Monday 7th Nov weigh in.

Well done glass, it's always harder to get off what you've put on!
I'm sure these extra pounds we're all losing will help to sweeten our voices for the Gransnet Singalong!

Lost the 1lb I gained last week.

...were better....

In my youth I lived in Cornwall and just walked for miles [had no car]. Would think nothing of walking to the coast and sleeping on the cliffs. In answer to what Butternut asked, it's the knee that causes my lack of confidence. If my driving and map reading was better I'd think nothing of driving to the peaks and walking for the day on my own. One of my jobs also involves walking so I'm too tired to walk for pleasure when I've finished; the work makes me think of walking as not pleasurable and a bit of a chore. It's all in the mind, methinks .

Thanks you, Crimson, it is also very enjoyable!
I definitely feel the endorphin rush when I am walking and some of my more adventurous climbs bring on the adrenaline too! My motto is 'I will be very secure in the grave - now I want adventure'.

One of my grandsons became addicted to exercise and body building when he was about 18. He started to attend the gym nearly every night and put up a bar in his bedroom to do pull-ups. He was spending a lot of money on dietary supplements which seemed to be just whey powder. He does kick-boxing and also surf boarding (in the North Sea.....brrrrr!). Fortunately, he is now taking an NVQ in Public Services - I am not too clear about it but I think it is preparation for entry into the emergency services. It includes a lot of physical exercise - he is the least academic of all the children, so he is delighted to have found a course that is not solely classroom based. He is about 6' 3" and although he has developed his upper body muscles he remains about 12 stone.

I began my new walking regime today, as it was beautifully warm and sunny in this part of Switzerland. I found a path through a forest beside a river that tumbled over rocks in a series of waterfalls. The path was quite steep, but not the 'pulling myself up by tree roots' that I often tackle. I wanted to walk on and on, but I just did a circular trip of 90 minutes. This seems such a bizarre obsession, but it seems it is not that unusual.
I have not mentioned this to anyone else - you are a great bunch and I have listened to all your advice.
By the way, my arthritic knee has improved enormously since I started walking - I think I have strengthened the surrounding muscles and tendons.

Sounds like an incredibly healthy diet tp me, Greatnan.

Complex carbohydrates (bread, pasta etc) are better than simple ones (sugars), which are taken up and used very quickly - OK for a quick burst of energy. Complex carbohydrates take longer to break down.

DH has been prescribed Complan milk-shakes to build up his weight because he eats very small meals. The sugar content of 100g of those is 46g and non-sugar carbohydrate 15g. The rest is protein, fat, minerals and vitamins. I don't know how that compares to the shakes sold as dietary aids for healthy people, but I would think that a good varied ordinary diet is better.

It can be very easy to become hooked on exercise, as it produces endorphines in the body in the same way as addictive drugs. The teenage son of a friend of a friend became so addicted to running that older members of his running club contacted his mother with their worries about him. He was getting so obsessed that he would hardly eat, although he was as thin as a beanpole, but he ran several times a day. I had thought that it was girls who got so caught up in anorexia - but it later transpired that he was worried about his sexuality .......

I think I will continue to rely on eating reasonable portions of healthy food - I am a long way from needing powdered protein. I find a bowl of porridge with some bottled cherries and some raisins in it keeps me satisfied until lunch, which is usually one round of wholemeal toast with a slice of cheese, or half a tin of sardines, or a small tin of baked beans (I finally found some in France), or a couple of boiled eggs. Otherwise, I have a very large bowl of mixed salad with a little French dressing and two Ryvita. For dinner I have a small piece of meat or oily fish (salmon or tuna) with a baked potato and a very large portion of spinach, carrots or cabbage. I also eat at least three pieces of fresh fruit each day, and my 'treat' is a lemon yoghurt or one scoop of coffee ice cream with a little half-fat cream. I drink about ten cups of tea (half fat milk, no sugar), a glass of fresh orange juice, and one glass of white wine. I also have a handful of walnuts/almonds every day because I think the oil in them is good for arthritic knees.

I don't think I would have lost much weight eating like this, if it had not been for the excessive amount of walking. Is it a reasonable diet for my age?

