Weight loss in older age-groups

margaretclare

Mrs_pbradley936 wrote: »

I like this approach to slimming:
http://www.wellnessresources.com/weight/articles/the_five_rules_of_the_leptin_diet/

Thank you for this. I read it with interest. It's more or less what I do, except that in this house we rarely eat dinner. We usually have something around tea-time but only if we're going out for a special occasion do we have 'dinner'. We always have a protein-based breakfast.

I agree that snacking is the big baddie, and it is something which has only come about in the last 20 years or so. We never used to snack to the extent that is possible now.

We were away Saturday to Sunday, and on the way up to the Midlands we bought sandwiches and fruit in Waitrose at the motorway services. I couldn't eat both my egg-and-cress sandwiches - stopping when I'd had enough as the man says! - but ate it on the way back. Some of the places we tried to stop on the way back there wasn't a Waitrose or M&S, which seem to be the only places you can get fruit. DH got a 'Meal Deal' at one of them which consisted of sandwiches, crisps and water (he could have had a fizzy drink) but no fruit! The only fruit available at all was in the form of iced smoothies from McD's.

The MSE connection - it's possible to get cheap 'meal deals' or 'don't cook, just eat' type of deals, but possibly they are *too* cheap. We keep getting flyers through the door offering 'meal deals' of pizza, pitta bread, chips and a fizzy drink. Well, if I ever ate pizza I wouldn't want all the other carbs that go with it - as the man says, we need some carbs but not to that extent. I think that would be a terrible way to eat. I also agree about the evening snacking, and that is just when you get the TV ads for chocolate, ice-cream, you name it. It's very clever of course, subliminal marketing. But I don't need it!

One thing I may have been doing wrong is not drinking enough. Must drink more water.

ariba10

~Chameleon~ wrote: »

Sorry, cant read huge chunks of texts. I know you're a valuable poster so please learn how to post effectively xxx

You could attend night classes?

margaretclare

JackieO wrote: »

I have been reading through the different mails and have found it very interesting . Until I was in my 40s (a good while ago now ) I was 5'4" and 9.5st wet through.Then I had a hysterecomy and the weight started to creep on gradually over a period of time.I retired 19 years ago and it had piled on a bit more by then.

I lost my dear OH almost 11 years ago and it went down slightly for a few months then started creeping back on by the year almost. I never really noticed it much as I look after four of my grandchildren before and after school and so am kept quite busy.

I went through a mastectomy in 2007 with chemo and r/therapy and various treatments that lasted a year and by that time I was far less mobile than I used to be as my joints were also not working very well due to osteo-arthritis.

Last year I had the all clear from the breast cancer (you don't get that until you have finished the drug therapy and five year are clear from MRI's and bone scans etc ) I saw the plastic surgeon in August and he said he would do a three part reconstruction for me if I could lose the weight Apparently he wouldn't do any surgery until I had got my BMI down (46) as it was dangerously high and a general aenasthetic was too dangerous. Having been weighed I was shocked at how much I had gained over the years. Over double my weight from the age of 43 !!!I was found to be 18st 7lbs !!! I looked like a weeble :)

I went to see the diet nurse at my local Drs surgery and bless her she was wonderful.I came home with lots of good advice and a regular weight weigh-in once a week at first then fortnightly.I have since lost in total 2st.7lbs and feel so much better for it .

7 weeks ago I had my first of three ops for the reconstruction.My Dr was so pleased at how I had done, and stuck to the sensible eating plan ,no fancy foods or special meals just lots of fruit and veg gallons of water and three meals a day .I don't snack between meals and gave up bread altogether.I have bran flakes and a banana for breakfast Lunch is usually HM soup and crackers (I put low fat soft cheese instead of butter on the crackers with a sliced tomato on top).Dinner is usually either a large salad with lots of green veg ,beetroot and chopped peppers for flavour (I find someimes salads can be a bit bland so instead of salad cream I add a dollop of sweet chilli sauce (not too much though :))

Pudding is usually fresh fruit salad or as yesterday I had some chopped apple mixed with plain low-fat yoghurt.

I eat steamed fish with large quantities of steamed veg and have a sardine salad at least once a week for the oil which is good for my joints.I am still losing around a lb+ a week and as the diet nurse said aim to lose 12 lb in 12 weeks if you can as losing it gradually will help to keep it off.

I no longer finish up the DGC's left over bits and I am very careful about stuff now where I used to just throw it on the plate and scoff almost on the run as I do lead quite a busy life (for a retired lady I have five different clubs that I go to as well and the children to look after )I think that when you find what works well for the individual then stick to it.

