Overweight? or over worried?

[white knight]

Anyone that has tried more than 15-20 diets and failed to meet their goal is full of despair and sadness.

What has changed a lot in the last 15 years or so is our knowledge of genetics. DNA and the complexities are slowly being unravelled to expose the secret of why we are what we are. Everything about you will eventually be known. Including why we are overweight.

Then there is the post birth reasons. Your food (both quantity and quality and how its prepared), environment, exercise etc all come into the mix that can add to over weight issues.

We know that mental illness is often a life of extreme behaviour but it is also extreme with feelings, sensitivity, more need for comfort food and things like alcohol. Some people reach for a lolly when anxious....we'd reach for a packet or two. Can we blame mental illness for our appetite? Well, so many people out there would say no sadly, they'd say "just stop putting food in your mouth". Such is the same naivety with over eating as there is with mental illness itself.

What I would like to promote, as a person that has always been over weight is a few observations using myself as an example-

- I was clearly over weight at 18 months old. I have a photo

- My mother was obese and my father had a beer belly (but didnt drink alcohol)

- All members of my family (except my late brother who was diabetic 1) has tried many many diets and not succeeded.

- The urgency of losing weight is clear. Failing knees, ankles and backs

I'm 6ft tall. My weight peaked in 2012 at 135kgms, the maximum my scales measured. It was the ultimate insult. I felt obese, I puffed, I rolled out of bed, I was unhappy. So what could I do.

My wife and I (yes she is overweight) embarked on the following plan. No we didnt call it a diet.

- Eat healthier. Keep carbs down eg less white food like pasta, rice and flour

- when we eat out (often Chinese) cut down one dish.

- Eat more fish and white meat, less red meat. (this is also as I get gout)

- sugarless chocolate

- whole oats for brekky

-home grown vegies is also therapeutic

-  Worry does nothing towards reaching your goal so stop it!.

- a little exercise but only do what is sustainable. A quick 15 minute walk.

I'm now 122 kgms down 13. And this has been going for 2 years and is indeed sustainable. We dont ignore our cravings but we limit them.  Easily achievable goals is best.

Accept you for being you and that includes your size. As long as you do your best to eat sensibly,exercise and stop worrying..

[turtl3]

im a bit on the fence with this one, i think genetics may very slightly have something to do with it all. but i think 95% of it comes down to lifestyle. I can almost guarantee that overweight parents will probably raise overweight kids, simply because if the parents are eating unhealthily, then the kids will be too (minus alcohol for the first 18 years ofcourse). if the parents dont lead an active lifestyle, the kids probably wont either.

dieting can be hard, im 6'6 and i was 120kg a few years back, but got down to 90 in about 18 months, eating healthy isnt the only thing that will or can contribute to weight loss. believe it or not you can still overeat even with healthy food.

alot of people dont realise that the stomach is also a muscle, not just a sack that holds food, and if it has been stretched due to over eating, it will take a very long time to shrink back down. therefore people need to eat alot more to feel FULL, otherwise u suffer that constant hungry feeling.

you wont actually burn energy without exercising to the point of feeling the 'burn'. i dont mean you need to be gasping for air or dripping in sweat, you just need to feel that heated feeling in your muscles. if the ankles, knees and back cant tolerate it, swimming is the best form of exercise.

some great filling foods are mushrooms, cauliflower, and celery, steer clear of carbs at night time, try to eat sugary things like chocolate snacks early in the day so your body has a chance to metabolize it throughout the day. add kelp tablets to your dietary supplements which will also help raise your metabolism, much the same as a good dose of chilli will if you can tolerate it.

i must agree, be happy with who and what you are. just because your festively plump doesnt mean your a bad person. but if you are concerned about your weight and physical health and really want to get it under control-(from my personal experience) you wont conquer it without giving it 110%

[white knight]

Hi turtl3

"(from my personal experience) you wont conquer it without giving it 110%" and therein lies the biggest problem with many of us have. 110% for a little while and a problem climax's and mentally there is no space for the contentment of mind to enable one to exercise. 

Our family ahve a word we express when we are stressed and desire comfort food. It's "bugger it". When under stress there isnt wild bulls that could drag us out to exercise.

At 58yo I've given all diets the boot. None worked for me. This latest 'sensible ' approach has worked and considering no exercise was done in the last 18 month due to leg injuries, I'm happy.

I think the thrust of my message to others is self esteem. Overweight issues are just another reason to feel down and withdrawn, hopeless and not worthy. we've read these words on these pages so often.

Sure make effort and I'm please your post turtl3 includes lots of good info on where ones efforts need to be focussed.

But for many suffering depression what they need to do is commence a new attitude of accepting themselves, their image, their appearance and not adding pressure to their lives by worry.

