General Health Chat.

Carole

Well-Known Forumite
On a work day I do over 20,000 steps.... I asked the Dr why I don't loose weight, the answer is... Disappointingly.... My 20,000 + steps are at a slow to normal pace, to make any difference to my weight they would have to make me sweat and puff like no one's business ie be exteremly vigourous... Just because you are active all day does not mean you are burning calories,
I know that for me, the only thing that makes me shed weight is vigerous (I mean sweat my bollocks off, hard, intense excercise) for 1 hr 3 x a week.... Sadly (not) my gym membership with gym & tonic has now expired, so I'm staying fat. I'll be harder to kidnap & I'm sticking with that.....

But the whole thing is about calorie intake and output.

So exercise is good for health, and walking is good for heart health, but it won’t make you lose weight if you don’t reduce the calories.

Each pound that you want to lose is 3500 calories.

20.000 steps is about 600 calories. (I think) So walking all day then having a pudding or a slice of cake or, buying a calorific takeaway or fish and chips or cheese and biscuits is just adding on the 600 calories, so no weight will be lost.

I try to limit my calorie intake daily to no more 1600. Obviously that’s not every day. I’m not obsessive. Weekends are treats, but we only have fish and chips about twice a year, red meat about once a month. The odd pork pie now and again.
Husband’s health scare a few years ago made us sit up straight and take our diet seriously.
 

littleme

250,000th poster!
But the whole thing is about calorie intake and output.

So exercise is good for health, and walking is good for heart health, but it won’t make you lose weight if you don’t reduce the calories.

Each pound that you want to lose is 3500 calories.

20.000 steps is about 600 calories. (I think) So walking all day then having a pudding or a slice of cake or, buying a calorific takeaway or fish and chips or cheese and biscuits is just adding on the 600 calories, so no weight will be lost.

I try to limit my calorie intake daily to no more 1600. Obviously that’s not every day. I’m not obsessive. Weekends are treats, but we only have fish and chips about twice a year, red meat about once a month. The odd pork pie now and again.
Husband’s health scare a few years ago made us sit up straight and take our diet seriously.
I'm diabetic, I'm a very good diabetic, my blood sugars are 'almost' normal, I don't eat cake, sugar, sweet things,.... but I love cheese, pate, crisps, meats etc... All not good for calorie intake & health. We have take away probably twice a month & don't eat too much processed food... Apart from ping rice, frozen chips, and the odd jar of sauce... The husband/carer loves cake, ice cream, pudding of any kind and thinks I'm odd that I think fruit or yoghurt are pudding..


Maybe, everyone's different, we all have different metabolisms, we all find different things help us, and it's great to have different suggestions from everyone with different body shapes and metabolisms... We are all indevidual, beautiful and unique.
 

Gramaisc

Forum O. G.
Maybe, everyone's different, we all have different metabolisms, we all find different things help us, and it's great to have different suggestions from everyone with different body shapes and metabolisms... We are all indevidual, beautiful and unique.
I worked with a chap who appeared to eat considerably less than me and, although a bit less active, he was over twice my weight and struggled to keep it at that.

Another chap was really skinny but ate almost continuously all day - real food, cold roast dinners in margarine tubs.

Metabolisms really do seem to vary hugely. Also, some people just seem to have more 'tone' - I know people that I have to drive slower for, because they struggle with the side-loads on corners, not that I am Stirling Moss on the road, but they just seem very 'floppy'.

Ideally, you should be out of breath at some point every day.

I got roped into some clinical trial which involved a deep investigation of the state I was in at the time. They said that they would inform my quack if they found anything untoward. I wondered about whether to carry it through, as I pay little attention to 'diet' and expected to get some grief as a result. However, despite all the eggs, cheese, butter, full-fat milk and other general 'bad stuff' that I eat, I came back with no issues worthy of any comment - everything was well into the 'good' bands. I was genuinely quite surprised.

There has been quite a significant change in the general state of the population over the last decades.

It is not diet or activity levels - it is the whole thing.

You can put more food in - if you burn it off.

If you go back to the sort of stuff we were eating in the 60s, it was pretty dreadful.
 

Carole

Well-Known Forumite
Also @Carole there's no way you should be worrying about your weight or how you look, Stop worrying, be happy, live life..... You only have one!

I wouldn’t say that I worry unduly but I’m certainly aware every day of what I eat.
I used to be a size 8, then a 10, now a 12 and because I don’t want to keep going up a dress size every few years I do have to be careful and have a certain amount of willpower. It’s not so much being on a diet, more a lifestyle choice.
But I definitely need to exercise more.


Maybe, everyone's different, we all have different metabolisms, we all find different things help us, and it's great to have different suggestions from everyone with different body shapes and metabolisms... We are all individual, beautiful and unique.

Yes, everyone is different and have different metabolisms. It’s about being comfortable with what you are on a personal level.
 

