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.

Olivia I can't be arsed

I will say that I have found the work of Stephan Guyenet very interesting
www.stephanguyenet.com

I’ve been reading with interest, 48/49 seems to be a recurrent number for starting to struggle losing/ maintaining weight. Certainly it seemed to be more difficult for me from then and I gradually crept up a stone and a half. I’m only 5’2 and have always been around 9 stone. Around late 40’s/50’s it started to creep on and I found I had to make changes to my diet.
I’m 61 now and portion control, less white carbs ( bread or anything with flour, sugar etc) seems to be my answer. I was shocked to weigh some portions and find they were twice what I thought. Eg a portion of oat flakes is 30g, it barely covers the bottom of the cereal bowl and I was having twice the amount.
I’ve cut out bread completely, it seems to decrease bloating and only consume 1400-1500 calories a day as that seems to keep my weight stable. Don’t drink alcohol anyway.
Of course “older” women want to keep themselves looking nice, for ourselves not anyone else.
It is also health beneficial. I have arthritis in my knees and have been told that every pound I lost was 3 lbs weight load off knees. I certainly have less pain walking now then when I had crept up a stone.

You seem to be positing insulin as the main driver of obesity Olivia, there is no consensus on this theory if you look at Stefans blog he discusses it at length

@ohfortuna

I see.

Thanks for the gratuitous assertion then.

I suppose we can take it at face value that there are no differences in anaerobic vs aerobic fuel sources just bc you say so.

@ohfortuna

Correct. That is what I'm saying.

The evidence is too strong - both theoretical (basic biology ) and empirical (peer reviewed studies showing the effect of LCHF vs HCLF diets on obese patients).

I will look at Stefan's blog.

Ohfortuna
It is incredibly true that exercise is really important.
People who are sedentary are more likely to develop life limiting illnesses no matter what they weigh
and
the really scary one is falls
lots of older ladies fall and break their hips (like lots and lots)

Two thirds of over 65's who break a hip die within a year due to complications.
that scares me - so I shall stay fit and light.

I really do not care about the chemical pathway and imagined benefits of low carb high fat
I just aim to EAT LESS MOVE MORE

Obesity is an extremely complex problem.... I hope that isn't a controversial statement
For women midlife shift in hormone levels may be a contributing Factor but there are a multiple contributing factors which interact in multiple ways

I'm in my early 60s. Since the menopause I've noticed the weight go on gradually and be harder to shift. A LOT harder. And I lead a pretty active life, as my user name indicates!

I have tried low carbs for nearly a year. Whilst it stabilised the weight gain it didn't really shift any that had already crept on. So a couple of months ago I really went for it. Cut out virtually all carbs (bread, sugar, potato products, sweets, cut chocolate to a minimum - occasional treat, biscuits etc etc).

I completely re-arranged my diet around fruit, veg, salads, meat, some cheese, low fat yoghurts, low-fat/no added sugar everything - and have lost at least a stone and counting fairly easily.

The first week was tough I admit, but once my stomach and taste buds got used to the lack of sweet sugary things I was fine. Had a minor blip over Christmas but now almost back to my pre-Christmas weight. I am a dress size down and feel pretty good! I would like to lose another half stone and now I know what I need to do I think it will come off!

Pre-menopause I wouldn't have struggled, or had to reduce my intake as much as I have, but I can honestly say I don't miss the bread/cakes etc. In fact if I do have a "cheat day" I feel really bloated after having anything fatty/sugary.

I think cheat days are important though, especially early on, as otherwise you end up craving stuff. I still do have carbs/sugary stuff, but in such small quantities that it doesn't affect the ongoing weight loss and I don't end of craving "forbidden" foods.

It is possible to lose weight successfully as you get older, but it's harder!

ohfortuna
For women midlife shift in hormone levels may be a contributing Factor but there are a multiple contributing factors which interact in multiple ways
THing is that at my gym there are dozens of women in their 50's 60's and 70's
who eat less and move more
I'm one of the fatter ones (with a BMI of 22.5)

Morning everyone. Have to confess I've skipped the science. Can't compute at the moment.

I've had two weetabix with 100ml for weetabix after 20 minutes in the bike and before 70 minutes brisk walking with the dogs. Just been shopping and my whole trolley was colourful veg and salad lunch is a tortilla wrap with chicken and beetroot salad (mix of using up stuff/fresh) and I'm planning on a mushroom and onion omelette for dinner with cheese if allowed the calories. Does all that sound as good as I think? #stilllearning.

I'm thinking you live in a relatively affluent area @Talk?
I see very few women in the gym let alone older women!

