Why can't I lose weight?! Is it my age? 😭

[HurryUpAndWait23]

Im 39.

I've never been overweight but I was always comfortable at 9st12 and when I started to push 10+ stone (around Christmas or too many summer BBQ's and wine) I'd do 5:2 or similar and the weight would come off easily, always around 2lb a week.

Now, I'm 11stone and 24.5 on the BMI and I've been trying to lose weight for months.
I've tried WW (worked very well in the past) 5:2 which was always great, and I can get down to 10st10 if I'm lucky and it goes back up again.

What the fuck is going on?! I've even stopped drinking (was drinking wine most nights, now drinking once a week and have done for about 2 months), I thought the weight would fall off then - but no!

I feel fit and well so I don't think it's a thyroid issue or anything medical.

I'm 39 soon - is it my bloody age?!

How fucking depressing if it is?!

I’m the same age & have the same problem. But I think it’s the pandemic in my case at least. I went from running around all week out & about at work, doing the school run, going to meet people to siting at a desk in my spare room all day everyday. I still work out but the effect of becoming so sedentary in the rest of my life is huge…

It's never impossible to lose weight, it just happens more slowly the older you get - and your body is less forgiving of minor deviations from your healthy eating plan of choice.

Up to the age of about 35 I could reliably lose 2lb a week by eating sensibly - cutting out the rubbish and sticking to 1500 calories a day, with the odd lapse/treat, Now I'm in my late 40s, it's more like 2lb a month and any lapses result in an immediate gain.

Exercising more helps, but ultimately I've accepted it's a slow process to reach my goal weight. My weight is going in the right direction and that's what matters.

2lb a month?!

😭

Its taken me since 1st January to lose a stone, eating 1,000 to 1,200 calories a day, or even only 800 some days. One bottle of wine at the weekend can put 4lb back on.

So, 7 months to lose the stone that only took about 2 months to put on.

I'm 37 and have been on 1000-1200 calories a day for 4 weeks, walking up to 10 miles per week and I have so far lost.........(drum roll)...... 1lb.

Oh God this is so depressing.

So we can never eat Bad Things or we pay for it for ever?

2lb a month?!

Yes. It usually goes something like this:

Week 1 - lose 1lb
Week 2 - put it back on again
Week 3 (after being really really strict!) - put on another 1 lb
Week 4 - lose 3lb from previous week, so net loss is a mere 2lb

I don't even have periods any more to blame for these seemingly random fluctuations.

I had to increase cardio to keep weight off. I'm 50 and never had a problem in my 40's. I don't eat a lot and my diet is healthy. Don't drink alcohol. Cardio with some weights is the only thing that works for me.

Snap OP.... I'm in the very same position and similar weight. I just cant lose weight like i used to, and gain so easily.

I even gave up wine in April. No loss, nothing.

I just had to go to a registered dietician because I gained all the weight in the world (not sure how there’s any left for you, OP???) whilst on steroids. The steroids also stopped my period in such a way that I’m essentially in menopause now. The diet that she’s put me in is pretty rough and it’s very low on carbohydrates and sugar. She said my body will not respond well to carbohydrates at this point; it treats them all as a sweet. So for carbohydrates, I can eat them (she doesn’t recommend ‘protein only’ diet or anything), but they need to be as unprocessed as possible.

I would maybe look at the diets for diabetes and how many grams of carbs they eat snd try that and see if following that for a few weeks has an effect on your weight loss (carbs include the sugars in foods, too). And technically, usually WW is just limiting your processed carbohydrates anyway (they charge more points for them, forcing you to eat less or go hungry). If you want to give it a try, I’m happy to send you links my dietician gave me.

Are you writing down what you eat? That's the best way to spot patterns and experiment with changing things. I've been using MyFitnessPal for a couple of weeks and it seems quite good (and it's free). Although I have decided to call it MyFitnessFrenemy due to its passive aggressive comments! I lost 10kg last er using Noom but got fed up of its hipsterness (and the cost). Put 5kg back on due to 2nd lockdown and as previous poster said, sedentary-ness. I'm 48.

Last summer, not er.

One bottle of wine at the weekend can put 4lb back on.

Yes - it was my wedding anniversary just after restaurants reopened, so DH & I went out for a meal. I made a conscious decision to be restrained even though it was the first meal out I'd had for 18 months.

I had a boiled egg for lunch that day and nothing else. I didn't have a starter. I had fish as a main course (not breaded or battered) with green veg and I only ate 2 of the small potatoes it came with. We shared a bottle of wine. DH had cheesecake for pudding and I had a couple of forkfuls. It was a lovely meal despite my restraint... but I gained 5 sodding lbs!

I think that sounds very WW, I actually love WW but it doesn't seem to be having the fast effect I would like.

Agree that weight loss gets harder and harder as you age. Metabolism just slows, you need way less calories and so a few treats just mean you pile on weight

I'm tempted to do the cabbage soup diet.

Serious desperate measures. I want to eat everything on holiday and not come back as a weeble.

I'm exactly the same - so annoying!

I have downloaded the c25k app and calorie counting app.

My problem is, I love food!!!

I'm tempted to do the cabbage soup diet.

The problem with quick-fix things like that is that you end up starving and find yourself at midnight cramming slices of white bread into your mouth - at least, that's my experience.

I set myself the goal of maintaining over my holiday - I decided I'd be happy as long as I didn't gain. In the event I gained half a pound in the fortnight which I accepted.

Metabolism slows with age, you need less calories than you previously did to even maintain. Shit but true.

Don't weigh yourself after meals out etc, water weight is real, even the slightest raise in saltiness of your meal can skew things for a day or two. I 100% doubt some of these commenters put 5lb of actual fat on in one week, it will be water weight.

Track everything religiously in My Fitness Pal, you might be surprised at how things are adding up and going well over your age appropriate daily calorie limit.

It's age. Weight used to melt off me in my 20s. Now I'm 40 I have a permanent tummy.

Will be 39 in a few months and I hear you 🙁 it's depressing isn't it.

@ShadowInVain

I'm tempted to do the cabbage soup diet.

The problem with quick-fix things like that is that you end up starving and find yourself at midnight cramming slices of white bread into your mouth - at least, that's my experience.

I set myself the goal of maintaining over my holiday - I decided I'd be happy as long as I didn't gain. In the event I gained half a pound in the fortnight which I accepted.

I've done the cabbage soup diet before and always lost 5lb in the past (some of it water though, if not half!) but it was always a good kick-start to a diet. But I haven't done it for about 4-5 years so I doubt that would bloody work now.

Are you eating sugars? Are you teaming heathy food with exercise. I find you need both to lose the weight well

Don't weigh yourself after meals out etc, water weight is real, even the slightest raise in saltiness of your meal can skew things for a day or two.

Hmm... this is a good point. I absolutely love salty savory stuff. This is my Achilles heal. Don't give a wotsit about sweet stuff but salty...
My hands swell up a lot, mu ring is cutting into my finger and I wake up with pins and needles in my hands so I know water is an issue.

I've been doing 5:2 or last week 4:3 and 1200 calories on the down days and I'm still getting nowhere and I've done that the last two weeks.

Are you eating sugars? Are you teaming heathy food with exercise. I find you need both to lose the weight well.

Sugar free everything (which is basically fake sugar in my coffee) and I keep carbs to a minimum.
But I'm an absolute sucker for fruit. I could eat it all day long and I've had to curb this the last couple of weeks because I'm beginning to wonder if this is an issue (that's allowed on WW).

I do fuck all exercise and I don't want to change that. I realise I might have to but I want to keep my head in the sand a bit longer and just starve myself a bit more, as infantile as that is.