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.

The bottom line for me is that my hip, and mobiility will be affected if I don;t lose weight

The bottom line for me is that my hip, and mobiility will be affected if I don;t lose weight

Apologies for double post

Apologies for double post I won't get a hip replacement if overweight

And if you do lose the weight and get fit, the operation is far more likely to be a success.
Several of the ladies at my gym have metal hips - once they are in the fitness habit it makes a difference.
A couple of them have come and doe aqua and pilates in the morning with the op scheduled for the afternoon
and they are back in the pool as soon as the stitches are healed - marching up and down and then doing upper body in the gym.

I read the horrifying statistic in New Scientist that
1/3 of over 65's who break a hip
are dead within a year due to complications and secondary infections.

As if reducing Alzheimers risk was not enough of an incentive to stay fit and slim

I used to do Callanetics! Back in the late1980/90s.

That is very encouraging about your Dad Ta1kinpeace, I shall continue to squeeze chairs with my feet then !

I read that statistic about hip fracture and mortality and was shocked. My Mum had a replacement but didn't mobilise herself properly afterwards and was still very heavy so never got her mobility back. I think the Dementia played a part in it. I need to do basically the opposite of what she did which having seen her isn't hard as the alternative is grim.

Marmite I’m sorry you are waiting for surgery. I needed to lose weight for my gallbladder removal and once I got my head round it having surgery as a target really helped me lose weight, couldn’t stand the pain any longer. How much do you need to lose ?

Lovely thread. Really helpful. Thanks everyone.

In last 6 months I lost 2 kg then relaxed and out it back on and have now lost 1.75 again so down from 9 stone 11 to 9 stone 7 I think. 5 ft nothing. I want to stop putting on weight and find a way of eating that helps me not just get bigger slowly.

Trying not to snack as I said upthread. I am so tired due to bloody hot bloody flushes all bloody night. I am like a zombie.

I feel like I am getting there with food - fewer carbs, lighter breakfast and lunch. However I just can't get my arse excercising. In the summer it's easy to do long walks with dogs but not easy in winter. Work full time. 2 DC at home still who need support with exams, homework, etc

I think it would be best to plan child rearing and working to be finished before you hit the menopause

So peeps how are you getting yourselves moving in the winter. How do you fit it in? I really need to sort it. Once I have a nap

I walk the dog as soon as I know the kids have got on the bus. So leave at 8:30 and get home by ten usually. Then another 3/4 - 1 hour walk around 1:30. I go on the exercise bike before each meal, or at least twice and try and do 3/4-1 hour in total. I've lost 4.8 lbs since January 1st but nothing for the last couple of days. Trying not to give up. Was very upset this afternoon and a Christmas double decker was calling me but I talked myself through all I'd achieved, how rubbish I'd feel after eating the whole thing and had a small homemade coconut and oat biscuit instead. Just had dinner. Roast chicken, yellow and orange pepper and courgette wrap.

@YearOfYouRemember

If you're on low carb (maybe even just if you're losing weight fast) it is believed your body goes through periods of filling fat cells with water - supposed to be as a protective measure. People experience weeks of no progress then lose 4kg even more over night. Apparently It's called a whoosh effect. I have not experienced it personally.

I do not know the biology behind it.

Be patient. Weight loss is not linear.

Thank you. I have stopped eating sliced bread but have had some wraps this week so not quite no carb. I would like to find an alternative as I've enjoyed coming up with different fillings and it feels more substantial a lunch than just the contents on the plate. Can't believe just had a mini roast and ignored the potatoes!

Low or no carb is not necessary to lose weight but it sure does accelerate the process. It also is a healthier approach according to peer reviewed studies.

It also seems caloric restriction is needed more in a carb heavier diet.

A 18:6 fasting regimen also accelerates.

Good luck.

Could you explain the 18:6 to me please? I think I know but don't want to embarrass myself.

18:6 or 16:8 or any of those variants ....

16:8 is the most common = you only eat within an 8 hour window (ie lunch and supper) outside that time (half of which you are asleep of course) you do not eat or drink anything calorific.

Its the trendy name for skipping breakfast

It's a bit more than that.

You eat all your calories in two meals only. No snacking. V important.

For ages and ages I haven't been eating breakfast as couldn't face it too early and haven't lost any weight. Since starting this I have been having breakfast, though sometimes much later, lost a bit of weight and now you're telling me to stop breakfast !

It's about insulin. It spikes when you eat. It makes you gain weight and prevents weight loss. So reducing the incidence makes sense.

olivia
No Snacking is an absolute given.
I have been ranting about it on the 5:2 threads since 2012

For the past 10 days or so I have been eating between 1000 and 1200 calories a day. I have lost 1.1 Kg. I am very glad it's a loss, but I do feel I should have lost much more, being the beginning of the diet, there's been not a drop of alcohol, etc. Anyway. I will continue. Long way to go...

Well done Iwillsurvive, that’s just under 2.5lb so just over a pound a week which is a solid rate of loss. Totally get the feeling of it should have been more for the first week, I lost a pound which when you’re looking at over a hundred felt like a drop in the ocean. The next week was 3.5lb, the next 1.5lb so 6 pounds in 3 weeks, spot on the 2lb average I was going for at that point.

Hang in there and look at the trend over time. Some people do lose fairly steadily, others in fits and starts. It’s hard at the start but after a bit that pound here and half pound there start adding up. 1lb a week is around 3 stone 10lb a year. Better to be slower and at the same time focus on how you are going to maintain the loss as that’s the bit that goes wrong for most people. Focus on changes that you can sustain.

@PostNotInHaste, thank you for that, you're so right...

It is about the long term. Obviously wanting to shift extra pounds first.
I'm really short so didnt want to get to 10.5 stone then 11+ which is where i was heading without making changes. I lept losing 4 lbs and then put it back on.

I am trying to think about where i want to be this time next year. There's no rush but wanting to go in right direction and then stay there. It's a lifestyle thing rather than a diet really.

Year have been out with dogs fir hour this morning but midweek im off to my sedentary job onve kids are off to school

Payfrozen could you walk part the way to work or get off a stop or two earlier?

I've gone up a pound but I'm not giving up. Today is a conscious eating day but with a treat as it's the anniversary of when dh and I met and then come Monday DDog will be well enough to be out so I'll be walking for 2+ Hours plus using the exercise bike.

I've bought seeded wraps today as I had brain freeze and couldn't think what a low carb option would be so the seeds were a compromise.

If you lose weight at around 1lb a week, it is more likely to stay off.
And weight loss is NOT a straight line

neither is weight maintenance staying the same every day - weight fluctuates during the week.