[Archived] Running and general keep fit

[Mike E]

That's some fantastic going Paul! Congrats!

[Guest]

4 hours ago, Paul said:

Thanks CLB. I'm 120% recovered. Fitter today than for many years.

Good to hear that, Paul, and hope you are keeping well in general.

I'm not overweight, but I've been putting a little bit of blubber on here and there for the last five years or so, since my late twenties. The bakeries and beer over here are a natural intake, and bloody difficult to restrain myself from. I always get caught between two mindsets... "Should I just let it be, and enjoy life? Or should I make an effort and prevent a problem down the line?"

That's the problem for me... I'm a lazy person when it comes to "Go out for a run!", or even just rejecting that fatty thing from the bakery or the dirt cheap yet amazing beer. Assistance required! 

[Audax]

There's a million answers and hundreds of books, many websites on losing weight.

To start off, just do anything, something, that's better than nothing. Exercise, salads, etc.

Although some would say you lose weight by it, I just see it as sort of another exercise, yoga or stretching is something I'm glad I took up.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-39673489

Bend it like Granny, cool article.

Try something like planks, pushups and things like that to get a start.  My first yoga classes killed me to the point the teacher gave a big sigh when I was in the class but I got better but I can't do a lot of those advanced poses. If one doesn't like it that some say yoga has a spiritual element, then look up Pilates.

There's lots of easy things to do to get a slow start, weights, kettlebells, jumping rope if one can.

Diet, for awhile, I ate a lot of brown rice. And just using the bike, getting on it, pedaling even a tiny bit starts to burn calories.

I even read about this one man whose exercise routine was basically lying on the floor and then getting up off the floor and then repeating the whole thing, you lose calories that way.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Mike Graham]

Great thread Glenn.

I always tended to binge exercise. 2 or 3 months of intensive exercise then getting bored, or something crops up and I give up.

Now I am walking for 2 or 2.5 hours three times a week.  And every 6 to 8 weeks I go fell walking for a couple of days in the Lakes.

i have found less, but on a more regular basis is best.

[Claytons Left Boot]

19 hours ago, Audax said:

There's a million answers and hundreds of books, many websites on losing weight.

To start off, just do anything, something, that's better than nothing. Exercise, salads, etc.

I've never been overweight and for the last ten or so years have weighed in at around 13st 4lb. I'm just over 6ft tall.

In September we went on a cruise. Anyone who has been on one will know that they are just wall to wall food. I started off thinking I'll be careful what I eat but then the thought process of, "I've paid for it, so I'm going to damn well eat it" takes over. With Christmas and New Year to follow, I then tipped the scales at just over 14st. F***!

The same thing happened to Mrs CLB, so wef 1 January, we ate Slimming World food. Basically tasty, 'normal' food but without any fat content whatsoever. If you're having bacon, cut the fat off, if you're having pasta, replace the usual sauce with a Slimming World one and so on. No cakes or sweets, instead plenty of fruit. You've got to stick to it and for the first month we did. I couldn't believe how the weight just fell off. By month two, we were both at the, "I'm a bit p!ssed off" stage, so we ate Slimming World style most of the time with the odd trip to the pub for a bar snack. By around month three, I had lost about 9 or 10 lb and we were down to eating Slimming World stuff say four days out of seven. Now, nearing the end of month four, I'm at 13st bang on and don't want to lose any more. Mrs CLB has lost a stone as well. My exercise these days is walking/dog walking, say two or three miles each day. No gym, no cycling, no swimming. We eat SW food still but not too much and go to the pub or a restaurant once or twice each week, eat cake or chocolate/crisps as and when we want, as long as we make sure we're not overdoing it. 

If anyone is a stone or two overweight and does what we did, i.e. eat sensibly (and stick to it), coupled with just a little exercise, there is no reason why the weight should not come off with ease.

[Audax]

My answer got a bit long-winded. The bottom line is probably to start, do something, walk and so on.  I've done hard exercise and it sends my apatite through the roof but it's probably real good for the heart too. If one follows a diet; all of these diets allow one a "cheat meal" every week or so. 

[Mike E]

I've been given these tips:

Stop having sugar in cups of tea.

Have a glass of water before I have a fizzy drink (my weakness).

Have a square of Bournville each morning.

Wraps instead of bread for lunch.

Just let myself have a treat or two at wknds.

I'll let you know how I get on (I'm skinny everywhere but developed a big belly ever since my Marathon last year).

