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[Wendy]

Hi! I am new to this forum. I am 41 years old and weigh approximately 140 pounds. I say approximately because I HATE the scales! I'm 5'6" tall and wear size 5-7. I had a total abdominal hysterectomy about 3 years ago and ever since then it seems like my metabolism is nonexistent. I've started working out and watching what I eat and it just doesn't seem to make any difference. It's hard to stay motivated when after a month of complete dedication I am not seeing any results. My problem areas are like most women, abs, hips and thighs. Any ideas or suggestions on jump starting the metabolism at my age? I usually do 20 minutes of cardio and weight training 3 times a week.

thanks,
Wendy

[swanso5]

1 - small frequent solid meals
2 - heavy, muscle building resistance training
3 - build more muscle (above)
4 - sprints
5 - interval training (above)

[Wendy]

Thank you for the advice. I do tend to not eat much throughout the day. I always feel like I'm taking in too many calories. I'll try to eat smaller portions more often. I'm already doing the strength training to build muscle. I know that muscle will burn fat quicker. I just feel like I've hit a plateau and nothing is happening no matter what I try . Thanks again!!!

[Boss Man]

Sounds like your diet is playing a part.

Healthy food is okay, but if you eat too little, you affect the Metabolism, stop it working properly, and run the risk of muscle sacrifice, which can lead to something called Crash dieting, and that's when you lose muscle and Fat, instead of just Fat.

As your Metabolism is slowing down after the age of 35, it won't process calories as fast, but you need to make sure you eat enough, and the average for women is about 1,800-2,000 calories a day.

As Swanso says, small frequent meals is the key, and you should look to be having about 6 meals 2.5-3 hours apart.

If you can post the sort of meals you have, it might give an indication if food is playing a part in your stalled results.

The main thing is to feel proud of yourself for this. Especially for starting a lot older than most people do, and the consistancy and dedication you are showing, are big pluses, so try not to worry, and hopefully we can help you to work things out.

Congrats for all you've done, be strong, stick at it, and don't let anything stop you being the woman you want to be yeah .

You can do this, and at 41, you are plenty capable of so much physically, so don't feel like it might be an uphill struggle, because it doesn't have ot be .

GOOD LUCK!!!!!!!!!

[Wendy]

Boss Man...My diet varies since I have three children and our lives are very busy. I work full-time. Most mornings I only have coffee and only eat a cup of soup or have a salad or a chicken wrap for lunch. Dinner usually consists of a a portion of meat (chicken, pork, or fish), a vegetable and a carb (noodles, potatoes)....Sometimes a graham cracker snack a few hours after dinner. The frustrating thing is that I'm not a junk food junkie. I don't pig out on chips, ice cream, or cakes. I do need to increase my workouts more. I'll try eating more often, but knowing that I must burn more calories than I consume is the thing that bothers me...but, if I need to jump start my metabolism, I'll try it. Thanks!

[Boss Man]

A simple way to sort yourself out is to keep things Simple.

So for Breakfast, try some of these options.

1. Bowl whole-grain Cereal, Skimmed milk, Protein shake, with 1/2 Scoop Protein Powder. You could add a few slices of Cherry or Strawberry if you wanted to to the Cereal. You could mix a bit of Flaxseed Oil in with the shake for Fats. I've heard that done before.

2. 5 Scrambled Egg Whites+1 Yolk, on Wheat Toast, + small Piece of Fruit, and about 1/4 cup of Almonds for some Fats, if you wanted to.

[Wendy]

How about oatmeal. That's quick and easy for me to do here at work. Then maybe some fruit? An apple or grapes, bananas.....lunch I like to keep light b/c then I end up tired if I eat too much here at work. And is there any truth to the "don't eat before you go to bed?" theory?

[Boss Man]

That theory to my way of thinking is neither here nor there.

Some people say don't eat 2-3 hours beofre bed, because the Calories store.

Fact is, calories are processed throughout the day, even when you sit down watching TV.

The main reason people get Fat, is often they are sedentary, but eat too much rubbish, therefore eating more negative calories than the body can naturally burn.

So therefore if the caloric burn is happening when you don't exercise, it must happen during sleep too. Unless the body shuts down enough, to trigger a non-responsive burning reaction to calories, effectively stopping any such burn friom happening, which I don't think it would.

As another example, Caloric burn is reduced during normal every day, low impact / sedentary things, as you're not significantly elevating Heart rate, and pumping Blood as much, and obviously if you did 30 minutes Cardio and burned something like 300 calories, for the body to continuously burn 300 calories every 30 minutes, you'd have to eat 14,400 calories a day, to burn as much as you ate, and then you'd need to eat more calories, to get your normal average, so you'd need to eat about 16,000 a day.

Obviously that doesn't happen, so eating absurdly high amounts of Calories isn't necessary, but the body will burn calories anyway, even if you are sitting down.

Proteins, are used to repair, grow and protect muscle.

Carbohydrates convert to Glucose Sugars, which have an effect on Blood Sugar, and are used for energy, if the body is sedentary during sleep, the Carbs would likely go unused. I don't believe the Carbs would then convert to Fats, if you were not increasing your Heart rate, and increasing burn potential, I think the energy would just be largely unused.

Fats might store, but again, if you ate EFA fats before sleep, they would help with the usual things liike memory, Hair, Brain functions, and removal of bad Fats.

This could be argued, is a good thing, as potentially calorie storage during sleep, would be fully or partly counteracted by good Fats, so again, unless any of the three main macronutrients were consumed in large amounts, so as to cause excess calories, or you had negative calories from things like Saturated Fats, Alcohol Sugars etc etc, then caloric storage would probably not happen much at all in my opinion.

I also know how I look first thing. A bit dog rough, but not more and more unconditioned every day.

So personally, from my own standpoint, storage of Calories during sleep is largely not likely, unless your calories are negative, or too high.

That is my opnion, based on fact, and a dash of common sense thinking.

Oatmeal, and Fruit yes, but beware, you would be having a lot of Carbs, and little Protein, so you might want to try and increase your Protein in that meal. You could counteract that, by having perhaps a Low / non-fat Yoghurt, or some Low Salt Nuts, as a means of upping the Protein in your meal.

Though obviously don't put the Nuts on the Cereal

[SarahPT]

Plateaus do happen. Usually all it takes is a few tweaks to your exercise and nutrition to get you started with seeing progress again. Since you seem to have some metabolism issues, it will be harder for you to lose fat and being strist will be more important for you. Balancing your meals out well will be important. You may also need to increase the frequency and intensity of your workouts.

Sarah

[swanso5]

you can eat before bed just lay off the high carb meals...i have fish and yoghurt right before bed and it isn't a problem

[Wendy]

Thanks to everyone for all of the great information! Today I start with serious conditioning and diet monitoring! I'm interested to see the results by weeks end. Mini goals, I have found, are best for me. My goal for this week is to simply eat healthier and workout regularly! Thanks everyone!

[Boss Man]

Let us know how you get on, and if need anything else, even if it's just some words to help you stay focused on the task in hand, we are here to try and help with mental and emotional sides of the lifestyle, as physical results can be optimised, when all three are in good condition.