Over 55: Strategies for getting healthy; losing weight (picky eater, years, trouble)
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Like anything else in life, educating yourself on health and fitness is worth the time. Plenty of places to get healthy, good tasting recipes to add to your week. Use MyFitnessPal to log in your food for your goals. It serves as a tool to keep you n track and starts to make you think about your food choices during the day. You'll be surprised at the calories you consume when you track everything. By being aware of how much each food is, you can make healthy, educated choices.
Different exercise plans accomplish different things. What do you want? I lift weights. It makes me feel great and my routine is simple. I advocate everyone at least try it. You won't get all bulked up, but you will get stronger and feel better.
My wife has a trainer. She hated exercise, but now loves it.
Find what you enjoy and stick with it.
Hi again Bette: I didn't have time to post a more thorough post, but I was going to give you a better idea of what my new diet is like, since I am losing weight without starving, without special diet( well a diabetic diet), and without exercising myself to death.
Remember, I use a cane all the time, so walking a lot is difficult for me.
I am a male, 53, and allowed 6 carb exchanges a day. Since you are female, you could probably be safe with 4-5 carb exchanges a day.
I have a 1/2 cup oatmeal (with three teaspoons of sugar free Cocoa, three teaspoons of stevia sweetner [which I also grow in my garden, it's a no calorie plant-not chemicals] so I have chocolate oatmeal) for breakfast, that's 1 carb exchange. I usually have this at 4 am when I am up. If I want a drink a single cup of coffee or tea with a teaspoon or two of stevia is all I need.
I learned also to not let more than 5 hours go by without eating something. Now that doesn't mean have a 5 course meal with a 65000 calorie desert each time,but sensibly eat something.
For my 9 am hour I have a piece of fruit. A banana or apple will/should hold you for the next 5 hours.
For lunch I USED to eat a whole sandwich piled high and a heaping pile of chips, or big pile of potato salad or the like. I now have just 1/2 a sandwich, just a few pieces of "boxed" prepared deli meat, or a single piece of regular deli meat ( it's bigger in size) and a half slice of any cheese. Just that half sandwich will hold me until dinner and since a single slice of bread is only 1 carb, I have my second carb of the day. If I really want something crunchy with my sandwich, I will have carrot sticks or celery sticks or a single 1 oz package of lays. ( Lays makes variety packs of snacks in small bags). That gives me a third carb exchange, but usually the half sandwich is fine. I eat that about 1:30-2 pm. By now I've had 2 to 3 carbs.
For dinner (6:30), I have a SENSIBLE dinner. 1/4 medium sized plate with a meat of the size of a deck of cards, 1/4 plate of 1-2 carb exchanges ( small-medium potato, 2 tablespoon of rice, mashed potatoes or the like) or quinoa is good, and a full 1/2 plate of veggies. I love broccoli and it's considered a "free food", so it works well. I also like fresh snapped long green beans, or mixed squashes ( zucchini, yellow summer squash or spaghetti squash). Those are MY favorites, yours may vary. This gives me one carb exchange for dinner, 2 if I have more of the starch.
If I've been good, and had just one carb breakfast and one carb lunch and 1-2 for dinner, I can have a 2"X2" piece of cake with low icing or a slim piece of pie or two scoops ice cream if I like. I have found I DON'T need a dessert or snack either after dinner or later snack.
I can also have one slice of a medium to large round pizza from a pizza place or two squares of sheet pizza if I want.
At first, except the banana, I would find myself a bit hungry, but after adjusting to this diet quickly, that passed. Hunger is caused when your body hasn't had food. By eating once every 5 hours, your body gets used to it and realizes more food will come, so after hunger it won't store the food as fat. Hunger and longer spaces between meals puts your body on notice that food may be scarce, and so it stores as fat. Just what you DON'T need! So trying to diet by only eating at 6 am and waiting 12 hours to eat at 6 pm for dinner is a NO NO! Even going 6 hours between meals is bad and won't return good results.
As pointed out in a previous post, if you are eating food, particularly fruit in any form other than it's natural state, you are eating too much. The smoothie was their example, I will use dried fruit as mine. Dried apricots, for example, are great. But it does concentrate the sugars and 10 of them go down easy. But in reality would you eat 10 whole regular apricots? Most likely even though they are small, it is unlikely you'd eat 10 apricots in one sitting. Same with dried apples... munching on them can lead to eating more than one Apple's worth. Raisins? A small box of snack raisins seems small, but if you count them as grapes, you'd not eat 200 or more of grapes in one sitting.
So monitor your intake and eat no more than 5 hours from last time. Even though I get no specific breaks at work, I can eat a half a sandwich or apple during a lull. If you work, I'm sure you get breaks or can sneak a fruit at least during lulls.
