Dr told me I'm three and a half stone Overweight but I'm in no place

[forelogger]

To accept it or get motivated.
I have every reason to be motivated . But I'm not.

I've three kids, on my own , my knees and ankles are paining me, I've a back injury that can be healed woth walking and im single and would like to feel my best to look my best to meet someone one day.

I don't know how I got to this place.
I can carry two stone over. Im 5'7 but this is a new low for me.
Where do I even begin.

My mood is so low and I feel hopeless and full of despair for the future .
That chat we had was just the mail in the coffin.
AIBU to think I can do this in my own.
I can't afford a club or dietician.

I have so little time for planning or prep and as dr said to me ' once again, it's us women putting ourselves last and waking up unhappy with our weight and fitness one day'
All opinions appreciated and even a kick up the behind .
Thank you for reading.

I did exante a few years ago and it was a big success. Two stones in as many months. Am about to do it again as I still haven’t shifted the lockdown weight and am menopausal. Happy to buddy up as am planning to start after half term. Good luck with it all x

My small win for today - I managed to persuade myself not to use the work car park, but parked a few minutes walk away instead! I've been lazy over December/January - telling myself I didn't want to walk to/from the car in the dark - but I don't have that excuse now! So I got a very small walk in (but every little helps) and saved £6 on the car park fee 😁

I’m the same height as you and I weighed 94kg at the start of 2022, now I weigh 65kg and have done since around June last year so it took me 6 months to lose 30kg but I’ve kept it off. Went from a size 16-18 to a size 10. I didn’t follow a faddy diet or do anything silly like skipping breakfast. I used my fitness pal until I hit goal weight and ate about 1600 calories a day.

Biggest thing for me was exercise tbh. Everyone has the time to fit 30 mins of some form of exercise in a day. I did the NHS couch to 5k app and was able to go from not being able to run for more than 1-2 mins without feeling like my chest was caving in to running 5km within 2 months. I now run 30km a week on average. I have a set of dumbbells and do a YouTube video using those 3x a week and do a YouTube HIIT video 2-3 x a week too. Plus walking a lot, I walk more than drive.

Now I eat all sorts of crap and don’t calorie count at all but I stay slim because I work the calories off. I ate a pizza, vanilla slice and cream bun last night so I went on a 12.5km run this morning to work it off! You have to put work in to lose it but it’s completely doable if you actually want it.

This ^^

I ate a pizza, vanilla slice and cream bun last night so I went on a 12.5km run this morning to work it off!
As the saying goes....you can't out-train a bad diet! A 12.5km will have burnt off about a third of the calories you consumed there.

2 years ago I went to a dietician. I weighed 92 kilo. I'm 78 years old and 5'5". It took me a long time but I lost 17 kilo. Then, January 1st 2022 I fell and broke my shoulder. I was in bed for 6 weeks. Obviously I put on weight. I never went back to the dietician and sort of watch my diet. Sort of. Its very difficult to get back on it. I think 🤔 at my age who cares? But I have a big belly, a pregnant one. It disturbs me but not enough to go back on diet. But you're only 50. You've been given tons of advice. Take it. You can do it. Good luck 👍 💓

Great to read everyone's entirely different experiences.
Can I ask ... when you began to increase your fruit, veg and water intake, did you bloat badly ? I have a beach ball belly right now but very little intake of carbs with dinner this evening !

When you change your diet you can get bloaty. Your belly isn't used to these, but it eill settle. I recommend kefir to suppord digestive track inhabitants 😁

If you do small changes each day you'll be fine but if you jump in and go full slog you may experience digestive issues, depends on how much you're changing at once due to a sudden change of diet also it makes it more likely you'll lose motivation and give up, plus the fact you said you were lacking in motivation so you need to build that up. But small changes day by day you should find it a lot easier to stick to without the digestive issues and will still notice the weight loss, good luck op :)

I apologise for not reading the full thread, but I have read all of OPs comments.
If no-one else has suggested it, I'd just like to say there are a lot of really useful factsheets on the uk's dietetics association website that you may find useful. It will help you understand what you're body requires better, and aid you in your weight loss journey. I wish you all the best.

