The Weight Challenge

One of the main challenges of aging as far as I am concerned is trying to maintain my weight and not putting on too many pounds.  When I was younger, prior to entering menopause, I really didn't have much of a problem with my weight.  Although I was always watching it, as long as I could exercise, which I did pretty regularly, I could pretty much eat what I wanted.  Menopause changed all that.  By the time I hit my 60s it was a constant battle, especially belly fat (Pamela Peake called it the "menopot").  Now I have the time to work out virtually every day for 2 to 2 1/2 hours and it's STILL a challenge.

I have learned that carbs are the issue for me.  I use to pooh pooh the low carb diet craze, but I have found for me that severely limiting carbs is what I need to do when I put on a few pounds in order to take them off quickly.  Part of the problem is that I crave sweets, especially at night.

The 17-Day Diet

I've had some success with the so-called Seventeen Day Diet which was developed by Dr. Mike Moreno.  He has a book and a website.17 Day Diet Official Site | Dr. Mike Moreno, M.D. | New York ...

He makes some pretty grandiose claims for how much you are supposed to lose, which didn't pan out for me because (a) I wasn't especially overweight and (b) I already exercised quite a bit.  But I bought the book and pretty much followed what he said to do because I needed the discipline.

He considers it a low-carb low-fat diet.  You don't count calories.  You are allowed to have unlimited amounts of most low-carb veggies (no winter squash or corn, for example) as well as low-fat proteins.  You can also eat 3 servings of fruit per day, which I really needed if I was going to stay on it for long, as well as 2 servings of no-sugar-added yogurt.  I discovered Dannon Lite & Fit Greek yogurt, which comes in a quite a few flavors.  Eighty calories per cup and 12grams of protein.  No alcohol or diet soda.

The diet also has you drinking 8 glasses of water per day and green tea with meals.  I already drank green tea so that was no big deal; getting those additional 8 glasses of water was a challenge.  and no eating after an early dinner.  That was a big challenge for me and I usually didn't stick to it.  I often saved a fruit or a yogurt for an after dinner treat.

You also need to start exercising on this diet, if you're not already doing that.

Bottom Line

For me, at this stage of my life, weight control is always going to be a struggle.  I have had to accept that.  If I eat a lot of carbs, even so-called "good carbs" like whole wheat pasta, I'm going to gain weight.  It's a fact of life.  Fortunately, what I need to do to stay reasonably thin and to be healthy are the same thing.

What's Up Next

I'm going to share some of my healthy recipes and talk about how I like to eat.