm and pattern to your eating habits, odds are you are eating more during the course of the day than you think. Food tracking keeps you honest. Plus it gives your friends something to laugh at you about so you provide good entertainment value during social outings ;).
- Finally, get daily exercise 5-6 days a week. Make at least 2 days resistance/strength training to maintain or even grow lean muscle tissue as you lose weight. You don't want to be a "skinny fat person". Lean muscle tissue not only assists you with all of your activities of daily living, but also helps to keep your metabolism up. As we age, we naturally lose lean muscle tissue, particularly after age 40. Regular resistance training can not only prevent this but many studies have shown that regular resistance training can build and increase lean muscle tissue in persons over 60 who were previouly sedentary. Get a minimum of 150 minutes per week of moderate cardio exercise or 75 minutes a week of vigorous cardio. Not only are there important health benefits, but there is no better calorie burner than regular cardio.
Sorry if this comes off as pontification or condescending, but sometimes I just want to beat my head against the wall from all the misinformation that is promoted by fad diets and myths. Everything I’ve posted above is based on sound, effective, science based nutritional and weight management concepts. Barring a medical disorder, these concepts work.
It’s unlikely that your body synthesized 4 incremental pounds of flesh in 10 days during which you believe you didn’t eat all that much. That’s a pound every two days. It doesn’t happen…your body can’t build itself or store flesh that quickly.
If you drink a pint of water, you’ll weigh a pound more after that, even though your flesh (and bone) is no more than it was moments earlier. Two pints = two pounds. The point is that body weight varies, and some if depends on what’s “in” you when your measuring. This variance is exacerbated by weighing using lousy scales. The only worthwhile scales are doctors balance scales (craigs list for $100 or less) , or the electronic ones that cost at least $200 or more. All others are rough approximations that should be treated that way.
If you want to monitor your weight, get the right instrument, and weigh yourself regularly at the same time so you can get used to your normal variations. Then you can begin to draw some conclusions. If I’m watching my weight, I weigh every morning before eating, and write it down, and I compare the same days from week to week, since I tend to eat more aggressively on the weekends 
Staying trim and losing weight aint all that easy after you’re up there in age. Good luck.
PS: DMD77 is right about getting used to being hungry, although that hungry feeling will go away after a couple of days.
many thanks for this support/ideas to all of you!
At this point, it appears I have two choices. One is to become a surgeon…in that way, I can justify wearing drawstring pants to work. The other is what you guys are saying. Eat less. Even if its healthy, eat less of it.
The biggest mindset shift I need to make – what worked for 40/50 years (i.e. eating well, working out, and paying literally no attention to my weight) is no longer going to work. I have to change how much I eat…and how much I work out…and that’s the only way to avoid the Fifty 15 (love the poster who said that!).
@MichaelNKat – many thanks for that overview too!
@MichaelNKat – I think your post was excellent and very useful. I may never become a breakfast eater, but agree with and follow everything else. (Well, know that I should be following everything else…)
I don’t like gyms so the weight training never happens. I walk five miles/day at an aggressive pace and then another 10,000 steps of just movement but no weight training.
It’s the ‘calorie in’ aspect I need to work on! Thanks!
@ct1417, you can do very effective resistance training in your home without investing a fortune or significant space resources for equipment. There is a whole world of body weight resistance training that can provide all of the benefits of a gym and can easily be done at home with no equipment, minimalist equipment like a free standing adjustable pull up bar or with suspension training like a TRX that packs in a bag the size of a football and can be mounted virtually anywhere. Dining room table edges, chairs, steps, can all be used as exercise equipment. Body weight training can be used to hit all major muscle groups and functional movement patterns (bending and lifting, pushing, pulling, lunging, rotating) and can be scaled from easy for beginners to very difficult more advanced exercises. It’s great for those over 40 because most of the exercises in some fashion engage your core and they are easier on your tendons and ligaments than slinging weights around. And for those that think that body weight training can’t achieve the results of weight lifting, just look at gymnasts and American Ninja Warrior competitors who are the ultimate in body weight training. Most people will never want or need to go to those extreme’s but they are great examples of just how effective body weight training can be. There are lots of good resources I can recommend on body weight training if you are interested. I would urge you to consider it.
