Best strategy and tactics for losing weight at 70?

I love love love the Leslie Sansone Walk at Home program, there are free videos available on YouTube

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL-8fyND0sPmNQt4GdHzDNbAgwhrTXUzO5

I also love that my fitbit watch reminds me to get up and move every hour - you don't need one with all the bells and whistles, a basic model only costs about $100

There are only 2 ways:
1.Food
eat less
eat nutritious food
drink water
don’t do like me (eating junk food)

2.Exercise
by that I mean: sweat
walking is not enough
run, jumping jacks, whatever: must sweat

BUT
there’s also a 3rd point

3.If possible, reduce stress. You’re very likely over-eating, because you’re stressed and unhappy.

Hello, pronker.

The first tip is to not listen to the so-called diet and weight loss experts. Especially if they have book deals and TV programs. The market for weight loss is massive, and all the experts want a "piece of the pie", no pun intended. You did a good job asking in this forum.

It's better to do what works for you through trial and error. Everything in moderation—exercise, eating—but maybe not the other :)

Venting's point on eating fewer but nutritious foods is a great tip; it takes discipline, though :)

I find that just keeping moving without any expert advice and generally eating healthily does the trick. By moving, I mean cooking, gardening, walking to the shops if they are nearby, light exercise, any activity.

Take care.

Don't snack. And a full stomach doesn't have to be the goal at meals. Eat raw oatmeal moistened with juice instead of eating sugary store cereal. Forget desserts for a while. Eat mainly chicken or fish, not beef. Don't eat gravy. Don't drink alcohol. Don't drink sugary drinks. Stick to water. Limit cookies and baked goods. And of course, keep active.

Its hard to lose weight at 70. After menopause our metabolism slows down. I agree, walking is good excercise. Maybe find some easy exercises. If you have back problems, find some that will not put stress on your back. I think stretching and using light weights helps. More muscle mass, easier to burn calories.

Counting calories is what I have done since my teens. You need to find how many calories your body burns a day to maintain ur weight. There are 3500 calories in one lb. To lose a pound a week you need to cut back 500 calories a day. You should not really lose more than a lb or two a week.

Sugar and carbs are your enemies. There are good carbs. We do need some. I used to eat a bagel almost every day for breakfast. My NP told me that one bagel has the same amt of carbs as a half if loaf of bread. I stopped eating them and lost 3lbs. You can cook oatmeal with water. I found I need a dash of salt. I put raisins in before cooking.

It seems the older we get the more we have to work at keeping that weight off. Me, I am 15 lbs more than my lowest adult weight. I have stayed the same for 30 yrs, give or take a couple of lbs. I would love to lose a few lbs but I hardly eat anything just to maintain where I am. I have really never eaten much since I lost 30lbs aft I graduated from HS. I have always had a slow metabolism.

Vegetables , swimming , exercise, walking . Mediteranean diet - fish , lean chicken .

I’ve lost 120 pounds since I was 69 (10 years).

I lost about 15 pounds during the pandemic.

I eat one large, super nutritious meal a day. At this time of year usually a massive salad with a healthy protein and a bowl of dark fruit, a pink grapefruit, or a green Granny Smith apple.

I did EVERYTHING with my doctor’s full support and approval.

Look up EAT LIKE A BEAR online. I had lost my weight before the program became available, but it will help you to get started.

If this won’t work for you, DON’T DO IT. FIND something that WILL WORKFOR YOU.

Eat NH food

Cover909

I read a summary of a book titled something like "French women don't get fat." The author says things like eat healthy, smaller portions, get some exercise, drink water, etc.. Maybe worth looking into. There's one thing I might disagree with though, from what I've seen French women, and men for that matter, eat lots of sweets like pastries, cakes, chocolates, crème deserts, etc.. If I had to guess it's the ingredients and quantities used that make all the difference. Flour in the US is different than in France. So is the butter. So is the sugar, etc.. Far more people in France smoke cigarettes' as well but DON"T do that! Stop immediately if you do. Also, don't drink alcohol, even wine. Go for a walk instead.

I've been walking for an hour most days for years and I have managed to keep my BMI "normal".

8/8/23 - 2:00P
From: ElizabethAR37

Weight--a lifelong battle! I weigh proportionately about the same now as I did after losing 80 UNneeded pounds when I was 22. I've lost height due to back problems/age; I'm just under 5'1" and 92 lbs. (was 5'4" before 3 back surgeries in my 20s). Until a few months ago, I walked at least a mile every day--rain, snow, sleet or heat--and am hoping my back will improve so I can resume being more active. I try to get up and walk around the house/yard every hour or two.

