Losing Weight After Age 45

Pamela has lost 13 inches from her waist. She's down to 118 pounds, from a high of 215 in July of 2007. She lost the weight by changing her diet and doing pool exercises.

See her inspiring story and two other midlife weight loss stories at the Palm Beach Post.

Walking Off 35 Pounds

In the 'before photo' here Debra Flinn weighs 216 pounds at her height of 5'5".

She decided to take extreme measures to lose weight and planned on walking to a city that was 874 miles away.

It took her 66 days to do it (at an average daily walking mileage of 13 miles). When she got there she was 35 pounds lighter.

See her story and her 'after photo' here.

The Diabetes Miracle Diet

Michael lost 56 pounds recently over about five months. He says eating less of the same foods does not work.

Instead he went on The 30-Day Diabetes MiracleThis is a vegetarian diet focused on lots of beans, oatmeal and vegetables. He also walked between 20 and 30 miles per week. His weight loss averaged between 2.5 and 3.5 pounds a week.

From Size XXL to Medium

Carl, age 29, decided to get fit again. He's lost 50 pounds and gone from a size XXL to a size medium. His preferred way back to optimum health was to join a gym and start up kick-boxing.

See his story and picture here.
The unrelated photo above is by livegym-showtime.

Recipe for a Veggie Burger

Holly shows us how to make delicious veggie burgers at home. It's an easy recipe and the two key ingredients are lentils and walnuts - two of the most nutritious foods that most people don't eat enough of.



From Before and After TV;

Veggie burgers are a nutritional alternative to beef burgers. Many people don't think of making their own veggie burgers but they are really easy to make at home. Store bought veggie burgers are nutritional but often very high in sodium and preservatives.

Lentils are high in fiber which makes them a good protector against bowel cancer. They are an excellent source of protein and are an important source of B vitamins, especially B3, which is essential for both a healthy nervous system and digestive system. They are high in iron, zinc and calcium and are a good replacement for red meat. Like meat, the iron in lentils is better absorbed when they are eaten with a good source of vitamin C like leafy green vegetables.

Walnuts are an excellent source of omega-3 fatty acids, a special type of fat that is essential for our bodies, but that the body cannot produce. Walnuts are also a very good source of monounsaturated fats.

Walnuts contain many powerful antioxidants, including ellagic and gallic acids, pus antioxidant phenols and vitamin E. The minerals copper and manganese are also found in abundance in these tasty nuts.

Losing 45 Pounds Since January

Catie has lost 45 pounds since January. She used to weigh 173 pounds and now weighs 128 pounds.

She says the best moment, that she will never forget, is when she was picking up her sister at the airport and her sister didn't recognize her.

Catie lost the weight with the help of Weight Watchers and a regular exercise program. Check out her before and after photos and her weight loss story here.

Power Walking to Weight Loss Success

Veolia has experienced super success at weight loss. After being obese for thirty years, she decided to make a major lifestyle change in her late 40's. She went from 400 pounds to 138 pounds. She lost all this weight in just 20 months. She did this by going from being inactive to walking at least six days a week.

Her favorite snack food between meals are bulk nuts such as walnuts, brazil nuts and almonds. These are high calorie foods but full of good fats. Walnuts especially are very high in omega 3.

She says; "I have so much energy and my stamina is incredible for a 54-year-old. And to me, the best part is that I did it all by myself without spending money, having surgery, taking pills or trying the latest diet fad." She's gone from a size 32 to a size 2, and was recently featured on the "Today" show.

See her incredible before and after photos and story here.

Losing 60 Pounds in Six Months

Bill has lost 60 pounds in six months. He went from 240 pounds to 180 pounds by working out regularly at the gym and snacking on fruit instead of junk food.

He got motivated to do it after visiting the doctor and learning he was starting to get diabetes and had high blood pressure.

He says, "I went from a 40 waist to a 34. I feel fantastic. I sleep a lot better. I've got a lot more flexibility. I swing a golf club a lot better now."

See his weight loss story as well as a video about him here.

How Does a Geek Lose Weight?

An anonymous geek asked for help on how to lose weight at home (too shy to go to the gym) and he got over 1,000 replies from fellow geeks on the Slashdot comment boards.

