Please only reply if you're female and closer to 50 than 40

[IWillSurviveHeyHey]

Because how in the name of the holy cheeses does one loose weight at the age of 48, when nothing that used to work in the past, works anymore?

I am reasonably active and don't overeat although admittedly I do drink alcohol and have a weakness for sweets. This was never an issue before but clearly it is now. Simple I hear you say, stop drinking alcohol and eating sweets. But I have. And whist in the past I would have started noticing some change after a couple of weeks, nothing moves at the moment. In fact, I am just getting bigger and bigger.

I have extremely large thighs and I am only short so I feel really uncomfortable within myself. My only saving grace is that I don't have a fat belly.

I am a bit sick of being hungry pretty much all the time and still, it seems I need to accept that I've gone from a size 10 to a size 12 in the space of a year and I've been hungry for the most part. Well I don't want to accept that. I need to go back to a size 10 or by the end of 2018 I'll be a size 14.

Please help me.

@IWillSurviveHeyHey

Weight loss is actually really simple once you understand basic biochemistry. 10 kg in 12 weeks. And kept it off. 17% body fat. And I'm 50.

Insulin is the beast you need to tame. It does two things: stores body fat and prevents access to it. There's a bit of watching calories but that's not so important. It strikes me you are trying to control the wrong thing.

Do you know what a) foods cause insulin to spike and b) what foods allow your body to access body fat?

year
Still confused as to whether I should eat exercise calories as I ear
As a rule of thumb, never ever eat back exercise calories
(a) they are already integrated into your TDEE
(b) people always overestimate how much exercise they really do
(c) its such an easy way to add to the calorie deficit while toning muscles

Ok. I'll give it a go. I keep detailed timings of my exercise so I know exactly how long I have walked for or been on the bike. Dh was adamant I eat my exercise calories. Thank you.

@OliviaD68
I have just weighed myself after many months and I am way heavier than I thought I was. The heaviest I have been in my life.

I clearly don't have a clue what I am doing so the answer to your questions is no. I also should lose 10 Kg and would love to know what you did to achieve your weight loss.

For a week now I have drank no alcohol, I have eaten no carbs and barely any sugar. I have eaten some fats (almonds, avocado, full fat yogurt, mozzarella balls, salmon and olive oil) and drank two litres of water a day. I dread to think what my weight was last week before I started this...

I feel very down about my weight, I don't know what I was expecting, but the high number makes me feel what I want is not achievable instead of giving me the kick up the arse I need.

Perhaps what I've been doing this past week is what I need to continue doing for the next three months to notice a result. Oh, I also do the shred 4 times a week and walk at least 10,000.

I won't give up. I will continue with the no alcohol, no starchy carbs, no refined sugars and add 5:2 to the mix. I have noticed a change in my belly so that's something, it never bloats when I'm off the starches. In the past, it would often bloat so much that I would look like a full term pregnant woman and I'd be in such discomfort...

I keep reading this thread and I'd like to thanks all contributors because I am finding it very inspirational and it's actually giving me some strength to do this.

@IWillSurviveHeyHey

Carbs are inflammatory so you will notice a drop in tummy bulge initially. When you do begin to lose weight it will be water weight as the inflammation subsides. So not great quality weight loss in the sense it's not much fat loss in the early days. Sorry to tell you this. It's how just we work ...

There's no magic behind weight loss and weight control. It really is pretty simple. Here are a few key principles.

1. The body ONLY fuels itself off of glucose or fat. There is no other option.

1. As such Proteins are not a fuel. They are used primarily for amino acids - ie cell structure and cell regeneration. However if you eat 'too much' protein gets converted to glucose. It's an 'expensive' process but the body will do it if you gorge on proteins.

Proteins do spike insulin but not nearly as much as carbs.

1. Carbs get converted to glucose which spikes insulin and blocks glucagon- our fat burning hormone friend. Don't get me wrong. Insulin is necessary for life. But too much is really bad news. Leads to a whole bunch of health problems including serious metabolic diseases like cancer and Alzheimer's and D T2.

1. Fats don't spike insulin. There are four kinds. Trans fats like margarine are poisonous- literally. Avoid completely anything 'hydrogenated ', The DASH 'diet' recommends margarine. Whoever has come up with this diet must have another agenda ...

Polyunsaturated are high in Omega 6. We eat too much of that. Veg oils like soybean and sunflower and corn are the main culprit. Avoid.

Monounsaturated are great. Olive oil and avocado oil are terrific. Omega 3 ... mainly.

The best for health ... but only in the context of a LCHF paradigm... are saturated fats. Animal. Plant. Doesn't matter. Your belly fat is saturated animal fat just so you know. Cholesterol markers tend to improve much more on a high sat fat diet vs other fats by which I mean HDL up, Trig down and if can measure it bad LDLs down.

