Keto women over 50

#503

I’ve been logging my eats into Fitday.com, and the ratios or macros (or whatever they are) look pretty good. Fat is around 65-72%; carbs way under 10%, and protein is around 15-25%. I was quite busy with work this past week, so, my eating pattern was pretty sporadic. Managed to get coconut oil and butter into foods each day- which was a triumph. And, it made a huge difference in keeping me full.

Some of the things I noticed after being on this for 6 solid days, is how much my sleeping pattern has improved. 10 days ago, I couldn’t make it through the night without being awake for 3-4 hours. Now, I sleep all the way through. Much more energetic throughout the day. Less brain fog, so I focus better. lower back and knees don’t hurt so much.

Exercise is pretty tough for me to get into. Due to knee injuries, weather constraints, and time constraints, my daily routine is 5 minutes of planks, and 5 minutes of leg/thigh/butt/belly exercises. I feel great afterwards, and no joint pain. (Planks are awesome!)

I’m somewhere between 5’8" and 5’7" now. Kinda feels like I’m shrinking a bit, or the kids are getting taller. Maybe more stretching will help. IDK. I just avoid standing next to the 6’2" kid, and I feel a little better. I’ve been doing a little bit of progesterone cream each day too, as that seems to alleviate some of that perimenopause bs. Not nearly the amount of hot flashes now. Hoping it helps in dealing with “Aunt Flo” too. She’s been abrupt, irregular, unbearable, and scary. Cannot wait until this is over!!!

Results since I started: 228.6 down to 223.6 this morning. Much slower results than before, but, I’ll take what I can get. Hang in there, ladies. It’ll happen.

(Edith) #504

I was one of those people who trimmed the fat off the meat, and was grossed out by eating the fat on the steak or pork.

I’ve been keto for almost two years. Now, I LOVE eating the fat. My taste buds have totally changed. I made my first pork belly last week and I thought the fat was the best part. I would have never thought I would be like this two years ago.

If your coworkers:friends did try keto, who knows how their taste buds would change over time. Most people’s keto evolves the longer they follow this WOE. The irony, or course, is they don’t realize how much fat they may be already eating, it’s just disguised with grains and sugar.

(Wendy) #505

I’m with you. I really enjoy my fat and actually like it better than the meat on my steaks. Although no one has to eat the extra fat on their meat I believe it is part of my success at losing my body fat. But if they are willing to add other types of fat that are not the processed junk fats, that should work too.
I know there are many who seem to worry about eating too much fat on their plates, that is not something I have seen affect my personal weight loss.
In fact as I’m happy with my current weight I’m trying to add more fat but haven’t really stoped the loss yet. Now I’m adding a few more carbs. Crazy, I know.

#506

Some days, it seems like I struggle to get enough fat into my diet. I add butter to anything butter can be added to. I use coconut oil or avocado oil to cook in for higher temps. When I know the fat intake is low, I’ll have a few sticks of celery with cream cheese. But, I really really enjoy ribeye steaks for rib roasts,with that soft unctuous sort of fat that you smooth over the meat. I made a rib roast around Christmas time, and roasted low and slow. End result was a creamy textured fat that smoothed right over the meat, and was one of the most delicious things ever. Unfortunately, we can have that too often, but cooking a ribeye steak in a similar manner might yield that kind of fat texture, (Ordinarily, I would have used the drippings to make Yorkshire pudding, but that’s not exactly a low-carb option. ) I say all that to throw out there the idea that maybe its the texture of the fat that is off-putting to some folks. So, sometimes, it might take some ingenuity to find another way to incorporate fat, or change the texture of it, to make it more appealing.
Cream cheese-butter fat bombs with lemon zest, are great, btw.

(Patricia) #507

Hi, all, I’m in my late 60s and about to have another birthday in a few days. I have been doing Keto for almost 2 years, lost a lot of weight in the first several months, and then stalled. I still need to lose another 30 or 40, but I keep bouncing around the same weight a pound or 2 up and down. I also restrict calories (1300 a day) and have been exercising much more. I can’t tolerate fasting. I feel awfu and I have read that it can be bad for people who are diabetic or insulin resistant.

Right now I’m really bored and feel like all I ever do are things I have to do. I want to go out on my birthday and have a carby meal I’ve been craving, but I’m afraid it will mess me up. On the other hand, I sometimes feel that I’m living a life of drudgery and duty.

What are your experiences with having one no-no meal? Did it hurt your progress?

(Empress of the Unexpected) #508

Ten months. Don’t worry about it. I have the occasional taco, bun, potato. I am still at maintenance.

(Patricia) #509

I would kill to be 140, and I’m only 5’3". You don’t say how old you are but, it’s not a bad thing to weigh a few extra pound as we get older. You want to make sure you don’t lose too much muscle mass, which happens anyway as we age.

(Patricia) #510

I’m so glad I found this group. My son and daughter got me started on keto, but they are both young and fit and have had much more success in losing weight. It’s nice to find keto women my age.

(Kristin) #511

@Tulip I haven’t had a no-no meal since Oct 2017 but I did have Ben and Jerry’s while in VT, two small small scoops, no more than a third of a cup, and it wrecked me for 2 days: horrible impact on my digestion, mood, and sleep. Will not do that again. I’d be careful to eat as close to keto as possible and add one small thing you’ve been craving. For me, all the old carb foods have lost their allure. They look fake and I have zero desire to eat them.