One response was from Binaryboy who told him to try Yourself Fitness;

Yourself Fitness is an Xbox title - not sure if it runs on Xbox 360 - and is like having a personal aerobics and yoga instructor at home. I was little shy of aerobics in general at first, but once I got into it, learned the various moves without looking like an idiot, I was hooked. In the first year I lost 30 pounds (which was my target) and I felt 1000 times better.

See the interesting discussion at How Do Geeks Exercise?

One Cure for Bingeing

Clara was able to end a humiliating cycle of bingeing and starving herself when she started meditating on a regular basis. See her story here.

Diet Tips for Summer

Here's a guest post by Heather Johnson:

Diet Tips for Summer

Summer is here and that means the temptation to indulge in fun, fatty foods is here too. It can be really difficult to say no to hot dogs and burgers when there seems to be a barbeque every weekend and to keep driving past ice cream stands as they stand out on a hot, sunny day. Vacations also mean eating out which means tempting menus with tasty treats that would never find their way into your kitchen. The pressure that comes with wearing a bathing suit or lighter clothes can be overwhelming. So, what can you do? You want to stay in shape after you struggled through the winter months and you don’t want all your hard work to go down the drain. Consider these tips for dieting this summer and you should achieve a happy balance:

1. Stay away from the sodas. When you reach into the cooler at the beach or your next party, make sure you skip the sodas. Soda is loaded with sugar and calories that are empty. We know how tempting it is slug back a soda on a hot afternoon but this is one way you can keep your calories down. Jason Giambi, a major league baseball player, said a few years ago he cut out soda during the off-season and dropped close to fifteen pounds.
2. Drink water instead. Water is the answer year round and even more so in the summer. Aside from being devoid of calories, water is such a healthy drink in the summer to keep you hydrated throughout the day. 8-10 glasses of water are recommended. Water is a substance that goes through the body quicker than any other drink and helps in raising your metabolism levels.
3. Eat light. You should eat lighter meals and avoid eating snacks in between meals. This will give you the notion of feeling lighter instead of the full feeling you have after a heavy meal.
4. Stay away from spicy foods. The salts you intake from fruits and vegetables are organic in nature and are retained by the body. However, the salts from spicy foods are inorganic and need to be expelled from the body. Drinking plenty of water will help in this process.
5. Stay away from sugary foods. The sugar from fruits and vegetables are natural unlike the manufactured sugary foods that stay clogged in your system for days and days.

This post was contributed by Heather Johnson, who writes on the subject of nursing program. She invites your feedback at heatherjohnson2323 at gmail dot com.
The water bottle image above is by Jenny Downing.

Is that a Tumor or a Belly?

I couldn't believe this story today, but a woman recently lost a whopping 140 pounds by having two tumors removed from her midsection. She had gone to the doctor for many years but the tumor had grown undetected. See the 140 pound tumor story here.

The unrelated photo here is by Gaetan Lee.

Losing the Last 20 Pounds

Candace, age 36, was forty pounds heavier after giving birth to her third child than she had been before children. She lost the first twenty pounds after going on a series of different diets but she was not able to lose the last twenty pounds of 'baby weight' even though her youngest child was now four years old.

But after starting a regular exercise program she has succeeded in losing the last twenty pounds. She started by taking classes at the YMCA and by lifting weights but the pounds really started melting when she started running with a friend. It was really difficult to do the three mile run initially but she saw results quickly and this was very encouraging.

She's gone below her pre-pregnancy weight and now weighs 115 pounds at her height of 5'5". See her story and photo here.

Photo of jogger via Eleanza

How to Dress to Minimize a Large Bust

Here's a nice video by Katie Stiles on how to dress to minimize and flatter a very large bust. She shows us five before and after outfits and tops.



Via Before and After TV

Flattering Clothes for a Larger Waist

Here's a video with Katie Stiles showing off five inexpensive summer tops that help hide a very slight post-pregnancy belly. They're all available at Eddie Bauer online for under $40.

Better than Weight Loss Surgery?

