Talk to me about exercise and healthy eating please (not as dull as it sounds, honest!)

[littlebrownmouse]

So, I've decided to do weight watchers diet during the week, relax at weekends and eat a bit of what I fancy and walk briskly for about an hour at least three times a week (I can just about have a conversation but not sing when I'm walking, so reasonably brisk but not over quick). I'm not over weight (5'7'' and weigh 10stone 9 lbs) but weight has been creeping up on me since I stopped obsesively walking around with a buggy containing small children and started working more. I would like to lose half a stone or nine pounds at the most. So, will I A) lose half a stone doing what I'm doing? B) Get fitter? C) Do something about my flabby thighs and muffin tops? and D) How long will it take?

You'll probably get a little fitter if you're walking around for an hour a few times a week. You'll only lose weight, however, if you're conscientious about your food intake - including the weekends. Reason being two-fold ... a) you're not overweight so your energy needs are not massive in the first place... and b) an hour of walking every so often isn't going to burn off enough energy to show as weight-loss.

If you do WW then try to stick to it 7 days a week and maybe give yourself a day every second or third weekend where you relax a little... not a lot.

For flabby thighs and muffin tops a good short-term measure is to convert to a more wholefood and less processed food diet. Reason being that fluid retention has a big effect on 'flabbiness', cellulite and body-shape. And fluid retention is made worse by the dehydrating effect of too much salt and sugar.... both found in processed foods (like WW products unfortunately) in large amounts. If you eat more fresh foods, cook from scratch more and drink a lot more water you can see a change in the firmness of your body and sometimes in your weight as well.

Thanks. Cook from scratch, eat lots of veg and ccertainly don't eat ready meals anyway! WW doesn't mean WW products, typical day's food would be porridge, home made veg soup and whole meal bread, cereal bar, chicken, potato, veg or home made chicken curry and a few snacks (toast and light philly, grapes etc and maybe a hot chocolate for a treat. I certainly could do with more water but appart from baked beans and philadelphia I'm not sure I could eat a more salt and suger free and less processed diet. Will try out new regime for a few weeks and see how it goes I think.

I'm the same not overweight but very flabby and unfit. I went for my first run today. Only 15 minutes (and had to walk a bit) which felt good. Will build it up.

I try and follow a low GI diet as I'm diabetic but I snack on the kids food and love wine.

You need to calorie count! You need to undereat by around 500 cals a day to lose weight. all those snacks sound a lot to me- and if you don't mind me saying so, you do sound overweight. (Have you checked your BMI?) for your height. You are certainly heavier than my DH and he is 5 11".

I agree you need to exercise more- and again, TBH if you cannot hold much of a conversation when you are walking you ARE unfit. The minimum exercsie regime recommended for anyone - not people trying to lose weight is 30 mins 5 x a week.

There are plenty of tools on the web which show calories, your BMI and what to eat tolose weight.

Good luck!

Oh my goodness! What high standards you all have. OK, just to put a few things straight

My BMI is 23 which puts me in the normal range, I'm certainly NOT overweieght.

I don't spend all day snacking, I have a hot chocolate and sometimes a couple of crackers and a bit of extra light philly with some grapes or cherry tomatoes in an evening.

I walk at speed so that I cannot hold a converstaion, this is a recognised measure of aerobic activity - can sing when excercising, can hold converesation but not sing, can speak but not hold a full conversation, cannot speak at all. I walk eevery day with my kids at a level or aerobic activity where I can chat away with them, I do not consider this as excercise.

I don't eat lots of salty or processed food.

