Today programme, radio 4, covers diabetes...

[ButtterflyLady]

It's the good old Harris Benedict Formula, it's over 100 years old now but calculates the amount of calories you require based on gender, age, height and weight. When I started to look at losing weight all those years ago I looked at several different weight loss organisations like weight watchers, Tesco Diets (no longer in existence), Rosemary Connolly, etc etc and they all use a formula very similar to the Harris Benedict formula which I've included below. It was a useful exercise for me because since moving in with my wife in 1989 I had broadly speaking avoided processed foods, especially after gaining 3 stones in the first 3 months of living with my wife who told me that I wasn't going to have the same old muck that I ate as a bachelor. We typically ate WW frozen meals to begin with because we both worked long hours and added vegetables like broccoli, cauliflower, carrots etc. and when I visited my GP because of this sudden weight gain he maintained that it was the salt content of frozen meals, so all meals were prepared from scratch. I never felt that I ate that much although I enjoyed a few beers which is why I gave up when the Rosiglitazone started to affect my liver It wasn't the alcohol, I had a long discussion with my doctor about my alcohol consumption, even he couldn't see how it would have affected my liver, he knew it was the Rosiglitazone. No matter, I haven't touched a drop for 8 years or more. The formula assume you lie in bed all day:

English BMR Formula
Women: BMR = 655 + ( 4.35 x weight in pounds ) + ( 4.7 x height in inches ) - ( 4.7 x age in years )
Men: BMR = 66 + ( 6.23 x weight in pounds ) + ( 12.7 x height in inches ) - ( 6.8 x age in year )

Metric BMR Formula
Women: BMR = 655 + ( 9.6 x weight in kilos ) + ( 1.8 x height in cm ) - ( 4.7 x age in years )
Men: BMR = 66 + ( 13.7 x weight in kilos ) + ( 5 x height in cm ) - ( 6.8 x age in years )

There are multipliers which depend on how much exercise you do.

To determine your total daily calorie needs, multiply your BMR by the appropriate activity factor, as follows:

1. If you are sedentary (little or no exercise) : Calorie-Calculation = BMR x 1.2
2. If you are lightly active (light exercise/sports 1-3 days/week) : Calorie-Calculation = BMR x 1.375
3. If you are moderatetely active (moderate exercise/sports 3-5 days/week) : Calorie-Calculation = BMR x 1.55
4. If you are very active (hard exercise/sports 6-7 days a week) : Calorie-Calculation = BMR x 1.725
5. If you are extra active (very hard exercise/sports & physical job or 2x training) : Calorie-Calculation = BMR x 1.9

The interesting thing for me is that this is what medics use to calculate your BMR, god help me if I'm ever hospitalised and in a coma, because the formula says I should eat 2000 calories a day and I don't usually eat more than 1200. My GP did say that I didn't eat enough but if I eat more my weight goes up. so I'm not playing their game of try this and try that and see what happens. Sadly the medical profession don't have a clue and this is what worries me. So many overweight people are labelled as over eaters and some might be, eating too much will increase your weight but you have to continue eating too much to sustain that extra weight.

Dieting really isn't straight forward.

BTW, I agree, exercise helps, of course, but it's surprising how little fuel (calories) it burns. I've spent too long on the bike at the gym, set to difficulty 12 (out of 20) to know how little you burn. I believe the idea is that with more muscle you will burn more calories, not that the bike knows how many muscles I've got. LOL

Thanks for posting that. So, are you saying that even though you reduced your calories, you didn't lose weight? How many calories were you eating?

 

[graj0]

Thanks for posting that. So, are you saying that even though you reduced your calories, you didn't lose weight? How many calories were you eating?