So ... no matter what you do you will always lie somewhere on a LCHF to HCLF spectrum. No matter whether you call your diet DASH, south beach, med, Cambridge, Atkins. It's all unhelpful noise and marketing BS. Your body interprets food only one way.

A simple 'formula' I use:

• Net carbs less than 25g per day

• protein less than 50g per day unless you're an athlete. I eat more but I train a lot.

• cap net calories to about 1500 / 1600 kcal per day. No need to obsess here - your hunger should vanish and any fuel you need will come from belly fat. I'm never going to say calories are irrelevant. If you eat too many fat calories then your body will fuel off of dietary fat vs body fat ... But I will ALWAYS say that not all calories are created equally.

• gotta eat lots of veg for micronutrients. Vitamins and minerals ... but watch the carbs.

I would NOT start IF until you are well on your way in ketosis - ie fat burning as a main fuel. IF is great - I do 16:8 every day w only two meals. But if you are not burning fat you'll get hungry and probably cheat w carbs. So I would stick to 3 meals - absolutely no snacking bc it will spike insulin every time - until all hunger pangs disappear.

Then absolutely do IF. It is great for health - more good hormonal benefits like HGH and testosterone creation.

Happy to elucidate further if needed. I used to be so confused with all these silly 'diets'. Now that I've learned what food does to my body I ignore all that and have learned to do what works for me based on my understanding of biochemistry which is basic but sufficient to manage my nutritional needs.

I spoke to my sister who has been on thyroxine for years and shen said even if I go on meds I'll still have to cut back on food quantity (I'm bloody hungry as it is😫) and walk my arse off. Literally.

I can confirm this, unfortunately. When I was diagnosed with an underachieve thyroid I almost cheered!I thought, "Thank heavens - at least thyroxine might halt this relentless march to obesity".

It didn't.

I managed (by starvation) to lose a little over two stones. It stayed off for year or so, and is now clawing its way back on.

We have spaniels - I walk AT LEAST two hours a day, but don't go to the gym because it bores me rigid.

If anyone finds the Holy Grail of Staying Slim After Fifty, they can have my firstborn child and half of my kingdom.

@IWillSurviveHeyHey

Pls describe your exercise routine. I forgot to ask you. It could be important depending on your objectives - ie you want to compete in an anaerobic sport. Sports nutrition adds a complex wrinkle to weight loss and maintenance unfortunately ... especially if you want performance in an anaerobic context - eg CrossFit, boxing, martial arts, sprinting.

@SchadenfreudePersonified

Not sure what thyroid problems do in respect of weight loss and hormonal imbalances (weight management is really all about the interplay of a few powerful hormones). Would you like me to dig into this for you and tell you what I would do?

To drop a bit of weight this is the diet which works for me:

• breakfast - yoghurt and nuts (and maybe a tiny bit of carb)
• lunch - a few bits of rye bread or similar with homemade houmous (just chick peas, lemon juice, tiny bit of olive oil and chilly)
• dinner - veg soups liquidized or not sometimes with chickpeas/lentils with chilly and stock for flavour - you can have several bowls if it is just veg.

There is almost nothing in the above which will work to put weight on you, and you can eat a lot of it so feel full up. The way it works for me is that I start to lose weight after a few days, I then add in a bit more meat and cheese and even the odd bit of potato for a few days and then do the above for a few days again, until I get to my target weight. Getting some early nights works wonders too.

If you go to France you will notice the majority of women over 50 are skinny biddies so it is possible, but I am not sure how much they suffer for it. I feel a lot better being slim though - I think a size above what I was in my 30s is my ideal.

@Schadenfreude, I appreciate that walking two hours a day sounds like a lot of exercise and indeed it is a lot of walking but you may find the exercise has a greater impact upon your body composition if you spent those two hours differently.
Obviously everyone is different just because you know what works for you doesn't mean that that would apply to other people.....that said I exercise for probably around 2 hours a day half of that is strength training the rest is a mixture of cycling running and walking.
I am 52 post menopause I weigh 50 kg at 5ft 2, I'm pretty lean with a flat stomach and reasonably muscular.

I don't personally feel that I have suffered to stay slim I suppose it helps that I enjoy exercise but I haven't had to starve myself I eat about 2000 calories a day probably a little more, also don't restrict carbs... I eat around 300 grams of carbs a day

Been lurking on this thread, am 47, post meno and suddenly have a huge belly and none of my clothes fit me. Gone from size 8/10 and 5 9'' (so skinny/slim) to god knows what. Look all wrong. I must have put on 2 stone in a year.

I would like to thank the OP for starting this and OliviaD68 for all that very helpful info.

Personally, I am doing dry Jan (with potentially a dry year) no sugar at all, minimal but some carbs, loads of veggies and 16/8.

High fat and loads of meat and no carbs at all make me very weak and ill. I have tried it. It did work, but wasn't for me.

