I need help losing 9 stone

[Kimmyangel]

Please can anyone help me. I put on around 9 stone in about a year and half due to depression and this has basically knocked my confidence below zero. I don't see any of my friends as I'm so embarrassed no1 knows has seen me apart from my immediate family, I have a family wedding in July which I am trying to get out of. I know people will suggest Cambridge diet but I can't afford that, I'm in desparate need of advice please help

Get yourself a much smaller plate and only have your meals on that - maybe eat half of what you would be eating at each meal now.

Never eat preprepared foods - everything you eat needs to be made from scratch which is actually cheaper than that crap you buy ready made - and I mean everything from a biscuit to soup you make and you then know what goes in to it and can make a sensible decision as to whether it is going to be good for you or not.

Only eat fruit between meals and make sure you have hot chocolate or a horlicks light or something like that at the end of the day as a treat.

Make sure you exercise everyday - even if it is on;y going for a walk - try as you get fitter to walk a bit faster and then try jogging - only for 30 seconds and then walk until you get your breath back and soon you will really feel the weight dropping off.

It is small changes that will amke a huge difference when you have that much to lose and once you start losing it it will give you huge incentive to carry on and maybe do more exercise.

You must start going to bed at the same time every night and maybe reading for half an hour or having a nice warm batha nd then your milky drink and get your self into a routine as like a baby your body will soon get used to this routine and you will find yourself dropping off easily.

i have lost at least 20 lbs since January (i am due to be weighed again next week)i owe my sucess to Paul Mckennas i can make you thin CD ifeel super motivated and have went from a non exercising slob to a gym mad convert i try to swim nearly every day as well .i know thats alright if you have the time but the weight is falling off me i have on a pair of size 18 m and s trousers which were too tight a few weeks ago and they can now be pulled down without undoing the button... give it a go

There is a reason why I put on so much weight quickly don't want to go into it too much on an open forum. But you can message personally if you want to know ;) I'd definately like to detox if anyone knows of any teas or drinks- not necessarily meal replacement. I know it sounds a copout but I do naturally have a slow metabolism even when I was 9 stone I struggled to maintain that weight and I ate healthy! Lol. I moved and since I changed gps I feel like they just don't care my old gps were excellent which puts you in even more despair also apart from ww and sw what are the low carb diets?

I lost five and a half stone and am a healthy size 12.

I openly admit to being a greedy guts and can eat huge amounts of food so I make sure I have huge meals. I fill my plate with veggies (Not potatoes or sweetcorn) and then have a grilled pork/lamb chop or chicken breast or a ready meal.

If you know cheese is your downfall then don't buy it. Find an alternative. Not as delish as a melted cheese on toast but much much fewer calories are Laughing Cow extra light cheese triangles on low cal Jacob's Crackers. Try a yoghurt instead of chocolate or a low cal hot chocolate drink. Often the sweetness takes away the chocolate craving.

I won't lie and say it's easy but your will to lose weight must be greater than your need to eat cheese/chocolate/crisps or whatever.

Weight Watchers is great. They've really helped me avoid putting the weight back on. Whenever the scales start creeping up I go back to meetings for a few months. You can eat whatever you want but in sensible amounts.

Hope this helps and good luck.

Hi Kimmy

I have a minimum of 10stone to lose at the moment. I am currently avoiding dieting for reasons unbeknown to myself, I just can't get my head around it.

One thing that jumps out at me about your posts is that you are looking for the best/quickest/easiest way to lose the weight you have gained (aren't we all).

However, what you need to be doing is looking at the reason you gained the weight.

I know you say it's due to depression (so was a lot of mine), but that isn't good enough. You need to have a real understanding about it, so you can prepare yourself to deal with the triggers when they occur, and they will. No diet in the world will work if you haven't conquered your demons so to speak.

Click on the link BOF gave at the begeining of the thread and join in. They will give you the support you need to get through the bad times, and there are some wise owls on there that will help you recognise your triggers/reasons for weight gain. They also talk a lot about nothing to do with dieting, and have a fabulous thread mascot.

See you over there soon I hope!

Can you clarify the link for me or do I click on your name I'm new to this shiney!

You have all been wonderfull thankyou got all your advice please keep posting or messaging any tips and just support I know I sound like a loser but I don't have anyone to talk too. Also I just wanted to let yo know that I'm a grazer not a eat everything at once if that helps any advice for me x

use that grazing to eat 5 plus portions of fruit/veg a day. so fill up on grapes/plums/satsumas/cherry tomatoes.rather than fatty processed food. and munch on plain crackers/corn thins/rice cake. I also buy bags of mixed salad leaves to have with dinner. I also substitute the occasional lowish fat snacks for higher fat ones - others may not find this useful, but it works for me - e.g. a bag of Walkers lites has 99cals/2g of fat - a lot less than most crisps. or a WW carrot cake slice - 70 cals/less than 1g of fat.

