To be sick of the mid life weight battle

[Mangetoutrodney]

Urgh- I am 46 and feel like I am fighting a weight battle with my hormones.

I eat a dairy free veggie diet thats healthy (I eat eggs so not vegan), exercise 4-5 times a week and barely drink. I calorie track to about 1500 a day & also do 5:2.

One weekend of drinking 2 nights & eating a bit more than normal and I have put on 4lbs. I know some of it will be water etc but I feel like I could literally PILE on the weight if I wasn’t all over what I eat.

It’s like constantly treading water but watching virtually everything I eat & drink & exercising like mad to not put weight on. I am not naturally skinny either so have always had to work at it but it’s feeling really hard to stay a normal weight/ healthy.

Aibu to be fed up- I am perimenipausal & it’s wreakng havoc. Anyone else had similar?

Mine is:

Breakfast 2 weetabix with Skimmed milk, 1 toast with marmite,

Lunch: 1 veg soup 300 cals,

Dinner 1/2 soup 150 cals and 2 toast

No snacks, drink tea with Skimmed milk and 1 skinny latte 150 cals

One gym session 45 mins cardio

49 here. I totally feel your pain. Really depressing.

I’m 55. I run twice a week and stopped drinking and it’s no longer a problem.

Which is a relief.

It's fucking depressing to realise that bread is now a treat food

Why? It's all food! There's no such thing as 'good' or 'bad' or cheating or any of that ridiculous demonisation of food.

I miss my young metabolism.

I have given up and embraced my new shape and size. Life is far, far too short to go around tracking and restricting and dieting, IMO.

I think this is where I am at. Currently replacing my wardrobe with size 14 clothes that actually fit, enjoying life and focusing on reducing my emotional eating.

Same
Same
!!! One weekend is all it takes for me . At my slimmest 10 stone , went to and stuck at 10.5 after Xmas and approaching 11

It’s so hard isn’t it . You need to clean eat like an angel and exercise daily basically

Every . Single . Day

I’m 49 & I have put on 1 stone over the last year. I’m going to focus on getting fitter. I don’t track what I eat but I generally try & eat healthily but I eat treats most days. I was always slim but not skinny & now I am a size 12-14. I think as you get older you do have to watch what you eat but I couldn’t face having to calorie count or cut out food groups. I’ve stopped weighing myself and just judge based on my clothes. I’m never going to have the figure that I had at 20 but as long as I can keep reasonably healthy and Im not overweight that’s my main aim now rather than being ‘slim’.

For me- I want to stay slim because it’s not healthy to pile on loads of weight & I want to be fit and strong going into later life. I’ve been a size 12 my whole life and I would like to stay that size!!

I always drink extra water and green tea when I have a weekend where I eat more. Tends to curb the excess water weight.

What kind of exercise are you doing? If it's mainly cardio based you need to change it. At our age our metabolism slows down and we put on weight more easily unless we focus on building muscle. If we are still building muscle our metabolism stabilises/increases and we are less prone to increasing fat. You don't need to start weightlifting and get stacked but switching up your exercise routine to include a few days a week of building muscle and strengthening your core is vital if you want to maintain your weight/body fat levels. It could be as simple as switching jogging to rollerblading, for example, as skating is surprisingly excellent for muscle building while also working as an excellent cardio work out.

I do a mix of running, hiit & walking. Trying to incorporate 1 weights session a week using a Joe Wicks weights workout. Have had an injury the last few weeks though so haven’t been able to do much apart from walking

But judging honestly I’m really trying to find something that works for me but five a day would add calories and they don’t really fill me up!

There have actually been a couple of studies that show that the calories consumed from whole fruit and veg do not have the same effect on your body. Participants were on a controlled calorie diet with one group encouraged to also eat all the additional fruit and veg they felt like. Despite eating more calories the fruit and veg eaters lost the same amount or more body fat. I strictly control the amount of processed sugar I eat and only eat it on days where I know I have exercised significantly. But I eat all the fruit and veg I want, whenever I want it (though I'm careful about bananas for reasons that may be all in my head). Fruit and veg has never negatively effected my weight, I'm assuming that's for 2 reasons. 1, it helps stave off constipation. 2, I probably have more energy and less headaches and sluggishness when I eat plenty of it.

I do a mix of running, hiit & walking. Trying to incorporate 1 weights session a week using a Joe Wicks weights workout. Have had an injury the last few weeks though so haven’t been able to do much apart from walking

Definitely do a bit more to increase the muscle mass once you heal up. Does your hiit workout include muscle building exercises? Also do you enjoy it? In all honesty the absolute most important thing is finding the right kind of exercise that you absolutely crave. Something that feels like a treat that you look forward to greatly rather than a chore.

Have you thought about taking a break from the dieting from a bit?Just as an experiment to find out what your natural weight would be if you didn't?

It's just that I was in the same boat - 44 and was finding it harder and harder not just to lose weight but to count calories or restrict certain foods. I'd be able to do it for a bit, but the minute I'd relax (like at the weekend) the scales would go up again.

I got to the point where I just couldn't do it anymore. It was demoralising counting calories but still watching the weight go up. So instead I tried intuitively eating (after reading the book about it, think it's just called Intuitive Eating). I gave myself four months of no dieting, no weighing just to see what happened. I thought that if I at least stayed the same weight I could live with it because dieting seemed to be making me gain weight.

Amazingly after four months my weight has gone down - only by four pounds, but for me that was pretty incredible because it wouldn't bloody budge (and would even go up) when I was actively 'dieting'.

I know that's because when I was dieting it was making me binge and you may not be the same! But it may be worth a try if you feel like you've tried everything else.

My focus is not on being skinny but on eating a healthy diet ensuring I get all the nutrients and micronutrients I need (cutting out entire food groups is not a good idea unless on specific medical advice) and keeping as fit as I can with arthritic knees, rather than weighing and measuring everything that goes in my mouth. I am a normal weight and hourglass shape.

Have you thought about taking a break from the dieting from a bit?

Yes, I took a break for 6 years. By the end of it, I was almost 5 stone heavier.

Intuitive eating may work for some people but for those of us who are emotional eaters, it's bad news.

If I was a shapely person I don’t think I’d mind as much if I was a bit overweight but still had a nice waist etc but I’m an apple and if I eat what I want I end up looking like, as I read on here, a Terrys chocolate orange on two toothpicks

For me the sacrifice is worth it and I agree, don’t do exercise you hate. I also recommend weights because you can track your progress, concentrate on getting better at weights and take the focus away from weight loss. Is there a goal you’d like to achieve eg doing push ups or pull ups ?

Intuitive eating may work for some people but for those of us who are emotional eaters, it's bad news.

Same here. I’ve experimented with that. I ended up 1.5 st over what I am now and with a waist measurement of 35 which, when your hips are under 40 like mine, isn’t a good idea.

I’ve put on a stone since turning 40 (now 42). It seems to be mainly on my stomach, too, which is annoying and obviously a health risk.

I’m still within my healthy BMI range, but I don’t feel like me with this extra weight. And whereas previously I’d be able to shift half a stone with ease, I can’t seem to shift this at all.

I’ve resolved to try harder after Easter. Completely cutting out booze and sugar (although I don’t eat much sugar...I do like wine), and going low carb. I really don’t want another stone to creep on as easily as this extra one I’m carrying .

Have you thought about taking a break from the dieting from a bit?

^

Yeah....

4 stone heavier, pre diabetic, bad joints, snoring, sleep apnea.... Would you like me to continue?