Can't be bothered - does it matter?

Rockstar_JILL

Would you like brutal honesty or would you like me to sugar coat it for you?

Honestly? Stop making excuses. Get up and do it.

Sugar coat it? Sure baby.. just lay there.. the weight will fall off.


LITTLE things will help you. If you cant be bothered to do anything but watch TV.. get a recumbent bike and WATCH TV.

^^^ This! Just make yourself...you will feel so much better afterwards. It takes time to get there, but you have to do it.

tammyclinch

Can't can't be a word you use just do it

366to266

Yes indeed - this has turned into what my American friends call an "awesome" thread. There is some fantastic advice on here and I am going to go back and start copying-and-pasting stuff into a document and print it out and put it in my Weight Loss Project folder!

Natalie seems to have done a lot of research into weight loss for the "supermorbidly" obese and I hope she will be my Best Diet Buddy.

Tammy, JIll and the other lady whose name isn't on the screen at the moment:

I perform water aerobics several times a week. I go to the local pool and I dance and job in deep water to heavy-beat rock and dance music on my waterproof MP3 player. It's very intense and my heart rate is kept up for a solid 60 minutes. I do repetitive jive kicks and flicks, kicking my legs out in every possible direction, alternating this with cycling type moves, stretches, pilates-type core-building exercises, pulling myself up using the stepladder rails. While doing the vigorous leg-hip-waist dancing workout, I am constantly working my arms with two double-sized foam barbells (twice the size as the one the pool staff give to those joining their aquafit class). My biceps are huge!

After an hour of water-dancing I am absolutely exhausted. Sometimes I have struggled even to stand up in the shower and to get dressed. I've even fallen asleep in the taxi that takes me home. When home I have my first meal of the day (usually breaking a fast of between 14 and 20 hours) and snuggle on the couch (usually shivering) and watch tv, alternating between that and sitting at my computer. I also keep two 3kg nylon barbells next to the couch and lift as I watch TV. I also have a few chair-obics workout videos on the PC and want to start doing them soon.

I doubt very much whether you will find another middle aged woman with a BMI of over 60 doing THIS vigorous an exercise THIS many times a week. I know everyone who uses the local pool now, and believe me, all the other women of my age, 90% of whom are slim or just slightly podgy, do a VERY gentle breaststroke (with head fully out of the water!) for 20 minutes once a week and call that regular exercise. I aim to do 60 minutes high intensity 7 days a week, but some days I am just so exhausted it's all I can do to get out of bed and walk downstairs. So I have managed only 4 or 5 days out of the seven most weeks.

To whoever mentioned refined carbs -- I never eat any. All I eat is meat, fish, eggs, green and other low GI vegetables. Absolutely no sugar, no wheat, no fruit, no artificial sweeteners etc.

Natalie: "put on a 200lb body suit and we'll see how motivated you are to get up and exercise."
Actually, according to my doctor, I am 236lb overweight - and age 54 (the age really makes a difference).

Anyway, thanks for all the great information.

I am particularly interested in the business of BMR and TDEE. I have used online calculators and I get 2230 and 3000. I rarely eat 2230. I do not believe that I would ever be able to lose weight on that much! I dream of 1600 but manage about 1800-1900. I track religiously on fatsecret. I am very proud of my diet and would happily let anyone see my food diary!

khall86790

I wouldn't encourage these lazy days you are having, you need to be developing a more active lifestyle in general, you can't pick and choose when to be healthy.
My advice would be if you don't feel like really smashing out the exercise, pop in an exercise dvd that takes 20 minutes or go for a short walk. After that, you may feel entirely different and it will definitely change how you eat for the rest of the day.

FrancineM62

Personally (and this goes against conventional wisdom), I think losing weight is much more about eating than exercise. You say you are doing well with diet, so don't beat yourself up. Granted, it's not good to lay around all the time, but I bet when you get closer to your goal you will find you have more energy. It sounds like you have incorporated good exercise into many days, so you're getting there! Good luck!!

alexisu96

Just some words of encouragement. Working out every other day is also great!! Where is the rule that states we HAVE to work out everyday?? Forcing yourself everyday is just making exercise a chore, which you will eventually hate and completly stop doing. Just set a goal to work out 3/4 times a week and ENJOY your lazy days. Just don't replace exercise with binging on those off days ( that is my problem!)

meldel49

You should see your doctor since you may have some kind of anemia which tends to making you tired and not up to exercising. I think you should make yourself do something since I wake up many a time and do not feel like exercising either. Even a short walk is better thannone at all and you feel better about yourself.

366to266

Just some words of encouragement. Working out every other day is also great!! Where is the rule that states we HAVE to work out everyday?? Forcing yourself everyday is just making exercise a chore, which you will eventually hate and completly stop doing. Just set a goal to work out 3/4 times a week and ENJOY your lazy days. Just don't replace exercise with binging on those off days ( that is my problem!)