“The only worthwhile scales are doctors balance scales (craigs list for $100 or less) , or the electronic ones that cost at least $200 or more. All others are rough approximations that should be treated that way.”
While I agree with your post in general, this part is not exactly correct. There is avsolutely NO need to spend that much on a bathroom scale. My $20 Costco scales - by different makers - both register the same weight as the doctor’s balance scale (I purposely weigh myself before going to every appointment in the same clothes I have on at the clinic). What they do not do well is weigh objects under 10 pounds like my tortie cat.
Moreover, if one is consistently using the same scale for daily weigh ins, then the actual weight does not matter - the trend does. Plus, tracking a moving average instead of daily fluctuations is a much more reliable approach to weight monitoring.
@MichaelNKat – yes, please, suggest away! Ferrying laundry baskets from the washer on the 2nd floor to the washer in the basement or lugging in 24 packs of Poland Spring water is not quite enough.
I find exercises tedious, as has been the case when needing PT for tennis elbow (which was really a combination of tennis and excess camera shutter & iPhoto cropping abuse).
@michaelnkat please mention the weight training resources
I agree wholeheartedly with that part.
My experience with bathroom scales is that when you shift your weight or bounce once on them the reading changes by as much +/- half to three quarters of a pound. Sure, they’re “about” right, but for people who are looking at what’s happend in the last 24,48, or 72 hours, they’re not good enough. This is one reason why people think they’ve gained x pounds when its not so.
Back to the moving average vs daily fluctutations. I think this idea is important. If I’m on a campaign to drop weight, I set up a calendar type chart, and record my weight in the morning every day. Clothes weigh about four pounds or so, and I’d suggest not having that variance thrown in when you’re ascertaining dieting progress. I compare the same day of the week to what it was last week and the week before. At the end of the week, I write down the high and low weight of the week, and the high three day average for the week. If one does this for a while, you’ll get “in tune” with your natural fluctuations in weight, and you wont put too much emphasis on a short term variance.
I think that weighing yourself very accurately every day is actually a pretty good form of weight control in and of itself.
BTW, alcohol is very deleterious when attempting to lose weight. This is a very regrettable fact. 
“Sure, they’re “about” right, but for people who are looking at what’s happend in the last 24,48, or 72 hours, they’re not good enough.”
There is absolutely zero need to track daily weight fluctuations. Moving average will take care of fluctuations due to empty bladder, a couple of margaritas the evening before, salty dinner, air travel, etc. I highly recommend keeping the scale on a solid, level surface to minimize jiggling due to shifting body. Tile floor works great.
OK so will someone suggest a way to offset my very enjoyable 1-2 bottles of IPA beer at night? There are not enough hours in a day to exercise it away 
I have already cut out bread, desserts, and chocolate. Cannot get rid of the stubborn extra 4 pounds I have put on in the last year. I am 59.
2 bottles of IPA? That’s easy. Run 4-5 miles. Beer is an awesome recovery drink for runners.
For those looking for resources on body weight training, I strongly recommend Your Body is Your Barbell by BJ Gaddour. An excellent guide to the application of progressive overload training principles to body weight training, it also contains very well organized progressions of exercises for each movement pattern and some suggested workout routines. This book is a very good place to start.
I would also suggest going to the TRX website and YouTube where you will find loads of videos demonstrating suspension training exercises and routines. TRX suspension training is very versatile and can be scaled in difficulty and intensity from beginners to extremely fit and strong individuals. TRX is easy to travel with and can be used almost anywhere. I’ve used it in my training studio mounted to ceiling joists, in hotel rooms mounted atop the hotel room door, hoisted up a halyard on the foredeck of a sailboat, in parks attached to trees or playground equipment, and in hotel parking lots attached to industrial light posts.
Another good option is to take a look at the website for Gold Medal Bodies. GMB specializes in movement and skill based body weight training that will build movement based functional strength. They offer several structured programs ranging from floor based exercises through gymnastics rings training. Each program is progressively structured in a very effective manner and you can sequence the programs to meet the fitness and strength needs of neophytes through Cirque du Solleil practitioners.