How can I lose weight?

[Travelcrazy]

I am 62, 5 feet 2 and weigh 9st 10. I carry all my weight on my belly, hips and thighs my arms and legs are slim. My Tdee says 1544 calories for maintenance.
I keep trying to lose 10lbs and I am getting nowhere it is affecting my mood.
I WFH full time so pretty chained to my desk all day although I do try to motivate myself to do a workout video before I start work and run up and down stairs etc.
I cook every day except Wednesday and Sunday when we eat out and we have the odd take out.
My DH is traditional and a meat and two veg, lasagne, stews etc so basically a hearty dinner kind of man. I have tried eating small portions of what he has and cutting down on carbs but I am getting nowhere. If I could buy ready meals for me, that would work but they all seem carb heavy and unhealthy.

I am going on a big holiday at Christmas and cant get excited because I feel so heavy and dumpy.
If anyone has any tips to shift this excess weight I would be really grateful.

Is it actually the weight that is the issue though? Are you more concerned about body shape? Your stats don’t sound too bad to me. Losing 10lbs won’t necessarily impact your body shape without a targeted exercise regime based on lifting weights (good for your bones at this stage of life in any event).

slightly controversial view: after 50 losing a lot of weight shows on your face and not in a good way. Older people can look gaunt and unhealthy if too thin. Just something to think about.

But if you are focussed entirely on weight loss then the eating out and takeaways look like the obvious things to look at, otherwise portion control.

@VanCleefArpels do you know of any weights workout videos that would change my shape a bit, it is definitely more how I look. I can't do laying down exercises. I agree with what you said about the face too

: after 50 losing a lot of weight shows on your face and not in a good way. Older people can look gaunt and unhealthy if too thin. Just something to think about.

This!

I suggest you keep eating smaller portions of the food you make which already seems pretty healthy (meat is protein and veggies and an occasional carb is healthy) and you already do the morning video exercise, just try to cut out desserts (or limit it to an occasional pleasure instrad of every day) - and just enjoy yourself and the upcoming trip.

Best of luck x

If you use Instagram look up devotefitdanica she does amazing easy and short little routines with weights targeting different muscle groups. On YouTube you could have a look at CDornerFitness channel or Sydney Cummings (a bit more hardcore). You’ll need to invest in some dumbells

The classic plank is excellent - it exercises the whole body muscles. It is hard at first (i couldn't hold it for even 10 seconds at first) but doing it every day and holding 5 seconds more each day is great. Worked for me.. i got all mu muscles working and i can see slowly but surely the fat is melting and my core is getting stronger.

Look at 16.8 intermittent fasting.
Takes some adjusting to but does help.

Smaller portions is probably the way forward especially if you are v sedentary

Find your ideal weight in pounds then eat that number in grammes of protein per day. I would like to weigh 10 stone - 140lbs - so I eat 140g protein per day. I also use scales that estimate my body fat and base metabolic rate (BMR) to decide how many calories to aim for each day.

As long as I eat my BMR in calories and 140g protein per day I lose gradually. It's not a keto diet: I don't worry about fats and carbs. Protein keeps me full for longer so it's the basis of all my meals.

In effect this means snacking on Smokey bacon pork puffs, biltong, jerky and Isey apple skyr, eating a big thermos of homemade pea and ham soup at lunchtime, and having a meaty dinner, with hard boiled eggs as a snack. I avoid cheese because it's too easy to overeat.

I'm 41.

I've been calorie counting and making sure I have a deficit daily (not sure if this is a thing!) but it's working for me. And making sure I get 10-12k steps a day.

I've cut out crisps. Choc, cake, cut down on alcohol intake too and drinking a lot more water/sugar free squash

It doesn’t sound like you need to loose a whole lot of weight - I think upping exercise (weights, steps) might make you feel better and solidify everything.

If you want to drop a few pounds - assuming you don’t have any history of eating disorders (counting calories tends to exacerbate those) I would get an app like nutracheck and use that. You are probably eating more than you think.

An exercise habit will then help you keep the weight off

Find your ideal weight in pounds then eat that number in grammes of protein per day. I would like to weigh 10 stone - 140lbs - so I eat 140g protein per day. I also use scales that estimate my body fat and base metabolic rate (BMR) to decide how many calories to aim for each day

This is utter bollocks as weight loss advice. Not to say it doesn’t happen to be randomly working for the PP, but eating a particular amount of protein is not a ticket to weight loss.

