Over 50, BMI under 22 - can it be done?

I can answer my own question, yes it can, but it seems rare. AND can it be done without living in a gym and eating at least 1200 cals?

If you have OR if you're trying, please post your stats. I know so many people on here that fit in this category and just don't seem to be able to make any progress. I wonder if our burn is just less than we think.

And for all the good folks who are going to chime in saying 22 to 25 BMI is perfectly healthy: YES, you are right. BUT there are many who have spent most of their lives under 22 and would just like to get back. Under 22 is healthy too and that's where my clothes fit, darn it! lol.

Here are my stats:

50 yrs old; 5' 5.5"; wt 135ish

I've been on CC for nearly 2 years now. Started at about 139. I saw 129 for about 5 minutes once about 1.5 yrs ago but have mostly hovered between 133 & 135. I recently was absolutely religious about eating between 1200 & 1350 calories/day for 6 weeks & got absolutely no where. Calorie cycling? Same. I generally walk about 3 to 4 miles a day. Periods of time when I've added jogging have also had little effect. I can honestly say that over all this time, my logs indicate I have been eating at an average deficit - theoretically. I admit I have not been regular about anything strength building except sit-ups & push-ups.

You?

Hmmm. Evidently not.

Hey! Did you read my mind? I just posted a journal entry about THAT!!! I won't repeat what I said there, so just go read it and see what my conclusions are! After all, our metabolism changes so drastically after menopause, maybe what's good and possible for us doesn't correspond anymore to what's good and possible for those who are still in the full swing of things. You can't apply adults nutrition rules to children, so maybe you can't apply them to post-menopausal women either???

Ooops, forgot my stats: 54, 5'3", 184 last time I checked 2 months ago. I started at 183 on the 1st of November 2007 if you can believe it...  I touched 177 for about a week then went up to 190+ without doing anything, just because I had visitors and couldn't exercise as much... Bother. Have been keeping a strict 1'200 cals for 2 months now, walking at least 3 miles a day and being very active around the house, taking stairs rather than lifts, walking to all the shops, sometimes twice or three times in the same day just to make sure I don't sit a minute. I have only started to see some progress since I went down to about 1'000 cals a day for the same amount of exercise. I have hypothyroidism for which I take Levothyrox 75mg, daily.

Interesting Helene. Our other friend who has this delema, is on Synthroid. I was at a weight loss support meeting last evening and a 70-something woman who's thyroid has been removed, told me her doc told her that her only hope to lose weight is through exercise. I don't really understand that -- I would think the whole cals in/cals out thing would still apply but I don't really know the biochemistry of the thyroid hormones.

I checked out the symptoms of hypothyroidism and of course I have many of them. It seems to me ANY menopausal woman would. If I have any problems with my thyroid, I would guess it's borderline at most.

I am 5'5" and weighed 149 last time I braved the scale.  That gives me a current BMI of 24.9.  To get below a BMI of 22 I would have to weigh 131 or less.  Is that possible?  I guess I'll never know if I don't try.  If I can get the calories under control, I might be able to do it.  I'm terrible about logging my food, but I think I am maintaining my weight on darn near 2000 calories per day.  If I could stick to 1500 or 1600, I would definitely lose.  Would I lose 18 pounds?  I'll let you know   Of course, as you know, one day out of my week is dedicated to an all-day hike which burns thousands of calories.  I exercise every other day, too, except Sunday. 

Hope that helps with your compilation of information!  Oh, and I just passed a woman in the hall who is well into her late 60s and skinny as a stick.  I didn't ask her how she does it, though.

LOL. Yeah, my mom's always been skinny as stick. I know how she does it...good genes! Now why didn't I get them?!!

Hm, I'm 52, 5'2.5" and weigh 119 right now which puts me at a 21.4 BMI so I guess it is humanly possible.  My goal weight is 115, which will put me at a 20.7 BMI.   I know I can do it because in 2007 I was down under 110 for a while -- kind of overshot my goal that time :)  

1200 calories is way too low for me, I can lose by eating 1,500 or 1,600 as long as I stay active.  No gym membership, but I do ride my bike to work and on errands as much as I can.  It's a mountain bike with street tires so it's more of a slog than it sounds!  Also I do yoga and Tai Chi at the senior center on a weekly basis, but these are not difficult, just more for relaxation.  I've got a treadmill which I use if I have too:  have got too much going on in one day to ride the bike etc.

At the end of last year I was 136 and felt so uncomfortable.  I've got a whole big cycle of my ups and downs on my profile if you want to have a look.  Good luck, you can do it!  

I hope I can get to a 22 or less BMI. I am currently 51, 5'4", and 147.6 lbs. That is a BMI of 25.3. A BMI of 22 is 128 lbs for me. My goal weight according to CC is 127. So I hope to get there one day. The date according to CC is 1/12/10.

I eat 1200-1400 cal per day and exercise every day. At 51, it is a lot of work to not only keep weight off, but to lose. I have been at this since Jan 2009 with a starting weight of 154. I have finally starting seeing real progress this month with an adjustment of my carb intake. To lose, I came to realize that I cannot go over 50% carbs.

I hope this thread lasts until I get to my 22 BMI goal.

Good luck everyone.

