My first post! - Newbie

[AdieJ]

Hi all,

I have put weight on during covid and before....and still !!!!

My story is pretty basic, but I am married to my amazing wife and have 2 boys. I am 47 years old and at the start of Covid, I started running and joined this great 'HealthUnlocked' website/group on the couch 2 5K and I did it ! and LOVED it. Then I had a bad knee........and slowed down a bit. I loved running. A few months after my wife and myself both caught covid (2 years ago) and was very bad....it was when the very bad covid was around and no vaccines.

I was in bed for nearly 3 weeks and to cut a long story short - 2 years later my lungs are still sore when I get out of breath easy, this has effected my life....my exercise and I have put weight on.

I am here now as I looked to joining slimming world.....but the best group I ever had was chatting to people here !!!

I am on a journey to lose 2 stone minimum. I want to do it safe, cut back on fatty food with following my wife's old slimming world books. Exercise I will go on walks and small bike rides. I want to get to know people here too - so really looking forward to it.

I am ready for this !!! I am hoping this group is the one that can support me too on my journey.

Do people post weight losses on here etc? cheers all !

AdieJ

[JensterJam Visitor]

Good Luck AdieJ…. You’ve got this 👍

[N-o-r-d-i Maintainer 64kg]

A very warm welcome to the forum and there is nothing basic about your story. You certainly been through enough, but it's nice to see you sounding so determined and ready to tackle whatever life throws at you We hope you will benefit from being a member like so many of us had.

We do post weigh on here, we also post daily diaries, participate in challenges and just simply chat Please consider joining in with as many Events, Challenges and Clubs as you feel comfortable. Active participation makes a difference!

If you look at the Pinned Posts healthunlocked.com/weight-l... you will have plenty of information about the forum.

Don't be a stranger and shout out if you have any questions. Hope to see you around!

[AdieJ in reply to N-o-r-d-i]

Thank you so much!I’m so excited abs a daily diary sounds great.

I have seen people do weight posts by editing their original weight post and add weekly weights on that? Or best to hit reply on that thread?

Also any tips on diary’s? Just post on the day with foods - struggles, challenges on meals out etc?

Thanks

[Sheepfan 6kg in reply to AdieJ]

There's a weekly weigh in thread that will be on the pinned posts and every week you reply to the hosts initial post with your weigh in details. If you find the weekly weigh in thread all the instructions of how to lay the numbers out are on there though I've found its handy to keep a note on my phone of start weight and last week's weight for reference on weigh in day. Otherwise I end up scrolling through all my weeks replies to find the one with last week's weight details on!

I've only just started doing the daily diary last week, I just put on what I intend to eat that day. It's great seeing everyone else's meals (which are much more inventive than mine) and there are definitely some I will be attempting to copy! The daily diary thread for the week will also be on the pinned posts and you just reply to the hosts initial post the same as the weigh in.

Good luck figuring it all out and hope to see you getting involved soon!

[N-o-r-d-i Maintainer 64kg in reply to AdieJ]

a new weigh in thread starts every Monday and this week's one is here: healthunlocked.com/weight-l... host's post includes the format of how to record your starts, so it's easier to track and award badges Under the post there is a button 'Reply' - click and write your entry there.

This week's daily diary is here healthunlocked.com/weight-l...

Also, click reply to the host in order to join in the thread.

A lot of people said they found the forum a bit confusing to start, but with a little practice it becomes clear very soon

[Purplelady02]

Hello and welcome. This is the best support group and I know you will do well here. You have the right attitude already so that's a head start! Looking forward to seeing your progress 😀

[focused1 Maintainer 13kg]

What a positive and determined post . What a roller coaster of health issues you have endured . You have my admiration for having plans and making a start . I would do this as a lifestyle and make sure you have a few meals out . I always do main course when I go out with friends as initially my social life suffered as I was reluctant to eat anywhere but home but craved a bit of company . Weather is improving-that’s my motivation. Family walks enhance chat and don’t cost the earth . You know what you are doing so just carry on - amazing 🥲

[AdieJ in reply to focused1]

Thank you so much

[TheTabbyCat Administrator 10 kg]

Hi AdieJ and welcome. What a lovely 1st post. My suggestion is to follow the link thatN-o-r-d- as given you, and follow every link on the way. THere's loads happening on this forum, lots of people to chat to and lots of tips to be had.

