h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I'm still here, still attempting to diet, still exercising a lot, and still getting fatter

I managed to get to a size 14 for a couple of weeks of the wedding an honeymoon by dint of pretty much stopping eating and exercising for three hours a day. Now that particular motivating factor has gone I'm eating a normal healthy diet, doing at least 45 minutes of vigorous exercise a day, allowing myself a drink at weekends and am piling pounds back on. I actually officially give up

Hello Lady Scott

Don't worry about ranting - I've seen some doozies in my time and that wasn't one of them.

In all honesty, my blood pressure is way too affected by my stress level. I'm not in a stressful job per se, but I work with some real primadonnas who can really lose it over nothing. Most of the time they're OK though, so for me it seems to be the not knowing what's going to happen that affects me. So I doubt that initially it was white coat syndrome, although now with that to deal with, I am getting stressed just thinking about going to see her.

Good that your daughter's BP is better - it would be dreadful to be that young and stuck on BP meds!
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Kelli, I noticed that you were on the folic acid. Congratulations (I'll say it again when something more happens)

I'm not sure you need to be so hard on yourself as you are. Having seen the wedding photos, I know which one of us was more flabby on our wedding day - you looked skinny! In any case, I'm sure your body will sort itself out once it figures out that it's not going to starve and you'll get a balance going. One theory of course is that you eat v healthily 6 days a week, and then binge somewhat the 7th, the idea being that this stops the body from thinking there's a faminie. It worked for me, but I'm not sure how much science is in that one.

Have either of you read either Paul Campos or Wendy Shanker? Obesity myth and Fat Girls' Guide to Life, I think their books are called.

cheers ismarah

Haven't read either book, but just found some excerpts online and read what I could.


There wasn't all that much of the Fat Girl's Guide online, but what I read was quite funny - almost a little too self-depricating though, at least in my opinion.



The Obesity Myth on the other hand - oh yeah, he's pretty much got that right, the US (and by association, probably true in the UK as well) seems to have one last acceptable prejudice, and that's fat people, primarily because it separates the rich thin people from the lower income fat people, and that we are absolutely obsessed with thinness in this country.

I was only able to access a couple chapters of his book, so I don't know if he goes into it or not, but the truth of the matter is that the richest, thinnest people can afford personal dieticians and chefs to prepare the kinds of foods that help them lose weight (or don't cause them to gain weight), they can afford personal trainers, and devote the number of hours needed daily to burn off any excess calories. If diet and exercise fail to bring the desired results, they can afford medical intervention (diet pills, gastric bypass, liposuction) to lose weight or stay thin. The poor person doesn't stand a chance against that, especially considering that the poorest nutritional quality food is also often the cheapest.



Kelli- just to refresh my memory, what sort of foods are you eating on your healthy diet? Low fat? low carb? Everything, just in Barbie doll-sized... oops... I mean "moderate" portions?

Also, one thing that they keep emphasizing to me at the gym is that building muscle burns significantly more calories/fat than just doing cardio training, because the number of calories you burn during cardio ends as soon as your cardio workout ends. However, increased muscle mass (from using the specific muscle targetting machines) causes your body to burn more calories than usual, even when you're at rest. The jury is still out on whether this is true or just their theory, but I'll let you all know what happens as I move along here.




By the way, my first two weeks at the gym, I lost about 2 lbs. (at least from the first time I weighed myself there - it may have been a little more... or less) I didn't go the day after I hit that weight, but I did go the next day, and had gained back the 2 lbs. The next day, I was down 2 ounces. Today, down the rest of that first pound. Tomorrow, who knows?

I know *THEY* say you shouldn't weigh yourself every day, but I find it gives me a better overall picture of how I did for the week. By weighing every day, I can see if I am indeed making progress, if for instance most of the week, my weight was down, and I'm probably just retaining fluid on a higher weight day.

Ahah! I haven't read either of them, but I've had them on my amazonian wish list for a while.

