Topic: The Health, Fitness and Exercise Thread

@Ralizah well done - it’s hard to cut all that crap. I dialled it all way down recently, but I can’t stay off it completely (and tbh I don’t really want to - I like pigging out in junk every now and then). I’m basically just eating a lot more fruit, veg and fish and try to avoid things with lots of ingredients. If I’m cycling a lot, I just tend to eat whatever is at hand though… I only weigh 69kg mind you.

(I did go a bit nuts eating crap at Christmas, need to ween off that through Jan somehow!)

@kyleforrester87 Wow, you're quite skinny!

I gain super easily if I go off track lol, even with exercise (although it sounds like you do a LOT of cycling to compensate). I also pack on water weight like a darned camel, and have been putting on some muscle, so I've transitioned to relying on measurements over tracking the scale for fat loss. Lost three inches on my hips and waist in December.

I've had to scrape and claw for every bit of fat loss I've seen, but it's been worth it. It's nice being able to jog and not being a disgusting sweaty mess at the end of a session.

Eating simple foods over boxed foods is a great move in terms of your health. Even putting aside pure calories, the less artificial gunk you put in your body, the better.

Same with fast food. I just... feel better eating good. I'm not polluting my body with slow-acting nutritional poison, and it's helping.

@Ralizah I've always been slim, cycling has actually added a bit of weight through muscle mass in my legs and generally made me leaner overall. I do love being in this weight range though, it seems to work well for me. I can't fathom having to watch what I eat from a weight gain perspective, I do occasionally think how tough that must be for people who gain weight easily and are trying to lose it.

Eating healthier has done wonders for my anxiety, too.

As for cycling, I have "won" a spot in London > Edinburgh > London 2025. 950 miles in 120 hours. I'll be skinnier after that I reckon!!

@kyleforrester87 Nice! I walk a lot, so I figure I probably have a decent amount of muscle in my legs by now. Although probably not as much as cycling will get you.

For context on our differing body types, my smart scale app estimates that my "fat-free body mass" (basically, a weight I will never reach because everyone has some fat in their body lol) is 78.3kg.

Oh my god, that is a crazy amount of cycling you have to do! You said you won a spot. Does that mean you had to qualify for it?

Eating better will definitely help with your moods as well, yes. The mind and body are one and the same, essentially. Or, at least, they're intimately connected. The stuff in your food impacts everything going on in your body, including the chemistry that determines how you think and feel about the world.

@Ralizah How tall are you then? I am only a touch under 6 foot! I walk a fair amount but I should do a little running for bone density. Nah I didn't qualify, it was a ballot entry - 150 spots and I got "lucky". There are another thousand or so places coming up in Jan 25 so at least I know well ahead of time what I am in for, I guess!

@kyleforrester87 A little over 6'1, but I'm a large-framed person, so my ideal body weight is higher than it'd be otherwise. I think it's something like adjusting your body weight target upwards 10% if your wrist circumference is above a certain number, and downwards 10% if it's smaller than a certain number.

That said, I prefer to just opt for objective measurements. I'll keep using the tape measure and probably order body fat calipers. Once I hit my ideal body composition, it'll be relatively built (normal; not going for a weight-lifter look lol), but in terms of raw weight, it'll still be considered "overweight" according to the BMI.

That competition sounds rough. You must have to build up an incredible amount of endurance to bike that far in that period of time!

@AgentCooper Congrats on your first anniversary. I'd have thought that would be the toughest year to get through and ended with possibly the hardest time to do it too. But perhaps Crimbo wasn't that bad if this is the norm for you now?

@kyleforrester87 Those distances you were doing over the holidays were insane. It was almost disappointing to open Strava and not see some ridiculous ride from you. Looks like you'll need the practice for that event though; almost 200 miles a day? Yikes. What's the deal for overnight, food etc on that sort of thing?

@Ralizah And you should be super proud of your achievements too. Seems you're approaching it from a very healthy angle so it should be sustainable as well. Cooking as much as you can for yourself is such a big thing though and it helps if you enjoy it too. I quite like cooking but find I just get into ruts of sticking to the same repertoire of things though and have to push myself to try something new (and find something the wife will actually like too...) My dad got me a voucher for a fish cookery course a couple of Christmases ago which was cool and my wife got me a half day voucher for a nearby cookery school so I might do the homemade pasta course.

As for myself in general, on new years day I did my first 10 mile run since coming back from injury and it felt fine. I just need to slowly start building up distance and climbing again but it's harder to do at the moment seeing as one of my normal running days is now childcare and buggy runs need to be planned to not be too long! Got my eye on some events later in the year but don't want to commit to anything too early.

@Thrillho Thank you! Yeah, sustainability is key. You can't "diet" your way to health, because you'll inevitably just bounce back and gain even more weight than you had initially. Been there, done that. Which might seem ironic from someone who is using keto and fasting alongside exercise to lose weight, but I intend to keep these as permanent tools in my health arsenal.

