Hi everyone, I am 64, I have been trying to lose weight for a long time but don't feel as if I am getting anywhere! I tried slimming World but was consistently being told I don't eat enough, the problem is I do not have a very good appetite and can only eat when I am hungry? I am now trying to eat a small breakfast (I did not do this before as my medication makes me feel sick) My diet is as follows:
Breakfast: Either a small banana or a small bowl of cereal
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Mrs. Potter,
Your post does not indicate how much weight you need to lose, but it does hold three hints which you might want to think about as you explore the question of why you may be as overweight as you say you are.
1) What kind of cereal of cereal are you eating and what are you adding to it?
If you are adding whole fat milk, brown sugar, or uncertain amounts of nuts to your cereal, you may be consuming many more calories than you realize. Also, many processed cereals are actually sprayed with liquid sugars and fats to make them more tasty to the consumer. And of course, the quantity of cereal you're eating could be a factor.
2) If you are eating nothing at lunch time, I expect this is perfectly fine; I think people should never eat when they are not hungry, especially when they are overweight or obese already. but if you find yourself snacking at all during the long stretch between breakfast and Tea, that might be an area for you to give careful consideration to.
3) The biggest hint I noticed was your reference to your medication as making you feel 'sick'. If you are experiencing side effects from your med., I strongly urge you to make an appointment with your doctor. Tell your doctor you believe the prescribed medicine is making you feel ill and ask her if it might be changed, or the dose altered in some way. My understanding is that ALL medications have side-effects of some kind. Many medications have a side-effect of promoting weight gain. Maybe your medication is part of the answer to your question.
Hi Mrs Potter. I agree with Dfatone and you really should see your Dr to make sure your meds are suiting you; sometimes doses or a type of drug can be changed. I have to take lots of meds for a heart problem, so know how a mixture of drugs can cause side effects/make you feel feel sick.
I'm not a dietary expert so this may be rubbish but I read that a really low-calorie intake can fool your body into believing it is on hunger-strike, and so it holds on to every calorie; using what's necessary and storing the rest in case they wont be replenished. I don't know if this is true, but it sort of makes sense. I'm really sorry this probably won't help, if you are not eating much because of your meds.
I do wish you well and hope someone can give you some good advice; I think the first step should be see your Dr about the meds. Please don't despair, I'm sure you will find an answer and good luck.
Its finding something that's right for you. When I get hungry I snack on a cereal bars fresh fruit is good I love blueberries. Small portions of fresh food. Make sure you get your protein. Chicken is filling in moderation you can bake it in foil with a drizzle of olive oil and smoked paprika! Very nice. Dont have potatoes with this buf for example freshcgreen beans brocoli etc. You can make it interesting with herbs and spices. I gave up potatoes and bread I very rarely have some pasta. My goal is to be better on the tennis court its somthing I love so you may have your own goal. Excersize really is the key start with some walking in the countryside very beautiful. Dont rush take your time and make sure you have all the vitamins you need. Dont excert yourself but take gentle excersize for starters.
I wonder what your medication is for as this could be part of the issue ? Is it for thyroid or anything like that? I believed my diet before going on my weightloss journey was ok but, it was only by noticing I was eating too much of somethings and not enough of others that showed where the problem came from. Are you active? Sometimes when we're overweight we don't feel we can exercise but, exercise can stimulate feeling hungry. I also want to ask have you always been where you don't feel hungry? I don't ever really feel thirsty for example and so make sure I drink during the day or else I dehydrate. I wonder if this is the same for you but with hunger?
A trip to the GP sounds a good idea to work out what is going on meds wise and. See if they can refer you to a dietitian to help with planning healthy meals that help you loose weight.
