Too Fat And Excercise/massage

[flemmie]

Hello all I am too fat (sounds like an AA meeting...) and want to do something about it.

I am 5'10" I believe (177 cm) and weigh a whopping 128 kilograms. Everyone around me is worried about my health including myself. I am 59 (next month) and have just arrived in Thailand (BKK) 3 months ago. The first month in the service flat made me balloon to 133kg due to the great food. I had some serious bacteriel infection and lost it right back. Needless to say I am totally out of shape and find it a victory that I can get my socks on without falling over (a little exaggeration only...). I have a burnt out thyroid (courtesy of some radioactive pill taken 5 years ago) and have also stopped smoking at the same time, this was the last 20 kg that seemed to have come on overnight and which I am carrying along since.

My question is basically that I am trying to find some sort of center that would be able to do excercices with me (stretching?) and give me appropriate massage to at least get some of my muscles back to a state of some normalcy. I do not really feel comfortable to go to one of the traditional massages as I also had some back surgery a few years back.

Lots of things wrong I know, but I would love to start working on them.

I read some of the posts and can confirm that I do not eat a great amount of food, no sugar or fat, but I love bread and eat that every day. No alcohol or soft drinks (diet coke at max) and I do not eat late at night nor do I snack.

If anyone has some ideas, please le me know.

Thanks

Nick

[Soutpeel]

Hello all I am too fat (sounds like an AA meeting...) and want to do something about it.

I am 5'10" I believe (177 cm) and weigh a whopping 128 kilograms. Everyone around me is worried about my health including myself. I am 59 (next month) and have just arrived in Thailand (BKK) 3 months ago. The first month in the service flat made me balloon to 133kg due to the great food. I had some serious bacteriel infection and lost it right back. Needless to say I am totally out of shape and find it a victory that I can get my socks on without falling over (a little exaggeration only...). I have a burnt out thyroid (courtesy of some radioactive pill taken 5 years ago) and have also stopped smoking at the same time, this was the last 20 kg that seemed to have come on overnight and which I am carrying along since.

My question is basically that I am trying to find some sort of center that would be able to do excercices with me (stretching?) and give me appropriate massage to at least get some of my muscles back to a state of some normalcy. I do not really feel comfortable to go to one of the traditional massages as I also had some back surgery a few years back.

Lots of things wrong I know, but I would love to start working on them.

I read some of the posts and can confirm that I do not eat a great amount of food, no sugar or fat, but I love bread and eat that every day. No alcohol or soft drinks (diet coke at max) and I do not eat late at night nor do I snack.

If anyone has some ideas, please le me know.

Thanks

Nick

Nick

first of all forget about a "center" with massage etc etc...dont waste your money, what you need is a complete life style change.

1. Exercise - Start with walking twice a day, once in the morning, once in the evening, if you can find somewhere to swim, even better. As you progress, then start thinking about the gym.

2. I assume its white bread you are taking about ??....big no no..go on to whole wheat, whole grain, it tastes better as well

3. Obviously you need to get on a diet (stating the obvious.. )...although you say you dont eat a lot, write down what you are eating for a week and then have a look at the calories involved...you might be shocked..forget about all the <deleted> fad diets..Atkins etc..you need to a balanced sensible diet to stay the course long term.

4. For a sucessful diet, you need to be eating the right things at least 5 times a day, if you are not eating much, my guess your metabolism has slowed down, and you need to get it working again, you do this by eating small portions regularly.

5. Most important one...the 80/20 rule, stick to the diet/excercise 80% of the time and the other 20%..up to you...

The thing to realise there is no quick fix/easy way out, you have to be committed and stick with it, it takes time. Do not go anywhere near slimming tablets or potions, will work short term, long term you will pay for it..

Why I am telling you all this ?....I went from 110kg down to 95kg in the space of 6 months, and I am still on the way down to a target of around 85Kg-90kg (I am over 6 foot) but just being "sensible" in my approach, granted I train in the gym 3 or 4 nights a week, and I was a real lazy bast*rd in the beginning, but once you see the improvement, you want to do more..

If you want any help with anything drop me a pm, Will give you best advice I can...

Best of luck

Soutie

[thommo46]

The thing to realise there is no quick fix/easy way out, you have to be committed and stick with it, it takes time. Do not go anywhere near slimming tablets or potions, will work short term, long term you will pay for it..

My wife just return from Thailand with BASCHI slimming tabets which apparently sheds kilos off you quickly, her sister and cousin have used it for a short period. I am against this kind of weight reduction and agree with your methods , but we're talking Thaiway / Easiway . Has anyone had any first hand info on this product , I have looked it up on the net and it mentions "REBOUNDING and YO YO " .

