significance Member

Do you have sugar in your oatmeal, or (even worse) use those sugary flavoured sachets? If so, that is probably the cause of the problem. Plain oats are fairly low GI, complex carbs, and even have a reasonable protein content. You can add some chopped nuts to increase the protein/fat hit if you have the calories to spare.

Oishii, I'm not convinced either way, but another way to look at it is to consider the speed at which your feet move. Both tall and short people have to move their feet at the same speed to walk at the same pace. The taller person might be moving the top of their thigh slower than the shorter person to achieve this…

"Pick yourself up, dust yourself off, start all over again". (Don't beat yourself up - just don't do it again tomorrow!)

When I'm a little hungry, I try to ignore it, thinking "good: that means I'm burning fat." When I'm very hungry, I eat something, bringing forward a snack intended for later in the day, or finding some time to do more exercise than planned to increase my calorie allowance. When I'm starving in the way you describe, it…

I get outside on my bike or go walking in the bush while listening to audiobooks and podcasts.

I'm just over 5'1". 4.5mph (7.2 kph) is a very brisk walk for me: it's about the speed I walk when walking for fitness on the flat. At that speed, I do have an elevated heart rate and I puff a little. My normal pace is closer to 3mph/5kph. I'm told I have a fairly distinctive stride and people can pick me from a distance…

I'm 37 and yes, I mostly agree. I saw an 80-year old woman in a mini-skirt and halter top the other day, though, and it did look odd. Have to love her confidence, though!

Correct. We don't even have college football here, but I'm not a spectator sport fan in general. The person below me is a writer?

There are a few possibilities: 1) Maybe they're right and you don't need to lose that much: what is your BMI? 2) Maybe you wear your fat well (dress well, good posture, etc) and you look slimmer than you are. 3) Because most of the population is now overweight, maybe they have reset their idea of "normal weight" and don't…

Yes, two pairs of socks does really help in my experience. I'd forgotten about that!

Low blood sugar, perhaps? Try eating something before you exercise and sticking more to low GI foods?

Once your blisters are mostly healed, use the medical tape without the gauze (the gauze itself can rub). Meanwhile, try those stick-on silica blister pads. Double-check that your shoes are the right size (including the right width), and suitable for the kind of exercise you are doing. Try talc or foot powder in your shoes,…

It's normal to lose weight quickly at first and then slow down. I wouldn't call 2 weeks a plateau - it's just a bit of variation in what will probably prove to be a continuing downward trend. I'm a similar height and weight (5'1" and 59kg, down from 71kg in January) and have consistently lost weight sticking to 1200…

Soft, smooth food, but NOT sweet food (custard, pudding, sweet yoghurt and jelly). I ate puddings and custard after I had all my wisdom teeth out and because I couldn't brush so vigorously while my gums were healing, I needed 3 fillings in my back teeth when I next visited the dentist 6 months later.

It's hard to know when people notice. It is, after all, very rude to comment on someone's weight, weight gain or weight loss. I've lost 13kg (18% of my starting weight), bringing me from a BMI of 29 to a BMI of 23 and from jeans size 14 (Australian) to size 10. My husband says he can really tell, and I can certainly see…

I second the salad idea (you can mix them up by adding nuts or fruit or a little lean meat). I also second the foil (or baking-paper)-wrapped fish idea: you can use different types of fish with different other ingredients (sliced lemon, tomato, olives, capers, various herbs, and lemongrass all work well in different…

There's probably nothing you can do about it and it is probably best left alone. But if you feel compelled to (and I understand why you might be), one approach might be to buy a book such as "The CSIRO Wellbeing Plan for Kids" (http://www.csiro.au/science/WellbeingForKids.html) as a gift. Don't refer to the problem…

I stuck to 1200 for 6 months, lost weight steadily the whole time, and have recently got back to 1200 after a few weeks off. I usually exercise about 1000 cals/day and eat back enough that my net is around 1000 calories - but I go up to a net of 1200 if I'm hungry. I was hungry all the time for the first couple of weeks of…

I'd say sedentary, because those really are short distances and the walking probably isn't getting your heart rate up much, or for long. I doubt it's enough to bring you up a category. The good news is that you do get to log every little bit of exercise when you're down as sedentary.

:) I'm shorter than you - 157cm.

Thanks for the tip. I've definitely never seen them in shops in Australia and I have spent a lot of time looking for pants that fit! I will look into online options now that I know they exist!

I had a freckle in my eye when I was a child. I'm not sure if it was the same thing as your son has: in my case, it was surgically removed and I had follow-up eye examinations once a year for the next few years afterwards.

ninerbuff, if your elderly relative needed 24-hour nursing, would you give up your job and live on welfare to provide that? Or are you assuming that your relatives will never get that ill or that if they do, someone else in your family (a wife, perhaps) would do that for you? Even if you were willing to give up your job…

When I'm fat, I'm size 14 on the bottom and 12 on top. When I'm skinny, I'm size 10 on the bottom and 8 on the top (take 2 sizes off these to get US sizes, but the top-bottom difference remains). It means lots of dresses and pants will never fit well (if they fit my thighs and bum, they're baggy at the waist), but oh well.…

I totally agree. Even on a frosty morning, rainy day or 40C (>100F) afternoon, I'd rather be out on my bike than working out in a gym.

Favourite snack? Chocolate and cakes :) Favourite healthy snacks? carrot sticks, mixed nuts, vita wheat crackers, plain oat cakes, or fruit.

Oats prepared this way are also called "Bircher muesli." A web search for that will bring up heaps more recipes.

My problem was always snacks. A typical day while I was gaining weight fast: Breakfast: two weet bix with the barest splash of milk Morning tea: a chocolate bar Lunch: a thin cheese sandwich Afternoon tea: a 300mL choc milk and a slice of cake Dinner: same as I eat now (about 400 calories) Dessert: sometimes fruit,…

Try fresh sardines before you try tinned sardines. Sardines are really good for you, but the tinned ones taste and smell... well, I guess it's an acquired taste. My stomach wobbles if someone else opens a tin in the same room.

You have to believe that you can really do it to stay committed. And you really can do it. When you're wavering, ask yourself, "I want this cake, but do I want it more than I want to be slim and healthy?" If you sometimes feel under pressure from your family to eat more when you shouldn't, think about what it will mean for…