I'd been overweight for over 30 years when I finally decided I had to try, once again, to lose weight. (63F, 5'1.5" tall) I had been on every fad diet you could imagine: high-fat, low-fat, no-carb, SlimFast, Jenny Craig, etc. Each time, I had lost about 20 lbs or so when I started eating my "normal" way again, and gained back everything plus more.
My weight crept up year after year, no matter how much I tried to measure what I ate by comparing it to everyone else around me. I always ate less. I didn't snack (much), didn't drink alcohol much at all, and never drank my calories. I don't have a sweet tooth, so candy and desserts never mattered much to me. And yet, despite daily walks or enrolling in another exercise class, I continued to gain.
I had my thyroid checked several times -- it was always "low" but in the "normal" range. I tried every exercise routine, too: free weights, several different aerobic videos, just walking more, climbing stairs at work several times a day, etc. The weight didn't budge.
Then, in my early 60s, my knees gave out, and I became even more sedentary than I already was. I could barely walk from my home office to the bedroom -- forget about shopping, cleaning, picking up the mail, etc. Every step was agony. Carrying almost 90 lbs over my recommended weight for decades permanently damaged them.
In March 2018 I had a total knee replacement. At this point I hadn't weighed myself for over 9 months. As long as my largest pants fit, I figured I was fine. In the hospital, before surgery, they weighed me and I was at my next-to-highest peak of 200 lbs. (I had hit 211 in the spring of 2014, went on a low-carb diet, and lost about 30 lbs before I put most of it back on).
Once I started my physical rehab after surgery, I re-discovered how good I felt when I was a bit more physically active, especially if I could work up a sweat. So, I started working out at home again. I bought myself a recumbent bike to work my knee, picked up additional free weights, and started walking around the house. I lost about 10 lbs, then stopped completely.
In the summer of 2018 I discovered this subreddit and the My Fitness Pal app. For the first time in my life, I could easily count calories. What a shock it was to discover that I routinely ate about 1800 - 2000 calories a day! (Three meals plus an afternoon snack). Once I calculated my TDEE and daily calorie requirements, I started watching what I ate, and my god! it seemed like I was starving myself compared to what I used to eat. But the weight started coming off.
I finally broke down and bought a Fit-bit, which also showed me how entirely sedentary I was most of the time, sitting at home, working on a computer. So I started moving when my Fit-bit reminded me. I discovered there were electronic scales that would show you your weight plus body composition, so I bought one. To keep my calories to my self-chosen limit of 1300 per day, I started eating more vegetables. I started looking at calorie counts when eating out. I found out that My Fitness Pal could track even the calories at virtually all chain restaurants in the US.
And I lost weight -- albeit very, very slowly. So I decreased my calories to 1200 per day, cut back to only two meals a day, and discovered intermittent fasting. Adding in 3 - 4 hours of aerobic exercise plus some basic upper arm weight lifting each week helped curb my appetite.
I never, never believed that CICO (calories in - calories out) would work. It turns out that each of the fad diets I followed also controlled my calorie intake, not just the composition of my food.
Three weeks ago I finally came off a four month plateau, where I continually lost and gained the same 4 - 5 pounds. I started getting very serious again about detailing every single thing I was eating and upped the intensity of two of my 3-times-a-week workouts. And I've lost 4 lbs in the past 3 weeks after months of not losing any weight.
I am within 25 lbs of my goal weight, which would put me well within the "normal" range for my age and height. I resent the fact that I'll never be able to eat the same serving sizes of everyone around me -- I need what might be considered a "child-sized" portion. But I'm getting older, my metabolism has always been slow, and I have a sedentary job. I can't change those things.
My other knee, which was scheduled for surgery but I cancelled while trying to lose weight, is much improved. My blood pressure, which had been high for over 20 years and treated for 15 is now normal. My resting heart rate is in the upper 50s, when it had been routinely in the high 70s to low 80s. I can climb several flights of stairs without becoming breathless. My blood glucose levels, which had been creeping upwards for 3 decades, reduced a bit and leveled out to a "high normal" level.
So, it is possible to lose that stubborn, decades-old weight, even when you're small and old and like to sit and read, like me. The two sayings that helped me the most to stay on track were:
*Fitness happens in the gym; weight loss happens in the kitchen.
And
*You can't outrun your fork.
So, please don't be discouraged when you plateau, when you have a cheat day that turns into a cheat week, when the scales just won't budge no matter how dedicated you are. Eventually, if you eat less and move more, you'll lose the weight as long as you're eating less than what you burn.
I went from a size 20-22 (US) to a size 12, a bra size of 40D to 36C, and lost a half a shoe size, too! The exercise and slow weight loss has also helped me reduce the amount of loose skin I have, too. Pilates once a week (along with an aerobic workout) has given me abs of steel -- at 63 years old!!
I still get a bit resentful when I read posts where someone gave up sugared drinks and sweets, starting walking 5 min a day, and they drop 10 - 20 lbs in a month. It's taken me an entire year to lose 21 lbs. (I've lost about 58 lbs in 22 months.) Just like I can't compare my portion size to a "normal" adult, I can't compare my weight loss journey. It's hard, some days it frustrates me when I see the scale say the same thing it's said for weeks upon weeks, but the feeling I have seeing myself in a mirror is worth it. My health is worth it. My knees and my heart are worth it! Everyone is different, but if you can stick with eating less than you burn, you should lose it, however long it takes.
[link] [comments]
from loseit - Lose the Fat https://ift.tt/2sShu9w
No comments:
Post a Comment