If you need around 1500 calories a day then you need to eat less than this. Don’t go crazy, I use a 10 day block of time to loose a pound of weight. I also need about 1500 a day so I eat 1200 so every 10 days approx I lose a pound. Eat more protein, weigh your food, lower carbs but don’t cut them out. Drink more water, 2 litres a day. Do exercise that you like. Use my fitness pal to log calories and macros. Use a fit bit to check how many calories you’re burning, although these aren’t 100% accurate they will give you an idea. Just go steady. Eating out twice a week will be adding a lot of calories. If I eat out I chose sea bass or salmon, get a side of greens / veg and eat these before eating the carbs. For takeaway get tandoori chicken or prawns and eat with salad. Try to focus on an overall reduction of calories over time, make sure it is sustainable. For ready meals look at M&S count on us, often higher in protein.

If you like big portions, try slimming world, if you're on insta, check out donna tackles slimming world, she eats big portions and has lost about 7 stone

It isn't easy when you're shorter and don't have much to lose!
As your BMR /TDEE is low anyway then exercise will make a difference. I took up running and weight lifting and it really did make a difference - a 10k run burns about 500 calories which is an extra meal for me.
I also try to aim for around 80g of protein a day, it helps muscle repair - and 10000 steps a day, which although is a completely made up number it is something to aim for and keeps me moving.

Thanks for all the replies, can anyone recommend good food to increase protein. I eat a boiled egg every morning and meat or fish every night.
I have some dumbells, they are 2.3kg will that be ok?

So long as you have a source of protein with every meal it should be enough - meat, fish, eggs etc

Your dumbbells will be fine for upper body exercises if you're just starting out but they are pretty light - have a look at bodyweight exercises, plenty of videos on YouTube. You can do squats and lunges to work the legs without weights to start off.

You do t need to eat loads of protein. Eggs are excellent.

You eat out twice a week, what do you eat? Take away how often? Once a week? What is it?

Fasting is the way forward. You’re probably stuck in a metabolic rut. 16 hours so I ds like a long time but if you eat dinner at 6/6:30, 10 am is 16 hours. If you can stretch that to 17 hours you body goes into ketosis and will be using fat stores instead of glucose. It’s become less daddy these days and a researched way of eating which works. Look up Dr Mindy Pelz.

The carbs themselves aren't a problem, it's the overall amount of calories. The best two things you can do are to buy digital scales and use my fitness pal. Then breakdown your calories over the day. Eg have a 300 calorie breakfast, eg granola, yogurt and berries, a 400 calorie ready meal for lunch. That leaves you room for a pretty large dinner if you measure everything. Potatoes being heavy add a lot of calories, but you can have quite a lot of rice. Sometimes I just measure out 100g of chips which look a bit sad! You can add lots of veg to bulk out. This works very well for me and I got back to a size 10 at 52 by doing it. Make sure you get a decent amount of protein, stay active and go for a walk in the day if you can. Do some weighted workouts a couple of times a week if you can - I love Sydney Cummings on YouTube

Thanks for your feedback. It's no more bollocks than any other way of eating that keeps you feeling fuller for longer.

Can you walk before work for 20 mins, in your lunch break and after work?
On my WFH days I still make sure I get over 10000, but I can walk to the shops which helps.

I'm 58, and 5ft 3". I have been doing Intermittent Fasting this year, although currently on a hiatus due to bad ear infection & generally feely rough. But I will get back to it. It's helped me find the weight my body needs to be. I lost nearly 3 stones since April this year. IF has seem almost effortless. No calorie counting, just opening "window" to eat and closing it when finished for the day, usually around 6.30pm.

I've combined IF with a 25-30 min workout most days to increase fitness and improve body shape.Ii do ti's in the mornings, whilst still fasting.

I have also started adding in some pilates for core strength.

So many helpful replies thank you!
My meals out are Sunday lunch
I can start ordering a childs portion because they are generous
Indian
I try to order prawn or paneer curries that are tomato base not creamy and a couple of spoons of rice
Takeaway - Chinese
I usually go for a chicken curry and usually eat about 3/4" with a handful of chips
and half a dozen prawn crackers

Now I know why I am wobbly!!

Limiting bread and doing the 12 12 helps me but I added in four weekly dinners of jacket potato and baked beans. The 12 12 on its own did nothing until I changed to these dinners. Now am losing a pound a week. I don't have too much to lose though.

Have you tried actually calorie counting and weighing portions, or just eating smaller portions? Unless you do, you still won't know if you're eating too much.
Eating out twice a week is not going to help, nor will takeaways!
10,000 steps a day and a couple of weights sessions a week will hope but ultimately, weight loss comes down to what you eat.

I will try Nutracheck and weighing for a couple of weeks too.

Join Slimpod, lots of 50 + women who have seen shape change and weight loss. Free 10 day trial, 30 day money back guarantee and no dieting. If your food relationship is poor, this will help.