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Having thoroughly enjoyed chatting to radio and TV presenters over the last couple of weeks whilst doing the rounds promoting my book, most of them have picked up the part of my story where I had a really bad relationship with food and struggled with my weight. At my heaviest, I had gained two and a half stone and I hated myself.
Thankfully, I managed to work out a formula that worked for me by giving myself sufficient calories to enable me to shed my weight but without leaving me hungry. But back then, nobody ever talked about exercise helping us to lose weight.
There were keep fit classes – I went to one briefly – but, to be honest, throwing a bean bag to each other, waving a scarf around in a figure of eight and touching our toes with alternate hands in a windmill motion would have only notched up our calorie spend by a hundred or so. In fact, as far as I am aware, no scientist or exercise expert ever spoke about the fact that exercise burnt extra calories and could help us to slim down. Back then, it was all about calories in food.
I remember in the late ’60s and early ‘70s ‘slimming’ emerging as a relatively new concept. The population was getting fatter as food had become more plentiful following the deprivation of rationing during and after the war.
When I was trying to lose weight, I can remember eating a salad sandwich made with low-calorie salad dressing on Nimble or Slimcea bread. That was it! No protein. No fibre. No goodness. The bread boasted ‘only 40 calories a slice’ but it was like eating cotton wool! No wonder I was hungry and binge ate and gained rather than lost weight!
Thank goodness we now know better and realise that eating wholegrain bread actually does us lots of good giving us fibre, nutrients, energy, vitamins and minerals as well as filling us up. By increasing our activity we now realise we can eat really well, with lots of healthy high nutrition foods, and still lose weight, and not feel hungry, but feel good!
Thankfully, with the advancement of technology and science, we are able to calculate our energy output (exercise calories) and energy input (food calories) and enjoy tremendous benefits as a result. Even using a simple pedometer or wearing a FitBit can encourage us to move more. Walking between 7000 – 10,000 steps a day really can make a difference to our health and wellbeing.
My hubby, Mike, goes to the gym twice a week wearing a heart monitor which is connected to a computer. By watching a TV screen in the gym, he can see how hard he is working and how many calories he is burning and is only satisfied if he burns 1000 calories in his hour-long session. I know that sounds crazy but with a physio-trainer working with him, it is great that he is motivated to work so hard. Mike is significantly more competitive than I am but from my two gym sessions I still benefit greatly. When I am unable to go because of other commitments, I can feel the difference in my body – in my waistband as well as in my joints. I know I need that exercise and because it does me so much good, I enjoy it.
Remember that exercise is like investing in a super-saver bank account that pays double dividends. It burns fat and makes the body less likely to store fat. It also burns calories and transforms our health. Exercise is absolutely key to our general well-being – mentally, physically, and emotionally. If we want to live longer and healthier we really must make time to include it in our busy lives. It is particularly important as we grow older.
So where are we with calories? Yes, they still matter but, because food manufacturers work so hard in cutting calories and fat, sadly, many products these days offer very few nutrients and that’s a great shame. I believe our focus now should be on the quality of the food we eat and those principles are described in The 28-Day Immunity Plan, the book that Mary and I put together during lockdown. These principles are also explained on our website, and if you go to Introduction to Boosting Immunity you can find out more about eating healthily. You can also follow in real-time the videos of the progressive workouts created by Mary for the book.
The overriding message must be to eat healthily three times a day, to exercise every day and to work our lifestyle around these golden principles. And to motivate you to get in shape for the festive season Mary and I have some exciting ideas which we will share with you in next week's Newsletter.
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film A Matter of Loaf and Death where the animated heroes, now running a bakery, are attacked by Piella Bakewell, a plump lady who holds a grudge against all bakers after her weight gain ended her career as the Bake-O-Lite girl. Wallace is, of course, saved by his intrepid dog Gromit who has escaped her evil clutches in her old Bake-O-Lite hot air balloon.
