UPF.... WTF - I knew it was addictive but didn't realise...

[PaminaMozart]

... how quickly things can fall apart!

I'm a self-confessed health nut. Love exercise, lots of walking, and my diet is normally supper healthy. Lots of vegetables, lean protein, a smattering of complex carbs, healthy fats and dairy/mostly yoghurt.

It has stood me in good stead. At 70 I am really fit and my health-MOT suggests a biological age of 53 or thereabouts.

BUT...... for the past 10 days I have had relatives staying with me who seem addicted to UPF, carbs and sugary 'treats'. They sleep till 10, so I've given my usual morning workouts a miss so as not to disturb them. No point cooking stuff they won't eat. Or we eat out at places with limited/no healthy options.

Slowly but surely I've fallen into a pattern of eating what they eat, drinking wine daily (as opposed to a glass once or twice a week), and taking the bus instead of walking.

And, even after such a short time I have gained weight, my belly is definitely more prominent, and my lovely muscles seem sadly diminished.

A salutary lesson. Use it or loose it. I wonder how long it'll take me to get back to where I was...?!!

@PaminaMozart I have no idea why people are being so nasty on this thread?! (Maybe you've hit a nerve in them...😅)

I know EXACTLY what you mean though. I've experienced the same thing when staying with relatives who eat stuff like potatoes, bread with everything , white rice, takeaways, sugar sugar sugar. In fruit juice, biscuits and chocs every day, all couched as "a treat" but actually it damages you, leads to feeling low level crap without quite realising why, and is definitely not good for children so regularly.

Do yours also say "oh god you're so slim?!?" If you're just a normal BMI? Mine do, and I'm currently right at the top of healthy BMI.

If I don't eat my usual whole stuff and things to focus on gut biome, my body/skin/strength/mood goes haywire shockingly quickly.

I'm starting to realise anything under 3 miles a day of walking and my body seizes up within three days.

its so hard to explain to people who are still in the fog of UPF. I really wish my family would listen! I see the craving in my kids when they have UPF stuff (they have a 95% healthy diet but I allow everything because otherwise they would probably reach 16 and live on Monster energy drink and mars bars)

MeinKraft
'My lovely muscles' 🤣🤣 stop being a fanny OP

Muscles are something a 70 yo woman absolutely should cherish!

//

I'm only almost 50 and am proud of my muscles. I think they are very lovely and always notice them on other Ladies of a Certain Age

I ate a whole, large double decadence pizza from dominos last night to myself (just checked and it was 3330 calories, cracking) and I feel like I've gained about a stone and look about six months pregnant, so I can believe going from super healthy to ten days of UPF garbage could make you feel like a hot mess. It really does a number on your body even in a short space of time.

You'll bounce back though, if you've always been healthy and fit it'll be easy to get back to it after only a couple of weeks off the wagon.

You’ll be fine OP.

A lot of weight gain like this can be eating salty food and water retention.

You do start to lose muscle tone after 4 days of not using your muscles, but unless you have been completely immobile over 10 days you won’t have done anything g too drastic. Do some planks etc before they get up.

The belly will be bloating, the weight will be water from increased salt and the less prominent muscles will be because you haven’t exercised and therefore don’t have a pump. Everyone deserves a holiday and even bodybuilders have them! It won’t take long to get back to your previous form, a couple of weeks won’t undo years/decades of hard work.

I am currently in a bulk/calorie surplus and I’m thoroughly enjoying a short spell of eating high calorie foods. UPFs are designed to be delicious or no one would buy them.

Why and where would your muscles have 'gone' in a week? That is extremely odd. If you're a regular exerciser as you say you are then you'll know that any 'loss' is temporary and will be restored very quickly again.

But, if you just wanted a rant about the unfairness of it, having your routine broken, then I'm right there with you. When are they going/have they gone?

Im on mumset, and other boards and have never heard the phrase, so dont be rude.

You’ve hit a nerve, OP. So you’ve discovered that Industrially Produced Edible Substances, aren’t in fact, nourishing food. Onwards and upwards once the guests have gone home!

That’s why experts (the ones I’ve heard and have heard it a few times), talk about’cheat days ’ and making sure to indulge a little etc. Your body ends up having reactions to everything and anything outside your new norm otherwise!!

And I’d say your relatives are not addicted- they’re staying at a relatives house- so it’s party time!! Forgive yourself and ease yourself back in and well done on all your progress- it’s definitely use it or lose it!!!

Sorry - 10 days- bit longer than a week but still... your muscles will return.

