Weight maintenance is so much harder than it used to be!

[Ronni]

All my life I've been slender, never had to worry about what I ate, gained under 25 pounds each pregnancy (5 kids) which I quickly shed, and had no weight issues at all, just fluctuated between 130 and 135. I'm 5' 8 1/2 so that was a good weight for me. Don't hate me for all that, because it didn't last....menopause hit OMG!!!

I was close to 15 pounds heavier before it really hit home that this wasn't just my normal fluctuation. Another 15 pounds before I realized that focusing on losing the weight wasn't going to cut it, I first of all needed to just stop the gain!!! Another 10 pounds before I ended up tipping the scale at 175 pounds before I managed to even stop gaining! At least it was evenly distributed so I didn't look quite as heavy as I was.

Tried every current diet out there to lose the weight, to no avail. Lose a bit, gain it back. Finally, after doing much research about what was happening to my body, I finally realized that I had to evolve a "diet" <way of eating> that I could maintain for the rest of my life, because I wasn't ever again going to be able to be eat the way I used to, and I needed to figure out a way to eat that I could actually sustain for the rest of my life, once the weight was gone, and that would facilitate a slow and steady loss rather than the dramatic plummet I was originally going for.

With much chagrin because it was the very LAST thing I wanted to do and the thing I had avoided up till this point, I started counting calories. Ugh. I found an app (My fitness Pal) that made that chore less onerous. This was back in 2014. For the next year I slowly lost the weight, averaging 2 - 3 pounds a month, going from that original 175 pounds to a much more comfortable 145 pounds....still 10 pounds more than I'd averaged for so many years, but my body just kinda leveled out at that point, the weight loss stopped, my joints stopped hurting, I could move easily and quickly again, and I realized that unless I wanted to cut calories more drastically (and I didn't) this was now maintenance for me.

I've maintained that general weight since. I fluctuate some (143 - 147) but it stays in that general range. Or rather, it WAS staying in that range. I've noticed this last 6 months that it's gotten harder to maintain it. I'm eating the same, maintaining the same level of physical activity, but I'm struggling more and more with staying under 147. It's very frustrating.

My question to all is how have you maintained an acceptable weight? Are you walking, going to the gym, lifting, doing Pilates, what? I have to change something because what has worked for me this last 4 years is no longer as effective.

What's worked for you?

 

[Camper6]

Just smaller meals in general. I just can't eat as much as I used to.

I exercise daily and never miss, snow, sleet, rain, shine do not deter me.

I lost weight due to some stomach issues. Had a heck of a time putting it back.

 

[SeaBreeze]

I was slender (118ish) until my 20s, then I married and started to enjoy food and sweets a lot more, began to put on the pounds. When I was around 30, I quit smoking and gained an additional ten pounds which I never lost. I'm okay with that though, fair exchange for the health of my lungs and feeling so much better. Although I started to actively exercise and jog, the weight was a lot slower coming off than it was going on.

Since menopause, I find it even harder to lose weight, but I try and maintain and not go up any more sizes, etc. I used to do a lot of exercise videos at home, step at home and in classes, Jazzercise and Zumba. Liked to do it all, but there were other chores or things that needed attention too. Luckily I always had physical jobs at work, so that helped keep me strong and in fairly good shape. I did count calories for awhile, but too restrictive for me, I just like to go with what I want, no strict guidelines.

My husband can eat whatever he wants and never gains much weight, I'm not like that. But, we both love good food, french pasteries, ice cream, etc. so we haven't done without. I just try to limit my serving size when eating high calorie items. Never was much for junk or fast foods, so that's a plus.

I'm 5'4", and the highest I've ever weighed was 163, wasn't very happy at that weight. Currently I'm 154, but would rather be 148ish. Seems I go up and down ten pounds depending on the season, been that way for a long time. Now I just try to put the brakes on at around 158 and don't let it go any further. I do have some muscular strength, so I'm thinking some of my weight is attributed to heavy muscles.

