Wow BunsenBurner, that might be a motivating reason for me to start running so late in life!
I was obviously kidding about running 4 miles. Alcohol does affect one’s metabolism, so even if you drop an equal number of calories that the beer is supposed to have, you might be still gaining weight around midriff.
http://www.m.webmd.com/diet/features/the-truth-about-beer-and-your-belly
@MichaelNKat your post reflects everything I have learned. I used the Livestrong tracking for about a year. For me about 1500 calories a day was a sweet spot where I lost about 1/2 a pound a week for a long time and then gradually less as I got thinner. I lost about 35 pounds and kept it off until last year, until a broken toe, a death in the family, and a bunch of holidays conspired to have me fall off the wagon. I weighed food for a while, I know now what size portion I need. I eat a little more on the weekend and drink wine with my dinner - I nearly always weigh more on Monday than Friday. I weigh more in the evening than the morning. I weigh more after eating dinner in a restaurant for a couple of days.
For me, by far the biggest culprit, is not getting the excercise I should. I really find weight training is a huge help. Even fifteen minutes makes a difference. I do two sets of real push ups every day. I have kettle balls and dumb bells in the basement. I can do two sets of squats, two arm things and two kettleball swings without getting so sweaty I need to change clothes, but enough that I’m a little out of breath. On the weekend dh and I go to the gym together.
I’m in BunsenBurner’s camp on this weighing thing. Getting weighed everyday gives you very little useful information. Daily fluctuations occur for a broad variety of reasons that have nothing to do with actual weight changes and body composition. Getting weighed every day is often an exercise in frustration that undermines confidence in your weight management program. what you are looking for is trending in the right direction more than absolute weight on any given day. I recommend to all of my clients that they get weighed once a week, at the same time and under he same conditions. Moreover, weight alone doesn’t tell how your body is changing. Body dimension measurements and for those that are interested body composition testing should be combined with weight to give you a more complete picture. You can lose 10 lbs of fat and gain 5 lbs of muscle and be achieving far more health and body shape goal success than simply losing 10 lbs.
I haven’t read the thread, so sorry it this has already be said.
Change to no desserts and vegetables instead of fruit. Also no carbs or fats. Lean meats and proteins in small portions and vegetables only.
For me, the middle aged weight gain turn around when I really examined what I was eating. What worked for me was protein, protein, protein, no calorie drinks (plain iced tea, fruit flavored carbonated and plain old ice water) and CONSTANT vigilance. I don’t think I lead a deprived food life but I am always weighing my options. Last night DH asked if I wanted a gin and tonic, I decided I wanted to have an ice cream bar instead. Peanut butter is a God send for me. A spoonful quells most of my salty or sweet cravings. I know my overeating triggers (salty and crunchy) and don’t have those things around the house.
The other thing I noticed is that I look much better since I updated my wardrobe and dressed for my changing body, I am not over weight but things have definitely moved around. If I try something on and am not sure if it is flattering, I send a quick pic to one of my daughters. They are brutal judges! (less)
You know what, @MichaelNKat, I’m calling BS on that whole concept. It’s just not that simple.
Fat people are not too stupid to figure out what they need to do and not too weak to just do it. I’ve lost more weight in my life othan most people have gained, and I haven’t really ever changed my basic average weight. I’m sorry, you’re not going to convince me that if everyone, with adjustments for weight and age, ate the same thing and exercised the same, we’d all weigh the same. And every time they identify some rat gene or mutation that affects metabolism and weight, I know there are effects we don’t yet understand on body weight. So unless you call individual differences “medical issues,” sorry, but just no.
“And every time they identify some rat gene or mutation that affects metabolism and weight, I know there are effects we don’t yet understand on body weight.”
Those rat gene studies a dime a dozen. I have cured rats of cancer many times, but we have yet to eradicate human cancer.
If you truly track your vitals such as BMR and heart rate, you can come up with a number of calories that your body actually burns vs. what you think it burns. For a person of my size and fitness, I have to run 5 miles and lift weights 30 min every freakin’ day in addition to walking 4 miles to simply burn 2,000 calories. I am fit cardiovascularly - and that is the issue.
