I need to take a grip of my life and get healthy and focused.

[Sundancerintherain]

So, like many people I have been just existing rather than living for the past 18 months. Too much screen time, far too little exercise, not very good eating habits. I have 5 weeks off work coming up due to shift change so I've decided now is the time to do something about it. I'm early 50's, adult DC, overweight by about 2stone. I've been sort of following slimming world ish eating plan for this last week.
Any suggestions or anyone want to keep me company? 😀

I need to do something too. I haven’t noticeably put on weight, as I’m generally very active (horses), but I definitely need to tone up, cut down on the wine and eat healthier

And I’m so lacking in energy. I think it’s partly stress (work stuff mostly), but the nightly wine and eating too many carbs aren’t helping

My main issue is sticking to whatever it is, I have the self control of the average Labrador

I’m away on hols next week, so don’t want to do anything too drastic before then, but I’d like to vaguely stick to 16:8, as that suits me

I was already planning a Joe Wicks recipe for tonight, so that can be step one!

Good luck everyone

@Sundancerintherain

So, like many people I have been just existing rather than living for the past 18 months. Too much screen time, far too little exercise, not very good eating habits. I have 5 weeks off work coming up due to shift change so I've decided now is the time to do something about it. I'm early 50's, adult DC, overweight by about 2stone. I've been sort of following slimming world ish eating plan for this last week. Any suggestions or anyone want to keep me company? 😀

I always see the life changing stuff happening when a client finds exercise that they love. While it's amazing if you can lose weight by dieting (& you can, very effectively) you need exercise for the dopamine, serotonin, all the happy hormones that make your mental health so much better, make you feel more alive, focused, happy, accomplished after a workout, etc, and which ultimately keeps weight off longer as you'll be leaner and your lifestyle will have changed.

If you go down the exercise path it can be the gym if.you like, or there are so many home exercise apps and websites now, or a long jog out in the park...an exercise bike and couple of dumbbells in your front room can work magic too. The time you've specified, you can really get results.

If you do follow a diet I'd just recommend vitamin and mineral supplement and a probiotic alongside it too.

Oh and my partner has just signed up with Noom, so it’ll be interesting to see how he gets on with that
He really struggles to stick at plans too

@321zyx

I'm 58 and have lost just under 2 stone since mid April with no calorie counting (and still drinking wine!). Having been stuck in a rut for years at the same weight I was given the proverbial 'kick up the bum' when a blood test for a chest infection showed I'd slipped into the pre-diabetic range. I have embraced 3 things:

1. Adopted my version of 16:8 'fasting' - in short I don't eat between dinner and lunch the next day. I do however drink many mugs of tea with milk in the morning so not a true fast.
2. I have dropped as many carbs as I can, I don't always achieve it but it's much easier than I thought.
3. I've tried to avoid processed food, no bacon, sausage, pastry etc.I have embraced 'good fat' salmon, roast veg, avocado's, eggs etc

I do this. I'm strict about carbs as well ie none and no sugar

Have lost almost a stone since beginning of June

I'm 55

@plasticorchid last night I started listening to the lovely Van Tulleken brothers podcast you mentioned. Really interesting! They are so honest too.

Excellent thread, I will join you. Also feel like I have just been existing these past 18 months. The stress of work/home schooling has aged me! I am re-stating swimming this week and watching what I eat. Also need to cut down on screen time!

Good morning everyone.
I actually work away from home so I'm travelling now, but have managed a short walk on waking up instead of a sugary coffee .
I'm very much an emotional eater, especially bad if I'm bored. I need to up both exercise and general activities. I have a large dog so for the next 5 weeks I am taking over his daily walks. Swimming will be easy to do - I live in a hot climate and I'm only 20 mins from the beach and also a large pool.
Anyone else feel like they have known for years in theory how to do this ? I have exercise mats, hand weights & a bike all gathering dust..........until today !
Please keep updating everyone.

Can I join? I've gained about a stone and a half in lockdown (was already overweight). I need to lose about 3 in total. I have recently taken up couch25k and am doing intermittent fasting. I usually drink far too much so have stopped that too. It would be really lovely to have somewhere to be accountable

I have a big birthday coming up near Christmas so would love to be a couple of stone down by then. I also need to do it for my mental health as I'm prone to depression.

Plan:
Keep up couch25k
Walk at least 7000 steps on days in between
Stick to 16:8

I'm trying to est intuitively e.g. I had bacon and toast this morning after porridge, but I will have soup and salap later, fruit for snacks and a piece of fish with mediterranean veg for dinner with a small amount of brown rice.

My period is due imminently and I was quite antsy yesterday so I don't mind increasing carb to avoid blood sugar swings.

