Doomed to be 60 & fat!

[Onmywayto60]

After a huge weight loss 10 years ago (8 stone), I sustained it for six years, then slowly it increased until where I am today 4 stone heavier. I will be 60 in a few months and I started this year as the countdown to 60 weight loss plan, full of enthusiasm. That has fallen by the wayside and I feel doomed that I can't stop eating and drinking wine 😥I lost 16lbs, went on holiday and put half that back on.

I'm so ashamed that I've name changed 😭 as so many of my posts were linked to my weight and the ability to keep it off for so long, now I feel like I can't even take my own advice. I know what to do, just have no motivation to do it even though my birthday is approaching. I just feel my whole life has been one long series of diets and failures and when I finally managed to get the weight off I screwed it up again, I am doomed to be 60 and fat 😥

No you're not!

How did you lose the weight in the first place? (Fantastic achievement, btw!)

Thank you 😍you're very kind.

I followed a whole food plant-based diet after a health scare. The weight dropped off in a year and a half. I had so much more energy, I hated to use the word vegan as I had done this for health, not the animals. Over the last decade, vegan junk food has exploded and I have enjoyed all the things I wouldn't have eaten before so I suppose lots of processed delicious things! I tend to binge too 😭

I think the key to weight loss is finding something you can stick to for the rest of your life. I yoyo dieted for 25 years and I always put the weight back on after a diet simply because I couldn't stick at it long term. Maintenance is as hard as losing the weight (or harder).
I eventually found something that worked for me and it's been working for ten years. I'll continue to do it for the rest of my life. I do intermittent fasting (16/8) and walk a minimum of 10,000 steps a day. My BMI hasn't gone above 22 since I've been doing this. It works for me because I don't diet, I don't count calories. I'm not someone who can eat little and often. I'm a feaster! I need big, satisfying meals to feel good. I have two feasts a day - brunch and early dinner, and I'm never hungry.
Everyone's different though. For example my MIL stays slim by eating little and often. This is what makes her feel good. Other people swear by low carb. I have one friend who did couch to 5k ten years ago and hasn't looked back. She's proof that you can outrun a bad diet! Because her diet hasn't improved at all but she's now slim.
I'd honestly avoid traditional diets and look at sustainable ways you can change your lifestyle that will eventually lead to weight loss . It's a much slower way to lose weight but you won't put the weight back on.

I think you need to re-frame things a little here - you started because of your health, and found a way to make it work for you. So think about your health rather than your weight (although obviously I know that two are very much inter-linked).

Whether you're 'plant-based' or 'vegan' doesn't matter - but what you've been doing is to allow too much processed food in, which is not healthy, no matter what their manufacturers might want you to believe.

So I'd start with removing those and reverting to your previous healthy diet - assuming (of course) that you were enjoying eating that way?

I'm 63 and losing weight does feel like a big mountain. I would cut out the junk food - there are truly some odd looking products on the vegan shelf in the supermarket. Personally I'm looking for ways to improve my overall health at the moment - swimming, walking and just trying to eat more healthily.

I turn 60 at the end of the year and 6 months ago started intermittent fasting, lifting weights and doing 12,000 steps a day. I’ve lost a steady minimum of 1lb a week and have never felt better and am also really happy with the way my body is looking. You can do it - slow and steady and by Christmas you will be transformed.

I can’t recommend intermittent fasting enough, I love the fact that I can still eat reasonably normally for lunch and dinner.

@SallyWD I think you are right, finding something that works for the rest of your life is the way to go. I honestly thought I had done this, for about six years and things did change a lot with the pandemic, working from home, baking, drinking and just lounging around. You've done so well, and your advice makes a lot of sense.

@BIWI you are 100% right, I do need to get rid of processed food I know it isn't healthy. I only eat it once or twice a week and my diet is full of good healthy food, but I drink a lot of wine and crisps then I get my hungry head on binging on biscuits and chocolate. When these things aren't in the house I do better, so there is a solution too.