Thanks Thommo.

[koto]

Hello all I am too fat (sounds like an AA meeting...) and want to do something about it.

I am 5'10" I believe (177 cm) and weigh a whopping 128 kilograms. Everyone around me is worried about my health including myself. I am 59 (next month) and have just arrived in Thailand (BKK) 3 months ago. The first month in the service flat made me balloon to 133kg due to the great food. I had some serious bacteriel infection and lost it right back. Needless to say I am totally out of shape and find it a victory that I can get my socks on without falling over (a little exaggeration only...). I have a burnt out thyroid (courtesy of some radioactive pill taken 5 years ago) and have also stopped smoking at the same time, this was the last 20 kg that seemed to have come on overnight and which I am carrying along since.

My question is basically that I am trying to find some sort of center that would be able to do excercices with me (stretching?) and give me appropriate massage to at least get some of my muscles back to a state of some normalcy. I do not really feel comfortable to go to one of the traditional massages as I also had some back surgery a few years back.

Lots of things wrong I know, but I would love to start working on them.

I read some of the posts and can confirm that I do not eat a great amount of food, no sugar or fat, but I love bread and eat that every day. No alcohol or soft drinks (diet coke at max) and I do not eat late at night nor do I snack.

If anyone has some ideas, please le me know.

Thanks

Nick

Aloha Nick

First thing that I would do is to stop drinking diet soda or soda of any kind, check opinions of the readers in this issue of Pattaya People Weekly Oct 3 to Oct 10, the next thing I would do is to start walking, past all fast food places, and start Waster-Sizing, You bend at the waist to pick up the waste on the beach, park, street where ever and get rid of both, start out slow and build up, drink 5 to 7 glasses of purified water every day, eat salads, with virgin olive oil and vinegar, pass on bread, if you can't, make it whole wheat, don't go back to smoking or drinking, check out http://solution2pollution.blogspot.com/ If you start serving yourself and where you live, you will find that the desire to get up and get on with your trip, becomes stronger and better every day, people will see your efforts, not only for you but also for Earth and their smiles will light that fire under the flip side of your lap and put some wind in your sails, start early so the heat don't take you down, like 6AM to 9 or 10AM, at first maybe 1 hour and build up, bring water and something to put the plastic, cigarette butts and other harmful things that are dangers for the voiceless, the children, wildlife, storm drains, water ways, you can do it Nick, It all starts with the first step, leaving only foot prints behind and the powers above walk with you, CHOK DEE

[Mighty Mouse]

It took a while for you to pack on the unwanted kilos. It will take at least the same amount of time to get them off.

Some good diet suggestions have already been posted. I like Koto's thoughts.

You must start regular exercise. Regular means exercising at the same time each day. You can vary your work out with different exercises to maintain interest and motivation.

No need to join a gym. Walking, swimming, cycling is free and that's all you need to do....apart from stretching following each exercise routine.

If your mobility is limited and/or walking is painful for your knees, try exercising in a swimming pool. Walking across a pool, using the mass of water as a resistant. This will work and strengthen the muscles in your legs.....or hanging onto a float and kicking up and down the pool. Swimming is arguably the best exercise you can do as there is no harsh impact on your body joints.

As your strength and fitness improves, increase the distances that you walk, swim, cycle. Add some hills for walking and cycling.

At first it may be boring and you may have some sore muscles to contend with, but don't give up. Take your measurements now and compare them with your measurements at the end of each month.

[siamquilter]

If anyone has some ideas, please le me know.

Thanks

Nick

Hi Nick,

One of the problems could be you are not eating enough or at the right times...Soutie already advised you to eat five times a day and I agree. I can't post the URL, but if you google fat2fitradio, this site has a BMR calculator that will help you figure out how many calories you need to be the size you want to become. You also need some fat, but the good kind. Lots of veggies & fruit, lean proteins, actually fairly easy to do here, even when eating out. Gyms are nice, but you can do body weight exercise at home...stuff like wall pushups, squats, etc. Soutie is also right about wanting to do more the fitter you get.

I did my significant weight loss in 2007 and have maintained it since then. Best advice is to be consistent and do something everyday towards your goal of becoming fitter and leaner.

Aloha,

Elke

Hi Koto,

Do we have a friend in common...Blair?

