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If we were to ask most people if they  would like to lose a few lbs, I am pretty confident that most of them would say ‘yes’.
Holiday weight not lost; lockdown lumber still lingering; being inactive for a few weeks due to getting Covid or a rotten cold… These are all very understandable reasons why a few extra pounds might have crept on and we can see them and feel them – and we don’t like it!
When we were younger our weight was important because of how we looked in our clothes but as we get older our priorities change. We are much more aware that carrying excess weight can affect our health. I have painful arthritis in my feet and even a few extra lbs can cause me to suffer significant pain. As a result, my motivation to stay slim is no longer about how I look but much more about how I feel physically.
Only this week we had a friend to stay who had come out of hospital and couldn’t be left on his own for medical reasons. I happily carried his breakfast tray upstairs each morning but my feet and my knees really moaned! It was actually painful. I was shocked. The tray would only have weighed a few lbs or a couple of kilos but it was enough to make a difference to how my joints felt.
Whether we have a little or a lot of weight to lose, even a small weight loss can make a big difference to how we feel, particularly as we get older. By nature, we are impatient particularly when it comes to shedding a few lbs but take heart. With a little thought and a good attitude, it isn’t difficult to lose a few lbs without too much hardship. Here’s how:
- Exercise is key. If you increase your activity it will make a huge difference. Make a plan to do some exercise every day – whether it be chair exercises, walking, swimming or cycling. If you are less mobile, you can still sit on your sofa and do simple exercises for your legs, hands and feet. Decide to do something every day! Ideally, follow Mary’s Fitness Challenge in this Newsletter every week. This will make a massive difference to your weight but also your health and fitness.
- Plan your meals and don’t snack!
- Cut back on fat and eat more vegetables.
- Stop eating the treats for a week – cakes, biscuits, chocolate, sweets! Cut them out completely.
- Go without alcohol for a week. You will be astonished at how much better you will feel at the end of the seven days if you do.
- Do something different with your time: Why not read a book; have a go at a new skill or hobby; join a social group; or sign up for a fitness/dance/yoga/Pilates class?
- Ring some friends you haven’t spoken to for a while.
- Buddy up with someone to go for a walk.
All of these ideas help to keep you away from the fridge too!
The key to your success is giving yourself a short-term goal. You may want to lose more weight long-term but for now why not promise yourself: ‘I am going to be saintly for just one week.’ Most people lose lots of weight in their first week of cutting back on food and increasing their activity. It is so motivating.
At the end of your week, just imagine how fabulous it will feel when your waistband fastens without effort, your shirt buttons stop stretching and your jeans are ever so slightly looser. Happy days!
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Serves 1 (For two or more portions, duplicate main ingredients)
Per serving (excluding rice): 276 calories, 2.4g fat
Per serving (including rice): 432 calories, 3.4g fat
Prep time 10 mins
Cook time 12 mins
1 Chicken breast, chopped
½ red and ½ green pepper, deseeded and chopped into bite-sized squares
4 button mushrooms, halved
2 sticks of celery, chopped
½ red onion, coarsely chopped.
1 clove of garlic, crushed
A little fresh ginger, grated.
1 tsp honey
2 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp chilli and garlic dipping sauce
Fresh coriander (optional)
55g (dry weight) (or one blue Portion Pot) basmati rice
1 vegetable stock cube
Black pepper, freshly ground
Rapeseed oil spray
Rice:
- Place the vegetable stock cube with water in a saucepan and bring to the boil.
- Add the rice to the boiling water and cook for 12 minutes.
Stir-fry
- Heat a non-stick frying pan with a spray of rapeseed oil and some freshly ground black pepper. When the pan is hot, add the crushed garlic and the chopped chicken and fry until almost cooked.
- Add the chopped red onion, peppers, celery, mushrooms and toss with the chicken. Do not over-cook the vegetables.
- Add the grated ginger with the honey, soy sauce and fresh coriander and mix well. Serve immediately. Serve with soy sauce if required.
