Accept my weight at 60? I can’t eat less than I do?

[SolarDream]

Just this really. Anyone have a similar experience? Did you manage to make headway? Or just accept?

I’m 5 ft 6, large frame and weigh 12 st 12. I would love to lose a stone. I managed to lose a stone on Noom last year which was 🤩 to me - and I have kept it off too.

I’d love to lose another stone to get to 12 stone - I’d be very content with that. All my clothes would fit easily and look a bit better. However, I am not losing weight and don’t really see how I can lose any more without “starving” myself basically.

( I am also a bit limited exercise wise because of a chronic health issue and this probably does affect metabolism)

As an example, yesterday I ate:-

Late breakfast - slice of peanuts butter on toast

Dinner - bean burger, no bread, a very large salad and about 14 chips. A small strawberry yoghurt.

Also two glasses of wine and 3 teas with sugar.

Would you just accept things as they are?

I could get on board with meticulous calorie counting 🥱 to try and figure out what the issue is, I guess? But I’m pretty sure I’m generally under 1400 calories a day. Surely anything less is unrealistic?

Answers on a postcard …

I haven't read the thread (so might be repeating) and I'm by no means an expert - but I have had weight struggles in the past and I am 5ft 6 and I know if I'm very sedentary I can only eat 1500 calls a day to maintain which is tough!

Looking at your typical day I would suggest that you need to drop the wine as much as possible.
Eat things that are harder to make, harder to eat, therefore harder for your body to extract the calories. Eg toast & peanut butter (say 300 calls for example) is quick & easy to make/eat but will be digested very easily. If you have something higher fibre like porridge & peanut butter (again 300 cals) then your body has to work harder to retrieve those 300 cals therefore keeping you feeling fuller for longer & burning more calories digesting the meal.

Just try and swap as many things as possible, more vegetables basically, very few 'simple' carbs. Lots of protein too via healthy sources.

It's very tough though if you can't get much physical activity so don't be hard on yourself and maybe the weight loss-jabs are worth a shot (ha) if you feel your weight is unhealthy. I was size 16 at your current weight, but I'm very small framed with little muscle and so my body fat percentage would have been horrific - I think it was 40% when I was 11st. But people carry weight so differently so don't worry about the number in the scale but how your weight might be/is impacting your health/mobility/sleep/energy etc.

Ditch the wine and peanut butter and you'll see a difference.

Just to add I think soups are amazing, if you have the time/energy to make them fab, but the 'fresh' fridge ones are so good these days too.

They give you loads of veg are very comforting/warming and fill you up.

Really convenient, if you make your own make in batches and freeze them in portions and rotate. Uses up all the odds in the fridge and leftovers etc.

I think you eat more than 1400 calories. The only way to know is to weigh and log your food. You need to be in a calorie deficit to lose weight, so if you're not then you're not in a deficit

I'm the same height and similar age. Work out your tdee and see how many calories you need to lose weight. Mine is 1200.

Could you change your wine to a gin and slimline and sugar for sweeteners. Homemade soups are good and filling.

I'm your age and height and last year lost 3 stone on Slimming World. (I was 13 and a half stone before I started).

You can have a little bit of the treat stuff (like your wine and chips) and a helluva lot of healthier stuff. I was never hungry. I am the greediest person I know so if I can do it is definitely possible.

As pp suggested definitely switch that toast and peanut butter for porridge, put some mixed seeds and a few blueberries in it. It keeps you fuller for longer.
Make wine a weekend treat only. And kick the sugar out of your tea, honestly after a couple of weeks you won’t even notice the sugar has gone.
And take up Pilates and yoga, they help to tone your muscles, and they are good for mental health too, win win!

If you had a dry month and followed a temporary diet which was calorie counted already you'd lose weight, OP. Up to you if you think it's worth it.

Wine every day? Think that would be the first thing to lose?

Can you switch out the toast for protein/healthy fats - eg half an avocado mashed up with half a tin of tuna and no toast, scrambled eggs and mushrooms (again no toast) full fat Greek yogurt with berries?

I got a soup maker last year so I can make an easy lunch just by chucking a load of veg in and walking away for 20 minutes - when I come back its ready

Supper just a protein and veg - no carbs - eg baked salmon with green beans and broccoli, chicken roasted with passata red onions and olives and stir in some frozen spinach 15 minutes before its cooked. I'll save the tomato sauce left over to have with cauliflower rice the next day etc etc.