There's an encouraging article today in the Los Angeles Times about scientists working on a procedure that would be much safer than weight loss surgery. It involves disrupting the vagus nerve. The vagus nerve tells us when we're hungry, it's the communication path between the stomach and the brain. See the full article here. Here's an excerpt;

WEIGHT loss surgery works, but is so invasive and has such unpleasant long-term side effects that it's recommended for only a fraction of the obese population, and even many in that group are reluctant to undergo the surgery. In hunting for a simpler and safer alternative, researchers have zeroed in on a nerve that carries much of the communication between brain and gut.

Disrupting this communication, they believe, could lead to safe, effective and sustained weight loss -- mainly by cutting off signals from the gut that tell the brain it's time to eat....

Two different methods of disrupting the vagus nerve are now in clinical trials. One method, vagotomy, simply cuts the nerve and permanently disables it. The other, vagal nerve blocking, uses an electric current to periodically confuse the nerve and prevent it from transmitting signals. Preliminary results suggest that both methods help to safely reduce excess body weight by about 20% on average within six months of therapy.

photo by Marcusrg

Walking Off 50 Pounds

Allison has lost 50 pounds since January. She took the extreme measure of participating in a 130 mile walk (15 miles a day along a noisy highway) back in March to get her motivated.

These days she does a file mile walk each morning and belongs to Weight Watchers. See her walking story here.

More Weight Loss Blogs

Read about three more bloggers who have had success losing weight here. One of them, is Shauna, pictured here. She used to weigh 350 pounds and now weighs 175. She's written a book about her weight loss journey and her blog is at The Amazing Adventures of Diet Girl.

Getting Back to Normal BMI

Danielk lost 15 pounds and this has moved him out of the overweight BMI position, back to the upper end of 'normal BMI'. See his success story here.

The beautiful photo here is by Wolfgang Staudt

Cari Hartman Loses the Diet

Cari Hartman has lost 123 pounds. She is being featured on the Today Show this morning. She lost the weight, not by going on a diet, and not by counting calories, but by making a complete lifestyle change. She joined a fitness center, quit fast food, quit drinking tons of Diet Cokes each day and started eating real meals and taking her lunch to work.

See her inspirational weight loss story here.

The photo of a portable lunch is by moira.

Biggest Loser is a Woman

For the first time in the history of the TV show Biggest Loser, a woman has won the grand prize of $250,000.

Ali Vincent weighed 234 pounds at the start of the show. She went on to lose 48% of her body weight and now weighs 122 pounds.

See TV Guide's interview with Ali Vincent here.

Weight Loss Success for Jody

Here's what Jody used to look like before she lost 133 pounds.

See what she looks like now and her success story here. At 5'9" and 52 years old she now weighs 146 pounds.

After many years of being overweight and losing weight occasionally on fad diets only to regain it soon afterward, this time she changed her underlying lifestyle.

Inside Mariah Carey's Refrigerator

Mariah Carey is looking very slim again. This afternoon, we can see her interviewed on the Oprah Show. She'll be telling Oprah about her diet and exercise regiment.

And she has let some reporters into her New York apartment to let us see what is in her fridge. You won't find any junk food there, but there are lots of fresh clams, swordfish, veggies, fresh vegetable soup and rice.

See the preview with a brief scene of Carey's kitchen and fridge at People Magazine.

Highest Food Standards

Google has the highest food standards you may find in any employee cafeteria. Check out 13 photos from Google's employee cafes here.

Salma Hayek Loses the Baby Weight

Salma Hayek was on Oprah yesterday. She became pregnant for the first time at age 40, and says she gained a lot of weight. The baby was born just after her 41st birthday six months ago and she has lost all the excess weight. Below is a video clip from the Oprah show. She looks very slim and talks about how she doesn't think it's true that breastfeeding helps you lose the weight faster. It sounds like it was a lot of dedicated exercise and careful eating that did it for her. See also some comments on the Celebrity Baby Blog, where many women disagree with her about breastfeeding not being an aid in quicker weight loss post-pregnancy.

Quitting Soda to Lose Weight

Here's a simple and sweet story about successful weight loss;

i used to drink a 2 liter bottle of soda a day then i realized how much wieght i had gained by doing that. i quit drinking that all together and now drink nothing but water and i have last 35 pounds in 6 months. water does really help you lose weight.

This is the latest comment you will find on the Drinking Water to Lose Weight post.

