Healthy living support thread for feminists

[SeraOfeliaFalfurrias]

In response to a few discussions we've had down the pub - there are some of us who are striving for better health through better diets and more exercise, but who struggle among the usual support groups where it's all about looking better rather than good health. And it certainly can be tricky as a feminist, walking that fine line between not conforming to beauty ideals through dieting and making sure you actually look after your body through a healthy lifestyle.

So here is a support thread for those of us who are trying to eat better and get more exercise.

Me, I could do with losing a bit over 2 stone to get back to a healthy weight. I had an ankle injury after running a marathon about 3 years back, and between not being able to exercise and the stress of my PhD (I'm a stress binge eater) I gained 3 stone and lost all my hard-earned fitness. I'm finally getting back on track, I've lost nearly a stone and am hitting the exercise hard again. The hardest bit has been getting back into running - while my ankle is better, my joints are really feeling the extra weight I'm carrying. It's also hard to do karate when your wobble gets in the way of you doing a good kick and you get out of breath when sparring. So I need to lose weight in order to enjoy my sports hobbies again. I'm taking it slowly, doing Slimming World but not religiously - I'm not in a hurry to lost the weight, but I also need to watch that I don't take it so slowly that it never happens!

Yesterday I ran 8km, which is really encouraging as I was still going strong at the end. Just a couple of months ago I was run/walking 5km and would have welcomed death at the end! So I feel like some kind of switch has been flipped and my body now "remembers" how to run. The down side is that both ankles are aching and stiff today.

My diet has been rather rubbish the last couple of weeks, including a few binges, and I put some pounds back on, but I'm in that good place mentally now and hopefully ready to focus on getting my body healthy again. I loved being lean and fit and athletic, and I'm not getting any younger (thoroughly middle-aged), so I feel like the window of opportunity for getting myself in a sustained state of good health without drastic measures being required is closing!

Thanks feckity. that's really helpful. Yes it's getting those first couple of runs under my belt. I'm nervous, unfit and a bit swamped at the moment (new job).

I just need to bite the bullet, basically! And the stupid thing is I know I'll feel great after doing it.

Mind if I join? I need to lose about a stone and trying to focus on the health benefits rather than vanity.
Did a brief walk at lunchtime but planning to re-start the 30 day shred over the weekend.
Thanks for the pelvic floor reminders, Yonic, I discovered recently that i have been doing them wrong for years. Apparently you have to extend the muscles before you contract them?
I know what you mean scallops I don't think I've ever regretted exercising but still can't force myself to actually do it.

Just popping in to say I'll be a bit quiet the next few days, we're on the IoW for the weekend. Back Tuesday.

I'd like to join please. I'd like to sort out why I eat when I'm not hungry, when in fact i actively don't enjoy it

I'd love to do c25k too.

Oof, sounds like you've had a rough run of it Buffy. I had a rubbish time at the beginning of the year where I seemed to be ill with one thing after another, always knackered. It wipes you out when your body hasn't really recovered from one thing when another hits. I hope you feel well enough to walk the dog soon.

C25K is great (as I think I may have mentioned...), I can also recommend seeing if there's a running club in your area that has a beginners group. It helped when I wasn't too confident with running outside, and also with the commitment of going each week.

I'm flirting with the idea of signing up to a 10K race in November. I did it a couple of years ago and really enjoyed it, but I'm a long way off the fitness I had then. It would be a good goal to have though.

I think if you could figure out why people eat when they're not hungry you could fell the entire diet industry in one swoop

How do you mean you don't actively enjoy it?

Or rather, actively don't enjoy it. Bit of a different emphasis I suppose.

I'll just keep waffling in my corner over here ---->

I'm the same feckity - it's something I do when bored etc.

Oh me too, boredom eating, definitely. Just imagined for a sec that bigkids was eating and grimacing because she was hating it, or something. Yeah, it doesn't make sense now I think about it.

Sorry no - I meant for eg - last night dh and I ate a whole tub of Ben and Jerry's between us. We felt bad because we are overweight at he moment. We were already full from our lovely dinner. It wasn't that enjoyable an experience, really.

I know almost everyone does it, I just want to think a bit more about why I do it.

Sorry bigkids, I didn't mean to shut you down. My guesses would be something like habit, or the symbolism of a Friday night treat? Were you eating while watching tv or a film or something? I know that feeling of not really being mindful of what you're eating when you're focused on something else - at the cinema and you look down and you've finished that box of malteasers without even realising.

Something that helped me lose weight was to have something like flavoured water when I fancied "something nice". Obviously it's not the same but you can trick yourself into thinking your having something better.

No no it's ok feckity

A lot of it is utterly mindless. And once I've had a wine i just nibble. I need to stop drinking so much too

One step at a time though! I have netball on Monday, new season starting, so that's good

It's helped me to stop using food as a treat or a pick me up. I bought some really nice tea instead. I've stopped having crisps in the house because I can't resist them. I've started buying them one packet at a time when I really want them or in coffee shops which is phenomenally more expensive but I actually eat and enjoy them rather than shovelling them in completely mindless just because they are there.

I'm also toying with signing up for a 10k feckity. Now I've finished the c25k I've lost my running mojo a bit. Having something specific to train for would be great but the distance is literally double what I've done before so it's a bit scary. Today I've been to body combat which makes me feel like a ninja. It also makes me ache all over so I'm not looking forward to tomorrow...

