Losing Weight
 

Hello.


I don't mean to to place this in the 'health' category, but rather, under the broader category of lifestyle, so please consider this a 'lifestyle' discussion - not a discussion on health.


I make this thread because there is a trend toward higher percentages of body fat and lower fitness levels in more people at younger ages over time. There are associated morbidity rates, so there health is an aspect of it, but there is also an array of body image considerations and lifestyle hindrances in tow.


I wish not to harp on negativity, but focus positive possibilities so it is up to individuals, including myself, to achieve that quality of life which affords them joy in the body, positivity of image and vitality of spirit. Sometimes we just have to grab the bull by the horns and turn the whole thing around so that things start to get better rather than worse.


I hope in this thread we might have discussions that are fruitful and beneficial and foster positive change in people physically and mentally as well as spiritually. I will remain in the realm of people's relationships with food, and the activities of individual lives, and I will be truthful about what it takes to transform in a positive way for the whole life long.

Im happy to see this thread Gem because you're right......it seems like just about all the young people I see are overweight (and stressed) these days.

My oldest daughter is 31 and has battled her weight since being a teenager and several pregnancies and having 4 kids to take care of has added exponentially to her weight issues.

Even my 11 year old grandson has started getting a little belly and has become conscious of it....

Recently he asked me....Po (he calls me Po) your like old right? But you aren't fat and you have muscles!

Thats because I don't eat junk....I eat a healthy diet and go to the gym several times a week Nick and have done this my entire adult life.

So now Nick is laying off all the excessive carby junk he likes to eat and wanting to go with me to the gym!

Guess im a good example!

I wish I could get my daughter to go but with 4 kids.....to of them being twin babies. ...its kinda tough for her.

Hello Aussie,

I'd be happy to jump in. I enjoy healthy eating & long distance trail running ( Mind, I have been on this rodeo 20+ years).

Where to start with this conversation?

The goal should be to be healthy, or as healthy as possible for you.

Being over/underweight, and/or unfit, isn't healthy. Those conditions are a symptom of unhealthy lifestyle.

As in most cases, details matter ... Fit doesn't mean to look like a poster, or to be capable of exceptional performance, just to have everything working properly, as it was meant to work.

Being slightly underweight is healthier than being overweight (there isn't an equivalent "reasonably overweight" condition). Being slightly underweight is proven to actually extend your life.

I guess you are a good example, and you probably have that role in your whole family dynamic, and as grandad you have more perspective over the intergenerational effects of the trend towards bigger bodies over time.


The difficulty is it is a social trend. The whole cultural organism is moving in that direction, so going the other way within your own family is like swimming against the tide, so you'd be like a surfer who scans the whole beach to find the rip tide which is going the other way and showing the family - this is where you swim out.


What that involves in practice, I don't know. You're on the ground so you know better, and it's not like just simple eat and move - it takes a while to learn how to surf and get to know the movements of the sea.


The daughter has a lot on her plate (pun intended), like my own sister who has 4 kids from 18 to 6 years old, working to keep the mortgage, running busy like a soccer mom, and gaining size just a little bit each year which adds up. One day will look in the mirror and say 'how did I get here?', and maybe when her younger ones become more independent she can focus more on herself.



Your young one is at the turning point, it is one way or the other for him right now, so you play the important role there as the one who has been surfing all your life. Better show him the ways of the sea, old man teehee.

Right. There is a social/environmental pattern to the obesity equation, and we need to stop looking in the narrow scope on individualism. The general social narrative is saying, 'It's your choice. Your responsibility,' thus constructing 'a person' as a being who makes choices free from and without regard to all else. That's perspective hasn't worked because that's not the reality of people. People make choices that effect their environment as the environment affects them, and this constructs 'a person' as one who lives at the interface between themselves and the conditions in which they live.


For example we have a 10 year old with obesity, and we don't say to him, "It's your choice, mate . You are responsible," because the boy doesn't have the self-determination that imbues him with that choice/responsibility. Then the onus shifts to, "well it's the parents fault - they feed him this and that" - and individual responsibility is dispersed into the child's immediate social milieu.



When we locate the responsibility in the parents, we have to consider that they are dependent on the society in a similar way as the child is dependent on them, and wherever an adult is socially dependent, their responsibility is similarly dispersed into the greater cultural organism.


We have placed the whole 'burden' (pun intended) as individual responsibility and undermined the social responsibility we all share. This is very convenient, because the policy makers who create the structures and systems we build up the environments by can ignore the fact that the trends are social, and say, 'it's your responsibility,' as a way to shirk the social responsibility they have.



Individuals are basically swept along by the cultural tide, and without social responsibility, we can not turn the tide around, so until the construct of 'a person' is aligned with reality, we will see a continuation of increases of body size in more and younger people over time.

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Many place in Europe don't have these issues as much. Europe's cities are easy to navigate on foot, there's no sharp distinction between living space and business activity. Nobody here who lives in the city actually needs a car!! It works more organically because that's how people build the cities..

(And they have a very strong sense of social responsibility and work policy to create systems and structures that build up the environment according to those ideals, and people live happier and healthier due to that ideological/environmental affect)

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There's issues of course, it's often poor knowledge of food or specific communities, like those with a migration background, that may have an ''all you can eat'' attitude. Then you have people who eat loads of animal food, and don't exercise! Reducing obesity becomes a matter of (1) Education, (2) Infrastructure, and (3) Making healthy food affordable..

Well said. You seem to have a proper broad perspective to see the whole 'big' picture.

174 cm. 105 kg. stocky build.
officially obese but I don't like the word.
my exercise regime is inconsistent as usual.
Food same Too fond of carbs. pasta, bread oh and sugars like cereal and yoghurt.

In the past 12 months I have lost almost 20kgs, about 1/3 of my body weight. I have always been slim & athletic until the year before last when I became quite unwell. At the end of the year I was hospitalised for 3 months & it wasn't until I was discharged & looked in the mirror at home that I discovered my weight increase. It was crushing & it did effect so many aspects of my life.

Given I have an athletic background I was no stranger to dieting & making weight. I started dieting that first day and in general stuck to it up until now. I wouldn't say it was easy but I had a smooth run with no blow outs or emotional breakdowns.

I was always been a strong example to my children around health, nutrition & fitness they are in both in good shape. They are also very proud of their Mum in loosing 20kgs.

I watched a video about Courtney Dauwalter running lake Tahoe. Worth a look if you have time https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DQSiygnDm-U


I'm not a sports fan, but I'm Courtney's fan boy - I'm going to watch the Joe Rogan interview with her today.


Remember about 3 year ago in chat I was telling you I need to get moving, and was saying, I can walk, but I can't run? I used to say, I'll say I'll start walking and build myself up, but I doubt I'll actually follow through.


Turns out I did follow through, but I ended up using the treadmills at the gym instead of wandering around in the sun, which led me to the weight room, and my obsession with kilograms teehee, and now my life is about what I have to do to add more kilos to a bar. But it's more. Everything about me changed.