Also see good reasons not to drink bottled water.

Walking the Weight Off

Laura wanted to lose a lot of weight. One hundred and thirty pounds. It took her two and a half years but she succeeded by beginning a very rigorous walking program. Now four years later, the weight has stayed off. But she walks an average of about 50 miles a week!

She's written a book about her experience; Commit To Get Fit: The Secret to True and Everlasting Weight Loss

Act As If You Are already Slim

Here's some good advice about the positive benefits of visualizing yourself as already being at your ideal weight;

The law of attraction states that you get more of what you put your attention on. When you are overweight your attention is focused on fat, food, diets, calories, etc. You are negatively focused. You are focused on the problem. The key to using the law of attraction for weight loss is to stay focused on the solution.

One of the most powerful ways of doing this is to act as if. Act as if you have already manifested and created the body and weight loss you want! Act like the thin person you want be!

Acting “as if” creates a powerful energy shift. Your actions will begin to align with your new intentions because it creates a positive expectation of success.

See more weight loss secrets and good advice at Secrets of a Weight Loss Master.

Health Benefits of Vegetarianism

Diana gave up meat many years ago. She said it made her feel sluggish and mentally slow. Diana is 55 years old and teaches yoga classes. She says eating meat affected her yoga practice.

See an interesting article about the health benefits of vegetarianism. They say people who cut meat from their diet have about half the cancer risk and are 50 percent less likely to develop heart disease. Vegetarians are less likely to be obese. They have lower cholesterol, blood pressure, rates of hypertension, type 2 diabetes and prostate and colon cancer.

A Vegetable Orchestra

And now for a truly extraordinary intermission...

Determined to Lose the Flab

Here's a really good video by one guy who is 40 years old and wants to get fit again.



By his birthday on May 12, he wants:

1) More muscle tone and continued cardio
2) Continued weight loss (lose the rest of the tummy so you can see those killer abs hiding beneath the cottage cheese)
3) Healthier and more frequent eating, but not at night.
4) Reduced caffeine

It's easy to forget why you started something, so here's my reminder to myself. I wanna feel really healthy and secure hanging out by the pool this spring/summer!

Losing the Last 10 Pounds

MM wanted to lose the last 10 to 12 pounds. She has been at the same weight for the past couple of years despite already eating quite well (she's a vegetarian). MM is a middle-aged woman who found out she has a small brain tumor recently. Her quest to live everyday to the fullest includes losing the last 10 pounds.

She recently joined 24-Hour Fitness and has been amazed to lose six pounds in the first two weeks already! 24 Hour Fitness has about 400 clubs across the US. See her quest to lose the 10 pounds.

An Aboriginal Diet for Weight Loss

Greg lost 40 pounds, normalized his blood sugar and no longer requires diabetes drugs.

His route to success? He went on an aboriginal diet. He could eat "all the fat he wanted, and all the seafood and meat and starch-free vegetables. Dairy fats like cream and cheese were fine, but not milk. Everything else with carbs -- bread, pasta, chips -- were off-limits. No ancestor of Wadhams' ever feasted on pasta and rice. Or ice cream bars."

With the urging of the local doctor (in the photo above), many people in his small village also went on a similar diet and experienced success.

It sounds like the Atkins diet, but it is a traditional aboriginal diet.

See the interesting story at The Town that Lost 1,200 Pounds.

Natalie Cassidy Loses Weight

Natalie Cassidy lost about 56 pounds recently. She's got five new habits that led to her weight loss. See her tips here.

Reaching Goal Weight

Even though she's 'a mom to the screaming masses' Carmen has now reached her goal weight.

She weighed 206 pounds after her sixth pregnancy but has since lost 75 to 80 pounds. She did this by exercising regularly and eating what she calls the ELFF diet. ELFF stands for eat less fatty foods. See her story and before and after photos here.

Star Jones - Weight of Marriage is Over

The National Enquirer is reporting that Star Jones and Al Reynolds are separating. They've been married for three years.

Star Jones has lost a lot of weight and changed her appearance drastically since she met Al Reynolds. Apparently she wants a divorce as she thinks her husband was taking advantage of her success and she did all the work. "Deep down, Star is a very old-fashioned woman who believes a man should support her emotionally, physically and financially. She now believes Al failed her.”

