Going from eating anything and never gaining weight to change in metabolism: How did you adjust?

[DrNortherner]

I am 31. Used to be able to eat anything I wanted and always be a size 8 with no/little exercise.

Since hitting 30 I have noticed a change in my metabolism. I'm still a size 8 on top but a 10 on the bottom. I still eat what I want (never diet, never restrict chocolate sweets etc) but I do gym 3 times a week and run.

I have noticed the ponds slowly creeping on on my tum, hips and thights, now I know at a size 10 this is hardly the end of the world, but I would like to nip it in the bud.

I know I now need to start thinking about what I eat, but it is so hard to do when you are not at all used to it.

Anyone else been there?

Any thoughts?

Message withdrawn

You are describing my yougest sister to a tee.

She thought it was the end of the world when she became a size 8.

She carrie don regardless with the chocolate and snacks and then hit size 14. I know it sounds crazy but that is so huge on her.

She can't stand the gym so now walks everywhere and has had to reduce he rintake dramatically.

She used to eat more than her husband and drink pints. She has since told me she utterly understands how awful it must've been for me all these years. (cheeky mare)

Oh, this is my life, DrN! Until I had my son I could eat an obscene amount of whatever I fancied and always remained slim. I was a tall skinny child, a beanpole adolescent and a lovely slender size 10 adult. After having my son I was a size 18-20 for a good while. I'm now (3 yrs later) a 12-14. My metabolism has drastically changed. A couple of weeks of the odd takeaway and biccies with my tea and I can easily put on half a stone I was never like this. It's a b*tch, but it's nature for most people. Exercise is the key for me. I have lost half a stone since the New Year simply by walking loads, and hope to lose another stone by keeping it up and building in more cardio stuff. I simply cannot eat tiny portions of lettuce .

i can see where youare coming from totally

i used to be a size 8-10 after i had ds i was a twelve, i didn't diet or exercise and dropped down to a size 6!!!

then while i was pregnant with dd i stopped smoking and now 2 years after i'm a twelve and growing regardless of what i eat etc

i am preggers again now and hoping that my metabolism may just readjust itself to something more favourable (ok i know whatever )

umm

• when you are younger your metabolism runs faster. As you get gradually older it changes. thats life. i am in my 40's now and you just have to adjust. I eat a very healthy diet. i haven't always taken a huge amount of excercise although i walk everywhere and am a busy person but I am doing more now that my youngest has sarted at school. My body simply does not burn as efficiently as it used to so I either clean up my diet or get fat. Simple really. I tend to hover between a 10 and a 12 but if the 12 starts to get tight I cut out the refined crap and i soon loose it. It is just another thing on the miserable shit list - like needing reading bloody glasses and my elbows starting to wrinkle and having to buy frickin hand cream. The thing is as well, I think when we are in our 20's we think that one day women just give up and get that heavy untoned look. they don't - it is just that as you get older it gets harder and harder so more people haven't got the time or the inclination to fight it. Or they do the healthy eating and gym thing but the effort that you put in will not return you to the figure of your youth unless you do little else ....like madonna . And then you get mocked for being a bit freaky. Its a bitch.

I know it is just a fact of life, and I know there are far bigger things to worry about. But it's a real bitch suddenly ahvimg to think about it!

I put on weight ok after ds but never relaly recovered from dd and have put on mroe since .

Mellowma - you can go swimming in the ponds on DrN's tummy

How did I handle it? Well, firstly I have finally accepted that I am now a 12 not an 8, may one day get back to a 10 but there are more important things to worry about - as you say a 10 is no hardship really and as long as you are fit, healthy and not complacent, ie. don't ignore what is happening (you are clearly not) then you should be able to make a few slight changes and not let it get out of control.

it sure is.
I think the thing that freaked me out the most was the odd things that happened to my knees...and suddenly you realise why it is best to stop the short skirts !
And this stuff suddenly creeps up at you. You feel EXACTLY the same inside but you look in the mirror and think " wow, what the flip is going on with my neck".

Someone somewhere has a weird sense of humour.

I've started to adjust things too. I was very lucky that I lost my baby weight and another dress size when I had dd. She's 12 now and I've never had a problem with my weight at all. I turned 40 just a few weeks ago and I am acutely aware that if I keep eating like I do, one day I will roll down the stairs and not be able to fit through the door!

I have targeted just a few things, that don't make a huge difference to my diet, but I know will help over time. I changed anything full fat to half fat in the fridge. Like spreads, cream cheese and yoghurts. I've stopped eating quite so much cheese. I used to get through a whole big block in a week! Now I have it grated if I have it at all. (You eat far less if its grated!) I also stopped drinking coffee, because I like it with sugar in it! Just these small things has defo made a difference.

