I weigh 25 stone and don't know what to do

[delilabell]

I don't know how this has happened. We'll I do its cos in eating ridiculous amount of food.
I want to get back to size 22 /24 . I felt comfortable and confident. I now am size 28/30 and I'm disgusted in myself. I'm addicted to sugar I know I am so instart to think about cutting all sugar but them I think I don't want to because I love chocolate. But thats the addiction isn't it? I'm just looking in tje mirror at myself and I look hideous. I joined ww last week (previously was a part of it and lost 5 stone ) but its changed so I wimped out amd cancelled it. I did slimming World once and lost a stone but I got so obsessive that I had to stop for my mental health.
My mental health isn't great. I obsess about things. So if I am losing weight I obsess every hour about how much ill have lost. Dividing the amount I want to lose over the weeks I want to over and over in my head. And then I become so obsessed I have to stop.
I just don't know what to do about it. Any help would be most appreciated please.

This was my lunch today, which was really filling. Took me about 20 minutes to make.

You can't really see, but there was tonnes of chicken under the egg, also potato salad, ham....

@BlondeDogLady

Try to stick to 1200 cals a day.

You can eat HUGE salads for lunch : lettuce, cucumber, tomatoes, red onion, spring onion, a big pile of chicken, a boiled egg and some fat free dressing. Or, if you don't have time, grab a Mug Shot.

For treats, substitute crisps with Ringo's or Maize snacks.

Instead of chocolate, get fat free mouse (99 cals) or mini cornettos (also about 99 cals)

If you do this, and walk for about 3 miles a day (not necessarily all at once), I guarantee you that the weight will fall off, because I've done it myself.

I think you could drop a stone a month doing this. So, by Christmas you could be 15 stone.

Just always have low cal snacks to hand. I never went hungry when I did it. It sounds hard, but once you see the weight falling off, you will find your resolve increasing.

Good luck!

I would have thought that dropping to 1200 calories per day would be EXTREMELY difficult for someone who is 25 stone. I was nearly 15 stone and could in no way drop to 1200 calories a day. I lost nearly 3 stone last year by dropping to about 1900 calories a day and more or less eating what I wanted in those 1900 calories. I do exercise and add a further 500-600 calories a day onto my calories burnt which will make a big difference than someone who is not exercising.

I personally don't think it's going to be achievable or wise to advise dropping to 1200 calories, if it were me, I would immediately feel a failure because in no way on earth could I keep to 1200 calories when I was 15 stone.

Have you thought about joining a slimming club - I know weight watchers does a free offer for the first 3 months if your above a certain BMI

@Loubilou09 I am a big fan of My 600lb life. The patients range from 42 stone to 71 stone, and they are placed on 800 to 1200 cals a day, all high protein. It may not be easy, but it's doable. There have been some amazing success stories.

1200kcal per day is doable but not sustainable for someone whos eating habits have got them to 25st. I was 28st at my highest and the one thing that didn’t work was a sudden low calorie diet. It isn’t sustainable to change your eating habits that fast and stick to it and it sets you up for failure.

Op you are making amazing changes already and I really hope you’re feeling proud of yourself. Hang in there xx

Blondedoglady - I have watched countless My 600lb life episodes. I have never seen the number of daily calories mentioned for the participants' diets but the whole point of the show is they only have to do this for a couple of months to prepare the body for weight loss surgery! It's not something they are facing for years. The surgery takes most of the effort out of it after the first 30 to 50lb is gone.

[quote BlondeDogLady]@Loubilou09 I am a big fan of My 600lb life. The patients range from 42 stone to 71 stone, and they are placed on 800 to 1200 cals a day, all high protein. It may not be easy, but it's doable. There have been some amazing success stories.[/quote]
It’s a short term measure to set them up for wls not a long term change and VERY often they don’t meet their first goal because it’s too difficult and their surgery is delayed until they do. This is the OPs life you’re advising on and it shouldn’t be based on an extreme tv show

[quote BlondeDogLady]@Loubilou09 I am a big fan of My 600lb life. The patients range from 42 stone to 71 stone, and they are placed on 800 to 1200 cals a day, all high protein. It may not be easy, but it's doable. There have been some amazing success stories.[/quote]
It is doable for someone on TV with an incentive of weight loss surgery. For the majority of people it is extremely hard to stick to 800-1200 calories long term. Some one at 25 stone would be used to 3,000+ calories a day and those habits are not going to suddenly disappear overnight. Anyone would feel like a failure and probably binge very quickly.