Correct, more importantly is that I actually weighed and recorded absolutely everything I ate, even on a bad day when I had a Nature Valley Health bar (I like them, shouldn't touch them). So I was able to go to my GP and ask what I was doing wrong. I've had to get all sorts of blood tests done, none offered by the NHS, I paid for them, but I know that there is an increase of lactic acid in my body and I'm not very good at producing ATP, used in getting energy to muscles. Even my GP say my metabolism is knackered.
At the moment my BMR is 2000 and I eat about 1200 a day. I eat less than 100 gms carbohydrate a day. Things are a bit weird at the moment because I have a lump on my appendix which after 30 days I'm still waiting for the hospital to do something, I also have gall bladder problems including an infection from hell, so the odd slice of bread is creeping in because I can't be bothered and I just need sustenance. Things are improving but I'm not going to beat myself up when I have felt like **** for 5 weeks.
I've had so many dieticians and doctors say that I must be eating more than I say that I've lost count. It's why everything is weighed and recorded, no arguments then, I'm certainly not doing it for fun.
The things I could tell you about bariatric surgery which they wanted me to have are beyond belief. When I first went to the support group they were liquidising chocolate and ice cream to up their calories to 1200. I don't eat either so a real waste of my time. You see there we go again, they're telling I eat to much, have a gastric band so you can't eat. Useless. Last year I was interviewed by a psychiatrist and a dietician (attached to the bariatric surgery group) and they decided that I had a weight problem, not an eating problem. The dietician even asked why I ate so much fish, easy, cheap and easy to cook. Oh, they don't do the chocolate ice cream thing any more. LOL
BTW Do you like cats and do you live in NZ LOL

 

[ButtterflyLady]

Correct, more importantly is that I actually weighed and recorded absolutely everything I ate, even on a bad day when I had a Nature Valley Health bar (I like them, shouldn't touch them). So I was able to go to my GP and ask what I was doing wrong. I've had to get all sorts of blood tests done, none offered by the NHS, I paid for them, but I know that there is an increase of lactic acid in my body and I'm not very good at producing ATP, used in getting energy to muscles. Even my GP say my metabolism is knackered.
At the moment my BMR is 2000 and I eat about 1200 a day. I eat less than 100 gms carbohydrate a day. Things are a bit weird at the moment because I have a lump on my appendix which after 30 days I'm still waiting for the hospital to do something, I also have gall bladder problems including an infection from hell, so the odd slice of bread is creeping in because I can't be bothered and I just need sustenance. Things are improving but I'm not going to beat myself up when I have felt like **** for 5 weeks.
I've had so many dieticians and doctors say that I must be eating more than I say that I've lost count. It's why everything is weighed and recorded, no arguments then, I'm certainly not doing it for fun.
The things I could tell you about bariatric surgery which they wanted me to have are beyond belief. When I first went to the support group they were liquidising chocolate and ice cream to up their calories to 1200. I don't eat either so a real waste of my time. You see there we go again, they're telling I eat to much, have a gastric band so you can't eat. Useless. Last year I was interviewed by a psychiatrist and a dietician (attached to the bariatric surgery group) and they decided that I had a weight problem, not an eating problem. The dietician even asked why I ate so much fish, easy, cheap and easy to cook. Oh, they don't do the chocolate ice cream thing any more. LOL
BTW Do you like cats and do you live in NZ LOL

Lol, yes to both =^..^=

 

[Scardoc]

Obesity doesn't just "contribute(??)" to diabetes as a health problem... It affects breathing, legs, mobility.. Everything... Why can't someone just tackle the ready meals, the takeaways and direct the public back to proper size plates etc.
Obesity is causing the crisis in NHS not just diabetics.

Supply and demand. People want ready meals and takeaways so people get ready meals and takeaways. It's that simple. As long as the public want something it will be made available. All in the name of financial gain of course.

There's only one longer term solution and that's education from a very young age.

 

[SunnyExpat]

Just one slight problem, as someone who has kept an eye on my calorie intake for at least 8 years and I have food diaries to show that I was eating 500, 1000 and even 1500 calories less than my Basic Metabolic Rate and at times exercised till it hurt, as much as swimming 1km, 5 times a week, 1 hr in the gym 3 times a week as well as playing golf, having swimming lessons and spending an hour with a PT, weight reduction doesn't always happen. I know that my weight loss has occurred when I stopped Rosiglitazone, stopped Gliclazide and later started low carb.