The other thing people need to take into consideration is that it is better to be overweight and healthy / fit, than thin and a couch potato. Seems like activity is the key, not weight.

So I swing from wanting Angelina Jolie's body (in all senses of the word pardon me) to just wanting to lose a stone or so, get rid of some flab and gain some tone. I have a fairly curvy figure, but that's always been me. Despite that I also usually have fairly good muscle definition which is even visible under the current flab. But something must be done. Pity it's me that has to do it

Maybe I need a gym buddy.

cheers ismarah

I've been having bad tummy trouble for more than a month now, so weight loss has been the least of my worries.

Tests have so far showed nothing, and I'm right now waiting for a gastroscopy(sp?) test.

I noticed myself that I reacted especially badly after a specific meal and, after analyzing the ingredients, I found clues that might point to me being sensitive for MSG (Mono Sodium Glutamate) which you'll find in practically any product involving seasoning.

One site mentioned MSG being one reason for obesity:
http://www.truthinlabeling.org/Obesity.html

The above site has a lot of interesting info about MSG in general - I'll try to stay away from it to see if it makes any difference to my tummy troubles...

>>The other thing people need to take into consideration is that it is better to be overweight and healthy / fit, than thin and a couch potato. Seems like activity is the key, not weight.<<


Yes, that's one of the things he was pointing out about the way the research has been interperted to paint having even a few extra pounds as the cause of all health problems, when the actual data points to the fact that overweight fit people live longer than thin inactive people.

Another of the things he pointed out is that just because there's a *correlation* between obesity and certain diseases (diabetes, cardivascular problems, etc) doesn't mean that the obesity causes those problems, and that the opposite *might* be true, that the medical problems might actually cause the obesity, since neither really happens overnight, it's just that weight gain is something that can be seen as it's beginning to happen, so it's blamed as the cause of a disease that "suddenly" occurs. He mentioned some kind of scientific/mathematical rules for determining cause and effect, and essentially said that coming to the conclusions they've come to is simply bad science (or bad/heavily skewed interpretation of data), because they're not following all the rules before jumping to the conclusion that being overweight will kill you.

All the while, he still wasn't promoting being seriously obese (morbidly obese) as somehow being healthy. (at least not in the parts of the book I was able to read online) His point was more that our obsession with thinness these days has gone waaay too far, such that we don't even know what "normal" looks like these days, so when we see a normal body size, we think of it as being horribly fat, even if the person is very fit.



Titania - Sorry about your tummy troubles, hope that cutting out the MSG helps get things back on an even keel. Acidophilus or other gut freindly bacteria capsules (or yogurt containing such friendly bacteria) can sometimes help clear up any lingering digestive problems after a bout like that.

That page was very interesting. I'd heard many times before that MSG is added to food to perk up the flavor, and in so doing, makes you want more of it, which leads to overeating, which in turn (eventually) leads to obesity. I've heard of MSG referred to as an "excito-toxin" - dangerous for your body, but excites the taste buds, making you want more. This is the first time I've heard of it being related to brain lesions that cause obesity.

Since so many of my generation were formula fed as infants, one would think that the only people who would have managed to avoid obesity as adults would be those who were breastfed by mothers who ate no processed or soy foods. My brother (who tends to be heavy, but not nearly as bad as I am) was breast fed for 4 months before being switched to formula. I was totally formula fed, using a cow's milk formula - which back in those days, the mother had to mix her own according to a recipe the doctor would give her. It used canned cow's milk, corn syrup, vegetable oil, and perhaps some liquid vitamins. My sister (the only one in the family who doesn't have a weight problem) had allergy problems with cow's milk formulas, so she was fed a soy formula. By that time, baby formulas were available pre-made, so it's hard to tell what else might have been in it.