Olivia if you're there, what do you think of my plan, as for me I know I can stick to this. Cakes/chocolate/sugar etc I don't like at all so easy for me. Alcohol not so easy at all (prob my downfall to date) Bread/other 'bad' carbs I can take or leave (mostly!) But I do like potatoes now and again and lentils/chickpeas etc (which are banned on HFNCarb diets)

Any tips? Oh and I am upping water.

TIA!

dantdm what are hfn carb diets, and why are chick peas and lentils banned?! thanks

Hi boden High Fat, no carbs (except from certain very low carb veggies) ie no potatoes, carrots, parsnips, careful with onions, no fruit AT ALL, sweet potatoes, lentils (far too carby) and chickpeas etc.

It does work, you lose weight, and fast, I followed the Bootcamp thread. The problem is I feel ill on it. Can't stick to it. They snack on pork scratchings and eat the fatty cuts of meat etc. I need some carbs and don't really like meat too much! I actually don't like fat, but if you do, it's a brilliant diet for you.

@danTDM

This is a good point. I had the same issue.

Lethargy in a LCHF construct is usually because you are not getting enough micronutrients ... in large part because a lot of water leaves your system it takes them away from your cells. This is why veggies are so important. A ton of veggies ...

I would try:

• Add sodium. This is key and will bear results very fast. So bowls of broth are good with added salt. At times, I have had to eat a spoonful of salt. Easy on this last approach - stomach doesn't like it. You need at least 5g per day. Your kidneys are great at getting rid of excess.

• Potassium deficiency. Eat a few avocadoes. Don't buy supplements. They are expensive and too low in mg to work. Need between 4g and 5g per day

• B5 - especially - and other B vitamins made a big difference to me. I use a supplement for B5.

Otherwise lethargy can set in if you train anaerobically and you need to restore muscle glycogen quickly. You can do this wo carbs - via gluconeogenesis of the glycerol molecule metabolised from fat - but it can take a week. So if you do train anaerobically and often there are some tricks you need to play on your body to reduce insulin spikes and sneak glycogen back into muscle cells. In other words, fat as a fuel source is kinda crappy if you're a high intensity athlete but you can fool your body and retain the LCHF benefits.

For the rest you're asking if you can eat some carbs and not have an effect in terms of slowing you down on your weight loss journey. Generally speaking, no, you cannot. As I indicated above, there are tricks you can play post workout and around your workouts but not as a a general rule. Your body will still spike insulin when you eat carbs.

Olivia, you say"Otherwise lethargy can set in if you train anaerobically and you need to restore muscle glycogen quickly. You can do this wo carbs - via gluconeogenesis of the glycerol molecule metabolised from fat - but it can take a week. So if you do train anaerobically and often there are some tricks you need to play on your body to reduce insulin spikes and sneak glycogen back into muscle cells. In other words, fat as a fuel source is kinda crappy if you're a high intensity athlete but you can fool your body and retain the LCHF benefits."

This might sound like you know what you are talking about due to some large words, but as someone with a science background, I will say that it does not make sense. Bunch of gobbledy gook.

I agree that's a big old helping of bro science that we're getting there from Olivia 😂😄😆

I think Olivia has found an approach which worked for her which is great for Olivia of course but she doesn't properly understand the science of what's happening..... let's face it even experts don't really agree on the answers to the problems of obesity etc
Furthermore she assumes that what works for her will work for other people

(((( HeyHey )))))
Weight is just a number.
The important thing is that you know you need to change and know what you want from the change.

Weight loss is 90% food reduction and 10% exercise

Getting fitter is great for you but walking and a bit of gym cannot counteract donuts.

I do not accept much of the stuff that folks write about different types of food and energy levels ( as a New Scientist Reader I know that much of it has no scientific validity)

What is important is that you eat less but eat well
so think about nutrient rich foods
500 calories of vegetable stir fry with chicken
500 calories of gin and tonic

This page is really useful I find

www.wisegeek.com/what-does-200-calories-look-like.htm

@Mominatrix

Happy to be told otherwise. If it's gobbledygook what part and why? I don't mind criticism if it's back up in fact.

Talk I totally agree that as the saying goes you cant out run a bad diet.... But I still feel that on the whole people underestimate the importance of physical activity, and lots of it, for maintaining good health

@ohfortuna

Same question to you as I posed to @Mominatrix

Pls explain what part is wrong and why.

In particular I'd like clarification on what other pathways you see to ATP. There is a third using creatine phosphate - yes - which I use as one of my tricks. But let's ignore that one.

But please do explain how I have got the aerobic and anaerobic pathways wrong.

A Perfect diet will not save you from the damage caused by sedentary lifestyle

I just don't think a discussion of adenosine triphosphate is particularly relevant or useful here

@ohfortuna

I see. DM me then. Happy to learn.

My main problem is that you're being very dogmatic on issues about which there is no consensus