If you want to lose weight you have to be a bit more radical, perhaps. It's all about how many calories LESS you will be consuming than you are now having.
Portion size- soup sounds v.good, but is it with cream? How much bread do you eat with it?
Grapes-v.v. high in sugar. You might want to have crunchy veggies or an apple.
Hot chocolate-forget it.
And no point in dieting during a week and letting go during the weekends-it's just a waste of effort.
FWIW I lost 4 pounds in last 4 or 5 days, because I'm going through a quite stressful time right now- but I've been eating HALF of what I eat usually. Just to give you an idea.
Also it's very easy to eat a lot of 'healthy' snacks- and because they are so healthy and low-calorie, we end up having way too many!
Good luck.

wow I dont like the sound of all this radical

you certainly aren't overweight and what you are proposing to do sounds good

but may not herald the results you want but then you can tweak what you are doing if you find it isn't working

and no, its is not all about how may calories LESS you are having now...

good luck

halythy and low cal is fine
you dont sound like you are having tons

its the sat. fat that is the bigger issue

loads and loads of water is essential for allowing your body to function at its best and if you dont drink enough you retain water

and 4 punds in 4 or 5 days is reall really not somehting you want to aspire too...

My life! Of course there's no cream in the soup! Its made of veg from my garden and a bit of stock. I have no desire to lose 4lb in four days, a pound a week will do, I'm just concerned that weight creeps up on you and I don't want to suddenly be overweight, I like to be a few pounds less than I should be so if I vary by a few pounds in either direction it doesn't matter.

Crossed posts with you Trinity. Thanks for being the voice of reason on this post. I reckon to cut back on what I'm eating a bit and do some more excercise must surely be a step in the right direction.

Trinity obviously 5 pounds in 4 days is not something you want to aspire to- I said I haven't been eatig because I'm going through a stressful period right now, not because I think it's a healthy rate of loosing weight!
I just mentioned it to show how much less you need to eat in order to lose weight- so if you're having only 100 calories less a day than before, you will lose weight, but it will take ages. Sorry if I didn't make myself clear.
But , yes, it IS about calories- 5 calories from a burger are the same as 5 calories from a cucumber- although obviously second option is a healthier one.
And I meant by being more radical only in a way that if you will stick to a healthy diet all week ( not letting go on the weekends) than you are likely to see results quicker and that will be more inspiring iyswim.
I'm certainly not recommending you go in a starvation mode.

I never said it wasn't about calories

it is about calories

its NOT all about calories

There are plenty of websites to help track calories- I think one is Food Tracker. It will tell you how many cals you need to keep the weight as it is and how many fewer you need to lose weight at either 0.5 lbs a week, 1lb, or 2lbs a week. I found that to lose 2 lbs a week, I had to eat no more than 900 cals a day for someone my age/size.

Sorry, but i think that not being able to walk briskly and carry on a conversation is NOT good- you should be able to hold a conversation when walking uphill/at 3.5- 4mph which is fast walking.

Have you thought about using a pedometer to check how far you walk- 10 000 steps a day is recommended- andhow fast?

Littlebrown, good for you for already being healthy! Grrr to extreme diets! The point of WW is that you can eat what you like - so long as you stay within your points range. Eat away with the grapes! And you are SOO not overweight at 10st 9lb at 5'7. I'm 5'8 and 10 stone so very similar (works out about a size 10-12. No desire to be size 8 or below, ta all the same!!).

I lost over 4 stone on WW. Did find that changing to skimmed milk, wholegrain pasta etc made a difference. But have cut right back on said pasta, bread etc. And you do have to weigh your food! And chocolate is the devils food.... sorry!

And I exercised as well. If you can, would you be able to swap one of the walks for a 30min swim? Just raises your heart rate that little bit more, which shifts the weight that little bit faster. Also very toning. And exercise classes (if you've got a gym nearby) are not as scary as they might seem! Hated the idea of them as first, now I don't care if I make an arse of myself am not as good as the real gym bunnies.

There's a great website called 'My Long and Bumpy Journey' which is by a WW'er - loads of points values for eating out etc. Also check out Weight Loss Resources. (hope it's ok to put other websites on here? Relatively new to MN)

Good luck (oh and sorry to be barer of bad news and apologies if doesn't apply to you, but el vino collapso v. calorific......!)

OMG! Sorry, just had to add that littlebrownmouse is certainly not overweight! I'm 5"7 and got down to 10 stone (size 12) by running 3 times a week at the gym, cutting right down on wine and watching calorie intake.

