To sometimes feel overwhelmed with how much effort staying fit and healthy takes

[StresHed]

This isn’t meant to be a post to make anyone feel bad or inadequate about their size I just don’t know if this is something talked about very often?

Do women feel like being in any body is like very hard work. Is there ever a time it isn’t? Or is it genetics, mental health or society pressure?

I have been many different sizes and shapes over the years from a size 18-20 to a size 10.

Each version of me came with different types of stress

Previous size 18-20 me got chub rub on my thighs and felt very self conscious, wasn’t very fit and got told by doctors to lose weight all the time after getting weight related health issues. I would think about ‘when I got smaller’ ALL THE TIME. I would get annoyed with myself for all the diets I failed and over eating.

So then I did actually do it and lose it and Size 10 me now constantly feels like I don’t work out enough, I’ve eaten too much that day etc, need to put more effort in, skipping a work out makes me feel like I am slacking off and got to make up for it another day.

It’s shocked me how hard it is to stay within the healthy weight range and ANY eye off the ball has me quickly gaining it back, it just seems to be how my body works!

I did the hard part losing weight I thought, but I am still putting in the hard work every day and sometimes I just want some time off from it all. But I can’t, because I know I will rapidly gain weight and none of my clothes will fit me and I will have to slog it out all over again.

Is this just my life now

@StresHed you have posted exactly what I was thinking last nigh- at 11.30 pm when I had to do finish my 20 pushups before I sleep. I'm desperately trying to get fit so that I aha a bit more energy so keeping to the diet and workouts - but it is so hard and all consuming. Not to mention takes away the small pleasures in life- like having a piece of chocolate or a piece of cake

I had a job cycled to and from work right through first pregnancy. Cleaning was waxing brown furniture, vacuum, mopping floors, then doing the gardening. Baby arrived big pram pushed up and down hills to shops and baby group. Then baby old enough for a seat on the back of a bicycle. We went everywhere together.

Baby two arrived so he was in the pram older one on a child seat on the pram. Up hill down dale again. Did all the housework, gardening.

I was so bloody fit. And slim, toned.

We were short of money so food basic, vegetables, some meat, dairy. Cooked from scratch. Booze a bottle of wine on our wedding anniversary and some at Christmas.

BUT I didn't go back to work for six years no nurseries in my bit of Wales.

Women these days are time poor. Have cars, it wasn't considered exercise to get to the shops, park, beach. It was getting out of the house in my youth.

Love all this!

Ok I feel better weirdly that I am not alone in this!

Maybe we do need tips and help but in all honesty we all sound pretty amazing and I don’t think it would be fair on us to all start suggesting MORE admin and effort for us all 😂 surely that’s the last thing we need

maybe we need to try to reframe it all differently. It is hard, we don’t know why, it just is. It’s ok if you have an off day sometimes. Health is wealth etc (and a fucking ton of effort!)

I’m currently 10kg down and the fittest and most toned I’ve been for 25 years.

It takes up a lot of time. I thought about how much effort it takes and decided that it is actually worth it and I’d rather cut down on other stuff.

I've decided to stop thinking about it in terms of weight. I'm 53 and a size 14 . I'm done trying to change myself into a shape I know I'm never going to be (or never going to remain, even if I briefly achieved it). I already have diet restrictions due to intolerances, so restricting my diet further is just bollocks.

I do pilates a couple of times a week because it makes me feel good, and it's strengthened my core, legs and feet enough for me to tentatively and slooowwwly start running again with less fear of injury. I am not doing it to make my body smaller, and it probably won't significantly.

That's not a description I recognise. I think what ahs helped is that I like sport and healthy food. Actually miss both if I don't access either every day. Perhaps it's just a case of finding food and hobbies you like and that are healthy. Easier said than done obviously.

Dh got up to 16 stone at 50 and decided it was time to get a grip, so he cut out everything he enjoyed eating, well cheese, beer, processed meats, biscuits, desserts etc. We all know what we shouldn't eat. We also started taking notice of portion sizes. We were working together in our shop at the time, so not a lot of spare time for the gym, and he found them boring, so he started walking to work, listening to podcasts, and I would pick him up about an hour later. It took a couple of years, but he got down to 12 and a half stone, so just about normal bmi for his height. His dad told him he looked gaunt. So he took the brakes off and the weight started creeping back up. At 14.5 stone, and now retired, he started the same regime and has got back down to around 13 stone. If we are on our own, he hasn't problem watching what he eats, but we seem to have spells of eating out several times with friends, or holidays, or both, and up it goes again. If he needs to lose a few pounds quickly, he has a protein shake for breakfast and lunch for a few days, with a few bits of fruit and that gets him back into his target area. It is difficult, but he finds he needs something to replace the unhealthy snacks, so at the moment it is satsumas. Where he would have had a biscuit, he now has a satsuma. He has got used to eating smaller portions, the problem now is if we go out to eat, we just have a main course, and we both find most places serve way too much for us to eat. Worth it though.