This is very good advice and doesn't need a lot of money or time to start. I never found clubs to be particularly helpful, what motivated me more was actually looking into proper healthy diets. The Heart Foundation diet is a good place to start and you could start with something simple like changing to wholemeal bread, proper breakfasts not cereal. Give it a go you might find you can make such a difference with very little effort if you do the change slowly. Good luck 💐

Just wanted to check in and say that I went into calorie deficit this week and lost three lbs .
I didn't count my exercise but did enjoy some drinks on Friday night which I didn't count in either .
I'm happy with this as I've really taken control of my intake and have increased my water and fruit/ veg quotient by loads so it's a win in every way.
Hope all is going well for those who took an interest and responded . 😊

Well done, also good that you didn't lose too much at first as it gives you false expectations. It's a marathon not a race as they say. 💐

OP the very first thing to do is to promise yoiurself you are not going on a weight-loss diet.

That might sound unhelpful, but when you are feeling so low, the last thing you want is to force yourself to do something difficult and demanding when your life is difficult and demanding.

Just promise yourself you are going to start taking really excellent care of yourself. Focus on healthy, nourishing foods and gentle exercise. Lots of non-food treats - treats that focus on your mind and mood. Create a list of them, from long salt or bubble baths to watching comedy, playing your favourite music from when you were a teen, having a cup of tea while watching the sun rise or set, reading an escapist novel, buying a magazine that specialises in an interest you have, watching a TED talk or listening to an uplifting podcast etc.

You will find the weight will come off when you eat healthy food, take gentle exercise and soothe yourself with things other than comfort eating.

When you go shopping for food, think what foods you normally put in the trolley as treats and replace them with non-food treats. If money is an issue they can still be cheap - a £1 new scent of shower gel or a face mask or a bunch of daffs.

Thanks . I have been really focusing on myself this week and last. Early nights, long showers, beach walks and lovely food and drinks.
I have some incredible stressors in my life at the moment so I found last night when things were incredibly stressful I was looking for something g to soothe me so I lit the fire , had two glasses of wine and watched a comforting series on tv and then had an early night.
Previously I would have had more drinks, lots of snacks with that and been more miserable as the evening went on. It's a change of mindset that I'm after also.

I'm sure someone has already mentioned this but a lot of your thread made me wonder if you have sought help for peri menopause?

Thanks I'm on hrt for over a year . Still unstable really

I do not recommend exercise for weight loss. It’s much more effective to concentrate on calories in, and reduce those.
Easiest way to do that is not buy biscuits/crisps and change to intermittent fasting, so really only eating twice a day and tons of liquid.
First two weeks are hell, then it’s normal and success follows.
Once you hit your target weight, then you can exercise for fitness reasons.

Strongly disagree and highly recommend exercise for fitness and mood.
It helps your posture and that in turn makes you feel better and help seeing the weightliss, as one example. Another bonuses are health, digestive in better shape, mood, and firming up.

While it doesn't really burn enough (normal exercise we people usually do) to drastically help with weightloss, other benefits are massive and make it absolutely important part of the whole process for absolutely most people (and I hate exercise)

Just wanted to say well done to you on this success.
And also, your thread is encouraging me in so many ways so thank you for that.

Thrilled to hear that@halfpasteleven !

amazing, well done! 🍏

I strongly disagree with you.
If the OP is already stressed with the diet and hungry, exercise only makes things worse and generates more hunger/urge to eat.
Id she is nearly 4 stones overweight, exercise will be detrimental to her joints. She needs to shift those lbs before jogging.

I think exercise is only easy for those who are already a reasonable, balanced weight, depending on what you choose to do. I mean jogging with a massive tummy is really not easy. Walking would probably be a good start to ease into it, to school and back say dependingbwhere it is or even to the end of the road and back. Just small steps will be more beneficial in the long run as it can all be increased as and when.

You can do low impact exercise. I know, I worked out at 20+ stone when I started.
There are more exercises than jogging and other high impact...