Dieting...?

OK - quiet a number of you have met me, and know how very overweight I am. I have to lose it, for health reasons. Sooo... any advice? Support? I'm not doing very well, as I comfort eat, and I find it really really difficult... NO willpower at all!

xx

I'll join you laura! I've piled on the weight in the past 2 years. I went from a size 8 up to 16 and I hate it. Right now I'm looking for some simple diet plans and exercise routines. I've already started to make changes to my diet, cutting out sweets and fizzy drinks and that seems to be going well. Like you, I comfort eat so I had to strip the house of any temptations and avoid the sweet aisles in the super market. Damn my sweet tooth! I've also started to walk the dog at a very brisk pace for 2 hours a day. I find walking to be less boring when I have the pup to concentrate on. I have an exercise bike, weights and a rowing machine so I need to blow the dust off them as well hehe..
Just keep telling yourself that you WILL lose weight and make small achievable goals to get you to the weight you want. Maybe you could look into weight watchers or zumba classes, it helps to have people around you that want the same thing.

I wish I could join you ): I went from a size 4/6 to a size 12 in about 2 years, but I had problems with not eating so it's best for me not to diet at the minute.
I get the impression you're fairly active but with rat playing, photography & dogs?
Perhaps trying a small thing each week, such as removing say a fizzy drink with water, or having one snack less during the day and then once you've got used to that trying something more.
Slow and gradual works best.

Thanks guys! I am pretty active, I'm always out and about, as you say, rats, photography, dogs... but I'm not active enough I guess. And at my size it's a bit late for nicey nice, I need to really be doing good cardio etc. Sooo - I've taken to using The Biggest Loser on Wii, and Wii Fit (step stuff actually). I've also been walking at least a mile a day with Lola trying to train her at the same time.

Food is hard, but I'm getting there...

xx

it sounds like you're making progress!
don't be too hard on yourself and keep doing what you're doing.

I know exactly how you feel Laura Have put on about 3 stone on in the last few years,but more importantly have NO energy which is a direct result of no proper exercise and crap diet!Decided to do something about it before Christmas,did great untill i used the excuse of Christmas to get lazy but back now no more excuses.More than anything im just sick of feeling like crap for not being able to do it.Im doing Unislim online because i know i wouldnt keep up with going to classes,and its actually really reasonable,im never hungry on it and it does work.Laura and anyone elseif you wantyou can join me and we can support each other i find it so hard when around at home and eoghans eating our usual fare would be great to have someone to vent to!Laura if you want i can give you the booklet and then you dont need to pay if you want?

And Rach you REALLY dont have to worry as a size 12

I agree - would kill to see size 12 again! I'm like... double! well - not quite, but nearly.

Grace, would like to see a copy of it if I may I really can't stretch to affording diet plans at the moment (was thinking of Slimming World - but same idea). Would be interesting to see it though

xx

Don't be too hard on yourself. Losing weight isn't one bit easy. I'm vegetarian and have been most of my life which, along with 5 dogs to walk and a horse to ride helps keep my weight down! But I do believe weight is largely down to metabolism and genes, making losing weight more challenging for some people than others which is totally unfair but such is life ...

My advise would be get yourself into a routine, which includes a daily power walk or run, and a cardio at home, get one of those exercise videos, they are great! Although it's challenging to get into a routine to begin with, once we are in a routine, we absolutely thrive on it. I'd allow yourself a bit of comfort eating. Cutting it out altogether will only make you miserable, and what's life if we're unhappy. But try to find ways to reduce it or compensate for it with more exercise. Or better still swap any junk food you might be taking with healthier alternatives. I've started taking crackers with low fat philodelphia and cherry tomatoes in the evenings which is much healthier than the packets of crisps I used to take but allows me to nibble, which I need to do!!!

Don't put yourself under too much pressure to begin with or else you set yourself up for a fall. But do what works for you at a time which works for you. See if a friend will do it with you. We always get along at something better with the support of a partner.

Good luck!

smokierat wrote:And Rach you REALLY dont have to worry as a size 12

I believe that it's comments like that from one woman to another that contribute to body image problems that most women seem to have. My mother was a size 12.... she was also morbidly obese. She died of problems caused by being overweight while still being a size 12. When it comes to weight, size truely doesn't matter. It's all about BMI and keeping an eye on your waist measurement. I find it very difficult to tell anyone that I'm dieting as I get a lot of "you don't need to lose weight" comments and I find myself having to justify why I think I'm overweight. Just because I'm 1 stone overweight instead of 4 or 5 stone, doesn't mean I don't need to lose weight. Being overweight is unhealthy, no matter how much or how little you are over a BMI of 25. Instead of telling a size 12 woman that she doesn't need to lose weight, especially when she has said that she is unhappy being a size 12, we should be supportive and admire her that she is addressing her weight problem while she only has 1 or 2 stone to lose instead of ignoring her weight until its effecting her health. Admitting publicly, that you need to lose weight is a difficult thing to do, and losing the weight is even harding. So please think before you tell someone not to worry about their weight. If they say that its a problem then you need to accept that and support them and admire them for being brave enough to admit they're not happy.

