Calorie input after 55+ It's not shifting!

I'm in my 60s and lost weight with WeightWatchers. I was allowed 28 points daily, plus 7 extra as treats, which could be saved up for a meal out. I did not have the 7 extra. I only lost weight with the 28 points as well as walking and swimming. I agree, for most of us it is hard to lose weight when older.

Yup.

It's hard, but not impossible. This is me on a good day:

Cup tea with ones sugar & splash milk.
Sushi plus yoghurt.

Piece cheese/biscuit/ small nibble.

Main meal such as fish fingers and peas plus another yoghurt.

Something naughty for later - maybe couple of biscuits.

That's it. No alcohol, no snacking,
I'm lazy about exercise and struggle in winter.

Wow we really don't need very much food at all.
Its hard going!
I need two stone off.. ?

Have you had your thyroid checked lately? Hypothyroidism is a common issue in older women and can cause weight gain and fatigue, because it slows metabolism. It can be diagnosed via a simple blood test, and is usually fairly straightforward to treat with medication.

I’ve been using the app My Fitness Pal for the last 7 weeks setting a daily intake of 1200 calories- have been losing 1lb a week. You can scan or search for foods to keep an accurate total - I also log my daily steps which convert to calories( not as many as you might think!). You don’t have to subscribe to use it but need a smart phone. It suits me but my friend prefers SlimmingWorld which doesn’t involve calorie counting.

I’m going to disagree Retiredtravel . I don’t think you’re eating enough or the right stuff to lose weight .

Grampy and I have been to Slimming World for 11 mo this now . He’s lost 4 stone and I’ve lost 2 and we eat loads more than you .

It might be worth looking at that type or programme .

Sushi and yoghurt for breakfast that’s not food ! ?
the amount of food your eating oldgimmer you’re body’s going into starvation mode and hanging on to what ever it can
That’s not a healthy diet at all

I agree! I don’t think that you’re eating enough and not eating the right things.
I’ve found the easiest and simplest way to lose weight is Low Carb, which is basically eating protein with either lots of veg or salad. It’s not boring as there are lots of recipes for this way of eating, which is very popular at the moment.
Cutting out all sugar, pasta, potatoes, cut back or cut out fruit, it’s full of sugar and have only 50g brown rice a day if you need to.
I find it easy as there’s no counting calories or measuring to do.

I've not had my thyroid checked but yes thanks perhaps I should. I'm just not tired so didn't think I could justify asking the GP. I just was of the thinking it's actually grim that we need so little to sustain never mind loose weight.
I think too I'm so aware that it's ultimately take in more than we burn and its going no where. I'm guessing that even on the days I'm doing a couple hours of moderate walking or cycling im using 1500 calories tops. I think my non exercise days it must be about 1000 to 1200...
Does that sound way out or roughly right........

I decided a few weeks ago that I had to lose weight to alleviate the pain of arthritis. I have been doing the low carb high fat diet ( it helps that my OH does this to deal with type 2 diabetes; now in remission) . So far I have lost about 7 kilos. I only eat within an 8 hour window . I walk the dog and am reasonably active despite having arthritis. I think I have been on this for about 3-4 weeks so I am pleased with things so far. I also feel that low carb is more sustainable for me , whether it would suit you I can't say but would suggest giving it a try.

RetiredTravel I agree with pp that you are not eating enough and not eating the right food. Try checking a dieting book and you will find what you need.

I’m another who needs to lose a couple of stone. I’ve tried the 5:2 without success, hate SW with syns and WW with points. Every meal was like a bluddy maths lesson!

Anyway yesterday I saw the practice nurse for my routine blood pressure check. I was delighted it was normal. I mentioned needing to lose some weight and she has strongly suggested looking on line at the British Heart Foundation website.

I’m going to check it out today.

The NHS Choices website has a healthy eating plan designed to help you lose weight with all the up to date information included and its free. Basically its a 1400 calorie a day diet (use Myfitnesspal- a free calorie counter app). You should get three good meals and a couple of snacks out of that if you do some light exercise (150 mins a week is recommended)- plenty of fruit and veg to fill you up.