Swap the wine for a spritzer which halves the alcohol. Swap the sugary tea for peppermint and liquorice tea - the liquorice is sweet so you don't need sugar - might take you a week to get used to it but then you'll be over needing sugar.

Also are you able to get out and walk? 2 hours of walking should get in the 10000 steps - then try a couple of home work outs with a resistance band to top that up.

She says in her OP that she has a chronic health issue which limits physical activity. You’re not the first to make a similar suggestion but don’t post if you haven’t at least read the first post.

Too much sugar, too much alcohol, not enough unprocessed food. Does that strawberry yogurt contain sugar? Ditch it for a natural full fat yoghurt with blueberries or similar. Cut down the sugar in your tea until you can leave it out altogether. It took me three weeks to go from two sugars to none. Dropped to one sugar for a week and was totally used to that by the end of the week. Then half a teaspoon for a week. Then none. Save the glass of wine for the weekend, or there have been other good subbing suggestions.
And don't feel you have to do everything all at once. Make one change for a week, get used to that, add the next one in.
Unless you decide it's not worth it - but you'll feel much, much better if you can ditch most of the alcohol habit.

Can you walk much op? Walking is a good thing as people age

Plus you list a lot of sugar so you could take that out

I won't judge you! , bmi of 26. I tried all of 2023 to get my bmi into the normal range. I can only do it by fasting. Then i feel hungrier than normal. I feel like 1400 cals per day of HEALTHY food is not excessive. I can't cut down more because hunger kicks in.

I do exercise /walking but you can't "walk it off". It's diet. My body looks apolstered ,if not "fat" exactly, even though I have been in very healthy habits for years now.
I know celebrities do it though. If acelebrity had to live on eggs and cucumber for 2 weeks to lose 5lbs quickly they would do it.

I'm nine years older than you and the same height. Since last April, I have lost 1.5 stone with Weightwatchers (I'm now 9 stone 2lb). I have done it all with changes in my diet and not increased my exercise at all. I recommend you give WW a try because you can lose weigh without feeling starved. There are many 'zero point' foods you can eat and you should never have to feel half starved. No foods (or wine) are banned.

@Jellybean23 can you tell us how ww categorise foods now? I guess vegetables are free.
Are root veg free? Is fruit free?

That's a lot of carbs! Are you veggie?

I think I'd try changing to more protein and fat and less carbohydrates as a start. Unfortunately alcohol makes a big difference but could you try gin or vodka with slimline tonic/zero sugar lemonade?

I have followed the 16/8 for about a year now, it’s made such a difference. I’m unable to do much physical exercise due to having M.S, but do walk the dogs most days, which helps. Menopause has been the reason for my weight gain, nothing else had changed in my routine.

I was on the verge of getting my wedding ring altered as it was becoming too small for me, and with it being titanium(can’t wear gold) it isn’t easy to alter. In the time it took to find a jeweller that could re size it for me I tried it on before getting the new sizing, miraculously it fitted me again. It’s amazing where you put your weight on, absolutely everywhere. I’m very happy now it fits again and put it down to the 16/8 eating regime, it’s so easy to follow.

So whilst I had almost given up hope of losing weight at my age it can be done.

I'm 64 and am losing weight at the moment. I've never found it difficult - but that is probably because I eat far too much, so all I have to do is cut back.

I walk a lot which I realise you can't do OP, but I agree that you can't eat any less - I eat far, far, more than you do, although I don't drink wine and don't have sugar in drinks. I couldn't cope on the small amount you eat tbh. Your weight isn't bad, you aren't obese. Cutting out the wine and the sugar would obviously help, but do you actually want to? Life is too short to be denying ourselves things which make us feel good.

People burn less calories when they get older purely because of the decline in muscle mass due to changing hormones (as muscle is metabolically expensive). You need to do everything you can to preserve what you have. Is there any exercise you can do? This and prioritse protein in your diet as your ability to metabolise it declines with age.

You are fine as you are. A bit of extra weight in your 60's may end up being a blessing. As someone who saw a loved one diminished away by cancer, a bit of weight is better than the opposite. Faces look better over 60 if there is a bit of extra weight. Let it go 😉

That seems very little to be for a whole day.. you might try calorie counting for a bit to get to the bottom of it, but it might be that you’re undereating rather than one and that’s slowing things down.