Sue (who hasn't lost any weight in over 2 weeks and is feeling really p*ssed off this morning )

I can totally understand where you're coming from Sue thank you for raising the issue, I think we can be too hard on each other and ourselves a lot of the time... I know how much it upsets me when I am constantly got at by family etc for being so very fat but they do it because they care. Of course, it should be no differetn to be told that you're fine even though you don't feel it.

My apologies Rach - if size 12 isn't you and isn't what you're happy with, then yes, please accept all our support, and work towards a healthier you - but please do make sure you stay healthy

I think it's hard sometimes when you're much larger (like me), to understand why people are upset about being a size 12 - nothing's meant by it - but I know I've not seen size 12 since I was a teenager! I'm sure Grace meant nothing by it, and would be terribly upset to think she'd upset anyone - she's probably feeling the same way as me, that size 12 is an awesome goal, rather than being too large

xx

Thanks Sue, that's an interesting point you've raised.
And thanks to the rest of you or the support.
I just thought i'd clear up my own issue here so no one feels they offended me or anything.
I'm a size 12. I'm within the healthy range regarding bmi. I'm healthy enough. I'm unhappy with my weight because I had anorexia and I miss being like a half-dead rake sometimes, as odd as that sounds. I know I can't diet or exercise much now because I become obsessed very easily. It's not an excuse to put weight on and I could do more to stay a little healthier, but mentally, I struggle.
I feel like I really understand Zoundz when you talk about weight because although i'm not overly big, I feel it. And I also understand the pressure we put eachother under and how hard it is to have people tell you you're not a good weight, be it too big or too small.
I really admire your motivation but and think you're doing great, keep it up girls.

I really didnt mean to offend or upset anyone i think what Laura said expresses what i meant,ive always had battles with image and health and so would never never want to affect anyone else in a negative way,its just easy to focus on my own goals and forget that everyone else has individual ones

I can offer you support, sorry I can't do much more It sounds like you're doing really well so far, I think it's easy to become frustrated when we feel like we've been working hard at something for a while and see no results, but just keep in your mind that it's a gradual thing that is difficult to notice and works over time. Every mile you walk or bag of crisps you pass up is doing something, even when it doesn't feel like it. Remember the first stage is glycogen loss anyway so you're body's doing it - just doing it from the inside. If I were you I wouldn't weigh myself for a while anyway, but that's just me - I find that if I'm constantly trying to check something I get easily discouraged by gradual results.

Concentrate on what you have done, I think it's really important to give yourself a pat on the back rather than feel bad about 'not doing enough'. You have the motivation so there's no way you wont succeed.

I don't own a scales. I have checked my weight a few times before I began actively loosing weight in my parents house but that was just for a rough idea of where I was starting from. I took some before shots and my measurements but thats it really. I know I'd obsess over a scales if it were in my house.
My OH Dave lost a massive amount of weight a few years back (about 10 stone in a year) so I try to follow his advice. He didn't stick to a strict diet but did do a huge amount of cardio and weight lifting. If made out a little calender for myself like he did and pull the days off that I exercised. Its really motivating me to get off my bum and do the work instead of sitting on the couch feeling guilty about it.

Hi i think everyone will have their own health regime but I was advised two years ago to confuse your metabolism and eat little and often. Eat a good healthy Breakfast each morning.Each time I ate. chew for longer and savour each spoon/forkfull. I used to snack a lot and I was drinking way too much coffee so I replaced those snacks with fruit and cut down to 1 coffee in the morning. Because of what I do for a living I am constantly moving but I needed to excercise regardless so I started to go 4 a run in the evening, not a 5km run. I might just run for about 1 km then a brisk walk, then run again, then slow it back down to a walk. As a result of all this I lost two stone and I'm where I want to be fitness and weight wise. I guess what I'm trying to say is the little changes make a huge difference and You don't need to make huge sacrifices so shed a few pounds. It's really about making small changes and getting out of old habbits.

Here's a fab recipe for those of you on a diet!

http://recipes.sparkpeople.com/recipe-detail.asp?recipe=749802

Hope you can see it (may have to register, but it's free and worth it for the rceipes! ) Also this one! If you get cravings for dip etc... you could probably leave out the Surimi (crabsticks)
http://www.familycircle.com/recipe/vegetables/cheesy-crab-dip/

xx

Woohoo! Down to 17st 2lb! I've lost 7lbs in two weeks! Really pleased!

xx

Well done laura! Huge congrats to you