Really down about weight..help and enthusiasm needed please !!!

[Boobsgonesouth]

I've had a constant battle with weight all my life, since I remember I've always been watching my weight, as a child I was a very good athelte and had it drummed into me about eating the right things so I only ate was considered"the proper food"...When I gave up athletics and left home, I ballooned sort of let of the leash, put on loads of weight but loved the life of unrestricted food...was like that for a couple of years then got fed up with being overweight so started exercising, then became obsessive, lost loads of weight, got very fit (again) and life has been consistently like that I seem to be either exercising religiously or overweight.

I'm now in my 40's with two young children and the opportunity to exercise is limited...I loe life but am frequently more and more tired have low energy levels and I know it is absolutely due to the 3 - 4 stone of excess that I carry. My self esteem is on it backside and I don't know how to begin...The thought of going to SW or WW doesn't do it for me (been there, done it before) but I need to break the downward spiral of eating that feels so out of control. I eat when I'm happy, eat when I'm sad, eat when I'm busy, eat when I'm bored...everything seems to evolve around food..... if anybody has any inspirational words they would be most greatfully appreciated..... I'm desperate......

[wishingfourgotone]

yo got to do it for yourself and your children!
Could you chase your children round the garden/park? this will be good exercise for all of you or swimming.
Surely you want to be a healthy mom!

[Boobsgonesouth]

I want to feel good for me...but just can't seem to break the cycle....I could quite happily not eat now for the rest of the evening but WILL eat because of cooking for the kids...We do chase each other around the garden ('tis quite big) and health wise (according to the DR ) my blood pressure is excellent and heart rate and everything is good...Inside though I fee awful and feel as if I'm putting on a happy face for everyone else

[snowwonder]

i am much the same and b=need to dicover why i eat when i am not hungry, why i cant just have one bikkie like others do and feel satisfied... why do i need to have 5


there are soem great books on amazon about overeating which may help

[Boobsgonesouth]

...thanks....will go and take a look, in the meantime am going to try and get some sort of exercise (by walking the dog more regularly !!)

[glitterfairy]

I have been in this circle of woe for many years now and have broken it at last. I have lost four stone but have loads more to go and frankly it is because I broke the pattern.

Breaking your cycle is up to you it is all in your mind. When you lose weight and are kind to yourself you feel better full stop and obviously you like exercise as well so do it.

Time is never a good enough excuse imo. I am a single mum with three kids and a job and manage to do it. It means giving up some stuff like relaxing at night and watching tv (awlays a good binge time) or getting up earlier if you want to retain the end of the day.

I beleive in doing one thing different every day and then you start to notice results. My first step was to listen to my body and eat when hungry. For example I went cycling adn swimming at lunch today and raced home to scoff a chicken salad with avocado, a banana and a piece of rye bread with tahini. Now am full!

Treat food as fuel not as a substitute for something else.

[Boobsgonesouth]

you're right glitterfairy BUT I am running a couple of my own businesses, work part time at the local school, have students in for student hosting (Sunday night 'til Friday morning)...tbh I fall into bed knackered at 8.30 (usually with the kids to read them bed time story and have snuggle time ) am usually up between 5 and 6am (9 month old puppy wakes me up then and it's usually the only chance I get to get any washing and ironing and/or housework done becaue I tend to be working most of the day)....then , of course there is the school run.... I am honestly knackered...

Have been considering ditching ALL of the part time stuff to go back to work full time, have no 'stress' of running the various businesses and then be able to establish some sort of routine and build more time for exercise into the day....

Don't eat in the evenings

Always problem during the day when working at home on own.....

[glitterfairy]

SOunds very hectic bgs and I think then you have to address the day time stuff. Are there particular triggers? IS it when you are bored do you snack etc etc?

[Boobsgonesouth]

..yep whenever I go into the kitchen, I'll grab something from the cupboard or sometimes anything that's there, can just as easily be something healthy like a banana and grapes as it is small choc bar, packet of crisps...always something quick and easy to eat IYKWIM

[chevre]

it is a vicious circle. the more overweight you are the tireder more unhappy you are and therefore more excuses for eating and not exercising. but you can do it. i lost 2.5 stone last year and am keeping it off (just!) running is great. i started off with a cross trainer in the house to build up fitness. reduce portions, don't eat processed food and cut down on bread. you have done it before and you can do it again but in teh meantime don't beat yourself up. get a great haircut and a manicure and by and lovely top to boost self esteem. ood luck

[Boobsgonesouth]

...got the cross trainer 'tis in the garage...changed hair colour and had a really good cut a couple of weeks ago, bought a couple of new tops felt good for a while,..... still feel like shite now though........

