I'm too fat - help !

Emp_Fab

I'm now fatter than I've ever been.  My BMI straddles the line between 'Overweight' and 'Obese'.  I caught myself in a full length mirror yesterday and I look like I'm wearing a fat suit.  I'm heavier now than when I had my heart attack and my cholesterol is not good.

In short, I'm out of control.  I love food and I hate exercising.  I suppose there's a clue in there somewhere !

What are the more successful methods you lot have used to lose weight ?

Drew_TNBD

All I can say is... listen to @Octatonic and @Clarky - they're the most knowledgeable on this.

It takes work. You wont love exercising. Not at first. You will fucking loathe it. Until the endorphins hit your system and you start to enjoy it - you end up having no choice, it's purely a chemical thing.

I've gone down from 86kg to 74kg simply through not eating as much chocolate as I used to. I eat a lot more veg and fish these days too. I eat salmon more than I eat chicken!

holnrew

Do you binge eat?

ICBM

You just have to force yourself not to eat as much as you do now even when you feel hungry. If you can kick smoking, you can kick overeating.

I saw something on the TV the other night about someone getting their stomach stapled… "last resort, I've tried everything". No you haven't, you haven't tried *not eating too much*. If you consume less energy than your body uses you *will* lose weight, exercise or no exercise.

This might sound glib coming from someone who most people I know seem to think is thin as a rake, but there is a reason for that. I have set myself a permanent waist size limit, and if I feel the bulge starting on top of my belt buckle then it's time to go hungry a bit.

I will no doubt get flamed for this so I am not going to say anything more.

holnrew

ICBM said:

You just have to force yourself not to eat as much as you do now even when you feel hungry. If you can kick smoking, you can kick overeating.

I saw something on the TV the other night about someone getting their stomach stapled… "last resort, I've tried everything". No you haven't, you haven't tried *not eating too much*. If you consume less energy than your body uses you *will* lose weight, exercise or no exercise.

This might sound glib coming from someone who most people I know seem to think is thin as a rake, but there is a reason for that. I have set myself a permanent waist size limit, and if I feel the bulge starting on top of my belt buckle then it's time to go hungry a bit.

I will no doubt get flamed for this so I am not going to say anything more.

It should be that simple. But it isn't for a lot of people.

Clarky

it's not only about less food, but the quality of the food..

I think it was Octatonic that said it.. you'll struggle to train off a shite diet..

and that makes sense to me cos I've been hitting the gym regularly for 8 years..

things only radically changed for me when I sorted out the food..

in old money, I've dropped from 17st 10 / 46" waist down to 12st 12 / 32" waist

took just under a year..

I eat low carb / high protein / ton of green stuff 6 days a week

eat for fun on Saturday..

lift weights 3 times a week

now I'm slimmer, seriously stronger and I love it..

the thing I've discovered about being over weight, is that there really is absolutely no need to be that way..

and you CAN do something about it..

you just have to want to enough

viz

As for exercise, you must do the canadian air force regime. 11 minutes a day! And it has a really gentle ramp up. You can do it at home. Sure there are apps etc with similar things nowadays but you can't beat the original. It's called 5BX.

chillidoggy

Emp, I share your pain.

I hate exercising for exercising's sake, it needs to have some other benefit to me, like actually getting somewhere on a bike, for example. I was well on the way too some decent weight loss earlier this year, walking a lot more, but the knee injury (possible surgery job, just waiting to hear) and the falls from the garage ladder (going down the surgery this morning because Ayers Rock still resides on my elbow) have meant I've ground to a halt.

I too, love food and drink, and I have cut down on certain things. We tend not to buy white bread any more, have brown rice and whole wheat pasta, and low-fat stuff generally. I do think that the older you get, the more difficult it is to burn up calories. I also find that once I've fallen from any dietary wagon, it's an almost impossible task to climb back on again. If I see no weight gain in a week, I consider it a win. By way of a by-product of the kidney disease, I suffer from high blood pressure, and being overweight does nothing to help.

