To think this is quite enlightening re fitness/weight loss

@Sundaymondaytuesdayetc "fat lazy northerners" were your offensive words, NOT mine. As a northerner, I find your use of language offensive, actually.

I go out a fair bit and was busy every weekend in September. I gained weight.

Why should I be singled out to back up my comment with scientific research, no one else on the thread is? Just because you have a chip on your shoulder?

I could find a map to support it because that'd where I learned this but I have better things to do.

I just take issue with the blanket assertion the poster made which implies everyone in London is slimmer than everywhere else in the UK.

I made no such assertion. You are obviously sensitive about this issue which has influenced your interpretation but if you look again, I said none of the things which you are incorrectly accusing me of.

You say it's a fact. Is this assertion based on scientific research?

Well of course you are right that well off people are generally slimmer and have the opportunity to eat healthier diets and the opportunity to exercise.
But most cities, and a lot of towns, in the UK have affluent areas.
Most cities in the UK have people who are scooting around with a hectic life style and , God forbid, actually walk around a lot.
And there are actually slim people outside London.

I just take issue with the blanket assertion the poster made which implies everyone in London is slimmer than everywhere else in the UK.
It really feeds into the perception a lot of people have about the superior, London centric attitude a lot of Londoners have about the rest of the country.

What a ridiculous response. I said nothing about northerners, that has come entirely from you. Nor was it a jibe, it's simply a fact that Londoners are slimmer.

Going new places uses more energy. As people get older they tend to get stuck in the same routine.

As someone with a chronic illness- socialising and being out and about is exhausting!

The brain uses loads of energy, apparently. So a quiet life is much less fatiguing and uses fewer calories than a challenging life!

I dial down animation, avoid excitement, just potter quietly at home. That is sustainable for me. Going out, being anxious about socialising, socialising, wondering where my mate went or whether we’ll make that table booking in time, all that stuff you do ‘outside’ uses energy.

I think it's known as NEAT which is the nifty acronym for Non-Exercise Activity Time in the fitness world

Well off people are slimmer on average. Areas with high poverty in the UK have more fat people. So if commenter is hanging about places like Chelsea and then travels to Bradford, she will see more slimmer people in London.

On average 15% of your daily movement is exercise, the rest is just moving around. So how much you move around daily matters a lot.

💯

I go into the office every day now and noticed huge difference in how much better my fitness levels are and also in terms of losing weight.

Recently my coworkers have had to come in everyday and they have been commenting how tired they are as they used to the commute.. more like not used to moving as much.

I also agree with you on this. If i know I'm going to a gig and dancing for 4hrs I won't eat a huge meal cos it's uncomfortable to move. Same on holiday.,.if I am going to be on a small hike round a national park I won't eat heavy food, end up with small snacks. So I eat less but move more so back to calories in vs out. If if those calories in aren't healthy ones it's still burned off

Trying to work out whether this is a tongue in cheek remark or an unpleasant jibe at fat lazy northerners.

I hope you will get out socialising again OP, hopefully this has taught you you don't need to miss out 😊

Definitely agree. I’m home a lot , I wear a Fitbit. I have started dancing whilst doing house work. Stepping side to side whilst cooking.

I agree. I gained a lot of weight on the depo injection. It increased my appetite and I gained weight because I was eating more. I swapped to something else but it took several months for the effects to wear off. Thankfully, I am now rapidly dropping back to my pre depo size.

OP - perhaps you should get yourself a Fitbit, but take if off for your “official” exercise, so you can see what your base movement levels are.

I am overweight and I 100% agree that overall movement is important, even more so as women who are getting older.

As long as I can remember, I have tended to lose a little weight on holidays. I have PCOS so I'm fully aware that I'm also insulin resistant by nature, which makes a huge difference, but I think the fact that we're not really "lie on a beach for 2 weeks" people vs sitting at my desk or on the couch the rest of the time make a big difference to me.

This has been even more noticeable as I got older and I guess metabolism is slowing down, peri etc.

Medical issues which contribute to weight gain are ones which slow the metabolism, so unfortuantely you have to eat around that

Same as when people say medication puts weight on, well some medications make you crave food and overeat, I had this with antidepressants, but again I was eating in excess of my needs, it wasn the medication per se

What other factors affect it? Some medical issues can contribute to weight gain, yes, but generally if you're eating 1800 calories a day and burning 2000 then you're going to lose weight.

It's almost always a case of calories in v calories out = weight loss.

If you are generally very inactive (aside from specifically exercising) then this will mean you are burning fewer calories. WFH is terrible for this - going to the office (for me anyway, given I work in London) means a lot of walking.

I run about 20 miles a week plus the occasional half marathon, and I'm definitely not skinny!

Oh absolutely, what you eat is by far the biggest component. I was doing three sessions a week with my PT (1 hour weights per session), 8-10k steps every day and 3 half hour cardio sessions a week. However I was still putting on weight due to the fact that I was still eating utter rubbish, combined with a nightly snack of a family sized pack of crisps and bar of chocolate.

Now, I calorie count (2000 calories a day which is still a lot but way less than my 3000+) and my weekly 3 PT sessions, 3 x 30 mins cardio and 10k steps daily and the weight is slowly but surely dropping off.