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

18th September 1999
I once read that if you are planning to do something like give up smoking or go on a diet, you should tell all your friends about it. The fact that everyone knows that you're doing it will encourage you to keep at it. Either that or all your friends will do everything they can to stop you (like always offering you cigarettes).

Well, this is to tell all my H2G2 friends that I'm going on a diet and exercise regime. I'm not telling you my target weight or dress size; I'm too ashamed of what I weigh now. What I will say is that I'm aiming to lose 50lbs by this time next year. It may not sound much, but it's 3 stone and 8 pounds of fat that's got to go in 12 months. I want to be able to fit into my wedding dress in time for my 10th anniversary.

Please send messages of encouragement and I'll keep you informed of my progress.
 
 

It's been two weeks, have some encouragement

It can be done...my wife has lost 50 pounds in the year since we met...on sheer willpower...well, moving out to a farm and getting more active helped too

Actually, I've been on the diet for around three weeks. Thanks for the encouragement. Yes, getting more active does help. I've lost 3 pounds so far, and I reckon that it's mostly the increased exercise that does it.

Hi there CD,
How has the diet gone over the past month? Hope you're still successfully shedding the excess pounds!
It's quite a coincidence, really. I sometimes have a look at that who's-online-now window that you get on the front page, and just randomly visit a homepage I haven't seen before. It happened to be yours this morning, and it turned out that seven weeks ago you'd written a Journal Entry similar to one I wrote yesterday. Great minds, small world, etc!
Like you, I thought that publicly declaring myself to be larger than I'd like to be would be a good first step towards doing something about it. I hope it has worked for you and that it will work for me!

Unfortunately my weight seems to have stuck - either that or my bathroom scales have broken. I'm having trouble getting past the '4 pounds gone, 46 to go' stage. Mind you, over the past couple of weeks I've had trouble sticking to my exercise regime - too many meetings that stretch into my lunch hour, which is when I normally exercise.

At the moment, exercise consists of a brisk walk (average speed 3.5mph approx) for half-an-hour at lunch-time. I'm hoping to gradually increase that to 4mph as I get fitter and lighter. As the effect of that on my weight seems to have declined, I'll be starting a similar walk when I get home in the evenings from Monday next week. I also plan to start doing at least half-an-hour of aerobics, three times a week if not more often.

Plus the fact that Richard (my husband) and I are going to get new bikes soon (New Year at the latest). I'll bludgeon that flab into submission, if I have to!

How did it go / is it going? Did you get the bikes? Well, until later....
BCNU - Crescent

It's not going brilliantly; I've lost 16lbs, which is at least 20 less than I was hoping for. Highly variable working conditions have made it almost impossible to stick to any kind of exercise regime, although I am watching what I eat. (It falls off the fork, otherwise!)

We have got the bikes now, but they took longer to arrive than anticipated. Because they're a new model (Specialized's 'Crossroad Sport' hybrid bikes) they were'nt available immediately. Expected delivery was end of February. We eventually got them in April, 2 months late. The other problem is that cycling has proved how totally unfit I have become.

I have done one thing to improve my fitness and get more exercise. I've taken up line-dancing. I only go once a week for 2 hours at the moment, but I try to fit some in when I'm at home. It's great fun. I'm also trying to fit in a half-hour walk at lunchtime.

I have just started exercising again (squash and resistance training - feel those stiff muscles - I would like to cycle to work, but no shower at work - tho' they are thinking of it. Also the cycle lanes here (tho' new) are severely shite - just a white line painted on the road - no where near safe enough Well, enough for now....

I'd love to cycle to work, too, but there are a number of problems:

1) Distance. It's at least 12 miles each way at the moment, and I'm just not up to it.
2) Roads. No matter which route I look at, I have to contend with dual-carriageways and 70mph+ traffic at some stage. No thank you! (Redditch was 're-modelled' with cars in mind, not pedestrians or cyclists. We don't have any cycle lanes and only a few paths in a couple of parks.)
3) Fitness. Even if it was only a few miles, I'm just not fit enough to cycle yet. I'm getting better, though.

On the subject of exercise, I understood that you 'get fit to play squash', not 'play squash to get fit'. Or are you already quite fit?

Hmmm, I have never thought about it. I do not know, tho' well over weight (starting to hit 19 stone I walk to work each morning (well walk to the train station, and then to work) - which is about 30 mins (20 mins if you storm it). Last year I walked the last half of The West Highland Way, climbed Loch Na Gar and Ben Nevis (and written articles about them But fit? After half an hour on the squash court, I am dying. Sweat lashing off, heaving gasps for breath, wobbly knees, blood pounding. Not fit by a long way - very little aerobic capacity Maybe within the next half a year I will be better Until later...
BCNU - Crescent

Dear Cheerful Dragon--
Hopefully all is going well for you! Being a dancer, I frequently end up on diets as well, but I found something out--dieting is MUCH easier when you don't allow yourself any dessert rather than when you allow yourself "just one". "Just one" often became "just one more" because its hard to say how much one serving of ice cream or whoppers or gummi worms is. However, when I gave up junk food during Lent, the first week or so was really hard--i was having sugar withdrawal! So my latest idea, which has been working for a while, is that I allow myself two days during the week when I can have as much junk food as I want without any guilt, but the rest of the week I don't let myself have any at all.
As for fitness, I have A LOT of trouble with cardiovascular endurance, so I try to do something quick right before bed--like I'dd do jumping jacks until I get out of breath, and I've moved up from 30 to almost 70 now beofer I'm really panting! Also, swimming is good because you don't get all sweaty and there isnt as much impact, but that takes a lot of time. Another key for me is doing the same thing every night--that way I can do it without thinking! However, for some people, it becomes boring and they want to stop.
Good luck and hopefully I was more helpful than boring!