J-mom

i'm not over 50; i'll be 41 in a week.  but i hit my highest weight at 37, and a BMI of just over 25.  now my BMI is down to 20.1, and i definitely don't live in a gym.  i eat plenty (1500-1800/day), and i walk, hike, and run.

to be completely transparent, i've lost the last few pounds following surgery and hospitalization, but before that, my bmi was right around 21 and i was healthier than i've been in a decade.

I'm so happy that all of you have posted. Figurethefat, I will check out your profile. My plan for myself is to be more regular about my exercise, walk or walk/jog at least an hour on average and do a small amount of strength exercises too. (Not because I think a small amount is good, I just hate it! lol.) I'm not sure what I should do calorie wise but I think I'll hold in the 1300 cal range for a few weeks to see how it goes.

I've really got something to work on after the long weekend now: two days in the car, graduation picnic, and 6 meals at restaurants! Despite ordering salad w/o dressing & lots of fruits/vegys, my weight was 139.4 this morning! I haven't seen that in 1.5 years! Lord, I hope I ate a lot of salt.

That seems to be my pattern the last couple of years: struggle for months to maybe lose 2 lbs, a few days off course and I'm right back where I started. I'm not throwing in the towel but it is darn discouraging!

Chris,

Don't know your age, but I understand the gain/ lose syndrome. Salt and hormones play havoc with my weight loss. Exercise and logging has helped, but the challenges have really made the biggest differences. I log on two forums:  the April calorie deficit challenge--this one has gone defunct in tallying scores, but people keep logging every day. I find that my weight loss is pretty close to the total calorie deficit that I maintain. The second forum is the May exercise challenge. I thought 1000 minutes of exercise would be a lot, but I kicked that out in about 2 1/2 weeks. Now, I keep going just to see what my total for the month will be. I love to see how active the other members are, too. They motivate me to keep up the sweating.

Holidays and travel to mess up the weight loss. Hopefully it is just water retained from salt and sitting. If time is a problem, a quick DVD like Jillian Michael's 30 Day Shred is great! 200 calories in 25 minutes. If that doesn't make you sweat, nothing will.

Good luck.

J-mom

J-mom, btw you DO NOT look your age! I am 50, it's in my stats on the original post. I did a challenge to walk 75 miles a month or so ago and it really did help me get moving more. I'm in an ongoing challenge at work but must admit, only being accountable monthly isn't doing it. I think I may look for something better on cc for June. Thanks for mentioning that!

Chris,

Thank you so much for the compliment. I sure don't FEEL 51. I have never felt so good in my life. I feel healthy and strong. I'll be damned if I let work or school take that away. Thank you for the kick that I needed!!

J-mom

figurethefat, I read your profile page. If I get the gist, you take in ~1500 calories on average and get most of your exercise using your bike as your main source of transportation. How much time do you think you ride a day?

Hm, I don't ride everyday, but when I do ride, it's about 60 minutes.  That's 30 minutes each way to work, or to Tai Chi, or the drug store.  Lately I've been eating 1,800 a day but I've also been doing lots of work in the garden like digging, shifting plants etc.

I do the monthly exercise challenge, and go for 1,750 minutes a month.  I always get 1,500, but don't always hit the 1,750 mark :/  I did the deficit challenge but found it was fairly tedious to keep that up every day!  I am part of Wagon Jumpers in the Motivation forum, and check in there once a week.  I also weigh in on Fridays with the Jump into July challenge.  It does help with accountability to be part of a challenge.  BTW I'm usually read the 50+ forum too :)

I think the answer for me is to step up my exercise in a way that I will really keep up. I do enjoy walking all over town but got caught in a thunderstorm yesterday. Today looks pretty much the same. I have a treadmill, guess I just need to get over using it when family members are home. (it's not in a very private place) My goal is going to be to walk an extra 45' on top of my 'commute' back & forth to work (10' x 4x/day.)  Hopefully that will get my inner burner going!

I think you are on the right track, Chris.  And especially if you can keep your eating at the same level it's at now.  That is always my downfall - I have stepped up my exercise but not controlled my eating very well.  Whenever I get motivated to track my eating and stay under 1600 for even a week, I see results. 

I know you can get there!  (I know I can get there too, come to think of it )

Alice

Hi!

I'm not over 50 but will be turning 50 in August.  I started my journey 11 months ago at 200 lbs and I'm currently stuck at 153.  At my height of 5'3", inorder to have a BMI of 22, I'd have to get down to 122 which is what I was in my early 20's.  I don't know if I can get my weight down that far.  My current goal is 135, which will mean that my weight on my driver's license is correct , and after that I have planned to re-evaluated.  As I said, I'm currently stuck.  I just read an article that suggested taking a diet vacation for about a week.  It said that there would be some weight gain during that time but that it would trick the metabolism into losing weight again.  I'm not sure if that's a good idea, but I am considering it.  For exercise, I go to the gym 3 times a week and do 50 minutes of cardio and about 30 minutes of circuit training, and run on my treadmill for 30 - 60 mins 3 times a week.  I am also finishing Week 3 of a redo of the Couch to 5k Program.  I did it last year on the treadmill and this time I'm doing it outside.  Anyway, that's where I'm at.