to think eat less, move more isn't as simple as it sounds

[starshaker]

People say to lose weight you need to use more calories than you eat. This is obvious. However metabolism plays a big part too. How do you know how much calories you actually burn so you can work out how many to eat? Ive never been slim and yes, i probably need to exercise more but i have so much other stuff going on that getting the chance to isnt that simple.

So AIBU in thinking that its not as simple as what people say

[TheFallenNinja]

People don't exercise because its hard and they don't eat less because food is nice.

Portion control was the single biggest control I put in place and I lost a lot of weight over a medium amount of time. Fortunately, smaller portions are now my habit so it has stayed off for a couple of years now.

I'm lucky though as I love exercise

[EuroShagmore]

Walking is beneficial exercise. Colin Firth as Mr Darcy in P&P says so, so it must be true.

My mum was slim all her life until she hit about 50 and was laid up after surgery. She never did any "proper" exercise - no running, occasional lady breaststroke (head above the water), no cycling, never been inside a gym. But she doesn't drive and used to walk everywhere. Unfortunately just before her surgery, my parents moved to the bottom of a big hill, with the shops at the top. It was too much for her, post-surgery. My dad now drives her there. She can't lose the weight. I bet she would if she started walking again. After all, it worked for 30 years! I'm also a big fan of walking. For me, it is the default mode of transport for anything up to about a mile and a half. I do other stuff too, but walking really helps to keep the joints moving and burns a couple of hundred calories a day.

BTW, 200 cals a day is 73000 a year, or 21 pounds of weight - that's a stone and a half a year of losing weight, or a decent amount of extra food for those maintaining their weight.

[Purple2012]

I like doing exercise now but I never used to.

I eat 1200 cals or less a day. I dont feel hungry. I have fruit and yoghurt for breakfast. A roll and low far crisps for lunch and tea varies. I snack on fruit or carrot and cucumber during the day.

I plan my food for each day and write it down so I can keep track of what I am eating. I have lost over a stone and a half.

Years ago I lost nearly 5 stone doing this and exercising but put a lot back on after an injury stopped me exercising.

I have recently bought the wii biggest loser game. It's great. It schedules my work outs I'm too afraid to not do it in case they tell me off . On the days I don't have that scheduled I run on my treadmill/use my cross trainer. The weight loss varies. Last week I lost 1.8 lb, this week over 6 lb

I have had a day off calorie counting today. I haven't gone mad but I have eaten more bread and potatoes than I usually do and I feel bloated. So tomorrow back to normal.

[JustAHolyFool]

Euro I'm a total walking advocate. I've never learnt to drive, which some people can't believe but I just don't NEED to drive. It's really forced me to have to do a LOT of walking sometimes. I used to walk home 4 days out of 5 from central London to E2, a good hour and a half. People couldn't believe it, but I was skint and I enjoyed it. At the end of the day, people used to do that sort of length of walk day in day out.

I always have to lift heavy shopping home which has to be a good workout. I always have to walk at least to a bus stop. Even going on the tube means you are running up and down stairs. I can't imagine not walking places and I think if I had a car I'd be really tempted to just pop to the supermarket in it and I'd lose all that exercise.

[SnoogyWoo]

It really is simple. Get a cross trainer and do 20 minutes 5 times a week. You will lose weight and get fitter. You do not have to leave the house and you can listen to music or watch the TV while you do it. Build it into your daily routine and you are sorted.

[Lonelybunny]

I walk as much as I can , I have 3 kids I work and am really busy , my youngest is 5 months. I tell
Myself I have to walk at least 2 miles a day but usually walk about 3 , I just need to stop stuffing big plate fulls

[TalkinPeace2]

Back in Mr Darcy's day, houses were heated by fireplaces - if you could afford it.
Winter house temperatures were around 15-16 degrees C and as low as 10 degrees at night.
I keep my house at 18, down to 14 (because of insulation)
a warmer house makes you burn less calories.
Many people keep their houses at over 20 degrees all the time

In Mr Darcy's day, most people only ate one solid meal at the end of the day.
Even the rich only had one large and two small meals a day, and a wine glass held 75 cl, as against the 250 cl in a modern glass.

In 1970, the waistband of a pair of size ten jeans was 26 inches
in 2010 the waistband of a pair of size ten jeans was 29.5 inches

[fuckadoodlepoopoo]

I saw some footage from the hillsborough disaster recently and it really stood out how slim the spectators on the pitch were. It surprised me.

[JustAHolyFool]

Really fuck ? That's what you noticed? Bit tasteless to bring that up tbh.