I also wanted to alert you to a few other appropriate things:
1) don't weigh yourself more than once a week, pick a day of the week and only weigh on that day. Or go two weeks then weigh. If you try more you may find you lost 3 pounds one day but gained 4 the next day and become discouraged, but for the week are down 4 pounds firmly.
2) I lost 30 pounds quickly in two months, then I hit a brick wall and could not lose a single pound for three months. I stick to my new diet. My endocrinologist said I would find that happening. Your body needs time to adjust to your new intake and recent loss. It kind of rethinks what's happening and says to itself, gee I'm getting food steadily, but should I be saving some as fat just in case there's a food shortage? Then you will begin to lose more weight and I'm back down another 13 pounds by 8 months.
3) you have to look at the whole picture...I lost 43 pounds in 8 months, averaging about 5 pounds a month.. that is actually about right on for being appropriate!
So, modify your diet and intake, keep feeding your body small amounts on a steady basis, and look at the overall long picture. You didn't gain weight all in one week, it's not going to come all off in a week! We are too used to "instant gratification" that we can't stand slow progress, we tend to want it NOW.
Be patient, and even without killing yourself exercising and sticking to, for you a female, 4-5 carbs a day, eat sensibly and smaller quantities, you'll find you'll lose the weight slow and steady. Don't become discouraged if it slows or stops, it will resume when your body adjusts.
Again, best of luck losing the weight, and becoming a better healthier YOU!!
Hi again Bette: I didn't have time to post a more thorough post, but I was going to give you a better idea of what my new diet is like, since I am losing weight without starving, without special diet( well a diabetic diet), and without exercising myself to death.
Remember, I use a cane all the time, so walking a lot is difficult for me.
I am a male, 53, and allowed 6 carb exchanges a day. Since you are female, you could probably be safe with 4-5 carb exchanges a day.
I have a 1/2 cup oatmeal (with three teaspoons of sugar free Cocoa, three teaspoons of stevia sweetner [which I also grow in my garden, it's a no calorie plant-not chemicals] so I have chocolate oatmeal) for breakfast, that's 1 carb exchange. I usually have this at 4 am when I am up. If I want a drink a single cup of coffee or tea with a teaspoon or two of stevia is all I need.
I learned also to not let more than 5 hours go by without eating something. Now that doesn't mean have a 5 course meal with a 65000 calorie desert each time,but sensibly eat something.
For my 9 am hour I have a piece of fruit. A banana or apple will/should hold you for the next 5 hours.
For lunch I USED to eat a whole sandwich piled high and a heaping pile of chips, or big pile of potato salad or the like. I now have just 1/2 a sandwich, just a few pieces of "boxed" prepared deli meat, or a single piece of regular deli meat ( it's bigger in size) and a half slice of any cheese. Just that half sandwich will hold me until dinner and since a single slice of bread is only 1 carb, I have my second carb of the day. If I really want something crunchy with my sandwich, I will have carrot sticks or celery sticks or a single 1 oz package of lays. ( Lays makes variety packs of snacks in small bags). That gives me a third carb exchange, but usually the half sandwich is fine. I eat that about 1:30-2 pm. By now I've had 2 to 3 carbs.
For dinner (6:30), I have a SENSIBLE dinner. 1/4 medium sized plate with a meat of the size of a deck of cards, 1/4 plate of 1-2 carb exchanges ( small-medium potato, 2 tablespoon of rice, mashed potatoes or the like) or quinoa is good, and a full 1/2 plate of veggies. I love broccoli and it's considered a "free food", so it works well. I also like fresh snapped long green beans, or mixed squashes ( zucchini, yellow summer squash or spaghetti squash). Those are MY favorites, yours may vary. This gives me one carb exchange for dinner, 2 if I have more of the starch.
If I've been good, and had just one carb breakfast and one carb lunch and 1-2 for dinner, I can have a 2"X2" piece of cake with low icing or a slim piece of pie or two scoops ice cream if I like. I have found I DON'T need a dessert or snack either after dinner or later snack.
I can also have one slice of a medium to large round pizza from a pizza place or two squares of sheet pizza if I want.
At first, except the banana, I would find myself a bit hungry, but after adjusting to this diet quickly, that passed. Hunger is caused when your body hasn't had food. By eating once every 5 hours, your body gets used to it and realizes more food will come, so after hunger it won't store the food as fat. Hunger and longer spaces between meals puts your body on notice that food may be scarce, and so it stores as fat. Just what you DON'T need! So trying to diet by only eating at 6 am and waiting 12 hours to eat at 6 pm for dinner is a NO NO! Even going 6 hours between meals is bad and won't return good results.
