Opinions sought please

Your 83 eat what you like and as long as you enjoy it , who cares .

I find supermarket ready meals horrible - no matter where I buy them, or how much they cost. My sister had ready meals delivered by Oakhouse Foods and Wiltshire Farm - they were really good.

How do ai find the pears thread, please?

You have a lot of health issues and it can t be much fun dealing with all that.
It's very hard to change eating habits without lapsing after a while.
I suggest :
1. Use semi skimmed milk and Flora Pro Active Spread instead of butter. (You won't notice the difference so that's an easy thing to do) My friend lost a stone in 2 months by cutting out butter in cooking and on bread.
2. Cut down on your normal portions a little.
3. Have some treat to look forward to.
4. Try the ready made meals- you might like them and you won't have to cook ever again. HAPPY DAYS!!!
I m not a foodie either ! Good luck! X


a little

I, not ai. Ai’m not that posh!

Weight training. Starting very small and building up... Apart from helping you to lose weight, and be stronger, there are other benefits such as improved balance.

Well, you could very well be me. House full of family since the early 1970's. I have cooked myself out.
Left alone I would drink tea and eat toast with marmalade for every meal and never get bored with it because I'm not interested in food and I'm picky with food and oh yes, I'd be reading at the same time, I read a lot. I like tomato soup. Meat is boring but I do like cauliflower cheese and roasties. Obviously there's some other things I like but I am definitely bored with cooking and food. Having set the scene here's what I did. Joined Slimming World, loved the company of others and lasted 10 years so though I never lost anything, I did stay the same which was good. Lose a pound, gain a pound. Two years Weight Watchers, same thing gain or lose a bit and the meetings were in a drafty church hall with freezing toilets haha.
I decided to do it myself.
A lot of chilled ready meals from most supermarkets have an average of 500 calories and no more than 15 grams of fat. Marks & Spencer do lots, not diet food just ready meals. Two fish cakes, a few oven chips and a bit of frozen veg. 25 mins in the oven, job done.
Fruity chicken curry with rice into the micro 500 cals. Just read the labels. The minute it says diet food, the taste goes out of the window so keep to 500 cals, 15 grams of fat.
Yes, it's worked for years and at the same time I'm cooking steak and stuff for my beloved who thinks I'm a nutter.
Exercise..... ELDERGYM Google it. Videos on YouTube for easy seat based exercises for us oldies progressing to exercise standing up. Well worth a Google. I'm like you, large family, grand children, every reason to keep going but it's your body who has decided to throw in the towel. No reason you shouldn't have another 20 years so get moving. Use your finger to Google.

We are privileged to have all the food choices available to us that we do - I don't mean all the junk in ridiculous packaging, I mean good quality, home produced, meat, veg and artisan products. Planning, buying and preparing food is an intersting, creative, stimulating, productive activity. What else do you do with your time? Weight problems are usually a state of mind and lifestyle choice. There is (almost) no such thing as a slim person who doesn't make conscious choices about what and how they eat. Subscribe to the BBC Good Food magazine and cook your way through it each month as a starting point. You might soon look forward to its arrival each month.

Having has thyroid problems in the past...had half of thyroid removed I suggest you ask for another blood test. You might need a higher dose. Not enough would cause the difficulty in losing weight. It is a possibility worth checking out.

I'm the same age as you, MargaretinNorthant, with two replacement knees, an arthritic spine, and I often wonder if anything is worth the effort now. But, then I get annoyed with myself and vow to do better. Dieting is tricky, my weight varies a bit. At present I'm on that diet where you eat normally for 5 days a week and limit calories to about 500/600 on 2 days a week. I seem to lose weight fairly easily on that. I always keep a stock of frozen ready meals for the days when my back is unbearable, but really do try not to use them too often.
A short walk in the fresh air can be an amazing pick-me-up.
I'm still enthusiastic about life most of the time, although do tend towards depression sometimes. But this is a beautiful planet and life is endlessly fascinating. We never know what is around the corner, do we. Something wonderful might happen tomorrow, or next week.
Good luck and I hope you feel more optimistic soon.
It's not easy being 83, is it. But we are still part of the story.

In answer to your two questions, my opinions.

Blow it, enjoy the rest of life whatever - if you genuinely feel that you can cope as you are and enjoy your life as it is, then yes, blow it. Like all choices it has consequences, such as a possible worsening of your existing issues and a lowered ability to deal with new issues etc. But it is a legitimate choice.

Make changes - Would this make you happier and relieve some of your issues? If you believe that it will then this is the route to pursue. Losing weight is hard at any age, but in your situation it's going to have a few more challenges. Ready meal wise, Oak Farm foods are all calorie counted and nutritionally balanced and tend to be hearty, simpler foods. Some of the other brands tend towards too many spices etc to compensate for the lack of fats etc. Might be worth a look? Exercise wise, Body Groove is very good - you can do it from a chair and go at your own pace and is brilliant both mentally and physically.

Either way, do what will make you content and give you the best quality of life for you. You're 83, if you don't get to choose how it goes now, when do you? All the best. x

Try this seated exercise routine:
fabulous50s.com/the-benefits-of-a-seated-workout-for-women-over-50-lose-belly-fat-sitting-down/

It's just a 15 minute workout that you can do at your own pace, while i'm slightly younger than you, I also creak and wheeze!!

Good Luck

I have a MR soup maker and love it. In 23 mins + prep I have lovely soup enough for 4/5 servings. Its great for using up any left overs as well (chuck it soup). When I can't be bothered to prep a full meal I make soup and have list a stone in 10 weeks just cutting out sweet snacks and rubbish for lunch and having soup. There is also a very low impact exercise programme on FB (can't remember his name??) that cost around £10 one off fee that is good for those with limited mobility.