Alexis - I do this, too. When I go to the pool I never eat beforehand, so my eating window is only from about 11am to 1pm to about 6 or 7 pm. But on non-pool days my eating window starts at something like 6am and 7am and is 12 hours! And yeah, there is much more time to fill, plus I am at home, plus I am ravenous after the exertions of the day before. So. yes, this is a worry and is one of the reasons that I really wish I could go to the pool 7 days a week.

366to266

You should see your doctor since you may have some kind of anemia which tends to making you tired and not up to exercising. I think you should make yourself do something since I wake up many a time and do not feel like exercising either. Even a short walk is better thannone at all and you feel better about yourself.

Definitely not anaemic, but thanks!

Sqeekyjojo

There is no point in my going to the doc's about anything. The system seems to be completely different in the UK than the USA. I have tried consulting my doctors about many things and I never really get an answer other than "take these pills". I don't want to be a drug dependent person.

We cannot easily change doctors in the UK without raising a formal complaint, and even if we do we then get allocated to another, possibly miles away, and he/she will be working in exactly the same way as the one we left. I have never had any joy telling them about obesity, tiredness, depression, arthritis, panic attacks, even sleep apnoea. It's either just giving me pills or telling me it'll get better when I lose weight, OR being placed on a long waiting list to see a specialist who then tries to put me on the same pills or tells me to lose weight, but provides no advice for so doing. I told my doc about sleep apnoea about 3 years ago and was placed on the waiting list to spend the night in a sleep clinic. When I reached the top of the list, about a year later, the sleep apnoea had disappeared, so I was told not to attend. When I share a bed with someone, sometimes I have it and sometimes I don't, and so, even if I get myself back on the waiting list and wait a year to go to the clinic, there is no guarantee that I will have apnoea on that particular night that I spend in the clinic. And even if they find I have it, that doesn't cure it. They just get you issued with a C-PAP. Hopefully in a year I will be 100 lb lighter and won't have apnoea any longer.

Sorry for writing this but it seems important to tell y'all because everyone always says, "see your doc". I've all but given up on them for anything but blood tests and suchlike. I only went last week because to join the gym I had to get a blood pressure checkup.

(PS I just got up and walked to the kitchen and my legs feel like they are made of lead. I am almost dragging them along.)

I'm sorry, but you are making excuses. You can change doctors in the NHS without a single problem - just go to a new surgery and register with them. Then, at the new doctors, request a referral to a specialist sleep clinic and get a sleep study carried out. It may be one held at a centre or one at home where you connect up a bunch of different monitors, but it'll usually be connected to the cardiac unit in some way - probably because if it isn't treated, particularly when due to morbid obesity, the odds are that they'll be seeing the people who had untreated OSA in there soon enough.

Trying to be truthful but not hurtful here, but at your size, it's highly unlikely that you won't have an apnoeic event at some point of the night - every night. So thinking it's disappeared or assuming it won't happen if you get around to having it tested is you sabotaging your own health and safety. I hope you don't drive, as it would be illegal for you to do so right now.


Do non weight bearing exercise - that means indoor rowing, for example. If an hour every day is impossible, then do half an hour every day. Or instead of doing aqua aerobics, do an hour of just trying to keep yourself afloat treading water. Or twenty minutes. Or half an hour in water one day and half an hour of sitting exercises the next.

Anything is better than doing nothing because you can't manage a full hour yet.

Sit on the couch and move your ankles around, rotate your hands, do gentle stretches of your arms. Just move yourself. And from experience (of OSA and arthritis), make sure that your only movement ISN'T walking from the couch to the fridge and back again.



Whilst you are at the doctors, get bloods for inflammatory arthritis - RF, CRP, ESR - as they can cause tiredness as well. If inflammation shows up, you are well placed to request a Rheumatology referral.

But be prepared to find that it's simply the physical effort of moving your body around at that weight which is causing your exhaustion.



Because, whatever else might be going on, you certainly aren't going to improve sitting on the couch and typing about why it's not worth the bother because it's all too hard.


Nobody is going to fight your battles for you - you have to be your own knight in shining armour (or a flotation device).



Good luck.


ETA: I've never had any problems getting UK food to come up on the log. Perhaps trying to reduce branded, processed foods might assist you here as well?

Koldnomore

Nope, makes no difference..none. Zero, zip, nada.. Eat at a 20% deficit from your TDEE and you WILL lose weight. It's not hard, it's not complicated. I really wish more people would understand that.

You don't need pills, you don't need doctors, you don't need to kill yourself at the gym. You need to find out exactly how many calories you need (1600 is way too low for you by the way), you need to record your food, buy a scale and weigh it. If you can't find 'UK food" then use USA food or something similar or the MFP food. If you don't track you will NOT lose weight. Stop trying to do everything at once. Read the roadmap, figure out your TDEE (at least 2k), track your food, lose weight...easy.

twelfty

Nope, makes no difference..none. Zero, zip, nada.. Eat at a 20% deficit from your TDEE and you WILL lose weight. It's not hard, it's not complicated. I really wish more people would understand that.

