Diet for a 56 year old non-training woman...

[nick500]

OK, my old lady is after a diet to help her shed the pounds and get a bit fitter.

She eats super healthy now but has fallen into what her dietician has recommended her which is basically huge amounts of fruit.. and guess what shes not losing weight ! What is it about dieticians and their lack of understanding about fructose sugars and fat storage etc...


ANYWAY, she has asked me to sort her out with a little diet plan and routine. Now, my mum is very stubborn but I have outlied a diet that she likes the sound of.

She has two conditions - she will not eat first thing in the morning, she will not take any supplements (apart from multivits and oils), and likes the occassional glass of wine. She is unlikely to do any more than 60 minutes cardio per week but i'm working on convincing her.

She wants to lose this stone and I said it will take 6 months, perhaps slightly faster if she can do more cardio.

So:

Wake up 730am, sleep at 1030pm.

745am Tea / Green tea, Cod liver oil, evening primrose oil

10am 50 grams starflower seeds/pumpkin seeds, an apple or 50 grams prunes, Green Tea

1pm chicken breast salad with olive oil dressing, Green Tea

330pm 10am 50 grams starflower seeds/pumpkin seeds, an apple or 50 grams prunes, Green Tea

630pm Salmon fillet / (lean meat or fish steak) with brocolli, peppers, tomatoes, Green Tea

10pm cottage cheese with lettuce, celery or any watery vegetable.

I think this equates to just under 2000 calories.

In terms of exercise, I think it would be 20 minutes of walking or cycling (around 110 - 120BPM) per week, plus 1 weights session (40 minutes and fairly light).

Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.

Nick

[rmhildeb]

You probably know this already, but breakfast is really really important. This article outlines some more reasons why, you might want to read it and summarize it for your mom (written by a doctor, no less)

http://www.t-nation.com/readTopic.do?id=1111182

The huge problem i see with the diet you've made (your mom will have it no other way i imagine ) is that she doesnt really eat anything until 1pm. She basically has 2.5 real meals and the rest are 'an apple'. That's not exacly ideal.

Other then that, it looks pretty good. I know older people are set in their ways when it comes to nutrition and exercise (my parents are exactly the same way). 3 squares a day is best right? Perhaps you could get her to try 5-6 "real" meals for a couple of weeks and see how she feels???

[nick500]

I might be able to convince her to eat some oats in the morning,

thanks for the comments.

Nick

[nick500]

My final write up:


Feel free to pass this on to anybody you like.

You will lose a stone in 4 - 6 months with this diet, if you don't cheat.
If you do cheat, it will take longer.

Wake up 730am, sleep at 1030pm.

745am Tea / Green tea, 1 gram Cod liver oil, 2 grams evening primrose oil

9am Very Small bowl of porridge oats in skimmed/soya milk : 250 calories

1030am 30 grams starflower seeds/pumpkin seeds, an apple or 50 grams prunes
or small glass of tropicana with bits, Green Tea : 250 calories

1pm chicken breast salad with olive oil dressing, Green Tea : 500 calories

330pm 30 grams starflower seeds/pumpkin seeds, Green Tea : 150 calories

630pm Salmon fillet / (lean meat or fish steak) with brocolli, peppers,
tomatoes, drizzle of olive oil on the meat/fish, Green Tea : 500 calories

10pm 100 grams fat free cottage cheese (just under 1/2 tub) with lettuce,
celery or any watery vegetable. : 150 calories

This equates to 1800 - 1900 calories.

THE RULES:

-You are allowed 2 glasses of wine a week. One can be after 630pm, one has
to be before 630pm. As a substitute to a glass of wine, you may have a DIET
COKE with bacardi rum.
-If you want to snack, then it has to be seeds or cottage cheese. No more
nuts, fruit to snack (especially dried fruit)
-If you miss a meal, then its OK to eat cottage cheese and lettuce/celery
to make up for it
-Bread, rice, pastas, potatoes all illegal
-If you do a training session, you may have 100 grams (this is a small
amount...) of sweet potato, cous-cous or brown bread with your lunch or
dinner or small glass of tropicana with bits.
-You have to (I repeat HAVE TO) to 2 cardio sessions per week, and 1
weights session (see training below), one of those days can involve a
cardio session and a weights session. More exercise is better, and it means
you get the extra joy of having some nice carbs in your lunch or dinner.
-No crisps, chocolate, alcohol (apart from 2 glasses of wine/week)
-Don't be ashamed that you are on a diet, if you are out and about and
people say go on Ruth have another glass of wine, or go on, have a naan
bread, then answer with pride that you are on a diet and watching your
carbs! If anything they will respect you for it and it will strike a good
conversation topic.
-If you feel like "OH MY GOD, I NEED CHOCOLATE", you need to take a big
breath, ask yourself do I really really want it, in the long run, then go
and make some tea with some extra sweetener to get rid of the sweet craving.

DRINKS:
-Green Tea, Water, Small glass of tropicana with bits (only at certain
times), any diet soda like diet coke
-The tea you drink must have caffeine in it
-No tea after 630pm
-Tea with milk should ideally be replaced by green tea, but if you really
want it its fine, but not decaf

EATING OUT:

Indian: Dry meat dishes only. Nothing oil or cream based. Chicken tikka for
example is fine. No significant carb source, like rice or naan, but if you
ARE going to have some carbs, then make it something like daal (because its
chick peas) but remember, it would be better if you didn't.