Reduce weight is a great plan, but if anyone thinks it's just about calories consumed and calories burned, then they have a bit more to learn.

So in the end, you did reduce weight?

 

[graj0]

So in the end, you did reduce weight?

But only when I stopped taking certain drugs and when I went low carb. I lost about 4 stone when I lowered my carbs (didn't increase my fats) and then after about 4 months the weight loss stopped. The weird thing is that it literally just stops, doesn't slow down, just stops. Even allowing for the fact that at 4 stone lighter I needed less calories (not much but still less) I wasn't losing. Then last November I had a new knee and lost another 1 1/2 stone in the 6 weeks over Christmas. How crazy is that? Less active, more likely to eat a bit more although I have never gone mental over christmas, and I lost more weight. Then nothing since I stopped taking the antibiotics, which I mention because my GP thinks that anything that speeds my intestinal transit time will enable weight loss. Personally I think there's a switch that I sit on now and again and switch on or off.
Your question just raise an important point, had I returned to a diet with processed foods, alcohol, carbs, I'd be in a very sorry state. AT least I'm not get worse, just not improving to the point that I want to be at, by a long way.

 

[Daphne917]

Thanks for posting that. So, are you saying that even though you reduced your calories, you didn't lose weight? How many calories were you eating?

I had a similar problem. I have always been big and a n my twenties I decided to go on a very low calorie diet and ate 800 calaries per day. Most people on this diet lost quite a bit of weight however I managed about 7lb in 3 months and felt really unwell. My GP told me to start eating proper food again because my metabolism was shutting my body down. A consultant told me a few months later that I was one of his few patients who could honestly say that their metabolism was to blame for their size and that I would always find it extremely difficult if not impossible to lose weight until my metabolism and thyroid sorted itself out. 18 months ago I was eventually prescribed thyroxine due to u/active thyroid and that, coupled with a LCHF diet, has enabled me to lose 3 stone so far - it's not as fast as some on here but for me it is an achievement.

 

[graj0]

I had a similar problem. I have always been big and a n my twenties I decided to go on a very low calorie diet and ate 800 calaries per day. Most people on this diet lost quite a bit of weight however I managed about 7lb in 3 months and felt really unwell. My GP told me to start eating proper food again because my metabolism was shutting my body down. A consultant told me a few months later that I was one of his few patients who could honestly say that their metabolism was to blame for their size and that I would always find it extremely difficult if not impossible to lose weight until my metabolism and thyroid sorted itself out. 18 months ago I was eventually prescribed thyroxine due to u/active thyroid and that, coupled with a LCHF diet, has enabled me to lose 3 stone so far - it's not as fast as some on here but for me it is an achievement.

That's good news, long may your losses continue. I can appreciate the frustration of doing the right things and not achieving the correct result. The important thing is to continue eating sensibly and for diabetics I'm going to say watching carbs and calories and possibly even fats (optional). There really isn't a one size fits all approach to this game and I am genuinely concerned that those carrying extra pounds always end up as being expected to eat too much.
The one I hate is "I can see you enjoy your food". Stupid in a few ways, I think it's fair to say that only those unfortunate enough to suffer from anorexia "hate food" and even as someone who enjoys food, that statement actually suggests something else.
I've mentioned on previous posts how someone actually asked me if I'd ever considered going on a diet, cheeky old cow, she was treated to my life history of diet and I must have stopped to breath because I never saw someone on crutches move so quickly. A complete stranger once asked me if I'd ever considered a gastric band. "For a nano second, next question". A lot of this comes back to people who think they know everything and they jog along in their ignorant little world, I suppose I should feel sorry for them.
Sorry everyone having a major whinge here, not a bad way of letting of steam or getting BP down a bit.