Weight loss aged 40+ and post partum- possible?

[MamaMeela]

Hi all, posted this on weight loss board but it's quiet over there!

I'm 40 and had my first baby in 2020 by c-section. I've got 2.5 stone to lose ideally, or 2stone to begin with, but I had to wait for 6 months before starting strenuous exercises.

I've successfully lost weight in the past in my late 30's through low calorie, low carb, high protein, and strength /resistance training. However, this time it's not working!! The same method that lost me 2 stone aged 38 has achieved a grand total of 2lbs loss in the whole of January. For context all month I had a net of 1200-1300 calories per day, 5 strength and HIIT workouts per week plus an hours walk with the buggy. Zero sugar and loads of veg. It's a bit disheartening and demotivating as I thought I was doing really well!!

No doubt it's a combination of being 40+ and the baby weight.

Any tips on what else I can try? Has anyone out there succeeded in losing baby weight after age 40??

The app I use is called nutracheck.

@MamaMeela, hmm, that is quite a difference! Does your Apple Watch monitor your heart beat? My DH's FitBit does and he burns more than me! Even a conservative estimate should have you burning more.

caloriesburnedhq.com/calories-burned-walking/

Even if it was calories over what you burn any way being sedentary it should still be more than 68 for a 4 mile walk!

www.goodto.com/wellbeing/diets-exercise/what-is-calorie-how-many-lose-weigt-425557

Thanks @tootiredtospeak and @MamaMeela

I'm 47 and have struggled with dieting. I've been fasting since January. I fast 20 hours and eat in a 4 hour window. I started 18/6 but it's just naturally evolved to 20/4.

I've lost 7lbs in a month which is a steady loss. Importantly, I'm finding it so easy to do. I don't feel that I'm denying myself anything and eat what I want in my window.

My shape is also changing (I'm a natural apple shape but I am definately losing from around my waist).

I have another 1 1/2 stone to lose.

Wow @Itsamess8456 do you don't count calories in your window?

I'm trying 500 calories today (5:2 diet) to see how I get on. I started eating at 2pm and had one egg, 2 slices of ham and a loaf of raw veg. (Plus black coffee all morning!) That was 150 calories leaving me 350 for dinner. I'll have tuna steak with steamed veg. The no wine will be the biggie but hoping I'll be motivated as tomorrow I can have some!

@pensivepigeon yes it does heartbest too. I know, I'm at a loss! But it makes sense as otherwise I'd have lost a lot more weight!

Honestly adopting an intermittent fasting lifestyle is the ONLY way to lose the excess weight without tanking your metabolism. All of the calorie-counting rubbish won't get you anywhere long term as your body isn't a machine that treats all calories as equal across all time. 1200 calories of chocolate and 1200 calories of broccoli sure as hell don't get treated the same by your body. And if you eat a low-calorie diet long term, your body will just adapt to the new calorie intake - because it thinks you are in a famine and there isn't enough food - and weight loss will slow and stop. After which any return to even normal, healthy eating will result in weight gain because your metabolism has been permanently slowed.

With intermittent fasting you probably will end up eating fewer calories because you're not eating all the time, but that's NOT why you lose weight. Or certainly not the only reason. Fasting teaches your body to actually use the stored energy (fat!) on your body instead of constantly running on the food you just ate. So it doesn't perceive that there's a famine situation, because there's loads of energy right there on your butt and belly. :-) And you can switch effortlessly into fat-burning mode once you've gone a fair few hours without eating.

I did it for years and it was great, I felt better, I was healthier in every way and it was cheaper too - I just ate less often and selected whatever I wanted to eat during my 'eating window'. No calorie counting, just eat until you're satisfied.

Then I started eating again earlier in the day, for emotional reasons, and piled on the pounds. Got a wake-up call just before Christmas when I stepped on the scales and discovered I was as heavy as the day before I delivered my daughter. Started fasting again, properly, and I feel so much better and have gone from about 12st 8lb to 11st 11lb in less than two months. I know that I will continue losing weight gradually until my body is the right size for my height.

Top tips:

1. Do NOT spread your calories across the day. Have nothing but black coffee and water until you're ready to eat.

1. Anything 'zero calorie' is bollocks; if it tastes sweet it will spike your insulin levels and make you hungry and put you in the dangerous 'low cal' rather than 'fasting' area.