I've found that sticking to a 3 meals a day plus healthy or minimal less health snacks has got me back in control of food rather than vice versa.

Thank you totalchaosx

Have you seen the Paul Mckenna programme I Can Make you thin? Obviously it's better not to be thin but it is brill. it works.You can get the book and C.D.

It concentrates on HOW you eat more than WHAT no counting calories. Although 'cos you really taste the food you don't want to eat crap. e.g. you eat slowly and consciously and stop when you feel full and always eat when you feel hungry.

Two more hints that work for weight loss from my experience; ALWAYS eat fruit on an empty stomach and try other carbs than wheat which is addictive.You do have to read all the labels 'cos there's wheat in most things from the supermkt. Lots of luck.

i lost 4 stone low carbing. if you click on my name and then click on my mn blog theres an introduction to it - you canjoin the low carb thread too.

I'd suggest that you try to combat the depression and insomnia as a first measure. See your doctor because there's a big difference between 'feeling down' and 'clinical depression'.

You may also qualify for referral to a dietician via your doctor and that would also be really helpful in giving you some support, professional advice and accountability

Other than that, try to resist the temptation to go down quick-fix fad dieting routes like Cambridge Diet, Atkins and so forth. A balanced diet based around plenty of fresh vegetables and wholegrains coupled with some daily exercise will get you nicely started and will also be easier to live with long-term.

Good luck

Hi Kimmyangel,

I would agree with the advice about getting your sleeping sorted. Lack of sleep is a big cause of obesity as it messes with your hormones. I might be messing up the stats but you are something like 60 % more likely to be obese if you sleep less than 6 hours a night than if you get a proper nights sleep. I speak from experience that it is true.

Nearly 5 weeks ago I started The alternate day plan where you severely restrict your calorie intake one day and eat normally the next. Despite being several stone overweight I have never been on a diet before as I couldn't face the deprivation. However, I have lost near on 11lbs and I don't feel deprived at all. You are supposed to eat 20% of your normal calorie intake on one day and then eat normally the next alternate day. Averaged out, you are eating 40% less every day. However, severely restricting your intake makes a gene kick in that aids weight loss. The book is a bit scientific and I can't remember the facts but that gene is important. This is a link to the website about it although I have the book without the adverts which gives a better explanation!

It sounds really hard but the 20% (about 500 calories) only lasts for the first two weeks (so 7 down days) and then you can up your calories on your down days a bit more after that - says 35-40%which is doable comfortably, especially when you know that you can eat whatever you like the next day. Strangely you don't tend to eat so much then either which is good.

The 11lbs I have lost is without exercise (need to address that but have an exam soon no time for long walks etc) and without denying myself anything on the up days although as I say, what generally happens is that your diet improves naturally. You don't want to eat the crap or at least not so much of it.

But I would be addressing the sleep issue first as I reckon I could have lost more if I had done that first.

Good luck.

My DH lost 11 stone in 8 months! He didnt do any weird diet, in fact he ate chocolate and take aways when he wanted to.

Basically my dh was in denial about his weight so I bought some scales, he got the shock of his life and something in his brain clicked. I am a firm believer that to be sucessful in losing weight you have to be in the right mindset. People who say im going to a party on saturday so im starting the diet monday wont be successful in my opinion, nor will smokers who say they will quit after theyve finished their last packet. If you really want to do it then you start now and half hearted attempts will never work, even if you lose a bit of weight those people always seem to put it straight back on later.

My dh simply cut back on his portions. He swapped chocolate spread sandwiches for breakfast (4 slices of bread) for a bowl of cereal and a large bowl at that and stopped washing it down with a pint of coke. Lunch was 4 slices of bread loaded with ham and coleslaw, 2 satsumas, 2 yoghurts, a bag of crisps and 2 biscuits. That got changed to 2 slices of bread with ham and tomato, 2 satsumas, 1 yoghurt and 1 biscuit. Tea swapped from 3/4 of a family sized lasagne to 1/4 of lasagne and no icecream for afters.

dh portion sizes were too big, he would have a massive portion for tea, eat my leftovers and any leftovers in the dish. I started serving him smaller portions and kept the rest to have for lunch the next day.

He also exercised everyday. No confidence to go to the gym so played football once a week and badminton once a week and inbetween used a twister stepper for half an hour a day. As the weight dropped off he started playing football 3 times a week, goes running twice a week and sometimes uses gym equipment for 15 minutes a time in the house.