I eat one meal a day, usually a large salad w/chicken or fish and 1/2 a roll. I have a protein main dish 1-2X/week and 1/4 serving of dessert 2-3X/week. Grapes are my go-to snack, with the occasional chocolate or cookie. Works for me but people are all different and need to find what works for them. I don't have a lot of wiggle room so need to stick pretty close to my "plan". I do cheat from time to time though, and if I gain 2-3 lbs., I cut back on food intake for a few days.

It's harder to lose and even maintain a lower weight in old age, but I hated being a "Chubbette" (brand name for clothing targeting overweight girls w-a-ay back in the day) and I have no desire to be overweight again as an old woman.

Ann losing that much weight and keeping it off, Elizabeth too, is a real feat. I was a Chubette at 20lbs over what the school nurse thought I should be.

I think at a certain age, we do not need 3 meals a day. I have to eat something in the morning or my blood sugar drops. I have not eaten lunch in years. I just snack. My biggest meal is dinner and for some that is small. But I am comfortably full when I leave the table. My DH and I split our meals when out. My DH is the same weight he was 40 yrs ago when we married. He goes up and down but is still the same size.

I think we need to get away from needing to eat 3 meals a day. Less is best, I think the quote is. Eat when ur hungry.

I wonder how much genetics comes into play. I have been thin all my life. My mom, aunt and grandmother were the same.

I do feel that being active makes a difference too. I walked or rode my bicycle to school everyday. I weighed 96 lbs when I graduated. I don’t weigh much more than that now.

Also, my mom and grandmother never served us fast food. That wasn’t a thing back then. They cooked healthy meals so I never developed a taste for fast food. I never gave my children fast food.

I use the Miss Piggy diet:

Never eat anything you can’t lift!

I think some people eat plenty of food but they are starving themselves of the proper nutrients needed to be healthy.

They are getting excessive amounts of calories, but it’s all empty calories that cause weight gain. Plus, there are tons of sodium in fast foods. Sugar and fat too!

So many people drink sodas all day long. They drink tons of empty calories. Same thing with alcohol.

Others do silly and dangerous fad diets. They may lose weight but they don’t keep it off because they didn’t lose it in a healthy way.

Exercise and diet go hand in hand. My neighbor lost weight in a healthy way and she is keeping her weight off. She looks and feels great.

She even splurges on food once in awhile when she goes on vacation. She says that the trick is to start eating healthy again after returning home from vacation.

She will gain a few pounds on a trip. She takes it off though because she eats well the majority of the time.

Consider Pellet Hormone Replacement Therapy. Our doctor encouraged my husband to try it for several reasons. My husband's results convinced me to try it and I've been on it for 2 years. I've always been active, as I approached 60 found I was struggling to keep my muscle tone up even though I was still doing pilates and walking regularly. I was slowly accumulating fat and 10 pounds had crept on.

The pellet therapy gave me more energy and my ability to develop muscles came back. I won't go into the other benefits in detail, let's just say there will be an effect on your sex drive.

Lately my diet and workout mainly consist of exercising poor judgement.

:)

8/9/23 - 4:15P
Fm: ElizabethAR37

To anyone concerned that I may be starving, I'm not. I've been following my eating plan in general for 65 years more or less and have been in pretty great health until old age (now 86) started catching up with me the last few years.

I'm sure I join others in being glad "Chubbette" is no longer in business! It was definitely no fun being directed to that section as a 'tween/teen. All black, navy and dark brown shapeless or tent shaped matronly clothing. Curvy girls can dress in styles similar to their slimmer peers now. Yay for progress!

Stop all alcohol. Cut down auger. Move. Put the fork down.

"I've not done any BMI analysis."

It takes seconds. There's many BMI calculators online. Just put in your height and weight and voila, your BMI is shown.

Some sites require more detail such as gender and age. These may be more accurate but the basic calculators give you a good idea where you stand (or sit!).

I loved Richard Simmons too! I'm in my 70s and Noom has worked for me. I spent years on WW, but I needed a change and the psych lessons on Noom made the difference. You still have to record what you eat and stay within a food budget. Check it out

Fancy gadgets and walking videos are great (it's easier said than done), but the mind is the biggest weight-loss tool.