1. Build up your fasting muscles gradually. Start by skipping breakfast. Then start pushing lunch back gradually. When you first start you think you're going to starve and die but you VERY quickly get used to fasting and it feels pretty good. You get hungry from time to time but it passes. Have a glass of water and crack on. I normally fast now for at least 20 hours per day and then eat whatever I want within a four-hour window in the evening. Including wine. I actually get less hungry as the fast goes on and never feel the need to break the fast on the dot of 20 hours.

1. There are loads of different fasting protocols but the one I've settled on is Gin Stephen's (www.facebook.com/groups/DelayDontDeny/) 'OMAD' which stands for One Meal A Day. You fast for most of the time - which I promise is easier and more pleasant than it sounds - and then have an eating window in which you eat one main meal and whatever snacks and drinks you fancy. Some days I eat more, some less, I just follow my appetite. And it's so easy as I'm either 'eating' (in which case I have whatever I want) or 'fasting' (in which case I don't even have to think about food).

1. Exercise is great for your physical and mental health, but it doesn't do much for weight loss. And if you overdo it then you can actually hamper weight loss. Walk lots, do whatever exercise you find fun, but don't do it because you think it'll make you drop fat. (Google 'fat runners' to see why excessive exercise doesn't necessarily translate to a skinny body.)

Good luck @MamaMeela! I started with the 5:2 as well several years ago and it worked, I just gradually moved to OMAD because I started dreading and putting off my fast days and overcompensating on the non-fast days. Now there's never a day I have to deny myself anything or worry about counting calories; I only ever have to wait until the evening and I can have anything I like. I remember that first 5:2 fast day, carefully measuring out 500 calories of food and trying to stretch it through the day. It was hell! Honestly if you want to do 5:2 just wait and have the whole 500 calories at once, towards the end of the day. You'll feel so much better.

Forgot to add:

1. While excessive cardio won't help you lose weight, doing some strength training to build muscle will. Muscle needs more energy than fat does, so you'll use up more of your lovely 'stored energy' while fasting and lose weight more quickly.

1. Don't get obsessed with the scales. Go by how your clothes fit. If you're building muscle and losing fat your weight might not change dramatically, but you'll lose inches! And if you want to weigh, either do it sporadically or do it regularly but work on weekly/monthly averages instead of daily fluctuations. Your weight will fluctuate slightly for all sorts of reasons, but the general trend when you adopt an intermittent fasting lifestyle will be downwards.

Here endeth the lesson. ;-)

Thanks @BlibBlabBlob really inspiring! I'm very interested in learning more about fasting. As I think I said upthread, I've sort of naturally done it on the past as I never eat breakfast, but I do always have a splash of skimmed milk in my morning coffee. Today I had black coffee until 2pm which I found hard. I don't know why but the splash of skimmed milk makes all the difference to me! I've read differing articles about whether a tiny amount of calories matter, but I suspect they do.

I also skipped my collagen powder this morning (which I take for a joint problem) in case that would break the fast?!

It's a good idea to try and stretch it till evening to start eating. I had lunch at 2pm and I'm about to have my dinner but I'm feeling pretty hungry.

I'm aware of the benefits of strength training versus cardio and doing strength training helped me lose weight a couple of years ago. It burns more than cardio, and also muscle mass drastically reduces as you get over 40. As a new mum I definitely want to stay strong and fit!

Anyway I'm going to see how today goes trying the 5:2 500 fast day, and see if I can build on it.

Hope it works for you fasting is not for me and there is no way I could not eat until 2pm. I have 3 kids am up at 6 and have a busy job. I honestly couldn't do it. I think different strokes for different folks you will find something that suits you and your lifestyle.

I’m 42, lost 1st and need to lose two more. I had to cut down to 1200 calories to get the weight off though! High protein, low carb, low sugar, no alcohol. Now I’m looking at cutting to 1000 calories because the weight loss has stopped.

I lost 2 stones a couple of years ago just tracking on my fitness pal.
My weight has crept up again in the pandemic and also as I seem long term injured so I can't run - but I can walk. So I've just begun my fitness pal again. It's kind of mindful (rather than mindless!) eating for me and I feel better mentally for it. I've set a goal of 1.5 pounds a week and want to lose a stone. I've began Sunday and have already lost a pound !

Also could never fast!

