I wear trainer type walking boots rather than hard leather boots (had several pairs of the same brand/model now) and whilst they've needed the least breaking in ever, it's still been well worth while wearing them for short walks or around the house for a bit until I'm sure they are truly comfortable.
It's been two months since I decided to try to get fitter and lose weight. Today I weigh a paltry 3lbs less than I did then.
But, generally speaking, I have made more effort to swim and walk and I think I feel fitter than I did.
My husband is about to get "lifestyle advice" from the hospital, and I'm sure than losing weight will be part of that, although he has less to lose than I do. A joint effort is more likely to be successful.
I have reached my target weight (after losing 3.5 stone) and am finally allowed to eat stuff without weighing everything.
Granted I'll have to keep an eye on things but I'd sooner put on a few pounds and then go back on the wagon for a couple of weeks than live on Slimming World's idea of what I should be eating permanently.
I have reached my target weight (after losing 3.5 stone) and am finally allowed to eat stuff without weighing everything.
Granted I'll have to keep an eye on things but I'd sooner put on a few pounds and then go back on the wagon for a couple of weeks than live on Slimming World's idea of what I should be eating permanently.
Brilliant.
I've lost two stone and I'm very close to my target weight. Should do it in two or three weeks. My knees thank me every day. 🙂
I have lost 1lb this week. We have been overhauling our diet in the wake of the discovery that my husband's blood pressure is too high, but at the same time I have had virtually no exercise, other than stress-cleaning. My husband is nervous of over-exerting himself, and also doesn't want to be left alone. If it stops raining I can get endless exercise attacking the garden, but everything is very soggy just now.
I'm hoping that once he's had his 72 hour heart monitor, he'll feel more confident.
17 stone 2lbs which - hurrah! - puts my BMI at 39.9. "Severely obese" or, as it used to be called, "morbidly obese", is 40 and over. I am now merely "obese."
As I have been hovering around the house and my husband, I have actually been getting less exercise than usual. But I am trying out new recipes from the British Heart Foundation website, which are presumably less calorific than meals I was cooking previously.
I've given up on the current diabetes meds, because diarrhoea. So I think that only leaves the alternative of weight loss and exercise, both deeply foreign to my nature.
So far today I've had a breakfast of granola, dried fruit and Greek yoghurt and lunch of soup and a banana. However, things are about to go south with pizza and red wine.
But ... but ... the pizza might have several of your five-a-day on it, and red WINE is apparently quite good for your heart (and your stomach, if you take the advice of St Paul).
After a few days stuffing my face while on holiday with some excellent food and wine it is now back to the relatively straight and narrow. I did finish off the ice cream that was in the freezer though.
Five weeks ago, at one of his post-TIA check ups, my husband was told he needed to lose weight.
All the meals I have cooked since then have been, as advised by the Stroke nurse, from the British Heart Foundation recipe website.
As of this morning my husband has lost 9lbs, a text book 2lbs a week off. Another month of this and he's been told some of his medication might be reduced.
Me? I haven't missed biscuits, or cakes, or crisps, or sausages, or butter, and I've missed bacon and haggis only as a handy cooking ingredients. I do miss steak pie, and my favourite chinese sweet and sour takeaway, but not that much. It's not as though I ever ate them more than once a month anyway.
But chocolate? I'm actually twitchy if I go too long without chocolate. I've tried making cocoa to take the edge off, but it doesn't work. I've tried stirring cocoa powder into natural yogurt. Mashing up Philadelphia light with cocoa powder is ok, but my body knows it isn't chocolate. I've had several chocolate binges. I've never been a secret binge eater before, there's been no reason not to scoff chocolate openly before, but now that we are officially a chocolate free household, it's becoming a secret vice. (Not that secret, husband has spotted the wrappers in the soft plastic recycling!)
Hence, unlike my husband, no weight loss here.
I know I love chocolate. But it's been clear in the last 5 weeks that I can cope with every other aspect of a lower calorie, lower fat diet, but not that. I feel off-balance without chocolate - a bit brain-foggy. Extended concentration is harder somehow. I feel a bit less "me."
I deal with that by getting the higher percentage chocolate—the really dark stuff. It’s too rich and bitter to eat more than a square or two, but my body definitely knows it’s had chocolate and stops bugging me.