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Apologies to anybody who clicked on last week's recipe for Smoked Haddock and Potato Pie and found it took them to the page for the previous week's recipe Pork in a Spicy Yogurt Sauce. Hopefully you enjoyed an unexpected browse through our recipes trying to find the correct one!
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Fun, Facts & Fitness from Mary Morris MSc.
The idea that if your body weight is lowered you will notice a difference seems so very obvious, but for many who lose a significant amount of weight, it is often a revelation.
They are surprised by how much every movement they make is SO much easier, and how their energy levels have soared now that they weigh less. Of course, that excess weight had simply become the norm and the body totally adapts to it.
This has made me think of when I was pregnant with my twins. I was the most weight I have ever been at just under 16 stone (my twins were born at 8lb and 7lb) but their weight, combined with the placenta, meant I only lost 1½ stone following delivery. However, I felt like I was walking on air and that I had got back to my near-normal weight of 10 stone. I got a shock when I got home and tried on my favourite pair of camel trousers and the button and buttonhole were still 6 inches apart! The point I am trying to make is that following a relatively small weight loss I had already felt so much better and lighter!
Rosemary's need to stay slim, if only for the comfort of her feet, is totally justified, as with every extra pound carried in weight she would notice more pain and discomfort. Problems in one or more of the joints is the most common complaint in older adults and as many as 80% have anything from a moderate to a severe limitation within their everyday activity.
Achieving and maintaining a healthy weight that is right for us goes far beyond how we 'look' but is much more about how we 'feel'.
So, if you know that if you lost some weight it would make your life more comfortable - that you would have more energy and less discomfort in your joints - then I urge you to start making an effort to do something to help yourself today!
If you stick to The 28-Day Immunity Plan to the letter, with both our recommended eating and exercise, you will lose weight and you will feel better. The numerous trials we have run with sample groups of volunteers, including the police, have proved that.
If you have done it before (as many of you have) but have regained some of that weight, then do it again because you know it works! Every time you take another stab at weight loss you learn something new about yourself. You begin to recognise what really works for you - which foods and recipes you enjoy and what type of exercise you can sustain on a regular basis. That is why we wrote the Plan to be as flexible as it is - because we know that everybody is a different body!
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This Week's Fitness Challenge
- On finishing your daily 30+ minute walks this week, and before you do your Post Walk Stretches, do 10 wall press-ups! This is where you place your hands on the wall and your feet placed well back on the ground behind you. Then do press-ups by lowering your upper body toward the wall, taking your body weight in your arms and chest. Lift and lower x 10. So, that’s your lower body and upper body taken care of in one session!
- Focus on your core with either one of our Pilates workouts or include a Ballet session. Do three core workouts this week from the Ballet & Pilates page. They give you that wonderful mix of strength and stretch with good posture!
- Don’t forget to focus on the micro joints in your hands and feet. The short workouts of The Hand Dance and The Foot Workout on the website are just perfect for keeping these important joints more mobile.
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As we mark Remembrance Day today, on the 11th of the 11th, let’s all just pause for a moment to be thankful for the freedoms and privileges that we are able to enjoy in our own lives today.
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Did you know...
The opening lines of the World War I poem "In Flanders Fields" refer to poppies growing among the graves of war victims in a region of Belgium. The poem is written from the point of view of the fallen soldiers and in its last verse, the soldiers call on the living to continue the conflict. The poem was written by Canadian physician John McCrae on 3 May 1915 after witnessing the death of his friend and fellow soldier the day before. The poem was first published on 8 December 1915 in the London-based magazine Punch.
In Flanders Fields
By John McCrae
In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie,
In Flanders fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.
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And finally...
Let’s all make a big effort this week to give ourselves a boost. If you need to lose a few lbs, let’s go for it. If you are already very slim, boost your fitness this week with some more challenging exercises which you can find on our website under the links for all the suggested activities in Mary’s fitness Challenge for this week.
Also, let's be grateful for our blessings and make the best of what we have.
Have a great week.
With love and best wishes,
Rosemary Conley CBE DL
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LIVE LONGER | LIVE HEALTHIER | LIVE HAPPIER
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