[glitterfairy]

Only you make yourself feel that way though. Stop buying the junk stuff even if the kids want it it will be good for them too. Someone on here has a goody drawer which is unrestricted for the kids wiht ehalthy stuff in. Get yourself healthy snacks, carrot sticks, celery, humous, fruit adn dried fruit, nuts etc and make sure you exercise it off after.

By the sound of your life there is very little time for you. Perhaps it is time to make some now. Pamapering is one way but being good to yourself can also mean eating well, sleeping well and generally looking after yourself.

I know I sound like a self help guru but much of it is really true and it took me years to find out for myself (oh and ditching an abusive X LOL).

[snowwonder]

glitter- you speak so much sense, and this is what the books, say you have to eat when you are hungry, and eat till your full, this is the hardest bit for me, as i am ashamed to say that i dont really know what real hunger feels like as i just eat and eat and eat

[majorityofone]

BGS you sound like I feel. I lost all the baby weight and then some over a year ago and then through overeating and no exercise and then with a job I hated (compounding the eating)put it all back on again. I am constantly tired (not helped with ds3 going though a bad sleeping patch) and that makes me want to eat more. I know I have do something about it but it feels like a mountain I cannot bear to face. BUT I have too for me as the person I see in the mirror is not the person I am and I know I can get there ; I think once you get started it will get easier. They say if you can keep something up for 4 days then you are over the hurdle and it gets easier. So one day at a time and glitterfairy speaks alot of sense

[chevre]

get the cross trainer out. do 20 mins 3 times a week. find one class to do - bums & tums, pilates, body pump. get a structure. once you start exercising you will feel alot more like tackling the food. i am sorry you feel so bad and wish i could snap my fingers for you. take care.

[Boobsgonesouth]

thanks all...didn't get back on last night as evening routine started !!!

Anyway, have decided to :-

take dog on power walk 3 times a week. At the moment I do walk her with the kids but it's not an 'exercise walk" IYKWIM, more of a leisure stroll...have already done the power walk once and it takes between 30 & 45 mins is hard work as you start with flat walk, then a really steep incline to the top, straight bit across the top, then steep decline downards so just as effective as the cross trainer...and gets me out of the house - the thought of getting on the X trainer in the house just doesn't do it for me, I need to get out !!!

Also going to have a large jug of water on my office desk and one in the kitchen so whenever I'm tempted i will have a large glass on water as I leave my desk and then another as I enter the kitchen - this should, hopefully, curb the need to stuff something in my mouth as I'll feel full (and feel healthier as I think I'm probably a bit dehydrated anyway !!) Agree with you glitterfairy as I allocate very litte time for 'me', in fact 'me' time is usually when I am at work or go off to work at the school...am about to book a few "treats' (body massage etc) over the next few weeks. I feel quite positive this morning..but mornings are usually best time for me anyway, after 2 o'clock is really my down fall...another broken night of sleep last night too so let's see how the day develops......

[glitterfairy]

How have you been doing everyone? Hopefully this can be a thread where we all support each other in our efforts.

Boobs how has the power walking gone on? When you get back how do you feel? If you feel better as I suspect you do stick with that feeling and every time you reach for a snack whihc isnt a carrot think about that feeling bring it back hard and strong and remember it and it will make you pause before you do anything. The water trick sounds good.

majorityofone and snowwonder how are you both?

[snowwonder]

hi all...
the water sounds like as brill idea...

i started netball -something i have been wanting to do for a while. and i didnt realise wuite how energetic it was to play!!! so that is a good move foward, and i just look at the girls there and want to loose weight they are all tall and slim, and there's me, about 2-3 stone overweight
but at least i went....

i did contact a hypnotist about 2 months ago and he was planning to set up a weight lose group but he has never phoned me back..


both my girls are at parties this afternoon, so i am going to try to use the time to some excercise, (i get hardly anytime without them as there dad has them one afternoon a week, and i really just want to relax in the bath- but i need to make an effort)

and tomoorwo morning will be swimming although cant really count that as i have girls with me, but i do try and kick my legs around a bit!!!!


how is everyone????