At the end of the day, I've come to the conclusion that I'm a fat bastard, and probably won't live as long as I should do as a result, but kind of learning to cope with it. With Mrs C being a pisshead as well, it doesn't help matters, though!

Deadman

I just chose foods that I love but were healthy and stuck to them using Clarky's initiative.
Days consist of couscous, fish, salads and lots of water (no juice!).
I avoid sugar. Also started with 3k runs and now I run 5k, 5 times a week and love it. I also interval run which really hits the spot.
Gone down from 14 1/2 stone to 11 stone 10lbs since Jan.
If I can do it anyone can.

Edit: Start NOW Emps. By Christmas you can lose 2 stones at least without too much effort. Just start thinking about what's going into your mouth next. Become a label reader. Don't go on a diet. Have a lifestyle change. And EAT TO LIVE, don't live to eat. Right...GO!!!

Deijavoo

I've lost two stone in nearly 5 weeks. My inly change is that I don't eat wheat anymore. Was really tough at first but works a charm for me now. 

viz

http://csclub.uwaterloo.ca/~rfburger/5bx-plan.pdf

richardhomer

Do you have any life or illness cover? There is an insurance company which rewards it's customers for making healthy choices by reducing premiums/giving cash back, giving discounts off bikes, trainers, etc, as well as free cinema tickets to aid your mental well-being by helping you to relax.

One of the things they encourage is wearing a Fit Bug to monitor how many steps you take during the day. I've become quite obsessed with this. It's made me make obvious adjustments, like walking to get milk, rather than driving - but that's the whole point. It encourages healthy choices.

Clearly you need to eat and drink sensibly too but I'm feeling healthier than I have for a long time.

I've just turned 50 - I don't know about anyone else but I found this a major milestone in terms of considering my own mortality....

octatonic

Find exercise you like to do. I cannot stress that enough. 

For instance, I LOOOOOVE cycling and weight lifting. 

I think of a 2-3 hour cycle as nothing and I can power through it. 

A 15 minute jog is utter misery- I resent every minute of it. 

So I do a few hundred miles a week on the bike and my fitness routine is more like fun than a chore. 

Another thing is BMI isn't that useful, neither is scale weight. 

Look at body composition, body fat percentage, rather than scale weight. I'm currently about 20-22% body fat (high side of normal) but according to BMI, which just looks at height and weight, I would be classed as obese. 

BMI was invented to classify groups of people- it isn't meant to be applied to individuals. 

Food quality matters a lot and I'm sorry to say that it will be next to impossible to achieve you goals if you drink alcohol on a daily basis. 

The other thing to consider is the time it will take. 

You are looking at a 12 month to 2 year process here. 

Anything that promises 'results in 6 weeks or less' is to be distrusted. 

Make small changes and make them permanent, rather than drastically overhaul things and then fail to stick to it. 

It is hard mate and faltering is part of the process too. 

Make allowances for that but keep your mind on the goal, keep at it.

octatonic

Another helpful thing to remember is you only exercise an hour or two a day, but you diet 24 hours a day.

It is pretty much impossible to exercise away a bad diet.

Emp_Fab

Right then.....   my first dilemma of the day....  I'm heading down for breakfast in the hotel in 45 mins and they have everything.  Bacon, sausage, mushrooms, black pudding, eggs done every way, hash browns, cereal, fruit, smoked salmon, cheeses, pastries, yoghurt... you name it.

Right now my intention is to eat something healthy (but as I don't really know what I'm doing, that probably means cereal & toast, maybe some scrambled egg etc), but......  when the bacon is calling to me....  the sausages sing "eat me, I'm delicious", I find my hands just drift in their direction.  I get this mental battle, "Eat Healthy Emp...... be good now...", shortly followed by "O.M.G.... that looks too delicious to turn down...  Fuck it....  nomnomnomnomnom..."