@MamaMeela if you need any sort of supplement/medication then I wouldn't drop it because of worrying about breaking the fast. Same goes for cleaning your teeth in the morning - technically the taste of toothpaste might provoke an insulin response but you can't go without toothbrushing just because of that (yuck). I'm not on any meds but I do take three different vitamin pills. I have them at the end of my eating window, just to be sure - is taking the collagen powder when you eat an option for you?

@tootiredtospeak Yes different strokes for different folks, and you're right about finding something that suits your lifestyle because success is all about a permanent lifestyle change and NOT a temporary diet. I too thought I could never wait until even lunchtime to eat, though, once upon a time! And although I only have one kid I get broken sleep most nights and am up at 6am every day and have a very demanding job. Coffee is all I need and the fasting makes me feel better and more energised than regular eating would. :-)

@Greendoonan not my place to give advice obviously but I would be really, really careful with your food intake. 1200 calories (spread across the day rather than as a single meal in the evening) is bugger all when it comes to sustaining an adult human and as you've seen your body has now properly gone into starvation mode as it has adapted to 1200 calories and you're having to talk about cutting food intake further to try and lose any more weight. Seriously you could really, really ruin your metabolism long term this way. Also no alcohol and other restrictions alongside the deliberate calorie restriction sounds like a really miserable way to live. :-(

@tootyfruitypickle I used to say that too, I would never survive doing even a short fast! But once I learned more about it and gave it a try, it was surprisingly easy and honestly it's the way humans are designed to live. It's only children and pregnant women that actually benefit from the constant grazing we have grown accustomed to in the modern world.

Sorry for posting so much on this thread, I'm a bit evangelical about fasting because it's just THAT good and although becoming more mainstream it's not something that the diet food manufacturers, Slimming World, breakfast cereal manufacturers etc want people to know!

If calorie restriction, Slimming World, etc really worked then why do they get repeat customers? Doing the plan, losing some weight, then eventually piling it all back on again - plus a little extra - and having to start again. Makes me so angry that Calorie Restriction as Primary (CRaP) is constantly pushed on us.

Also I agree that breakfast is the most important meal of the day (which is just a marketing slogan by the way). I look forward to breaking my fast every day. But I don't do it first thing in the morning and I don't waste money on crappy breakfast cereal. :-)

I hate coffee and drink decaf tea so that's probably my issue 🙂

The only way I lost weight in my 40s and 50s was low carb. Read Feast Fast Repeat and watch Dr Jason Fung videos. He explains insulin resistance.
Are you taking a good vitamin D supplement? Vitamin D is actually a hormone. Important for correcting insulin resistance.

Also, don't be despondent over 2lb weightloss a month. I'd take that! It's 24lb in a year.

Yes @tootiredtospeak I agree, it has to work with your lifestyle. For me it's not much of a stretch. I'm a busy teacher (when not on maternity leave) and have often survived on coffee (lots of it) and an apple all day until dinner. I'm not a breakfast person even at the weekends so it's only a bit of a push. I guess with fasting you could always do it the other way and stop eating earlier in the day.

Well done @tootyfruitypickle sounds like you're making progress already! Good luck!

@Greendoonan

I’m 42, lost 1st and need to lose two more. I had to cut down to 1200 calories to get the weight off though! High protein, low carb, low sugar, no alcohol. Now I’m looking at cutting to 1000 calories because the weight loss has stopped.

Yes I've been there. The difficulty is that this will keep happening until you can't maintain a healthy weight without regularly eating extremely low calories, or to put it another way, until you can't relax and enjoy yourself in holiday or at Christmas without putting on a stone or something. It's a good idea to try and increase calories burned through exercise rather than continually reducing intake in my experience. Not an expert but as someone who's experienced this, I feel your pain! Strength training is good because it burns more calories and is helpful for people in middle age as muscle mass decreases.

@DianaT1969

The only way I lost weight in my 40s and 50s was low carb. Read Feast Fast Repeat and watch Dr Jason Fung videos. He explains insulin resistance. Are you taking a good vitamin D supplement? Vitamin D is actually a hormone. Important for correcting insulin resistance.

I'm still taking a "new mum" vitamin which includes a good dose of vitamin D as well as a zillion other supplements!

@DianaT1969

Also, don't be despondent over 2lb weightloss a month. I'd take that! It's 24lb in a year.

Good point!! Thank you