Hi bugsbunny
There are lots of other threads too on losing weight! Sounds like it would be best to go with what you know has worked for you and that you can follow ie Weightwatchers.
I have lost weight in the same way as Dorothy. I am 63 and 5'1 and have reduced over the past year - now aim to keep between 8.10 and 8.12 if I can.
You don't need to crave stodge if you reduce carbohydrates though. My aim in weight loss is not to be hungry - so I have never counted or weighed anything in any of my weight loss regimes! You just need to cook everything from fresh ingredients, and to know roughly what each type of food contains. Banish sugar and processed foods from your diet except occasionally as treats. Eliminate or reduce carbs - by this I mean sweets, cereal, bread, pasta, flour, cakes, biscuits, rice, potatoes, sugary drinks including juice etc, and replace this with low fat protein and lots of fruit and vegetables - including beans, nuts and pulses. Limit alcohol. Obviously also eliminate most fried foods and added fats - but cook in a small amount of olive oil. I eat low fat mince, very little cheese, low fat unsweetened yogurt (sweetened with banana or other fresh or stewed fruit if needed), bacon with fat cut off, chicken, loads of fish etc. Fat is OK if it's in foods eg nuts and avocados etc!
Even though I was not very overweight - and I know my thyroid function is less efficient than it was when younger ( meaning I have more tendency to weight gain) - I have managed to lose 8-10 pounds since last September and keep it off.
The carbohydrate craving is due to eating too many carbs! It means your body is producing too much insulin which removed sugar from the blood and stores it. Once you have got your body used to fewer carbs and in particular, very little sugar, you will not crave carbs and in fact won't get hungry so much because protein makes you feel fuller for longer.
Finally as you age your metabolism slows so even if you ate the same you would still have a tendency to put on weight - so you need to eat less and take more exercise. As said earlier - some sort of exercise that burns calories (even walking or cardio/aerobic fitness class), and some sort of resistance training that develops your muscles will help you along the way. Muscles burn more calories at rest than fat so therefore if you have more muscle your basal metabolism is increased!
Good luck anyway with whatever you do - but the exercise is a key part of it and the dietary changes have to be permanent
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Hurdity x