Metabolism change at 40?or am i just eating more... (overweight, system, doctor)

[fabumom07]

Hello all, first of all despite my username I do not live the fab life. I have 4 kids and I was 40 last July, which I am fine with EXCEPT that maintaining my weight is getting more and more difficult. I used to be between 133-140 and a size 8-10 if I ate a healthy diet, but this year I have to really watch it stay under 150! I am not satisfied with this weight( I am 5'6'' and have cut all "white" carbs, desserts and fatty foods but am seeing very little progress. Oh, and I have mostly given up wine!

I still need to get on my elliptical trainer more, walk etc. but I was expecting more progress with just dietary changes. Have other women, especially, noticed that they have to eat very much less at this age? Am I just eating more than I think I am? Could my tugal ligation be the culprit? I used to be under 130 if I ate this way, made the sacrifices. Thanks in advance for any other stories, experiences.

fabumom07

[Jesse69]

Hi, I'm 40 year old and can't have kids or a period but I'm a size 4 to 6! 5' 4" tall and 149.4 lbs today! I was once a size 16 / 205 lbs but I road biked 5030 miles to go down to 139 lbs and kept it off for 5 years between 140 to 152 lbs! But road biking takes time to work out! I combine it with commuting errands to save gas, time, and money and get a workout!

But this year I'm experimenting with weightlifting to build muscle to increase my metabolism so I just become a fat burning machine because of my muscles! I'm eating badly, cookies, candies, big dinners, etc... and it seems under control but if I need to lose some I'll hit a weightlifting / road biking session!

Yeah, size 10 is a porker! You'd probably look sexy in a size 6! Gladly I'm still a size 4 to 6!

[woodworkingmenace]

Any time you change something, be it an operation ro remove a body part or some other radical form of surgery, its going to be life altering.

Generally it will slow down your metabolism for the first few weeks, as the body needs to heal, and its utilizing all available rescources in combinations in which to do this... You body has to slow down for a short period, and if you try to "shock" it up, its not healthy for it...Give it some recovery time..a month for a major surgery, a few weeks at best for some light surgeries.

Your eating to substain what ever it is, that has been removed, repaired, realtered, rewired or what ever, and that takes a week or so, to get the thing really going if its involved in the surgery.

I always wait 5 weeks after any type of slicing and dicing, when ever I go to the local butcher shop to get rearranged, so that the shock has time to wear off, and your system starts to work right.

Exercise can start when the Doctor says your ready and capable, then it has to start slow, (yea, even if you want to lose a ton of weight by the next month and half of its gone already...you always have to be realiztic about everything you do. Doing too much will send your body into shock, because its too soon and hasnt recovered from the slice and diceing of your vegamatic in your system. Ya gotta have all the rightstuff in one lace, and your ducks line up in a row, to have everyone on the same age. if not, then forget the entire thing and chuck it out the door and stay the same way you are, because your not ready for the committment.

May the LORD Bless each of you...

I wish you well...

Jesse

[ChessieMom]

Originally Posted by fabumom07

Hello all, first of all despite my username I do not live the fab life. I have 4 kids and I was 40 last July, which I am fine with EXCEPT that maintaining my weight is getting more and more difficult. I used to be between 133-140 and a size 8-10 if I ate a healthy diet, but this year I have to really watch it stay under 150! I am not satisfied with this weight( I am 5'6'' and have cut all "white" carbs, desserts and fatty foods but am seeing very little progress. Oh, and I have mostly given up wine!

I still need to get on my elliptical trainer more, walk etc. but I was expecting more progress with just dietary changes. Have other women, especially, noticed that they have to eat very much less at this age? Am I just eating more than I think I am? Could my tugal ligation be the culprit? I used to be under 130 if I ate this way, made the sacrifices. Thanks in advance for any other stories, experiences.

fabumom07

Yes, the older you get, the less your caloric requirements are. Just a fact of life. Takes some getting used to, for sure.

[Huckleberry3911948]

i eat a fraction of what i did as a young person. and excercise a lot too.\

[cjma79]

Originally Posted by ChessieMom

Yes, the older you get, the less your caloric requirements are. Just a fact of life. Takes some getting used to, for sure.

True, but females have another problem, and is mainly hormonal (and it doesn't help especially after 40).

[fabumom07]

Welp, thanks for the responses,mostly. I am not a porker at 10- having a booty and bust helps Mr 69! But thanks for the advice . I think exercise is part of the solution for me,to be sure. My tubal was done several years ago, I prefer not to think of it as a trip to the butcher shop-OMG!!!

I was a size 4-6 years ago and everyone agreed I looked bony. But I would like to be an 8 again. So I guess its time to just accept that I can't scarf down for the holidays and drop it like I used to. I eat really healthy, but I do have a sweet tooth. It's also hard that my kids and hubby like to have sweets every couple of days, I suffer from the bite here- bite there syndrome.

Well look for me out jogging on your local streets I,m the everymom who just dared to have a piece of her kids birthday cake and refuses to buy a size 12 wardrobe next week! OK I,m done feeling sorry for myself!

[ChessieMom]

Originally Posted by cjma79

True, but females have another problem, and is mainly hormonal (and it doesn't help especially after 40).

Not sure what you are referring to. It's a fact that the older you get, the less you burn calorie-wise. I eat less than half of what I used to eat in my 20's. Easily less than half.

[brightdoglover]

My tubal at age 30 had zero effect on my weight or metabolism. Getting older and working third shift and having food cravings and being "too tired" to exercise from working nights has a lot more effect.
I am reading this group for encouragement to, day by day, eat well and exercise. (I eat well. Just too much, and occasional overeating of lousy stuff, usually after a bad night shift).
I do think exerise is the answer to most physical issues. I used to do it more. That first week after stopping... I never thought I was irrational, but the effort to get back to exercise is pretty damning.

[cjma79]

Originally Posted by ChessieMom

Not sure what you are referring to. It's a fact that the older you get, the less you burn calorie-wise. I eat less than half of what I used to eat in my 20's. Easily less than half.

Ok, when a woman is on their 40's beginning on their menopause or premenopause, the hormones level start to change. How?
OK, lets start with estrogen:
Estrogen levels are dropping (you are not producing it) and they drop quickly (this stops your ovulation = menopause) basically your ovaries produce estrogen but also fat cells produce estrogen (a reason for overweight men to have high estrogen levels), so your body start to change metabolism to conserve energy so that you have more fat. It does this because the body is trying to produce the estrogen that your ovaries was producing before. So it start to storage fat to replace the estrogen that your ovaries are not producing.

Androgen, androgen increase during menopause, this hormone is responsible for weight gain in your waist line. That is why the weight gain during menopause is usually concentrated only in the middle section or waist line.

And finally Testosterone, testosterone also drops during menopause. And I think everybody knows the effect of testosterone, it increase muscle mass and increase metabolism. Females usually have low levels (of course) but during menopause that even drops lower, making even more difficult to build muscle, and you start losing muscle mass (decrease in muscle mass means decrease in metabolism, since muscle burns a lot more calories compared to fat)