Once you start checking calories on food packets and sticking to sensible portions it's easy to keep a check on. Agree with ifancyashandy re. importance of weighing food.

Good luck littlebrownmouse! Lots of my friends have had success with WW and I may join after this pregnancy if I'm stuggling to lose the weight.

You are definitely not overweight. I would recommend trying to cut down on the snacking. If you feel peckish, have a glass of water first as very often thirst can be mistaken for hunger.

If you want to get more toned (the walking will be good for fat burning, but not toning), maybe try an exercise class such as pilates once a week, or some weight training.

OP - what you're proposing sounds fine and will probably result in you feeling a little healthier and losing abit of weight (though as someone else said, if you do WW all 7 days of the week and then have a weekend off every so often you'll probably lose weight more quickly). What I'd suggest is maybe trying to include some yoga or pilates or other strength training in once or twice a week too - as we get older our muscle tone deteroriates and while your speed walking is great cardio if you combine it with some toning work you'll see good results shapewise much quicker.

I just want to make a point about BMIs- the normal range as shown on any web calculator, is 18.5- 24.9.

Overweight is 25.

Drs say you should try to be at the lower end of the scale- nearer 18.5 than 25.

OP- your BMI comes out at 23.3.

If you could get it down to say 20 it would be a good step.

Littlebrown..The Paul Mckenna diet is amazing there's no calorie counting. you just eat consciously and slowly when you're hungry, stop when you're full.

so simple and it works with normal exercise (the sort you're doing already)! I have lost 2 dress sizes and i'm like you not very overweight at all. Good luck.

purplepeony, BMI is very disputed, and there are those who consider the underweight band to start at 20 rather than 18.5. Am shocked you consider the OP overweight

While I can't comment on Justallover's post about disputed BMI, I can say that everything I've read puts the healthy band between 18.5 - 24.9 and that makes OP healthy!

Oh and if you want to snack, stock up on zero / low point foods. Gerkins, raw veggies, beetroot in vinegar and the like. No, they are not as exciting as a packet of crisps / biscuits but if you're anything like me (I just like to stuff me face. A pig at heart!), eating SOMETHING is better than nothing.

Also, I found it really useful to only weigh myself / get weighed once a week. Stops you becoming obsessive. Remember too that some times you might only lose half a pound in a week (even more likely if like you, you've not got much to lose). Don't get disheartened - half a pound off is better than half a pound on. Told myself that constantly as I shifted the weight.

JAOTP- I actually looked on several websites and a book written by my consultant, on BMIs beore I posted that. They all say BMI 18.5 - 24.9/25 is normal but that for health you should try to be at the lower end.

My BMI is 19.5- I weight just under 8 stone and am 5 ' 3".

I take back my original comment of OP being overweight but still think she is at the upper end of normal.

I also know that many athlets/rugby players have what are consdiered high BMIs but they are all muscle, not fat.

Another way to check your health is to use "fat scales" which show % of muscle, fat and bone. Womens' body fat % should be under 25% to be healthy.

The latest stuff i've read on BMI says that caucasian people should be 20 - 24.5, if you are asian or oriental with generally smaller frame you are ok to be 18-19.5. Hope that helps.
Go with your plan and if it doesn't work tweak a bit?

Great, thanks for all the encouragement. I know I'm not overweight, and just to explain the walking thing, I've just walked four miles in four minutes. Now I reckon that's good going and that most people would be out of breath and would struggle to hold a conversation. I do walk at what I would consider 'a normal' pace a lot (with kids to school etc and don't consider this to be excercise because its just part of my life. I'm out of breath because I push myself, not because I'm an overweight, unfit, processed food, snack addict as Purlple seems to be implying. Purple - your initial justification for me being overweight - I weigh more than your husband- made me laugh out loud!

Thanks Shandy, I lost two stone with WW about four years ago and found it to be really effective. Walked a lot with a pram then and found it a great way to lose weight. And sorry but I don't drink! Just the odd glass of wine maybe once a month if we have a take away!