I agree with cutting down internet. My main one is looking at properties. I'm not planning to move at the moment but I think I have looked at every property in my budget in a 150mile radius. I also spend too long on mumsnet. I think I will try and have early nights instead then see how I feel.

I’d like to join. I generally eat healthy meals most of the time but top it up with too much snacking on crap.
I’m also addicted to my phone and I think it’s making me groggy and unfocused.

My plan is
Do 16:8 fasting
Cut out snacking
Exercise once a day on my own and once with dc (bike ride, walk)
Read instead of going on phone
Get stuff done.

You are my people! I'd love to get involved, I'm trying to lose 5-10lbs as well as up my daily movement, water intake, all of it....! Bloody lockdown

I'm aiming to do yoga (YWA) 4 mornings a week, eat sensibly, and like others have mentioned, less time on my phone. They're so addictive and I don't have the energy for anything else, it's so frustrating.

Good morning all. Well after a slow start on travelling home day I managed to get in 14000 steps yesterday , including a 2 hour walk. I'm especially happy with this as I live in Spain and we are suffering a heatwave here atm, so it was a very early start to beat the heat.
Food wise I got home to find that DH had got me some " treats" in, so I've put them out of the way & I'm off to the market & supermarket today to stock up on fresh fruit & veg and lean meat & fish.
The mini digital detox was partially successful, the DC were messaging about an impending visit so I had to answer
How is everyone else doing ?

I relate to so much of this.

Work full time in stress job, no energy, too much time on phone, no discipline, 2 st overweight. Sluggish, looking old, feeling shite.

I would love to fit more (well any tbh) exercise in. Early mornings are the only time, but I go to bed late then can’t get up.

I had good intentions after getting back from a holiday to get up early, exercise, eat better but am currently worse than ever. I love the lack of structure that the school holidays bring in one sense, but in another without it I struggle a bit.

Bit fed up of all my thought patterns tbh but can’t seem to break out of them.

So…. Signing in for inspiration, tips and motivation….

Update from me:

My Peloton has arrived! I’ve done a bike class and resistance band class already. 💪 Feeling much more positive today.

On the downside, London Hormone clinic (menopause specialist ) has no appointments until November 😩 off to try somewhere else…

Good morning all - how are we getting on ?
Slow start for me , partially due to the heatwave ( I live in Spain). So have mainly been hiding in the aircon apart from my morning walk. Heat has eased off now so off to the pool today.
Food wise I have started eating a healthy breakfast and increased massively my intake of fruit and veg. Also now have no biscuits, cake or crisps in the house.
I have started listening to the podcast recommended by @PlasticOrchid , very very interesting.

I'm still not off screens as much as I was aiming for and I haven't started crocheting or language studies again but I am hoping to over the next week.

Morning @Sundancerintherain !

Loving the Peloton so far! Working through the beginners program and have added a strength class to each bike workout which I’d never have done previously. I’ve also Worked out daily calories using the TDEE calculator recommended by the jason manford weightloss group to work out what calories I need to create a deficit over a week to lose weight. Hadn’t really appreciated/wilfully ignored how many less calories are required to lose 1lb of fat. 3500!! Have set up a daily spreadsheet to log weight and calorie consumption to create a deficit of at least 3500 over the week. Feel quite positive right now! Also reduced crisps etc in the house and gonna do AF mon-Thursday. Sleep still an issue but I’m gonna get in a routine first to try and sort this before hitting HRT.

[quote PlasticOrchid]I feel the same. I found listening to this really helpful: pod.link/chrisxand[/quote]
@PlasticOrchid I listened to the whole series and have found it incredibly motivating! I can't thank you enough for sharing it.

If anyone else is interested- Dr Chris and Dr Xand of operation ouch and BBC fame (I love Xand. I would do really rude things with him ) talk about UPF (Ultra Processed Foods) and the impact on the human body and wider environment. It's truly an eye opener. I feel so cross that I have been duped by the food industry for so long and that actually, my lack of success in losing weight might be more to do with the addictive nature of the foods so widely available in the western diet than me being utter shit. Which is what I've always thought.

I've decided to stop having processed stuff as far as possible in our diets. I've also been wanting for ages to experiment with more vegan/veggie/at least locally organic and local meat (where we do have it) options and this was really the push I needed to make it happen.

This week I have not limited myself at all in the amount I'm eating but have cut out almost all processed stuff. I've lost a bit of weight and intellectually I feel so much better. Not sure if there are any physical changes (apart from 4lbs lost!) but it feels so nice to be doing something.

I've also been low-key worrying about climate change and food miles and this ticks the box too.

Small steps. But it feels so nice to have taken it.