(Empress of the Unexpected) #512

It may be a good thing, but I don’t subscribe to it. I am 5’4"and was105 till I had my daughter. After that I was always 111 until menopause, when I went up to 150. Thanks to keto, finally down to 111 again. Keto finds your set point. I also do weights. I know they say older women should weigh more, but I am not able to achieve that.

(Patricia) #513

My daughter is on keto and she feels the same way. She is determined to never cheat, and she manages. She also has reached her goal weight.

(Patricia) #514

Set point is important. I think we all have a weight our bodies want to be. Mine is too blasted high. :slight_smile:

(Empress of the Unexpected) #515

Don’t feel bad. I was born a normal birth weight, and by 12 was skeletal and refused to eat. I am still a picky eater, and I’m 60. Menopause involved two things: Menopause, and my husband teaching me to cook german fried potatoes. I still have a belly, but keto proved to me that I could lose weight, lower my BG, and lower my triglycerides.

(Cindy) #516

I just found this thread! Somehow missed it before. I’m 64, definitely post menopausal, 13 months on keto. I struggled with the set point problem too - since I was 15 years old. I was an anorexic kid from a very abusive family, who suddenly discovered food in my teens, and gained weight like crazy. From then on, I yo-yoed wildly, trying one diet after the other, gradually increasing my set point, as you can imagine. I figured out over the years that I would have to “surprise” my body by eating a bit more one day, then suddenly eating quite a bit less the next day, to push my set point down. I had some success with this until menopause. After that, even though I was always on a very strict calorie diet, my set point just steadily crept upwards along with my weight. I went keto 13 months ago to prevent Alzheimers that runs in my family, and a wonderful side effect was that I lost all the extra weight! I quickly dropped down to 115, then to 110. But almost as soon as I hit 110, even though I stayed completely and carefully keto, my body started gaining again - the %$#@ set point! I heard about the book “The Obesity Code” by Jason Fong here on this forum, read it, and started implementing all the suggestions in it about a month ago. My weight is dropping again, down to 112 already, and it’s easy to keep off now, without me changing a thing in my keto diet. In fact, I may be eating a bit more veggies and oils. I really highly recommend that book to anyone who struggles to lower their set point (which actually means lowering our insulin). My main things have been taking Apple Cider Vinegar supps before each meal and at bedtime, plus doing one 24-hour fast each week. I’m a big wuss about fasting, but I finally thought I could manage going from noon one day to noon the next day, so I wouldn’t have to go through a whole day without food. It works like magic for me and is very doable. So I finally have hope against my family curses!

(Jane) #517

It will slow you down but one meal is ok (enjoy your birthday w/o futzing over food!) as long as it doesn’t trigger you to continue to eat carbs. If you can go right back to keto the next day, then go for it. You will be back into ketosis within 24 hours.

You may feel like crap the next day or you may not.

(Ning ) #518

I’m reading several vintage ladies (lmao) having a hard time loosing weight following keto to a tee. I’m 56, and post menopausal. I’ve been doing keto for 1 month. Lost 3 lbs. I feel like My keto experience is moving slow. I only want to loose about 6-8% body fat (25-30 lbs).
One thing I’m reading is the frustration of post menopausal woman’s slow to respond weight loss.
With respect to fasting (24hrs to 6 days)…how often and do you also follow internment fasting 16/8? What is the difference in your body’s response to longer fasting over non fasting?

(Kristin) #519

I do IF daily 16/8 unless I feel excessively hungry. When I first started keto I could fast 48-72 pretty easily but then suddenly couldn’t. I guess I’d lost enough weight and my body kicked in and my hunger went crazy. Now I’m careful to keep it to 24hrs max. Also, it seemed to mess with my thyroid I think. My hair thinned out. Still a work in progress.

(Cindy) #520

Ning, I usually only eat 1 meal per day (but tend to have a snack later at night), so routinely go about 16-18 hrs fasting. I’ve only done 1 EF (44 hrs) and wasn’t doing it for weight loss but to see how it felt. In fact, I’m intentionally not fasting longer because I’m trying to lose the weight in a sustainable way. To me, trying repeatedly fast to lose weight doesn’t seem sustainable long term. So I’m giving keto 6+ months, maybe even a year, see what weight I lose and then later, I’ll add in some EF.

(Ning ) #521

Thanks! Yes, I wouldn’t and really couldn’t fast longer than 16 hrs. I’ll keep monitoring. :pray:

(Ning ) #522

Same here. I don’t feel the benefits of fasting longer than 16 hrs are worth it. I could barely function if I only had 1 meal a day, and yet there are days when I do this unintentionally. I’d be more inclined to believe that our reptilian brain may sense starvation and slow down metabolism, so I opt to have at least 3 meals a day, maintaining my macros.
I hear different views on daily IF and cycling IF, and if there is a big difference. I have been IF daily but w a caveat-I have a fat only drink (bulletproof coffee). I’m reading articles and studies that show fat does not break a fast. Maybe I’m just at a hump and I just need to see it thru.