what works for you tips?

[PurpleTaipan]

Im new here, so Im hoping that I am going about this the right way!

Anyway I really need to lose some weight.
I have been overweight for a while now and I have reached the point where I feel uncomfortable with how I look. No actually I?m REALLY miserable

In the past I have tried slimming world, weight watchers, and good old fashioned healthy eating and will power.
They have worked in the past but I always put the weight back on for whatever reason.

I want to lose weight but Im lacking the motivation. Can anyone help by saying what is working for them ?

I feel for you Purple. I am a real yo-yo dieter and have been between 9stn and 16 stn in my adult life.
I am now 15stn 8 and am pretty disgusted with how I look now. I can't use DD as an excuse any more as she is 7 months now and still no weight coming off.
Anyway - I find that I have to be totally committed in my own mind that I want to diet. Once I make that mental adjustment it just seems to happen - if I'm in any way unsure about it I just binge.
I lost 3 stone before falling pregnant with DD and used a website called Food Focus - its basically a calorie counting tool but really focuses the mind.
Am seriously considering a group like Weight Watchers but am nervous of costs - would you recommend them?

Oh yeah. And exercise - find something you enjoy and do it. I love exercise but feel to fat at mo to even think about going back to the gym

I lost a lot when I went to slimming world and found it suited me well. I have been to a few different groups and it really helped when there were people I got on well with as making friends in a group helps.

It can be costly, well about £5 a week, but the mags and books bump the price up.
Personally I didnt buy any extras and the menu is so simple it can be done on a budget.
I cant believe it I just totally sold slimming world
There's no group by me unfortunatly.
your very right about it being mental.
What about those fitness dvds and/or the Wii games ? Im considering those.

Oh you've just reminded me!
I swear by my Davina McCall DVD - I did that loads at home last time and loved it.
Hopefully Santa will bring me a Wii fit this year so I don't have to humiliate myself in the gym.

I got on very well with the British Heart Foundation plan "So You Want To Lose Weight - For Good". Have lost over a stone and a half since the summer (from 11.5 stone). It's on their website. You have to record what you eat and watch your portion sizes. It really made me think about what I shovelled into my gob all the time, and I have changed my eating habits so I am not going to go back to my old ways!

What works for me:

loads of fruit and veg (incl fruit when I would normally have had chocolate, cake or biscuit - I have an apple with my morning coffee and I like it just as much as a muffin!)

no butter - just very nice bread or toast. Squash a banana on it, or bung a poached egg on top, even jam or honey on its own is better than butter.

No cheese. Hard, but worth it.

Onken plain set yogurt - lots less calories but still an acceptable substitute for all the Greek yog I used to guzzle!

think carefully about biscuits/ cakes. They are really just a parcel of fat and sugar. My DS is into baking at the moment, which is hard for me to resist, so what I tend to do is just have a teensy sliver as dessert - I find a taste is enough, doesn't need to be a whole portion.

Ditto the chocolate DH and me used to down in front of the box. Now I choose to have one square. But he isn't allowed to hide it away - what works for me is knowing it's my choice not to guzzle indiscriminately.

Exercise built into my day - walk/ cycle when I can. Also gardening.

Remove all chocolate, biscuits, cake, crisps, and anything else you know tests your willpower (nice cheese in my case) from the house. I can never resist it if I know it's there.

Nobody else in the house needs that stuff either. DHs can get their own, and consume it out of site, DCs go to enough parties, cinema trips, etc to still get plenty of junk, so you're not depriving them.

Ignore those kinds of aisles when you're doing your shop too - biscuits etc are always on bloody offer but I tell myself that the money I dont spend on those, can go on nicer things that I can eat - olives, deli counter meats etc.

Some kind of exercise - even if you just go for a walk everyday I find just being out helps lift my mood and also knowing Im doing something good.

Dont beat yourself up if you have an off day, just make sure you make up for it. I find now that eating something I perhaps shouldnt is never that enjoyable anymore, and just leaves me feeling crap afterwards so often I just dont fancy things now.

Drink more water! Also watch your portion sizes - when I was growing up I 'learnt' to clear my plate no matter what and its been hard trying to undo that, I felt immense guilt leaving food for it to go in the bin etc Now I make sure I have smaller portions from the start and this gets rid of that. If you do need more - having more veg, salad etc

Listen to yourself - with learning to clear my plate I also learnt how to ignore the 'full' signals. Dont eat while watching tv if you can help it - concentrating on that can mean that you also ignore those full feelings, and may keep eating until your plate is clear.

Sorry if Ive rambled a bit there xx

Meant to add on to my exercise bit - 'just' walking may not feel like 'enough' at first and dampen your spirits a bit but when you start to feel better for the fresh air and mild exercise you will find it easier to then up things a bit - Ive spent the last year trying to lose weight etc, I started walking, then running, I havent been running lately due to the dark eves and mornings etc but Im still walking during the day as I can do this with a child in tow, and Ive started doing the shred dvd when I get in from dropping my son at school.

Set small goals, and dont give up!

Ooh Ive remembered something else - last year I was at my heaviest and decided things had to change. I started keeping a diary on things, what I ate and how I felt. I sometimes read it back when Im feeling 'whats the point', and remembering just how shit I felt inside when writing some of the entries helps to keep me focussed and gives me a much needed kick up the arse.

I'm doing things a little differently. I started low-carbing back in May, together with a running programme (Couch to 5k) and have lost nearly 1.5 stone.

I'm not as serious as Atkins, but I just stopped eating bread, spuds, rice, pasta, cake, cereal and all that bulky stuff. I have upped the protein and veg to compensate, but can eat as much cheese, eggs, bacon, greek yogurt etc. as I want.

It works well around the family - if I do pasta for the family, I just have the sauce on sauted courgettes. If I do a curry I make cauliflower rice to eat it with. If I do a roast I just leave out the spuds and have extra broccoli! I cheat a bit at weekends and if I go out to dinner, but it doesn't seem to affect things.

Quite amazing how the weight has come off; clearly the running helps, but well worth trying if you are a bit of a foody. Easier to give up spuds and rice than cheese in my book!

healthy food - no cr@p in the house so you can't be tempted. on the exercise front I started off on Wii Fit etc & progressed to Jillian Micheals 30 day shred DVD & now the gym.

Doing this I have managed to keep 2 stone off for over a year.

Thank you to everyone who has posted so far, its all really helpful.

I'm a really determined person and I have lost weight before.
At the moment I just can't seem to get started and I need a PLAN I can stick to.

Dillinger, I like the keeping a diary idea, that will help me !

Yes the biscuits and crisps ..have to go !
I have no will power if it's there, and the kids don't NEED that junk.

I keep starting the day well but by the evening I?m snacking on biscuits. I keep saying '' Oh well I will start again tomorrow''.
My children have a Wii and I have never used it. I am going to go in to town tomorrow and search for these fitness games !!

The sentence "I will start again tomorrow" is IMO the thing that makes you fat.

You need to allow for treats within your diet, the worst thing you can do is make it so strict that you feel you have failed because you have eaten a 150 calories more than you planned.

If you eat something you feel you shouldn't have, just ignore it and carry on.

Don't think I will start again tomorrow and then finish the packet.

Good luck