I didn’t say I didn’t enjoy it though

It’s hard work for women to stay healthy as they age

Not hard for everyone.... not hard for every female or male or at every age.
Sorry you're feeling overwhelmed. x

I gained 2.5 stone when I had to give up running due to injuries about a decade ago. Running was my saviour for my physical and mental health and I just got lost when I couldn’t run anymore. I then got on with bringing my kids up, got more stressful jobs, worked longer hours and forgot to exercise or eat well.

It’s only in January this year with a change in job and less stress that I have been able to stick to a diet and joined a gym. I’m nearly 3 stone down and thankfully I love the gym. I also pay a lot of money for it which does drive me to
go! I strength training and do cardio at least 4 times a week and I look so much better for it plus I feel great.

My knees are still a struggle but nowhere near where they were and that is what keeps me going. I need to feel strong now and future proof my body now I am in my 50’s.

It is a lot of effort but I’ve done the lazy arse thing and was so uncomfortable in my own skin. I feel fortunate I’ve been able to lose the weight and I never want to go back.

I was actually quite fit then I became a carer and everything else has gone out of the window. It's super frustrating.

I feel you op I fight the urge everyday to kick back on the sofa and stuff my face but I only have to look at a packet of biscuits and ive put on half a stone. I do something 4 or 5 days out of 7. My days off or when I work evenings I sometimes do 2 or 3 classes back to back. On top of work outs and 2 5k runs a week.

I actually hate that people notice when you are looking fit aswell because although they are being nice /supportive its also extra pressure to keep it up and the second you gain a pound you feel its so noticeable.

Some days I ache so much i wish I could stay in bed but then I feel disgusted with myself for thinking that.

Its so hard isn't it. The only reason I manage to keep going sometimes is because I know starting again will.be so much harder than keeping it up.

Are you me? Understand totally what you're saying

YANBU - I’m with you.
i have to be conscious and make choices every day to stay a healthy weight.
Exercise is just part of my routine, like putting on a wash or brushing my teeth.
Eating healthily takes a lot of time, money and effort.
Even when I go on holiday or eat out I don’t touch bread, I skip starters and I almost always have the fish.

I took some time off. We drank wine ate crisps and gone out for an ice cream. As I don’t drink very often I have a revolting hangover. Didn’t go and do any of the activities we planned to do either

Time off has been had, back to it now I suppose 😂

I did the hard part losing weight I thought, but I am still putting in the hard work every day and sometimes I just want some time off from it all. But I can’t, because I know I will rapidly gain weight and none of my clothes will fit me and I will have to slog it out all over again

as a reformed obsessive in the exercise department, I've learned that a lot of it is about shaping your mental processes to work for you not against you. All credit to you getting your weight down and your fitness up. Now you know you can do it, is the time to start maturing your psychology around exercise, so it doesn't become torturous and a stick to beat yourself with, rather than something to derive enjoyment and fulfilment from.

very important not to let negative self-talk sabotage all your progress. Since when has one day off actually meant you'll gain 6 kilos [daft example for effect!]? It doesn't so don't talk yourself into believing it does,

Build at least one rest day into your week. Preplanned rest for me means I enjoy the time off because I'm giving myself and my body permission to repair and renew.

This is incredibly important to avoid injury and burn out, plus what I used to call the bluuuuuughs, being the days you absolutely have to drag yourself out even though you don't want to. That's often when injury happens. Motivation is low in the winter when it's cold, wet and miserable - so check your weather forecast app and build in your rest day when it's going to chuck it down, or be too hot, or whatever.

How about active rest days, eg a 20-30 min walk, so it's something different to the normal routine.

i also find after my rest day, it gives me motivation the following day and I've trained my brain to eradicate guilt from the equation, it doesn't need to figure at all.

Also walking 5 miles a day inevitably takes a long time - are there potentially other higher intensity exercise that would take less time (and actually do more for your fitness)?

Can’t run physically, so no. Yes walking takes ages but I do like it, I never said that I didn’t. I think some people understood what I was trying to say, but I appreciate it appears that people think this is an easy tweak here and there. That part is the small fish in a big pond.

The point is everything takes time, it takes sacrifice and hard work. The sacrifice is usually sleep, time with your family etc. sometimes you don’t want to sacrifice that, so you are always balancing your time like plates on sticks all spinning around. A weekend off exercise and healthy eating isn’t going to set me back 6 months but it makes life harder moving forward, sometimes it’s not worth the sacrifice. I’ve had a relaxing weekend, but the little devil on my shoulder is whispering ‘you could have worked harder’

I do think some of us naturally put weight on very easily. I am desperate to lose weight but I just can't seem to do it and I don't even know where I'm going wrong. It's depressing.

Low carb , by which I mean eating as many different leafy green type vegetables plus protein and fat to garnish, not being afraid of fat or salt works for me.

For years, decades I did the yo-yo starvation / excess eating splurges and was never comfortable in my skin. Stop eating sugar and starchy carbs, a good few days of brain screaming eat the sugar and then that voice just switched off. Peace. It’s amazing.

I never get ‘hangry’ Jo need to eat incase I’m hungry later on and am tempted to overindulge. Bliss. Oh and my weight is stable and I can get into my benchmark white shorts. And wear them without frightening the horses.

I work full time and the only way I can fit exercise in is if I do it before work. But then my kids are older and don’t need me to sort them out in the mornings