I know there are probably thousands of posts like this, so apologies in advance, but I was hoping that someone might have advice or give me a stern talking to. (Apologies for the length of this post)
I am very overweight, obese actually, and I need to lose about 7 stone to be in the normal BMI category. The only time I have ever been a normal weight was when I was at university, and I had very bad eating patterns. I would pretty much only eat a couple of things and drank a lot of black coffee and cup-a-soups. I also did a lot of walking and sports. It's not a way of eating that I would try and replicate now. I've had some success with calorie counting in the past, I've lost 3 stone or so, but it never stays off for very long.
Since I've had my children, I find it almost impossible to calorie count or diet. I have no time to myself without the children to exercise, I can do walking with the pushchair but that's it really, if it fits in around the other stuff I need to get done.
I have a 7 month old that I'm breastfeeding who doesn't sleep well, and so I am often exhausted but I still have to sort out my older one and do the school run etc. When I'm tired, which is all the time at the moment, I usually use food & caffeine to keep me going and to alleviate the stress. So I reach for high sugar things, any kind of quick hit to get me up and awake. I also use food to alleviate boredom, frustration, anger etc, basically any negative emotion. I just can't face the idea of being tired, stressed and then also hungry/feeling like I'm depriving myself all day everyday for the length of time it will take to lose 7 stone. I'm on maternity leave at the moment and that definitely increases the boredom aspect which isn't helping.
I also struggle with eating with my children. So the main evening meal I eat with the children at about 5.15 ish. I meal plan, cook from scratch and make balanced meals for them. I know my issue is with portion control for myself, I need to only have a small portion of what I cook for them but I find that hard to do. Then, I am hungry again in the later evening, and find it hard to resist snacking - on anything, often toast with butter and jam, or if I'm having a bad day, on crap I've bought specially to binge on when my eldest has gone to bed. Unfortunately I have a bad day a lot.
I know I need to just grit my teeth and push through it, but it's such a struggle when I've had very little sleep and I just want to vegetate on the sofa mindlessly eating ice cream.
My current plan is to tackle the evening meal situation, and to serve myself a small portion of whatever I've made for the children, and bulk it out with either salad (no dressing) or green veg. I'm hoping that will help me feel less hungry later on in the evening. Does that sound like a good place to start? Does anyone have any other advice or suggestions? I feel at the moment like I'm in a trap that I can't get out of, and I'm worried about the impact on my health.
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Help! I feel trapped and hopeless.
9 replies
AssassinatedBeauty · 23/01/2017 11:13
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