I think that you have to get into the right mindset before you can lose weight. I tried for ages, as my weight crept up. I ate fairly healthily, and didn’t eat big portions. I don’t drink alcohol, or take sugar in my drinks. I’m not ‘into’ takeaways, and don’t eat a lot of meat. However, I ate too much bread (it’s not the bread that puts on weight, but what goes on or with it) I also didn’t eat much fruit and veg. My weakness was cake, biscuits, chocolate and sweets. Once it was bought, I couldn’t help but eat it all, making a pig of myself.
I had been having a lot of pain in my hip and knee. Weighing almost 12 stone, at only 5ft tall didn’t help. Last May I got a new hip. Hauling myself about on crutches was the turning point, and I decided that the excess weight had to go.
The new rule is - no fattening goodies in the house at all. The first few weeks were hard, but now I don’t miss the sugar rush I used to get. I allow myself the occasional small slice of cake, or a couple of biscuits if I’m at a coffee morning, or suchlike, but find that I can now take it, or leave it. I buy a loaf, and freeze it in separate batches of a few slices, and now eat very little bread. Otherwise, I eat normally, just avoiding anything fried, or too fatty. Frylight spray is a useful tool, instead of cooking oil.
Breakfast is either two Shredded wheat, or just a bowl of citrus fruit. Lunch could be two boiled eggs and a slice of toast, a healthy sandwich or a bowl of home made veggie soup. I make a big batch of soup, throwing in about a dozen different kinds of veg, and freeze portions. Tasty, healthy, and low-calorie. My evening meal could be a salad, or a smallish portion of meat or fish with vegetables and perhaps a few potatoes. If I feel hungry between meals I slice up an apple and take my time eating it, or have a low-fat portion of Dairylea, or similar, on a few crackers. You don’t have to starve to lose weight.
I have joined our local Slimming World, because going along to get weighed every week is a great incentive to stick at it. I don’t feel the need to ‘stick to their plan’, but it is a very healthy way to lose weight, and you never go hungry. They also have an exercise hour afterwards, which I enjoy. I have also started aqua aerobics, which is helping to strengthen my muscles around the new hip.
Since starting my new regime, ten weeks ago, I have taken off 16 pounds, and feel much healthier and fitter. A pound or two a week is what I aim for, not a quick and unsustainable plummet! I no longer crave sweet things, but I know, from previous experience, that it’s so easy to ‘fall off the wagon’ by starting to buy them again. I hope that, this time, the weight will stay off.
Good luck, Retired Travel. Find your moment, and make a start, and I hope that the pounds will start to slip away. I am 80, and hope that getting down to a healthy weight (at least another stone) will help to prolong my mobility and longevity.

There are probably two different types of would-be slimmers on GN. The younger ones still with children at home and more energy for an active lifestyle, and the older ones who lack the energy or motivation to move around much and can, therefore, exist on a smallish amount of food without getting hungry.

It would be harder for the younger ones to lose weight. They still have the physical need for more calories from whatever source.

I find I no longer crave cake. I eat much less these days all round. I don't seem to lose much weight. Sometimes a little.

I am 78.

The diet industry is a multi million pound industry, the reason being that dieting doesn't work, and there are lots of return customers!

I found to lose weight (was pre diabetic and arthritic) required permanent changes in eating habits and lifestyle.

Walking, even short distances daily I found helps, also cutting down on bread, pasta, rice and a lot of cakes and biscuits and other carb laden foods. I do drink beer.

I lost weight 3 years ago, am no longer pre diabetic, and haven't regained the weight.

The OP asks for advice from GNrs of a similar age, but doesn't say how old she is. There is a huge difference between the dietary needs of a fifty year old and someone in their seventies/eighties/ nineties.

I have finally found a diet that works for me, but it is brutal. Being vertically challenged, I have researched and found that eating more than 1100 calories a day will make me put on weight.

I had put on more than two stone since I was 50, (before that I could eat anything I liked and never rose above 7st 3lb) and whilst I would not want to lose all that because my face would fall in, I needed to get back to a BMI of under 25.

My current diet enables me to lose just 1lb a week, but it does work. I have tried all the organisations, and although I might lose more than that the first week, after that the weight loss stops.

I don't eat breakfast, but do have coffee (no sugar in drinks) mid morning. Lunch is a Batchelor's cup a soup because I like them and there are several varieties. Will have a pint of water or sugar free squash as well. At some point during the day I will have two tablespoonsful of orange juice and one tablespoon of olive oil, which the hospital told me I have to take. One Cup of tea mid afternoon, and then my main meal, small portion of meat, fish, veggie dish, with two veggies but no carbohydrate. No pudding, but I do have a cup of coffee afterwards.

