How can I lose weight when I've been dieting for 40+ years?

littlegreenparrot

It is a very common recommendation that people shouldn't be eating under 1200 calories a day, unless of course there is a specific medical reason.

I would suggest a different approach, raise the calories to 1200 - 1500 and increase activity.
So you are maintaining a deficit but achieving it differently.
Building more muscle mass can change your shape, and it also changes your metabolism, it requires more calories to sustain it.

It doesn't have to be hard core gym stuff, yoga, swimming, hiking, will all help.

What you're doing isn't working, so a change must be worth a go?

Lucyjoanne

I don’t know about you, but I HATE exercise. So, I try to do ‘incidental’ exercise- walk most places, dog walking, taking the longest route. Soon those habits become normal, and it doesn’t feel like exercise.

Bulking up meals with veggies helps, so a bolognaise with half mince, half mushroom mince.

The body runs on carbs, as these convert into sugar to give you energy, so I strongly suggest not cutting out carbs. Go brown for everything, brown rice, pasta, etc. Find out where your weaknesses are for carbs - for my mum she can’t just have two slices of bread, so she doesn’t have it at all.

elljay

Apologies for the lack of response - I've had no phone or internet for the last couple of days - the joys of living in the middle of nowhere!

I really appreciate all of your responses, incredibly helpful and it's nice to know I'm not the only one. I try to do 2 or 3 of the walk a mile from home videos on youtube and also 2 or 3 exercise snacking routines a day. At my age I'm concerned about losing strength as well as weight. I also do a fair bit of heavy gardening, lugging logs about for the burner and so on. Probably not enough so I need to look at this more. I've never been to a gym and anyway the nearest town is about 9 miles away so I shall spare others the sight of my flab bouncing away!

I do really struggle with SW and WW - people I know have lost with them but always put it back on. These companies' business models make profits from peoples vulnerability and I don't want to be part of that. A friend was telling me she can eat as much pasta as she likes as it's free food. How can that be? The video and the associated comments recommended by Anoneemoose were interesting as they confirmed my gut feelings about this. And I'm a very 'question everything' type of person! I've had a good look at the SW 7 day plan, it's not dissimilar to what I already eat but much higher carbs.

Anyway, off my high horse, I ate about 150 more cals a day over the past couple of days and today I weigh 14st4.4. Depressing. However I'll stick with it and make myself a proper exercise plan then weigh again in a week to get a proper view. Working from home doesn't help but at least I don't have a corner shop tempting me to pop out for chocolate or an expensive coffee etc! Which I probably would in a town.

Again thank you for all of the ideas which I've taken to heart and will look into more. Some of the boards on here are so lovely and supportive!

XXX EJ

calleyw

EJ,

At it's most basic it is eating less calories than your body needs. But 1200 is too low.

Too lose weight you need to being doing between 12K-15K steps a day. Weight training is good for you as muscle burns more calories than fat and also makes you look good and you can be heavier than you think but because muscle takes up less space than fat you look slimmer. Don't be afraid to go to the gym. Don't worry about others just do your stuff and leave. I am lucky to have my partner as my gym buddy.

I don't work for his guy and get nothing for recommending him but if you have face book, look up RH Fitness. He is running a business £19 joining fee and £5 a month. But he sets your calories and steps and you eat normal food. He is blunt and he does swear sometimes but he does talk sense and he is right if you want it you will put the work in to achieve it. Its hard as we all know and I can't talk as I a very heavy but I am slowly working my ways towards sorting my stuff out.

All the best

Yours

Calley x

maman

Pleased you found the discussion helpful elljay.


I suggested looking at the SW 7 day menu as you said you didn't want to pay money to slimming clubs to lose weight. Obviously, trying the menu is free. As calley said, you're probably not having enough calories which explains why you eat SW type food but with fewer carbs.


The point that you've raised today about preying on vulnerability is a different issue for me. A corollary of that is that many overweight people are vulnerable because of their relationship with food. Or perhaps, more likely, some other issue which manifests itself in a poor relationship with food such as 'comfort eating'. It's this, to me, which is behind why people who have some success with SW give up or regain the weight lost. The other issues which lead them to put weight on are still there and it's too much for them to focus on healthy eating and deal with their other ongoing problems at the same time.


So, yes, many overweight people can be vulnerable but SW is trying to offer them a simple, healthy structured solution to lose that weight. I think that's preferable to the cynical way that many shops market junk food, sweets, chocolates, fizzy drinks etc. which probably costs far more than the £5 a week of SW;).


Interesting thread.

flea72

Thre is no such thing as starvation mode. Weightloss is all down to a calorie deficit - eat less than you use. If you really were eating 700 calories a day, and doing 6000 steps, you would be losing weight, or not getting to 14st in the first place

A slice of homemade sough dough bread, would be C180 kcal on its own.

You say you upped your calorie intake by 150, and in 3 days gained 2lb. 1lb of fat is equivalent to 3500 kcal, so the maths isnt right somewhere.

weighing yourself daily is not productive, it doesnt allow for fluctations in water retention, weight of food eaten, bladder/bowel empty/full. Weighing once a month, is more than adequate, to keep a realistic track. Even better is a tape measure. If your belly/butt is getting smaller then the fat is reducing, no matter what the scales say

Anoneemoose

https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/debunking-the-calorie-myth

Anoneemoose

flea72 wrote: »

Thre is no such thing as starvation mode. Weightloss is all down to a calorie deficit - eat less than you use. If you really were eating 700 calories a day, and doing 6000 steps, you would be losing weight, or not getting to 14st in the first place

A slice of homemade sough dough bread, would be C180 kcal on its own.

You say you upped your calorie intake by 150, and in 3 days gained 2lb. 1lb of fat is equivalent to 3500 kcal, so the maths isnt right somewhere.

weighing yourself daily is not productive, it doesnt allow for fluctations in water retention, weight of food eaten, bladder/bowel empty/full. Weighing once a month, is more than adequate, to keep a realistic track. Even better is a tape measure. If your belly/butt is getting smaller then the fat is reducing, no matter what the scales say

There is such a thing as starvation mode, although it’s likely not always as envisaged in dieting situations.

https://youtu.be/jn0Ygp7pMbA

The video I posted above explains what happens to our bodies when we don’t feed them enough. The Calorie in/out simplistic approach has long been proven to be flawed.

trailingspouse

Can I just suggest another way of looking at it?


You eat a healthy diet (although it's always worth double checking that it really is as healthy as you think it is!)
You are reasonably active (although again, always worth checking that you're as active as you think you are)



So maybe 14stone is just the weight you are meant to be. We're none of us identical. The important thing is being as fit as you can be, and eating as healthily as you can - your body will then work out for itself what size it should be. There's a woman that goes to the gym with me - she's a 'larger lady', but she regularly runs 1/2 marathons. Size really isn't everything.

Helpfulmum

Totally understand where you're coming from with this. Weight loss and women's health programmes designed to get you slim and confident actually just thrive on your negative thoughts and give you so much bad advice.
In fact, dieting often puts your body into starvation mode and just makes everything more complicated.

I've been feeling much better in my body since I found Stella Ralfini (dot co dot uk). Her approach is much more well-rounded and she talks about beauty and wellness and self care and health with weightloss being a factor.

I highly recommend!