I do a lot of walking, daily walks every day for a couple of miles and much longer hikes when I'm out camping in wooded areas. The walking does help a lot, to keep things at an even keel. I do have a gym membership and will start going more often in the fall and winter months. Right now I'm busy doing a lot of yard work, etc., as opposed to cardio.

 

[Ronni]

I was slender (118ish) until my 20s, then I married and started to enjoy food and sweets a lot more, began to put on the pounds. When I was around 30, I quit smoking and gained an additional ten pounds which I never lost. I'm okay with that though, fair exchange for the health of my lungs and feeling so much better. Although I started to actively exercise and jog, the weight was a lot slower coming off than it was going on.

i think this is the reason I haven't lost that last 10 pounds...the smoking thing. I smoked off and on all my adult life, but around the time I hit menopause I quit again, hopefully for good this time!! Smoking certainly changes your metabolism! There isn't one person I know, young or old, who's quit smoking and hasn't gained weight!

 

[SeaBreeze]

I smoked off and on all my adult life, but around the time I hit menopause I quit again, hopefully for good this time!! Smoking certainly changes your metabolism! There isn't one person I know, young or old, who's quit smoking and hasn't gained weight!

I quit a bunch of times before I finally quit for good, good luck, glad you're working on it. I don't know anyone either who quit smoking and didn't gain weight, some people even start again because of it.

 

[Lara]

The past couple of days, I've been researching something healthy I can maintain...I think I've found it! It's called...

"8 Hour Intermittent Fast" (aka 8 hour Diet)...It's not new (2003). It's healthy and easy and not all that crazy. You can maintain your healthy weight doing it 3 days a week or, you can lose a pound a day doing it every day (or 5 days whatever you choose) in a healthy way.

Basically, for 3-7 days (depending on your goal), you choose an 8 hour period of time for eating 3 MINDFUL meals a day (low-carb, low sugar, low salt, no processed foods, portion control, etc). The other 16 hours (fast) you fill with sleep, exercise, water, tea, black coffee, and 0-calorie drinks. You must separate your meals by 3 hours.

Most people choose 11am-7pm. But others need breakfast at 8 am so they'll choose 8-4pm. but you may not lose the weight as fast because you're not as active in the early morning.

It's best to exercise after the 16 hour fast and before your first meal because your tummy is empty so there's nothing left to burn off except fat...YAY!

For me personally, I have modified this be a detoxing raw juice for my morning meal. I just started yesterday and lost 1 lb.

In the past, I've been raw juicing exclusively for health maintenance and is also good for weightloss if you juice certain produce items BUT it's drastic and thus, to hard to maintain.

 

[rgp]

I quit a bunch of times before I finally quit for good, good luck, glad you're working on it. I don't know anyone either who quit smoking and didn't gain weight, some people even start again because of it.

A friend did just that. Started back smoking, lost every pound he gained...took just over a year. He said he'd rather roll the dice with smoking issues, than be so heavy that he cannot move, and no desire to .

He does not smoke as heavy as he once did & since he dropped the weight , he is back to golf , camping, etc.

He is now in his early 70's , last I heard he moved to Fla, no health issues. He's a good guy, I hope it all holds as is for him.

 

[C'est Moi]

For me, the key to maintaining is to weigh myself every single day. If I'm up a pound or two, I eat light. Most people's weight fluctuates daily but it's easy to not let things get out of hand if you pay attention.

My biggest annoyance in getting older is that no matter how thin I am, my waist seems to have disappeared. Ugh.

 

[Olivia]

Ironically (or not) I came down to my ideal weight and I've been able to maintain it AFTER I retired. Working places are petri dishes for weight gain. In my case, visitors would bring goodies from their respective islands consisting of boxes of malasadas (soft round doughnuts stuffed with haupia (coconut pudding); manapuas (big soft baked rolls stuffed with meats, such as char siu pork, or cooked vegetables; Krispy Kreme doughnuts; macadamia shortbread cookies; etc.