Much more sustainable and realistic to reduce calories to say 2500 for a few weeks and increase exercise, then maybe reduce to 2250 for another few weeks and then reduce to 2,000 once you're a bit further into the regime of lowering your intake.

Please do not follow this advice. 1200 calories will put your body into starvation mode. If you Google a calculator for your basal metabolic rate, you could then follow a calorie deficit. Or if you got an app such as MyFitnessPal or Nutracheck (personally I prefer Nutracheck, though it is £3.99 a month) and keep track of your calories that way. You're much better to lose 1-2lb max a week and make it sustainable, as opposed to basically starving yourself.

Well done on your 8k steps!!

Thank you. I'm on day 6 today and have consistently done over 5000 steps every day, mostly 6000+
I've not eaten chocolate since the beginning which, since its my biggest addiction I'm proud of.
In eating healthy and not snacking as much. I have a fruit snack mid morning and tjen in tje evening ill have something sweet eg a couple of biscuits. I know if I'm going to do this I have to be in it for the long hall. There are no quick fixes.
Feeling quite low tonight as I've been doing this for nearly a week and look no different haha.

I knoe this is an unpopular opinion but i would really look up diet culture and what dieting can do to our bodies and how dieiting actually makes us put on weight as our body doesnt know we r on diet and will just go into starvation mode, intuitive eating is where we leave diet culture and learning about our hunger cues (which wr have to ignore on diets ) and eat when full , learning to have a healthy relationship with food. There are studies done that show we put on more weight after dieting!

Also google the diet/restrict , binge cycle. Our brains are programmed to think more about food while on a diet and thats why diets dont work and so many people r needing to keep going on them. We r not failing at diets , diets are failing us!

@delilabell you are doing SO well. Fantastically well!

Your walking is brilliant, and you have done the hard work in stopping your choc habit. I did find it all easier once I had freed myself of the sweet habit, and got into the swing of more positive healthy eating.

Be proud and let your success so far fuel you through the next week.

Don’t worry about how you look at the moment, the important changes at the moment are inside your mind and body, changes that very soon will have a big impact on the outside.

I didn’t tell anyone I was on a ‘eat more healthily, exercise and get fitter’
campaign, and for ages no one noticed. Then all of a sudden everyone was going ‘wow! You look amazing!’ and it was my more vibrant fitness as well as weight loss, plus my own self confidence that was getting the reaction.

You have had a great week!

Intuitive eating also doesnt restrict foods so u eat what u want and our bodies learn what to eat. If u take away the idea that foods are good or bad and they are neutral the idea is u dont binge on them becuaee they are not its the scares mentality vs abundance mentality. It makes sense if u can eat chocolate anytime u want and not eat it when u shouldnt but do anyway ur more likely not to want to binge because that food isnt forbidden, if u forbid anything u want it more! Anyways ill stop waffling! Good luck with what u do its not easy

Hi @Newrunner29 the thing with me is I cannot trust myself with chocolate as it is an addiction for me its like telling an alcoholic to learn that they can have wine whenever they want so they don't binge on it.
I am looking at it as a whole lifestyle approach rather than a diet. I have got to change how I am for life.

@StrifeOfBath thank you, when I looked in the mirror today I just thought this is the last ever January 13th you'll look like this. I just really hope I don't let myself down

@delilabell

Hi *@Newrunner29* the thing with me is I cannot trust myself with chocolate as it is an addiction for me its like telling an alcoholic to learn that they can have wine whenever they want so they don't binge on it. I am looking at it as a whole lifestyle approach rather than a diet. I have got to change how I am for life. *@StrifeOfBath* thank you, when I looked in the mirror today I just thought this is the last ever January 13th you'll look like this. I just really hope I don't let myself down

