Best way to lose half a stone and tone up in three weeks, plus change my eating style for life?

[SoftKittyWarmKitty]

I'm going on holiday in just over 3 weeks and feel really fat, flabby and unfit. I currently weigh 8st 8lbs but am only 5' 1", so there's no hiding any extra weight! My tummy and thighs show the flab most, plus my upper arms. I can't seem to stop eating at the moment and even when full I carry on, so I have no willpower whatsoever and am starting to think I'm just a greedy cow . An example is last night I cooked egg fried rice with wholemeal rice and added spring onions, tomatoes, pepper, peas and ham to it - so far. so good. I had a bag of prawn crackers in the cupboard and opened these, intending to have maybe half a dozen but I just couldn't stop eating and I ate the whole fricken bag [ blush] .

I just don't know how to approach it. My short term goal is to lose around 7lb before my holiday if possible so I'm willing to try something quite strict for a few weeks, but ideally I want to get to a place where my diet/exercise are mainly good all the time - more of a life long plan iyswim. Exercise-wise I enjoy it but find it hard to get motivated, plus it's quite hard to fit in, especially in the school hols, as I work part time and am a single parent so don't have anyone to look after DS (5) if I want to go running or swimming, for instance.

So where do I start and what would be the best approach for me? I've browsed this board and you're all so knowledgeable and focused, so I'm hoping you'll be a good influence on me!

Have you ever come across the S diet? Sounds really naff but it's no sugar, no snacks and no seconds during the week, eat what you want at the weekends. That's all there is to it.

I lost half a stone on it very easily, over about a month but I think you do need to get into the zone iyswim.

I still need to lose another half stone and have stalled recently, but it did work

I think for you Paul McKenna would be a good idea as hopefully that would help you with the mindless eating (ie when you are not hungry) and with willpower.

In terms of diet if you want to loose a lot before your holiday then try dukan - the maintenance phase is very healthy and I plan to stick to it long term. Otherwise look at south beach diet for an example of good long term eating - you'd also expect to loose 7lbs on the 2 week induction.

re: exercise - go for shred DVD, can do at home whilst your DS is in bed at night. If you like it you can get other DVDs as well. Also try and arrange playdates for your DS so that he gets invited back so you can exercise in the day!

Never heard of that but it makes sense. I don't ever have seconds anyway but my portion sizes are huge quite large, plus I snack and eat crisps, choc etc even if I'm not hungry. God, I'm crap.

I'd not worry about food, and do something like the Davina DVD every day for the next 3 weeks to tone up. I'd guess you're right in the middle of the healthy weight range for your height?

Otherwise, just stop eating processed carbs. not Atkins, but just no pasta, noodles, white bread, white rice, sugar etc. Eat lean protein, etc. Scrambled eggs and wholemeal bread for breakfast.

Thanks everyone, I've had a browse and think the Dukan diet is the way for me. South Beach just didn't gel with me when I had a browse, and although I think PM has many principles that make sense, I can't be doing with that tapping mumbo-jumbo. I love meat and protein type foods, so going to look into Dukan a bit more. Food shopping day tomorrow so all being well I'll start it on Friday!