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Middle age health thread for fatties
Posted: 13 Jun 2018, 1:38pm
by BostonBeaneater
Gene's comments on the booze thread spoke to my current situation quite a bit. Booze has become more punishing and weight has become harder to lose. I have cut way down on drinking, have joined a gym, am walking more and am generally trying to eat better. Ten years ago I weighted 40 pounds less than I do now and I am having a hell of a time shedding weight.
Any advice for Fattie?
I walk to work now (averaging about 5 miles a day)
I rarely touch hard booze and 3-4 beers is a kind of wild night.
I have stopped drinking soda.
I am avoiding bread, pasta, and other carbohydrate heavy foods.
What can Fattie do?
Re: Middle age health thread for fatties
Posted: 13 Jun 2018, 1:42pm
by eumaas
I mean that's a good recipe for losing. I guess just keep increasing activity until it works?
Re: Middle age health thread for fatties
Posted: 13 Jun 2018, 1:47pm
by Flex
If you haven't already, start using a calorie tracker like MyFitnessPal or something. It's not perfect, but it gives you a pretty good sense of how much - and what - you're actually eating. I did that and it led to a lot of subtle eating behavior modifications on my part. It was eye opening for me.
If your goal is weight loss, it really comes down 90% to diet. Activity can help a little, and it's great for weight maintenance, but you can't really just work out a ton and then assume that's counterbalancing eating a lot of calories (not that you are, it sounds like you're getting rid of a lot of the worst stuff). And you might have to try some different things and decide what works for you. I'm pretty happy eating stuff that you'd find on "Mediterranean diet" menus and it seems to keep my weight down, but the grains are not great for my special lady so she eats a little differently than I do.
All that said, I reject overthinking it. Eating mostly whole foods, veggies with some meat, and other stuff in moderation. Combine with a regular workout regimen for all its general health benefits and go ahead and live your best life. Or something.
Re: Middle age health thread for fatties
Posted: 13 Jun 2018, 2:19pm
by Dr. Medulla
The most important thing: Don't put yourself on a calendar, where you think you have to lose X pounds per week or month. That's recipe for frustration and quitting, especially early on. Treat this as changing your way of life and the weight loss will be an effect of that. But what you describe, Dave, seems solid to me for steadily losing weight. It might take a while to kick in, but, in my case anyway, once it does the weight loss does gain a momentum of its own.
When we moved to Ottawa, I was around 187 or so and during my degree I slowly climbed to around 200. Just gradually increasing bad habits. Once I finished my degree, I decided my next project was to lose that weight and a bit more. I lost fifteen pounds that summer by biking a shit ton but mostly eating less and skipping more high cal foods. Since then, I've dropped another five or six by continuing on that path. The wife says I eat like an anorexic girl, which is an exaggeration, but I do eat pretty modestly.
Re: Middle age health thread for fatties
Posted: 13 Jun 2018, 4:02pm
by BostonBeaneater
I lost a five pounds over a month which seemed healthy to me. I swear, four days in Montreal eating and drinking slapped it all back on me plus another four pounds.
I'm hoping it's beer bloat and being dry all this week will bring it back down.
Re: Middle age health thread for fatties
Posted: 13 Jun 2018, 4:04pm
by JennyB
I'm using VH, jr. being at camp as an excuse to get myself back into shape. Or at least kick start. I am just cutting calories and exercising more. I know that I will have to be realistic and realize that, at age 46, I'm never going to look like I did when I was younger. But I have been using the "baby weight" excuse for nine years now, and enough is enough.
BBE - I'm happy to be your IMCT fitness partner.
Re: Middle age health thread for fatties
Posted: 13 Jun 2018, 4:47pm
by BostonBeaneater
JennyB wrote: ↑13 Jun 2018, 4:04pm
I'm using VH, jr. being at camp as an excuse to get myself back into shape. Or at least kick start. I am just cutting calories and exercising more. I know that I will have to be realistic and realize that, at age 46, I'm never going to look like I did when I was younger. But I have been using the "baby weight" excuse for nine years now, and enough is enough.
