Therese Coffey

Metabolism JD?

 

When there is the inevitable enquiry into the Covid affair, the fact is that the Government chose not to close our borders NZ style, or put returning holidaymakers etc. into enforced quarantine, and that is why we have been so badly affected. I remember Cummins coming out with a quote that said something like "let it come in, in a while we will have the herd immunity, and if a few old codgers snuff it - tough. Piffol himself didn't take it seriously, shaking hands with all and sundry.
We were always going to get some level of infection - no country has completely escaped it, but it is very clear that but for the actions taken by this inept Government, many thousands of people would still be with us, and our lives would be more "normal". If there is any justice the Tories will pay the price.

 

Lost all my weight through calorie counting and it's amazing how quickly they add up with certain foods but you can eat large amounts of others.
Simple things like putter butter on toast then pouring beans over it anyway.
For me snacking and eating savoury products were where alot of calories went.
I'm very much a binge eater, my guess would be your colleague is the same. I've done exactly what you describe. Eaten very little all day at work and got home and had a meal followed it with crisps ect.
I agree with you it's very simple to lose weight, it's also bloody hard too.
People are sold exercise as a way to lose weight and it doesn't really do much. Exercise will of course make you fitter and healthier but for getting the weight off the main thing is what you eat. I lost over 4 stone at one point without doing a single bit of extra exercise.

 

I know that can play a part but when I've logged what I eat on apps such as MyFitnessPal because I was curious, I realised I eat on average around 1200 calories most days - no-one is getting fat on that. I actually think my metabolism must be awful because I'm not very active and as I don't eat many calories it will have slowed right down. It's not a conscious decision to 'diet' or anything like that, it's just what feels naturally right for me to eat, for example on a day I get a Papa Johns or have pie and beans, I'll not eat any biscuits or crisps that day to 'balance it out' in my mind. It probably helped that my mam is type 1 diabetic and so has always had a really good understanding of carbs and the amount needed and I've just copied my general eating habits off of her.

 

I get up skip breakfast. I have my dinner at 12 noon Two sandwiches, yoghurt, dairy lee dunker, chocolate bar and a biscuit (Chocolate bar and biscuit usually eaten with a cup of tea. I don't eat then until 7pm (evening meal). I usually have a normal sized portion of whatever Laura cooks. I don't snack. On a Friday I normally skip tea too as I like a good drink. Then I even skip supper as I think it's false economy. Saturday I might have some toast for breakfast, followed by picking at crisps or cheese n' crackers in the afternoon (I have a good drink Saturday too. Then a takeaway Saturday night. Sunday I don't have any breakfast maybe a slice of toast of cuppa with a chocolate bar. I have Sunday dinner then after a few hours.

It's got to be the amount I drink on a weekend or during the week (once midweek) if there's a big game on the telly.

 

To be honest, I've no idea if it is easy to lose weight or not but going from other's experience I imagine it is not. My technique has always been not to allow myself to get overweight as I think that has got to be easier than gaining it and having to lose it - like not having to go through the pain of quitting smoking by not starting in the first place. It is annoying sometimes when I'd quite like a third custard cream that day for example but I have more will power this way than I think I would the other.

 

I'd suggest breakfast every day and ditch that massive lunch. There's a lot of stodge there. I tend to eat quite a bit but often so it's not a huge pile of food all at once.

 

Its very difficult, especially at first, when I said it's also simple I just ment if you reduce your calorie intake then it works. When I was trying to drop the weight I brought my intake down to around 1500 and lost around 4 stone in 5 months. The hard part is the mental challenge of sticking to it. I also forgot to mention the other problem for me, beer. When I lost the weight I would basically give myself the day off on Saturdays for Barnsley games but try and keep the eating sensible and just not count the beer.

 

I could honestly eat and drink what I liked and not put on any weight up until my first pregnancy (size 8) came as a big shock when I couldn't lost the weight easily straight away afterwards!

It's true though, if you eat more than you expend you expand!

 

What sort of sandwiches do you have and what sort of things do you have for your evening meal?

 

Write down everything you eat and drink for a week and try to work out the calories too. See how many you have. For me when I did it I found it truly shocking. Even if you don't decide to change anything based on it, still a interesting experiment to do.