And I agree the scales should go as I was definitely getting obsessive about using them every day - the fact that I have had to take in all my waistbands
by several inches is probably the best indicator I have.

For the first time in my life, I begin to understand how people become anorexic - you set a target weight but once you reach it you don't want to put it back on . Fortunately, I enjoy my food very much and have never been a 'picky' eater - when I was growing up in the 1940's food was rationed and you ate what was put in front of you.

GoldenGran

Crimson - I think the Peaks are beautiful, and I intrigued by your comment ...'again a lack of confidence'. Is it your knee, the isolation, the wide open spaces?
Might it be possible to go walking with a friend to help regain your confidence?

I don't use the word 'dieting' because it is so loaded with expectation and result driven. Perhaps changing the word 'control' to choice might lessen the pressure, and remove the the sense of being a 'tad ocd'.

Personally, I would avoid the protein milk shakes. They are expensive and, I suspect, sugar laden.

Agree Butternut I have a skirt in my cupboard which has been more than a little tight, and trying that is better than any scales for telling me how I am really getting on. Delighted to say that as of this week it is not tight at all

Before my knee went, I used to do a bit of jogging [a mix of walking a few paces then jogging a few] and used to get very tetchy if something stopped me doing it. Unfortunately, since my knee went [it's a lot better now] I went the other way and stopped walking, finding any excuse not to go out [ie the internet, which has replaced one addiction with another]. I think I'm a tad ocd. I'm not sure what the best food is to maintain weight, but feel that carbs [especially bread] are not good for you, so I would imagine protein would be better..perhaps even some sort of protein milk shake that athletes use? It annoys me that I seem to have been on a diet since I was 16, losing it on the run up to, say, a holiday or Christmas then putting it all back on. But then dieting is very phsychological anywhay, is it not, a form of control. I think if I lived somewhere beautiful I'd want to be walking all the time. I used to go walking in the Peak District but now find the slopes difficult [again a confidence problem]. Nordic walking poles are fantastic; I used them on holiday when walking on the beach, and felt fantastic. I know when my ex used to run marathons he would always have a spaghetti bol the night before as it released the right sort of energy for the next day.

I don't own scales, as I feel I would become a tad neurotic about using them, so when I need to weigh myself, I jump in my car and jump on a friend's scales. On the whole though, I feel the bedroom mirror and how my clothes feel are the best indicators.

I've just caught up with this thread, and was struck by your comment greatnan, about becoming addicted to walking, not that I am anywhere in your league re. mountain walking.
I live in an area of arable farming which, whilst not as jaw-droppingly stunning as your Alpine area, has it's own comfortable and gentle landscape. I walk the undulating 'white lanes' - the little tracks that criss-cross the fields - which are used for agricultural machines. I leave early in the morning, which I consider the best of times, and step it out for a good hour, every other day. When I can't get out I, too, can feel a bit pacey and tetchy. I've lost weight (but not enough) and hope to continue to slim down to a healthy 10st8lbs - as being 5ft 8" I consider that to be a reasonable goal.
Like you, we are miles away from fast-food, and I home-cook everything. My one failing is bread, which I love, but have discovered a delicious multi-grain
loaf that is made in one of the local villages, so I don't feel too bad about enjoying that healthy option! ;)

I've enjoyed reading everyone's posts, and it has encouraged me to continue to take the sensible plan of eating with gentle weight loss. I do not, however, have any intention of giving up my 2 glasses of wine in the evening!

The one large portion I can never resist is the pile of crisp, golden brown thin chips that the restaurants here in France give me!

Thanks susie thats what I should have said

Well done golden 1lb

By the way the stomach doesn't actually shrink its all folded up so it expands and contract with whatever you put in it - its the appetite that you shrink when you eat less.

Will do that Greatnan

Please try to dissuade her, GoldenGran - I know it seems wonderful to lose a huge amount of weight very quickly, but people are often left with a lot of loose skin and anyway, who wants to be restricted to tiny portions of food for the rest of your life? I have done a lot of research (I wish my daughter had done more before her operation) and some of the stories are truly horrible - bands eroding the stomach or food rotting because it was caught in the band. And of course if the problem that led to such over-eating in the first place has not been tackled, some people stretch the pouch or even burst it. Obesity surgery is a multi-million pound business and unscrupulous surgeons will accept people who are not clinically or emotionally suitable for it. Yes, I know most health professionals are heroic, but I have encountered so much lying and covering up that I have become sceptical.

