My Metabolism Stinks!

[pixiegirl]

This post started off about metabolism slowing down and weight gain because of it. However after reading the various posts (and I can't remember who said what) some of you can't exercise so my advice may be useless to you but for those of you that can exercise... here is some good advice.

First of all I don't know if the slowing of metabolism is due to or has anything to do with Celiac or going gluten-free. There are plenty of people here that have lost weight after going gluten-free. And in doing some research I can't find any studied link between Celiac's who are gluten-free and any unnatural weight gain.

I did notice that some of the posters are over 40 and I'm sure you know that our metabolism begins to slow naturally in our 30's. Most of us don't really notice the slow down until some time in our 40's. By 50 you really have to change something to stay the same weight. Eat less, exercise more - better yet, both.

I just read a study about (darn and I can't remember what its called, started with an "n" like NEAT, it was an acronym) it was about how some people naturally do things to burn more calories. The article said that most of us: sleep for 8 hours, watch tv 4+hours, sit for meals, transportation, work 8+ hours and so don't move around much. Not long ago, the amount of time people spent sitting was very small.

This study (done at Harvard maybe) found that thinner people stood when they could have sat. For example, get a cordless phone and walk around the house or just stand burns more calories then sitting and talking. In your office instead of sending an email to a co worker walk over to his office. The point is and I know we've heard it before, sit instead of lie down, stand instead of sit, walk instead of stand. I read this about a week ago and have really paid attention to how much I'm sitting, its scary.

I also recently read in Health magazine about ways to get your metabolism going. I hate exercising and gyms and so this really appealed to me. Its walking. You start with a 15 minute walk every day and you walk 3 different ways:

walk 1: alternate brisk and moderate walking between landmarks (speed up to the next mailbox, slow to the next telephone pole). Do this for 15 minutes.

walk 2: alternate between moderate, brisk and a slow jog for 40 seconds each (so 40 seconds of brisk walk, 40 seconds of moderate walk, 40 seconds of jog is one cycle) then walk slowly for 3 minutes and do a cycle again. In your 15 minute walk, do 3 cycles.

walk 3: spend your 15 minutes walking up and down a hill at a slow pace.

On the weekend do a nice long walk. After time work up to two 15 minute walks a day. I've been doing this for a week and I've lost 4 lbs.

On the eating front, if you eat gluten-free prepared foods my belief is you have a far greater chance of gaining weight, they are loaded with calories. So no more (or very little of) bread, cookies, cakes, potato chips, snack bars, cereal). I eat mostly "whole" foods: chicken, fish, veggies, fruits. I use to have a starch (rice or potato) at every meal. Now I have 2 veggies and only a couple times a week do I have the starch. Again I can't speak to those of you with serious health problems but the bottom line is if your relatively healthy if you eat less and move more you will lose weight. Studies show that for most, exercising and dieting with someone else helps motivate us.

I'm just over 50, 5'7" and in high school I weighed 118 today I weight 124 so I've been good at maintaining my weight but for me its been work, I'm not one of those that can eat whatever I want and stay thin, I've had to keep an eye on it since I was 18. This winter I gained 10 lbs (hate the cold was my excuse for not exercising, don't ask what my excuse was for eating junk foods!) and its sure not easy to take it off but so far this walking thing is helping. Lastly, there is proof that green tea slightly raises your metabolism for a few hours.

Good luck!

Susan

[gfp]

I apologize but the overuse of "get over it" and than telling me to see a counselor in efforts to use a treadmill was a bit far fetched so I stopped reading there. I am looking for mature, helpful responses, not demeaning and degrading ones. Thanks for your "efforts".

BTW, we don't have the options of the great outdoors - we live on a mountain and I have a connective tissue disease that I can not "get over".

I should have expected this. I know how these message boards work, there is always a group who are insistant on being rude and behaving like children.

Maybe you should see a counselor on your over use of catch phrases.

Sorry if you don't like "get over it" .. there are other ways to word it but what offends one person might not another.

Everyone has lots of issues but when they affect your health then its time to push through them.

If its not serious enough to need to seek professional help then its something you should get over for your own sake.

Had you read the rest of the post you might have seen the example of how one of my good friends had to get over his aversion to public exersize. However, lots of times something that seems trivial to one person (like the words "get over it") are not trivial to another. Many many people don't like exersizing in public.... However not everyone is stuck up a mountain with your problems !!

According to your post, yours is affecting your health ...AND . its the only form of exersize available to you and you have an aversion to it.

You might have a good reason or not for this but either way if this is the only exersize available for you then you should do whatever you can to address it (even if you need professional help).

