Hi, im 35 years old and started to put on some weight in my teens. Of course it hase become some more over the years so now i am fairly heavy. However i am struggling with motivation since i dont see any big health effects, despite of all alarms in TV and on internet. ok i can admit that my blood pressure is slightly on the high side, but i am not on prescriptions.
Are there any people here who already experiences health issues due to the overweight?
Hi, I'm in my early 30s. Like you I put on weight in my teens and more or less kept adding to it until last year, when I decided to make a change and get healthy. I started out about 4-5 stone overweight, now down to a healthy weight.
I started to lose weight before I experienced any really bad health problems (e.g. diabetes, heart disease). But, I already had some problems that I perhaps was in denial about or just did not realise were an issue. I had some knee and back pain particularly when doing intense or long periods of activity, like a long day wandering about a city or gardening at home. At the time I thought it was "normal" to have these pains but they have gone away now I am a healthy weight. I also feel I have a lot more energy and sleep better, but I wouldn't have necessarily said I felt tired before or had a problem sleeping when I was heavier.
Although I was aware though that I was putting my health at risk being so overweight, what made me realise I needed to change was I was starting to find it harder to enjoy active hobbies. I worried that in the future I would not be able to join in because of my weight. I didn't want my life to be limited by my weight.
Nothing anyone else can say will really motivate. You need to find the reasons within yourself why staying overweight is worse than the effort of changing your lifestyle to get healthy. You need to believe it is worth it for the changes to stick.
Hi Andy_me
You know, I guess it's a bit like smoking really. I walk along streets where there are people in their 20's and 30's outside pubs / offices / whatever smoking.
Now when you're that sort of age, there seems little direct impact on your health from your smoking. However, wind the clock on 20 or 30 years, and then you DO find the problems only too painfully clearly. Someone who has smoked on average of a pack a day for 20 years will be seen by most medics as a significant candiate for COPD and a wad of other problems and issues.
And it's kind of the same for eating or being overweight. Your body is pretty adaptive, if you eat badly for a few days or even weeks and then get yourself back into good eating habits, it's unlikely to cause you much harm. Hey, generations of humans have lived through famine and feast times.
But generally people don't do being overweight for just a few days or a couple of weeks. They get into bad eating habits, start putting on weight and then continue putting on more weight.
One issue with being overweight is that the fat you carry isn't "neutral". It has an impact upon your body. In effect it IS a body organ and secretes substances into your system, much as various glands do. Those secretions can increase your risks of various types of cancer. And yes there's the increased risks of diabetes, heart problems, etc., etc.
Similarly - as algionjen points out - your excess weight is having an effect upon your skeleton and your joints. And the longer you carry it around, the more it will do so.
In fact, that extra weight and that extra percentage of fat is having a lot of effects upon your body.
Add to that the fact that if you are overweight, it's probably because you're eating an unbalanced diet and that might not be the best nutritiously.
But I've no wish to scare-monger the health risks, but I think you'll probably get the idea. Most people would think it best to be ex-fatties, rather than future and ongoing ones.
For me, the best motivation is probably two-fold. But then I do have the benefit of looking at all this in hindsight.
1) I did it. Me. I took control of the situation and got my weight under control and changed my eating habits.
2) My new slimmer and lighter body is so much easier to move around in, compared to my previous four-and-a-bit-stone overweight one.
But, really you're just going to have to find yoursellf a motivation that "presses your buttons" - whatever they may be for you.
Thank you for that sound advice. I'm now 61 (going on 40!) and although Ive always eaten quite well, drinking at home is a relatively new habit in our society, and this has contributed to me slowly gaining approx 1 lb per year for 20yrs. And yes, it is much harder to control post menopause, and I have had a knee problem, and high BP (now controlled ) and the publicity about type2 diabetes is a worry.
However, I am now trying very hard to sensibly lose 20lbs on 1200 cals per day, but if im honest, its more about how I look and feel , rather than my long term health , that motivates me.
Hi there,
It can be really disheartening to be trying to lose weight and get fit, and not seeing those immediate results. You obviously have identified that you need to slim down due to the health benefits but you have to remember that there is a multitude of things that have to come together to stay on your weight loss journey...it's certainly not just a question of what you put in your mouth.
Firstly, you've got to understand that the process will take time...nothing will happen overnight.
Second, treat your journey as a big project in your life (like a new job, moving home, learning a new language, getting married etc), rather than a side event.
Third, look to change a little thing each day...don't start doing something drastic on day 1...it'll never last.
Fourth, make sure you have your friends, family and/or partner with you every step of the way! There's nothing worse than someone trying to persuade you to have a late night Indian with them!
William237
Hi william237,
I do agree.
There does seem to be a tendency for people to perceive weight loss as some desperate race against time. And those "you can lose 20 stones in 5 microseconds on our wondrously expensive and actually quite useless diet" adverts perhaps tend to add to that sense of urgency.
And, for sure, it's hard when presented with a fact such as, I'm four stone overweight, or 40% of my body is fat, or whatever, to not want to "solve" the problem in a hurry.
But no-one put on those extra kilos overnight, and no-one is going to lose it in a great hurry either as your body takes time to adapt back to a new and healthier eating regime. (And the smarty-pants who just said you'd lose it in a hurry if you had surgery probably needs to include all the preparations that go on prior to the actual surgery itself!)
Quite the contrary, the advice to keep to an average weight loss of 1 to 2 lbs a week is very sound indeed.
It's a process - not an event.
testing this week, starting next, any tips?
A quick Hello! 
Old age codger asking for advice.
Struggling to get my act into gear.
