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Losing Weight Over 40

I am finding that for me losing weight over 40 is extremely difficult.  I have a lot of empathy right now for anyone that has tried to lose weight, as I'm finding it to be hard to achieve.  I've gained about 10 pounds while I've been in this EMBA program due to lack of exercise and comfort eating.  I've been trying for a few months now to get very serious about losing this weight, but now I've stepped it up in high gear.  Especially this week, I've been very good, but I've barely seen the scale budge.

I managed to exercise three times this week, as I try to get back into that habit.  Unfortunately, it could not be more as we had a presentation at school this week and we had a lot of team conference calls to prepare for that.  But on top of that, I've been very good with my eating.    I'm drinking green tea and not coffee all week.  This reduces my sugar intake as I like sugar and milk in my coffee and nothing in tea other than lemon.  I've also been starting my day with a glass of lemon water to detox my system to hopefully help my metabolism.  And I've had no wine all week, which is so unlike me.  I did have two glasses last night when I went out with two of the ladies from the EMBA program for Spanish tapas. I've also been drinking a lot of water and herbal tea during the day to minimize hunger and stay hydrated.

I've been working off a default diet to ensure I'm not thinking too much about what I'm eating.  I've had my Shakeology protein shake every morning made with unsweetened almond milk.  A salad for lunch every day with greens, cucumbers and avocado with Gwyneth Paltrow's carrot-ginger salad dressing.  I also always need an afternoon snack around 3PM.  I try to make it sensible, like veggies and hummus.  Then I will eat whatever we are having as a family for dinner, but being very mindful of my portion sizes.

You would think all this would make the weight shed very quickly as it is so different from how good I'm being.  Not so much.  I'll be really happy and feel accomplishment when I see the scale get below 135, as that is the set point my body seems to want to stay at or above these days.  Let's hope it happens for me this week.  I'm blaming the difficulty of achieving this to being over 40 and my metabolism is just much different from what it used to be.  I also think there is a piece that is hormonal, as I'm due for my monthly cycle next week.  It is usually had for me to gain weight the week before my cycle, so maybe being steady and practicing some new healthy habits will make me shed next week if I continue.  Let's hope so!

Update:  I did get a fourth workout in on Saturday when I got back from school.  They let us out early. I was very happy with that, as after I gave my presentation Saturday morning, I was ready to be done!

Comments

Queenie. . . said…
Hang in there, and keep putting one foot in front of the other. It will come off. You just have to give those good habits some time.
I'm with you on the slow metabolism HOWEVER the exercise does show up in tighter abs.... for instance :)
Heather said…
Thanks for the encouragement, ladies!

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