I certainly will never be that weight again and it may take me a year or so but it is going to come off.If I have a family function to go to or a Christmas I may eat a little more but last Christmas I actually went to several family 'do's' and in January had still lost 2lb. Also as I lost the weight I got rid of my 'fat' clothes so there is no way I am going to go back to the size I was My BMI is now 35 and its still high but its slowly coming down

Weight can creep on as you get older and less mobile.It so easy to comfort eat when you feel down or a bit fed up with life and think that a cream doughnut will cheer you up.Its easy to gain weight and hard to lose it but its so well worth it when you feel so much better.

I find my joints hurt less than they did as I'm not carrying two and a half stone around extra on them.I feel far more alert and energised than I did 6 months ago.So if you really want to do it ,you are the only person who can make that start and with effort and determination it can be done I did mine to get my body back and to stop looking and feeling like a blob.If I can do it, anyone can

Good luck to anyone who wants to give it a go.It took a long time to get that big and it won't come off overnight.There is no quick fix its a long term objective.
Hope this has helped some of you a little bit

Cheers JackieO xxx

I've just paragraphed this for the benefit of Chameleon.

insured

Although I am only in my 50s some of these comments ring true with me also.
Because of an accident I have not been as mobile and active as I one was and the weight started to creep on me over the last few years.
I have a life limiting condition and probably will not survive another 15 years, so I really want to make the best of my time left, so I made a determined effort last year to lose my excess weight.
I was always slim to the point of being too thin at one stage.
Believe it or not, it is much more difficult to gain weight than to lose it. A doctor friend of mine told me in fact, that, generally speaking, if you find it difficult to gain weight, you would also find it difficult to lose weight.
It was hard work, and it really was just shoving less food down my face. Its as easy and as hard as that.
Its not about controlling carbs, not eating after 5pm, or anything like that. Its just about eating less than you need.
I don't understand however, all of these diets which are written in pseudo medical terms saying now that now carbs are bad and protein is fantastic and all you have to do is eat less carbs, is, why during the war, when protein was scarce, why was no one overweight and everyone was supposed to be healthier.

JackieO wrote: »

I have been reading through the different mails and have found it very interesting . Until I was in my 40s (a good while ago now ) I was 5'4" and 9.5st wet through.Then I had a hysterecomy and the weight started to creep on gradually over a period of time.I retired 19 years ago and it had piled on a bit more by then.
. Over double my weight from the age of 43 !!!I was found to be 18st 7lbs !!! I looked like a weeble :) I went to see the diet nurse at my local Drs surgery and bless her she was wonderful.I came home with lots of good advice and a regular weight weigh-in once a week at first then fortnightly.I have since lost in total 2st.7lbs and feel so much better for it .


Cheers JackieO xxx

I have read many of your posts Jackie and always had a mental picture of you being very glamorous and trim.
You seem to have such an active and full life, and seem to combine being a doting grandmother with having such a full life of your own. You seem to have such a young outlook.
I am surprised now to see you have weight problems!
My image of you has been shattered!
Best wishes anyway with reconstruction surgery and weight loss. You sound determined and seem like the type of person where nothing gets in your way.

margaretclare

I don't understand however, all of these diets which are written in pseudo medical terms saying now that now carbs are bad and protein is fantastic and all you have to do is eat less carbs, is, why during the war, when protein was scarce, why was no one overweight and everyone was supposed to be healthier.

It could be because everyone was much more active as a matter of course. Few people had cars, and most of us walked or cycled everywhere.

What people ate was 'food', mostly locally-grown, not industrially-processed, not laden with additives which you can't spell or pronounce, and there was little or no snacking. Sweets for instance - I can remember the sweet ration being 4 ounces a week. Rationing started in the early days of the war but continued up until the mid-50s, something like 15 years of rationing whereas the war lasted 5 years. We hadn't acquired the American habits of eating. When the US troops arrived they were used to much more food than we were used to. It really was a different lifestyle in those years.

Errata

What MC says. Additionally the washing was done with a dolly tub and a mangle, carpets were cleaned with a manual carpet sweeper, rugs were thrown on the washing line and beaten, allotments were fully used and veg grown in the garden: all physical exercise.
A packet of crisps was a special treat and I was six years old before I saw an apricot, which I wouldn't have anything to do with because it was covered in fur!

Mrs_pbradley936

During the war and for a long time after with the rationing people could not have huge portions, second helpings or snacks.


You only need to modify your diet if it is causing you to gain or maintain an unhealthy weight. All of the tips and fads are aimed at making restriction as painless as possible.


I dislike fruit but I like vegetables and salad so I don't think I will succumb to scurvy.