[3andnomore]

Get Jason Vales Slim4Life, Freedom from the foodtrap Book...it's great.
However a lot of people also swear on that McKenna guy (I think that is is name, lol)....!

I have had issues with food all my life...luckily enough, I suppose I have never been overweight by more then 2 stone, as that tends to be where I get my butt into gear.
Anywya, in Jason Vale book he really busts a lot of food muths and inspires you to get free from wanting certain foods, etc....!
Can't say that I am now completely angelic about food, but I am more in control of myself, wihtout having to use self control. Not sure if that makes sense.

[snowwonder]

3 and no more thanks for that......

are you able to disclose the main principles he talks about, otherwise i will ahve to wait to put the book on my xmas list!!!!

and i could have put 2 more stone on by then!!!!!


is it about eating when you are hungry?

thankyou

[3andnomore]

Jason Vale is also called the Juicemaster. This doesn't mean it's all about Juices though and you don't even have to juice at all if it isn't your thing.
He reveals the hard truths about foods, not just what we would typically class as junkfoods.
And then he gives tips on diet in generally.

[glitterfairy]

3andnomore I have the change your body in 14 days book by him adn the 7lbs in 7 days and both work well. I like his juice books and juicing is easy if eating is a problem because you can jsut replace a meal with juice and it is so simple.

I went running this morning in the rain and it was lovely. AM just tucking into fresh jumbo prwans for lunch and having plaice for tea as I visited our fishmonger. Now I go in there adn salivate.

[3andnomore]

glitterfairy, I suppose you mean the Turbo charge book, got that one, too, and also the 7Ibs in7days, and they do work fab and really kickstart a healthy lifestyle, but I suppsoe the Slim4life is a bit more about daily life, hence me recommending it on here, iykwim.
Also got the Chocolate Buster Book, which sadly didn't work for me at all....I knew most of what he said anywya, and it had never put me off before, lol, and chocolate , I suppose had always been my "maindrug" and I suppose the most difficult to completely loose or at least build a healthy relationship, too....sigh....but I really do like his approach all in all!
Your meals sound lovely, dispite the fact that I feel sick today (woke up with an Urine infection, and then started feeling nauseated and well...shan't say no more...lol....)

[glitterfairy]

oh3andnomore hope you feel better soon! yes I do mean turbo charge and I also have gillian mckeith, although I loathe her on the tv I love her web site and she sends me top tips as well. In fact I have so many slimming books I cant imagine why it is at all difficult.

[3andnomore]

lol glitterfairy...I so know what ya mean...I mean, I have read so much about nutrition and whatever, love watching those sort of programmes in general (really enjoy the Downsize me one) and I know I know a lot about it, but well, knowing it and doing it aren't always the same thing, sigh!
There is a great section in one of Jason Vales Books, about this Diet guru who was himself overweight, his book was all about how easy it is to loose weight and be healthy, and when he was asked why he himself was overweight he replied he was busy and also living in Spain (like that got anything to do wiht it....I know that whielst living out in Cyprus I was at my slimmest ever after starting to have children, due to more exercise, feeling happier as it was great weather and living a much healthier diet)....
I try sometimes to work out why I don't crave cigarettes after I had given up, yet, I can stay of chocolate for weeks on end and still crave it What is that all about...it must be some mental switch that I was able to turn off when I stopped smoking, so, if only I could find that switch wiht chocolate, sigh!
But like I said, thanks to JV it's not so much a matter of using self control, etc...so, am getting there!
Never been on Gillian wotsits website, mihgt have a peak!

[glitterfairy]

Gillian is funny because in her tv progrmames she is totally vile over the top and mean but sends lovely emails and her site is good.

AS for the rest I think we all know what it is that makes us fat and how to get thin the secret is doing it! It is easier in some ways to give up cigarettes and alcohol because you then never do it again. You cannot give up food! It is a little like saying to an acoholic have a tiny drink every day, limit yourself and only drink the good stuff. Yep that would work wouldnt it?

Where is that boobs woman hiding anyway and snowwonder?