To think this is quite enlightening re fitness/weight loss

[Catrinacarina]

I keep very fit but find it harder to shift weight as I get older.

I used to be really social but recently I’ve been really focussed on getting even more fit as DH and I are going away for our 20 year anniversary and I want to be even fitter than I was at our wedding.

I have cut back massively on eating out, drinking, going to the pub with mates, Costa with the school mums, etc. I’ll usually go to the gym once DH is home instead and go for a run once I take the kids to school, but otherwise I’m pretty much at home, in the name of healthy living. I’ve been surprised that the progress has been slower than usual. I’m not actually trying to lose weight, just tone up, but I had expected some weight loss just because of all the working out.

Today I saw a video (admittedly from a much younger woman) saying that she was living similarly to me for a while while trying to shift some weight, and then had a really busy couple of weeks of socialising, and realised she’d lost far more weight from going out a lot and living a busy life (including restaurants and pubs), than from staying home and eating healthy and exercising, because she was simply moving her body a lot more.

I’ve been really into fitness for years but I found this a really interesting and enlightening thought that makes a lot of sense.

Obviously there’s degrees of it, and this doesn’t work if you’re going out to demolish a box of donuts every day or drink 10 pints, but ultimately it’s calories in and calories out, and there are lot of calories not being burnt
if you’re staying at home all day, however virtuous it might feel.

This isn’t supposed to be weight loss advice as everyone’s bodies and routines are different but for the “average” person I thought it was a good point and food for thought - no pun intended!

Maybe you could get a takeaway Costa and go for a quick walk with the school mums (for example) for best of both worlds? Like you, I’m always shocked at the number of steps I do wandering round a shopping centre, and the time seems to go much quicker than when you’re out for a walk to “get your steps in”!

A colleague took part in a trial/development of a new fitness app. He was dismayed to find that a Mars bar had twice as many calories in it than he used to cycle to work and back home.

I agree to a certain extent. I can lose weight more easily on holiday than at home. I do watch what I eat anyway and continue to do so on holiday but I’m also more active and you don’t have a fridge to peruse as you may do at home in moments of boredom. Also generally doing something interesting so less time to think about food.

theres also the thing of doing a run and then rewarding yourself by having a sit down which you are less likely to do if you are just busy and in your feet. Unless you live in a mansion you don’t use many steps getting round a house.

Madness, isn’t it!

ultimately it’s calories in and calories out

There's a lot more to it

I think it's an interesting point, just look at how much slimmer people are in London vs. elsewhere. All that rushing around tubes and walking in the city- just being a Londoner makes people physically active.

Yes, I can do an hours walk (which is a lot for me), briskly (as brisk as I can manage), get all sweaty and it burns about 230 cals if Im lucky (I know its only a ball park figure)

Not even enough for a sandwich

So i do almost 6k steps just form going to the office vs less than 1k if I'm wfh. I find moving throughout day has been better for me.

I go out to alot of music gigs, last weekend on Fri I danced 6hrs pretty much non stop and only had meal deal and chocolate. I didn't eat more becuase I don't like dancing if I feel full up. On sat I had 2 croissants, nandos, chocolate as I felt really hungry and then did another event for 6hrs also had fries at the event. Sunday ate croissants for breakfast had rice and chicken for lunch, grabbed some fries for the train journey and a chocolate bar. I lost 2kg when I weighed myself on Monday.

So despite eating unhealthy I still lost weight.

There are many factors affecting a persons metabolism but ultimately you cant put on weight while eating a calorie deficit for your own metabolism needs.

All of the factors like how a food is consumed in one body vs another body and how many calories it gives you compared to me, is not significant enough to affect bog standard calorie counting.

Where people go wrong is that they compare person A eating 1500 cals to person B eating 1500 cals and decide that calorie deficit isnt how you lose weight because person A loses and person B doesnt. But they both have different metabolic needs and its trial and error and very accurate counting and measuring to get to understand your own intake.

I think the bigger truth to it is when you're busy, you're preoccupied and eat less. If I am in London for work or on holiday sight seeing I won't eat a massive plate of food because it would be uncomfortable to walk after, or I simply don't have time to eat a big meal, or the portion size is more controlled.

I eat far less at the weekends because we're rushing here or there. But also I know I dont drink enough either and that is a problem

Also now that Ive been trying to walk more, I noticed the differnce from when I lived in London, there are many streets here where theres no pavement or streetlamps, fast traffic, few crossings, its a nightmare and not enjoyable to be a pedestrian here. I also hate how uneven the pavements are, also driveways that slope down and affect how my ankles land

I always lose weight in one night when I go to friends parties or nights out as I think if it is a party then despite food on offer, I'm not actually eating very much and standing and chatting and moving for hours compared to home life. When I have a busy week so go out for a gig after work or something and worked in the office more than home, despite eating out due to no choice i.e can't get home to cook, I again lose weight. So yes, I agree.

You cant determine weight loss in one night! Your body fluctuates hugely from day to day, I can lose and gain (not real losses and gains) around 6lb in one night from the next

Its your weight direction over the longer term, a few weeks, a few months that determines whether you are losing, gaining or maintaining

As the saying goes, you can’t outrun a bad diet. What are you measuring your fitness by - are you trying to improve your pace when running/run further/lift heavier weights? If you’re not exercising to lose weight, how are you measuring progress? There’s definitely no downside to exercising more but some milestones might help you understand that you are probably making progress, even if you can’t physically see it.

While I agree there are elements that impact the ability to lose weight, you still need to be burning more than you’re taking in, to lose it at all.

you can’t outrun a bad diet

So they say, but you don't see many fat runners, do you? And if you do they usually lose it...through running.

If you meet friends for a black coffee versus having one at home - you can see how you’ll burn more calories consuming the same drink with friends versus sitting on the sofa. Same for having a soup or light salad at home versus out and about!

Are you sure? I see lots of overweight people jogging around. Of course I dont know if they have only just started or they simply carry that weight but are 'runners'

If you mean professional runners then no of course you dont, because they wouldnt be as fast if they were heavier

They certainly arent eating in a calorie excess though, otherwise they would put on weight, thats the point, they're not sitting around eating 5000 calories a day, but only burning off 4000

You also don’t see what the not fat runners are eating.

They were probably just less bored and therefore snacked less

YABU. Exercise is abysmal for weight loss.

If movement equalled weight loss you wouldn’t have anyone overweight or obese who does a manual job/a lot of walking involved (nurses for example).

Diet is the most important weight loss tool.

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.

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

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.

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.