Any small changes that have lead to a gradual weight loss

[Janel85]

I’m very fed up with my weight, I reckon I need to lose about 1.5/2stone to get my bmi in the ideal range. I feel run down and sluggish, my diet isn’t horrendous but I know it needs improvement. I live food and if I try to deprive myself of anything my cravings go into overdrive, I drink too much coffee and barely anything else and I don’t exercise apart from netball once a week. I’ve yet to find a diet I can stick to, accept low gi when pregnant and restricted calorie in the run up to my wedding, low gi was due to gestational diabetes and obviously motivation on low calorie was my wedding day, without things like those I lack the get up go for it. I’ve tried Slimming world but the prep and having to syn everything like butter drove me mad. The point of my post is I want to make some minor changes that I’ll be able to stick to that will lead to the weight coming off gradually, would appreciate any tips that have worked for you. I’m thinking reaching 10k steps on the Fitbit each day (prob doing only 6-7k normally), drinking two coffees and 2 litres of water a day, getting one of those diet portion plates so I’m not overeating, and cutting out white bread and only having new potatoes instead of chips etc. In bed at 10pm ready to go to sleep instead of 11.30pm/12am. Thanks in advance

I was surprised that when I switched from eating cereal for breakfast to toast I lost weight. I had thought that plain cereal and semi-skimmed milk would be better for me than toast, butter and jam, but apparently my body disagrees!

Definitely up the water and movement.
Ditch as mush sugar as you can.
I have fruit and yogurt for breakfast most days, sometimes with oats in.

I also use the app - MyFitnessPal to track my food, making sure I stick to 1500-1800 a day. But you can put your height, weight and goal in and it can guide you

When I had gestational diabetes they advised me to stay away from most cereals as they’re so high in sugar, especiallly things like fruit n fibre which sound healthy. That’s a good switch, thanks

Yes I’ve got my fitness pal, I never stick to it though, I need a kick up the arse! Maybe I should see a hypnotist

My friend saw a hypnotist and hasn’t touched chocolate since!!!

Really! How cool. I downloaded a hypnotist dietary thing on iTunes Eric zelsler or something, it was so hilarious I couldn’t go a minute without dissolving into giggles, I would probably be much the same if it was a one on one. Very interesting though.

Can you go without alcohol? That, and upping water intake, has made a difference for me, but I am also not eating starchy carbs or refined sugars.

Switching to full fat dairy and ensuring my lunch had a bit of protein in it stabilised my weight. Two very small and actually quite nice changes!

DH and i did a bit of meal planning to work out which meals we could prepare and eat that were no more than 600 calories (for our evening meal). I found loads of websites that helped with this and although it requires a bit of effort with shopping, we use online services so it was easy enough to do rather than trawl the aisles.

Find a few staple menu choices that you like and stick with those. Coupled with careful lunch choices (no or less mayonnaise on sandwiches, steer clear of salad dressings) it's easy to add up those calories that you are cutting back on.

If you're like me and biscuits are a weakness, compare calories per biscuit and switch. Ideally no biscuits at all would help, but I didn't want to give them up completely

Good luck!

Thanks, all good tips ☺️

No I don’t really drink alcohol very often, my downfalls are sugar and fatty foods

Pp what sort of meals are they you’re having?

I lost over a stone and have kept it off by not eating dinner (or just having toast) but have a regular breakfast and a normal lunch with cakes or chocolate for dessert.
It's hard at first but you get used to it.

Weight watchers has been the only thing to work for me. It's calorie counting for dummies!!! Works and that's all I care about.

I used to snack on lots of biscuits and sweet things so having healthy snacks mid-morning and mid-afternoon has let me lose a lot of weight gradually.

I have things like a small handful of nuts or raisins, rice crackers with a little nut butter or home popped popcorn. They all keep me going till the next meal.

Walking home from work (45 mins). Every day from sedentary it adds up.

Half the carbs and up the veg.

Chewing gum for sweetie cravings.

Eating only light dinner and no later than 6pm

If you must snack later, grab a carrot, fennel, turnip, some nuts etc rather than a biscuits.

Try to go to bed hungry - might be tricky at first but surprisingly you wake up no longer hungry - and lighter!

Thanks everyone