Worry is non productive. Sensible eating with exercise the likes of what turtl3 described is productive.

And ignore the critics and love yourself.

Tony WK

[turtl3]

i couldnt agree more, but the worry (and realities) of health issues, can snowball if not kept in check. so getting the health back in check can be one LESS thing to WORRY about, and one MORE thing to be HAPPY about 🙂

exercise of any shape/form will release good endorphins which really helps towards being mentally healthy, aswel as contributing to physical well being. and then the self gratitude youll gain from knowing that u have the will power to do say NO!, to caving into the cravings for naughty snacks, will really give you something to be happy about when you start seeing results :).

Even if your not unhealthy and you are feeling glum. i would like to encourage you to get out in the sunshine and have a good dose of vitamin b, get the endorphins and dopamine flowing :).

PS. glad to hear you've done so well loosing weight over the past 18 months white knight. keep the ball rolling (thumbs up)

[Frann]

Hi!

Another interesting thread! Should have gone exploring . Anyway........ i agree with all your thoughts and ideas . I try and improve every day , always changing and modifying and making new habits to reduce the amount of willpower needed. 

Have you guys heard of Christine Cronau - she makes a real argument  for  LCHF - low carb, high fat. Meaning really high fat ( calls butter a super food) and plenty of protein but not excessive aswell as not too many vegetables. Argues that we don't need high cardio exercise. She claims that this way of eating can help with depression and anxiety. She has plenty of evidence to back her theories. 

Ive tried some of her ideas today- feeling full! Glad I don't weigh myself these days..... Just kidding I think it feels right. 

Let me know what you think. 

Frann 

[white knight]

Hi Frann

Thankyou for your post. I will look up Christine on google and get back to you.  Tony  WK

[Frann]

Hi Tony,

Thanks for replying . I've been reading her books and can give you more details if you're interested.

Have a nice day , hope you have some sunshine to enjoy!

Frann

[white knight]

Hi Fran,

I've read a bit. Seems my wife and I have been on a very similar diet for the last few months. Marg to butter was a blessing. But I am hindered by anti gout foods so will have to look into specific foods for a compromise. Thanks

Tony   WK

[Frann]

Hi Tony,

I remember vividly as a child my father not being able to walk from the pain caused by gout in his toe. I know that he overcame it after some advice from a customer in his shop. Malt extract - he used to buy it in large buckets and I would watch him take a large tablespoon of it every night for many years. He worked day and night my dear old dad ( who died suddenly and unexpectedly in my arms a couple of years ago) on his feet and his gout never returned! Just an idea. I just tried googling it but didn't come up with too much concrete info. You might know about it? 

As for the diet -great! Isn't it a relief after years of being told to not eat fat that now we can. Bread is about the only thing I miss a bit - worth it though to not have to deal with  calories, hunger, and most of all cravings! I suffered from the age of ten when my mother ( very thin / attractive) took me to a weight loss clinic and totally set me up on a journey of yoyo dieting for years. 

I haven't solved all my problems , never will , but I am proud of myself for solving this one. I basically worked out on my own years ago that due to my addictive personality ,  I would be addicted to not only the "normal "things but also to certain foods - mainly sugar and wheat. I didn't tell anyone thinking it sounded really weird. Now we know better. 

I agree it's not about how you look but rather how you feel. You have to be kind to yourself and not expect more than you are capable of. I remember as a kid at that clinic not reaching my goal weight by one kilo ( might have been 2 pounds then) and being constantly disappointed week after week as they wouldn't let me become a " life member" ,I ended up giving up , gaining all the weight and being sentenced for " life" instead - almost! Will never go to one of those places again although I imagine they've wised up these days. 

I have to say though that my modivation ( probably around 15 years ago) to really win the battle was the thought that the "want "to lose weight was never going to go away ie what's the point of talking yourself out of it today and telling yourself you're happy when you're not - it's never going to go away. I repeated that to myself  for a long time when I really needed the willpower. 

You know you've got me thinking maybe I could use some of my old strategy in my current dillema !! Light bulb - will have to think about it. Running out of characters- bye now. 

Frann

[white knight]

Hi Frann

Havent heard of malt extract.  But Cherry juice is brilliant. Havent had gout for 6 months since a/ starting the cherry juice half a cup a day and b/ not eating high purine foods like anchovies, sardines, scollops, asparagas, mushrooms etc.

I've read that once you have x amount of cells in the body they never go away. If you lose weight then those cells reduce in size (like a grape going to a sultana ). And therefore it is so much easier to put on weight by giving life to those shrunken cells.

The only way to get rid of those cells is liposuction.

Or not worry about it. The latter is cheaper.    Tony   WK