Post by Ramsey prompts me to post this. I’m 81 yoa, retired, 6 ft tall and can’t lose weight. This morning I’m at 207. I spent most of my life at 140 to 150 and was moderately active. As the years progressed, so did I.

I eat lightly twice a day. I generally go to a city park twice daily to do a one mile walk. I strap on 5 pound ankle weights prior to walking. Due to arthritis in back, legs and right knee, I walk on grass instead of the concrete. Doc says that, with the exception of my mild pot belly, I’m in better shape than any of his other patients of my age. Arthritis limits my activity somewhat but I don’t feel handicapped.

This is not acceptable. How to get the pounds off?

Try eating 5-6 small meals a day, this keeps metabolism active. Since you do one mile twice a day, try extending each walk a little farther each time. Just take it easy and don't push too hard. With a goal of two miles each trip to the park.

6 feet and 150 lbs sounds very thin to me

It’s pretty thin. My middle son is 5’11 and 130 lbs….kid could hide behind a T-post.


I’m 5’5 with no shoes and 150-152lbs currently.

Certainly tougher the older we get. Heavy water intake, smaller/more frequent meals and moderate exercise for me. 259 on December 1st, 206 this morning. Still a work in progress but slowly getting there.

That's pretty good

I dont recommend drinking alot of water, makes me fatter.

I drink when I am thirsty

At 150 pounds, I was thin but healthy. Could go all day doing manual labor, run a mile,etc. Now, I feel just like an old fat guy. On dang little input.

I tried that did not work for me. I go one small meal a day. And if I do that in combination with low carb, the weight pours off. I’m sure there is merit to the metabolism concept with more meals a day, but the most important concept is to not eat too much, no matter how you spread it out, it really is that simple.

I have found, it is just me, that when I lose all my body fat, my metabolism rate seems high, I can eat a slice of cheese cake and my body seems to burn it, vs if I’m 10 lbs over my ideal weight, I will gain weight with that cheese cake.

Workout different topic, the other side of the coin. I never have been a gym person. I like doing push ups my favorite work out, builds a lot of muscles, it is great for my back. And free weights in my office. At work I walk 36 flights of stairs 3 days a week, sometimes I do it twice. Been doing this for a year now and love it, much better than my bike for cardio and muscle build.

cut carbs and sugar.

When we get this "old" our body likes to hang on to calories. It knows when we are "cutting back" and senses starvation and reacts by shutting down metabolism.

IMO you are doing fine, 6 ft. 205# is about right.

When you get to 300# holler back.

Cutting carbs and calories to get to your ideal weight sometimes you gotta do, but once you get there, you should focus on eating healthy #1, and #2 don’t eat too much. And it’s ok to cheese cake every now and then, just not too much.

Are you on any kind of medication?

I was 142-145 from 1997-2021. In 2021 I had a medication I took for a heart issue just completely quit working for me and ended up in the hospital. While in the hospital they switched me to a different medication and the pounds started to creep up on me. I am still only 155 but no matter how hard I try to get back to my old weight it just aint going to happen. At first I couldnt figure out what was causing it until I started doing some research on it. Thats when it clicked that the weight gain started as soon as I switched medication and there are plenty of other people that I found online sharing the same experience I have had with it. I could easily be 250 pounds right now if I didnt fight the urge to eat like I did before 2021.

First thing is do you have regular checkups and blood work. IF all of your numbers are good and your BMI is within limits, ask the doctor to do some further blood work to check you vitamin levels (B12, D, B12, folate, magnesium, iodine and zinc) and your thyroid levels. I think this is the test (Labcorp Vitamin Deficiency Test).
My wife's thyroid level was way off and she takes meds not that really helped her.
Good luck.
txtrophy85, I am the same height as you just 10 pounds heaver. I have dropped 6 pound in the past 3 months and plan on dropping 5 to 10 more. Just got to push back from the sweets and walk a whole lot more.

Regular checkups, etc. At 81 yoa, I seem to have about 3 doctor visits per week for one thing or another. Today was the dermatologist. We have a white board with mostly doctor and/or dentist appts.

The last 3 days I’ve increased my one mile walks to 3 per day. With 5 pound ankle weights.

This is what I'm doing now, less calories and way down on carbs and the weight is coming off. I've cut way, way down on bread, no pasta, no chips, no sweets other than fruit, very few potatoes. I'm on a low carb kind of a carnivore diet. I do eat some fruit and some low carb vegetables. So far it's working at the rate of a couple of pounds a week.

When I started my weight loss, other than water and exercise my meals were based on Carbs and Protein. Minimum 60 grams of Protein daily. If Carbs and sugar added up to more than 20 grams on the food label, it was on the do not eat list.