I’m 43 and up until 2 years ago, I ran 5 days a week until my AF burden made it impossible. During this time, I have inevitably gained weight which I can’t seem to shift even with diet and daily hour long dog walks.
On the days when Im not in AF, I don’t have the energy to attempt to run largely because of the fatigue on my current meds - 10 mg of bisoprosol.
Does anybody have advice or tips on exercise I can do which will shift the pounds?
TIA
Weight changes are 80% diet, 20% exercise - most doctors will advise tackling diet first and look to building exercise into your daily life.
Oh, I think losing weight is always hard work! When we get to middle age (I'm now well past it) it gets harder still and if we're on meds that slow us down..... the task becomes a real struggle.
I think it's a question of food intake rather than exercise; at least, it is for me. If we don't burn off what we swallow, it turns to fat. This process is inevitable.
I've learned that it's not the quantity we eat that piles on the pounds, it's what we eat. You have an added issue; you need energizing, so must choose food wisely. If you fancy some practical advice, try what I do and see how you feel after a couple of weeks:
Eat plenty of fresh or frozen green/highly coloured vegetables (excluding spuds), salad and fruit, whenever you like. Potatoes are OK, but not roasted, not every day and watch the portion size.
Eat food that is steamed, microwaved or cold. Stir-fry is OK with a little oil such as rapeseed. In other words, try to avoid anything roasted/soaked in fat. Eat pickled veg (helps digestion).
Avoid take-aways.
Scramble or boil eggs, avoid frying them. If not a veggie, grill bacon - 2 slices max. Same with sausages.
Avoid biscuits, cake, sweets and anything with refined sugar in it. Watch out for sugary breakfast cereals! Avoid cream.
Eat oats or wheat cereals, porridge made with water; add a little honey or frozen fruit to taste.
Eat plenty of oily fish, white fish and chicken. Avoid highly processed food. Canned fish is fine and excellent over a little pasta (80g) with herbs and tomatoes/a few olives. Choose a can of fish (sardines/mackerel/herring) that has a tasty dressing and tip the whole can over rice or pasta.
Change to semi skimmed or skimmed milk if you currently use full fat. Personally, I use soya or oat milk (substitute).
Try to eat 3 times a day or little and more often. Watch the portion sizes for everything other than fruit/veg though; we need much less than we think. This especially applies to cheese; a matchbox size is enough for 1 person.
Snack on raw carrots, celery, little oranges, raisins and raw nuts etc., - but not too many nuts, just a handful.
Cut out sugary/fizzy drinks, avoid alcohol and don't overdo fruit juice. A very small glass once a day of fresh juice is sufficient. Drink a lot of plain water.
Limit bread and keep it whole grain/seedy. Use a low fat spread instead of butter. Try to make friends with Marmite. Toasted bread is best, our bodies work harder to break it down.
Control portion sizes for rice (brown 80g), pasta (whole grain 80g), bread (wholegrain 1 slice) and be cautious with anything that has flour in it.
Avoid pastry, especially puff and flaky pastry. Avoid sausage rolls, pizza, pasties and pies!
See how you're doing after a couple of weeks. You should not feel constantly hungry and if you've lost at least 4lbs, you're definitely on the right track.
Pick'n'mix the above. Find a system and pattern that works for you and add in the 'avoids' on occasion when you feel you've got things well under control.
Good luck!
Thank you! I do think that it’s harder for women to lose weight than men. I used to share an office with mostly men and they seemed to lose a stone within a week just by giving up sugar in their tea. Meanwhile I would be exercising, fasting, eating low carb, counting calories and struggled to lose a pound. Admittedly I’m not vastly overweight at all but having always been slim, I want to stay trim at least but it’s like there is nothing I can do. I currently do all of your very helpful suggestions and think that bc my beta blocker intake has increased from 2.5 to 10, my metabolism seems to have slowed down along with my energy levels 🥹
Absolutely agree with you. It seems men need more calories than women to begin with; at least, they seem to burn more off more easily!
Have you worked out your basal metabolic rate? I was shocked to discover that mine is a mere 1031 calories per day. A bowl of soup and a bread roll and I'm halfway there! Add in the physical activity level and it comes out at around 1400 per day, less if I am sedentary.
Here's a link to a calculator that also gives an indication of weighting for activity levels if you don't know what your daily bmr/calorie burn rate is.
calculator.net/bmr-calculat...
It might provide a useful baseline regarding your essential calorie intake. If your beta blockers are reducing what you can burn off, at least you'll know your starting point in terms of daily calorie need just to tick over before any activity is taken into account to burn off the pounds.
I hope this is more helpful!
I lost a couple of stones after open heart surgery, despite being on Beta Blockers. They might not help, but they're far from being an insurmountable barrier to weight loss.
I hesitate to give diet advice because we're all so different, what worked for me may very well not fit with your life style, religion, budget, personality, genetic make-up, medical issues, etc, etc.
What I do find fascinating however is that in the 1970's we really didn't have a weight problem in this country. Obesity was only about 2%, versus nearly 30% today. It's easy to think that we ate less and moved more in the 70's, but the facts don't really support that. We have a similar total calorific intake today (although we eat very different things), and the people who have jobs that require them to be more active tend to be more overweight than sedentary office workers.
We all think we know the answer to this puzzle, but there really is no consensus amongst the very clever and dedicated people who have spent years studying this.
For what it's worth I suspect today's ultra processed foods and culture of snacking between meals may well be responsible. But really we all need to find our own path through this particular minefield.
What is clear however is that losing weight is a national imperative. From heart disease and strokes to cancer and diabetes, the obesity epidemic sweeping Britain is seriously damaging our health.
Good luck!
Thank you! I already eat well, not a consumer of sugar and do intermittent fasting but the weight is piling on still and t he main difference is not being able to run. I may need to shake things up more and try something new perhaps 🤔
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