There is no need to be offended.

There is also no need to ask for professional help if this is not something you can address by yourself.

Although it doesn't affect her health my mom has a string aversion to spiders. I know that however its rationalised nothing I say is going to make her feel at ease in a room with a tiny spider. However there are councellors who can help. In your case you have a common aversion.... but unlike most people with this your health is suffering because you are limited as to what exersize you can do. The longer (and if you keep gaining weight) the harder it will be...

So I'm deadly serious and not trying to offend BUT .. you do need to do something about this (be it moving or dealing with the common aversion to public exersize) ... and if this was a simple thing you would probably have done it already?

I know how these message boards work

The fact you are here and asking means this is important to you ...

There is no magic pill. (well not one that doesn't mess you up) so that basically leaves you with diet and exersize.

Burning calories ... that's another matter ... brain activity can burn more than most people realize so doing a crossword or puzzle etc. is way better than watching TV but ... its no substitute for a minimum of exersize for health.

[RiceGuy]

Whenever I think of exercise, I think of people moving around for no other reason than to burn calories, all the while waisting time they could use to burn calories while dong something fun or important. Playing a sport of some kind, even if it doesn't involve much moving, can be far more effective just because it is more engaging, not to mention you're likely to stick with it. Playing ping-pong for instance - there's no running (unless you go chasing after the ball as it bounces into oblivion). But the game can go on as long as you like. Dart throwing, horseshoe games, croquet, badminton, volleyball, etc. Pick one suited to you, that you enjoy. Make up a game.

Or, do some light gardening. Take nature walks with a camera, so it's about catching some great shots, not about walking. Get some of those odd jobs done around the house. The crack in the wall, that loose chair leg, the picture that needs hanging. All those thing we never seem to have time for.

Perhaps, when there really isn't time, we either need to find ways to streamline our use of it, or maybe just reexamine our diet and/or lifestyle to see what we might be able to improve upon.

The last thing I would point out is; Although Celiac does have a certain percentage of sufferers gaining weight, with healing and time the body can do much better for itself. This does seem to vary quite a lot from person to person.

[curlyfries]

On the eating front, if you eat gluten-free prepared foods my belief is you have a far greater chance of gaining weight, they are loaded with calories. So no more (or very little of) bread, cookies, cakes, potato chips, snack bars, cereal). I eat mostly "whole" foods: chicken, fish, veggies, fruits. I use to have a starch (rice or potato) at every meal. Now I have 2 veggies and only a couple times a week do I have the starch.

Susan

This is what I have been trying to do. I have been overweight for a long time,but I have not felt good for a long time---until going gluten free. When I started eating gluten-free, I realized that a lot of my replacement foods contained rice flour. So I figured if I have to change my diet anyway, might as well REALLY change it. Don't just replace everything I used to love to eat---find new and healthier things to love. I have been gluten free for over 2 months, and in the last 3 weeks I lost 8 pounds . I've never been good at going on diets or counting calories----or exercising (I have fibromyalgia) I love to dance, so when I cook or clean, I add a little wiggle while I do it

BTW, I am 49, so I know how hard it can be.

And if anyone knows of a protein bar that tastes good, let me know. I miss having one every morning.

Lisa

[jvalentine89]

I also have a wacky thyroid. It wasn't until after I started gaining tons of weight and was diagnosed with hypothyroid that I was tested for celiac disease. Everytime I cheat on the diet I end up gaining 1-5 lbs.

About the digestive issue:

Even though I'm hypothyroid, I have no problems when it comes to digestion. If i eat something, it will be eliminated from my body in 2-5 hours. I think its because i drink so much fluids and eat a lot of fibrous foods such as apples.

*Also...about a week ago I tried Raw Kombucha tea and it definitiely has a laxative effect. It tastes really strange (kinda like a mixture of rotting beer and yogurt) but sometimes i find myself craving it.

[darlindeb25]

Cmichelle, you can get decent exercise in your own home too. I Tony Little's Gazelle, it's very easy on your joints, and you can go at your own speed. It's a glider, I do not own his top of the line gazelle, I probably own the bottom of the line, and it works great for me. I have neuropathy, so some days, it's harder to be motivated, but I do it. I can watch a comedy on tv, or listen to my favorite celiac disease's while I use it, whatever I want. Nobody else to bother me. It's perfect for me, might work for you too. Don't ever feel that you have to go to a gym for exercise.

I do know that losing weight as a celiac, does seem much harder. That may just be my opinion, but if you do eat gluten-free grains, they are higher in calories. gluten-free breads were always too heavy for my tummy, when I could still eat them.

