I have looked around the forum and it looks like a great place to find some support and encouragement. It has also made me feel really really old though. Seems everyone here is so young. Maybe I am just feeling really old today. Fat and Old! How depressing!
So I guess I am supposed to tell you about me. I realized a couple of months ago that my 50th birthday is fast approaching. Funny how these things sneak up on you. I looked at myself and realized that I needed to make some serious changes if I wanted to see my grandson grow up. The first thing I did was to lay down a 35 year 2 pack a day smoking habit. It actually went alot easier than I had anticipated. Unfortunately though it added another 12 pounds to the huge gain menopause had left me with. I have always fought 25 pounds on and off my whole adult life but when I went through menopause it turned into 50 pounds. I pretty much just accepted it. I just chose to ignore it. Then when it turned into 60+ even I had to say enough is enough. I am a singer and the added weight does not look good on stage. Time to do something about it.
So, I went on a diet. Counting calories. My husband, bless his heart, went on a diet with me to help me out. Well he has now lost 35 pounds and I am stuck at 20. We even joined a gym a couple of weeks ago and have hammered out a workout schedule that seems to be on track from the research I have done. I have learned alot from this forum already. We signed up for fitday.com and I find that I am actually eating less than I should. Could this be why my weight has stalled? I also see now that I am taking in too much salt, not enough protein and not enough water. So I will make some adjustments and see if it helps.
Wish me luck!!

I ain't no spring chicken welcome to the site

and you don't need luck luck only works at the roulette table... consistency and a solid plan are what gets you wehere oyu want to be

Fitday is a good start... just ensure that you're keeping track of your portions correctly... overestimating portion sizes is an incredibly common problem people have.

Too much sodium can absolutely cause a weight loss stall... so if you're using a lot of processed foods... you might want to switch to real foods instead... your body will thank you..

I have been eating instant grits for breakfast and chicken noodle soup for lunch. I expected the sodium in the soup but I was very surprised to find it in my grits. I cook real food for dinner but I find that I also cook with quite a bit of salt. Being a southern cook it is hard to stay away from butter and frying everything, so I leaned on seasoning.

there are so many other wonderful herbs and spices out there that don't need salt- even Mrs dash has some good stuff...


a little salt never killed anyone - but a lot of salt -well - never a good thing...

Butter doesnt have to be evil- I wouldn't use it in the amounts that bizarrre lady on the food network uses but as a flavoring - it's fine- sometimes jut a little butter at the end -is all the butter you really need...

There are a few of us about that are not youngsters. I will be 49 next month so I am a very similar age to yourself.

I have found that I had to cut right down on my sodium intake. As Mal said - trying to get away from processed foods makes that a lot easier. I found that a lot of what I ate and cooked was out of habit. It is as easy to follow a good habit as a bad one.

In addition to firm control of my food - I have found that daily walking has made the biggest difference to my weight loss project. I would therefore say that joining a gym was a really good move. I think that the key thing is to make activity a part of daily life and not something exceptional.

I find that I really enjoy going to the gym. I was much more active when I was younger and I think I have missed it. It actually feels good to have the muscles feel a bit sore. I do three days of cardio and three days of strength training with Sunday as my day off. I thought I was adapting to my diet pretty good also until I hit this stand still. Going to buy a water cooler today because I hate my tap water. Maybe the bottled water will be better.

sometimes lemon slices, cucumber slices, or orange slices in pitchers of water in the fridge help.

I have a PUR 2 gallon water container that I keep in my fridge-- water out of the tap is pretty gross to me -but the pur and chilling it makes it drinkable...

You mentioned that you found out that you aren't eating as many calories as you should? Undereating can cause your body to go into starvation mode, turning everything you eat into fat; resulting in the "plateau" effect.

Eat the right amount of calories and the right amount of sodium and you'll be dropping pounds again in no time.

You sound like you're off to a great start so it is probably time to change other aspects! I heard eating about 5-6 small meals a day helps. Just because you're from the south doesn't mean you have to eat like it, at least not everyday. You should give yourself a Cheat-Day but eventually you'll enjoy the healthy foods. Best wishes!