Chinese: Not allowed, but if you DO, then lean char-sui(honey roast pork),
no rice or noodles allowed.

Pub: Small steak or chicken allowed. Again, no carbs. If its too dry, a
light gravy is OK, but not much. Salad is always fine, but ideally with
olive oil dressing, not anything else.

On the move: Always keep your seeds with you so you never miss your
specified 'eating time'.

IDEAS/SCIENCE:
-Caffeine speeds up the metabolism therefore caffeinated tea is necessary
-Olive, evening primrose and cod liver oil, as well as the healthy fats
from seeds are called EFAs(Essential Fatty Acids), which mobilise fats,
meaning they are easily burnt off and used as an energy source
-Good balance of healthy low-GI fibre-rich carbohydrate sources
(veggies,salad,lettuce etc) so stop insulin building up which leads to fat
storage
-Medium to high in protein - Good for muscle-maintenance and building, and
necessary when on a diet, you want to tone up as well as lose the fat
-You shouldn't get hungry on this diet

[skelooth]

meh, it's okay. I think decaff tea can be beneficial at night. I'd also like to see more healthy fat, and less over all calories for someone that age.

[P01Shooter]

Nick, you're on the right path here but that's one hell of a strict diet. I wouldn't do it and I think most of us here would say no to it. I'm not trying to be an ass I'm just being realistic. Tweak a few things and possibly slowly add new things for her to pay attention to in her diet before going all out. It will prevent her from doing this diet for a week or two and then quiting saying thanks but it sucked (even though it didn't). Again, this all depends upon her current diet and how good it is but if she is anything like my mother small changes are much better than a complete change in her eating lifestyle.

Has your "old lady" ever done a serious diet before? What improvements has she made up to this point? Does she eat fast food? Sugar? Flour?

Secondly, is she ever allowed a cheat meal? I think once a week it should be mandatory for someone that's just starting to diet.

Third, I'm assuming you know her weight and have an idea of her bf%. Like Skel said I think her calories are high for her age and her bf% but I'm kind of blind there.

[rmhildeb]

This is pretty tricky hey dude. You're trying to help someone who wants results, but doesnt want to change much and thinks their way is best for everything (welcome to the fat loss forum. lol) Reps to you for making a big effort though.

You may also want to add that she can eat as big of a breakfast as she wants. Studies show (see link i posted above) that eating a large breakfast tends to cause people to reduce overall daily calories by about 100. This isnt huge, but it may get the idea across that she needs to eat breaky--most important meal of the day.

As for the cheat meals, it really depends on what she normally eats, but my mom, for example, is really in to the 'variety is the spice of life' thing and wouldnt go on a really strict diet at all. It looks like you've allowed her to have wine, which may count as a 'cheat', but i'd say your mom is more likely to succeed if she feels like she still has some kind of dietary 'freedom'.

[nick500]

Nick, you're on the right path here but that's one hell of a strict diet. I wouldn't do it and I think most of us here would say no to it. I'm not trying to be an ass I'm just being realistic. Tweak a few things and possibly slowly add new things for her to pay attention to in her diet before going all out. It will prevent her from doing this diet for a week or two and then quiting saying thanks but it sucked (even though it didn't). Again, this all depends upon her current diet and how good it is but if she is anything like my mother small changes are much better than a complete change in her eating lifestyle.

Has your "old lady" ever done a serious diet before? What improvements has she made up to this point? Does she eat fast food? Sugar? Flour?

Secondly, is she ever allowed a cheat meal? I think once a week it should be mandatory for someone that's just starting to diet.

Third, I'm assuming you know her weight and have an idea of her bf%. Like Skel said I think her calories are high for her age and her bf% but I'm kind of blind there.

Appreciate the comments but i'm confused, this is not a strict diet at all... seems really quite nice to me. She doesn't eat that much differently to this anyway, never eats cakes chocolate or anything like that and likes indian and chinese takeaways.

No, i don't think a cheat meal is necessary, because if you say you are allowed a cheat meal, she will have that PLUS probably cheat again.

If you have no regimented cheat meal then even if they do cheat its just the same as them STICKING to a diet with a planned cheat meal... you get me?

Cheers all,

Nick

[ratmonkey]

"my old lady" means something completely different in the states.

i was sitting here wondering why a 21 y/o would be married to a 56 y/o woman for about a minute before reading on.

[KeepintheFaith]

"my old lady" means something completely different in the states.

i was sitting here wondering why a 21 y/o would be married to a 56 y/o woman for about a minute before reading on.

Yep, I was sorta wondering about that one myself! At least it made me read further!

...uh then again, I wonder if we have a higher divorce rate over here from using that term the way we do???

[nick500]

LOL

My old man - my dad

my old lady - my mum

the missus - my bird

[JUSA]

Coming up with a plan shouldn't be too hard, but coming from somone who has tried with his own Mother - getting her to stick to it... well, Good luck.

With that in mind, I'd go out of my way to make it simple and full of foods that she likes and can eat.