Fat (topic du jour)

Urmstongran

I’m eating super healthily on my low carb diet as recommended by an NHS senior dietician in a diabetes prevention class. Four weeks in and I’ve lost half a stone. I’m more than phase, especially as I’m never hungry! She suggested only eating whole foods ‘that your grandmother would recognise!’. No packets of crisps, I don’t bake so no bought cakes or packets of biscuits (preservatives in them), no chocolate, I’ve also kick started all this with no alcohol this past fortnight. My motivation is high. I don’t want to develop diabetes and be on metformin or gliclizide, doing thumb pricks etc. I’ve 3x as much to lose so it’s early days I realise. But I’m fed up too of being fat.

An interesting article though gagaJo!
I think what I’m trying to say (in my usual rambling style!) is that health issues can impact with weight gain. It puts strain on the joints - back, hips and knees for some people - and our hearts are the size of a fist big or small and so in a fat person our hearts have to pump harder to send blood to our extremities. This can exacerbate hypertension. Plus as explained to me recently a viscerally fat belly presses up inside against the lungs making a fat person more breathless when walking.

All in all, it ought not to be ignored. Even though I took my eye off the ball these last 3 years, it’s time now for me to address these issues.

This diet worked for me as well as Urmstongran and ayse. In my case I cut out sugar, wheat and dairy products as well as going low-carb and eating mainly fresh, unprocessed foods. This was advised by a doctor to deal with a problem of dizziness and fainting that I had. She thought it was caused by low blood sugar and low blood pressure and that this diet would help.

I went from nearly 12 st to 9 1/2 stone without restricting what I ate or being hungry at all. I just ate differently. The doctor was right about the diet sorting out the dizziness and fainting. I also felt much better and wasn’t hungry all the time like I had been before. I decided to just live on that diet.

I had had quite a healthy diet previously, without many processed foods, just too high carb for me.

I do think that individuals vary, as Professor Tim Spector says in his fascinating book The Diet Myth. So low-carb may not work for everybody.

I have been thinking about weight loss and exercise.

I walk the dog for approx, 2 hours a day. It makes no difference to my weight.

My son throughout the winter when he has little exercise puts on about a stone.

Throughout the “dry” season - no mud, he mountain bikes over the South and North Downs, cycling anything up to 60 miles+ in a day. He loses all the weight he had put on the previous winter. His diet doesn’t change.

So I think that to lose weight by exercise only, you really have to go some?

GagaJo thank you for raising these issues. Thin people I know have developed T1 or T2 diabetes. Another aspect is that being plump can bring on the blame in primary care that ‘ It’s because you’re overweight’.

Both my grandmothers were plump and very active. One lived to 94, the other to 89.

GPs suggest switching to a Mediterranean diet these days don't they?

heavy weightloads not weightless.

Interesting.
I believe that everybody has an ideal weight that their bodies will naturally try to stick to.

I don't think our joints are designed to carry heavy weightless. That's why obese people struggle with their knees and often end up needing knee replacements.
We just aren't designed to be so big.

MawtheMerrier

Which goes to show that for every anecdotal item of “evidence”, somebody can come up with the opposite!
My grandfather used to say the best dietitian of all time was Marie Lloyd when she sang “A little of what you fancy does you good!”

So that's where my mother got that saying from!

I have believed for a long time that what and how much you eat has a far bigger impact on weight than exercise. Thermal dynamics really. Exercise does help to maintain body strength but it doesn't need to be excessive for that.

Which goes to show that for every anecdotal item of “evidence”, somebody can come up with the opposite!
My grandfather used to say the best dietitian of all time was Marie Lloyd when she sang “A little of what you fancy does you good!”

My mother was five foot two and thirteen stone for most of her life. She ate all kinds of food including butter and fatty meat and drank Guiness daily. She had no health problems whatsoever until she developed osteoarthritis in her knees when in her eighties. She lived until she was ninety four.
There is too much obsession with weight and diet nowadays.

Totally disagree with this as very heavy weight leads to diabetes, heart problems, joint problems, and premature death.
There are very few obese people who live into their 90s. OH is obese and borderline diabetic with knee and hip arthritis.