You don't need pills, you don't need doctors, you don't need to kill yourself at the gym. You need to find out exactly how many calories you need (1600 is way too low for you by the way), you need to record your food, buy a scale and weigh it. If you can't find 'UK food" then use USA food or something similar or the MFP food. If you don't track you will NOT lose weight. Stop trying to do everything at once. Read the roadmap, figure out your TDEE (at least 2k), track your food, lose weight...easy.

this is true but doing a bit of cardio regularly will help massively, not only in weight loss but gaining back fitness lost from not doing much for a long time, part of weight loss is feeling good and getting into any form of cardio WILL make you feel good if you stick with it

SyntonicGarden

If you need more inspiration, I just saw this on the boards...

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/897136-i-ve-lost-228-pounds-lost-in-12-months



And someone else reminded me of Ed Davenport's AMAZING AMAZING transformation...

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/626293-3-yr-anniversary-307-lbs-lost-picture-heavy

Granted they're both men, but I share their stories only because I can't remember the name of the woman who had such amazing results...

366to266

Anything is better than doing nothing because you can't manage a full hour yet.


ETA: I've never had any problems getting UK food to come up on the log. Perhaps trying to reduce branded, processed foods might assist you here as well?

It's really annoying when someone does this to me (above). What I mean is..

(a) does not read my OP properly then gives unhelpful advice that makes it look like I do NOTHING 24/7 when in fact I was simply exhausted from doing too much exercise. You won't find a woman of 54 weighing 346 who exercises more than I do.


and

(b) Assuming I eat processed junk.


I just checked Jojo's food diary and she lives off branded junk foods, Sainsbury's ready-meals and Kellogg's cereals andd branded protein shakes..

My diet is cleaner than hers:
NO READY MEALS
NO JUNK
NO PROCESSED
NO ARTIFICIAL
ONE-INGREDIENT FOODS ONLY
NO SUGAR
NO STARCH
NO ALCOHOL
NO SWEETENERS
NO WHEAT
NO GRAIN
NO ALCOHOL

366to266

If you need more inspiration, I just saw this on the boards...

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/897136-i-ve-lost-228-pounds-lost-in-12-months



And someone else reminded me of Ed Davenport's AMAZING AMAZING transformation...

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/626293-3-yr-anniversary-307-lbs-lost-picture-heavy

Granted they're both men, but I share their stories only because I can't remember the name of the woman who had such amazing results...

Thanks, syntonic.

Therealobi1

hiyah i hate exercise and prob always will
but i force myself everday atleast 20/30 mins a day. i must say i feel so much better after. i am slowly seeing benefits and feeling stronger. so i think its worth it. try and find an activity u enjoy

lunameow

Gotta address this whole "drug dependent" stigma, because it's BS. If you had diabetes, you wouldn't call taking insulin every day a "dependency". If you were born with a hole in your heart and had to take medication to regulate that, you wouldn't call it a "dependency". Depression and other mental illnesses are medical conditions, and sometimes, just like any other medical condition, they DO require that you take maintenance medications to regulate.

I have not, do not, and will not ever apologize or make excuses for my "dependency" on my anti-anxiety meds and anti-depressants. Before meds, I was miserable, cranky, and always tired. Once I started the meds, I had a MUCH more positive outlook on life, and THAT is what got me exercising and watching my calories, because I love my life and I love myself, and I'll do whatever it takes to make me happier and healthier, both physically and mentally.

(Okay, yes. You'd be insulin-dependent, but there's a difference between that and implying an addiction.)

Sqeekyjojo

By all means go on the attack about how much of a better person you are if it deflects attention away from the fact you are here complaining you can't over exercise without having to spend the rest of the week shuffling between the couch and the refrigerator.

You may notice that my diary is open for anyone to see; I am not ashamed of chemo making me feel too sick to eat breakfast; sometimes my breakfast is actually eaten at about 4pm because the antiemetics haven't kicked in yet. This morning, I have had a bacon and egg mcmuffin. Even UK branded foods are on this database, I find.

I could eat better. It wouldn't make me a different person. I keep ridiculous hours, especially when I am trying to balance chemo drugs and steroids with rehearsals, soundchecks and gigs. Sometimes I drink. I'm over 18, it is allowed, and it is always recorded accurately. Entering what I actually consume every day without exception or excuses that I have got it noted down 'somewhere' does make me honest about what I do, however. This isn't some online RPG where we compete to be a Pureeater Level 3000, it's supposed to be recording what we actually do so we can see it written down and see where we may choose to make improvements.

I also exercise. I don't kill myself on one day a week, I keep as active as I can every day. Sometimes that is purely running to the toilet to throw up again. Chemo sucks, especially as there isn't a foreseeable end to taking the drugs; it's every week for the rest of my life. I'm off to the gym again this afternoon. If I'm feeling good, I will go past my minimum plan. If not, I'll keep to that. If I feel unwell, I'll do what I can in the knowledge that, as long as I do something everyday, it's more effective than flapping around once a week and watching Star Trek the rest of the week.



The reason I replied to this thread is that you blatantly lied about needing permission to change GP in the UK, assuming that you were just bull****ting a bunch of well meaning Americans who didn't have a clue about how the NHS works. If you can lie about that, what else has to be taken with a pinch of salt?