<p>I asked my wife for her weight this morning and she checked and said 110. Her flying weight was 104 before we got married so she’s added 6 pounds in 22 years. She doesn’t diet and she exercises only moderately. Nothing intense and nothing for long periods of time outside walking. She uses 1-3 pound weights when she uses weights. My guess is good genes and the environment in which she was raised.</p>
<p>BCEagle91,
The formula for staying the same is simple, energy intake = energy used. Our bodies are using energy for breathing, for heart bit, brain uses, digesting food and so forth. Do not need to exercise for weight, but it is needed for generl health unless your job is not sedendary like mine. Genese paly role but very limited. In addition, why to focus on this reason, if you cannot do anything about your genes. Might as well focus on other reasons that you can control (which is true for everything that we do, isn’t it?)</p>
<p>I was told a general rule is that a moderately active person can consume about 14 calories per pound of ideal body weight.
So if I want to weigh 150 I could eat 2100 calories per day. If I exercise a lot I could increase the total calories until I get a net of 2100.</p>
<p>I have read that I should consume 1500 cal for my height / gender combo to be in a normal range. There are ideal weights for heights on internet and range is + - 10% of ideal weight. For example, for me, ideal weight is 120 pounds, acceptable range is 108 - 132 pounds. Unfortunately, I am close to top limit, but still within. If you are not, then you are not in balance in your energy intake / usage.</p>
<p>I weigh more than I did when I was 18 ( which was about 103) but I was pretty skinny without much musculature.</p>
<p>Bone weight and structure does have relevance to weight as does height.
My younger daughter is about 177 cm with a slender but not skinny build. She weighs about the same as I do at 160 cm & she looks fantastic.
( she is also very strong)</p>
<p>My older daughter is 152.cm & weighs 100 lbs and is very active, but very petite bones.</p>
<p>WHile a lb of muscle doesn’t weigh more than a lb of fat, when I lift weights 3 + a week, I weigh more than when I don’t, but I look better and my clothes fit better.</p>
<p>Well, at my age I do not add muscles anymore with my reasonable non-bodybuider’s routine. I am doing much heavier weights than most young girls in gym, but I bet they grow them muscles. I iust want to maintain reasonable physical strength, not to depend on others too much and prevent osteoporosis, I do not have other goals lifting weights.</p>
<p>I am planning on doing a lot for my bones by jumping up and down for a few hours at the three Pearl Jam concerts I am going to in the next month.
;)</p>
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<p>It’s not so much the 20 minutes of food prep as it is the hours of searching and researching recipes, sources for healthy fresh ingredients, planning and shopping. If eating a whole and healthy diet is a new commitment/lifestyle for you, there’s a considerable learning curve involved with making that happen. </p>
<p>Last year, I embarked on a quest for overall health and fitness, which included the need to get my blood sugar well under control through diet and exercise. I realized that I knew very little about what foods I needed to eat in order to accomplish this, having been raised all my life in the black, southern tradition of down home eating—lots of fried and fatty foods, and vegetables (cabbage, collard greens, green beans, etc) cooked in pork fat until soft and gray-green (yes, I know, I know…:(). I started reading books on eating fresh, whole foods, flavorably seasoned, and lightly cooked, added fish and cut back on red meats and pork. There are lots of magazines available that are full of great recipes. Eating Well and Eating Clean are two of my favorites. </p>
<p>But it takes a commitment of time to cull through these resources, looking for new menu items to replace old unhealthy standbys, and time as well, to learn how best to prepare unfamiliar menu items. I found that a great deal of my day was being spent thinking about and planning for that day’s eating requirements. Mindful eating takes a lot more time than picking a fast food place to drive through, or a packaged/boxed food item to cook. It’s well worth the effort, of course, but it does end up being a decision one makes daily with days of preparation ahead of that—certainly more than 20 minutes.</p>
<p>^I guess I’ve just been cooking so long this seems weird to me. Half the time I just saute a piece of meat or fish, sprinkle some spices on it and steam vegetables and make a big salad. You can make salads more interesting by adding fruit or nuts or a little cheese. You can make a sauce by stirring in a little wine or juice to the brown bits left in the frying pan.You can make a sauce by stirring in a little wine or juice to the brown bits left in the frying pan from cooking the meat. </p>
<p>In the summer I do a lot of grilling, both meat and vegetables.</p>
<p>I make pork roast and roast chicken a lot because they are so easy. Sometimes I jazz up the pork by cutting a hole in the middle and stuffing it with dried fruit. </p>
<p>I go through periods where I use my cookbooks and magazines, but lots of times I just buy whatever looks good and cook it.</p>
