Calling all Slim women over 50

[givememypassport]

If you're 50 upwards and are slim with a flat waist, please would you share your secret with me?

I've tried intermittent fasting, lowering my carb intake to less than 60grams per day, exercise my core (which does FA nowadays) & keep my calorie intake to 1300/1500 calories each day.

I'm willing to do anything aside of totally give up alcohol (I enjoy it too much).

Please share.

I'm 58 and slim but with a potbelly so joining you in solidarity OP

The cancer diet, I lost six stone in six months. Have gained seven pounds back in ten years.
Don't recommend it, it has to be said. 😂

I'm not exactly slim but doing ok, intermittent fasting works for me because I do enjoy my food and have no will power when I do eat. At the moment I fast between 9am and 4pm. I love running as well and have joined a club who run a lot further on club nights than I would without having the motivation of being in a group.

I eat very little. I only eat betwwn 12-8pm. I hardly ever eat restaurant or takeaway food. I go to the gym and lift weights to my maximum capacity 3 times a week.

And I don't drink alcohol (sorry).

This keeps my waist below the magic half my height threshold, although I'm not as slim as I used to be.

I'm 53.

Honestly, the only over-50s I know with a flat stomach don't drink alcohol.

Me too - once I start eating I don't want to stop (but do). The same with Prosecco, I don't want to stop...

It looks like there is a decision for me to make, choose Prosecco or the Belly. Ugh, aging sucks (although Im grateful to have reached age 50).

The only thing that worked was giving up alcohol - sorry. And it has really helped me (health in general, not just weight).

I don't drink alcohol
I eat the same number of calories that I burn
I stand up at my desk all day
I lift weights to my max capacity twice a week, dance for a couple of hours once a week and do an hour of pilates a week

@ ComfortableAtLastTookLongEnough - hope you're doing well.

Everything in moderation, the cakes, the carrots, the biscuits, the broccoli, the booze - everything in moderation. I just don’t overeat. I have a few drinks at the weekend but not during the week.

Get up and move every hour. If you work from home, run up and down the stairs and get out of breathe with your heat rate up. Lift weights for strength. Walk as much as you can, I don’t think 10k steps is really cutting it. Take the stairs, walk up the escalator. Run if your knees can take it (treadmill is easier on the knees but duller than outside).

I’m slim, my waist is snatched, stomach flat and I’m toned all over. I love food and enjoy sweet and savoury. I actually eat a lot considering my size but don’t overeat. There is no secret, I believe that it’s calories in versus calories out. It is harder during perimenopause but I think people overestimate the calories burnt and underestimate how much they have eaten.

I am a bit overweight, 54 and have a waist and flat tummy. I think it’s due to body shape, when I was much younger I had a 23 inch waist and 37 inch hips. Now I have a 29 inch waist and 39 inch hips. So although my waist is bigger it’s still a waist.
I only drink alcohol on holidays but I do go away a lot. When I drop most carbs my waist/tummy is smaller.

Hmmm. It's not the alcohol on its own - it's the crisps and nuts you eat while on the alcohol 🤷‍♀️

how do you define a flat waist?

I'm mid 50s
BMI about 21
I seem to currently eat about 2300 kcal/day (I'm 172cm so a little tall)

I only eat when I'm hungry. I get a lot of exercise. I try to eat a lot of F&Veg & whole grains. I eat some junk food daily. I never could (wanted to) drink a lot. I drink a lot of tea.

I don't know any secrets. I have a sedentary job. Am amazed at how sedentary many people are in their spare time. How are they not bored stiff? DC snorted when I asked them "Do you think I'm an unusually active person?" I am moving constantly in my spare time.

Dancing!! Find something physical that you enjoy (so not necessarily an "exercise class ") and go for it! You don't have to be great at whatever you enjoy, just enjoy doing it and reap the benefits of it 😊💐

This. I've always been on the slim side and can diet to save my life-no willpower! I've always just eaten small portions of whatever I want. I'm a bread and butter addict and could never live without carbs. I did put on weight drying lockdown as my wine intake increased massively, but cut the sugar down and it dropped off again. I do little exercise other than walk the dogs twice a day for a total of about 90mins.

