Ask Me Help Desk - Cannot seem to lose weight

I am a 63 year old female 5'8"and weigh 175 lbs. I never had a weight problem till I quit smoking 7 years ago (at that time I weighed 140lbs). I have tried many weight lose solutions and nothing works for more than 5 lbs, I do not want to go back to smoking BUT I am so fustrated. I recently retired so I have started walking approximately a mile and a half 4-5 times a week (pending on the weather). I try to watch what I eat and it doesn't seem to matter ( I can eat that bag of chips or not, the weight stays the same). I have been to the doctor and all my lab work is good. I have a house filled with clothes that do not fit... what can I do?

YOu need to make notes of everything... and I do mean everything you eat or drink every day... use online resources to calculate how many calories that ammounts to.

ANd you adjust it... and you will have to change it forever or you will go right back to what you weigh now or even more.

It takes time... because weight gain simply actually is a result of consuming more calories than you use. And that varies from person to person... and even for each person as they get older. Most peoples calorie needs decrease with age.

Since you have already gone through the tests, I can assume you don't have thyroid problems

Its frustrating because it does take time... and the last thing you want to do is take it off fast... because it screws with your metabolism making rebound weight gain is certain thing.

Slow and steady reduction is what you are after... one that won't make your body think there is a famine and slow your metabolism down to conserve body mass... yes that is a genetic survival technique we developed back before recorded history that has remained with us..

I am almost 60 and the older I get the more weight I am gaining and harder to lose. I have been noticing that it has to be a lot of stuff they are putting in foods. Like meat has animal hormone injections, animal anti biotics, etc., prepackaged foods have message and a lot of other additives to make you gain weight. Now with what they are doing to flour to make it gluten free its doing something to people too. But the wheat nowadays isn't what it use to be either. The main brand health granola type snacks, yogurts and greek yogurts also have a bunch of junk in them even though they say they are healthy. Read the labels, the longer the list the worse it is, then if it says Other ingredients: _______ they are hiding stuff under that without even mentioning them

I'm 40 years old and been fighting my weight all my life. I'm trying this new diet and it help me out maybe it will help you. I took red meat out of my diet alone with sweets and fry food. It a 500-1000 calorie diet. I don't eat after 8pm and exercise for thirty minute 6 days out of the week. I was 237ld now I'm 185 in five months. And drinks lots, lots of water

Quote:

Originally Posted by lilone3667

I'm 40 years old and been fighting my weight all my life. I'm trying this new diet and it help me out maybe it will help you. I took red meat out of my diet alone with sweets and fry food. It a 500-1000 calorie diet. I don't eat after 8pm and exercise for thirty minute 6 days out of the week. I was 237ld now I'm 185 in five months. And drinks lots, lots of water

A 500-1000 calorie diet (its considered a crash diet) will certainly slow your metabolism meaning you will rapidly gain anything you lost back and more whenever you go back to eating normally..

Quote:

Originally Posted by smoothy

A 500-1000 calorie diet (its considered a crash diet) will certainly slow your metabolism meaning you will rapidly gain anything you lost back and more whenever you go back to eating normally..

It not a crash diet, when you go back started eating back normally you still have to watch the calorin and exercise. The diet don't end when you lose the weight.

Quote:

Originally Posted by lilone3667

It not a crash diet, when you go back started eating back normally you still have to watch the calorin and exercise. The diet don't end when you lose the weight.

A crash diet is one where your caloric intake is dramatically reduced... and 500-1000 calories is so far below what the average person needs.. it will slam your metabolism into low gear making it hard to lose anty weight to begine with.. (body believes its starving and it's a genetic survival instinct to survice a famine)...

And its easier to slow down your metabolism than it is to speed it up. That's why they backfire so often over the long run.

Sometimes thinking if a little is good then a lot is better really isn't.

Quote:

Originally Posted by smoothy

A crash diet is one where your caloric intake is dramatically reduced...and 500-1000 calories is so far below what the average person needs..it will slam your metabolism into low gear making it hard to lose any weight to begins with..(body believes its starving and its a genetic survival instinct to survice a famine)....

And its easier to slow down your metabolism than it is to speed it up. Thats why they backfire so often over the long run.

Sometimes thinking if a little is good then a lot is better really isn't.

To give a better understand about this diet. This is a three step diet. This diet program was made for people who is over weight or obese. Who need help to lose weight. You still can enjoy the food you like but cook in a different way. Even thought I work out six days a week. This diet ask you to work out four days a week. Once you finish the first step of the diet you got to the next step. The last step of the diet will help you keep the weight off. Also with this you don't eat after 8pm

The basic fact remains... 500-1,000 calories IS a tarvation diet. It WILL slow your metabolism to a crawl (THIS is the last thing you want to do in a successful diet)... and it will result in rebound weight gain.