Hmmm, my friend does Slimming World. If she comes off an she has a huge gain, even in just a week. Her biggest gain being 11 lbs, but she loses it the following week.
I didn't know what UPF was either, but surely in moderation it's okay. But to be fair as a chubby chops who am I to say...

A few days falling off the wagon won't hurt you even if you may feel rubbish for it. But I can understand it though - just had 10 days away on holiday and although I ate better in terms of healthy continental food and salads but the cocktails were my downfall.
Never usually drink much alcohol but was with a large group of people who could certainly put it away and drank 3 or 4 times the quantity I did!! Couldn't be doing with the inertia and whingeing from the over imbibers around the pool the next day!! We can all enjoy ourselves but need to take the consequences of what we inflict on ourselves good or bad. If you enjoyed it what the heck - if not well..............

Lol, so many narky posters. 🤣 Threads about fitness/weight defo seem to trigger the worst in some people. Usually the jealous types.

I hope I'm still keeping up the fitness when I'm your age OP. It's hard enough at 30yo.

I put on over half a stone at Xmas in only a week or so and it was hard to lose it. I did manage in the end.

I envy you OP. I am slim but I live off UPF and love them so much. There is so much around about UPF right now which makes me feel guilty but not enough to do anything about it.

Well done for your lifestyle. But I just can’t make the change.

I am sure you will make it back though.

If It’s that addictive, do healthy eaters avoid UPF completely? Like one Snickers and you are doomed, like some people with alcohol dependence. I could try and improve but could not lead a life without any UPF.

You can't see the muscles if they're covered in chub though.

I can’t imagine you’d lose muscle mass in 10 days OP.

I agree with PPs.

People shouldn't scoff.
Scoffing is definitely the problem.

Lol. It's like how they say the problem isn't that it runs in the family. The problem is that nobody runs in the family. 😭

I'm not suggesting the OP has spent 10 days in bed but your average senior (let's say over 65) loses 40% of muscle strength after one week bedridden. It's one of the reasons hospitalisation is so bad for them.

You sound amazing op, I love that you have reduced your biological age so much, keep up the good work, - (when the upf munchers have gone!)

@WoodForTreesSeeing it really is like that for me... One snickers would lead to me thinking about it constantly, I dream about food FFS 😅 and I'd be desperately wanting more (like seven or eight more) or trying to trick myself by filling up on other stuff which is just as many calories (eg spoons of peanut butter and dark chocolate 😅) to chase the dopamine and the "high" from the initial snickers. It's like breaking a dam. I have to be in a very strong place to allow myself to eat something like one snickers.

Very addictive, certain types of food. A HUGE amount of food is literally designed to make us overeat, and thus spend more.

I would class myself as addicted to certain foodstuffs, and I cannot have them in the house because I cannot control myself enough to not eat the whole lot and then some. Diabetes, weight issues and heart problems run in my family, I don't want to tempt fate.

It's taken me twenty years to realise that what is marketed as a "treat" is slowly killing people in plain sight. And anyone saying that's dramatic, look into Dr van Tullekens (spelling may be wrong) "Ultra Processed People" I think it's called, and similar stuff for info. It's shocking. I think it will be the scandal of the future generations, just like smoking and leaded petrol etc.

It won’t take you long OP. See it as a good thing in that you now realise how much all your hard work is benefitting you. A day or two of eating properly and you’ll feel back to normal.

Don’t be disheartened by the comments…anyone on MN who looks after their health is labelled orthorexic! (I probably am orthorexic but where does one draw the line? I have to have strict rules because I’m a very all or nothing kind of person.)

I agree with you, OP. It's easy to get into bad habits. Food scientists spend their careers making processed food easy and addictive. There are certain additives and flavorings that make it very hard to stop eating junk food. I'm around your age, and the trick is to stick with your good habits regardless of visitors, meals out, etc.

You're a lucky one if you don't gain weight in 10 days !

I can completely understand this! I have had a junk food problem most of my life and the only way for me to stay off it is to abstain completely. If I eat something processed and sugary now in the morning I am falling asleep mid-afternoon. And then I crave it. I find it takes about 1-2 weeks of no junk/snacking after dinner to break the cravings.

I do think your body gets used to certain foods as well. I stopped drinking coffee at work a while ago and only have it at breakfast. The other weekend I ate tiramisu with really strong coffee in it and I couldn't get to sleep that night!

I've got used to reduced bread and then either wholemeal or sourdough and now find eating a lot of white bread makes me constipated.