Aloha,

Elke

[flemmie]

Thank you all for the good advice. I need to clarify that I have already gone through a significant change in lifestyle before. I no longer have the nice goodies I used to have (be it whole milk with breakfast cereals, sugar, ice cream, cookies, candies, lemonade, coke, etc...etc...) too long a list to complete. I am a drinker of water (with gas I admit) and occasionally a coke light (maybe a few a week), I have written down my calories for quite some time just to figure out where they are coming from, I need to start doing this again I think, the Thai food is quite different. Oh, and I do not eat white bread, only rye or that dark german bread or multi grain.

I will get tougher again with myself on the eating habits, but what I wanted was somewhere to go with people that could help me with my mobility. I feel my back stiffen again and can confirm that picking up waste is out of reach for the time being, as stated, putting my socks on is a small victory in the morning. My metabolism needs to be woken up with the hormones I take every day (dead thyroid) and it will not pick up that much with eating more often (be it smaller portions), I do follow doctors orders on this.

I have started to go to the pool and do the walking in the water, just to get some resistance, and will follow this as Mighty Mouse also suggests.

Thanks again for sharing your advice with me and I will try to keep you posted.

Nick )

[Mighty Mouse]

I have started to go to the pool and do the walking in the water, just to get some resistance, and will follow this as Mighty Mouse also suggests.

You may need to wear an old pair of sand shoes if your pool is tiled and you can't get a proper grip with bare feet.

Some further exercise suggestions regarding "water walking" can be found by clicking HERE.

[flemmie]

I have started to go to the pool and do the walking in the water, just to get some resistance, and will follow this as Mighty Mouse also suggests.

You may need to wear an old pair of sand shoes if your pool is tiled and you can't get a proper grip with bare feet.

Some further exercise suggestions regarding "water walking" can be found by clicking HERE.

Thanks again for your advice. When I reviewed the site you linked, I found I am doing just about everything they propose, except the shoes, so it's slipping and sliding for the moment. Maybe I should use my crocs instead.

Thanks MM

[siamquilter]

These are all my tricks to boost metabolism. #1, of course is to build more muscle. Next is to stand more than you sit during the course of the day. As I spend the greater part of my day in front of the computer screen, my laptop is on a high cart, forcing me to stand. A different trick is to buy a cheap timer at Daiso (the 60 baht store) and set it to remind yourself to stand up & stretch regularly. I use the timer when I'm sewing. As for eating tricks, drink ice water. Green tea is also supposed to help burn calories. Add a slice of lime to your soda water as well...this is from the alkaline theory about bodyweight. One trick I use for something sweet is cinnamon tea. Lately, I just steep green tea & cinnamon sticks together, then chill. The cinnamon won't spike your insulin levels and it has a nice sweet taste, just make sure to let it steep awhile. Or you can do iced green tea with lime or lemon for a change from plain water. Eating frequent mini-meals will also help burn more calories. Good luck.

[quiksilva]

I'm looking to lose about 15Kgs, but am in no rush. If I hit that target by this time next year I'll be happy. Im using this "diet plan"

http://www.theloseweightdiet.com/

Personally I have no idea how many calories are in what I eat. Most Thai food doesn't come with convenient labels with that sort of information and I really dont want to sit all up all night learning that, but I do know its important to count calories.

So I use that in conjunction with this site:

http://caloriecount.about.com/

One of the best features this site has, is the recipe analyser. So being I simply pop the recipe into the site and it roughly works out how many calories it contains, and it also gives the meal a Nutritional value rating.

I add in everything I eat or drink into the food log (which can be quite surprising) and add in any activity that I do.

Its my first week testing this and am looking forward to the results, although I don't expect to see anything immediately. What I have noticed though is the simple act of thinking about what I eat every day really makes you think twice.

[flemmie]

I'm looking to lose about 15Kgs, but am in no rush. If I hit that target by this time next year I'll be happy. Im using this "diet plan"

http://www.theloseweightdiet.com/

Personally I have no idea how many calories are in what I eat. Most Thai food doesn't come with convenient labels with that sort of information and I really dont want to sit all up all night learning that, but I do know its important to count calories.

So I use that in conjunction with this site:

http://caloriecount.about.com/

One of the best features this site has, is the recipe analyser. So being I simply pop the recipe into the site and it roughly works out how many calories it contains, and it also gives the meal a Nutritional value rating.

I add in everything I eat or drink into the food log (which can be quite surprising) and add in any activity that I do.

Its my first week testing this and am looking forward to the results, although I don't expect to see anything immediately. What I have noticed though is the simple act of thinking about what I eat every day really makes you think twice.

Hi,

I will check out the sites that you have posted, and wish you good luck on your efforts. I have just travelled again visiting the family in Belgium and attending a conference in some chateau near Paris, and have sinned again when I see all the food there. Back to the drawing board I guess...

