Diet Exercise and Lifestyle

[Gildo]

It still blows my mind the way some of us blokes will spend hours and loads of cash fixing a problem with a Jeep but ignore or worse deny personal health issues and avoid seeing doctors
I’m certainly not in any position to preach but changes to lifestyle, improved diet and exercise will go a LONG way to improving both physical and mental health!

[ARB87U]

I know my i am considered obese and i know what i can do about it should i want that to change. It is just a label, like a lot of figures and guidelines out of the medical community they are generic, based on the averages and do not take into account anything about an individual.

My skeletal frame is extremely large, my forearm bones are larger than most peoples leg bones, the width between humerus across shoulders is more than some people are tall. My doctor has specifically told me that my target weight should be 110kg which makes me 30kg overweight.

Now why? it is always the important question to ask right? ok sure so here we go. I have worked in technology since leaving school. I make a very good living sitting on my arse, exposed to a screen and keyboard 10 - 12 hours a day, add in 3 hours of commuting and i am sitting on my arse for 13 - 15 hours a day, the only real exercise is the speed at which my fingers move. Do you think i want to go the to gym, or on a run or anything like it after a day like that? hell no, there is only so many hours in a day! when it comes to weekends i spend time with family, it is what life is all about, those family members with the exception of some golf do not like the great outdoors and that limits my activity on weekends.

So do i want to change it? i think i would be more comfortable if i lost about 20 - 30kg but, i need to make serious changes to my lifestyle and chief amongst those in my opinion would be what i do for 10 - 15 hours a day. I have reached the 115kg mark many times, i cannot maintain it because of my lifestyle. I would be so much healthier and physically fit were i working in the great outdoors and being active all day long. The reality is my family and i have expectations and living standards and my job / career is what provides that. I would need another 10 - 15 years to reach the same level in another industry.

The reality is that the type of work i do is the type of work many more people are doing these days and that carries with it some pretty serious health impacts. Wait another 10 years and see what things look like. It will in my opinion get allot worse with automation penetration displacing physically demanding work with sedentary work. In the future there will be very limited opportunities for good paying work in physically demanding jobs where the cost of that labor is expensive to the corporation / company / business needing it.

The future looks bleak, for everything, health, wellbeing, physical fitness, mental health, lifestyle standards, the economy, the platnet / environment, drinkable water etc etc etc. Capitalism, extremely poor governance and extreme stupidity will ruin it for us all in the end.

[Jimmyb]

I only gave up the ciggies again a couple of years ago, given them up plenty of times, this time seems to have stuck a bit better. I have lived in Thailand for the past 5 years, and my eating habits have been awesome. I was never a big bloke, was always a skinny kid, in my 30's I was only 68-70kg, and hit 40 and only 72kg.

Now I am 85kg and that 13kg difference is muscle. Hit the gym each day, eat lots, but good food. Do indulge peridocally but I am far more wary about what goes in the engine now.

I couldn't fathom how difficult it would be to carry around 140kg+ weight on the body, the exhaustion, the joint pain, etc etc.

As for the mental health side of things, well thats something close to home for me also, the gym helps me with that, the minimilist lifestyle I now have is also a help. I try and keep life simple, uncomplicated and stress free, and this works well for me, not for everyone though.

[humdingerslammer]

Most sedentary jobbers only need 1000-1200 calories per day. Exercise helps to burn off weight quicker but isn't necessary... it does have other health benefits tho. Diet programmes like Lite N Easy are about calorie control... its why people lose weight on them and are prepared to pay for the food.

Most of us have no idea of the calorie values of food. Its not hard to learn given that most of us eat the same things. Even if we are big bones/framed we still don't need more calories and if so, only marginally so. The problem with ideal weights etc is that they r based on the idealised western male (usually) but asians for example with smaller body frames still need the same amount nt of calories for the same physical work/exercise.

I kept a food diary when I began to balloon about 5 yrs ago. By midday the first day I was gobsmacked to find that I had already eaten 2000 calories and, worse, that I had forgotten most of what I had eaten!!

I kept off calorific food, bread, spuds, bananas, cakes etc.. you know what I mean) and went more with little or no calorie food (lettuce etc) and learned to cook asian based stir fries that had a lot of vegetables and lean meat in them. I got rid of large pans, pots plates etc from the kitchen and ate off bread and butter plates. The eyes were deceived! I kept away from left overs, snacking etc and when I felt hungry, I had half an apple or a glass of water. If u don't feel hungry for 8-10 days initially, u r not losing weight... the stomach actually shrinks during this period and then hunger disappears and u cannot load it up with so much food.


Over about 8 weeks I lost 18kgs and have kept it off. When I look down, I can still see my dick!!

It is worth the effort, and its worth keeping your kids food and weight aware and within their ideal weight ranges.

