Do you know how LITTLE food I am supposed to eat? No wonder I’m not losing any weight.
Yesterday, I downloaded the Lose It! app for my tablet, which keeps track of calories, exercise, etc. Then I started entering everything I ate. Correction: I entered everything I WANTED to eat. When I saw the horrifying total, I deleted items like crazy to keep under my daily allotment.
As I looked at the pittance alloted to me, I couldn’t help wondering if the program was just trying to eliminate women who were no longer actively contributing to the propogation of the species. “Oh, you’re over fifty? You don’t need ANY food. Quit wasting resources. Oh, all right. Here. Eat a few fruits and nuts. Quit whining. You’re lucky I give you anything at all.”
The good news is, exercise will help. An hour of bike riding uses about 200 calories (at the pace I’m able to manage.) That will boost my calorie count above 1000 calories a day. (I’ve entered a 2-lb a week weight loss goal.) It’s not going to be easy – or fun – but I think I can manage it for a while.
The program assures me I’ll be at my target weight by September 5. Two months. I can do this for two months.
Maybe.
Seeking My Best Self 
But what happens after two months? Even at a maintenance version, you’ll have not appreciably more than this? This is why I gave up Weight Watchers. As a woman over 50, the number of points allowed was completely utilized by the nutritional “must haves”–leaving NO room for spontaneity, splurge, or pedestrian joy.
Speaking of joy, you will get to the point where riding a bike for an hour every day will be fun. And then you will get to the point where you feel like the universe is a dark and unfair place if you have to miss it. Me, I’m trying to concentrate on the joy of riding and improving fitness–and not on food portions, calories, and points. There be monsters there.
To maintain my ‘ideal’ weight, I need 1600 calories a day, assuming I exercise 3 x weekly. That was also an eye-opener, because 2000 calories was ‘the number’ for many years. No wonder I gained weight. Aging sucks.
I agree, there be monsters in the numbers, but there are also monsters in my genetic code – I’m one of the only normal-weight people in my family (in my generation and my mother’s. The younger generations seem to have avoided the curse.) I know what will happen if I relax my vigilance. Not just these nasty 30 pounds, but another hundred or two along with them. The monsters lurk. I duel. Who will win? I WILL! 🙂
I am a senior citizen, well over your age, and I use Lose it!, too. It has worked for me for nearly four years now. You can check my blog posts for confirmation. Also, I think you need to talk with your medical advisor. I don’t think any professional will allow you to try to get along on only 800 calories a day.
For the record I am more active than you and consume around 3000 calories a day. I weigh 150 pounds and have for over a year now.