Didn't any of you have that kind of problem in your working places?

 

[StarSong]

Ironically (or not) I came down to my ideal weight and I've been able to maintain it AFTER I retired. Working places are petri dishes for weight gain. In my case, visitors would bring goodies from their respective islands consisting of boxes of malasadas (soft round doughnuts stuffed with haupia (coconut pudding); manapuas (big soft baked rolls stuffed with meats, such as char siu pork, or cooked vegetables; Krispy Kreme doughnuts; macadamia shortbread cookies; etc.

Didn't any of you have that kind of problem in your working places?

I also find it much easier to maintain my weight when I'm not surrounded by office goodies. Or home goodies, for that matter. When I've got out of town company I nearly always gain a couple of pounds but shed it after they leave.

 

[hearlady]

Ironically (or not) I came down to my ideal weight and I've been able to maintain it AFTER I retired. Working places are petri dishes for weight gain. In my case, visitors would bring goodies from their respective islands consisting of boxes of malasadas (soft round doughnuts stuffed with haupia (coconut pudding); manapuas (big soft baked rolls stuffed with meats, such as char siu pork, or cooked vegetables; Krispy Kreme doughnuts; macadamia shortbread cookies; etc.

Didn't any of you have that kind of problem in your working places?

I wish! Not really because I would not be able to resist.

 

[hearlady]

For me, the key to maintaining is to weigh myself every single day. If I'm up a pound or two, I eat light. Most people's weight fluctuates daily but it's easy to not let things get out of hand if you pay attention.

My biggest annoyance in getting older is that no matter how thin I am, my waist seems to have disappeared. Ugh.

I agree with all of this including the disappearing waist. I try to stay on top of it but I've come to the realization our bodies change after menopause.

 

[Ronni]

For me, the key to maintaining is to weigh myself every single day. If I'm up a pound or two, I eat light. Most people's weight fluctuates daily but it's easy to not let things get out of hand if you pay attention.

I completely agree. It's one of my major strategies for keeping my weight under control. Sometimes I weigh every day, sometimes every several days, depending. But I never go more than a week. If there is a gain, I know from experience that getting it under control when it's a gain of under 5 pounds is so much easier for me to confront, manage and do something about than when it's more than that.

My biggest annoyance in getting older is that no matter how thin I am, my waist seems to have disappeared. Ugh.

Oh my gosh SO THIS!!!!! It infuriates me that even though I'm still fluctuating within that 5 pound range (it's harder for me to maintain than it used to be) there are clothes I've been wearing for three or four seasons that inexplicably no longer fit like they did before. The waist is harder to button, zipper harder to run up, the arms are tighter, I fill out the thigh area of the pants more...I could go on.

And it's not because I've gained weight!!!! That's what's so infuriating. My body just keeps changing shape! It seems to be redistributing the weight it has to different areas! Damn that's annoying!

 

[hearlady]

i think this is the reason I haven't lost that last 10 pounds...the smoking thing. I smoked off and on all my adult life, but around the time I hit menopause I quit again, hopefully for good this time!! Smoking certainly changes your metabolism! There isn't one person I know, young or old, who's quit smoking and hasn't gained weight!

Congratulations! Not smoking is always the better option. With weight loss sometimes it just comes down to what works for you individually.

 

[retiredtraveler]

I drink only warm hot water 3-4 liters per day 365 days.
3 Km cycling or 20min swimming daily.
I don't eat junk food only home made food. This basic and simple things helps me to remain fit and fine.

Excellent. I'm in the gym two hours a day. I don't see the 'warm water' thing, but hydration, yes , is key. With you --- we don't have dessert or junk food in the house at all, and do our own healthy cooking with mostly veges and very little meat (no more than a pound apiece, a week). I'm 68, wife is 66, and she weighs what she did when we got married. (I've put on about 6-7 pounds with no good excuse). Agree --- it's not difficult to cook fresh and healthy and 'simple'.