[dimo]

Originally Posted by humdingerslammer

Most of us have no idea of the calorie values of food.

I think this is very important to note, a lot of people associate weight loss with exercise, when in reality exercise is secondary to food intake. Studies have time and again shown that exercise is responsible for only a small fraction of daily calorie loss, not only that studies have shown that a sizable proportion of people increase food intake once starting to exercise because they overestimate how many calories are burnt during exercise, negating most, if any, weight loss effects. An average 80kg person will burn about 300 calories in 30mins of moderate exercise, which is the equivalent of 1 slice of large pizza. It's pretty easy to imagine rewarding yourself with an extra slice because you've exercised.

I am a fit person, and despite sitting at a desk all day, I make the effort to go to the gym 4-5 times a week, however when it comes to cutting down on fat (as I go in bulk / lean cycles), I never increase exercise as it does almost nothing, I always decrease calories.

[Hanna]

Originally Posted by humdingerslammer

So just back from about 15 days in USA - Disneyland and Las Vegas.

Vegas is a crazy wonderful place... had a good win that staked me for the week..and always love being there. Went to Halloween party @Disneyland. Bit of a let down compared to previous year when we were there. Locals said the same thing.Got food poisoning @Legoland that laid me up for 2 days. What a shitter!!!

Saw lots of JL jeeps and some done up like we can only imagine here. No JL utes on the road tho even tho they were in show rooms. Crazy crazy Jeep builders over there.

Base JL models r expensive over there too.

Worrying tho is the amount of very very very fat people we saw. And I mean fat. Everywhere. It's a pandemic over there. More so than on 8 previous trips. And many of them very young (often 20 yrs) and in mobility scooters. One man was already 200kg and was complaining to us about the width of plane seats being too narrow!

Completely different attitude to food over there. Calories +++, plate sizes+++, serving sizes +++, body image issues +++, fat is good +++.

They even eat fried potato for breakfast...and a lot of it. Cheese with everything. Small size of this or that, small serving of this or that. Forget it. Doesn't exist!!

They r now even building bigger mortuary ovens!!

I am not really fattest but gee whiz, what r they going to do as they get older. One cynical American said ageing wasn't a problem for these people. They just die young.

Just thought I would pass on my observations.

I have been to the USA twice in the past 3 years, for a month each time.

The first trip was LA, San Diego, Santa Barbara, San Francisco, Yosemite, Las Vegas, Washington D.C., New York City, Boston, Miami, LA.

The second trip was Dallas/Fort Worth, Austin (Texas), San Antonio, Houston, New Orleans, Seattle, Portland (Washington), LA, Palm Desert.

Maybe it is the locations that you visited, because our experiences were nothing like yours. Sure you see some morbidly obese people there (much like you do here), but we both actually remarked at how surprised we were that there weren't more obese people given the ease of access to fast food and just food/conveniences in general. I actually felt that the balance there seemed about right and that there were also plenty of incredibly fit people around.

In relation to portion sizes, calories and the types of healthy food available etc. we had actually heard the same sorts of stories from friends that went to the States before us and we didn't find it to be the case either. Once again, it may be the places that you visited, but we actually found that the access to fresh and healthy food in the USA is unbelievably good!! Sure, if you are lazy and want to eat at the first place that comes along, then you are likely to have lots of fast food/unhealthy options, but there are so many other options available over there it is not funny. So much better than what we have in Australia.

My wife and I are pretty big eaters, but we are both fit and healthy, working out multiple times a week and the bulk of our food is fresh vegetables with some lean meat/seafood. We were a little disappointed by some of the portion sizes in the USA as we were expecting to be blown away by it. But that may also just be a matter pf perspective. We found that the portion sizes were definitely larger when ordering unhealthy foods though.

The biggest issue I see (both in the USA and here) is the cheapness of fast food when compared to fresh food, fruit and vegetables. Unfortunately for those on low incomes it is much cheaper and easier to feed your family on fast food than what it is to make a healthy meal at home. Once the family and kids are hooked on fast food it is a difficult cycle to break. There really is something wrong with the system when people are encouraged to lead such unhealthy lifestyles....

[humdingerslammer]

I thort this discussion had died... Anyway, I hear what u r saying. Even tho our trip was to a few # of places the thing is, we met people from all over the USA and oh boy, it did not matter where they were from, being big, very big, was noticeable for at least a third of them.

All food was cheap, relative to the income of most americans, and much cheaper than here in australia, item for item (about 1/4 - 1/3 of the price). Fast food was available everywhere and some of it good and healthy. Healthy food was available too, and accessible

But, it seems to be part of the american culture that food portions r the size that they r, that is, large, and that people eat large volumes.

I am sure that being active keeps calories burnt off but there is only so much that one can burn off in a day. Even kids were very large.