Slowly but Surely

An obese mom has lost 38 pounds since beginning her weight loss efforts in August. The before and after photos here were taken after she lost 30 pounds. The weight loss has been sporadic. She's had months of no weight loss;

278 August 2007
265 September (-13)
258 October (-7)
253 November (-5)
248 December (-5)
248 January 2008 (-0)
248 February (-0)
240 March (-8)
Total: 38 pounds

She's a very good writer. See her story at Escape from Obesity.

Weight Loss Surgery Gone Wrong?

Hello Isadora,
I stumbled upon your website tonight and read a couple of the stories. One of my best friends actually has a very inspiring weight loss story; he went from 270 to 170 pounds over the course of 1.5 years by eating right and engaging in almost excessive exercise. Do you think this is the kind of story that might fit on your blog? If so, I'll encourage him to send it in.
On another topic, I run a blog on the topic of weight loss surgery in Fort Worth texas. I would like for it to eventually become an authoritative site on weight loss surgeons and processes in the Fort Worth, TX area. It will eventually feature local doctors, reviews of their medical histories, etc. I think that if we participated in a Blogroll link exchange the portion of your readership that resides in Texas would benefit, and all of my readership would benefit. Please tell me what you think! You can find my blog at liposuctionfortworth.net. Keep up the inspiring stories,
Ian

Hi Ian,
Sure, ask your friend to email their story. But if you had read more here you would know I'm not a fan of surgery as the best way to lose weight. I can relate to the people who choose to go this route, but there is so much persuasive money and so many commercial websites already devoted to promoting surgery that I'd like to stay away from it and focus on the stories where people have lost weight without medical intervention.

But your note makes me want to ask readers who have had a weight loss operation - where things did not go well - to comment below.

Please don't send me stories of success with this (unless they are extremely sincere) - this would surely attract a ton of spam. I would delete these comments. Here, I'm just interested in cases where surgery did not lead to success.

The beautiful photo above is by Rubyran.

Why is Kevin Federline Getting Fat?

Kevin Federline looks like he is on his way to getting fat over the many months since his divorce from Britney Spears was finalized. The photo on the left was taken this weekend, the photo on the right is from not too long ago when he was in super duper good shape.

Federline will be celebrating his 30th birthday in Las Vegas in a couple of weeks. He was born March 21st 1978.

Could it be the stress of being a stay-at-home father, feeding and tending to two little children under the age of three that is making him grow a belly?

Read all the speculation at X17.

From 300 to 120 Pounds

CNN has posted another inspiring weight loss story today about a young woman who lost 180 pounds and has become a fitness instructor. Jennifer Marnell is 5 feet tall and has gotten a lot of publicity since her successful weight loss. She was featured in this January's People Magazine as well as on the Oprah Winfrey Show.

See her story at CNN.

Vice Busting Gets More Expensive

Isadora, I really like your blog. I was reading your story, so much like mine! Pregnancy gives us one good thing--the baby! but the weight? not so much fun to deal with.

I lost 130 pounds, would love to have you check out my story.


Vice Busting...everything else is just a diet!
Julia
vicebustingdiet.com



Julia, thanks much for your note and the inspiring photos. Congrats for losing all this weight after your divorce and keeping it off for 10 years. I know your motivational book has helped lots of people lose weight and I think it's quite likely that this program you're now selling for about $147 may be well worth the additional expense to some people.

The Cabbage Soup Diet

A couple of reporters at Fox News have been trying the Cabbage Soup Diet this week.

They say that if you want to get a kick start on losing weight, it might be worth a try for one week. The cabbage soup diet is not limited to just eating cabbage soup all day as I had thought. They say it worked great for them. The diet helped them both realize they were not eating enough vegetables and fruit. It also helped them become more creative in trying different combinations of vegetables cooked in different ways.

They say that after seven days they have both lost five pounds.

See more about the pros and cons of the cabbage soup diet at Wikipedia.

The latest book about the cabbage food diet sells for $5 on Amazon - The New Cabbage Soup Diet

Food Fight

This is an amazing video. The foods of nations fighting against each other from 1939 to present. Does anyone else find this to be a profound work of art?