Robbo

I don't really know where to post this but just wanted somewhere to write out my thoughts really.

For the last 10 years I've slowly put on weight. I'm not obese but I'm a little chubbier with every passing year.

I've always thought I should do something about it. But I like eating, and I don't like exercise, and everyone says it's such a chore to lose weight so I never really bothered and just shrugged off the weight gain as, "oh well, it's not that bad and I cba fixing it".

I have always kept track of my weight though. I use an app to record the trend over time, just for my own nerdery. And six months ago I hit 95kg and decided that I didn't want to creep any closer to 100kg, which felt like some tipping point where it's no longer something I can ignore.

I don't like the idea of doing some huge "diet" or regime or life overhaul. Those are not sustainable. I don't want some one weird trick to lose 50kg in 3 days. I don't want to significantly change my diet. I'm not going to stick to some intense exercise or gym plan. So I figured, I'll informally just make some subtle, easy, sustainable changes and see how that goes. So for the last 6 months, when I make myself food, for example pasta or cereal or rice or chips (fries for muricans), I measure out how much I would normally eat, then I put a little bit back into the bag before I cook the portion. Just slightly reducing my portion size. I've also been consciously pushing myself to go out on walks around the local streets, and on cycles which I actually quite enjoy. There's no structure to when, how, or where I go out; I just make an effort to get myself out a few times a week for at least around an hour. I used to eat a LOT of chocolate, biscuits, etc, so I've made a conscious effort to cut that back a little. How much? I don't know. I didn't go cold turkey; I didn't give myself a ration; I've just been a little more conscious of trying to eat less crap, and when I do eat crap I try to eat a smaller amount. I haven't changed my diet at all (which is still terrible) - all I did was reduce my portion sizes, eat a little less crap outside of meals, and push myself to get out of the house a little more by walking and cycling.

My results have been quite pleasing. I'm down from 95kg to 89kg in six months. I'm really, really happy with that. If the trend continues I'll be below 85kg by the end of the year, which will be great for me. Mainly I'm pleased that I'm making sustainable progress with an easy mindset that doesn't take a huge effort or structure.

Was it always that easy?

Turns out it really is just all about calories in and calories out. All I really did was decide to be a bit more aware/conscious about my eating and exercise instead of just doing whatever and never thinking about it. I spent no money; I followed no plan; I did not have to exert willpower or make myself miserable. By not expecting any extreme change overnight I was able to put in next to zero effort and get some quite positive and sustainable results.

I've always read/heard about how hard it is and how you have to make a plan and stick to it, and override your natural urges with extreme willpower, and overhaul your diet and get a personal trainer and commit X hours a week to the gym, and on and on. It sounded exhausting and impossible. So maybe someone needs to hear this: it's not impossible, it's easy, as long as you don't expect your entire body to magically change in a short time and make small, achievable, sustainable changes.

I would like to use part of my income to set up a regular monthly charitable donation. I have a couple of charities in mind but really I don't know where the money would be best spent to make a worthwhile difference.

My first thought was Cancer Research UK, but I don't really think my few quid a month will affect their £700m budget at all. Any smaller ones of good reputation?

I understand there's a right to camp in most places in the highlands, as long as you leave no trace and don't cause a disturbance. My partner and I want to go camping in the Highlands for a weekend, but we have an idea to go somewhere completely remote where there are no other people at all. So it will just be us and the hills and no disturbances. So obviously not campsites, but accessible areas where we could just set down and pitch a tent. We don't mind if we have to hike a little to find a good spot away from roads.

I understand there's a slight paradox that the most unpopulated place may attract more people to come there, making it not so quiet. But I'm looking for a spot with the lowest probability of being disturbed or seeing others. I've been browsing the map and have some ideas, but just wondering if anyone else has done something similar.

When I "delete" a comment, all it does is replace the text with "deleted by creator". It doesn't even hide my username. This is different from previous behaviour where the comment was entirely removed from the public view.

I should be in control of my comment. If I want to delete it then it should be entirely removed - at least from the public view. I don't want to make comments knowing that I'm permenantly etching my username into the stone of the thread forever with no ability to delete it. I'm highly put off from engaging now that I can't reliably delete what I write.

Being able to undo the deletion is fine but the undo really should only last 1h or maybe 24h before the comment is properly deleted.