Everyone on this thread is going about losing weight in the sensible way - settling for perhaps a small weekly loss through sensible eating and some exercise. It probably took many years to build up the weight, so it is reasonable to expect it to take several months to lose it.

I lb this week, despite a few treats loft over from Halloween.*Greatnan*how horrible for your daughter,I have always been wary of those operations and a friend of mine wants to have one.

Yes, lucid, it certainly does help. At the moment, I am house/pet sitting for a friend in Switzerland and the weather has been rather dull and overcast. The dog is old and arthritic, so she can only manage a short daily walk and I have amused myself with UK television and reading and sudoku. My friend's house is in an equally lovely part of the Alps, so it is very tempting to go off exploring but I think this fortnight away from home will be a good chance to wean myself off my walking addiction. Obvously, I am not going to stop completely, but I think a steep two hour walk (one hour out and one hour back) is a good compromise, with the odd long hike when the weather is especially fine.

lucid sure you will lose next week

Ha ha there you go I knew you could all make the 9lb 5oz

sba dont you dare get all serious!!! Dont you worry about those few people who are miserable and cant see the lighter side of life, it gave a lot of us a good laugh!!

notso 1lb is great dont knock it, you are going nice and steady thats the besy way to do it, well done!!

greatnan hello lovely to meet you! I would throw your scales away, the exercise you have combats the need to be cautious over food. I would make sure you are having a good balance with the food you are eating, and yes your stomach does shrink!
Sorry to hear of the problems your DD has had with her gastric band operation. Your holiday with your other DD may have come at a good time and will give you an opportunity to change your diet a little and may stabilise your weight, do you eat pasta?

green you will settle down again after your holidays and I bet you see a loss next week

susie well done 1/1/2lbs, men always seem capable of dropping weight without thinking about it.

No weight loss this week, same weight as last week. (Forgot to weigh myself yesterday!)

Greatnan my sister had this same 'problem'. She loved running and eventually became addicted to the natural endorphins that are produced by exercising. She felt fine when exercising but was very down when she couldn't. The GP told her that it is the equivalent of being a drug addict and that she had to gradually reduce the amount of exercise over a period of time. She found it very hard but managed and is now a normal weight. Hope this helps.

Thank you, Sbagra and susiecb - I am very experienced with the problems of being overweight as my daughter came close to death following a botched gastric band operation. She had reached 17 stone following a very difficult divorce and did not feel she could wait for dieting and exercising to work. The surgeon in question was successfully sued by another ten women and then applied to the GMC for voluntary deregistration because he did not want his own medical problems to be made public at a Fitness to Practise hearing. It took seven years for my daughter's medical negligence claim to be settled and she is left permanently disabled by a huge incisional hernia and is also addicted to codeine, which they gave her when she was in agony from huge abscesses in her stomach. She is still about 15 stone and unable to take any physical exercise. Needless to say, I have not mentioned my own weight loss to her. I still wonder why the surgeon's team of nurses, junior doctors and anaesthetists did not blow the whistle.
Very little is heard of the dangers and side effects of obesity surgery but it is not the magic cure that some celebrities have suggested - it does nothing to address the underlying problems that might have made someone turn to eating in the first place.

I don't expect sympathy for my own case as I am not anorexic - I love good food and a glass of wine with my dinner, but knowing my own tendency to take every new interest just a bit too far, I think I need to stop losing weight now. Does your stomach shrink when you cut down on portion size? I won't be able to walk as much in the bad weather, but I am spending December and January in New Zealand with my other daughter and her family, who are all great walkers. Fortunately, she is also a great cook so perhaps my weight will stablilise.

THERE YOU GO glass susieb has lost 9lbs of the 9lb 5oz target you gave us all to lose between us (I must have misread your orders!!!).
Well done susieb you will make it I am sure. Pain about DH though - my DH eats whatever he likes, does little or no exercise except walking (to the car!) and yet hardly puts on an ounce!
LIFE JUST AINT FAIR !!!