 

[Keesha]

You’re all gonna hate me. Im 5’7” a bit less now cause I’m shrinking and weigh the same amount I did in high school. ( about 125 to 130 pounds) and I eat a lot but I’m super active. I walk our dogs about 3 or 4 kilometres everyday and usually do yoga every morning. Yoga really helps loosen up my muscles and eliminates any aches and pains I have from aging.

Then i work out at the gym a couple if times times a week where I usually jog 2 kilometres, bike 4 or 5 miles, do weight lifting and a floor without routine. I’m probably in better shape than I was in high school because I never worked out in high school.

Because I work out my metabolism is quicker and I don’t gain weight often except for at holidays, like Christmas & New Year.
When I gain weight I just go on a low carb diet which has the same effect as Lara’s intermittent fasting and the reason it works is because you are controlling the sugar that’s in your blood. I wrote something about it in another thread. I’ll try and find it, cause it works.

Here it is

https://www.seniorforums.com/showthread.php/36648-Losing-Weight-by-Cutting-Carbs/page5

 

[Ronni]

You’re all gonna hate me. Im 5’7” a bit less now cause I’m shrinking and weigh the same amount I did in high school. ( about 125 to 130 pounds) and I eat a lot but I’m super active. I walk our dogs about 3 or 4 kilometres everyday and usually do yoga every morning. Yoga really helps loosen up my muscles and eliminates any aches and pains I have from aging.

Then i work out at the gym a couple if times times a week where I usually jog 2 kilometres, bike 4 or 5 miles, do weight lifting and a floor without routine. I’m probably in better shape than I was in high school because I never worked out in high school.

Because I work out my metabolism is quicker and I don’t gain weight often except for at holidays, like Christmas & New Year.
When I gain weight I just go on a low carb diet which has the same effect as Lara’s intermittent fasting and the reason it works is because you are controlling the sugar that’s in your blood. I wrote something about it in another thread. I’ll try and find it, cause it works.

Here it is

https://www.seniorforums.com/showthread.php/36648-Losing-Weight-by-Cutting-Carbs/page5

I'm 5'8 and 145 pounds, 10 pounds over my lifetime adult weight. I've always been slender, and never paid ANY attention to what I ate.... till I hit menopause and gained 40 pounds over 4 years Took me three years to find the right approach to food so that I could lose the extra. Finally started counting calories and that worked. I leveled out at 145, fluctuated between 145-148, and and I've been that way for the last 5 years.

First 3 years it was easy to maintain that, last 2 it's been harder and harder, to the point where I had to drop my calories so much that I realized it was bordering on unhealthy. I'd gotten to the point where my "fluctuation" had pretty much leveled out at 148, so I knew I had to do something, change something. So I turned to counting carbs instead. Low carbs for two weeks and once again I'm back to 145 stably. So that's my new way of eating. No longer counting calories....keeping a track of my carbs instead. Well, I do pay SOME attention to the calories, because I'm savvy enough to know that if I ate 3,000 calories a day, not matter if it was ALL carbs, that I'm going to gain. My body just won't support that many calories.

 

[Aneeda72]

I've been overweight since childhood. I try and lose weight, but since I am on predsione it's nearly impossible. I can't lift more than 10 pounds top. I can't do bending ect. due to spinal problems. But I could walk until last year. Was in a wheelchair for a while, due to a spinal injury, and finally I could walk again but not as much and not as far.

Now the arthritis has hit in my feet-really bad and painful. Walking is even more decreased. I doubt I'll ever really lose much more weight unless I get sick again.

 

[Ronni]

I've been overweight since childhood. I try and lose weight, but since I am on predsione it's nearly impossible. I can't lift more than 10 pounds top. I can't do bending ect. due to spinal problems. But I could walk until last year. Was in a wheelchair for a while, due to a spinal injury, and finally I could walk again but not as much and not as far.

Now the arthritis has hit in my feet-really bad and painful. Walking is even more decreased. I doubt I'll ever really lose much more weight unless I get sick again.