Thank you Riceguy for your explaination of sweeteners and Stevia. I have used Splenda, which is made from sugar, I also use Nutrataste, which contains phenylalanine, same in Equal. I do not use sugar, never. The sugar I do get in foods is very little. Most of my foods are natural foods, there is not sugar in cheese, there is 3 g in my cottage cheese, natural sugars in my apples and other fruits, etc. I really do not even use much sweeteners, maybe 3-4 packets a day, so I really do not feel I am in much jeopardy. I also do not buy foods sweetened with sweeteners. The stevia I tried was Simply Stevia, I bought it in a health food store, and, as I said, I did not like it, I find it leaves an aftertaste. If we all liked the same things, what a boring world it would be!

Eating healthy and exercising is the only way to lose the pounds--that's what my sister the dietician tells me. She says if you don't move, and keep changing the way you move, your body gets used to the way things are and adjusts itself to that lifestyle, then it settles in and is happy right there!

[gfp]

Whenever I think of exercise, I think of people moving around for no other reason than to burn calories, all the while waisting time they could use to burn calories while dong something fun or important.

OK, a different view point is to forget about the calories....

(I agree with the rest of the post)

Exersize is a means in itself, our body needs exersize to be healthy... that exersize can be ping pong as you say.. but we can burn calories just doing academic things but it doesn't have the same benefits as exersize!

Today's modern life is almost designed to prevent exersize... even a simple hing like drying our hair can be made ith a machine that has a side affect of damaging our hair and reducing the exersize of towelling....

Of course we can then buy products to protect our hair while balstic it with a hairdrier....

Many of use drive to a supermarket, take a trolley and drive home where our parents would have walked to several stores and carried the shopping home..we use a vacuum... etc. etc.

In our parents and grandparents time "they wasted so much time" .. walking to a store when we can drive etc. but they got exersize as part of life so they didn't need to "distill" exersize time into gym workouts etc.

[darlindeb25]

Wow, Gfp, you must be a lot older than me! I'm 52 and my mom used a hair dryer. She never could towel dry her hair, she has way too much! My mom never walked to the store and carried groceries home either. My mom has always had a vacuum too. It was different for my grandparents, but our parent's have had modern convience's. She had an automatic washer and dryer too, she didn't have to go to the creek to do laundry!

Daily exercise can be implemented in daily chores, if you want to do it. But, you must change your routine all the time. If you have an upstairs, you can go up and down your stairs several times for exercise, or a basement too. My sister uses the stairs at her work, instead of the elevator. Every little bit helps. We are a lazy society. We use a remote, instead of getting up to change the tv, we watch tv instead of going outside and watching nature!

You really can exercise at home, I do it all the time!

[gfp]

Wow, Gfp, you must be a lot older than me!

Not older but not far off! But my mom was 30 when she had me and we were very poor and didn't have much in the way of luxury items. Perhaps I got to see them all introduced one by one .. certainly my grandmother spent her whole life without most of thse labor saving devices and never had a car.

I spent 5 years of my life carrying water from a well on a daily basis .. (although I can't say I was poor at this point but i was living in North Africa)

Anyway, I am just saying the same as you ...

Daily exercise can be implemented in daily chores, if you want to do it. But, you must change your routine all the time. If you have an upstairs, you can go up and down your stairs several times for exercise, or a basement too. My sister uses the stairs at her work, instead of the elevator. Every little bit helps. We are a lazy society. We use a remote, instead of getting up to change the tv, we watch tv instead of going outside and watching nature!

You really can exercise at home, I do it all the time!

My point is with all the labor saving devices we need to make a concious effort our parents (or grandparents) didn't have to make.

For most of my early childhood my grandmother picked me up from school (a 3-4 mile walk) and then we walked back to her place until my mom finished work...

Sometimes my father would pick me up in the car but as often as not we would walk to my house (4-5 miles).. and he would drop her off afterwards. Meanwhile my bachelor uncle would finish work (as a laborer) and spend 4-5 hours out hunting for food on the hills and my grand and myself would clean out the chickens, again quite labor intensive.

If someone spent 4 hours walking the hills now it would be exersize, for my uncle it was providing food. Obviously these are bigger things but was you say we can exersize at home just doing chores, we don't need to set aside special time but we do need to be concious of making chores into something that exersizes us because we have so many labor saving devices.

The funny thing is as you say, these devices were mainly thought of as giving us more leisure time but in reality they end up giving us more sitting on our bum time.