That'll be bloody handy if you ever find yourself being mugged by a gang of deliquant New Jersey buchaneers lead by Errol Flynn.

Youve been wayching too much Python mate!

- How things change. Most of the kids in the village here attend the village school (think LOCAL). Although some kids do prance down the street in a blizzard wearing only a little cardie, most of 'em now do it the American Way - bloody great SUV's nearly sidesweeping the pedestrians as they fight for the miniscule parking spots that hardly fit one of their wheels, in the middle of the SPRING!!! Lovely fresh country air, etc., and they're filling it with petroleum-based pollutants :curse:

I went from 235 to 192. I did it by cutting down my calorific intake, drinking less, and exercising more. Gyms don't do it for me, so I found something I like to do - swing dancing.

Also, someone mentioned that many of us have sedentary jobs these days. There was a story last week linking prolonged periods of sitting with fat retention. Apparently, when we sit for hours at a time, a particular enzyme that is used to break down fat recedes from our bodies. After several hours, this enzyme is at 10% of its normal levels.

The answer is to get up and walk around a bit frequently. Nothing radical. I'll see if I can find the linky goodness. Ah yes, here it is:
http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/Dye...3922069&page=1

Regards,
Octang Frye

I'm not the one poncing around with a pointy sword and a sift over my boat am I?

Some did and still do drive to our old local school but they are in the very small minority because there is no parking (staff and a few visitor spots only) and double yellows all along the high street. Very zealous traffic wardens because any obstruction made it so difficult for all the walkers.
Everyone walks because they do their shopping on the way home, talk to friends etc. Most people took their dogs (if they had one) and then we all walked home from school along the beach.
Also a lot of people with younger children then took them to the church toddler groups which were also along the high street, so there was no point bringing a car.
It is still the same and I miss that aspect of my old life hugely.
It was a very social thing which is why I think it hasn't died out (at least where we were).

I was about 140lbs for as long as I could remember, up until age 25. Then my weight slowly started creeping upwards, to about 155lbs... and then I moved to Texas, where before I knew it I was 180lbs.

Since January of this year, my wife and I have completely changed our lives with diet and exercise.

I'm someone who's never exercised in my life, although throughout my younger years I was a keen cyclist and skier. But I'd never "been fit" or tried to stay fit (smoking a pack a day probably didn't help).

Anyway, since January I've lost 35lbs... and more importantly to me, I've completely changed my body shape. I'm now well toned and muscled, and look like I always wanted to look when I was younger (but with rather less hair now!).

My transformation has been a combination of serious changes in my diet and really, really serious exercise.

We always thought we were healthy eaters, and that there wasn't much we could do to cut calories... so the first thing we did was to cut the quantity that we ate by about half. It was hell for the first couple of months. Constantly hungry, watching every little thing that we ate.

Now it's easy. It's not a diet, it's just a change in our relationship with food. We eat the same delicious things (with almost no exceptions) but we eat much, much less of it. I'm never hungry. I still have icecream and chocolate... occasionally.

The exercise thing, on the other hand, is probably less rational. Most of you posting on this thread so far say you're not gym people. I'm now an addict.

I had never set foot in a gym until the middle of last year. My wife persuaded me that we needed to join, and we picked the most luxurious gym we could afford, to make it as pleasant an experience as possible.

Since the whole idea of free weights and weight machines and not knowing what to do was clearly going to put me off ever going to the gym, I signed up for 5 weeks with a personal trainer. It cost me a fortune, but it damned well made sure that I took my first steps towards fitness seriously.

After 5 weeks I was comfortable with pretty much everything in the gym, and had put on some muscle... but hadn't lost any weight. That was before the diet. So back then I just went to the gym a couple of times a week for 45 minutes, and pushed some weights or rode an exercise bike. I got fitter, but stayed pretty flabby.

Then in January, when we started our diet, I started back at the gym with a vengeance. I bought a heart rate monitor and started using it. No more pottering along on an exercise bike. Now it was 45 minutes on the bike in cardio mode, then 30 minutes of weights three times a week... and I still wasn't seeing the effects I expected.

