I am 33 and I have realized how I have lost control over my weight in the last 5/10 years. I use to be healthy, running every day and with a normal BMI. 10 years after (and 2 kids which apparently impacted more on my weight than on my wife's... ) I found myself on the edge of obesity. So I took up running again and I have now been regularly running for 3 years often logging over 30 miles per week (I even managed to run a couple of Belfast marathons)
However, this did not help! My BMI is still over 30 and my waist is still over 104!!! And I am worrying that this could compromise my future health...
So I have decided to do something and I have started looking at calories intake (never done this before so I am testing it this week and I must admit it's difficult, I often cook and I am not used to check calories in the kitchen or at the table...)
Any suggestion is welcome
Hope to give good news later in the summer
Marco
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marco83
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I'm sure one of the admin types will be around to welcome you soon so I'll just carry on.
You've definitely come to the right place! This is a great, friendly community and I'm really glad to have stumbled across it.
As to your question, I would recommend a set of kitchen scales. I never really measured ingredients while cooking before starting on the 12-week plan (on the NHS Choices website) unless I was baking. But I've found that's a good way for extra calories to creep in. Weighing out my ingredients when cooking and then my portions when serving keeps me on track.
Good luck! I'm impressed with your running. Definitely not for me.
Welcome to the NHS weight loss forum. I would recommend having a read of our Welcome Newbie post - see the Pinned posts area (top right-hand-side of the homepage) and it will be the first post you see there. The NHS 12 week plan is really good, full of information and suggestions, and easy to follow. I use an app to help me to keep track of calories - the one I use is Myfitnesspal, and it's free and easy to use, but there are several around.
Hope you have a good weekend and a great week ahead.
Hi and a sunny welcome to this fab forum full of lovely people who have a wealth of advice to give.
Have you checked your calorie intake on the BMI checker as you sound really fit so your calorie allowance should be quite high if you put the very active part in when checking.
I can certainly recommend the 12 week plan so easy to follow and no reason why you can't tweak the recipes for yourself if you do the cooking at home. There are recipes on here some fantastic ones too if you look on the pinned posts section.
Good Luck unlike most of us who have to learn to increase our exercise yours should be plain sailing as you are already doing that.
Keep posting your progress. Monday is weigh in day but you can pop in and out when you want.
thanks everybody for the welcome! Great suggestions about scales and measurement of ingredients, not sure how to implement with the family but I'll try and keep updating...
Looking forward to this new challenge
Since I missed Monday, for a good start I am going to post weight and waist today here (inthe end these are the reasons I started this...) and keep posting in the right place from next week...
I am 94k (14st 11lb). for 177.5 cm (5.8) BMI 30, with waist 105 cm.
In theory I should drop below 78K(12st4lb) and 85/90 cm waist...
It's going to be a long journey...
Has anyone mentioned myfitnesspal yet? If you can get the app on your phone, then save things you often have so you can add them more easily (do this as you go along). Myfitnesspal makes calorie counting much easier and more efficient. Also, I don't use kitchen scales but I do use a tala dry measures cone, which measures things like rice, oats, sultanas, etc, don't even really need to wash it in between, well not every time anyway. Batch cooking is good too. Make large batches of curry/stew/soup, divide it into portions and freeze with a description and the number of calories written on the labels. I freeze portions of apple flapjacks, and ready prepared sandwiches (without the salad in - I take the salad separately in a pot each day), and you can even freeze fruit, then it's all ready to go when you need it.
Good luck and major respect for the 'couple of marathons'! Maybe check your waist as well as your weight as you go along too - you may find your waist shrinks quickly with all the exercise, but your weight may naturally be a bit higher due to being active/carrying a lot of muscle.
It may sound daunting at first but you will soon get used to it 😊 And it is excellent that you enjoy cooking 😊 After a while it becomes second nature as the new 'lean habits' kick in 😊 The biggest challenge for me was portion control, so I weigh before I cook, and cook enough for one meal, or two and divide it up before I eat it. That way, there are no tempting leftovers 😊
HI Marco. I found that counting calories is a bit of a pain, but it works really well. I noticed that when I don't write down what I eat or count calories, I either quit losing or gain a bit back. as far as running goes, I just dream I could run. I do dream that sometimes so I am hoping one day I will be able to as it looks like such fun! right now it is all I can do to walk some so if you can still run, enjoy it all you can. I saw in a post earlier that if you just take one small thing out of your daily eating (not diet, I hate that word), that you can and will lose weight. that is why I try to write everything down so I can see where I am sabotaging myself. good luck, we can do this!
I have kind of started, but I must say I am not very precise. I am writing down estimated calories for my food in an excel file. This definitely made me cut down unhealthy unplanned snacks and drinks, especially after dinner! And This is good.
I run (I would say a lot) so it is easy to get a very high difference between intake and need on some days... and have problems (I have never thought about it) like difficulties in running or very low energy level during the day.
In my test week (last week) I have dropped 3 kg. and a few (3-4) cm waist... I am in week 1, getting the balance right, looking at more precise figures for both my runs and my intake (I am still estimating at 50 cal. which I think is enough approx).
I will be off in vacation in Italy for a couple of weeks which means i won't have control over menus, but I can limit wine and portions (not sure if I will have the strength) and then start again from the 15th of August
I was just asking because I have been back on track for over a month and a 12-week plan sounds good, a bit more structure to what I am already doing. Counting calories...I am not sure if I could stick to it I would not want to get too obsessed over food, I do have a bit of a tendency (I think it is called back or white thinking, you either do it perfect to it all down hills) I am working on it
Tracking always helps at least makes you more aware of "what you are actually eating" and not "what you think you eat". I track the amount and the quality of the food I eat. I also try to plan ahead, that is vital for me.
You can get lots of walking-running-swimming during your holidays and also eating and drinking (they say "in moderation") hahaha.
thanks I will try to keep up, I do not like to get obsessed, for me food is good, is important and is life (but it became too much over the past few years
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