Re: Weight gain and Canada
 

when i was here last time ( and that was dead of winter, over christmas!) i still lost over a stone without trying. now im back here two weeks and already my jeans are less snug.
i ate a bunch of crap in the uk that i cant get here so i eat more healthily here, hopefully that and smaller plates ( portion control for the unwilling ;) ) will do the trick. i have the medical for PR in 4 months or so so need to shift some of this blubber.

Re: Weight gain and Canada
 

When we first came here, I did lose weight. I think it was the shock of the price of wine and cheese!!! :eek:

Then I gradually got over that shock and started eating and drinking to excess as usual, so the weight went back on! I played a bit of field hockey and lost some weight .... then I quit that and gained again ..... sigh

So then I decided I was fat and miserable, and lost about ten pounds with diet, and a further ten pounds with exercise ... I even went back to field hockey, but then wrecked my knee (yes, playing field hockey) and couldn't do a thing! I had a surgery which fixed my knee, but took a while, and I didn't get back into exercising again since then.

This year I took a driving job. I am now either driving or sitting at my desk. I began to feel really quite unwell, with many vague things that could be attributed to, or at least exacerbated by, being overweight, and decided it was up to me to remedy this.

For the last two months I have cut virtually all the crap out of my diet, tried to be more active on a more regular basis, and lost about a stone. This takes me from "clinically obese" to a mere "overweight" if you believe BMIs.
I do feel heaps better already and am aiming to lose a further 10-15 pounds if I can, but I'm losing only a pound or two a week now, so my hope is that I won't gain it all again (and some) which is what normally happens if I "diet"! :o

I am now actually back to the weight I was when we landed 7 years ago, if you believe my drivers licence! :thumbsup:

Re: Weight gain and Canada
 

I can totally see why people do gain weight when they come here - I guess the novelty of different foods (yes, I'm aware a lot of them are processed & nasty but they're different) will do that to you. I love wine & to come to an area with so many new local wines, I thought I'd end up rosy nosed and dragging around a few spare tyres...

I've been really lucky - I eat like a horse at the moment & I've actually lost a little weight. I put it down to working in retail and running around a large store moving heavy stock and generally being active for 10 hours everyday.

Stress does play a part for me though, when I'm stressed & worried (3 months before & after the move and the last 3 months of wedding planning) I always seem to lose - which is good because I'm hardly a skinny Minny ;)

Re: Weight gain and Canada
 

BMI is a waste of time..it doesnt give you a true picture..best is to look at your % of body fat..you could have a top athlete who is classed as overweight or obese simply because they are mostly muscle and no fat and muscle weighs more than fat.

Re: Weight gain and Canada
 

I put on shedloads of weight in the mid-90s. I got up to nearly 13 stone, which is an awful lot on my frame. My then wife was a slave to the microwave and processed food.

Souvette, whom I met in 1998, cooks. My weight went down to 10 stone and it has since moved little (couple of pounds here and there). That is where I want to be (insurance company seems quite happy about that, too).

My stepson, now pushing 23, lived with us until about four years ago. He is physically very active (snowboarding, kayaking etc) and muscular. When he lived with us, he had a triangular back. He ate like a horse. Mummy cooks food.

He now lives with his dad. Dad doesn't cook and the boy can't be bothered. He's still very active but guess what has happened to the triangle? Inverted.

Junk food and microwaves are the scourge of society.

Re: Weight gain and Canada
 

Funny isnt it... its so obvious :)

Re: Weight gain and Canada
 

Its not what goes in that's important it's what comes back up that counts.

Re: Weight gain and Canada
 

We've been here two months (on Thursday) and I've put on weight (about half a stone). I think it's easy when you first move over because your routine is knocked out of skew so you eat on the run. In the UK, a meal out or takeaway was a rare (and very nice) treat. Since being here, we've so much to organise that we always seem to be out somewhere, grabbing something on the go and not getting back to the house in time to cook proper food so we go out to eat.

I love cooking and make things from scratch. I hate processed food (although I do LOVE chocolate...haven't eaten too much here though because it's pap) but would not buy a microwave meal if you paid me to! However, 4Bells mentioned bread so I looked at our 'wholewheat, wholesome' bread and by the 'eck...it's full of sugar in different forms. So 4Bells, I shall be looking at the labels from now on. Thank you for that tip. Everything here seems to be sugar loaded.....even the ham (I miss our thick Wiltshire on the bone ham).....actually my OH started work today :thumbsup: and takes a packed lunch but it seems hard to find sarnie fillings that aren't processed crud. I think I'll be making him salads from now on.

Anyway, upshot is I've been jolted into reality today (having read this and after eight weeks of eating out) so from now on I shall be looking at all food labels, avoiding too many biscuits (yet to find any nice ones anyway, so that should be easy - I shall go back to baking my own I think) and will start to use the gym in our apartment building. I can't wait to feel normal (and healthy) again!!

Re: Weight gain and Canada
 

I think it's one of the reasons why so many North Americans go on cruises and to all-inclusive resorts on holiday... they're not very discerning about food, as long as there's Plenty Of It, Available All Day.

Re: Weight gain and Canada
 

Ugggh.....the thought of either (a) a cruise or (b) all you can eat whenever you want it makes me come out in hives......:thumbdown:

Re: Weight gain and Canada
 

I had been wondering about the effect on us over there. We're both in our twenties and both in the 'average-small' range, if you had to classify. I'm a UK 10-12 but I pig out often on comfort foods. I'm hoping that the unfamiliar foods in Canada will help break that pattern. Though having said that I've already started a packing list and so far it only includes chocolate :s