[fuckadoodlepoopoo]

Yes i suppose it might be. All i was saying was that it was footage from a while ago, although not that long ago, but the difference was that obvious that it stood out despite the terrible devastating event that it was. Strange thing to notice perhaps? But i did anyway so it must have been obvious.

I actually posted it on the wrong thread! Although similar subject.

But you can see the point i was making it, if you choose to be offended, which you clearly are then why don't you report it Knock yourself out.

[wonders at all the other things and times in history we are not allowed to mention]

[amimagic]

Everyone who's pontificating, saying do this and you WILL lose weight, can i ask how many of you have actually been overweight and lost it?

If you've always been thin due to your magic eating less and moving more, then i don't believe you're really qualified to comment with conviction.

[Lonelybunny]

@justaholyfool be careful walking with heavy bags of shopping. I don't know how old you are but my mum did that for years walking everywhere with heavy heavy bags . She now at 56 has had to have a shoulder replacement due to carrying heavy bags ......

[FredFredGeorge]

animagic I was at least 95kg probably quite a bit more from how I looked in photos, I'm now 72kg (BMI 21.5), I lost that over 18mo without any sort of diet plan etc. just by consuming less calories (mostly by changing lifestyle so less travelling for work where there was drinking etc.) and moving more. My weight has now been steady for 3 years when I eat to hunger.

[BunFagFreddie]

"I'm always flabbergasted at the amount of food I'm served in restaurants or other people's houses. "

Yes, me too. Sometimes it's like about 3 days worth of food for me. I don't even starve myself and go hungry. I know a few people who say they can't lose weight and they don't eat much, but they are just eating massive portions. Even if the food's healthy and you're active, you'll gain weight like that.

[herladyship]

YABU

in parts of world where food is scarce & life is physically hard, people are not overweight!

[diabolo]

animagic I lost 2 stone, 2 years ago, by not eating crap and only having lean meat, veggies, salads and soups combined with walking for 5 miles each day with the dog. It took nearly 6 months - so many people want a "quick" fix and to see 5 lbs gone in a week. I think that's why many tend to give up after a week or 2.

[Lonelybunny]

We way to big a portions , I really need to try and make them smaller but I still feel hungry after :(

[fuckadoodlepoopoo]

I lost weight without trying some years ago and the thing that changed was that i moved out of an abusive relationship where the guy would make huge meals and sulk if i didn't eat them. He also had bad eating habits and was very fat and i guess it rubbed off on me after a lifetime of being as thin as a stick.

I was also not allowed out much because of his jealously. So once i left i was walking more and general day to day exercise and eating less.

[lljkk]

I am > a stone lighter now than I was at 17-18yo, and have been for about 19 years. I imagine an extra stone counts as overweight, albeit not by much.

Agree portion sizes are ridiculous. Look around in any restaurant and see how much food people leave on their plates at end of the meal, the food waste is scandalous. I rarely order food if I go to a restaurant with DC, instead I hoover up their leftovers. And we still sometimes end up leaving food behind. Cafes are better, portion sizes usually saner.

I've had a few experiences of noticing very fat people expecting very large portions. I wonder if they've been conditioned into thinking huge platefuls are the norm.

[Tiggles]

I always used to think I could eat what I liked and stay thin. It wasn't until I started a sedentary desk job a couple of years ago that I realised that the reason I could eat anything before was I was exceptionally active.
I had used to walk/run 4miles a day (carrying a baby/toddler) on school runs for example, or pre-children did a lot of cycling every weekend and gym most days even though had a sedentary job.
Within a few months I put on quite a bit of weight. I am now on the way to losing it by exercising more and eating less. I get up an hour earlier and use a cross-trainer most weekdays. At the weekends we now go out mountain biking or for a long walk with the boys. The weight is coming off slowly but surely.

[earlyriser]

I think we are conditioned to think that hunger is a bad thing, but it is actually ok to feel a bit of hunger. If you are overweight and feel a little bit hungry, nothing terrible is going to happen to you if you just ignore it for a bit! Hunger doesn't need feeding immediately, and sometimes it can actually go away if you ignore it

disclaimer, obviously the hunger that comes with not having eaten for a good few hours should not be ignored.

[wannabedreams]

I think it's partly diet and exercise but partly metabolism and genes.

[CoteDAzur]

Your metabolism increases when you exercise.

[gnushoes]

Eat sensibly. Get a pedometer. Do 10,000 steps a day. Find excuses to walk (buy milk, go to postbox, etc, but make sure you do it all on foot). Weight drops off and stays off.