Our family weight profile doesn't fit the profile presented by that article at all, so apparently it doesn't hold true in every instance, unless of course the obesity link is more related to if you've had the MSG pre-natally. It would be hard to pinpoint what was in the food Mom ate back in those days, since manufacturers weren't even required to list the ingredients on the labels, although we lived on a farm, so much of what we ate was home grown.

Soy products contain MSG naturally - which is probably why soy formula has higher levels of it than regular formula. When a Chinese restaurant tells you that they don't use any MSG in the food they serve, they mean they don't prepare anything with additional MSG added to it, but any dish with soy products in it (soy sause is used in most dishes served at Chinese restaurants in this country) will still have some MSG in them because of the naturally occuring MSG in soy sauce. Perhaps the reason that people with MSG sensitivities don't have a reaction eating the MSG free Chinese food is that it's naturally occuring in the soy sauce, and perhaps a slightly different chemical composition which doesn't cause the brain lesions. Or perhaps it's just that what we know of as MSG as a seasoning is just so incredibly concentrated compared to what naturally occurs in soy products.

*enters the empty room with great fanfare*

After approximately 2 months at the gym, I have good news to report:

Somewhere along the way, I seem to have misplaced 7 whole pounds!


I have to admit that I don't follow the rules of only weighing in once a week.

I weigh every single day that I'm there, for several reasons.

One reason is that I've noticed fluctuations of as much as *4 pounds* from one day to the next. By weighing every day though, I can see if there's an overall downward trend (or stagnation, or worse, an overall upward trend), by noting what the lowest weight I last saw happened to be. If I only weighed once a week, and one week my weigh-in day happened to be on my "lightest" day, and the next week that day happened to be my "heaviest" day... well, I'm sure you can all understand the disappointment and frustration that causes, which is at least part of what leads to giving up on trying to lose weight. (And I"m determined this time to at least get down to a somewhat more reasonable weight, so I'm doing absolutely everything I can to make it more likely I'll keep up with it.)

I can also take note of days when I weigh more, and try to determine if anything I had to eat the day before might have caused me to retain more fluid than usual. I can usually notice the signs of fluid retention anyway, when my socks leave lasting lines on my ankles, and that sort of thing, so it's usually not a great surprise when I find myself a couple pounds heavier than the previous day.

I also consider weighing every day to be a way of discovering any beginning eating problems before they get out of hand and become a difficult to shake habit.

I should note that weighing in every day is what works for me. I'm determined to get down to a more reasonable weight this time, and *stay* there, so I've got to do what's working for me, even if it doesn't follow the widely accepted "rules" for losing weight.

As far as what I'm eating and doing at the gym these days... I guess I'll go post that on the "Today I have been..." thread.

Well done Lady Scott!

I'm quite glad this thread has popped back up again.. I'm at my heaviest ever, but am leaving my current job (I think my misery there has been partially to blame for weight gain), and trying to get a more physical day time job - it may help!

kelli - as ever, I whole-heartedly empathise with your struggles. All I want is to be able to eat a normal 3 meals a day, without gaining a stone a month from doing so!

Well, sounds like there will be a few of us around this thread again - guess it's the time of year for it.

Bleh. I am at my heaviest ever - weighed in on Thursday at 88.4 kgs which I find absolutely massive for someone who is 160cm. So, having read something that kind of made me 'get' the whole a day at a time thing, I've been exercising. As a starting point, I"m doing about 15 minutes on the elliptical daily and doing some crunches, a bit of weight training and so on. I've managed every day but one since the 31st of December. Not much, just a little something every day.

I'm still hesitant to change my diet dramatically - portions should be smaller, not to mention the chocs. Thing is I had IBS for years and having got rid of that along with most red meat and a few other bits and pieces, I now seem to have acquired a food allergy instead. So there will be no more snacking on fruit or having a smoothie for me.

Anyway, Queeglesproggit, how did your job go?
Lady Scott - are you still at the gym?

Scuse me 'ladies'* for pretending I have friends and nosing...

*I put the 'ladies' in quotes as I'm not sure if all the people here are ladies, although I think it's likely.