If you have a look at the daily diaries on here, you will see the kinds of plans others use to help lose weight. I am actually with slimmingworld and didn't really used to eat a decent breakfast which has totally changed now. I also swapped potatoes for sweet potatoes, white rice for brown rice etc and cut down on sugar. I am not that active and worried I would struggle losing weight.
and b) your medications may be affecting you. Many of the fashionable drugs prescribed to older people play merry hell with your metabolism and do very little good. Statins in particular have horrible side-effects and are almost never clinically justified. Ask your doctor to give you an honest answer: "This pill is making my life miserable. Is there's really any valid reason for me to be taking it?"
There's absolutely nothing wrong with eating when you're hungry, but if your energy demands are so low, it may be that you're extremely inactive. That means you have very low muscle mass, and that means the only organs that can buffer carb-based energy (cereals, potatoes, fruit) are your bodyfat and your liver. Inevitably that means you'll be carrying quite a lot of bodyfat. You may also have a thyroid problem - many people do these days, for reasons unknown.
If you really don't feel like breakfast, don't eat it. A lot of people don't. Wait until you're ready and have something substantial for brunch - something with eggs is simple and nutritious, but I'd suggest eating with vegetables instead of bread.
As mentioned above, breakfast cereals are generally bad news. I'd avoid them entirely.
Your tea sounds fine, but I'd suggest replacing the potatoes with another helping of veg, and make sure you choose a cut of chicken with some fat on it (fish is inherently fatty, so that's fine).
All of the answers are helpful, thank you everyone who responded. I do take a lot of medications: Bambuterol 10m, Montelukas 10mg Fostair 200/6, Salbutamol 100mic/dose inhaler Ipratropium 5mg/2ml Nebuliser Solution, Salbutamol 5mg/2ml Nebuliser Solution, Carbocisteine 375m, Doxycycline, Prednisilone 40mg > 5mgHydrocortisone (I am steroid dependant), Clopidrogrel, Lanzoprazole, Levothyroxine, Loratadine, Mirtazapine, Venaflaxine, Clonazapam, Gabapentine, Hydroxychloraquine, Isosorbate Montrate, GTN Spray, Furesomide, Simvastatin, Zoplicone, Quinine. So they probably do not help with weight, I am steroid dependant because I have Addisons disease, I think I was someone's horse, I would shoot me 😂🤣
You need your doctor to have a look at that little list and strike down some of them. It may be that some of them are no longer necessary but haven't been "unprescribed". NOBODY should be on that many pills, not even a horse heading for the knacker's yard
The point is that nobody can possibly know what the interactions are. But whatever they are, they're not going to be good.
Clearly, you're very asthmatic, but is it really necessary to have so many drugs on hand for it?
The two corticosteroids that you're taking will predispose you to weight gain, but since you have Addison's there's not much you can do about that except get the dose tweaked.
Simvastatin is probably making you feel worse than you need to and has no therapeutic value whatsoever (check the research for yourself - no need to take my word for it).
Try eating little and often. I find I put weight on if I skip meals and don’t eat enough. Drink more water and try to do some easy exercise daily. I think women our age are fighting against the post menopause. Good luck x
I do agree with you about it getting harder as we get older, mainly because we've made a bit of a mess of our metabolism by our eating habits. This post explains it well healthunlocked.com/nhsweigh...
I can't agree with you about eating little and often - each time we eat we release insulin which is waiting to do its job of fat storage - but I do agree about the importance of feeling full. This is a good, straightforward approach, three meals a day of real food phcuk.org/wp-content/upload...
You'll find all the information you need about the forum in our Pinned Posts healthunlocked.com/nhsweigh... including a Welcome message. A good place to start is by joining a weekly weigh in on the day of your choice, and using the Daily Diary, where members share their meal plans.
This gives you a tour of the forum healthunlocked.com/?tour=true and, along with Pinned Posts, will show you how things work. I hope you'll become an active member and we will see you joining in around the forum 😊
PS the app doesn’t give access to all parts of the forum so we advise everyone to get rid of the app and log on to the full website using the browser on their phone
Welcome! I'm sure you are going to find amazing learning material here. I would also suggest the book The Obesity Code to understand some of the problems with our diet.
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