I get it about the arthritis. Thankfully mine's not too bad and though it hurts when I first start to move, continued movement helps the pain. Getting past that first little while till the pain eases off is the hardest part.

 

[Aneeda72]

Ronni,

i wish that were the case, that the more I walked the better it felt, but it's not. Like a lot of people I have arthritis everywhere including my spine. I have two different types. I don't know which is in my foot. But it has settled between the two major bones (or sections) in the top of my foot-where the foot arches upwards.

Every step "pinches" and I get a sharp shooting pain that makes me cry out. Then it makes my whole foot hurt. I limp. Saw the foot doctor and nothing can be done. Can't take NASIDS for inflammation until my kidney blood tests show improvement. I do walk, but those 5 mile walks I used to take last year are a thing of the past.

 

[twinkles]

i am 5 ft 5 and weigh 120---i dont need to loose i need to rearrange what i got--a roll here and a roll there

 

[Ronni]

Ronni,

i wish that were the case, that the more I walked the better it felt, but it's not. Like a lot of people I have arthritis everywhere including my spine. I have two different types. I don't know which is in my foot. But it has settled between the two major bones (or sections) in the top of my foot-where the foot arches upwards.

Every step "pinches" and I get a sharp shooting pain that makes me cry out. Then it makes my whole foot hurt. I limp. Saw the foot doctor and nothing can be done. Can't take NASIDS for inflammation until my kidney blood tests show improvement. I do walk, but those 5 mile walks I used to take last year are a thing of the past.

Yeow! That sounds really painful Aneeda!

 

[retiredtraveler]

"......... and I eat a lot but I’m super active. I walk our dogs about 3 or 4 kilometres everyday and usually do yoga every morning. Yoga really helps loosen up my muscles and eliminates any aches and pains I have from aging. Then i work out at the gym a couple if times times a week where I usually jog 2 kilometres, bike 4 or 5 miles, do weight lifting and a floor without routine. I’m probably in better shape than I was in high school because I never worked out in high school. Because I work out my metabolism is quicker and I don’t gain weight often except for at holidays, like Christmas & New Year. When I gain weight I just go on a low carb diet which has the same effect as Lara’s intermittent fasting and the reason it works is because you are controlling the sugar that’s in your blood. I wrote something about it in another thread. I’ll try and find it, cause it works......".

Excellent. A study just came out the other day stating diet just doesn't do it. To keep weight off, you have to work out. That's why it's working for you.

 

[Trade]

When I went into the Air Force in 1970 I was 6 feet tall, 190 lbs and wore 34 pants.

Now I'm 5-11, 215 lbs, and wear 40's.

Life happens.

 

[win231]

I lived with the same problem, but much worse. I was already overweight at birth, a chubby kid, an obese teen, & by age 28, 405 lbs. (5'11"). After several useless doctor visits, I realized I was looking for help in the wrong place; most doctors know nothing about nutrition. After some research, I learned that it wasn't the amount of food that mattered, it was the type of food. Now, at 170 lbs, I eat more food than I did before; just not the same foods. 70% of what I eat is unprocessed food - lots of fruit & vegetables, nuts.

The problem with weight comes from processed carbohydrates - anything made with flour, sugar or other processed grain - bread, pasta, chips, and the obvious - cookies, etc. I have a sweet tooth & I still eat those, but limited to maybe once a week & in very small portions.

By the way, nuts DO NOT make you gain weight; I snack on them frequently. The fat in nuts does not cause weight gain, regardless of what you've been told by so-called experts. My doctors told me the same thing. It's not as simple as "Eating fat makes you fat." Eating processed foods causes your blood sugar to spike. Your body responds by secreting lots of insulin. Insulin is a fat-storage hormone. That's where weight gain comes from. My weight problem came from snacking on bread, chips, Oreos & Pepsi. Now, I snack on fruit, nuts, etc. & I can't gain weight if I tried.