And by your own admission... its only been 5 months, and you are still straving yourself... I doubt you will be able to maintain this for even the next year or two because of what you are doing to your metabolism.

Listen to smoothy. I learned the hard way. (Thankfully, I love to work out.) It can be extremely difficult to lose weight as we age. A very low cal or crash diet may work for now but in the long run it is not good at all. You will jeapordize your health and metabolism. Anything from lack of sleep to stress can affect weight. Stress for example will release unwanted chemicals such as cortisol which in turn can cause you to gain weight. Your body can also go into a survival mode under conditions of stress or lack of sleep. Any new medications?

As far as exercise, I don't want to suggest you start intensive weight bearing exercises without knowing your overall health. You should check with your doctor first to be safe. Plus you don't want to hurt yourself whereas you won't be able to exercise.

For me personally, increasing muscle has helped a bit because it does help to burn fat more. You especially want to maintain or increase muscle as you age since that is what we lose. It is good for bone health as well which is something we also need as we age. Keep in mind if you do choose to gain muscle mass, muscle weighs more than fat. The scale may not move because you are gaining muscle and can be losing fat at the same time.

I know it is extremely frustrating and I've wanted to quit so many times. But I just keep telling myself that there is no harm in continuing with the exercise at least. I try not to put too much pressure on myself and I even allow cheat days. I then always end up going right back to dieting. Believe me, sometimes I go a month of starving it seems and so much exercise yet I don't lose anything. Turns out I haven't thrown in the towel and I don't give up. I don't believe we ever can. Patience is not in my vocabulary but I know I don't really have a choice.

Have you tried working out different times of the day and varying your workouts/types of exercise? Even if you chose not to or for some reason are not able to begin weight training. Just a thought.

Some mornings I work out first thing. I find that the body is like a hot box throughout the day this way. But again, with more muscle mass, I know that I'm burning more calories and my metabolism is that much quicker because of it. Eating more protein is good if you are planning on building more muscle mass. I will still have a bowl of pasta if I am sure that I'm going to be doing a lot of cardio in which I will need and burn those carbs.

I hope you find what works. If you ever do, please chime in. Best of luck to you!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tc123

Listen to smoothy. I learned the hard way. (Thankfully, I love to work out.) It can be extremely difficult to lose weight as we age. A very low cal or crash diet may work for now but in the long run it is not good at all. You will jeapordize your health and metabolism. Anything from lack of sleep to stress can affect weight. Stress for example will release unwanted chemicals such as cortisol which in turn can cause you to gain weight. Your body can also go into a survival mode under conditions of stress or lack of sleep. Any new medications?

As far as exercise, I don't want to suggest you start intensive weight bearing exercises without knowing your overall health. You should check with your doctor first to be safe. Plus you don't want to hurt yourself whereas you won't be able to exercise.

For me personally, increasing muscle has helped a bit because it does help to burn fat more. You especially want to maintain or increase muscle as you age since that is what we lose. It is good for bone health as well which is something we also need as we age. Keep in mind if you do choose to gain muscle mass, muscle weighs more than fat. The scale may not move because you are gaining muscle and can be losing fat at the same time.

I know it is extremely frustrating and I've wanted to quit so many times. But I just keep telling myself that there is no harm in continuing with the exercise at least. I try not to put too much pressure on myself and I even allow cheat days. I then always end up going right back to dieting. Believe me, sometimes I go a month of starving it seems and so much exercise yet I don't lose anything. Turns out I haven't thrown in the towel and I don't give up. I don't believe we ever can. Patience is not in my vocabulary but I know I don't really have a choice.

Have you tried working out different times of the day and varying your workouts/types of exercise? Even if you chose not to or for some reason are not able to begin weight training. Just a thought.

Some mornings I work out first thing. I find that the body is like a hot box throughout the day this way. But again, with more muscle mass, I know that I'm burning more calories and my metabolism is that much quicker because of it. Eating more protein is good if you are planning on building more muscle mass. I will still have a bowl of pasta if I am sure that I'm going to be doing a lot of cardio in which I will need and burn those carbs.

I hope you find what works. If you ever do, please chime in. Best of luck to you!

Its all ture what you saying it was my doctor who put me on this diet. I always had a very low metabolism since I was a child. And my mother did understand why I was gaining so much weight. And I was in sports activity. Until she got me testing. I try every diet they had out there I started to lose before I know it I was gaining it back while on the diet. I had never stop exercise even though the weight wasn't coming off. So my doctor try me on this diet since I was in good healthy. This diet was made for people who is obese to get them to lose weight. If they don't have a healthy problem. And the diet have three step to it. It not like you going to take in 500-1000 threw out the whole diet to lose weight. The clarion count do go up when you started to lose the weight.