I found that having dinner at the table really helped me cut down on volume of food. So we actually sit, talk to each other and take our time. And I've really battled my inner 'finish what's on your plate' demons. Stopping when you start to feel full sounds really normal, but is actually something I've found hard to do. I understand the mentality - we grew up poor so mum had to make sure we were full, but it has been a real challenge to overcome the urge to Never Waste Food.

We've also stopped buying snacks, because when they aren't in the house we don't miss them.

Marking place on here, as I could really do with finding time for some exercise but keep putting it off.

I'm suffering today. I did a class at the gym on Saturday that involved lots of squats and strength training, and my ham strings are still hurting. The stretching at the end of the class was a bit halfhearted so I blame that. I went for a swim yesterday and have been back to the gym this morning hoping to loosen up but it hasn't worked, so maybe I just need to rest instead...

I still don't know about signing up to the 10K. I'm a bit of a wuss when it comes to running outside, it has to be not too hot, not too cold, and definitely not raining or I just can't get myself out there. I did get into getting up at 5.30am and going then, which I liked - not enough time to talk yourself out of going. But that was mostly because I found myself waking up at 5.30 anyway, I'm not sure I could set the alarm.

Left half my burger and chips because it was (a) huge and (b) not nice. Breaking the clean plate cycle!

PELVIC FLOOR!

And CLENCH!

Well done Yonic. I'm taking small steps on the clean plate problem - took the dds for hot chocolate and teacakes this morning and dd1 left a quarter of hers, I was hungry and it took some resisting I didn't hoover it up.

Anyone know about hip/waist ratios? Since I've lost weight my BMI is 23 but my hip/waist ratio is pretty high. Part of me thinks I'm at a disadvantage because I'm just not curvy like that, I've never had much of a waist, pretty much straight up and down. Also if I measure across my belly button then it's high (0.88), but if I measure at the narrowest point, where I feel my waist is, it's okish (0.82). I definitely need to work on my abs anyway as everything seems to hang out if I'm not actively holding my tummy in.

Also, my hamstrings still hurt.

Hello everyone! My poor little brain forgot all about this group in the holiday aftermath. We did lots of walking while I was away but ate loads of rubbish. I've done better today but still not back in the zone. But I'm booked for Body Combat tomorrow morning, Body Pump Thursday evening and am planning a parkrun on Saturday. Plus my usual 26-mile round-trip cycle commute on Friday (strictly Fridays only!). So that's 4 solid days of exercise, and keeping active always helps me eat better.

I need to drink more water too. I've found that the more dehydrated I am, the more I confuse thirst with hunger and end up eating lots of pointless snacks.

I'd really like to join this thread. I'm still carrying half a stone of baby weight (on hips/bum) which is making me feel less fit and strong than I was pre-dc.

I believe my habits of snacking when not hungry and avoiding exercise are linked to a slight feeling of unimportance, which is connected to women's issues. If I may get a little deep here, my dm had been taught, and believed, that women were much less important than men and treated my dsis and I accordingly. I don't blame her but I wish she'd challenged her belief. I was brought up by her alone with very little input from others so she shaped my opinion of myself.

Hope that wasn't too self-indulgent!

Anyway, I mostly stick to the paleo diet since I found it resolved an autoimmune condition many years ago. I want to stick to that more carefully. Also want to start running again to feel the strength I used to have in my legs, when I was able to run half-marathons.

Right, finally got a couple of minutes to chat. Things are okay here, I had lots of great resolve this morning to get back on track after last weekend's holiday and a gain on the scales. So I made myself a very healthy lunch for work. Unfortunately there was a leaving do at work at tea time, which involved 6 different home-made cakes! So while meals were good today, cake was a bit of a blip! I did go to Body Pump this evening, am cycling to work tomorrow (13 miles each way) and will ParkRun plus karate on Saturday. Sunday off, then Body Combat and Body Pump on Monday evening. Sorted.

PELVIC FLOOR!

Welcome to Mustard, Jenny, PurpleDaisies (I did write a post to you when you joined but it never showed up - boo!), bigkids, slightly and Postino!

How are your various aches and pains, feckity? I'm afraid I don't know anything about ratios. But as well as helping you hold your tum flat, a good strong core is the basis for pretty much all your strength, and helps prevent back injury too. It just supports the whole body as it works, so doing those crunches is always a good ideal.

Amelia, I can't have snacks in the house either. We don't miss them really, and while on the one hand I sometimes think it's unfair for the DDs that they don't get snacks because of my issues, on the other hand, they still seem to end up getting sweets or treats on a fairly regular basis, so I don't think they're missing out.

Postino, I think there are probably loads of women who support their husbands doing some sporting hobby but feel guilty carving out the time away from the family for doing their own exercise. As you day, it stems from being taught that our needs are secondary. But you need to do it anyway. Aside from the need to look after yourself for your own sake, if you're healthy and have more energy you're better able to look after your family anyway. From a feminist perspective that's a rubbish reason to go to the gym, but realistically, sometimes we need reasons like that to help us break our conditioning and even consider making our health a priority.

It seems a few of us have issues with 'clean your plate'. I read somewhere that it can be very helpful for weight loss to deliberately always leave something on your plate, even if it's just a forkful. It helps to break the habit of clearing your plate and makes you actively think about whether you've had enough. I think I might start doing it again, actually.

So, it's very quiet in here, where is everyone? Out running/at the gym I hope! (well, maybe not at this time of night...)

This is very interesting. It's a blog from PLoS (Public Library of Science, a big and well-respected scientific publisher) called Obesity Panacea, which blogs about actual recent scientific research into health and weight loss. I haven't got time to look at it too closely this evening but I will definitely try to read more of it over the weekend.