Try to weigh every bit of food you eat and log your caloric intake without relying on what the packages say… It is an eye opener. Log your actual caloric burn during exercise and not what the machine says… it is an even bigger eye opener. Most people underestimate the calories they take in and overestimate the calories they burn… the result is obvious. It was definitely an eye opener for me.
Ouch! Really, my avatar is not my best side!!! :))
My DL photo is a good example of that “obvious.” I am 15 years older than that damn photo yet I weigh 20% less.
My avatars have maintained their weight because I ration their food. Hill’s perfect weight diet. High in protein! My cat who is not pictured went from 15 lb to 12. Here you go, an animal study! 
All people get fed (ha!) a lot of misinformation from supposed nutrition experts. For years, I ate a low-fat diet, thinking that was what I should be doing to lose weight. It turns out that what I probably did by consuming all that low-fat (high carb) bread, cereal, pasta, etc. was eat my way into a state of insulin resistance. A few years ago (at age 45ish) I lost 40 pounds in about a year, by cutting way back on carbs, keeping track of what I ate (myfitnesspal), and increasing overall activity. I have mostly kept it off (although some unrelated health issues have caused some ups and downs), and someday I will master strength training.
I’ve always been tall and skinny (I apologize in advance for my genetics-I do have some crappy genes too), but I gained 80 lbs with the first kid, lost 60, then 19 mo later had the second kid after gaining 64, then lost that too, so I am aware of what being overweight feels like.
I’m now 46 and my husband is 48, and we’ve noticed that some things work really well for both of us, and some things work better for me than for him.
I am good at fasting, and I can go along being hungry without really noticing except that everyone around me tells me that I’m being really b****y. DH really struggles with fasting and just can’t do it. I don’t starve myself; I follow some of the rules about semi-fasting once or twice a week non-consecutively (500 calorie days) and not eating after 7 pm. You don’t want to jack up your metabolism, but aligning your eating patterns with how our ancestors ate seems to work really well for me. Cave girls didn’t always have cookies at hand.
He is really good at Crossfit. He started about a year and a half ago and was the oldest, least fit guy in the “box” (what they call their gyms). He really lucked out and happened upon a very supportive, low-pressure gym, and now has a bunch of guys his age doing the workout regularly with him. He now has an awesome support group as well as friends from this, and I can’t stress how good that has been for him (he’s an introvert). His numbers are really good now, and he looks amazing. So hot!
I suck at Crossfit, and I don’t like it. I play tennis and walk and do yoga. Yoga does NOTHING for my weight (even the hot yoga where I sweat like a crazy person), but it makes me feel better in my head and body, so there’s that. I’m able to maintain with about 4 hours of tennis a week and 5-10k steps a day walking according to my Fitbit. My chihuahua is super fit from all the walking.
Oh, DH hates the Fitbit and never uses his. I live and die by mine.
We don’t drink soda. We don’t eat processed foods. I cook from scratch. I don’t use artificial sweeteners. We aren’t big carb people, although we’re not paleo because paleo does not work for either of us (helloooo constipation!) We eat a lot of vegetables. A LOT. Lot of yogurt and kefir.
We do eat out, but we watch our portion size. DH lost 22 lbs when he gave up the free sodas at work about 10 years ago. It sounds like it’s really hard to do, and it is hard to make lifestyle changes. Go slow. Take baby steps and be ok with messing up. I made brownies last night after deciding a few days ago to try and not do added sugar in our food after reading about how Americans eat 100 lbs of ADDED sugar a year and we should be eating about 4. Yeah, I may not win that battle, but with my morning tea I did get used to drinking with just 2% milk and no added sugar.