Hmmm - I don't eat crisps and nuts while on the alcohol 🤷‍♀️ 🤷‍♀️

I must admit I have become quite sedentary of late but the fat belly shape didn't flatten while I was exercising either. Love the idea about finding something physical I truly enjoy. I used to enjoy plenty of different physical activities but became bored of them. So going to them was sheer drudgery in the end.

Thanks for the suggestions!

I'm slim and have a sticking-out tummy. Tried exercise, diet, and even gave up alcohol, tea and coffee for a few years (not just due to the tummy thing). That didn't make any difference. If anything, the slimmer I got, the more noticeable the sticking-out tummy got. I think it's to do with my body shape, genetics, (all the women in my family look like this), and digestion. I'm basically bloated but not in a bad way - it's not painful or anything.

This is an interesting read
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2023/nov/06/the-flat-tummy-myth-why-bloating-can-be-good-for-you-and-when-its-time-to-worry

54, 5’8 and 66kg …

For me, it’s calories in versus calories out. I weigh and log 99.9% of my food and drink (allowing me not to care for that last 0.1%). I aim for around 1500 day to day and don’t fuss if it goes over once a week or so (I don’t log from Sat after my last workout of the week till Monday am but neither do I mainline junk at that time).

I don’t drink much (anymore!) - only when out with friends, so a couple of times a month with dinner.

I lift weights and do functional training 5-6 times a week because I love it, as much as I love the results.

I walk everywhere and easily clock up 15k steps a day.

Nearly a year ago, blood glucose was high but I was normal bmi (high end), went on keto and intermittent fasting, lost nearly 40lbs and was underweight and couldn't eat anything. Had to reintroduce carbs, I've managed to put 6lbs back on and just squeeze into normal bmi (bottom end). Tummy still flat. I still eat a low carb diet (about 80g). I'm 57, 5'10 and weigh 9st 3.

I feel well now and looks like diabetes is in remission.

I think losing a little bit of weight doesn't really work to lose the belly fat. It's a bit extreme but I think you need to lose a lot or live with it. I also had the c section pouch and it's gone too (along with my boobs 😭)

Unfortunately the sugar in your wine and Prosecco is your biggest enemy.

As the saying goes... you can't have the penny and the bun....I think if you added no wine or Prosecco to the other efforts you've been making you'll see the difference.

You can have "cleaner" drinks like a vodka, fresh lime and soda also known as a Skinny Bitch

Good luck!

Size 8 and 8stone here. Flat stomach through healthy eating, exercise everyday and no booze.

I think a lot is genetics. My female relatives were always stout, with big tits. I am now stout with big tits. Over the years I have cut out so much sugar and carbs, I was always a non-drinker, but still at 58, I now have the tummy.

I DO need to up my exercise, maybe add some weights, but menopause and maybe HRT has increased my body fat.

All those stout rellies lived very long lives though...... Thin people tend to have shorter lives, so maybe not so bad in the long term 😂

Thin people tend to have shorter lives, so maybe not so bad in the long term 😂

I thought thin/very slim people have long lives, I’m thinking of countries such as Japan and Korea that have a long life expectancy and not much obesity.

I’m a bit younger. But I think it’s no alcohol and movement.
I don’t mean exercise either, just moving. In summer especially I rarely sit down all day but that’s just maintaining our b and b (cleaning and house), gardening, running around after small child, etc.
When I measured my step counts a few years ago with baby it was always around 20,000 just moving around and taking him on walks to nap.

There was an interesting show on Netflix about living long, and I think movement was key in many areas ie Italian village where 100 year olds just walk up and down all the steps daily, Japan pottering around cooking and gardening and community all day.