That theres a point in life where you should give up diets

[Yipitsme]

And just bloody enjoy every delicious food you like and not give a damn?i feel like this after a lifetime of exercising eating carefully to look a certain way
And now nearing 50 ive had enough!the way I see it by my age most people have had their youth, met a partner be it that they are with or without,had their kids ,done all the big life things.i was thinking to myself after a lifetime of keeping up appearance and restricting and stopping myself eating what I'd like ,id like to stop and enjoy with wild abandon.Anyone else???

More important than ever to eat sensibly and exercise at 50.
You've got years left in you.
My SILs are both 60 plus, massively overweight, smoke and both diabetic. They struggle to even walk half a mile.

In general, I think not giving a fuck about appearance/other people’s opinions is a good thing, so I’m with you!

How restricted do you feel right now? If you’re constantly counting calories and sticking to 1200 cals or eating only low-fat sludge or whatever, then I say fuck that shit. Aim for the French model (without the fags) and have lovely delicious homemade food with plenty of butter and cream and cheese, but not much processed food or sugar.

Yipitsme you could do 16:8 for maintenance - eat what you like 8 hours a day but just black coffee/ green tea/ water outside those 8 hours. Its the best of both worlds to give you freedom to eat what you like within a time window which stops ypur weight rocketing. You chose and can constantly change when your 8 hours are, so if you want you can eat between 11am and 7pm Sunday to Thursday (nothing aftwr dinner) but 2pm to 10pm Friday and Saturday - or whatever suits you.

Only if you don't expect the NHS to treat your obesity-related illnesses and have adequate savings or private cover.

Did I miss the bit where the OP said she was going to stuff herself silly? This is why so many people have eating issues, when someone says they are no longer going to diet and they get this sort of ridiculous response. There is a world of difference between eating what you like, and enjoying it, and becomng obese.

You might not care what the weight looks like but there are increasing health risks linked to being obese (a little overweight is fine for many women) as you get older and all you need to do is to look around you to notice that slim people in their 60s and 70s tend to be more mobile than fat people in that age group.

I'm 50 with a bmi of 25. I also have hypermobility syndrome and really feel it in weight bearing joints if I gain above where I am, now.

For me 50 would have been too young to say “Fuck it”. I was really careful until lockdown and have gained weight over the last six months which I have no inclination or motivation to lose right now, despite the wardrobe full of lovely clothes reproaching me. But I’m 67, not 50. And I’d really like to get rid of these extra pounds before my 70th birthday.

No but yes within reason, if you never ate with abandon at all then fo that sometimes but I agree later in life is when you need to watch it. I've watched my dm and dmil put on weight as they got older and there's so many issues. I'm 40 and I'm starting to feel intolerant to sugar and feel everything I eat

I think there's an argument for focusing on high quality food as you get older. If you get that right then everything else should fall into place.

YABU to ask that question on Mumsnet OP. The clutcher's of pearls will be out in force with their concern trolling.

IamTomHanks it's more that a lot of us on MN find we get to the OP's age and finally want to prioritise ourselves and our health and don't see that as having anything what do ever to do with "keeping up appearances" or "maintaining a trim figure".

By 50 women should have learnt to please themselves, nobody else, yes. A lot of us are trying to lose weight in our 40s, 50s snd beyond to improve our own quality and length of life - whilst also enjoying food and life generally.

I'd say that the concept that there comes a time when women should stop dieting because they've snagged a man and had their babies is utterly arse about face. Young women shouldn't be dieting (as opposed to eating well and healthily) in an ideal world, and especially not with the goal of keeping up appearances. The idea that there comes a time when women should stop dieting because they've no longer need to attract a man with their "trim figure" sounds like something from 'Gone With The Wind'.