To just not FEEL that overweight??

[TheHouseOnBellSt]

I'm one stone overweight. That's quite a lot...but I look in the mirror and think "I don't look fat!"

But I must be!

I'm a size 14 on the bottom and a 12 on top..5.7 and 13 stones.

2yrs ago I was 12st 5lb (5'9") and thought I didn't look too bad. Decided I wanted to lose weight and am now 10st.

When I look back at pics of me before I am at how hefty I looked and I genuinely didn't think it at the time.

In fact even now I could lose another 10lbs and not be too thin.

Mumof
I thought I looked fine at 12st
But actually I looked awful : fat neck, fat arms, fat tummy
I'm much happier being lean.

The gaunt thing after weight - try facial yoga exercises - there are loads on youtube - but mainly try to smile and grin as it tones up your face and makes it look better

Marnie
Have a look 5:2 - it works for a lot of people, and its free because the main resource is here on MN.

5'5 here and have crept from 9 stone to 10 stone in the last 3 months. I look and feel bloody awful.

you seem fine by your description, not overweight at all, just normal.

Not all size 14 are the same! Thus said I would rather have lunch than Twirl or small pack of crisps and cans of coke. All sugary and fatty with not real nutritional values.

I'm 5 foot 9 and weigh just over 9stone. If I hit 10 which I did a few years ago, I feel vile.

I am 5.7 1/2 and 11 stone 4 pounds, size 14, I feel fat

Heh, if I was 11 stone 4 I'd be a small size 12, that's pretty much what I'm aiming for.

Shape makes a difference.

I'm an hour glass and if I put on a bit of weight, I actually look quite foxy and attract an awful lot of attention .

I also have yearly body fat scans for my health insurance and have really low levels of internal fat around my organs that seem unaffected by how much I weigh.

Well, I'm 5"7 and hover between 13-13.5st and have just decided my goal weight is 9st7. Most days I feel good about myself, but every so many weeks, when I need to shop for clothes or dress up I feel utterly shit. I've decided enough is enough! I don't think size matters, as long as you feel good about yourself!

leedy me too! At 11st 4 I'd be a 12 for sure.

I've decided to keep a food diary today and looking at it makes me think I've just got it all wrong!

I haven't been eating bread for the past week and a half but today have had two white rolls...crusty ones without butter....look at the state of my diet below....eaten today.

Banana
2 poached eggs on one white roll no butter
Apple
White roll with one slice of cheese, spring onion and tomato slice
Chicken leg & thigh roasted with skin on :(
Cadbury's bloody brunch bar :(

I calculate this....with the two coffees and one tea I've had to be about 1400 cals!

I am supposed to eat less than 1600 or 1600 max to lose weight....at my current activity level which is not bad at all....but that's it! I've eaten that lot above.....and it's a bit shit isn't it? Not healthy....

"But a size 12 is really not that slim, especially with today's vanity sizes."

It's not overweight either though, or it wouldn't be on me, I'd be well within the normal weight range for my height (I'm five seven), and, as I said, I'm pretty broad-shouldered/muscular with DD boobs. I look good at that weight, I don't care if it's "really not that slim".

Generally I dislike when any conversations about "people should be a healthy weight for their height" slowly slide into "but really, everyone should be as thin as possible" or "everyone should be a size 10, like me, it's healthiest! or maybe an 8! or a 4! If you can't still fit into children's clothes at the age of 40, you're not thin enough, you're deluding yourself, it's unhealthy!".

Where are your vegetables?
Where are your drinks?
Where are your high protein foods like fish and pulses and nuts and seeds?

Focus on eating really well twice a day and live on fluids in between ...

big bowls of veg stir fry with prawns or chicken
or mega bowls of veg soup
or yummy pulse based curries

you need to eat more by volume of less calorific stuff

Another set of pictures for you
www.wisegeek.com/what-does-200-calories-look-like.htm

Talking I know! I usually would eat more veg than that....bean salads and things are usual with me but that was shit wasn't it? My diet today I mean. Drinks are just the tea and coffee and one water.

I sometimes think "Oh I can't face a big bowl of veg or stir fry" and so eat some bloody carb laden crap!

I've found that if you lose weight but think face looks gaunt, if you wait a month at that weight it can look better, as if the weight redistributes once it is stable?

That's what I was going to say.

Plus I know a few people who insisted they looked gaunt when they lost weight, but they really didn't. In fact I think one of them would have looked better if she lost a bit more.

But it's possible they were used to being fairly 'full faced/chubby cheeked' for so long, that they really did see their new look as gaunt.

TheWordFactory yep big tits n arse is a popular look (i'm like that too)

I think I will make a big pot of veg soup tonight and have that for lunch tomorrow and then make myself have a big bean salad for dinner....I do like that food I'm just SO lazy!

I know my neck and chin will look better when this fat is gone. I feel bigger today as well due to PMT. Swollen water retentive abdomen which usually shrinks when period arrives.

You can get a lot more out of your eggs if you make them scrambled or in an omelette - use double the number, four not two, but only leave two whole, just use the whites of the others. You can't tell the difference and you get loads more protein for very few cals.

My favourite omelette is four eggs, a square of frozen spinach quickly defrosted in the microwave, goats or feta cheese. Beat the two whole eggs and the egg whites, heat a good knob of butter and put the spinach in first in little heaps dotted across the pan. Add the eggs and cook for a bit, then add the cheese. Cook as normal. I wrap this in greaseproof paper and take with me if I'm going to be out at lunchtime.

I'd ditch the bread too.

Ooh, ooh BellSt
Have a look at Spanish omelettes : as you can make a big one and have half hot for supper and half cold for lunch the next day

Sorry Op but I'm the same height and weight as you and have no idea how you fit into size 14! I'm 16-18 and could do with losing at least a couple of stones. When I have been 11st in the past I've felt massively better and have fitted into size 14. At that weight I would still be large compared to properly slim people but I would be fab in my head!

Referring back to the OP--at 5ft 6in, if I was 13 stone, I would probably be a size 18. I'm a little confused how you can fit into a size 12 top, unless all of your weight is from your waist down.

"I would still be within my 'healthy' weight range at 11 and a half stone, but I would be too heavy for comfort, health, fitness or looks."

Fair enough, but at the same weight I'd almost certainly be fine for all four. Surely also if you were within the healthy range you can't say you'd still be "too heavy for health"? What else does the healthy range mean?

At 13 stone (which is a little heavier than I'd like), I've just cycled a few k back from work, which I do most days. I'd like to fit back into my smaller jeans but I'm not uncomfortable or unfit (can easily swim a kilometre, cycle, lift weights), and I'm not keen on the trope that everyone who's slightly overweight is slowly dragging themselves around miserably under their vast sweaty bulk/can't climb stairs/is unhealthy and unfit. There was a good article in Grazia on the subject last week - the writer talking about how she was an extremely fit size 14 and was getting increasingly annoyed at the assumption she was a lazy couch potato.

Also I would now like a Spanish omelette.