I felt very pleased with myself this morning. Having had an "extra" swim on Sunday morning, because I wasn't leading worship, I calculated that I'd swum 2 miles this week. I've only done that once before.
Then I did the maths - I'm 20 yards short! (I'll do an extra couple of lengths on Saturday to make it up).
Five weeks ago, at one of his post-TIA check ups, my husband was told he needed to lose weight.
All the meals I have cooked since then have been, as advised by the Stroke nurse, from the British Heart Foundation recipe website.
As of this morning my husband has lost 9lbs, a text book 2lbs a week off. Another month of this and he's been told some of his medication might be reduced.
Me? I haven't missed biscuits, or cakes, or crisps, or sausages, or butter, and I've missed bacon and haggis only as a handy cooking ingredients. I do miss steak pie, and my favourite chinese sweet and sour takeaway, but not that much. It's not as though I ever ate them more than once a month anyway.
But chocolate? I'm actually twitchy if I go too long without chocolate. I've tried making cocoa to take the edge off, but it doesn't work. I've tried stirring cocoa powder into natural yogurt. Mashing up Philadelphia light with cocoa powder is ok, but my body knows it isn't chocolate. I've had several chocolate binges. I've never been a secret binge eater before, there's been no reason not to scoff chocolate openly before, but now that we are officially a chocolate free household, it's becoming a secret vice. (Not that secret, husband has spotted the wrappers in the soft plastic recycling!)
Hence, unlike my husband, no weight loss here.
I know I love chocolate. But it's been clear in the last 5 weeks that I can cope with every other aspect of a lower calorie, lower fat diet, but not that. I feel off-balance without chocolate - a bit brain-foggy. Extended concentration is harder somehow. I feel a bit less "me."
WTF?
A nutrient chocolate contains that can have a big impact is potassium. Free suggestion, try having a banana each time you feel like chocolate and see if it helps. If it doesn’t you’ve just had some extra fruit and you’re no worse off.
A nutrient chocolate contains that can have a big impact is potassium. Free suggestion, try having a banana each time you feel like chocolate and see if it helps. If it doesn’t you’ve just had some extra fruit and you’re no worse off.
Serious question, are there other things that can be eaten as a quick snack which have potassium in? I have bad reactions if I eat bananas...
I wondered if it was the caffeine in chocolate that was making you feel odd if you didn't have any. I feel decidedly weird if I don't have my regular cups of tea.
A nutrient chocolate contains that can have a big impact is potassium. Free suggestion, try having a banana each time you feel like chocolate and see if it helps. If it doesn’t you’ve just had some extra fruit and you’re no worse off.
Serious question, are there other things that can be eaten as a quick snack which have potassium in? I have bad reactions if I eat bananas...
I wondered if it was the caffeine in chocolate that was making you feel odd if you didn't have any. I feel decidedly weird if I don't have my regular cups of tea.
I drink coffee from breakfast through to about 6pm, when I switch to de-caff coffee; I'm not relying on chocolate for caffeine.
I'll try bananas, thanks, @Doublethink.
If that doesn't do the trick I'll try moving towards very dark chocolate, thanks, @Lamb Chopped
Thanks for the suggestions @ThunderBunk and @Doublethink . Might explain why I have fewer chocolate cravings in apricot season (although I'm now thinking about apricot marzipan in dark chocolate...).
Meanwhile, having markedly reduced my food intake, weight loss is 1 kg - over and over. Partly this is inactive lifestyle - for the amount I do, calorie intake is in exquisite equilibrium. I'll see, at this morning's weigh-in, if an hour of so's hedge wrangling has had any impact. One line would be to try to find a level of exertion that didn't also lead to being zonked out in an armchair the rest of the day.
The other is the Little Somethings. Aperitifs, wine, digestifs are my chocolate.
Fundamentally, exercise is good for your metabolic health - but except in heroic amounts, it has little impact on weight loss. That all comes down to calorie intake in the end. I find, and everyone's different, that a high protein diet keeps me fuller longer so I snack less and weigh lifting makes me narrower (though not lighter) quickly which is motivating. It also reduces the muscle loss that can come with a focused attempt to lose weight.
Thank you for that Doublethink. I increased my walking, not to heroic amounts, and had no success on shifting any weight. I did wonder why as the advice I was getting was to walk more. Thank you.
I do enjoy walking so I will keep at it but I'll look at my diet more than I am currently.
