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!

There's an awful lot of anecdata being presented as facts about how fat people are and how much they walk about in different parts of the country. 😂

Im not talking about fat people walking more or less, it is the case that people in rural areas walk less than people in cities, north or south. Its not a new thing Im surprsed people dont know this

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/national-travel-survey-2021/national-travel-survey-2021-travel-by-region-and-rural-and-urban-classification-of-residence#:~:text=People%20living%20in%20urban%20conurbations%20walked%20and%20cycled%20more%20on,most%20rural%20areas%20in%202021.

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I have no opinion on whether or not people in cities tend to be fatter or not, but I do 100% agree that there's often more walking/cycling in more urban environments and yes, it's backed up by statistics.

I'm actually quite fascinated by this because both DH and SIL are very fit people who used to live in cities and would have walked/used public transport when they did. But the moment, they moved a bit further out, walking just disappeared. It's bizarre. SIL lives less than 1km from us by foot, and about 1km from her house to the train station if she walks. She is also significantly closer to her DCs' school now, even more so if walking. Driving to any of these places is longer as she lives in an estate with a single entrance for cars.

In the year she has lived here, I am the only person (with my DC if they're with me) who has walked it. I've even walked to fetch her DC from school and bring them home. I find the whole thing bizarre and it is definitely not about fitness or ability - she's the fittest and least lazy person I know, followed only by my DH who is also very fit and has a very physical job. (and no, it's not tiredness because of their exercise and jobs - both seem to have this slightly distorted view of how far it actually is, I THINK because of the fact that by car it IS further).

I respect your experience.
But I do think it's variable. I lived in Glasgow for many years. The majority of the time on the North side of the river, in relatively well off areas with pleasant surroundings conducive to walking and I think people did walk quite a lot there. I moved to the south side, a poorer area , and not so pleasant and conducive to walking, and right enough people didn't seem to walk much.
But moving to a town on the Ayrshire coast has been a revelation to me. The amount people walk is absolutely amazing. All age groups , including up into their 80s. The fact it's so picturesque of course is a real factor.
So I'm wary of generalising about these things

Calories out higher than calories in = losing weight.

It's hardly rocket science.

Since I have been walking around (for fitness), I have been struck at just how unfriendly it is to walk, streets are not lit for the pedestrian, they are lit for the driver, pavements all uneven, pitch black in the shadow of a car or your own shadow as you walk along, even in the day, difficult to manouvre around, not enough space for people to get by each other with buggies, scooters, mobility scooters, dog walkers and inevitably poor planning which makes cyclists and pedestrians share pathways that arent really big enough for pedestrians let alone both.

Then there is trying to get across the road, lots of roads round here dont have pavements and drivers cant give a shit that you are walking along, mud at the side of the road, having to keep crossing over to find some pavement but no where to cross, fast moving traffic etc

Im doing it the easiest roads I can but still come up against this on my routes, I cant avoid it. I live off a main road, in a town and the top of that main road to continue on my route doesnt have pavement, its round a blind bend with trees overhanging, cannot see a thing past dusk.

Car every time thank you for everyday trips

Yes but statistically it is fact, its not something made up!

Fair enough.
I'm just going on my own experiences.
I admit to ignorance of the statistics.
I also admit I probably shouldn't have got involved in this thread at all. I just got annoyed at the " slim Londoners " comment and so put my two pennyworth in.

It isn’t quite that simple. There are around 81,000 calories in a pint of petrol but it won’t make you fatter, no matter how much you drink.

Yes, I hear you. And there are socio-economic factors as well - people who live in cities and have to commute walk more than people who don't commute or have to commute between villages.

But overall, I think there's statistical proof. I have this memory from Invisible Women that it's also gendered - so in urban environments women walk more or take certain types of transport more (eg busses) than men as a result of caring and other responsibilities.

I'm always surprised that I've never put weight on while on holiday, despite drinking every day, visiting the boulangerie for a pain au raisin every morning, delicious picnics with local cheeses and cakes, loads of meals out etc etc. But I also walk far more, and when camping am constantly unloading and reloading the van, putting up tents etc, so I always assume that the extra exercise is cancelling all the lovely food out.

Well, I suppose given the other post someone made, statistically again, that is also true, Londoners are thinner

However I was a very very fat Londoner, albeit one that did tons and tons of walking as didnt have a car and lived and grew up in the tube desert that is South London

Now Im very thin and drive everywhere but dont live there anymore!!!

But you said you're doing a run and a gym session daily - how is that less active than a cafe or pub visit daily?

The podcast 'a thorough examination' covers this topic, one episode had a study which showed that hunter gatherers and sedentary desk workers actually burn the same calories
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/brand/m0017tcz?partner=uk.co.bbc&origin=share-mobile

But Londoners could be northern!! I took it to mean people who lived and worked in London or same can be said for any city where driving is harder. I’m a northerner too although not overweight , it wasn’t offensive to me I feel you may be projecting or it’s hit a nerve somehow? Well we are all projecting every time we comment on a thread aren’t we!

If you get public transport you are bound to be slimmer than those that step out their front door and into the car. Even a 10 minute walk either end of a journey to a bus stop / station is an extra 40 over the day more than the driver for the same journey. That's hardly surprising. If you are in the car less that's less nipping to a drive thru or supermarket to pick bits up as you'd have to carry it
Those micro movement breaks and tiny adjustments to behaviour are bound to add up and make a difference.

In my old job I used to put most of my activity during the day down to being forgetful which resulted in me repeatedly running up and down the stairs to retrieve my pass, pen, notebook, cup and so on.

I definitely noticed a difference when I moved from a mostly lab based job on my feet all day to current job which is mostly desk based.

I track my steps and i can tell the days I've hoovered the house or had a spring clean. I guess the message is to keep moving, it doesn't have to be formal exercise.

Maybe as she was socialising a lot she wasn't eating as much and young people socialising is probably not the same as middle age/older people socialising.
When I'm in the house I eat far more than if I was out seeing friends etc.

I socialise quite a bit but I have black coffee or a Diet Coke and that's it I don't choose a creamy Frappuccino and cake.

Ageing is the pursuit of comfort I once heard someone say and I really believe it’s a big factor in the middle age weight creep. NEET activity (basically calories burnt by our bodies outside if formal exercise) accounts for far more energy expenditure than going to the gym over the course of a day. Just being active, moving, taking the stairs etc these are all micro movement decisions that make a big difference.

I agree, and in London walking up those escalators some which are quite long is a great workout. I know my legs got more stronger and I wouldnt be out of breath doing it once I got into a habit of doing that. Whereas before I'd always struggle to walk up them without being out of breath.

I think this is why some people think Londoners tend to be slimmer because walking up and down escalators and generally walking around London is done on a daily basis when commuting. You see hoarder of people getting off at London bridge and walking across the river into the city every day and back.