Thanks
Dietitian
You should be so proud that you and your mom have made such positive changes to both your diet and exercise. It appears that your exercise regime is very good. Including weights would definitely be beneficial. If your mom cannot do weights she can do pilates which is also strengthening. Post menopausal weight always sits abdominally but she will lose it in that area when her weight drops.
I think you need to look at the portions of food you and your mom are consuming. Consider what is on your plate; not just the type of food, but also the quantity of it. You might be surprised to learn how much you are eating in a ‘normal’ meal – it could be a great deal more than you realise. Overweight people consistently underestimate how much they eat at a sitting, while underweight people overestimate the amount. The bottom line is portions. If you are not sure of the quantities you should be eating you should consult an Accredited practising Dietitian. In Australia portions tend to be large, and getting larger, which is why portion control is so crucial to reaching and maintaining a healthy weight. We have been brought up to ‘finish what is on our plate’ which unfortunately destroys the natural instinct of the body indicating how much we should eat and when we are comfortably full. Only eat when you are physically hungry and stop when you are comfortable – never full! Enjoy your food and eat slowly. It takes 20 minutes for the message to get from your stomach to your heat that you have had something to eat. Everything you eat goes on a plate and you are sitting down to eat it – this does away with picking and snacking!
You have done so well – you just have to put in an extra effort to achieve your goal.
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Exercise Physiologist
First of all congratulations about making positive lifestyle changes to improve your long term health. Although you have mentioned no significant weight loss how are your clothes feeling, how is your energy?
As you suggested I would incorporate some resistance based exercise into you regime in order to improve body composition (fat vs muscle). You may find this article of interest http://www.precisionnutrition.com/rr-cardio-vs-weights.
You may also wish to consider sleep patterns, stress, and medications as these can also impact your weight loss efforts.
Given your mothers storage patterns, it is suggestive of some possible hormonal involvement (insulin and cortisol) where addressing the above factors as well as considering a reduced carbohydrate load may be beneficial. You may find this article of interest http://www.docsopinion.com/2014/08/24/lose-belly-fat-central-obesity-and-health/.
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