Have you noticed?

I realized yesterday that I eat half as much now as I did 15 years ago, and exercise at least twice as much, yet I weigh 50 pounds more. I know our metabolism slows with age, but this seems a little skewed. Has anyone else noticed this and what can be done about it? Thanks! Tammy

Hi Tammy. I think it's called the facts of life! Yes, I have noticed it, and I don't like it either. Oh well. It just means we have to work that much harder to lose weight, but the rewards seem so much greater too. I really appreciate each hard-won pound I lose. Take care, and good luck losing. Peg

Thanks Peg! When I get to goal I'm NEVER giving it up again!!! Tam

sorry tammers.. lets see 15 years ago I was sucking down 3 big gulps per day.. not diet just straight sugar!! I had subway at least 3 x a week.. (full 12 inch) I had 1/2 a large pizza at least 3 times a week.. I had probably 4 to 5 candy bars per week.. and all that was just SNACKS.. that wasn't including my regular meals which was ALWAYS more carb than protein... hell sometimes it was JUST carbs!!!!! so realisticly I am eating 1/8 of what I ate 15 years ago. I didn't excersize then, and I don't excersize now either. (becuase of my skin disease.. can't sweat or I break out.. I don't own a pool and would never put my skin into someone else's germ infested waters.. yes swimming would be my best chance at exersize but until I own one.. *dreams* LOL) since I am just 11 lbs from goal weight my way of thinking is "PLASTIC SURGERY" (or umm "reconstructive surgery") I pull the skin up on my legs and look and say "wow" I have decent legs.. same thing with my ass I NEED to get rid of all this flabby ass skin and since excersize is out of the question it has to be done with a knife... oh wait you wanted to know about metabolism.. LOL.. can we turn back the hands of time?? tic toc.. tic toc.. sorry sweety!! cut the carbs!! get real about them and get the evil things out of your life!! and when you figure out HOW to do that for good please share with the rest of us.. hell sell the information and you'd be the richest person alive! loves ya!! Theresa

Hi Theresa! I never drank big gulps or regular soda! Only diet, and I don't even drink that now, because it makes my face look like a teenagers. I did eat subway, but not 3 times a week. I ate about 2000 calories a day. Now it doesn't seem to matter what I eat or how much I weigh, if I eat over 1000 calories day, I gain weight, if I eat less, I lose, but it's SO hard to eat 500-800 calories a day consistently! I can do it for one or two days but that's it! I'm still over 50 pounds from goal, so I have a completely different mind set than you have. Even right after surgery when I completely stuck to the required 200 calories a day diet, I only lost weight for 2 months- then nothing for the additional FOUR months I stayed on the diet. It was Torture! When I look around at other people that eat twice what I do an are skinny, I want to know what they are doing differently than I am so I can do it too (and share it with you guys!) I might try atkins again...counting carbs is SO expensive though! I just don't think I can afford it now. I did put soy milk in my coffee instead of cream though...that's low carb right? Do they make a low carb chili? I'm into chili lately for some reason. That has to be better than a sandwich, but I'm SO hungry after lunch! I wonder if it would be possible to get a revision without gaining the weight back since my staple line is ruptured? OMG why did I eat out the functionality of my surgery? I feel so stupid now!! Can't wait 'till Saturday! Dancing is great exercise!! Tammers

tammy, the thing about carbs (which has confused EVERYONE) is you have good and bad carbs. (complex -vs- simple) if you do the adkins, then you follow the "NO" carb (complex OR simple) for 2 weeks.. then slowely add in the complex.. I am simply unable to do it!! I dont' have *too much* difficulty staying away from simple (sugar, chips, cakes, white flours, patatoes, rice ect) carbs.. my main failure with carbs comes from FRUIT.. I also eat a healthy amount of complex carbs (beans *including chili*, and vegies) I have on average 2 salads a day. I don't buy the low carb dressings or anything else for that matter. so there is sugar/carbs in my dressings. but if you look at the price of that stuff and compare it with the low carb options it simply is NOT worth the extra money. if you can eat blu cheese dressing it has something like 1 carb per tablespoon. same for your coffee creamer. I use moca mix. no sugar in this and the carb count is low.. or even better (too expensive for me) is 1/2 and 1/2.. something that dam fattening (in the old way of thinking) is LOW CARB.. you gotta be extremely devoted to figure this crap out.. the ole 12 step rule of "keep it simple stupid" doesn't apply here.. LOL for us it's "keep it complex brainy".. loves ya theresa

Well I guess I'm just going to have to learn to be more 'devoted'. I did pretty good at following atkins for a few months, but I didn't lose any weight. If you stay away from simple sugar for 3 days, the intense cravings stop, although those three days are TORTURE! I do like beans (mmm, soy milk!) and chili, and I try not to ever eat sweets. I'm just going to have to learn to live (and love!) eating 500 calories a day. Well, at least Dancing is good exercise! This is why I don't want to go out and EAT. I can't afford to waste time doing something so inactive as sitting and visiting- I'd be a size 24 again in no time! I've been walking up Washington Park every day, but I need to try something else too... Can't wait 'till the weekend!! Tammers

I hate to burst your bubble, but read the soy milk package. Silk and many others that taste good have up to 3 times the number of carbs that skim milk have. That is why people are drinking them - they are sweetened with rice syrup and it just another type of sugar like corn syrups. West Soy has an unsweetened box and they also soy milk sweetened with splenda better choice. Cream would actually have been a better carb choice for your coffee than either soy milk or skim milk and the fat in cream would slow down the metabolism of the carbs. Beans are usually fine, they have a lot of fiber that you can reduce from the amount of carbs, chili is fine as long as it is half a cup, not a big bowl.