As pointed out in a previous post, if you are eating food, particularly fruit in any form other than it's natural state, you are eating too much. The smoothie was their example, I will use dried fruit as mine. Dried apricots, for example, are great. But it does concentrate the sugars and 10 of them go down easy. But in reality would you eat 10 whole regular apricots? Most likely even though they are small, it is unlikely you'd eat 10 apricots in one sitting. Same with dried apples... munching on them can lead to eating more than one Apple's worth. Raisins? A small box of snack raisins seems small, but if you count them as grapes, you'd not eat 200 or more of grapes in one sitting.
So monitor your intake and eat no more than 5 hours from last time. Even though I get no specific breaks at work, I can eat a half a sandwich or apple during a lull. If you work, I'm sure you get breaks or can sneak a fruit at least during lulls.
I also wanted to alert you to a few other appropriate things:
1) don't weigh yourself more than once a week, pick a day of the week and only weigh on that day. Or go two weeks then weigh. If you try more you may find you lost 3 pounds one day but gained 4 the next day and become discouraged, but for the week are down 4 pounds firmly.
2) I lost 30 pounds quickly in two months, then I hit a brick wall and could not lose a single pound for three months. I stick to my new diet. My endocrinologist said I would find that happening. Your body needs time to adjust to your new intake and recent loss. It kind of rethinks what's happening and says to itself, gee I'm getting food steadily, but should I be saving some as fat just in case there's a food shortage? Then you will begin to lose more weight and I'm back down another 13 pounds by 8 months.
3) you have to look at the whole picture...I lost 43 pounds in 8 months, averaging about 5 pounds a month.. that is actually about right on for being appropriate!
So, modify your diet and intake, keep feeding your body small amounts on a steady basis, and look at the overall long picture. You didn't gain weight all in one week, it's not going to come all off in a week! We are too used to "instant gratification" that we can't stand slow progress, we tend to want it NOW.
Be patient, and even without killing yourself exercising and sticking to, for you a female, 4-5 carbs a day, eat sensibly and smaller quantities, you'll find you'll lose the weight slow and steady. Don't become discouraged if it slows or stops, it will resume when your body adjusts.
Again, best of luck losing the weight, and becoming a better healthier YOU!!
What an EXCELLENT sensible food plan.
I concur - do not let more than 5 hours pass between eating.
Also - You may not see pounds drop with exercise - but what you won't see is your fasting blood sugar, blood pressure and other metrics return to NORMAL. That is worth the effort.
And - men lose weight easier than women. It's just a fact. So do not give up even tho it's taking awhile to adjust.
But even while working, don't forget: eat something sensible every 5 hours! If you eat before work, be sure to have a lunch or piece of whole natural fruit DURING work.then have a SENSIBLE dinner after work!
Do not let 5 hours or more go by without having eaten something, no matter how busy you are!
B
Continued best of luck for success.
for some strategies to stay away from the bad stuff? What has worked for you?
My husband is only about 10 pounds heavier than when we were married and he went to Weight Watchers in high school and lost 75 pounds. Then, he also grew to about 6'3" so that helped also. It doesn't matter if we get home at 2 AM, he has to have his vegetables.
And if it hasn't worked for you, what have others you know tried? I'm not interested in any pills; just want to do it right which I had started doing just before the foot break.
If you can't move your body, then you need to reduce your food consumption. I recommend fasting. It not only reduces food consumption, but it also helps reduce your desire for junk food.
There is more than one way to fast. It can be as simple as no nighttime snacking. Have an early dinner, if possible, that you finish at 6PM. Then don't eat again until 8AM the next morning.
I find it helps if I fast on a weekend or day when things are going to not be activity filled. That way I can typically go 16-18 hours pretty easily without eating (except water, of course).
There's also a good diet known as the 5:2 diet. You eat as you normally would 5 days per week and the other 2 days you eat about 500 calories...and it has to be 500 healthy calories.
The benefits of fasting extend beyond just weight loss:
If you can, try and see if you can back order Time Magazine issue June 5, 2017 about the weight loss diet trap and why it doesn't work. It disspells many myths about weight loss diets and exercise and gives actual facts derived from research done by experts in the field.
The problem is, everyone believes themselves to be an expert in this area because maybe they've read a book or two on the subject or maybe they've hit upon something that worked for them. But in the area of weight loss, one size definitely does not fit all and the best way to lose weight is to seek out professional advice and use what will work for you.
That professional advice might include talk therapy, if you're an emotional eater.
A good therapist can help unwind your thought processes and do a reset on your relationship with food. Weight loss diets try to get you to ignore that relationship and impose an artificial regimen on you, which is why they rarely work. Your current relationship with food exists for a reason. It works for you in some way.
I love myfitnesspal. I have been using it since 2013, and am down 65 pounds now. And I had hurt my foot in 2013, so have only been able to slowly get back into riding my airdyne stationary bike just recently.
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