The water excercises are doing me good, although I am not consistent enough. Always a good excuse when I work late or if it rains or it is too hot or I just ate or I still have some things to do ...

Weight has not changed.

Nick

[teletiger]

Flemmie, you could be my shorter lighter twin brother.

I was 50 kilos overweight.....and yes putting on socks was a pain. Felt uncomfortable 24/7. Grouchy. Sore knees restricted my mobility. Yet I really didn't think I ate too much.

Last year I got a recurrence of angina. Decided enough was enough. After extensive research 2 hours on the internet, I decided to try going vegan...totally. No meat, fish, eggs, milk, or products of any kind.

Now I really wish I'd done this 30 years ago. Within 10 days the sore knees were gone. I can put my socks on standing up

I can work most of the day now.....no problem. I've not been as flexible as this since I was 30. No exercise, massage, training,

just normal everyday stuff. Gardening, walking around the markets etc. All unthinkable 1 year ago.

No diet....as such. I eat as much as I like. 'Til I'm stuffed.

The best thing for me was the uncomfortable feeling......completely gone.

So far I've lost 15 kilos.......but the 3 belt notches tell me I've lost more, so I'm presuming some muscle has gone on.

The first month was the worst......finding things to eat, feeling sorry for myself......really Now i wouldn't have it any other way.

Good luck brother.

Regards.

Edit: Flemmie, from experience I can tell you that a loaf of wholewheat bread is made with 50% white flour. The gluten helps to bind it.

Cheers.

[onlycw]

Hi,

I would recommend reading a Dr. Atkins book and looking into liposis through a low carb diet.

1. Drink a lot before you have a meal

2. Never go hungry

3. A bite every half an hours seems to be healthier than huge meals.

4. Do enemas as this will produce some amazing results

As a diabetic, I would urge you to lay off sugar (think the ~12.8% in most sodas, then think how many litres you drink).

Sizzler has a great salad bar - have you eaten there?

The supermarkets like TOPS have a range of juices and also sell cider apple vinegar.

A website like www.bodybuilding.com or www.puritan.com lets you order supplements.

5. Try the sugar-free Green Tea

6. Get a blood test done, include Testosterone. You might need DHEA (prescribed to me).

7. Eat a good sized breakfast - studies show when you skip it, you are likely to gain more weight.

Good luck!

Chris

[tonititan]

Sizzler has a great salad bar - have you eaten there?

Be careful of the salad bar. Salad does not always = healthy/low cal. I'm a Sizzler fan too, but their salad bar is full of cheese, meats, salad dressing, creamy soups, mixed salads with lots of pesto/mayo/dressing, sweets, etc. And the salad bar is all-you-can-eat, making it a dangerous place for someone who is trying to cut back. Also, the salad bar comes with a huge slice of buttery white bread. Unless you can resist the bad things and stick to veggies, then the salad bar isn't necessarily a healthy alternative.

[flemmie]

Thanks for all the advice. Since the last time, I have had some additonal health issues which have resulted in some restrcitions in certain food groups, specifically diary products, wholemeal bread, etc... (kidney deterioration). So now I am restricting even more my intake and I have upgraded my visits to the pool. Because of back issues, I have started my walking routines in the pool and manage to walk 2 km 3 times a week. I feel better and I think my weight seems to be reducing very slowly which is fine with me.

I probably could not go vegan, I like meat too much although I eat it in smaller quantities and usually in processed meat on my sandwiches. My sugar intake is just about as low as possible, I do not drink any soft drinks other than an occasional diet drink. I am addicted to Pellegrino and Perrier. One of my sins is a mango (nearly daily) and some japanese rice crackers. Other than that I might as well join a monastery.

I believe that my low metabolism is a direct result of my dead thyroid and I need to jump start this every morning with just about the max dose (200 mcgrms). I do eat salads and usually go for italian dressing even though I prefer the thick 1000 island dressing.

It is a struggle and what I do not manage to do is to eat 5-6 times a day a small meal. I eat morning, lunch and dinner and then struggle each evening not to go to get some more munchies (other than the mango and/or crackers).

I think I have lost about 5 kilo's by now and it encourages me to continue this. I want to add some additional excercises outside of the pool, and am contemplating some bike and marching on a treadmill.

Wish me luck.

Thanks - Nick

[neverdie]

Wish me luck.

Thanks - Nick

Good luck Nick, keep it up mate.

[Loz]

THanks everyone, this thread has got me motivated too. Not a part of the forum I have explored before today but I am thinking of becoming more regular. No pun intended