Posts by linden

OK, please forgive me if I appear judgemental.

If you are 14, on the brink of being underweight, and you don't feel hungry on 1000-1400 calories, maybe you shouldn't trust your 'non-hunger'. I think you should eat, even if you don't feel hungry.

Eat more vegetables. Where are those vegetables? Where is your five-a-day? you need at least five portions a day of fruit and veg. You're only eating one. Your parents might have done you a favour with that pizza, you might have got maybe two portions.

How much is 'a little steak?'

Do you know how much calcium and iron you are getting? Do you know how much you ought to be getting? You need the calcium now, because you are building bone mass. This is the only time in your life you can build bone, 'cos when you stop growing, it is all downhill from there, your bones will become more brittle in old age, you will lose height.

Please, please please get informed about what and how much you really ought to be eating. I'm in the UK, so I found this:

http://www.childrenfirst.nhs.uk/teens/health/ healthy_eating/

There are other sites out there. But you need to  know this stuff.

Original Post by bether_gee:

My turning point was when I was at a party and someone rubbed my tummy and asked when I was due. When I said I wasn't pregnant, she said "Ooh, you must have just had a baby then." Again, the answer was no. I was heartbroken by this, and was crying most of the night. After that I realized it was time to get serious about weight loss. I don't remember how I stumbled across this website, but it has been my motivator. I recommend it to anyone who wants to lose weight!

The moral of this story is, "Don't comment on somebody's body when you don't know them that well. And don't rub their tummy/hair/whatever. It is rude."

It's good to have a healthy lifesyle, but I'm sorry to hear you endured rudeness, bether_gee.

I think BMI is indicative of health risk only at the extremes. The correlation with ill health is just not very good, and there are better metrics out there.

There is nothing to indicate that people in the "normal" category are any healthier than people in the "overweight" category. I believe very high BMIs *do* correlate with poor health, because they correlate somewhat with sedentary lifestyles and  food intake that is not nutritious.

I do think BMI may be useful to some, if it serves as a wake-up call to a better lifestyle. Some people are fooling themselves they do enough exercise and eat well, and they don't. But it cuts both ways, I think. I'm a "normal" weight. I know I'm not doing enough exercise. I know I'm not making the best food choices all the time. But when I go to the doctor, he/she doesn't bring up exercise and diet. I could quite easily fool myself that I'm doing everything right. I'm not.

Is that 8lbs/8 weeks a hard target set for you (for example, an athletic event?)

Or is it something you've set for yourself?

I ask this, 'cos I got married recently, and I was meaning to lose some weight. I didn't. It didn't stop me feeling great, and it was a really wonderful day.

if your target is not set in stone, I'd take it a bit easier!

This is not quite the same thing, but I think Rosie O'Donnell went to her doctor for a checkup. He said something like: "You need to weight. Eat oatmeal with skim milk in the morning, a salad at lunch, and in the evening, have a skinless chicken breast with some vegetables."

She replied, "Thank you. You just cured obesity in America."

I'm not sure why molasses is bad for you. Especially blackstrap molasses contains lots of vitamins. I know that's not what they put into brown sugar though. But just wanted to point out that molasses is not all bad.

Basically, they're adding some brown sugary stuff into white sugary stuff to make it look brown. It's all sugar.

I think it depends on the type of pill.

The type I have experience with is the triphasic (you take three different dosage pills depending on where in the cycle you are, they are red, white and ochre pills). It is not a problem if you don't take it on the same time each day.I've forgotten plenty of times in the evening, and taken them in the morning.

I think other pills don't have the same tolerance for time differences, but 4 hours doesn't strike me as very late.

It is a bit early to be having moning sickness if you've not even missed your first period! (Assuming you're on a kind of pill where you have a period)

Talk to the pharmacist, or check online the type of pill, perhaps?

Though *shalt* annoy non-vegetarian boyfriend with imitation bacon smell.

*runs away*

The Mitchell and Webb clip is definitely satire, and have become my all-time favourites after Women: Know your limits!

Not that men aren't pressured by advertising, but it takes a different form. Because men are allowed to have self-respect and stuff, you can't tell them they're rubbish. But you can tell them their maleness can be revoked! (for those not wishing to follow that link, it is the McCoy's crisps ad, where you are carted off, presumably to have non-consensual gender reassignment surgery, if you express a knowledge of such a girly subject as ballet.

And because I'm lazy, I'm not going to dig up al the ads where you are no longer a man if you don't eat that meaty burger, drink that manly alcohol, or wear that manly scent. Indeed, if you are upset about the size of your manly bits, lynx will make them bigger until they are the size of melons!

I agree that pregnancy can take its toll on the body, but it is her body.

Why is there never an uproar about dads who have babies very late in life? They are more likely to get a slap on the back, and comments about their virility. But they're more likely, forgive the indelicacy, of dying when their children are young.

And if who can be a parent is to be decided by what won't provoke nasty comments in the schoolyard, are we going to tut-tut ethnic minorities, fat people, people with odd shaped noses, *whatever*, having children. I really don't want to go there. Live and let live, and give birth if you really want to...

By all means, let them have children. Not all older people are the same. I wouldn't want to fund their IVF treatments, but then again, I don't think we should fund anyone's IVF treatments.

Is jogging the only exercise option available to you? It may be a bit tough on the system.

I may be the devil's advocate here, but perhaps high impact exercise is not the way to go. Exercise is good and all, but I think your priority should be to minimize pain.

But you know your own body. Sometimes, exercise doesn't make things better, but doesn't make things worse, in which case it is worth doing.

My fiance has a history of problems with his ankle, . People wouldn't believe how much pain he was in, because he would walk for miles. His attitude was that he had the pain whatever he did.

I think this is a lesson for the rest of us too. People can be young, fit-looking and still suffer from chronic pain or fatigue. You can't really tell what people live through...

Good luck, and do what makes you the least uncomfortable. I hope you find a permanent solution. Wishing all the best for you!

I thought vinegar (or lemon) had something to do with the glycemic index of foods. Same with protein, as I recall. A baked potato might be high GI, but a baked potato with some lemon blended in, or with a high protein filling had lower GI. It it supposed to reduce the spike in your sugar levels. I'm not sure how it works though...

I don't like to make a virtue of suffering. I'm not trying to lose weight to be pure and strong-willed. In fact, if I overdo it, I would find myself quite weak and preoccupied with trivialties (it is bad enough counting calories).

There are much, *much* better things to appreciate in life than hunger. Hunger is life's signal to eat. It is unpleasant enough so that one will get off one's behind and do some gathering/hunting. You should only fight it if the payoff is going to be worth it.

There are much better ways to measure your self-worth.

Edited to add: I now think my post sounds a bit judgmental. Things that help achieve your goal can only help, I suppose, as long as you don't end up moving the goalposts!

I think your body might tell you when it is right for you. Walking on a high incline is almost as tiring as jogging, I wouldn't knock it.

Are there other alternatives available to you, such as swimming or lifting weights?

4mph is pretty hard to sustain for me too. I feel the urge to break into a run and get it over with.

that is pretty good walking thhq! You deserve the cookies.