 

Could I suggest to try and eat more fruit. Try and substitute some of the chocolate bars/biscuits fro a piece of fruit. The recommendation is 5 pieces of fruit and veg per day, but that's a lot - so build up to it gradually. Also aim to get some breakfast every day, just a bowl of cereal will help

 

I don't know what you are drinking but it does sound like it is that. My food today:

Breakfast: cup of decaf tea (milk no sugar), bowl of Krave (about 40g) with semi-skimmed milk

Mid morning: cup of decaf tea (milk no sugar) sometimes with a custard cream or jammy dodger (I didn't have the biscuit today, it's probably 50/50 whether I do or not, sometimes I even have two but then I feel bad)

Lunch/dinner: ham sandwich (Warburtons bread roll) with 2 thin slices of cheddar cheese (dry bread as I don't like mayo, butter or any sauces), a handful of grapes, a packet of Walkers Baked crisps and a Kellogg's cereal bar. Glass of Robinson's no added sugar apple and blackcurrant squash.

Dinner/tea: Homemade cottage pie (a quarter of the following ingredients: 500g 5% fat beef mince, carrots, peas, onion, tsp Worcerster sauce, tbsp tomato puree, mixed herbs, tbsp cornstarch, two beef oxo cubes, 120g Smash (OK, I know Smash isn't homemade but sue me)) and something for dessert e.g. 2 large profiteroles with chocolate sauce or a belgian waffle with some squirty cream. Glass of Robinson's no added sugar apple and blackcurrant squash.

Evening: cup of decaf tea (milk no sugar) or glass of Robinson's no added sugar apple and blackcurrant squash. Cod liver oil with multivitamins tablet for my knee and lack of sunlight in winter.

...

A lot of my choices is because that's what I like e.g. no sugar in decaf tea, dry bread. It looks bleak reading it back but that's the way I've always had them and enjoy them. I need to eat more fruit and veg. as I really struggle to ever make 5 a day although I always have some every day. My breakfast and lunch/dinner is the same thing every weekday as I like routine (well not always Krave but always cereal) but dinner/tea and dessert (must have one every day) changes. If I'd have been typing this up yesterday I'd have had to put a quarter of an XXL chicken, bacon, red onion and pork sausage Papa Johns pizza and a quarter of Papa Johns garlic bread with a glass of 7Up Free I didn't have the cereal bar with lunch then though or any dessert and I don't have that more than, at most, a couple of times a month.

 

The biggest difference I've noticed (not a conscious decision) pre and post March has been bread. My lunch most days would be a sandwich. And now I have much much less bread. Maybe one breakfast a week is toast (this morning for example), one lunch a week may be a sandwich of some sort. Cheese salad or fishfinger with rocket typically, but only 1. And then maybe one dinner a week (not always) might have bread with it, like a chicken and bacon salad.

What I've found is I've not missed that bread at all and feel much better for it.

What I tend to do though is have more snacks. Every day I have a braeburn apple around 11am. Then around 3pm I'll have a snack. A plum or peach, and a handful of mixed nuts. The only chocolate in the house is for baking now and then or nibbles on an evening (so things from christmas) that we might have one chocolate an hour or so after dinner.

 

Message to all fatties including myself . Enjoy your life, if you're happy you're happy, happy is good. I once lost 3 stone and tipped the scales at 13 stone 2 lb at my thinnest , I'm 5'10". Problem was the wife said I was dead miserable whilst slimming. I'm now a bit chunkier and a bit happier.

 

Susannah has sorted her hair out today. It was well messy yesterday, like she’d just got out of bed. Which I think I prefer..

 

To be clear, I'm only have the conversation above with Stephen because he has asked for advice on here before and he seems unsure why exercising a lot is not translating to losing weight. I have no interest at all in what people choose to do with their lives.

 

I'll tell you what I've had to day so far, 2 slices of toast for breckie & 2 eggs & 4 mushrooms for din dins. For tea it's stir fried beef with noodles. So far 3 pints of water & a cup of green tea. Exercise, I have done 12500 steps so far.

 

I wasnt trying to force weight loss on anyone and if it came across that way it wasnt my intent. I chose to the lose the weight for my own health reasons as carrying the weight had started to take its toll on me. As i say I'm still on the cusp of what is considered overweight and I'm happy around the that point. I just have to keep myself in check so I don't get back to where I was before.

 

I will say one thing, just because your fat doesn't always mean your unhealthy, My last B/P reading was 108/67 my heart rate is around 60 to 70 bpm resting.
If you look lean & slim doesn't always mean you are fit also.