There are gentle chair exercises you can do. They are recommended by health professionals for those who cannot do other exercise. Also some ready made meals would be good M & S do good ones and Wiltshire Farm Foods. Try to walk round the house jn tge day, every hour unfortunately our body's calorie needs drop as we get older and ut becomes harder to lose weight. You could also join a slimming group online. Good luck .

Cut out added sugar. I gave up sweets, chocolate, cakes, biscuits and sweet pastries. I lost a stone, painlessly. I simply ate other things. Ready meals tend to be high in fat, salt and sugar so they won't help. I just read a book about breathing. Make sure you're breathing always through your nose. Mouth breathing may be responsible for many health issues.

You could be here for years more, so you might as well try to improve your health and enjoy the years rather than being fed up as you are.

Lots of low cal recipes on the internet but if you aren’t interested in cooking or food much, buy ready meals. You can easily see which are low in calories or healthier ones.

Easy meals to cook are porridge, soups or roasted sweet potatoes. Lots of veg fills you up without adding weight.

Good luck and hope you soon feel better.

Have you read about the Smart BMI? If not, Google it, use their calculator and see what transpires. It is far more forgiving than the usual one. I did mine a while back on the suggestion of someone on here and the result for me was yes, rather overweight but at your age would gain little health wise by losing any. (Very roughly paraphrased).

I can sympathise with you MargaretinNorthant , I'm also on Thyroxine and it really is much harder to lose weight (regardless of what you are told) Basically you do need less calories which can be difficult. I've decided to concentrate on not putting weight on and to eat a healthy diet with the odd "treat". Good luck I know it will be difficult.

I'm sorry you are in so much pain. I'm 80 but still able to get around freely. I also enjoy cooking and baking. I had the problem of being overweight and had type 2 diabetes. I had radioactive iodine when I was 60 because I had a very overactive Thyroid and found how important it is to have the correct dose of Thyoxine as that does affect your weight. I find a good bowl of homemade soup for lunch helped a lot in the weight control. Don't have your large meal in the evening when you are less active. Keeping active as far as possible is good. outside if possible. Sorry I can't be of more help.

Sitting a reading a good book is a great pleasure for many but too much sitting down is bad for the metabolism. A low metabolism means you burn less calories. Therefore even modest healthy portions may not result in weight loss, until the amount calories used is greater than calories consumed. You can gradually improve metabolic rates with exercise and eliminating junk food and sugar and excess carbohydrates. There are healthy ready meals available if you don't want to cook yourself. But don't spend the time not cooking sitting around, use it to get some gentle exercise

Lots of good advice on diets and food from other Gransnetters so I will try to get you moving with some exercise! (ha!). I am with you on the ' no gym, don't like classes' thing. I have a variety of health issues which makes exercise difficult and I find motivating myself is really hard. I phoned an online physiotherapy practice near me (about back pain) and they put me in touch with their Pilates teacher. Never crossed my mind before but she was marvellous. I had a one to one session for half an hour a week on Zoom. Not expensive either (as I was saving on going out for cuppas with friends). So easy to do, in the privacy of my own bedroom and tailor-made exercises I could actually manage. I did find that the 'little but often' approach worked well, something is better than nothing and now I can exercise while watching TV, waiting for the kettle to boil or while talking to a friend on the phone. Start small but start somewhere! It really has made a huge difference to my mobility and energy levels, which makes everything is easier to tackle. Good for you for actually wanting to make positive changes to your health and your life

I can't do floor based exercise either, am arthritic. My best exercise is swimming but the pools are shut. I do tai chi. I learned in classes. There are online videos that teach and online classes. It is gentle. I have to walk too to combat osteoporosis but can't for long. I was just nder 18 stones in 2000 and joined Sliming world. Lost 3 stones. Decided I could do it alone, put ona stone and went to Weightwatchers. From about 2006 to 2009 I lost so am now size 14 instead of 28.

I keep it up with weigh in at WW but find their changes of plan don't suit me so do a plan from about 5 years ago, pro points. All SW and WW are healthy eating plans.

I use lots of ready meals. All supermarkets do calorie counted ones. Some are better than others. There are WW and SW ones too. Eventually your stomach shrinks so you can only eat less!

I make sure I have lots of treats as this is a life time plan. Many ices have few calories. Halo ice lollies are 2 pro points. Cart d'or mini tubs are low and very nice. I eat sugarfree sweets as havea sweet tooth. I also add fresh veg daily to my ready meal and also have things that are low in calories like scampi or an omelette now and then, or quorn things and mini potatoes cooked in the oven with the scampi or quorn.

I have porridge daily like another poster but 30g and cook it with water. I have cinnamon on it and sweetner and like it a lot. I have days off after weigh in day quite often when I gain a few pounds and then I work on losing them again.

I used to make a batch of soup from vegetables but don't now. I have a sandwich for lunch daily! Wholemeal sliced bread is quite low in calories.
And I love bread

Oh I have an underactive thyroid too and am on thyroxine. The dose needs to be right as that affects weight and ability to do stuff. I also had cancer in 2010 and just had a lump, which was taken out, but is more likely to come back if I get fat so it is an incentive to keep to the plan. I want to see my 3 grandkids grow up.

Excuse my ignorance but how do I find the pears sequel thread please?

I think I can link it for you, hang on...

www.gransnet.com/forums/dieting_and_exercise/1271266-I-m-a-pear-the-sequel