As I said, brutal, but for me the only thing I have found that works consistently.

Metabolism changes after menopause. I couldn't believe how much weight I gained. I've never been a big eater either. I tried the 5:2 thing. It worked wonders on my husband who is back to the weight he was in his early 30s. I followed it religiously and stayed at the same weight after an initial loss of a couple of pounds. My GP says it doesn't work for some people, typically women.

My typical day starts with one or two cups of fresh coffee with milk (before 8am) . I've never eaten breakfast, not since puberty, as eating first thing makes me feel sluggish and bloated. I have a piece of fruit (usually an apple or a pear) or some wholemeal toast & marmite between 12:00 and 1:30.
I don't like chocolate, biscuits or sweets. I don't buy crisps or suchlike.
I cook the tea and it's done & dusted by about 7pm. It's always cooked from scratch now I'm retired. When we were both working full time we did have one or two takeaways a week, usually curry. I can't remember the last time we had a takeaway. Not for at least five years, anyway. No need, I'm never too knackered to cook these days and my curries are excellent, if I say so myself. Not swimming in oil like a takeaway, either.

We eat meat a maximum of twice a week but often not at all, fish once a week but the bulk of our diet is plant based. I cook a roast about three or four times a year. We don't have fry-ups more than two or three times a year, typically at Christmas or birthdays. An evening meal might be a green salad, pasta with garlic, a bit of olive oil, and chopped fresh parsley & chillies.
We don't drink much alcohol or juices. The bulk of our liquid intake is water or tea, often without milk unless it's British Rail type tea.
My vice used to be cheese but when my cholesterol readings were almost off the scale in my forties I knocked that one on the head and cheese is now a rare treat because of the fat & salt content. Just how many calories are in statins?

I'm not on HRT. I reacted very badly to the pill back in the 70s so I avoid anything hormonal. I always became slightly bonkers during pregnancy as well and I certainly never glowed with health but glowed with livid all-over acne. It would disappear within a fortnight of giving birth.

I have calorie-counting, points calculating friends and frankly it rules their lives and it bores me to tears. If I go out for a coffee with friends I don't want a preamble that looks like a maths tests showing all their working. It's so tedious. I wouldn't care but I don't even like cake. Just drink the damn coffee and talk about something else because talk of calories, LighterLife & Weight Watchers makes me want to set fire to the tablcloth and leave without a backward glance.

I've just resigned myself to being an endomorph.
My GP says from a medical point of view, knowledge is largely confined to white men because they're almost always those who take part in medical trials because it's believed that pesky stuff like periods will mess up the results. Almost no research is done on menopausal women at all. Basically women's bodies are as little-studied as the Mariana Trench. We may be over 50% of the population but as far as medical research goes we may as well be invisible.

I'm another who adopted the Low Carb, High Fat way of eating nearly 4 years ago. Altogether, I lost nearly two stones over the first year, had more energy, and as I was almost pre-diabetic (not quite!), blood sugar levels are very stable.
My feeling is that it's much easier than calorie counting, and the weight starts to drop off very quickly. But you have to be fairly disciplined, and not fall into temptation too often. A bonus is that you lose your sweet tooth, and don't crave cakes and bikkies, and you rarely feel hungry.
It's also supposed to help with blood pressure and cholesterol levels, according to some cardiologists.

Thanks all so much for taking the time to reply..

Gonegirl....You're correct I should have said ; I'm 56..

I am a similar age to you. I have a full time very physical job, I walk to and from work every day I go to the gym 3 times a week and run on the treadmill for 25 minutes.
That is an active lifestyle I think, I cannot take in more than 1500 calories without putting on weight. Prior to the menopause I could have 2500 and not gain a pound.☹️
That is how that situation makes me feel!!

Yes Scentia what you're describing is no surprise to me. I cycle probably around minimum. 50 miles over a week and am up and out. I do sit alot at night watching the TV however.

The difference from even 10 years ago is really very obvious to me.

Hey ho I'm very fortunate to be fit and well but my goodness I never ever thought weight loss would be such a challenge..

? I'm kicking my self for over eating in the first place!

Those of you taking the low carb approach - do you eat low carb bread etc? I’m thinking of giving it a go but I’d struggle to give up carbs completely so had thought about going for the low carb stuff the supermarkets sell.