BBE - I'm happy to be your IMCT fitness partner.
You're on Jenny! I have some nice clothes that I want to fit in again. The 10 months we spent in Michigan saying goodbye to her mother killed me.
Re: Middle age health thread for fatties
Posted: 13 Jun 2018, 5:09pm
by Wolter
Now that our baby has been born, Ali is trying to lose weight, which helps me get motivated too. I’m about 25 more than the most I’d like to weigh, and about 40 from my ideal. But more than anything, what I picked up from Ali is that the number on the scale is less important than how your clothes fit and how your body feels. And I feel like shit and look the same.
I’m more or less working on the diet angle first, doing most of the same things mentioned. Part of my problem is we’re both sleeping so little that I do not have the energy to start excercising, but as Flex pointed out, diet is the most important part of loss. But the excercise helps keep it off and overall improve your metabolism.
Re: Middle age health thread for fatties
Posted: 13 Jun 2018, 5:21pm
by Rat Patrol
Self-advice: try to milk this excuse for another decade. . .
"I'm not fat, I just have wide child-birthing hips."
Re: Middle age health thread for fatties
Posted: 13 Jun 2018, 6:54pm
by Marky Dread
BostonBeaneater wrote: ↑13 Jun 2018, 1:38pm
Gene's comments on the booze thread spoke to my current situation quite a bit. Booze has become more punishing and weight has become harder to lose. I have cut way down on drinking, have joined a gym, am walking more and am generally trying to eat better. Ten years ago I weighted 40 pounds less than I do now and I am having a hell of a time shedding weight.
Any advice for Fattie?
I walk to work now (averaging about 5 miles a day)
I rarely touch hard booze and 3-4 beers is a kind of wild night.
I have stopped drinking soda.
I am avoiding bread, pasta, and other carbohydrate heavy foods.
What can Fattie do?
Eat less squirrels.
Re: Middle age health thread for fatties
Posted: 13 Jun 2018, 7:24pm
by BostonBeaneater
Dinner: We split a 1/2 lbs of skirt steak along with mixed lettuce and a scoop of mixed greens. The dressing is cider vinegar, olive oil and a teaspoon of mayonnaise.
It was good but I still want pizza. If anyone knows how to deal with wanting pizza all the time, please do share.
Re: Middle age health thread for fatties
Posted: 13 Jun 2018, 7:36pm
by Dr. Medulla
BostonBeaneater wrote: ↑13 Jun 2018, 7:24pm
If anyone knows how to deal with wanting pizza all the time, please do share.
It's like the advice to the young and gay: it gets better.
Re: Middle age health thread for fatties
Posted: 13 Jun 2018, 7:39pm
by Flex
Dr. Medulla wrote: ↑13 Jun 2018, 7:36pm
BostonBeaneater wrote: ↑13 Jun 2018, 7:24pm
If anyone knows how to deal with wanting pizza all the time, please do share.
It's like the advice to the young and gay: do some gay sex.
Re: Middle age health thread for fatties
Posted: 13 Jun 2018, 8:20pm
by Marky Dread
If you wanna eat less Pizza just ask Kory to make it.
Re: Middle age health thread for fatties
Posted: 14 Jun 2018, 9:59am
by JennyB
BostonBeaneater wrote: ↑13 Jun 2018, 7:24pm
Dinner: We split a 1/2 lbs of skirt steak along with mixed lettuce and a scoop of mixed greens. The dressing is cider vinegar, olive oil and a teaspoon of mayonnaise.
It was good but I still want pizza. If anyone knows how to deal with wanting pizza all the time, please do share.
That looks delicious. I wish I had the patience to cook like that. My problem is that I get stuck in a rut of only eating things like almonds, string cheese, frozen yogurt and fruit and then binge when I get tired of that.