I'm pretty much the same weight that I was in my 20's but in my 50's, having had a hysterectomy with removal of my ovaries, I put on 2 stone. Coming up to 60, I took the decision to work with a personal trainer which really upped my exercise and I lost the 2 stone. I have kept it off for the last 13 years by keeping track of my weight and taking action as soon as I was 7 lbs over my ideal weight. Losing half a stone is relatively easy and requires little effort, although as I've got older it has got slightly harder. I don't diet, I fast by either strictly limiting calories on two days a week or by cutting down to two meals per day with a long break between, eg I fast for 16 hours. I don't go to the gym or do high impact classes anymore but I do dog walk, ride and do 2 weekly pilates classes. I have a happy relationship with food, enjoy a glass or two of wine and often have a chocolate or two. I don't eat much processed food but nothing is taboo. It works for me.

Re exdancer post about starvation in the concentration camps:
A study of Dutch women who suffered greatly with starvation during Ww11 showed their bodies reaction to starvation was passed onto their daughters and then grand daughters.
They had more fat cells and put on more weight quicker, and stayed that way for the majority of their lives.
Resetting the dna of the offspring to guard against ultimate death.
It seems as if the need to hold onto calories to stay alive is so strong as a survival mechanism, that it is passed on to at least 2 generations.

If that is indeed the case, I wonder what self induced starvation (feeling hungry and denying the body calories, ie strict dieting) is actually achieving?

Wow,that is interesting.
I could do with loosing some weight,but find it easier to exercise as i only consume around 1,300 calories a day,so can`t really cut back on food.

Very interesting.

Urmstongran

I’m eating super healthily on my low carb diet as recommended by an NHS senior dietician in a diabetes prevention class. Four weeks in and I’ve lost half a stone. I’m more than phase, especially as I’m never hungry! She suggested only eating whole foods ‘that your grandmother would recognise!’. No packets of crisps, I don’t bake so no bought cakes or packets of biscuits (preservatives in them), no chocolate, I’ve also kick started all this with no alcohol this past fortnight. My motivation is high. I don’t want to develop diabetes and be on metformin or gliclizide, doing thumb pricks etc. I’ve 3x as much to lose so it’s early days I realise. But I’m fed up too of being fat.

An interesting article though gagaJo!
I think what I’m trying to say (in my usual rambling style!) is that health issues can impact with weight gain. It puts strain on the joints - back, hips and knees for some people - and our hearts are the size of a fist big or small and so in a fat person our hearts have to pump harder to send blood to our extremities. This can exacerbate hypertension. Plus as explained to me recently a viscerally fat belly presses up inside against the lungs making a fat person more breathless when walking.

All in all, it ought not to be ignored. Even though I took my eye off the ball these last 3 years, it’s time now for me to address these issues.

This diet worked for me going from 9st 10lbs to 8st 2lbs over some months so I’m now back to the weight I’ve been most of my life.

During pregnancy your body is preparing for breast feeding. DD3 became rather large during pregnancy and breast fed the twins. The weight just dropped off so breast feeding seems to encourage the pre-birth weight gain to disappear.

Not so long ago I came across my mother just post WW2. She was so slim, probably as the result of the wartime diet. My grandmother in her early 50s at the time was certainly a larger women than my mother.

From what I understand obesity and overweighted in the population has been growing slowly since WW2. Michael Moseley suggests that today all the fast food is contributing to this.

What I’m saying is that everyone is different but our modern day addiction to fast food is contributing to the growing weight problems of many people. I agree that diets as such don’t work but a change of eating habits is different. This does contribute to weight loss over time and IMO is a more positive way of looking after our health.

PinkCosmos

I have been to Weight Watchers, Slimming World and done other 'diets'. I have also come to the conclusion that 'diets' don't work. If they did, WW and SW would no longer be in business.

You are so right to highlight this. These are not altruistic businesses and if their diets were effective, they would not get return membership. The principles of their eating plans are very flawed, which you have highlighted. Losing weight is ultimately down to what kind of food you choose to eat.

An interesting article, and I agree about sugar. I bought the book 'Pure, White and Deadly,' it's a revelation.

Another eye opener is 'Spoonfed' by Tim Spector.

On the subject of models, my sister came round to us wearing bright pink tights, which she has bought from Snag Tights. I had a look at their website (and bought some tights) and they do use short, round models.

They make skirts too, but I wish they would start making dresses, as I'd really like to see dresses on people more my height and shape.

I am overweight and have put on around a stone each decade. I am 64 and 14 stone

I have been to Weight Watchers, Slimming World and done other 'diets'. I have also come to the conclusion that 'diets' don't work. If they did, WW and SW would no longer be in business.

When I went to Slimming World - a few years ago now so it may have changed - they were really pushing things like MugShots (powdered noodle soup) and low fat Muller yogurts.