Happy new year everyone, though, I really mean that.

cheers ismarah

Happy New Year to you too, Ismarah!

(And a Happy New Year to anyone else who comes by, too!)

Yes, I'm still at the gym.

Except this week, since I have a rather nasty cold. Kinda hard to swim when you can't breathe properly.

I really miss my workout - it's been over a week since I've been there! I need my swim!

I could of course just go and use the machines instead of swimming, but I get so overheated using those things that I *need* a swim in the relatively cool pool afterwards, just to keep from feeling like I'm going to spontaneously combust. So I'll just wait it out and hopefully my head will be cleared out enough to be back at it on Monday.

The weight loss is going well - down a good bit since the last time I posted, but I'll have to figure out when that was and how much I've lost since then before posting it. I still have a long, long way to go though.

I have no idea what your stats mean Ismarah - we don't do cm and kg very well in the US. I suppose I could look them up, but I suspect what I'd find is that I'm still shorter and weigh more than you do, so I'd prefer blissful ignorance of what you consider to be massive.

Keep up the exercise - you'll eventually get to the point where you enjoy it. I've *really* missed my exercise the past week! I even hated cutting back to doing an abbreviated "swim only" exercise session, while I was so busy during the last few weeks before Christmas.

As far as diet is concerned, low carb is what I feel best on. Basically that just means no sugars or starches, not platefuls of bacon and butter like most people think! I do count carbs, and eat a good portion of protein, but I consume a good many green veggies on a daily basis, too.

Everyone needs to determine what kind of eating plan works best for them and makes them feel best though. I think low carb is the best way to go, but if what you feel good on is low-fat, calorie controlled, or smaller portions, then go for it.

The most important thing is to find an eating plan that you can live with for the rest of your life, because the problem with going on a "diet" is that as soon as you finish losing the weight and decide to go back to your old way of eating, the weight is going to pile back on again. It won't do that if you first find an eating plan that you enjoy and feel good on, then stick with it forever.

So to start out, if you're going to try (say for instance) low fat, do some research and decide exactly which low fat program you're going to use, read the book about that particular diet and then follow it to the letter. If you're going to change things around from what the actual diet entails (some elements from diet "A" and some from diet "B", with a few thrown in from diet "C"), you're following a different way of eating - and doing that just might not work at all.

This doesn't mean you can't tweak a diet to suit you better, at least as an experiment, but that's something you do *after* you've lost a good bit of weight, to see if cutting back on this a little bit, or substituting that might make you feel better or result in faster weight loss.

Ok, for the imperials among you, it's 5'4 and 195lbs... You can do the stone yourselves..

Today my exercise consists of housework and tomorrow it will consist of a 90 minute walk with the dog.

cheersismarah

Well, I'm still coming back to this thread.

I've yo-yoed up and down in the last year.
Started it off at 195 lbs then had put some more on by June! Not exactly good for a 'dieting' person.

But now i've started cutting out all the snacky bits and the extras and eating more salads and actually 'dieting' 6 days a week, with a free day once a week. I'm still moving and running and walking the dog and so on, and can proudly report that I have lost all the weight I put on and maybe a bit more. This is since June - for some reason I always lose weight on holiday in the States.

Weighed in this morning at 87.6kg, whereas was 90.1 last time I weighed and the time before that at 92.2.

it turns out also that the BP issue may be an actual issue. Despite my strenous denials (very nice river) it appears to hover around the 140/100 mark. Which is kind of 140 is not great, but it's the 100 that is the problem. So i'm off to Drs tomorrow to discover the exciting world of medication.

don't feel to bleh about it at the moment. too excited by losing weight!

ismarah

I ended 2007 weighing 12 stone 4lb, the same weight as at the start of 2007. I'm now 12 stone 2lb, so cutting out 'naughties' seems to have helped. When the weather brightens a bit, I'll try to get some exercise too!