Weight Loss at Age 44

Hi,
I am 44 years old, 5 feet tall. I am a full time mom and am always running around with little time for myself. I quit smoking 2 years ago and gained about 20 pounds (at the time I weighed approximately 123 and was moderately active). I am still moderately active, but I cannot get rid of the weight. I know I snack and probably eat incorrectly. I'd like to know if there is a resource for a healthy, easy to prepare meal plan that can reduce my caloric intake enough to lose weight, without causing my body to go into starvation mode. Any assistance you could give me would be greatly appreciated! thanks, Christine T.

Hi, Christine,

It's great that you are looking for a healthy meal plan and are ready to lose weight the smart way! And especially great that you quit smoking... congratulations to you, that is a huge accomplishment, so I know you'll be able to follow through with your weight loss goals.

The best site I can recommend for a healthy diet plan is http://www.mypyramid.gov.This is the food pyramid site and it's been updated to include lots of activities to help you design and follow a healthy and balanced diet for weight loss.

Another huge help is starting to keep a food diary. Since you know you snack "incorrectly", as you say, you are probably very aware of things you eat that aren't going to help you lose weight. Sometimes you don't have to take the time to research, plan, and follow an exact diet... you might just be able to write down everything you eat, and find that this leads to a new behavior: thinking about things before you eat them. Often this leads to easy weight loss right away! You go to grab a candy bar at the drugstore and stop to think, "Hey, I don't really want to do that! I know this will be adding 300 calories to my diet today and keep me from gaining weight!"

The food guide pyramid site will suggest a calorie level to follow based on your height, weight, age, and activity level. Here's a good guideline to keep in mind when high calorie foods start to tempt you: for every 100 calories you can bypass each day this will add up to a loss of nearly one pound a month. Deciding not to buy a candy bar leads to avoiding 300 calories and that day you would potentially contribute to a 3 pound weight loss by the end of the month!

Good luck with your healthy weight loss!