Another issue which as I understand it comes into play as you get older... The ability to store fat in subcutaneous fat depots, where it can be safely stored, this ability diminishes as you get older.
So any fat that you do have increasingly become stored in places where it has a deleterious effect, visceral fat increases, visceral fat behaves like an organ which has a toxic effect on the rest of your body.

In my view it's a good idea to keep muscle mass as high as possible and exercise in such a way that you stimulate glycogen storage capacity

What I’ve found helps is weight training. After being a cardio junkie for probably the last 30 years, I’ve found that weight training, and increasing muscle has had a fantastic effect on my metabolism.
I find events such as Christmas or holidays, where I eat what I want, I’ll still gain half a stone or so but the difference is a few days or so I’ll be back to normal, whereas before I started I’d be looking at a couple of months.
I’ve found it much easier to maintain weight within a ‘happy’ range too

Ratherberiding , I eat similarly to you and have it the most successful way too post menopause.

ohfortuna
The gym has a comparatively affluent intake as its expensive, but the area is comparatively poor. And the classes are full of middle aged ladies - there are nearly 100 classes a week.

So any fat that you do have increasingly become stored in places where it has a deleterious effect, visceral fat increases, visceral fat behaves like an organ which has a toxic effect on the rest of your body.
THat is one of the reasons I love fasting - it whumps visceral fat (as per the boditrax machine)

@ohfortuna

I've had a scan of Stefan's blog. I like his style. He is thoughtful and careful. I'll respond more fully later as I think he is lacking in a few areas / missing a few points. But generally I agree with a lot of what he says.

ok I'm with you Talk I have no idea what the classes are like in my gym, I only use the weights room and there are very few women in there.

ohfortuna
Ah yes, I never go into the weights room in part because my son is often in there and he gets embarrassed
But classes like BodyPump, BodyAttack, Spin, Broga, pilates, power yoga, BodyBalance, BodyCombat all seem to attract those of us who want to stay fit but need to be pushed to do 50 minutes at a time non stop

One of Stephan G's main points (from my reading of his material) is that a significant driver for obesity is the appetite dys-regulating influence of hyper palatable foods
ie that they lead to cravings (via the dopamine response) which make it very difficult to control eating behaviour
www.stephanguyenet.com/why-are-some-people-carboholics/

Also more work is being done looking into the role of the gut micro biome

I think one reason he's not so well known is that his message is unpopular, it comes down to this...if you want to control your appetite so that you are eating in response to physiological need rather than hedonic need then you should stick to plain boring food.
We live in a culture where there is constant encouragement to indulge in highly pleasurable hyper rewarding food, to deny yourself this is regarded as perverse and unnatural, a refusal to live a full life.

There is constant pressure to go fit in with social norms when it comes to eating habits

@ohfortuna

One reason for addiction to carbs seems to be leptin resistance which gets out of whack. Have a look at cases of obese patients with high levels of blood leptin that should normally curb appetite; it does in normally sized humans.

So Stefan ...

I'd like to read the first and second MR studies he refers to and understand the diets of the subjects. It's hard to see what he's talking about without them. Do you have links to both of them?

The other thing I miss is a theoretical understanding of the results he relies on. What's the explanation he puts forward for the Carb-Insulin hypothesis being wrong? Why would he expect glucagon to be present with high blood insulin levels? Or does he believe glucagon does not signal fat metabolism to the liver (which would be ... um ... interesting)?

Here's a good read on LCHF vs HCLF diets. I have about three dozen other ones that all say similar things.

Note in this study that kcal are about 300 more per day in the LCHF group vs HCLF. And the LCHF group lost more weight and more fat. So this seems to lend credence to the hypothesis that calories are just not that relevant.

I can only explain this through insulin vs glucagon interplay. But perhaps you have another explanation.
Volek study

Olivia and ohfortuna

I'm sure the science discussion is fascinating
but most of us on the thread

• ARE NOT OBESE
• ARE NOT ADDICTED TO CARBS

we've just allowed middle age to spread a bit too much.

Can we get back to practical support and ideas for mildly wobbly middle aged ladies please

I agree about not aiming too low - personally I am delighted to be a 14 again! Obviously exercise helps ( although muscle weighs heavier than fat so when I was doing karate I went by how I looked rather than what the scales said). My body looked the best it has ever looked! Sadly I don’t practice karate now but I found I naturally lost weight when I got a new job. Generally more active & less time to snack.I’m awful for snacking! Once I start on the biscuits, I can easily get through half a packet.