I know this because last summer, when I was pissed and put my wedding dress on (don't ask!) it was tight. Only 5 months later on my 40th birthday, and pissed, it wasn't tight!

Yes I love cheese a bit too much too, in fact have it on a jacket spud 4 days a week at work. Think that should stop?

A meal without carbs is just not right is it?

Cheese is a killer on the weight! Not good for your cholestorol either. I bet if you switched that, just 2 days a week even, it would make a difference.

This week I've been having tuna or beans instead.

Oh I found this when I was about 36. Until then I just ate what I liked and was always about 8 1/2 stone.

Now I'm nearer 11 stone

I did lose some weight after I had DD (10 months) but the early days of BF made me really hungry and I've kept up that level of food intake.... not pretty.

I've done WW 3 times but I can't bear a life of low fat yogurt and no cakes, so I'll have to put up with being fat.

Not right without a bit of cheese though, is it! Thing is, we are in a very lucky position, that we don't need to do drastic things, like others who need to loose pounds and pounds. We just need to saveguard the weight we are at now. There's no need to cut cheese out completely, just don't have it every meal!

Actually one thing that makes our metabolism slow as we age is that we lose muscle with every decade. Just having muscles burns more calories than fat.. so if we carry on eating more or less the same while losing muscle fibre, we store the excess calories as fat.

The best way to prevent this is to do proper resistance training (weight training). Use hand-held weights, do a range of exercises such as squats, lunges, stuff for chest, shoulders and arms. Lift heavy weights fewer times - when you see people in the gym doing 20 bicep curls with a small weight, they're not challenging their muscles and making them grow. Once you can lift a certain weight, increase it!

Women don't have enough testosterone to develop scary muscles, you can get very much stronger without looking like a bodybuilder! Muscle is heavier than fat though so if you are obsessed with your weight you may find it frightening to be getting heavier.. rely on the tape measure instead.

Btw I've just started a weight training regime.. can you tell?

Ahhhh, me too

I'm sure all those people who have always had to watch their weight feel very , but honestly, despite me knowing deep down that it was likely to happen, it has come as a bit of a nasty shock. I eat reasonably healthily (though still eat far too much chocolate) and do quite a bit of exercise, but over the Christmas period I have done less walking (used the car more in bad weather) and eaten more, and the combination has meant I have put on half a stone (which, given my starting point, is a huge amount!). I have just started going to Tae Bo classes once a week, and when I am a bit fitter I shall go to a step class each week too, plus as the weather gets better I will be walking to town each day rather than going in the car, so I'm hoping it will shift itself! I have gone from being an 8/10 to a 10/12 and at the moment am definitely more of a 12, and don't want to have to buy any more clothes!

This is me too. In the last 10 years (I'm 38) I went from being size 10-12 and eating what the hell I liked, up to size 16 and back down again. I do have a underactive thyroid which also affects my weight.

Since last summer I have radically altered my eating habits, and have lost a good 3/4 stone. Basically I try to eat my 10/10 (see relevant thread), usually manage about 7. Most food I eat now is homecooked, I eat less meat, and more pulses. I don;t eat bread and try to avoid wheat as much as possible (makes me bloat and feel really sluggish). For me this is a radical lifestyle change, not just a diet, and I feel so much better for doing it. I've also just rejoined the gym which again I know needs to be part of my lifestyle.

But it's taken me 10 years to come to terms with all this! Nothing like seeing 40 round the corner to bring you to your senses!

You are still young Northerner, no need to go mad

Well done for nipping it in the bud now. I wish I had. Like you I weighed very little while eating what I liked. Now I eat a VERY healthy diet which includes no bread or refined sugar (except when I am eating at someone else's house) and I am still heavier than I would like to be.

I wish I was a size ten!

CAT64! PMSL! 'Never quite 'got' people not having 3 courses + side orders! Love it! I still don't get it and I'm 40!

Y'know, I can easily eat 4 slices of toast for breakfast and still want a cake for elevenses!

Me too Maureen. I have 2 slices of toast plus cereal/porridge and am still ravenous by 10.30am!

43today - interesting about the muscle mass. I do not do weights at the gym at all. There is a Kinesis room which is resistance.

I will look at incorperating this into my fitness regime.

This is my big problem too - my appetite has increased, not decreased! I never used to snack but now I do it all the time - I seem to be always hungry. I'm hoping it's because I am still breastfeeding and it will stop, but I'm not sure ...

simple answer - i didn't adjust. am now on serious weight loss programme!