The fancy technology wasn't around a long time ago, nor were the next new weight-loss "know it alls" doing YouTube videos, but most folk were a lot healthier in, say, the 1940s and 1950s. They were dressed to the nines (elegantly dressed), and they ate food that was clean, no processed garbage that we find everywhere these days. Most importantly, they were mindful of how they looked.
 
I also like the other suggestions folks here have provided. As I said earlier, whatever works for the individual.
 
With weight-loss "experts", there are only about 50 million to choose from :-O

I thought about exercising today.

It’s the thought that counts.

I have heard people say the expression, “Eat to live, rather than, Live to eat!”

Two months later, I seem to be playing around with a 5 pound loss that pleases. I feel a little "different" when walking or exercising. Basically, I cut down quantity and left the exercising to walking 1 mile daily.

Thanks for your update on this post, Pronker. Good work!

Changing out my snack from potato chips and ice creams to vanilla yogurt with berries and museli did this for me over course of about three months.

Hard to say what will work for someone else without knowing eating habits, for certain.
Like stopping smoking it is "try, try, try and try again". I am hypothyroid and I take levothyroxine. I am kept more toward the hypo than the hyper purposely, because edging up toward hyper will get my atrial fib in a more rapid snit. So leaving me on the edge of hypothyroid means, yes, lots of walking and less eating to maintain at about 143#. I am 5'7" and at 81, I have definitely less drive to cook, less to eat. Staying stable for now. Good luck, Pronker. Let us know how it goes.

Mediterranean diet : fish , vegetables , Olive oil . Exercise . No sugar , Processed foods . Organic .

I've never had too much trouble with weight or tried any dieting plans. However, over the years my weight has crept up so I wanted to lose about 15 lbs (at age 80). I decided to try Noom, an online program that has a psychology-based curriculum but also very helpful information about food and exercise. I lost the 15lbs in about 8 weeks and never felt deprived. I'm now in a maintenance stage of the program and holding steady. Like Alva, I'm hypothyroid and on medication. I get less exercise than I should but am trying to rectify that. And I've definitely changed my eating patterns; I thought I was eating healthily before, but learning from Noom I have made some lasting changes for the better.

I lost 70 pounds at age 69, and kept it off until the pandemic, and since then, I’ve I’ve lost about 50 more. I’m now 79.

I was relatively healthy at 265 pounds but very uncomfortable and very unhappy about my size, 60 pounds of which I’d gained while my mother was full time care in my home.

Anything that you attempt MUST be done with the FULL SUPPORT of your physician(s).

I omitted all “white” foods, including sugar, salt, most white veggies, grains, all dairy except yoghurt.

I ate ONE meal a day, no snacks, coffee with light cream and Stevia in the morning, tea or coffee with light cream and Stevia at noon, the an ENORMOUS salad of dark leafies or a humongous spinach omelet at 5 pm every day, repeat repeat repeat repeat repeat………I ate blueberries or grapefruit or Granny Smith apples every night for dessert, and took several supplements and a good multivitamin every day.

I had previously been unsuccessfully on Metformin and several blood pressure medicines, all with lousy side effects, and very little benefit. Following my first large loss everything I was ever tested for normalized (until a 5 week Covid infection).

I do NOT ever recommend ANY “diet” to anyone. All of us who have a weight related issue need to commit to finding a long lasting healthy way of dealing with the problem.

For ME this way of life worked from the beginning and continues to work right up to this day.

I weigh right now what I weighed when I graduated from HS.

Stress weight is insidious. Carrying too much weight is dangerous. The best possible care for caregivers whether their caregiving is current or was in the past, is an imperative.

Think it through, examine where and when and why and what you’re eating, decide what you can do to change one or more of those things, set your sights on an IMPORTANT goal (mine was wanting to be the HEALTHIEST GRANDMA that my unborn grandchildren could have (I now have FOUR!), and BE GOOD TO YOURSELF.

Hard but NOT IMPOSSIBLE. DO IT!

Congrats Pronker.

I hardly eat and don't lose weight very well. I gain 2# every Summer in water, high humidity where I live. I like being 3# down. I am 5ft tall and just those few #s makes me feel better. I am not very active so probably should get into walking. A friend got a dog and walks him from her house to the park. She lost 20 lbs.

I'd recommend Weight Watchers, because it worked well for me, but I hear they're going to get rid of their common sense program and start pushing Ozempic as a way to lose weight. I hate the idea of taking drugs to lose weight.

Bottom line -- eat less, move more, and drink a ton of water every day. Eat as many fruits and vegetables you like each day, keep the red meat, sweets, and processed foods to a bare minimum.