I recently pretty much completely cut out white wine, and that’s been brutal for me since our two teenage girls can really stress me out, but I’m trying to see if not drinking it makes a difference in getting to my target weight-I gained about 8 lbs last fall on two cruises (and had been drinking about a glass of wine a night), and I’m trying to get back to the target weight. Since I cut out alcohol, I’m much meaner, but I’m 4 lbs down in about a month and I sleep better.
We have a good scotch every now and then, though, as a special treat rather than part of a meal.
Definitely get a full workup from your doctor, both so you can rule out anything wrong and so you can track your better numbers as you work out and eat better. It’s pretty rewarding to see that needle move on your health, and not have your jeans try to suffocate you when you zip them up.
@scoutsmom, apparently you didn’t read everything I wrote closely. Like I said, you do need to know your base metabolic rate which varies for each individual. As to individual differences about how people react to foods, seems to me that this falls squarely in the realm of metabolic and endocrin issues that I noted. And the reality is that barring diseases, metabolic issues and endocrin system issues, for most people, the real problem is that they don’t actually know what their caloric needs are, how much they are eating, how much they are burning, sound nutritional concepts and the impact of how what they eat impacts on how their bodies process food. Instead they fall prey to misinformation and fad diets. Like low or no fat. Or low or no carbs. Or eat this miracle Dr Oz fruit. Or any of the myriad of real BS that is out there. I stand by my comments which are grounded in science based concepts of biology, physiology, nutrition and behavior change.
Just one data point, but at the beginning of 2015, I started a vigorous walking program and a clean healthy diet and lost 10 lbs quickly, then got stuck. It wasn’t until I started strength training that I got unstuck. It’s not just the pounds lost, but I feel better than I have in many years, and I’m toned for the first time in my adult life.
Yes, it seems that there is far too much focus on weight and not enough focus on body composition. I wonder how many people start exercising and gain some muscle, but are then disappointed because the number on the scale did not go down because they gain more muscle than they lost fat, even though the actual result of more muscle and less fat is beneficial.
^^I use both the scale and how my jeans fit. When it’s the height of tennis season I’ll have more lean muscle mass from all the running around the court, and my jeans will be tighter on my thighs but looser elsewhere. I’ll also be a few lbs heavier, and I can do the side-plank easier in yoga because my arms are beast! I still can’t touch my toes, though. Around the holidays when it’s hard to walk outside, not tennis, and there is pie everywhere I’ll be about the same weight, but pretty squishy feeling.
Working out keeps you in touch with your body-it REALLY lets you know when you suck at something. DH pulled a muscle in his back at Crossfit back in Feb and had to take 5 weeks off to heal. It sucked when he started up again because he was SO sore after the first week of starting back. Getting fit is an absolute misery at times-you just want to crawl into a bottle of Advil. But it gets better.
Our motto is hurt now, or hurt later (ie when you’re old and your bones are goo from not doing strength training).
I pay more attention to how clothes feel and fit than the scale. I actually rarely go on the scale (except at MD appts) and have been pretty stable. I did have to adjust my rating to eat smaller portions once I hit age 40 to avoid gaining unwanted inches. I prefer taking in fewer calories over exercising like a fiend.
My docs want me to walk 10,000 steps a day. I walked A LOT more than usual when we were attending a conference in SF, but I don’t believe it affected my weight (or the fit of my clothing) at all. I’ve mostly given up beverages other than plain water because I prefer to eat (rather than drink) my calories.
Sadly, having a chronic health condition that makes your body work really hard to breathe helps keep weight in check, but it’s definitely not a recommended method, by any means! 
However, when checking how well your clothes fit, be careful about trusting the size labels.
http://www.esquire.com/style/mens-fashion/a8386/pants-size-chart-090710/
My elderly mother broke her leg in 2012 and has never been the same, physically or mentally. The chain of events which ended in my elderly dad’s death two years ago began with a broken ankle. Both used to do lots of cardio but no strength training. So I see the value in lifting weights, far beyond my pants fitting better (though that is nice too).
Agree to that clothing sizing for women continues to be totally inconsistent. Mostly, I check on how fitted clothing in my closet continues to fit, rather than new purchases.