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<p>Bravo! I think it’s great to find oneself ahead of the curve as a result of having been raised to eat in this fashion (or else, having long established the habit of doing so). But, think about what it would entail if you had to suddenly switch to eating in the old, southern tradition, or a cuisine from another country or culture. It would indeed be a pretty steep learning curve, and involve lot of time making a lot of conscious changes.</p>
<p>
anneroku, I wish people would not recommend this book. While it is likely true that the author gained weight while in the U.S., that happens when people are sad and homesick, whether they are in the U.S. or not. The author’s family shamed her into weight loss, telling her how terrible she looked.</p>
<p>From long experience in France (well, Paris, which has different mores than the rest of the country), I will tell you how French women really stay thin – they smoke. A lot. They swear by smoking as a weight-control method. Also, they take “natural” colonic medicaments, and many of them are bulimic. Their daily diets are a horror, contrary to popular belief. They go to masseuses, acupuncturists, hypnotists and “natural medicine” doctors and clinics, expressly for the purpose of weight loss and ridding le corps of that dreaded cellulite. They find this completely normal. To have fat thighs is not merely unsightly to the average Parisienne, it is a shameful character flaw.</p>
<p>Oh, and let’s not forget the post-New Year’s “regime” for “mal au foie”, in other words the mineral water fast to rid the body of phantom toxins after the excesses of the holidays. The “mal au foie” regime is regarded with Ramadan-like seriousness.</p>
<p>I was anorexic (I think I weighed around 90 lbs. at 5’4") and smoked like a chimney when I lived there, and everyone thought I looked great for an American.</p>
<p>Sorry to divert the discussion for a sec, but I just want to set the record straight on that book. A book like this is one way for smug people (this one is a sales rep for Veuve Clicquot champagne) to try to make us feel crummy about ourselves. Any French woman who wants you to believe she looks great effortlessly is selling you a bill of goods – they work on it all day long. How boring is that?</p>
<p>One thing that French women DO do that’s good, in fact this is true in a lot of places, is they walk. And they don’t wait for elevators. They run up and down stairs. They don’t complain about this or make a big deal. The cities are walkable, and many people in the countryside ride bikes.</p>
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<p>I agree, these book are kind of obnoxious in their superiority. Japanese women don’t get fat because they eat miniscule amounts of food. I’ve never met a Japanese woman (born and bred there) who could ever finish an American sized meal. Also, the diet may be healthy in terms of fat content but generally speaking, there is more processed (and junk) food in the average Japanese supermarket than even the American counterpart. And don’t get me started on the packaging! Even home cooked meals are very high in salt and sugar. There are very few recipes that don’t call for soy sauce and sugar. And deep frying of meat, especially pork, is very common. There is much more vegetable and fish consumption though. Maybe that makes up for it?</p>
<p>I still love Japanese food.</p>
<p>Poetsheart, sounds like you have all the right foods–cabbage, green beans, etc., you just needed to learn new preparations. I love to shred red cabbage, throw in a few other veggies and dress with a mixture of Dijon mustard, lemon juice, herbs and a teaspoon of olive oil. It’s an incredibly filling salad because of all the fiber in the cabbage and it takes a long time to eat. We eat steamed green beans with just lemon and salt like popcorn.</p>
<p>I think the research is getting more consistent. That it’s all about calories for weight loss seems to be what most now agree. It’s OK to eat crabs and good fats–just keep the calories down.</p>
<p>The other thing much of what I’m reading is consistent on is not three meals, but more frequent, smaller meals. This keeps your metabolism at peak. Going more than 4 hours without food or eating too few calories starts to throw your body into starvation mode and you begin to burn lean muscle instead of fat. You’ll lose weight but you won’t look, or be, fit.</p>
<p>Trainers will often teach you to eat to fuel your body. Eat carbs before a workout and protein immediately after to help rebuild muscle. Eat more carbs when you’re doing serious cardio–keeping your heart at target rate for at least 20 minutes. </p>
<p>And the big lesson for me was to really evaluate if your exercise is doing what you think it is. Without a heart monitor, you really don’t know. Turned out my neighborhood walks were not burning anything or doing much for my heart, but one spinning class burned way more than I knew.</p>
<p>The reason french women don’t get fat is that they eat fewer calories. </p>
<p>I’ll suggest again the book Mindless Eating. You’ll learn that the size of the plate, for example, dramatically affects how much you eat. So use salad plates for all meals. In France, portion sizes are smaller.</p>
<p>[The</a> Associated Press: Japan’s tobacco habit runs into court challenge](<a href=“http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5i-4vRes23O9UmMe8iX7S2gYqLTBQD99Q79M81]The”>http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5i-4vRes23O9UmMe8iX7S2gYqLTBQD99Q79M81)</p>
<p>Perhaps there is a connection between smoking and reduced appetite?</p>
<p>David Sedaris has a great essay about an extended vacation to Japan from his home in Paris in order to quit smoking.
