Advice not wanted

I am spending the morning somewhat frustrated. I read a question at ObesityHelp where the person was wondering why they were not losing weight faster. They had read about another person who was exercising excessively and eating about 400 calories per day which seemed to be dangerous. This person was walking every day.

These questions don't seem to be any different than those I ask myself. I used to weight 280 lbs. When I first went on a lower calories/ healthier diet I lost about 50 lbs pretty quickly. Since then I have been slowly losing, with some bumps of regaining a little weight.

The problem with people following other people is that the information just isn't accurate enough. We don't take into consideration age, activity level, medications, height, body type, etc.

I know that I bristle every time someone tells me that I am eating more than I think I do, because I am pretty fastidious about weighing, measuring and keeping track of what I eat, but I am still not perfect. The fact remains that I am thinner now than I was 5 years ago and that 5 years ago I was thinner than I was 10 years ago. However, I haven't hit my 1987 weight yet --still working on it.

When people say they walk -- what does that mean? From the sofa to the fridge? Last year I finally bought myself a good pedometer, so I have been tracking my daily walking for about a year now. My minimum lazy day is about 1/2 mile.(about 50 calories worth - which I can eat is 1 second!) My goal is to walk a minimum of two miles a day with a maximum of four miles a day. A few people I know who got down to their normal weight walked six miles a day ( 2 miles morning, noon and evening). Because of my arthritis I am trying to gradually increase the walking and also add some stationary bike riding(although the calorie burn is much lower).

When I was 20-30 pounds thinner, I walked 2 miles a day, did 3 aerobic classes and one swim class per week. I was also 20 years younger!

Comments

Sevenbeads said…
My exercise of choice is walking. The hardest part is putting on my shoes but once I'm out there, it's heaven. It's discouraging to walk and not lose weight but I'm probably not accounting for all the food I eat and I eat restaurant meals pretty frequently. I take to heart your advice about keeping the restaurant meals to a minimum.
I stumbled on your blog while surfing and am inspired by your success.
Jeanne said…
Thanks. As I am writing this I am putting on my sneakers for today's walk. Have a great day!

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