Sadly one square of Lindt does not satiate me. I tend to go for the 85%+ options as I eat less in one go.
My FB feed has these ads promising weight loss through exercise - usually walking or chair yoga. Can I take it they're a load of hooey and the only thing the programmes will lighten is your bank account?
(Just watching The Tour pedalling madly through rural France in the pouring rain - an even greater disincentive to exercise).
Look at it like this, walking for an hour will burn between 200 and 300 calories. A standard mars bar contains 228 calories. A standard 12.5% alcohol 150ml glass of wine is about 158 calories.
Exercise is good for you, to maintain muscle, bone density and cardiovascular health - but unless you do several hours a day, it is not going to create the calorie deficit you need without a healthy eating plan. Also if you suddenly did that volume of exercise out of the blue, you would almost certainly injure yourself because your joints, in particular, are not accustomed to it.
Resistance exercise and quite a high protein diet, if you no health contra indications for that, is a good idea when losing weight because it stops your body dropping muscle as your calorie intake goes down, Muscle is harder work for your body to maintain, and so if your are eating less it will sacrifice a chunk of muscle to that - unless you make an effort to retain it.
[Standard disclaimer, I am not a physical health professional - I have cleaned this from researching the topic and medical advice over the years trying to manage my diabetes.]
I think a risk of dieting is trying to eat and drink “perfectly” then you fall off the wagon and give up. It’s helpful to “budget” for treats. If it is important to you to have a glass of wine with your meal - then you budget for it in another way. Have salad and cold meat for lunch instead of a sandwich - bread is very calorie dense - use the room for manoeuvre that gives you to have your glass of wine with dinner in the evening.
What I see a lot on Facebook is posts about how when women reach menopause age, too much aerobic exercise is actually counterproductive to weight loss, because it produces too much cortisol, so the focus is on exercising smart rather than exercising hard. I have a tendency to overdo it, as I don't drive, so I walk a lot, and I do notice it can be counterproductive to my health, though that's also from postural tachycardia. It's hard to get a good balance. And easy to indulge in junk food, as for me, sodium is what helps with dizziness and brain fog, and crisps are so much more enjoyable than sodium pills!
The diabetes drug I've been prescribed semaglutide, metformin - have all interfered with taste, appetite and digestion, eventually to an intolerable degree.
So I am trying to arrive at a diet in which I can actually taste and enjoy what I'm eating: in which digestion is orderly and not subject to discomfort and episodes of diarrhoea: and by which I lose weight.
I'm managing points one and two, but limited success on the third. It's the usual pull between what is healthy and what makes your life tolerable.
I find metformin gives me more issues if I have a high fat meal - whilst I could have steak and salad without too much issue, but side effects are so variable between people.
I did find metformin reduced my appetite overall which made things easier.
I was OKish on the slow release at about a quarter dose, but it was of limited effect. Moving to 50% brought on diarrhoea irrespective of what I ate.
I find the suppression of appetite goes with the numbing of taste. Having gone to the trouble of cooking from fresh, I'd rather have a smaller helping that I enjoy.
Whelp, after many months of neglect, I got on the old stationary bike again today. My goal was 15 minutes. I made ten. I will work on increasing it by five more each week.
Comments
But, generally speaking, I have made more effort to swim and walk and I think I feel fitter than I did.
My husband is about to get "lifestyle advice" from the hospital, and I'm sure than losing weight will be part of that, although he has less to lose than I do. A joint effort is more likely to be successful.
Onwards and downwards!
Granted I'll have to keep an eye on things but I'd sooner put on a few pounds and then go back on the wagon for a couple of weeks than live on Slimming World's idea of what I should be eating permanently.
Thanks. Being out in the Peak and sailing up slopes that would have had me stopping every two minutes six months ago makes it worthwhile.
Brilliant.
I've lost two stone and I'm very close to my target weight. Should do it in two or three weeks. My knees thank me every day. 🙂
I have lost 1lb this week. We have been overhauling our diet in the wake of the discovery that my husband's blood pressure is too high, but at the same time I have had virtually no exercise, other than stress-cleaning. My husband is nervous of over-exerting himself, and also doesn't want to be left alone. If it stops raining I can get endless exercise attacking the garden, but everything is very soggy just now.
I'm hoping that once he's had his 72 hour heart monitor, he'll feel more confident.