( he moved to Paris from NYC to escape smoking laws, but now he finds he wants to stay in nicer hotels when he travels.
)
[David</a> Sedaris: Unapologetic, quirky as ever < PopWire | PopMatters](<a href=“http://www.popmatters.com/pm/article/david-sedaris-unapologetic-quirky-as-ever]David”>http://www.popmatters.com/pm/article/david-sedaris-unapologetic-quirky-as-ever)</p>
<p>I do understand poetsheart, and I was very lucky to have grown up traveling all over the world. I learned to like Thai, Japanese and Indian cuisine from the time I was little. We ate all sorts of fresh vegetables and fruits from the local markets in Africa. We had sit down dinner every day, so the idea of not cooking was never on my radar. Fast food was only for car trips.</p>
<p>Totally agree re: the smaller portions in France. When we were there a few years ago, we noticed the ice cream cones had ice cream the size of golf balls atop the cones. In the US, a McDonalds’ small cone has a good 5 inches of swirled icecream piled on top. </p>
<p>It’s not hard to see the corrolation between things like that and average, national body weight… :-)</p>
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AnudduhMom, this author was not sad or homesick – she loved her life as a student here. Both she and the author of the Japanese book had remarkably similar stories – they both loved the food and people here, but were shocked by the huge portions and the fact that nobody walked. You are right that her family shamed her into losing weight – they were horrified when she returned home because young French people, especially at that time, were not fat. The flip side of this is that the general population in the U.S. is now so heavy that “normal” is completely different here, and a body size that would be considered fat in most other countries has become completely acceptable here.
Did you read the book? She never says staying slim is effortless, quite the contrary. I liked how this was not a diet book – in fact she was very negative about diets – but she gave helpful tips that involved gradual lifestyle changes.</p>
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mousegray, I agree with this – the modern Japanese diet, particularly for young people, is often not healthy; but the author grew up in a home where the cooking was traditional and her dietary advice is based on traditional Japanese foods.
Well, yes… this was pretty much the main point of both books: the American sized meal is simply too big.</p>
<p>I did not find the tone of either book to be smug or superior, but I’m not trying to lose weight and wasn’t reading the books in search of a diet. I just enjoy cross-cultural comparisons of food and lifestyle and have some experience with both these countries. I found it interesting that two women from opposite ends of the world had such similar experiences and impressions about how Americans eat.</p>
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<p>Considering that the American sized meal is the equivalent of a giant piece of steak with gravy, a few scoops of macaroni and cheese, some broccoli with melted cheese or butter, a tall glass of milk, and a slice of cake (what is considered average here), I don’t really blame the Japanese (or any person from another country, for that matter) for not being able to finish an American meal. Compared to a bowl of rice, a few slices of stir-fried meat, a handful of sauteed vegetables, a bowl of sour soup, and a few cups of tea, the American meal could feed a family. As for the soy sauce, many Southeast Asians eat a lot of salt and chili, but we also drink huge amounts of water to supplement that salt. We really need the salt to maintain excretion in the jungle-like environment.</p>
<p>Now, true story. When I was around nine, we went to McDonald’s about once a month. We used to order a supersized Big Mac meal and split it threefold. We never went back after I went to middle school.</p>
<p>Vinnyli, can we assume you’re slim?</p>