He has lost a lot of weight and keeps it off by continuing to exercise for 15mins to an hour every day and by continuing to eat normal quantities of food instead of super sized portions. He has been able to eat take aways and chocolate whenever he wants and still eats 1 litre of ice cream in one sitting if he feels like it. But this time he can do it because it is occasional rather than everyday and because he exercises regularly. He feels so much better about himself and is pleased no one stares at him any more. Looking back at old photos even im shocked to see how fat he was but thrilled to have a new super sexy slim hubby for the first time in 11 years!

Hi KimmyAngel, sorry you are feeling so down. Maybe you do need to see your GP about the depression because once that is dealt with then you may feel better about your weight and dieting if you feel you need to when you are in the right frame of mind. It sounds as if you have too many things to think about at the same time at the moment.

I started a low carb diet in October called Go Lower and I have found it so easy. It's not as expensive as the Cambridge Diet and they send you the meals so you don't need to worry about weighing anything etc and the meals are tasty and nutritious too. I very rarely feel hungry on it and you can even have snacks and chocolate on it too. Since October I have now lost 64.5 lbs.

Good luck with it all though and I am sure you will get there.

Sorry to highjack your thread a little Kimmy ,but Custardo ,I've added your blog to my favourites feed ( can you tell I'm not used to this high tech stuff ? )
but is there also a mumsnet thread on low carbing ?
could you point me in right direction ?
Good luck Kimmy - I too really must take myself in hand .
Looks like lots of support here .

You are not a loser, sweetie, even if it feels like it at the moment.

I put on tons of weight when depressed and on citalopram. The single best piece of advice was from my mother, who told me to allow myself a lot of time to lose the weight. It was really important, actually. I didn't put to much pressure on myself or get discouraged, just kept plodding along and one very fine day two years later, it was all gone and my ass was looking FINE.

WeightWatchers was excellent and helped a lot. I didn't like meetings but did follow the plan online and with recipe books, so think about trying that. I found WW invaluable for helping me rediscover what a suitable portion was, something I had lost sight of while comfort eating.

Otherwise, my single best tactic was getting a personal trainer, who helped me enormously and whom I have stayed with through pregnancy and beyond. Money for that would be a good idea for birthday and Xmas presents. Even a few sessions can help a lot as they can advise you what kind of exercise to do and give you a good idea of how hard you need to be working. A good trainer should help you work around any injuries or difficulties you have.

Apart from that, do keep certain good fats and meat in your diet: v important in depression, as excluding too much fat will exacerbate low mood. So: boiled egg for breakfast, avocados occasionally and unsalted nuts for snack are all good ideas. I did switch to much leaner meat and leave out butter though.

I did eat things like cheese and chocolate, just drastically reduced the quantities.

Oh, and homemade soup is your diet friend.

Good luck, and keep posting.

Hi, I'm so sorry, that's a really hard time you're having there, maybe try a vegetarian diet, cut down on dairy too, maybe make a list of what you are going to eat each day and stick to it, I would also go to your gp for help, it sounds like some medication must have had a part in causing this problem, so your gp should help you with this problem.

Also, maybe it's not a good idea to cut yourself off from friends for son long, maybe call the one you trust the most and explain how you are feeling, surely a friend can only love and support. X

Weightwatchers is the only thig I've found that really works for me.

I had 4 stone to lose after DS was born (I had SPD for the last 4 months of pregnancy, so was off my feet, eating like a pig) and Weightwatchers really helped me shift it. I lost 8lbs in my first week then a steady 2 lbs there or there abouts each week after that. It's not a fad diet, nor do you have to cut anything out that you really like. I never feel hungry on W/watchers either. I rave about it to anyone I know who says they need to lose weight. Since doing W/Watchers, my whole attitude to food has changed. Give it a go, I promise you it works. Good luck

So I need help again guys I went to the doctor to ask about help sleeping for the 6 th time and guess what?! You need to sort your diet out you need to relax, we don't prescribe to people on fluoxetine even thoughmy old doctor gave it to me. Please help guys I was in tears it's affecting my life as I'm so tired in the morning I'm constantly late taking my little boy to school?!!!

I'm sorry kimmyangel, you really are going through a tough time. Is there more than one doctor in your surgery? Maybe its worth trying to see someone else.

don't eat too much fruit, no fruit juice at all. no sugar. lots of water.

coleslaw made with raw cabbage and carrot mixed with probiotic natural yogurt - its delicious

not special k - its loaded with sugar. any fad is not going to work , just sensible healthy eating and excercise

Kimmyangel tell us what you eat in a typical day. Do you drink a lot of tea/coffee or coke?
Have you tried the kalms?

Did your dr suggest any help to sort out your diet? I can't believe the lack of help offered sometimes (I've had bad experiences with my own gp!)