Besides surfing whats the best way to keep fit?

Try not to look at the weight as an end goal but a bonus if it happens.
Strength, functional ability and mobility are better goals. If you get too focused on the weight aspect and aren’t seeing results you can lose motivation when it’s a side effect of your meds and may be a little outside your control.
You’ll need some form of resistance training in your weekly program.
Diet wise - whole foods, high quality proteins, avoid added sugars, breads, processed foods and meats.

Do that and you should feel good, healthy, strong and if you lose weight that’s a bonus.

Have a look at a keto diet , 70% fat 25 % protein 5% carbs , and the simple fact that you must consume less calories than you burn , you can get apps that help with all this , Cronometer is a good free app . Diet is 80% of how to lose weight, try to cut out all white foods like flour , milk , rice . Eggs and cauliflower are fine , above ground vegetables are best with plenty of leafy greens , don’t count vegetables in your carbs total they are needed when you have. High fat diet . Good fats are things like virgin olive oil , salmon , sardines , avocado , macadamia nuts , pecans, walnuts. If you can get organic products all the better and grass fed beef . I lost 25 kg when I blew out doing the fifo thing for too long and operating plant and driving 12 hours a day I didn’t get much exercise besides bending the elbow after work . I think the previous comments from lostdoggy are very important and I’m just sharing what I did to lose weight. Intermittent fasting was also very good for me , I did 16/8 bot found 22/2 was best and once a month I fasted for 48 hours . Again if you burn more calories than you consume you will lose weight . 3kg a month is easily done if you stick to it and don’t beat yourself up if you have a pig out day . I understand the meds your on contribute to your weight gain so speaking to your doctor about a keto diet would be advised . The brain loves healthy fats .

Lose weight approach that has worked for me who does exercise but also for my partner who does not and is on anti psychotic medications.

Eat a small but normal breakfast. Eat a small but satisfying lunch. Eat a small but satisfying dinner. If you starve yourself or miss meals you will end up doing a binge.

No bread. Few potatoes Very limited pasta or rice. More salad. Cut green beans used a lot in stir fries and to bulk up meals.
No treating yourself to something like chocolate or a bun etc. No sugar.

Treat is to have berries and yoghurt.

Reduced portion size is a huge change for me. I now eat half to a third of what i used to. I cook so had to trim things back at the point of preparation a lot.

The discipline to say "no" to yourself at the point of temptation over and over is important. Also when shopping you have to just walk past certain aisles. Buying a pack of 3 bread rolls means a roll for lunch and one left over which you don't want to waste so you eat it too. Much easier to stop at the point of purchase and never buy any rolls.

You are on the balance point of a seasaw. Slight shifts either way through sticking to being disciplined and getting slack shift you from loss to gain quickly. A bunch of good days pay off. Eating more can shift you into no loss or gain very easily.

Took a while to show results but it has led to steady weight drop with minimal fuss.

I could have sped it up if after a few big surf sessions I had not "rewarded" myself with an extra helping of cereal type of thing.

For me chasing surf really helps. Burns up energy but it feels good to be lighter and more agile. Surfing fast breaking waves adds incentive. Surfing a shorter board also stops you being lazy. Mini-mal made me lazy and have a "a few kilos do not matter" attitude

The above approach is not complicated. No calorie counting. It requires not much thought to menu planning or buying fancy stuff. Eat much the same in many ways as before just less at meal times.

Snacks are fruit or celery or berries.

Paging Clive Rodell

https://www.baliwaves.com/2020/11/surf-fit-clive-rodell-november-2020-ea...
Theres a heap of great posts on Fitness over on Bali waves - great stuff Clive..

Good link udo , was great to see him talking about long covid, something the young and indestructible need to take notice of , covid probably won’t kill you but who wants messed up lungs and fatigue when you really need good physical and mental health in order to surf .

Groundswell. The meds effect on weight gain is very real. It can create a a high level of appetite. Sometimes over time the doctors can tweak them to differing options to help. But if you have something that is working for your mental health be very wary of changing drugs as other options may not work and you might end up having months of chaos.

The right mix of meds for any individual is part experiment - not a certain cause and effect. Be thankful if it is working.
A mate with bi polar has found solid exercise is very good addition to his medication. He swims multiple times a week - lots of laps. He surfs a bit too but that is more fickle. The exercise routine has the double benefit of keeping weight off for him and calming his mind.

My personal experience with weight though has always been that what you eat is the big lever. I have put on weight on a Mentawai trip even though I surfed 7+ hours a day due to great food and beer.

Getting used to being a bit hungry is a mental shift. Seeing that as a positive - not something to fix with food.

You need a motivator. For my partner it was health issues from the weight just got too much. Took her years to get properly motivated though. I was part of the problem with portion size though and tended to downplay that for years.

For me surfing has always been the source of motivation - to surf well and not get flogged paddling out.

But I also have never wanted to head down the classic middle age weight gain path as a point of pride and to put off "getting old" as long as I can.

Have any Docs mentioned low dose Metformin to you re the Weight ?

My wife went to a dietician and the advice was really simple.
- Not to do special diets.
Typically they are not sustainable long term. Many are quite unbalanced.
- eat 3 meals a day that satisfy
- don't binge
- focus on portion size
- trim carbs back a fair bit
So simple.
My wife does pretty much no exercise (complex reasons) and she has still lost 8kg. Now she feels better she might start walking a bit.

Proof that what you eat is hugely important.

Metformin can be used with along your other meds i think.
Your bro must be zinging does he get much sleep ..

Groundswell daughter is a dietician and many of her patients are in your position, as Udo says diets tend to fail its more about heathy eating the right foods which often means you can actually eat more.
Cut back on carbs (bread, sugar, pastries, cakes, chocs etc) eat more veggies low fat meats / fish.
Next time I see her I will ask about the meds if there is anything different.

Richie Lovetts new brand

https://www.volumeshapes.com/

That’s what my 6’10 is glassed, groundy.
Still in super good nick after three years.

I’m sure they will help groundswell.
Just stick to it and the results will come.
Just have to look at it as a long term thing, not a short term solution. This time next year you’ll be feeling a million times better.

Your gut is from your Medication
Get your Cortisol and Testosterone levels checked.

Thats for your Doctor to answer but i bet he says no .
Have you had a look into your Gut Microbiome ?
https://www.smartdna.com.au/smartgut-microbiome-test/

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Hey Groundswell finally asked the daughter about your weight gain while being on meds and the answer was (as you likely already know) yes its really common.

Got an in depth answer (lots of long medical type names of bits that come into play etc) but the only bit that stuck was the change in Bío Chemistry (I think) as we got side-tracked in why people highly stressed (usually men) cannot lose weight but can when going away and drinking beer, the drinking beer part caught my attention.

Yeah I know really helpful eh.

The short answer was avoid any diets health foods, super foods etc don't fu(k around its your health just see a dietician who can explain the whys and let you know the foods that will work specifically for you.

Surprisingly how there can be major differences between what works for individuals.

Cheers

There’ll be heaps of dieticians all over the country that do Telehealth appoints too.

You’ll be eligible for a chronic disease mgmt plan (CDM)from your GP as well if you haven’t used it already that provide a contribution ($54.60 I think) to up to 5 sessions with an allied health provider, such as a dietician, per calendar year.

Hey GS the daughter did one of her pracs in Gero said the ladies there (I think there is 4) were very good pretty sure they were based out of the hospital, they did a wide range of work as well as a lot of clinical stuff.

Give the them a shot nothing to lose everything to gain.

Also what Lostdoggy says.