AIBU to ask you to help me lose weight?

You have to cut down and eat in a deficit. 500 cals a day under what you burn (tdee) to lose a lb a week, 1000 under to lose 2.

there is no magic trick to it, you need to cut back, eat healthy foods, low fat, low sugar, I personally find lowering carbs helps, and lots of lean protein., limit alcohol, drink 3 litres of water a day, and ensure you eat 1g of protein for every kg of body weight so you lose fat and not muscle.

is it doable. It really depends on your will power. Exercise is really a tiny part of weight loss, it’s key as you want to maintain muscle and not be all saggy at the end, but it’s really about what you consume, food and drink, take a weeks cals and divide by seven.

at your weight and height with light exercise, you’re probably burning between 1700 and 1900 cals a day, so to lose a lb a week you need to aim for a very max of 1400. You don’t have to religiously count, but you do need to keep an eye on it.

You need to understand why the weight has gone on how to loose ut. Its a simple reduce calories and increase movement. Eat less white carbohydrates and more veg fruit and wholemeal carbs.
Although you say you don't want to join SW or WW thrse organisations do help you to understand your intake and do motivate you to stick to healthy eating....

Sadly I agree that although exercise is incredibly important and you should definitely do whatever exercise you enjoy and can manage... it's the food you eat that is dictating your weight.

I already ate fairly healthily but it was portion sizes for me... i was eating til i was too full and having too many little treats.

I never counted calories per se but did get to know what was worth it and what wasn't - some things might surprise you how calorific they are.

Stuart small, aim to lose 7lbs first, keep it off then go again.

3 stones all at once is super hard and you will end up putting yourself off trying to do it one go

It takes longer than you think, start and keep going!

Look at your current diet and make simple changes. Are you always frying eggs in oil or butter? Try switching to scrambled. Do you drink a lot of fizzy drinks - try reducing to one a week. That sort of thing

Ask yourself how you have reached the weight you are. Myself, I eat crisps more than I should and if I didn't, I would weight less. What do you do that you could stop that is hindering your progress?

My best tip for you is to look into fasting. You might be a bit too young for it though, see what you think. But I started fasting every day by not eating breakfast anymore and allowing longer spaces of time between meals. That is what works for me right now.

At your age I was slim and fit tho, and I ate -
Porridge, yoghurt, fruit and nits all mixed up for breakfast before work.
An apple and slice of cheese at 11am.
Lunch, from last night's dinner.
Then a cooked dinner and I often ran 5k in the gym on the way home.

I was consistently 9.5stone at 5.5, which isn't thin but was OK and stable for me.

When I hit peri, I knocked off breakfast and the snack, and I have that same porridge for lunch now. Have to make sure I get enough protein tho. Protein as your food will lose weight for you.

Good luck!

What do you eat currently? Do you eat ready meals or cook from scratch? Do you use jars of sauces? Do you eat a lot of carbs? White bread, white pasta, white rice, potatoes? Do you eat a lot of fruit?

In short, you can't out exercise diet. So you do have to calorie count to some degree - that might be reducing the size of the portions you currently eat, changing what you eat for lower calorie options, or not eating snacks etc but you do have to reduce your intake. Even once you can run 5km it will only burn around 300 calories - which is the same as a posh yoghurt.