Winning at losing

Advice from experts and successful dieters on taking off those stubborn middle-age pounds

By Meredith Daniels | Special to Newsday

2:45 PM EST, January 25, 2008

Christine Carswell, 55, of West Islip, had always been able to maintain her weight.

If she felt she needed to lose a few pounds she would turn to Slim-Fast shakes or cut out some sweets and starches.

But in the past three years Carswell found Slim-Fast wasn't working for her, and taking off those extra 5 or 10 pounds was getting quite difficult.

John Sullivan, 73, of Breezy Point, was a self-proclaimed "gym rat" most of his life. He ate whatever he wanted until about 25 years ago, when he needed his first of two hip replacements. Sullivan began piling on weight year after year, and by Christmas 2005 he had reached about 370 pounds and had become almost completely inactive.

Losing weight in your 20s, 30s and 40s is difficult enough, but, experts say, when you reach your 50s it becomes even more challenging. Physiologically, metabolisms slow down about 10 percent a decade, starting in people's 20s, because they start to lose muscle, the anatomical component that burns fat. During the years that women are peri-menopausal, and after menopause as well, their metabolism slows an additional 10 percent as a result of the increase in abdominal fat. That is why many woman gain weight during menopause.

And there are those who reach their golden years and have watched their children leave for college or otherwise leave home for good. They no longer need to cook for their families.

"I found myself eating a sleeve of Thin Mints at my desk.... I thought I was being healthy by cutting out bread at dinner, but I was eating two or three fried chicken cutlets instead," said Carswell, who joined Jenny Craig in Massapequa last April. "My head was really into it when I joined, and I wasn't doing it for anyone but myself."

Carswell did have extra support, however, since her husband of 33 years, David, 59, decided he would join Jenny Craig, too. He's already lost more than 50 pounds. And Carswell says the general aches and pains he used to complain about have become significantly less pronounced. Carswell says she no longer avoids taking the steps at Penn Station when taking the train in to work.

Sullivan's health problems, due to his weight, went beyond general aches and pains and a little fatigue. The retired police detective, who was outfitted with a pacemaker almost a year ago, decided to get a consultation at the Long Island Weight Loss Institute in Westbury. As recommended by his doctor at the institute, he's been on a modified diet, consisting of one meal and two Optifast shakes a day.

Individualized programs

Dr. Michael Kaplan, an internist and board certified bariatric physician who is the president of the Center for Medical Weight Loss (the company that overseas the Long Island Weight Loss Institute), said he believes that individualized programs with professional counseling are often the way to go when people in their 50s, 60s and 70s begin to develop medical problems due to being overweight.

"I think people in this age group are pretty wise, and the problem is they know they can't lose weight like they used to," said Kaplan. "Their metabolism hits that point where they really have to change their lifestyle to take off that weight. ... Some come in having been just diagnosed with diabetes or it's the scare of their first heart attack."

Essie Bates, 50, of Roosevelt, met with Kaplan at the Weight Loss Institute in June 2006. Bates had tried the Weight Watchers diet, attended another diet center and the Hofstra University Health Dome. She had lost some weight, but not enough to help control her diabetes or asthma.

"I felt like if I didn't do something, I was going to run into a lot of health problems because I was in and out of the hospital a lot," said Bates, a medical assistant at Mercy Medical Center in Rockville Centre. She has lost 145 pounds since attending the institute, her doctor has taken her off the three medications she was taking for her diabetes, and she no longer uses an inhaler.

Adding exercise

And Bates has added more regular exercise to her weight-loss routine. She goes to the gym three days a week (for about an hour each day) and mostly does weight-training, but runs and walks on the treadmill for 15 to 30 minutes as well. On those days she says, she will have an extra Optifast shake to sustain her. She now has the energy and endurance to keep up with her two grandchildren and sees her diet-fitness routine as a blessing.

Bonne Marano, a group fitness instructor at Equinox and a fitness and health consultant, said she believes dieting without exercising is futile. "It's really a simple formula," said Marano. Sixty-five percent of her clients are over age 50. "It's calories in and calories out. In order to achieve a healthy and lasting weight loss of one pound a week, I recommend you eat 500 fewer calories a day than you are currently eating and then burn 500 calories a day with exercise."

And while many just getting into a routine believe that aerobic activities such as running or cycling are the best way to burn fat, Marano steers her clients in the direction of strength training, which she considers an important component in the body-shaping process.

"We have to look at the basal metabolic rate (BMR) -- the energy required to maintain our bodies at rest. This decreases as we age. Strength training increases the amount of muscle tissue on the body, and studies have shown that this increased muscle will raise the BMR. The higher the BMR, the more calories you are burning at rest and during activities."

Exercise helps balance