Yeah, people think of cooking like it's some random hobby, but food is the fuel your entire life runs on. It affects your health, both physically and psychologically. Why leave that at the mercy of companies that want to pump you, your wife, and your kid full of red dye #89 or long chemical compounds with unpronounceable names?

Cooking more with healthy ingredients is such a power move, in that respect.

What sort of food does your wife enjoy? You can find a million recipes online, or on cooking channels on youtube. If you guys are open to experimentation, it shouldn't be difficult at all to break out of that rut.

@Thrillho Haha, thanks. Yes I have been enjoying my significantly better off knees I guess. The furthest I've ridden in one go is 160 miles, and I was very dead by the end, but chunks of that ride were very pacey. I think I could do 200 now and finish feeling okay if I just slow it right down. Anyway, I'll do that distance this year at least once, so we'll see. As for sleeping on the event, there are limited bunks at control points along the way or pretty much... in a hedge, I think lol. I understand it's a good idea, if you can, to do 230-240 miles the first day as you'll be ahead of the bunch and are more likely to get a bed. I think it's about finding out if short 20 minute sleeps, or getting longer 3-4 hour blocks is more beneficial for you as an individual. And if you're better off riding through the night/early morning or during the day. It's somewhat weather and temperature dependent too. There is quite a bit to think about/learn I suppose, but it's a "2025" problem..!

@Thrillho Congrats on getting your running legs back too by the way. Definitely enter some events!

@AgentCooper @Ralizah well done both of you on your successes!

I've been alcohol free for over a year now (barring tiramisu 😂 and a sip of a beer during summer just to try it). I kind of forgot I had been abstaining to be honest and it was only as I was pouring out an alcohol free bubbly on NYE that I remembered I had done the same on the previous year!

@ralphdibny If you're a recovering alcoholic, I think I'm more impressed by you trying a sip of beer and leaving it at that!

@Ralizah I'm not, don't worry! (At least, I don't think I am 😂, maybe I went through periods of it). I stopped drinking mainly because I was hyper emotional at the time and alcohol is a bit of a wild card in that it's effects vary. It can either numb you, make you feel better, make you feel worse, ya know, you just can't tell before drinking what effect it will eventually have on you when you are drunk.

That sip of beer was very nice though and very more-ish and I did want more but it was ok, I didn't have any more lol. I mainly had the sip because it was the last bottle of some beer from Cornwall and I thought I'd give it a taste before my partner finished them off.

@ralphdibny God bless St Austell brewery But good work on the self restraint as well. I hope the exercise side of things are still going well for you too.

@Ralizah The wife isn't too bad with food but it's just convincing her to actually try something different. I don't mind spending a bit of time on a meal every now and again but the hardest part is normally finding something that can be used as a midweek meal rather than something to spend half an afternoon doing at a weekend. One thing though is we're really lucky to have some good butchers around us and we don't buy masses of meat so I'm happy to spend more on good stuff.

@kyleforrester87 Oh wow, so it's a continuous event? Brutal. There's a cult ultramarathon in the US called the Berkley marathon (which is fascinating to read about) which is just ridiculous with most years not even seeing anyone finish but I read some peoples' experiences this year and they literally find ditches to try and catch 20 min naps in. Insane. And I've got my eye on a few half marathon events but quite a few are in the next couple of months and I'm not sure I'm back to that level yet.

@Thrillho cheers mate, yes bless them indeed! I'll start smuggling beer out of the west country again when they start making alcohol free Proper Job and Mena Dhu! 😀😂

@kyleforrester87 Oh my word, that’s incredible mate, well done. Your fitness levels must of the chart at the moment!

@Ralizah Truly amazing progress, made up for you. I’ve taken a similar path in recent months. Alongside booze I’ve now quit sugar and all processed foods which has been transformative. Big fan of fasting too. Good luck moving forward 👍

@ralphdibny ta mate, excellent work on that sobriety also, good to hear you’re making progress with your health goals 👍

@Thrillho Thanks friend, there’s been some rough weeks but Christmas was easier than expected mainly due to my friend and family circle reducing significantly. Feeling pretty good to have made it this far. Hope all is well with you?

I've been told exercise helps with mental health. I think largely it's true but I've found that I don't feel good every time I exercise. Id say more often than not, I feel good after exercise. I think cumulatively I feel better having been doing it for some months now.

There are some days where I feel awful after exercise, I think inconsiderate swimmers can put me in a bad mood real fast so there might be an association there. But a bad mood can last some hours after.

@ralphdibny I find it's hard to be anxious when you're absolutely exhausted!

I did a big off road ride on Saturday and it has really kicked my ass. My quads are so sore it woke me up at 4am this morning.

@kyleforrester87 dayumn! Sounds like a good time though!

I went bowling on Saturday. The Garmin can record, driving, flying a drone and gaming but there isn't an option for bowling!

I fell over quite a lot at bowling 😂, very slippery shoes and me awkwardly trying not to hurt my knee and wrist at the same time resulted in many falls!