If you're interested in plant based food without all the crap,
processed products I recommend Deliciously Ella. I'm not a vegan but am a huge fan of her recipes. She has lots of books and a really good app with hundreds of recipes. There's no processed food in her recipes at all - no vegan cheese or margarine. It's all natural and I feel great after eating her meals.

Agree that it will be helpful to re-frame your mindset in this situation!

First, you’ve done it before so you know it’s within your power to do it again.

Second, instead of viewing “putting it all back on” as a failure, think about what you would weigh now if you hadn’t lost that amount originally but still put weight on over the past few yeses on top! So all of that effort is not lost.

Also, you know that the hardest part of any project is starting.

And thirdly, think about a permanent lifestyle change rather than weight loss. Nothing extreme, just something healthy and sensible. Maybe focus on your daily habits and on consistency rather than weight goals.

Good luck.

@MissDianaBarry it does feel like a mountain now, when I did it before it seemed so much easier, I think there is a big difference in dieting at 50 and 60. Cutting out the junk is the sensible thing to do.

@Louloulouenna well done that is amazing work, I do IF usually 18:6 as I get very tired eating early in the day, it makes me more hungry if that makes sense. I eat two meals a day, a massive salad with potatoes, beans, avocado etc for lunch at about 1 pm and dinner around 5 pm.

Are you a committed vegan? It's really important to eat plenty of protein age 50 plus to help with the inevitable muscle loss.

Don't beat yourself up too much! Well done on your previous success- that was a tough challenge.

People make a lot of money making and selling the foods that we don't need but easily consume. They dedicate whole teams to finding out what makes us buy more than we want to.

It is not even that we are tricked or just greedy. Our bodies are programmed for a pre-processing world. (Some of us are extremely well programmed for that world!) We crave high calorie foods needed to survive in past times and want to eat enough to have stores.

(If we had to run across a few playing fields to catch a biscuit - things would probably even out a bit.)

Finding ways of outwitting the marketeers and our own bodies is always going to be tough.

Although the problem is the same for us all - we are all different and need different solutions.

@BIWI 's low carb bootcamp (on here) has helped me and fits my life. (Thanks!)

It turns out that I need to eat what I see are wholesome foods and to feel satisfied with what I consume. 'Satisfied' is more than 'not hungry' or just 'full'.

I have also discovered that sugars (natural or processed) and wheatflour both make me hungry (deeply unsatisfied) - even when I clearly don't need any food at all.

That knowledge is power.
If I do deviate from my usual ways and eat either (I do - I live in a world of celebrations and exceptional days) I am now ready for the hunger that follows and can weather this as I get back on track.

@LiesDoNotBecomeUs so very true, when I started my weight loss journey in 2012 I used to look at supermarkets and tell myself they wanted me fat and addicted to highly processed food. I also used to say that I had tasted it before, no need to miss it. All that worked, and then I got lazy.

Yes, I am a committed vegan, I could never go back to eating meat or animal products. I know how to eat healthily, lots of good vegan protein it's just that of late I am supplementing it with crap and wine 😭

It’s also true that the more you eat natural unprocessed non sugary foods the more you want to eat them. In a surprisingly short period of time crap food tastes awful once you’re used to actual food.

You lost 16 pounds and put half back on....you've still lost more than I have since Christmas so well done!

You can do this. I'm 60 and was going to be slim for my own wedding 2 years ago, my daughter's wedding last year and my 60th last year.
I'm slowly starting to lose...7 pounds yay!

I've probably lost 10 stones ( same ones) over the years.

We can do this!

@Onmywayto60

I know how to eat healthily, lots of good vegan protein it's just that of late I am supplementing it with crap and wine

The thing is though, there's nothing wrong with 'crap and wine' as long as it's just occasional! You do need to enjoy your life as well. It's as @LiesDoNotBecomeUs says, we "live in a world of celebrations and exceptional days"

If you're happy and satisfied with your vegan diet most of the time, then hopefully that's a way forward for you that will a) allow you to lose the weight but also b) be a sustainable WOE from now on