Vailara Member

I'm just flying by this morning, but just wanted to say yay to us women as well! You two are inspirational to me! And I am so excited about your blood sugar trial, Snoozie! Fingers crossed for the best results. And your work with the Arts Center also sounds pretty exciting, Suzy! Will check in another day when I'm not…

You had a baby monitor next to your head! I don't know how you did that! I was thinking about how exhausting the days must have been, I didn't even think about getting up in the night! It's hard enough as a young parent, but definitely not good at our age. You really went above and beyond to help. Your niece must be so…

That's a great idea, Suzy. A clean start. I need to follow your example. I think you are right that it's better not to have those foods in the house at all. Look after yourself when you get back and get some rest. You must be exhausted. I hope the endocrinologist appointment went well, Snoozie. That does sound encouraging…

I would not want to share a room either, Snoozie! I am so fussy about how I sleep, and I go to bed early and I get up several times in the night, and I think I snore sometimes too, so wouldn't be fair on the person I'm sharing with. Also it's a pain if you can't sleep and you're sharing a room and having to lie there in…

You are so kind to your niece, Suzy. I'm sorry about the complications. Wishing her a quick and easy recovery, for her sake and yours! You'd mentioned your sister before, Snoozie. Yes, must be so frustrating! There are so many years at the end of life to spend being "old", you don't want to start in your '60s! Although, I…

I didn't even think of the heat as well as looking after a toddler! No wonder you are exhausted. Suzy! I'm glad your work is going well, Snoozie. Two to three shifts sounds like plenty. I only work two or three days a week now usually, but it's a big difference to not working at all. I really notice it when I have time off…

Just thinking about what you are saying about seniors groups. I am happy to be friends with people of any age, but my father's experience has really made me think. He used to be very social, but one by one all his friends have died, so he is quite socially isolated now compared to a few years ago. Almost all my friends are…

Hopefully they wouldn't be prescribed unless there was a health risk, and the benefits outweigh (!) the potential risks of the medication, and of course it's not cheating to take action to improve your health. However, reading this thread, I hear that there might be times when they're prescribed inappropriately to people…

I wonder if it's not as simple as family history and/or lifestyle. I think maybe a mixture of a lot of different things which tend to interact, including the wider environment, epigenetics, stress, trauma, infections, inflammation, diabetes, childhood adversity, etc. And maybe some luck involved as well! The lifestyle bit…

Weight Watchers is a method for restricting calories, so similar to MFP in that sense. Like all of those paid-for diets, they obviously want you to pay for the programme and keep paying, hence things like points systems which you have to buy into (and keep buying into). It's ages since I've done it. The advantages are…

Oh, that is so cold! Yes, we did have a cold snap here but I don't think it got that cold. It is now above freezing most days. I can see why it might be tempting to avoid these months altogether!

Looks like you have "volunteered" yourself as group organiser! I hope the bowling is fun. Hopefully somebody will step as a kind of co-leader so you're not doing it all yourself. There are a couple of similar groups running here, and they have things like theatre and cinema, book groups, walks, etc. as well as the coffee…

Oh, Suzy, what awful news! You are so right about not knowing what tomorrow will bring. And that every day is a new opportunity to do better, and also to live and enjoy. I'm so sorry about your friends. It's just so unfair. I lost a lovely friend last year to cancer too, and have lost others over the years. It really makes…

Oh, ignore me about the cruises, lol! It was just that when you said, I thought it sounded wonderful, but then imagined myself stuck on a boat going past interesting places, then stopping somewhere else! But it's no different to if it was a train, and I quite enjoy going past places on a train. I am all for everything…

I'm sorry about your dad's diagnosis, Suzy. It's so awful. And about your mom's pain. I hope the therapy helps: hopefully if she is doing nothing at the moment it could be a big improvement? It's lovely that you have your new grandson to look forward to at the other end of the life course! So exciting, and I imagine you…

You know, I hadn't really thought about it too much before but it makes sense that the fat is more important than the weight, as otherwise you'd just expect bigger/taller people to all have joint problems! My view on fat loss is that cardio won't do a huge amount, it's more about diet and if losing weight, you're losing…

Talking of joints and weight, I was assuming that the problem with being overweight was mechanical, putting extra load on the joints and causing damage. But I've just re-read some of the information on the physiotherapy page I use and apparently it's due to "switching on" of inflammation by chemical messengers (adipokenes)…

Isn't it awful, looking back, who would nag a child about their weight? I was lucky that my parents didn't but I know it was common then. I did get nagged about things, but weight wasn't one of them. I luckily escaped dieting until my 20s, I think, and my body image was OK until then. Although there was no need for me to…

Thank you! I'm up two pounds this morning, just to stop me being complacent! But it reminded me that I really don't want to let it creep up again. It's really annoying that my joint problems have got worse this year while at my lightest in years, and I tend to think, oh, what's the point, the weight loss hasn't helped. But…

I was adding my weight into my programme today and noticed that I am 2 stone (28 pounds) lighter than when I started just over a year ago! I'm still a little bit above my lowest weight, but quite pleased with that.

You don't need to watch the whole video, Suzy, I just posted it because we'd been talking about fasting and he mentions the results of the study he was doing a few weeks ago, basically that people who reducing their eating window to ten hours seemed to be less hungry and have other benefits. It's interesting that it worked…

I'm glad you liked the video, Snoozie! There are some other videos on individual aspects but I felt this one was a good overview. I took part in the study he mentions, with the app! I had to stop drinking my splash of milk in my tea in the morning! But have kept up the habit of the first cup of tea being black. It's funny…

Tim Spector interview on youtube. In the video description you can skip to the timestamps of the various subjects if you don't want to watch the whole thing! It covers calories, vitamins, microbiome, intermittent fasting, exercise, et. https://youtu.be/66hWntvp0_4

Just while we're talking about it there's a Tim Spector interview on youtube this week which covers a lot of his main points about research into dieting https://youtu.be/66hWntvp0_4 The bit about intermittent fasting (he calls it time restricted eating too, the same as on my programme, so that must bhe the new fashionable…

Well done on the walking. The weight room sounds great, and not too expensive to try it out - what a find! It's not so much the size or the equipment but whether you'll actually use it, and if it's somewhere you're going anyway to walk then it's going to fit in a lot better. After I posted about my eating pattern, I had a…

Yes, I had some success with fasting, and although I don't do the long fasts now, I still do what my programme calls Time Restricted Eating. Same thing as intermittent fasting really, in that you eat every day but within an eating window. It actually suits me to have my window quite small, so I don't eat until lunchtime at…

Glad you like the yoga with Adrienne, Suzy! And that you have found a video that might work for you, Snoozie! I haven't actually been doing her course this year. I felt it was enough with my exercise programme for now. But I do like her videos. She was recommended to me by a trainer on a previous weight loss course that I…

Happy New Year! And welcome to the group, Mary! You sound like you have things in hand, Snoozie with the planning. You're making me feel I need to have something more tangible. My fancy body fat scales are not working at the moment, so I haven't had that check in - still using the other scales but not consistently and I…

That's so nice about the fruit tray, Snoozie! That would have made my day! The Sri Lankan food was really good. It was mainly fine rice noodles with a coconut gravy, and a chicken dish and sambal (spicy coconut dish). Lots of coconut and quite hot and spicy, which I like. I'm already on board with the simple cooking, Suzy,…

The last one I find a bit ominous and stressful, lol! Even if it's true. I like "The more we see health as a practice rather than as a problem to fix, the more we encourage the body’s natural potential to be healthy.", even though it's a bit long. To be honest, I haven't thought yet about what I would like to achieve. I…