I use walking as my main form of exercise for a number of reasons. 1) You don't need any special equipment. 2) You don't have to make any special visits to do it (e.g., to a gym, sports centre, swimming pool). 3) If you walk briskly enough it's good for the cardio-vascular system.

Cycling and line-dancing also help the cardio-vascular system, but I'm too unfit to cycle much at the moment. As for giving up junk foods, we don't have that much. I have given up Pringles and I'm going to give up the low-fat cake bars we've been having. Snag is, if it's in the house I'll eat it, so I'll have to get Richard to give them up too. I'm planning to train myself to munch on a carrot if I feel like snacking.

The idea of a day or two when you allow yourself to eat junk food is a good one. A lot of people give up on their diet because they had a piece of cake on one day. I don't count calories, but I average out what I've eaten over a week. This allows me a bacon sandwich for breakfast at the weekend, or an occasional piece of cake.

As for exercise before I go to bed, I'm the kind of person that finds that hard to do. It's easier for me to do half an hour of aerobics when I get up in the morning than to exercise when I get home from work. All I want to do then is relax. I guess it's a question of will-power and self-discipline, which are in short supply round here.

Ok, I thought I replied to this already, but I don't see it posted, so I'll try again!
Gum has been my saving grace during my diet months--mostly cinnamon, but sometimes if I'm in the mood for dessert, bubble gum (which comes in flavors like cotton candy, watermelon, lemonade, etc.) is always fun! Also, fruit (which has fructose, a form of sugar--always a good thing!) is much more appealing to me than veggies are.
Walking is good for most people, because, as you said, you can do it anywhere--even up the stairs instead of taking an elevator! However, is really bores me. And I personally have to do anything physical at night, because I usually do it following dance as sort of a "cool down" from dance class. (I am definitely NOT a morning person! )
Keep me posted on your progress! As the daughter of a dietitian, I think you're doing a lot better than most people who try to diet!

The last time I really got my weight down, I was walking between 6 and 8 miles a day. Yes, it can be boring and yes, there were times I wished I had a car (I couldn't drive at the time). But I also found it relaxing. My mind could wander over any unfinished business or unsolved problems of the day, or I could just day-dream - but not while crossing roads, of course!

6 to 8 miles--that's a whole lot! You must not have had time for much else, or you walked very quickly!
Maybe it would be worth it to have the car break again...

The walk from 'home' to the station took about half-an-hour, the train journey took 20 - 30 minutes and the walk from the station to work took about 25 minutes. I do walk pretty briskly, which is why I reckon the distance at about 6 - 8 miles (my average walking pace is 3 - 4mph, usually about 3.5). So the journey each way took around 1.5 hours. I had to set out fairly early in the morning. I was living alone at the time (my boyfriend, now my husband, lived about 100 miles away) and I didn't have much of a social life (not that I minded, 'cos my hobbies are mostly home-based), so it didnt' matter that it took me a long time to get home in the evenings. The worst part was when I had to carry heavy bags of shopping home!

P.S. I would hate to have the car break down right now. It's over 12 miles to work, and it would take me at least 3 hours to get there. Even allowing for flexitime, I would have to leave before 6am and I wouldnt get home until about 9pm (unless my husband picked me up). No thank you!

Yeah, I could see how a loss of your car could be a problem...
I still am very impressed by walking that fast--I don't know, it might be all the stuff I have to carry, but I only make about 2.5 mph.
Don't you wish that restaurants would give the nutritional information out on the menu? I'm sure I could get it if I asked, but I'd like to be able to glance and find out how bad my favorite dish really is for me!
I found out something recently that was very nice to hear. According to this aerobics video, every pount of muscle in your body burns 40 calories a day just to maintain itself.
And on that note, off to the gym!

Unfortunately, not every pound of your body weight is muscle. I'm still just over 12 stone and a good chunk of that (over 2.5 stone by my reckoning) is fat. I know that muscle burns more calories than fat, but I've got a long way to go yet. I once read that, on average, your body requires 14 calories per pound just to stay alive. That covers muscle, fat, bone, whatever. You should be able to use this to calculate how many calories your body needs for its current weight and how many it needs for its 'ideal' weight. Subtract the first from the second and that's how many calories you have to cut back / exercise off each day. Well, that's the theory anyway!

That's the most useful bit of information I've read for weeks. Thank you. I reckon I'm about four stone more than I should be, so send you my very best wishes to keep at it. My main problem is that being diabetic I keep the odd bar of chocolate around. Alas I eat it when I don't have a sugar low, which not only keeps the weight on but also puts the blood glucose up.