[Paul]

I can see exactly where CLB is coming from. It wouldn't suit me personally but it works. I'm no expert Mike I don't think what you've posted will help much. My suggestion would be:

Reduce caffeine to two cups tea/coffee per day. Caffeine is a diuretic and effectively dehydrates you.

Replace sugar with a sweetener

Drop the fizzy drinks and alcohol if you use it

Drink at least 2 litres, preferably 3, of water today - easier than it sounds. The experts say this is nonsense and I'm sure they are right. I find it works and helps me reduce my sugar and alcohol intake.

This is my daily diet. Two breakfasts. I know this is difficult to fit in if you're working. I have oats soaked in milk plus raisins around 7.00 then 2-3 eggs of some description, often omlette plus tomatoes and/or mushrooms or scrambled eggs with smoked salmon - really cheap in Aldi. When I was working I reversed this, eggs at 6.00/6.30 and oats around 09.30/10.00 when we took a break. Tin of baked beans works for me as well.

Lunch is a mixed salad but make it interesting. Aldi have great value stuff to do this, beetroot, grilled artichoke, olives, gherkins, sundried tomato etc. for 59p per jar. Add some or all to some chopped celery, fresh tomato, cucumber, tuna, anchovies etc. All this stuff is very cheap to buy. Or make a salad with a pasta, rice or cous cous base. It's surprisingly quick to do in the morning or night before.

Decent evening meal.

There is no reason why with sensible eating one cannot have "treats" and /or alcohol in moderation. I certainly have more treats and alcohol than one or two!!!! The essential is to eat the right amount. If one cuts calories the body must still be given enough to function. Along with my training buddy I cut my calories significantly a few weeks ago and suddenly started to binge, she had the same effect. The problem was our bodies weren't getting enough food in relation to the amount of exercise we do. We upped our calories again and the binging stopped. Last Sunday I skipped l lunch, by the evening I was grabbing all the snacks I could find!

[Audax]

Lunch is a mixed salad but make it interesting. Aldi have great value stuff to do this, beetroot, grilled artichoke, olives, gherkins, sundried tomato etc. for 59p per jar. Add some or all to some chopped celery, fresh tomato, cucumber, tuna, anchovies etc. All this stuff is very cheap to buy. Or make a salad with a pasta, rice or cous cous base. It's surprisingly quick to do in the morning or night before. - Paul

Good advice and it sounds divine.

One thing I heard about salads, if one can make it one of the meals daily, at least lettuce and celery is largely water; so it fills you up but it doesn't have a lot of calories. It is roughage fibre as well.

If nuts are available, those are suppose to be some of the healthiest foods around, particular ones.

 

 

[Mike E]

'Diet' soft drinks are 3x more likely to cause dementia in a test comparing those who drink one/day to those who drink more than one/day.

[Paul]

1 hour ago, Steve1 said:

I read sweeteners are meant to cause cancer ??? !!!

As far as I can tell everything causes a cancer of some sort. Simple to solve, don't smoke and then do whatever you wish within reason. 

[Audax]

I get the veggie drinks fairly often because I generally will not get my spinach and other leafy foods.

[Audax]

 

 

Seriously? Everyone knows about vegetable juices.  If one doesn't want their benefits, that's up to them.

[Mike E]

There's a spinach and kale drink mixed with apple and mango that's delicious! Might be M&S?

[ultrablue]

I try to follow 3 simple diet rules - I don't always stick to them, but I do more often than not.

1. There should be minimum 3 different colours on every plate of food you eat.

2. Max 30% of the food on your plate should be white - (pasta, rice, spuds, bread, cheese) 

3. Avoid the snack aisles totally. If you don't buy them, they won't be there when you inevitably feel peckish. Buy almonds, raisins and seeds instead.

 

 

[Glenn]

14 hours ago, Steve1 said:

I read sweeteners are meant to cause cancer ??? !!!

The rumors has been quashed a mollion times since it was first suggested in the 70s, however it's so stongly believe in the states that Pepsi actually stopped using Aspartame as people were scared of drinking it.

http://www.snopes.com/medical/toxins/aspartame.asp

Switching to diet pop was actually a big factor in my wieght loss, but I used to work somewhere that 

13 hours ago, Mike E said:

'Diet' soft drinks are 3x more likely to cause dementia in a test comparing those who drink one/day to those who drink more than one/day.