I actually have been there thinking i had a sugar addiction, i m new to IE i also worry i cant trust myself. Ive done loads of research on sugar addiction as i belived i was and cut it right out for up to 11 months! Ive since read u cannot be addicted to something ur body needs for survival, we are addicted to the reward system, we eat sugar our brains produces setroin (think spelt right) and we r addicted to the produce of setroin. Not actual sugar. But we can get setroin in other ways. Food is natural to use for it but it shouldnt be only. If u take away that chocolate is forbidden then yes u might it more while ur learning and we can put on weight at first while we r still trusting our bodies but eventually we will start craving nutritious food. My trigger foods are sweets/chocolate i am only few weeks in to tuning into my body (and if u think about it it makes sense why are we not taught to listen to our bodies and eat when hungry and stop when full. Its a basic thing. We r taught in diets to purposely ignore our hunger ques. Its not a quick fix learning to initiatively eat. Its going to take a few years. But there is

The point abouty trigger foods, i have a bag of sweets i brought 2 days ago in my bag, that just wouldnt have still been there a few months ago. Diet culture is intertwined into our society! Its everywhere, food rules begain from when we r kids i would suggest a therapist to help u , im doing an online course which includes as support group. I have adhd which effects eating and i produce less setroin anyway so binging is very common with adhd specifically

You are doing bloody brilliantly. It's so hard when it's a long road (am on it too, most of the time!). Do you think you'll set your first mini-goal so you have a smaller step to aim at?

@delilabell

Thank you. I'm on day 6 today and have consistently done over 5000 steps every day, mostly 6000+ I've not eaten chocolate since the beginning which, since its my biggest addiction I'm proud of. In eating healthy and not snacking as much. I have a fruit snack mid morning and tjen in tje evening ill have something sweet eg a couple of biscuits. I know if I'm going to do this I have to be in it for the long hall. There are no quick fixes. Feeling quite low tonight as I've been doing this for nearly a week and look no different haha.

You're doing so well. I know I used to feel low and like I looked different, I suggest taking progress pics at different angles and maybe even doing your measurements. I soon learned I was in fact changing, but didn't really notice it myself because I obviously saw myself every day!

Keep it up, you've got this!

One week in!! Atleast 5000 steps walked every day. No chocolate at all. One snack of two biscuits a day. The rest fruit. I'm aiming for 6000 steps a day next week amd would really like to stay doing some other exercise. In not weighing myself as it becomes am unhealthy addiction. My mantra is this is the last day I will ever be this weight.

@delilabell

One week in!! Atleast 5000 steps walked every day. No chocolate at all. One snack of two biscuits a day. The rest fruit. I'm aiming for 6000 steps a day next week amd would really like to stay doing some other exercise. In not weighing myself as it becomes am unhealthy addiction. My mantra is this is the last day I will ever be this weight.

Definitely track progress by photos or measurements before scales. As you say, it does get unhealthy sometimes. If you'd rather exercise at home, there are some great workouts on YouTube, many without equipment. I started with Growwithjo walking workouts and built up from there. They are mainly walking on the spot (as I'm sure you guessed by the name walking workout 😂) with added in movements. I find her personality addictive as she's so lovely (she also has a Facebook group and she's always interacting and giving advice) and really just wants to help. And to be honest for the most part I find her workouts fun!

@delilabell

One week in!! Atleast 5000 steps walked every day. No chocolate at all. One snack of two biscuits a day. The rest fruit. I'm aiming for 6000 steps a day next week amd would really like to stay doing some other exercise. In not weighing myself as it becomes am unhealthy addiction. My mantra is this is the last day I will ever be this weight.

Brilliant!

Totally agree about not weighing yourself often. Just focus on health and wellbeing.

Really well done! It isn't about weighing yourself and scrutinising the mirror for instant results - it's about permanent change.

Keep a strong sense of your goals and your vision - how you want to look and feel and why. Reminding yourself of this if you feel you're wavering can really help.

Try writing it all out and collecting a gallery of inspirational pics in your phone (I don't mean extreme unrealistic images, but pictures that express how you're going to be and live).

Thinking in terms of 'going on a diet' carries with it the sense of coming off it again - think instead in terms of 'eat less, eat better, move more' as permanent changes in how you think, feel and behave.

@delilabell

One week in!! Atleast 5000 steps walked every day. No chocolate at all. One snack of two biscuits a day. The rest fruit. I'm aiming for 6000 steps a day next week amd would really like to stay doing some other exercise. In not weighing myself as it becomes am unhealthy addiction. My mantra is this is the last day I will ever be this weight.

Well done, you’re doing a fantastic job x