Finally a friend of ours who's a professional triathlete and personal trainer hammered home what others had been telling me for months; you don't lose weight by thrashing along at a high heart rate. You lose weight at lower heart rates.

So I adjusted my workout to do 45-60 minutes of bike or elliptical at <135bpm heart rate, and the weight started falling off.

I now feel like s**t if I miss a day at the gym. Like total s**t. I'm someone who gets addicted easily, and the high from a serious workout is better and more addictive than smoking!

So, 6 days a week, 60-90 minutes each visit, mixing cardio and free weights. It's insanity, but it's the best thing I could be doing with that time. I'm lighter, fitter, healthier... but more than that, I'm happier than I've been in years. Strenuous exercise is recommended for sufferers of clinical depression, and I can tell you that it works better than I ever would have believed.

Oh, and in that same timescale, my wife's lost over 65lbs! But that's her story to tell if she wants.

tell me about it being back-breaking work...but you know what I loved every minute of it....I'm just waiting till after christmas and I'll start looking for another barn thats a bit closer..

unfortunately it happens to a lot of us, gaining weight in the US...you lead a very different lifestyle here, (hardly any walking and all driving) and it really does make a difference to your health and weight..not to mention the size of the portions....I've taught myself not to order a main dish anymore....me and my daughter share a kids meal..and its more than enough for the two of us...

good on you both for having the determination and willpower..

that should motivate me for the New Year..

I've had some great karma and PMs about motivating others to get fit and lose weight, so here are a couple of points I missed out of my story.

I know that to some of you (most of you?) I probably sound like a total bore - a health freak. But hey, one or two of you might be inspired to NOT join the swelling ranks of America's obesity epidemic.

Good on you mate! I can't do without gyming every day barring two days a week (sometimes can't fit it in, so go Saturdays or Sunday). It is addictive, and especially if you can do it early in the a.m., sets a positive tone for the rest of the day. Do that, and Pilates - which tones the body down....love it.


If you want to lose weight at a gym, go on the treadmill for 30 to 45 minutes set to cross country setting (the inclines go up and down, and keep your heartrate in the fat burning zone. Interval training is the best way to do it..

Diet is the most important part of the entire thing. If you have a lot of weight to lose, cut out ALL carbs barring fruits and brown rice, served in small portions, drink loads of water, teaspoon of organic unpasturized apple cider vinegar in there to help detoxify, eat as many raw fruits and veggies s you can, and count your calories. Don't go over 1200 to 1500 if you have serious weight to lose. Eating organic as much as possible also helps with faster weight loss.

The word here is CONSISTENCY.

No, I think the word here is REGULARITY, with a diet like that.

Still, think of all the calories you'll burn sprinting to the bathroom!

That's the secret to weight loss - finally you can get around to reading War and Peace.

This is not entirely correct, its one of those myths that seem to be pushed by a lot of people in gyms. If you can't sustain the higher level workout for the same amount of time it makes sense, but if you can you should burn more overall calories by working out harder...

Quote from below link:

It's true that the body burns a higher percentage of calories from fat during more mellow exercise like walking and easy cycling. But, when you pick up the pace for a higher-intensity cardio workout, you burn a greater number of overall calories (which should be your focus for weight loss) and subsequently just as much total fat.

http://www.prevention.com/cda/articl...ichele.stanten

This is just one link, but search for fat burning zone on google and there are lots of them

I have a heart rate monitor as well and use it a lot, but use it to vary my workouts as opposed to just working out at one level.

Wow! Thanks for the link. I think I'm convinced that the "Fat Burning Zone" isn't entirely correct.

It sort of ties in with what I tried to say in my original reply - if you don't break a sweat, you really can't expect to lose weight. All these people I see doing long, gentle walks either in the park or at the gym on a treadmill really aren't achieving anything much.

Longy, thanks for giving me an excuse to thrash it at 80% of my max. heart rate today at the gym