Even though I am overweight I do not eat low fat anything (as the fat is usually replaced by sugar) or processed food.

I cook from scratch every night (apart from the occasional takeaway) and don't eat cakes, chocolate or biscuits. I don't really snack.

My problem is portion sizes and wine!!

At the end of the day, all food has calories. It is up to you to decide how best to eat those calories. You could eat two mars bars a day or two chickens a day and the calories would be probably be similar. Don't know the exact calorie count of either, just trying to make a point.

I have a couple of friends who are very slim but they barely eat anything. When they do eat it is more like grazing and mainly carbs e.g. bread, crisps. I would think that are both 'lean unhealthy'. One of them has early osteoporosis.

I need to lose at least two stones and am currently working on giving up the wine (about 800 calories a bottle!!) and cutting down portion sizes.

I was interested in ExDancers comment about concentration camp survivors. Does constantly starving yourself lead to your metabolism slowing down permanently , thus making the weight issue worse in the long run

4. Sugar is the enemy to health, NOT fats. Biggest myth ever perpetrated

Totally agree GrannyLaine.
I remember my mum buying a book in the mid-80’s with a photo of a heaped spoonful of sugar on the cover, called ‘Pure White and Deadly’. She was ahead of the curve my mum!

I shall check in later - I'm off out to lunch!

MaizieD

I shall run that article past my uni lecturer/researcher DD whose subject area is obesity, diet and exercise.

I haven't read the article yet, but your first section raises the question of, how do you know what your weight is meant to be? It looks rather debateable to me. Are some people naturally fatter than others? If you've eaten your way through childhood, taken very little exercise and weigh,say, 17 stone at age, say, 15, is that going to be the weight you're stuck with for the rest of your life? Or, is that the weight that nature intended you to be?

One thing I read years ago was:
Once fat cells have been made in the body, they don't ever go away even if you diet - they shrink and are there ready to be filled up again quite readily, which seems depressing.

Is weight gain linked to hormonal fluctuations ie puberty, pregnancy, the menopause? It certainly seemed to be with me; I'm not obese but certainly not trim, not that I want to be as skinny as I was as a child.
Is it more difficult for women to lose weight than men?

DH has heart problems and has been borderline diabetic 2 or 3 times since his heart began to be an issue.

We keep a home blood/sugar monitor and keep constant watch. After Christmas it was over the magic number so carbs were drastically cut out - he got back to normal within 3 weeks.

I think that as one ages it is more difficult to lose weight. However, if you virtuously keep to a diet moderate in all things without worrying about it, it is probably the best way forward.

I can’t say I’ve achieved that yet!

Very interesting, thank you. I have also spent much of my adult life trying to control my weight with varying success. I have been overweight but never obese. Since I turned 70 I have managed to keep my weight at the top end of the recommended weight for my height because I fear immobility and the impact it would have on my family. This has been increasingly difficult since I lost 2.5 inches in height, I am currently 5 feet 6 inches and weigh just under 11 store. I gave up slimming diets, especially faddy ones, many years ago and agree that they don’t work so I go by the principle of eating two meals a day, the first at around 11am and the second at around 5pm with plenty of vegetables and fruit, some lean protein, a limited amount of wholemeal bread, some cheese, Greek yogurt and oat milk, bran based cereal and oats. I do have the odd treat at weekends and holidays. As we approach 80 DH and I have changed to decaffeinated coffee and very rarely drink alcohol as trial and error have revealed that they are the main caused of DH’s atrial fibrillation and occasional bouts of tachycardia. I have always hated exercise so walking is my only means of exercising but since I have had a prolapse and recently back problems it is limited to about a mile at a time. DH has always been, and still is, very slim but of the two of us he is the one with Type 2 Diabetes and Atrial Fibrillation so I’m not sure about the link between obesity and cardiovascular health. When I was researching the possible causes of Atrial Fibrillation I did read that very low carbohydrate diets are linked to it which is interesting because I did briefly try the Dukan diet a few years ago which virtually eliminates carbohydrates and when I came off it I had severe palpitations for a few weeks. Diet and health is a subject which has interested me for many years so thanks again for the article.

I often wonder about the survivors of Hitler's concentration camps and whether they remained thin, or whether they tended to overeat and become obese.
It would have been regarded as trivial at the time - but what a missed opportunity to study the effects of years of starvation followed by sudden years of plenty had on the human body.
Sorry if that sounds unfeeling and cruel.