The agony of putting on weight as you get older

[Martina]

Two years ago, I threw out a couple of favorite skirts because I was too big for them and I believed that getting older meant getting fatter and there was no escape. Now I know that is not true and wish I could get those lovely skirts back. In fact I take one size smaller in both skirts and dresses than I did before and people envy my figure. I am 71, so I am allowed to brag!
Initially my strategy was directed at heading off brain cognitive diseases such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and dementia, while increasing longevity and general good health; it just so happened that this strategy also resulted in weight loss without any real damage to my enjoyment of life.
A lot of people talk about losing weight but often do little about it (I call them the NATO people – No Action Talk Only) or what they do is ineffective.
What I do I call a “discipline”, not a “diet”. Diets generally fail because they focus too much on food and have a tendency to make one’s life miserable. I have never counted calories, never!
In a nutshell, this is what I do:
1. Keep fit. I run, walk, swim and do exercises for over an hour four days a week. The other days I just walk and suggest a minimum of 30 mins brisk walking each day. Go on, it won’t kill you!
2. I do two 16 hour fasts a week on Mondays and Thursday, which basically means leaving out breakfast only drinking water between dinner and lunch the next day. Look up Dr Michael Moseley’s 2:5 intermittent fasting technique for further info.
3. Cut down as much as you can, al least by half, on the bulk carbohydrates: bread, rice, pasta, potatoes and the real poison sugar. Most foods contain carbohydrate anyway; for example, garden peas are high in carbohydrate, so why add more. Of course, I still eat all of those things but in much reduced quantities, but I never add pure sugar to anything. Finely chopped cauliflower can be used as a rice substitute and you don’t feel like you weigh a tonne when you get up from the table. Trust me, doing this I eat heartily; I never starve myself except briefly for those two missed breakfasts.
4. Set yourself a goal weight range, in my case 64-66 kg and eat up when you go too low and be a bit harder on yourself when you go over.
5. Be sensible, it really isn’t that hard.

Lastly, watch this video; it is really worth the 16 minutes: TED Talk: Why fasting bolsters brain power

Just for the record, it only took me about 6 weeks to lose 7 kg. Now I want those skirts back!

[Deleted User]

I dont have anything like the rigorous routine that Martina has but even doing half that does work !
Bridgette, at least it will get you trending in the way you want.

Just try it !

[Elizabeth]

Weight Gain?
Such a subject sends me into a spiral spin without little chance of recovery. Reading these youngsters views on weight gain and the foods one ought to eat and the foods we ought not to eat, the brain goes into overdrive. I’ve tried ever so hard to lose weight, to no avail, then I thought (quite recently) bugger, why worry about it? I eat fairly sensibly (I think), being diabetic, I have to eat according to the rules, but then rules are meant to be broken, to be followed by fools, and used as a guidance by wise men. Now, having given up worrying about weight gain, I remain reasonably static as far as weight goes, despite what I eat. Bugger, I’m now 82 and it just appears superfluous and worthless energy consumption to bother. Who on earth wishes to look like those silly Kardashian women, what’s inside the heart and brain are far more important. The ‘Vicar of Dibley’ was by far the attractive person who got on with her life, bolstered by a whole range of chocolate bars and other tasty lollies. She was, by all accounts the best vicar Dibley had ever been blessed with. Ok, TS clothes are made for such people, and both the people and clothes are gorgeous. If it’s of any consequence, eat reasonably, exercise reasonably, sleep well and be the person you were meant to be. And don’t forget a lady can be anything she wishes providing there’s an abundant supply of lippy.

[Emma_Thorne]

I survive mainly on a liquid diet….bubbly, the occassional pinot noir, shiraz, cocktails etc and I owe my figure to the fact I do absolutely no fitness activity whatsoever.

Those of you who know me of course will recognise that despite all this I am a dedicated meat eater.

[Elizabeth]

It was only yesterday that I consulted a nurse practitioner and a pharmacist/ diabetes educator, I almost threw my arms in the air as a sign of utter defeat. It’s amazing what we think we know, and the reality of just what we have no idea of. There is always something to learn. I was frantic in avoiding the use of insulin due mainly because of the side effects and the daily routines of injections and constant glucose measurements. I actually promised the world to the health professionals. Apparently, the older one becomes the more difficult losing weight becomes. I knew from practical knowledge of course, but was advised that maintaining a steady weight was as much as we can expect in our fading years. That, my friends put the mockers on my determined weight loss endeavours. I’ll just carry on regardless.