As I have been hovering around the house and my husband, I have actually been getting less exercise than usual. But I am trying out new recipes from the British Heart Foundation website, which are presumably less calorific than meals I was cooking previously.
So far today I've had a breakfast of granola, dried fruit and Greek yoghurt and lunch of soup and a banana. However, things are about to go south with pizza and red wine.
Including, every now and then, moderation.
All the meals I have cooked since then have been, as advised by the Stroke nurse, from the British Heart Foundation recipe website.
As of this morning my husband has lost 9lbs, a text book 2lbs a week off. Another month of this and he's been told some of his medication might be reduced.
Me? I haven't missed biscuits, or cakes, or crisps, or sausages, or butter, and I've missed bacon and haggis only as a handy cooking ingredients. I do miss steak pie, and my favourite chinese sweet and sour takeaway, but not that much. It's not as though I ever ate them more than once a month anyway.
But chocolate? I'm actually twitchy if I go too long without chocolate. I've tried making cocoa to take the edge off, but it doesn't work. I've tried stirring cocoa powder into natural yogurt. Mashing up Philadelphia light with cocoa powder is ok, but my body knows it isn't chocolate. I've had several chocolate binges. I've never been a secret binge eater before, there's been no reason not to scoff chocolate openly before, but now that we are officially a chocolate free household, it's becoming a secret vice. (Not that secret, husband has spotted the wrappers in the soft plastic recycling!)
Hence, unlike my husband, no weight loss here.
I know I love chocolate. But it's been clear in the last 5 weeks that I can cope with every other aspect of a lower calorie, lower fat diet, but not that. I feel off-balance without chocolate - a bit brain-foggy. Extended concentration is harder somehow. I feel a bit less "me."
WTF?
Then I did the maths - I'm 20 yards short! (I'll do an extra couple of lengths on Saturday to make it up).
A nutrient chocolate contains that can have a big impact is potassium. Free suggestion, try having a banana each time you feel like chocolate and see if it helps. If it doesn’t you’ve just had some extra fruit and you’re no worse off.
Serious question, are there other things that can be eaten as a quick snack which have potassium in? I have bad reactions if I eat bananas...
Coconut water ?
I drink coffee from breakfast through to about 6pm, when I switch to de-caff coffee; I'm not relying on chocolate for caffeine.
I'll try bananas, thanks, @Doublethink.
If that doesn't do the trick I'll try moving towards very dark chocolate, thanks, @Lamb Chopped
The other is the Little Somethings. Aperitifs, wine, digestifs are my chocolate.
Also to second @Lamb Chopped on chocolate. A square of 80 or 90% and I'm chocolated out. Aldi and Lidl are very good for those.
I do enjoy walking so I will keep at it but I'll look at my diet more than I am currently.
Sadly one square of Lindt does not satiate me. I tend to go for the 85%+ options as I eat less in one go.
(Just watching The Tour pedalling madly through rural France in the pouring rain - an even greater disincentive to exercise).
Look at it like this, walking for an hour will burn between 200 and 300 calories. A standard mars bar contains 228 calories. A standard 12.5% alcohol 150ml glass of wine is about 158 calories.
Exercise is good for you, to maintain muscle, bone density and cardiovascular health - but unless you do several hours a day, it is not going to create the calorie deficit you need without a healthy eating plan. Also if you suddenly did that volume of exercise out of the blue, you would almost certainly injure yourself because your joints, in particular, are not accustomed to it.
Resistance exercise and quite a high protein diet, if you no health contra indications for that, is a good idea when losing weight because it stops your body dropping muscle as your calorie intake goes down, Muscle is harder work for your body to maintain, and so if your are eating less it will sacrifice a chunk of muscle to that - unless you make an effort to retain it.
[Standard disclaimer, I am not a physical health professional - I have cleaned this from researching the topic and medical advice over the years trying to manage my diabetes.]
So I am trying to arrive at a diet in which I can actually taste and enjoy what I'm eating: in which digestion is orderly and not subject to discomfort and episodes of diarrhoea: and by which I lose weight.
I'm managing points one and two, but limited success on the third. It's the usual pull between what is healthy and what makes your life tolerable.
I did find metformin reduced my appetite overall which made things easier.
I find the suppression of appetite goes with the numbing of taste. Having gone to the trouble of cooking from fresh, I'd rather have a smaller helping that I enjoy.