gidgeclev Member

It really brings home the power of words. Being obese sounds dreadful and as though losing it all will take forever whereas merely being overweight sounds as though it's just a matter of cutting out the biscuits to lose a few pounds. In reality it is only a pound that separates the two. And we all know that it is much…

Well done, I remember a colleague having a health check at work and being ticked off by the nurse for being overweight. He jumped round the room in glee while she looked at him as though he was mad until he said that at the same point last year he was obese!

Love the thought of the single malt addition... sounds like a Christmas day option! Not before going to work though.

You can also soak uncooked porridge oats overnight in juice or yoghurt and eat them without cooking. Cooking them with water is fine. I love oats.

I think it's really funny.... try posting something about 'starvation mode', low carb diets or losing weight on under 1200 calories a day and watch them all swing into action! There seems to be a lack of understanding that one size does not fit all... everyone is different and has to find a way of losing weight that suits…

I am, I'm on management as I am now down to target weight. I wish I had known about Lighter Life years ago, i'ts a brilliant programme but be prepared to put the work in at the group sessions.

Absolutely - sometimes I feel that this site is full of people who are justifying over eating to themselves. In case anyone wants to know I'm 53 years old, 5'4" ( which is average height in the UK) weigh 140 lbs which is where I want to be and cannot lose weight except on a low carb diet of around 1000 calories.

Low carb diets give you some side effects for the first week. Stick with it and they will go away. Don't take any notice of people saying you are eating too little and trying to make you eat fruit which is high in sugar. Low carb works and it works fast which is very mitivating. My advice is to drop the weight fast with…

I'm 5'4" and 53 years old. In my adult life I have been as low as 110 ibs but I was possibly too thin and this was in my 20's. I would look dreadful at that weight now, I'm around 140lbs and look slim.

I like to leave it on the supermarket shelf and buy something else instead.

farting...... definitely. otherwise my gym is full of well behaved people. Large girls running and sweating are a positive inspiration, made me run as well although I have hurty knees and a dodgy back.

Thank you all for your entertaining responses - I'm always amazed at just how many people get so excited about starvation mode threads. Has whiled away a boring day at work for me folks. Ta ta for now.

A small period of human history? I think that you will find that the whole of prehistory is a very large span of human existance during which we were mainly hunter gatherers in environments that did not offer plentiful food at all times. But to turn the theory on it's head which is what I am doing here, let's discuss…

Please do some research into prehistory. Humans were inhabiting some extreme environments in the last glacial epoch, food was hard to come by in the winter months, hunter gatherers are always at the mercy of the elements and the vagaries of animal migration. It was no garden of Eden.

They got the sizing wrong in the first place. There is no way that you have lost 13 pounds and are bigger. You are at least 1 size smaller. Be assertive - tell them that they are talking nonsense and got the measurements wrong in the first place.

Actually, not true, we died because we did not have access to antibiotics or because childbirth killed us. If you survived childhood and the childbearing years you could live quite a long life. The average age at death was low because of huge infant mortality which skews the stats.

indeed, I don't lose weight on 1200 calories a day. One school of thought will tell me that i have damaged my metabolism by dieting over the last few years to lose 3 stone. I would say that my body is now efficient and does not need so many calories to sustain a healthy existence. I'm happy and healthy on less than that a…

No one old enough to be your father and no one young enough to be your son. Gives about a 30 year span to choose from!

And I used to be able to lose weight and eat eat carbs too.... looking at your photos most of the posters on here are young. When you are over 50 (and particularly when you are female) you may well find that it is a very different story. Just bear that in mind for the next 20 years or so!

Read the whole post please. Low carb and low calorie works for me but I am 53 not 23. I'm not advocating that everyone does what do, I'm advocating an experimental approach to see what works best for individuals. There is a lot of very ill informed and dogmatic opinion on these boards sometimes which is not helpful.

What works for some doesn't work for others. If you feel that you are gaining weight on that amount of calories then go lower again and see if it works. Personally I can't lose weight unless I seriously resrict carbs and eat under 1200 a day as well. That's what works for me. It wouldn't have been ideal at 20 but I am 53…

It works... it is the only diet regime that does work for me, (53 and way post menopause), Belive me I have tried everything and a 'healthy diet' of 1500 calories of carbs veg, fruit and protein will cause me to gain weight. So don't knock it...you may find that when you get old it will be the only way for you too.

Obviously none. I've never seen a fat pirate.

Should Hairy Bikers and Nigella be mentioned in the same sentence... it seems very wrong to me!

I would suggest low carb. 60g or less a day. I see you are in the UK, I am too and I have found that the Lighter Life programme really works but it is not cheap ( but it is quick!). It is based on soya protein meal replacements for all or most of your meals depending on your BMI and the soya could help with menopausal…

It's the inability to feel full that intrigues me. I can seriously overeat and I won't know that I have overdone it because I don't feel full until maybe an hour or more later. Then I can be very uncomfotable because I have eaten far too much. It means constant vigilance and portion control and never doing any diet plan…

I read about this on the BBC website and will have to catch it on I player - the undernourished mother thing is interesting, obviously those of us of a certain age were born only a few years after the end of food rationing to women who had probably been undernourished for their teenage years. I never feel full either but…

Oh I feel for you. I had premature ovarian failure sometime in my mid thirties ( it was disguised by the pill) and I was on HRT for 7 years from 40. I too put on a lot of weight. I have been off HRT for about 5 years and I have finally managed to lose all the weight that the menopause and HRT put on. I found that carbs did…

mash them up with low fat cream cheese, black pepper and some lemon juice to make a fish pate that you can spread on crispbread or use as a dip with crudites. Personally I love them and eat them out of the tin.

I successfully lost weight with WW in the past but their new plan is really not good. If you have a lot to lose and are eating a lot of unhealthy food it will work for you up to a certain point. However any plan that tells you fruit and vegetables are 'free' and uses a complicated method of basically calculating calories…