I'm sorry you caught covid before there was adequate protection, I hope you recover from the after effects.

May I suggest that you break your aim into smaller, more achievable goals. One step at a time is always better than trying to climb the whole mountain. You'll be surprised how quickly those stones disappear when you get a steady loss of 1/2 lbs a week. Good luck,🍀

[Familytree67 4st 7lbs]

Hi AdieJ and welcome to the forum. You will get lots of support and encouragement from the members on here. Make sure you post your weight on the weigh in for this week Part One as apart Two is for later in the week. Good tip from Tabby Cat breaking your aims to small chunks of say 7 lbs losses to work towards. They are achievable and sustainable too.

Good tip is too measure yourself today and write those measurements down somewhere , no one else needs to know but sometimes you can lose inches but not pounds. Don’t spend your money on a slimming club you can do it yourself with the help of your wife. I thought of going back to SW but my husband said save your money we can do it so I followed the NHS 12 week plan which is free , quite a few on here follow that.

Looking forward to seeing you on here weekly , good luck on your weight loss journey Sue

[HazelP17 Healthy BMI 8st 7lbs]

Good morning and welcome to this amazing group.

I can't say much about losing weight but I can give you some tips for your lungs and breathing.

I'm asthmatic and often very short on breath with a sore lung. Most of the time it is filled with mucus and it's hard to get rid of it.

Not the lungs but the diaphragm is a muscle like every other and can be trained with tools or special breathing techniques.

There are also tools and breathing techniques to loosen and remove the mucus to make breathing easier.

I made an EN YouTube list with random videos I found about the tools and exercises, but haven't seen and checked all the videos.

Please check with your GP or lungs specialist before starting with the exercises.

youtube.com/playlist?list=P...

I got very bad and uncontrollable asthma when Covid and wearing face masks started and the tools and also exercises helped me a lot to improve my breathing and keep the meds on a very low level.

[AdieJ in reply to HazelP17]

Amazing! Thank you. Tomorrow I’ll watch them after taking kids to school - thank you

[shortytlc]

Hi good luck on your journey, if you need a bit more moral support in my area we also have "fitness walks" which was started up by our local council so properly run with team leaders and different ability walks, also recently set up was our "local football team club " fit fans its a 12 week course mix of going through some paperwork, ideas etc, socialising having a cuppa, and some exercise not too much.I found it quite good and our group (they did male and female groups) lost if i remember rightly 50kg between 18 of us in the 12 weeks

[AdieJ in reply to shortytlc]

Brilliant! Thank you

[Eryl Visitor]

Welcome to the group and can I assure you that you have come to to right place, somewhere where the parcipitants are trully interested in helping without the commercial incentives to keep you as a customer. The first thing I'll say is that your idea of reducing fat is out of date. The low fat idea has been long since been debunked as your body fat is built up from trigycerides in your blood and those are made by your liver out of glycogen which is made from glucose (blood sugar) which comes from eating carbohydrates not dietary fat.If you enjoy running then the type of running that's going to help you most is the type that buils up muscle as that is a store of glycogen and the more glycogen you can store in your muscles the less will be available for the liver to turn into trigycerides.

To lose weight concentrate on cutting out processed food especially refined sugars and starches like white bread, fruit juices and sodas as they have a high GI (glycaemic index) and cause a release of insulin which triggers the process for fat storage. Even smothies have twice as high a GI as the fruit they are made from because they can be metabolised faster.

There's a lot more to learn but I'll leave it at that for now.

[AdieJ in reply to Eryl]

Great advice - thank you