It was a decent size study, but no control group as far as I can tell, some I'm hoping it's correlation rather than causation as one of the things that caused me to lose loads of weight, back when I was working somewhere with unlimited free fizzy drinks was moving to diet ones.

[jim mk2]

Drink diet drinks as much as you like ..... but don't expect to have your own teeth in later life.

 

[J*B]

3 hours ago, Glenn said:

The rumors has been quashed a mollion times since it was first suggested in the 70s, however it's so stongly believe in the states that Pepsi actually stopped using Aspartame as people were scared of drinking it.

http://www.snopes.com/medical/toxins/aspartame.asp

Switching to diet pop was actually a big factor in my wieght loss, but I used to work somewhere that 

It was a decent size study, but no control group as far as I can tell, some I'm hoping it's correlation rather than causation as one of the things that caused me to lose loads of weight, back when I was working somewhere with unlimited free fizzy drinks was moving to diet ones.

I once watched a documentary that essentially said the same, but then did a study showing the effects of aspartame in the body. It showed, to pretty good effect (although it was very sciency and could very easily have been following the Zeitgeist model) how aspartame actually attracts and multiplies fat in the intestine in people not doing excersize. Essentially while it didn't have all the mental side effects people said it had, what it did do was increase fat build up inside the body as it is unnatural and harder to break down. The test patients did that did regular exercise had no issues, but the ones that didn't actually ended up putting on 'mass' despite reverting from sugar drinks to aspartame drinks. 

Not much more to add really as I can't truthfully say I understand it or have looked into it anymore than that. 

[Mike E]

8 hours ago, J*B said:

I once watched a documentary that essentially said the same, but then did a study showing the effects of aspartame in the body. It showed, to pretty good effect (although it was very sciency and could very easily have been following the Zeitgeist model) how aspartame actually attracts and multiplies fat in the intestine in people not doing excersize. Essentially while it didn't have all the mental side effects people said it had, what it did do was increase fat build up inside the body as it is unnatural and harder to break down. The test patients did that did regular exercise had no issues, but the ones that didn't actually ended up putting on 'mass' despite reverting from sugar drinks to aspartame drinks. 

Not much more to add really as I can't truthfully say I understand it or have looked into it anymore than that. 

I think it's something to do with the sweetener provoking insulin production, but ofc it then doesn't have any sugar to break down*

I struggled with this aspect of biology so may be utter BS.

[davulsukur]

On 25/04/2017 at 9:21 PM, Mike E said:

I've been given these tips:

Stop having sugar in cups of tea.

Have a glass of water before I have a fizzy drink (my weakness).

Have a square of Bournville each morning.

Wraps instead of bread for lunch.

Just let myself have a treat or two at wknds.

I'll let you know how I get on (I'm skinny everywhere but developed a big belly ever since my Marathon last year).

Any advice that tells me to eat more bourneville, is an absolute winner in my book.

Really try and cut back on the fizzy drinks, I used to drink loads but really cut it down (pretty much out) and it did wonders.

[Mike E]

Well I've replaced fizzy drink with water and taken the sugar out of my morning cuppa and lost 3lbs in a week!

[Glenn]

Well, after not training properly for weeks and bimbling around a Park Run this morning (admittedly with a dodgy stomach, ankle and knee .... as well as the hang over from hell) in 30 mins, I've decided I will do the Lancaster 3 Bridges 10k. Fit I'd be aiming for sub 50, but tomorrow I'll take sub-65.

 

[Glenn]

8 hours ago, Mike E said:

Well I've replaced fizzy drink with water and taken the sugar out of my morning cuppa and lost 3lbs in a week!

Nice going! 

[LeChuck]

Does anyone have any advice about walking long distances? I'm doing the Keswick to Barrow walk on Saturday, which is 43 miles. I am not a walker or a runner so I am bricking it somewhat! I've got well worn running shoes to do it in, 1000 mile blister socks, blister plasters. Only piece of advice I've been given by people who've done it in the past is don't stop for a rest, otherwise you seize up. Makes sense.

If anyone would like to sponsor my pain, anything would be greatly appreciated! Money is going to Bay Hospitals Charity and Rosemere Cancer Foundation. https://www.keswick2barrow.co.uk/donate/119934?cid2=119934

[broadsword]

Have you worn  the socks before? 

You should have tried going for walks in those socks and shoes before. 

If you had you would also have found points on your feet that are prone to blisters. Those areas should be slathered in a good helping of vaseline. 

 

Good  luck