Trying to lose weight again.

[SDTGisAnEvilWolefGenius]

I am morbidly obese - around 21 stone - and am really struggling atm. I get breathless, can't walk far, and hate myself. So, with the help of a friend who is a personal trainer, and MyFitnessPal, I am trying to get a bit fitter.

So far, I'm not doing anything really drastic - I can't - but I am keeping track of my calories, and trying to stay under the limit set by MFP, and I am doing 10 minutes of exercises with dumbbells - squats, bicep curls etc - which is 10 minutes more exercise than I usually do each day.

One of my big problems is lunches - I have very much fallen into the habit of bread-based lunches - something on toast or something sandwiches - and I can't think of many lower calorie options that are quick, easy and cheap for my lunches.

I really want - and need - to make this work, otherwise I will have no life left whatsoever - but I'm afraid I am going to fail yet again.

[HairsprayBabe]

Are you at home at lunch time or out of the house? What is your budget like?

Soup is good for lunch, can come in very low calorie and you can either make it yourself in a big batch at the start of the week for very little money or just buy pre made.

A tin of tuna is only 100 calories and you can buy it as cheap as 60p a tin. Chop up some cheap salad veggies cucumber, lettuce, peppers etc. what ever is on offer mix with the tuna, and a small tsp of mayo - lunch for under 200 cals probably costs around £1. Keeps fine in a tupperware box if you make it the night before.

Omelettes are a really good cheap low calorie lunch, you can either make them the day before slice and eat cold, or cook it up as you want it if you are at home. A large egg has about 70 calories, so a 2 egg omelette with some frozen spinach(approx 25 cals per portion) would be about 160 cals.
Tesco sell a 900g bag of spinach for £1.50 they reckon 80g is a portion, so easily 10 potions in a bag, 15p per portion, 12 eggs are £1.75 so again about 15p per egg.
2 egg omelette with spinach would cost 45p and come in at 160 calories, plus a little more for any oil you use.

Good luck with your weight loss

[MirabelleTree]

You've done the first hard bit, starting. Would it help to join us on the 100lb thread? We started at different times so are at different stages.

How do your lunches stack up in terms of your overall daily calories? Other suggestions are omelettes. Rice cakes with houmous, jacket potatoes, Greek salad (don't need a lot of feta).

Diet is the the most important thing at this point, the rest will follow. After a bit I tried Leslie Sansone's walk at home which is good. This one is 5 mins:

m.youtube.com/watch?v=bLRZaqrneAI

I think being scared of failing again is very normal, I have a mantra - failure is not an option. It gets repeated often! When you have a minute go to my fitness pal forums and spend a bit of time looking at the success stories. Those people are no different to you. Also look on YouTube at Extreme diet episodes. It's obviously extreme but it's interesting to see how generally they go in phases. The first bit is usually fine, the danger zone is after they've been doing it for a bit.

My tips are the same old really but use a smaller plate, keep protein up as will help you feel fuller, just take it one day at a time and if one day goes pear shaped that's ok - it's when you let that one day gain more significance than it deserves and it leads to more bad days the problem starts.

[SDTGisAnEvilWolefGenius]

I'm at home at lunchtime, apart from one day - and those look like brilliant suggestions - thank you so much, @HairsprayBabe! I'm just going to finish my 10 minutes of exercise (I have to do it in two 5-minute bursts at the moment ), and some meditation, and then I'll have tuna salad for my lunch - yum!

[HairsprayBabe]

You are very welcome as Mirabelle said you have made the hardest step, and she is right about getting diet sorted and other things will follow.

I am on the 7lbs in a month thread, breaks it down into manageable chunks for me. Have lost 70lbs so far and it is totally normal to feel the fear of failure. I don't think I would have managed without the support I got from MN tbh! So do join in one of the long term support threads if you feel up to it they are invaluable.

Let me know if you need any more suggestions for light frugal dishes! My DP was unemployed for a while and I had to get very well acquainted with the freezer section! Much harder to eat healthily on a budget IMO!

[MirabelleTree]

I have lost the same as Hairspraybabe and MN support has been invaluable. One thing I forgot to say is that my personal view is it's really important to make sure you build in things you enjoy. This is for the longterm so has to be sustainable and for many I think going cold turkey ranks up the feelings of deprivation and leads to a huge fuck it moment which tends to end badly.

Having said that going cold turkey works well for some and everyone is different. The other thing is if it all gets too much after a bit there is nothing wrong with maintenance for a bit. I look at it as good practice for the future, losing weight is often the easier bit I've found, it's keeping it off.

And if you haven't already get a tape measure and measure yourself. I nearly didn't but a lovely friend nagged me a bit so I did. Helps a lot at times when the scales don't reflect inches lost.

[SDTGisAnEvilWolefGenius]

You are both so wonderful - thank you for the encouragement!

Ds2, who is 20, and needs to lose a bit, is also doing the MFP thing with me. This is working very well for him, because I do all the work of putting in the recipes for the evening meals, and he just gets to copy them into his version of the app!

[MirabelleTree]

How are you doing?

[SDTGisAnEvilWolefGenius]

OK so far. I have managed to keep under my calorie goal and do 10 minutes of cardio exercise every day for six days!

I'm off on holiday for 5 days now, so keeping track of calories will be harder, but I will try to track my activity - and I will be doing more, which will help.

Thanks for asking - I appreciate the support.

[MirabelleTree]

No worries and so glad to hear you're doing well

I'm on holiday at the moment and it is harder , I think though I've made a vaguely ok of estimating them so far but only day 2! Hope you have a lovely time.

[SDTGisAnEvilWolefGenius]

I went swimming at the hotel, and that, plus the walking I have done today, adds up to 306 calories - which took care of pudding - lol!

[ripa81]

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