Lucy

Well-Known Forumite
I have had to work very hard to get thin, having been an overweight child and a slightly less overweight 30 odd year old. Now I'm doing more exercise than I ever have but it only just keeps the weight off.

I was an active kid, we ate good meals - although large portions - but I was far more overweight than my peers who probably had chicken dippers and chips every day. It's just not that easy for everyone to be thin.
 

Lucy

Well-Known Forumite
Just been thinking a bit more about this, and your bikini comment really stuck with me Carole. I think how society thinks a body should look is a massive issue. I'm now a small size (having been much larger) and although I bought a bikini because I have a bit of a tummy (and am pretty sure I always will, whatever I weigh) I feel really self conscious in it, because all the pictures you see are of people with not an ounce of fat in a bikini. That could easily set up a unhealthy relationship with food and exercise. I actually got a couple of abs a few months back but then stopped doing the bodyweight training and they've gone.

Someone told me no one is looking at you in the bikini, but I just can't get that thought out of my head.
 

Carole

Well-Known Forumite
Just been thinking a bit more about this, and your bikini comment really stuck with me Carole. I think how society thinks a body should look is a massive issue. I'm now a small size (having been much larger) and although I bought a bikini because I have a bit of a tummy (and am pretty sure I always will, whatever I weigh) I feel really self conscious in it, because all the pictures you see are of people with not an ounce of fat in a bikini. That could easily set up a unhealthy relationship with food and exercise. I actually got a couple of abs a few months back but then stopped doing the bodyweight training and they've gone.

Someone told me no one is looking at you in the bikini, but I just can't get that thought out of my head.

I’ve actually got a bikini on at the moment sitting in the garden and although I only made that comment yesterday, I’m not actually sure at all now that I’d wear one in public. I think a one piece is more flattering.
I look slim from the back but I have a bit of a larger tummy than I’d like, probably nothing that a few sit ups couldn’t sort out.


I think that society is trying to change its viewpoint on body positivity, Marks and Spencer are one of a number of companies using more realistic size models so it’s perhaps moving in the right direction.
The other side of that is programmes like Love Island, (which I’ve never seen) where they are all perfect specimens.

When I go on cruise ships or Caribbean holidays where there are a large number of Americans, it’s quite common to see very large ladies in bikinis. They have a different outlook on life, they are not afraid of being who they are, and are perhaps less judgmental of each other.
 

Carole

Well-Known Forumite
I just want to add to the above post, and possibly contradict myself somewhat,

I don’t agree with magazines and fashion shows using extremely thin anorexic type models because this promotes an unrealistic image for young impressionable teenagers.
After all, we come in all shapes and sizes, not many of us are perfect, we need to learn to love our imperfections.

BUT neither do I think it’s doing anymore any favours to normalise extreme obesity.
It’s not healthy and unless people take some responsibility for themselves then they have a lifetime of preventable health issues in front of them.

Two years ago I met up with a couple who were both seriously overweight.
The husband had recently seen his doctor who apparently was cross with him for not taking his diet seriously.
He just said that “I’m going on holiday and I’ll eat what I want”
He carried on eating what he wanted, but he died last year, 12 months after the doctors warning.

My friends husband, an overweight diabetic, also ignored his diet and died in January this year.

There needs to be a shift in attitude towards obesity in the same way there is towards smoking otherwise we’re heading for a ticking time bomb for the NHS.
 

Bob

Well-Known Forumite
I'm struggling today, I've been loosely following Keto (more low carb than actual keto though) I lost 18lbs in 3 weeks then a further 6lbs I had a bit of a blow out at the weekend when we went away for three days for a wedding (the 6lbs was 9lbs but it was definitely worth it at the time) but I'm struggling to get back on the wagon in the past couple of days, the heat doesn't help at all because I'm scoffing ice cream and hiding in the house.

I've always been a bit up and down then in my mid 20's I had a baby, closely followed by the removal of my thyroid, 12 months of treatment and adjustments to thyroid replacement medications to keep me functioning later I had ballooned. In my late 20's child number two arrived and I immediately hit the gym I lost about 3 stone and felt better than I had done in ages but it didn't stick, work and life got in the way and I went backwards. In 2019 I finally kicked the smoking but added another stone then spent most on 2020 chained to a desk and added another.

I always used to say to myself that even though I was bigger than I should be that I was healthier than I looked, I realised a few months ago this wasn't the case anymore and I was finding myself getting out of breath walking up the stairs. We've always eaten well, I'm a good cook, we buy fresh ingredients we generally get our 5 a day, I'd gone almost veggie for a year or so and was living off carbs and meat replacement products, I don't think it agreed with me though. I realised I'd gone up to a size 24 for the first time in my life and it really upset me - so here I am trying to make a change!

Target is still 5 stone 1lb away - I'm struggling with motivation, I know what I need to do but actually doing it is easier said than done. On days like today another 71lbs feels so overwhelming it may as well be a trip to the moon.
 
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