Can I resist the song of the sausages ?  All I can say is, I'll try.  But the force is strong in them....

Axe_meister

Other than the above.
Eat when you are hungry. Not cos you want to feel better or purely for the taste.
Eat until you are full. Not till your stuffed, also Don't leave yourself hungry (you''ll end up snacking)
Enjoy your food. Take your time, taste it, chew it. Don't wolf it down.

octatonic

Emp_Fab said:

Right then.....   my first dilemma of the day....  I'm heading down for breakfast in the hotel in 45 mins and they have everything.  Bacon, sausage, mushrooms, black pudding, eggs done every way, hash browns, cereal, fruit, smoked salmon, cheeses, pastries, yoghurt... you name it.

Right now my intention is to eat something healthy (but as I don't really know what I'm doing, that probably means cereal & toast, maybe some scrambled egg etc), but......  when the bacon is calling to me....  the sausages sing "eat me, I'm delicious", I find my hands just drift in their direction.  I get this mental battle, "Eat Healthy Emp...... be good now...", shortly followed by "O.M.G.... that looks too delicious to turn down...  Fuck it....  nomnomnomnomnom..."

Can I resist the song of the sausages ?  All I can say is, I'll try.  But the force is strong in them....

Smoked salmon is good.

chillidoggy

I think at this juncture it would prudent to point out that Emp almost certainly won't lose weight, not that he doesn't actually have the intention, but this is simply his usual knee-jerk reaction when he saw himself in the mirror.

To put it bluntly, the chances of him starting any weight-loss programme are nil. I posit this theory based on his track record of online project research which then leads to his realisation that (a) it's going to be too much like hard work, (b) he simply can't be arsed, (c) he likes posting stuff like this, (d) he's a pisshead foodie, and (e) he's going to be a fat foodie, pisshead bastard like me for the rest of his life.

The solution therefore is clear: Remove all mirrors from the Emp household.

Job done!

EricTheWeary

Ten years ago I went from 15 stone to 12.5 stone fairly quickly with Weightwatchers. Over time I drifted back up to about 14 and by last Xmas 15 again, which is a point at which I feel unhealthy. That's a BMI of 29. I usually find diet and exercise advice unhelpful and unrealistic, in the past I have tried revolutionising my life style but I want to be a healthy 50 year old not an athlete.

There is a 12 week plan on the NHS website which is helpfull and has basic advice. There are free diet clubs in some areas for those with high BMI/ at risk and your GP would know about those. Being in a room with like minded souls/ peer pressure is useful stuff. A lot of men can lose weight quickly by cutting out alcohol. In my case as my drinking was about a bottle of cider a month so not the case. For the last two months I've been avoiding the 'empty calorie' foods because chocolate, biscuits, large amounts of bread, cake were my downfall and the sugar craving goes away after a few days. Snacking on fruit, trying not to eat until I burst every meal. An extra five minutes on the dog walk. I've been losing a average pound per week.

 If I was in a hotel with a breakfast buffet then the diet would be off but that would be a novelty for me. If you are in hotels most nights then work out a healthy breakfast - if you aren't paying for the buffet don't feel you have to eat your money's worth.

RobDavies

Watch the calorie intake - I've started to use the Myfitnesspal app on the iphone.  It asks you how much weight you want to lose and then works out what your calorific intake should be each day to achieve your goal.   It features a barcode scanner so you can just scan in what you've eaten - dead simple.

The exercise thing is difficult, I agree.   Tried cycling but it's SO boring as I refuse to wear headphones.  The ONLY exercise I enjoy is football but if I joined a 5-a-side league at my local Goals! centre, I'd be laughed at/dead within a week.  Therefore, I'm trying to recruit fellow fatties/veterans who want to play football in the Southampton area.  So far it's me and one other.....

RobDavies

ICBM said:

You just have to force yourself not to eat as much as you do now even when you feel hungry. If you can kick smoking, you can kick overeating.

It's really not that simple for some people, unfortunately.  I wish it was.