Posts by bairn

Wow - thanks so much guys. What detailed, helpful replies.

I am a doctor yeah, though it's good practise not to treat yourself. I spoke to my midwife a few weeks back: I have no health problems, I'm a healthy weight, no problems with the pregnancy so far, and my midwife said it was fine to continue any exercise I was used to doing (with the exception of contact sports, etc). Sorry, should have specified that. There's a yoga for pregnancy group I'm keen to join but they recommend not starting that till you're 16 weeks (not sure why).

cellophane *waves* hiya! What a great blog, thanks, I will have a thorough look through that, may be just what I'm after. She's a bit intimidatingly beautiful isn't she! She's even got my haircut, but tidy - no fair! ;) And yeah, I never really thought I would decrease the exercise, but I've been so useless... some days I get down about it, other days I'm like, eh you're pregnant! cut yourself some slack...

beirorama thank you that's really helpful. I may well adopt that. I ended up doing this this morning

http://exercise.about.com/cs/exbeginners/l/bl begstrength.htm

what do you think of that? I'm used to doing more compound moves - working individual muscles felt a bit odd. And what do you think of pushups, weirdfish thought that was a no-go. I did normal push ups rather than the half ones suggested in that workout and they felt ok.

oh and thanks for the congrats weirdfish - to you and your wife also!

I know underweight people who eat 3000+ calories a day with no exercise, and overweight people who do the same. People vary. Only the overweight get judged though, it seems.

I ate better than most of my friends when I was younger (all home cooked, no sweet stuff, little junk food) and was bigger than most of them. I guess I was just eating too much? But most other people's 19 year old metabolisms allowed them to eat more. Now I eat very very clean and quite minimal calories (should probably eat a bit more) and am a healthy size. I have two underweight sisters in law who couldn't even get up to a healthy size after pregnancy, that must suck too. One of them was bed bound for weeks after birth because she was so weak. She has a BMI of 16 and I witness her eat 3x cooked meals a day (cheesy starchy things, lots of butter and cream), plus large portions of cake and cheese every day, she doesn't exercise. I don't envy that. Some people don't have to watch what they eat like I do, but I have other things in my life I find easy that other people find hard, so.

Personally when I found calorie count I discovered I was eating 1000-1200/day, plus 1-2 hours of exercise a day and 4-8 hours a day at weekends, and I had been losing weight, but very slowly (50lb in 5 years). I really believe most people could have become seriously underweight very quickly doing what I did for 5 years, I count myself lucky really. It's really not quite as simple as people make out. 

The majority of overweight (and certainly obese) people eat too much, I agree. But there are plenty of thin people who eat the same amount and don't gain. People vary.

Hey cellophane 

Ovulation kits can be fun and interesting, but careful trying to time things doesn't stress you out... the obs and gynae consultants I know always recommend just having sex at least every 2-3 days in which case you don't need to track, then you're just covered for the whole month. Sperm lives in the body for a few days. It gets stressful and ruins people's sex lives, making all the rules, I think.

This is NHS guidance:

If you’re hoping to achieve pregnancy, for the best chance of success you're recommended to have sex every two or three days throughout the month.

You don’t need to time sex around ovulation. Trying to do this can be stressful, and becoming stressed can lead to you having less sex.

“Some people buy special kits, or use temperature charts, to try to monitor when they’re ovulating,” says Professor Ledger.

“But temperature charts can be hard to keep and aren’t always reliable. Both kits and charts can cause unnecessary anxiety without being much use.

“Knowing your exact day of ovulation is only useful if you want to time intercourse to the day. Aim for less stress and more fun. After all, it should be a happy time.”

good luck sweetie.

I'm sorry if the confrontation was upsetting for you, but I just thought this was kind of funny....!! Two coffee makers in one house?? 21st century problems, as I say to my boyfriend when I overcook his toast, or something.

I don't like brands in general and mostly only buy ingredients, but I couldn't live without Marmite.

Original Post by tom_murphy:

Strength training 3x week.  Real strength training like NROL4W, not the routine for toning and buffing from Shape Magazine.

Daily cardio.  Doesn't need to be a huge time commitment or a sweaty mess. It does need to be consistent.  I walk everyday 2-3 miles everyday after supper.  Everyday.

For one week, keep at highly detailed food log; including accurate portion sizes.  Weigh and measure foods if need be.  You need to be sure you are truly creating a daily calorie deficit. 100-200 calories a day could make or break your efforts.

Cycle in a day or two of maintenance calories every 4-5 days of calorie restriction to prevent your body from going into starvation mode.

I do exactly this (well i walk 5 miles a day - I take the train to work and walk either end instead of driving) and maintain a BMI of 24-25. I do a bit more exercise than this on the weekends.  I go through months of strict calorie counting and shorter periods (eg a week of night shifts when I can only stomach one meal a day) of not bothering when I think I eat less, but I maintain a deficit.

Like you, my body does not go below it.

I have also had a BMI of 24-25 in the past and looked twice the size, flabby and out of shape. I am in great shape now, toned and fit. Not thin however. My major goal these days is to be happy with my fit body and not weigh it and wonder why it seems to weigh more than girls who look twice my size. hey ho.

This is probably very unhelpful, but just to let you know I feel your pain and you are not the only one! 

I never understand why I weigh more than everyone else!

I'm 5'3". I'm a size 6 at 140lb, a size 4 at 130-135lb. I think I'd not look very nice at 120lb.

I also lost 50lb healthily  over several years and then without eating more or exercising less put 10lb back on. It was extremely demoralising. For about two years I tried everything I could think of to shift the weight, including eating very little and exercising obsessively on top of an active job (daily running, 30 miles + walking a week, additional hikes at weekend, dvd workouts, swimming). I didn't lose anything. 

In the end I gave up my scales, try to focus on my fitness, and for 8 months of this year have been refueling my body as I have been eating at a deficit since 2003. So I ate 2000-2500 a day for months. I did not get any bigger doing this... 

I am just writing this to say: I know where you are and what you're feeling like. Unfortunately I don't have any trick to help you lose weight. I am eating at a small deficit again, and exercising a lot, and my body does gets stronger more toned and looks better all the time, but I don't go down clothes sizes and I don't lose weight. I found focusing on fitness (I can hike 28 miles! I can walk up mountains without noticing them!), getting rid of the scales, and trying to be nice to my body rather than punish it helped me mentally though. 

I did the 30 day shred over about 90 days in the winter. Considering doing it again (I don't think I lost weight - I don't weigh myself much though) - but I noticed a real difference in my arms and legs, which had previously been real problem areas. Ask me anything you like about it, though like I said I didn't weigh myself, and I didn't do it in 30 days. I think it's a great workout.

Anyway I did level 1 again the other day (after months) and it wasn't sore at all! So I must be a lot fitter than I used to be! I am generally very active and I've been trying her other one, No More Trouble Zones, of late (warning: that one is a LOT harder and goes on for 55 minutes!!)

I've very very rarely seen this happen in England, which is a shame, it's a good idea. I don't think our portion sizes are anything like they are in America (well they're certainly half the size of the ones in Canada - never been to America though)  - they are still usually too much though.

I tend to just order less these days - I prefer ordering "communally" rather than everyone having individual plates - we put it in the middle of the table and eat it together. Most of my friends go for that.

I did once ask if I could take some home in a little turkish restaurant where they gave us the craziest amount of really really good kebabs, cooked in front of us on a charcoal pit. They were totally cool with it, wrapped it up in foil for us and put it in a bag.