I want to lose a stone - care to join me?

[RattusRattus]

This is the first time i've joined in on a thread with others and I'm hoping the mutual support will give me more motivation.

I've realised that I've gradually put on a stone and I want to stop expanding and start decreasing! My clothes feel tight and uncomfortable and I need to do something about it now. Its about 6 weeks until the whole Xmas things starts to go into overdrive and I want to do some damage limitation before then.

I'm going through quite a stressful thing at the moment which is my excuse for gorging on rubbish and indulging in that extra glass of wine. IT HAS TO STOP NOW.

So I've ordered the Davina DVDs (Power of 30 and the 30 minute work outs) and aim to eat about 1500 cals per day. I want to lose 1.5lbs a week over the next 6 weeks. Ok it's not the stone I'm really after but with Xmas in the way I need to be realistic.

Anyone care to join me?

I've just eaten a small packet of individually wrapped chocolates. I needed them. I also drank 3 glasses of white wine last night. I'm not holding out for any weight loss this week. Never mind, chocolate and wine were nice.

Hi ladies, any tips for dieting with out piling the pressure on myself? I don't cope well with pressure. It just exacerbates my every failure.
I try to motivate myself with both positive statements and the harsh truth. But this only serves to add on the pressure and make me obsess about the "diet".
How do you remain calm and perservere?

I'm 5ft7" and 10stone 12lbs. I am aiming for 9st 12lbs

Thanks for the suggestions, at the moment I am planning some grilled chicken breasts, fruit (grapes perhaps? or maybe a fruit salad) and some dips and crudities. But there has to be something in there that will fill me up, fruit alone just wouldn't do it for me and I wouldn't be able to concentrate for the rest of that afternoon if I am hungry!

Bumbums, sorry I wish I could help but I always do tend to obsess when I am dieting. It's part of my love/hate relationship with weightwatchers - I hate the fact that it does somewhat take over my life; on the other hand I do find it works if I take it very seriously! I usually keep losing the weight for a while after I stop getting weighed every week as I stick to it quite well and feel guilty eating anything over about 6 points. Which is another reason to dislike it as I don't want to spend the rest of my life feeling guilty for enjoying food.....

bumbums, I'm 5ft 7 and would love to be 10st 12 ! But I'm quite broad, so perhaps I"m allowed a bit more weight ?!!!
I wonder if the key to all this is being realistic. I've not ever done a proper diet as such, but I certainly feel I'm more likely to persist with healthy eating if I allow myself treats (eg one rule I have is that I"m allowed chocolate one evening a week).
Having a good day so far, no snacking, small portions etc, but am scared I'm going to eat a chinese tonight - eeek ! think I need alternatives for when the hubby and I want to switch off.

Anybody got any idea which takeaway/indulgent food is healthiest ?!!

Hi all

Yes, GravityD, I think my Zumba class was a bit lightweight [unlike me, ha ha ]. Was challenging enough while you were dancing, but there was a lot of faffing around with the music, and blethers from the teacher, a lot of standing waiting, the sweat on the back of my neck would start to chill and I would end up cold!

Today I have avoided the chocolate and cakes. Not bad considering I took the DSs to football and they shared some chocolate - I nearly said "Yes" out of habit but then remembered - and they had chocolate cake afterwards in a cafe. I snacked on fruit at home when I felt like it, and made sure I had a nice salad with my soup at lunchtime [someone gave DH some surplus rocket from their garden, I had it with baby plum tomatoes and it was delicious!

On the downside, the boys asked for a particular dish for dinner and it involved frying ... I had it too. It was chicken portions sauted (in butter - horrors!) and finished with lemon juice - I could have poached or steamed mine if I had been better organised.

But not a bad first day on the road to recovery ...!

Arete - about takeway: I think they are all pretty chubbifying. But what I have synthesised from a million billion magazine articles is:

have boiled rice - not fried (Chinese) or pilau (Indian);
for Indian, go for dry stuff like tandoori - not creamy dishes like korma or tikka masala; steer clear of samosas, poppadums, pakora and bhaji which are usually deep-fried. And a chapati is nice but not too naughty.

chinese is tricky - I think pretty much all of it is fried but at least they don't use much cream...! Steer clear of the prawn toasts, prawn crackers, spring rolls, and anything with batter on.

I really relate to the indulgence thing, and try to replace it with fruit and veg. I think of something healthy that I enjoy, and make a point of having that. I know it sounds daft, but I've always enjoyed "special" salads - i.e. not just your bogstandard lettuce, cucumber and tomato - so I try and make them more often, but I stay away from the oil - OK maybe just a teaspoon drizzled over, or a blob of "Light" mayonnaise on my plate. And I love cherries, grapes and plums - would have them over a biscuit any day!

Hello, I would like to join you. I have to be careful with weight loss, as I have had bulimia on and off for 17 years and hunger can trigger a binge.

Excessive weight doesn't do me much good eithet though...I'm not doing so well with the bulimia at the moment, but want to get back on track. I'm 5'7 and weigh 10 stone 7lb.

Maybe being in a supportive group will help. When I diet I tend to go overboard, so good do with perspective! Exercise is always good for me and seems to help psychologically. Sorry if this is not the right place for me, but having a eating disorder can be very isolating, especially as I look normal on the outside.

Hi PrincessGlitter, welcome. As far as I can see this is a good thread for you to be joining - most of us seem to be wanting to regulate food intake sensibly rather than going on super strict diet. I'm sorry you've had such a long battle with eating etc - that's really hard.

Victory last night - didn't go for a takeaway (or a supermarket version which is our normal habit) - did buy a small pizza, but not a fatty one and bought a lovely salad to go with it - felt REALLY good to wake up this morning without that feeling of having over-indulged the night before.

Hope you all have a good day !

Welcome Princess Glitter!

Arete, well done on not giving in! That is great.

I have to say I am not sure Slimming World is really working for me somehow. It's ok and when I follow it I lose weight but I feel really deprived. I am at uni and find it hard to always know what I want to have for lunch the night before and am really busy just now, so struggle to prepare big salads or whatever in advance.

I am only allowed one serving of bad carbs a day, such as bread or porridge. But once I have had my breakfast that serving is gone and I struggle with food to take to uni. I am from Germany and I usually bake my own bread and have it with some cheese or whatever, but the SW lady said I can't have my own bread instead of the listed ones as my carbs servings. Even though German bread is usually much more dense and full of grain, unlike a lot of whole grain bread they want us to eat. And surely homemade is better than full of preservatives?

That's another thing. They allow you to eat fat free stuff for free, such as Mueller light etc. but those are full of chemicals surely? They also advertise you're allowed to have diet drinks etc.
I want to lose those two stones but I am not sure this is actually healthy or more a quick getting rid of the weight thing. I want to lose this weight healthily, and surely homemade stuff is better than diet crap products just because they have a lower fat content?

I mean sweeteners etc have been mentioned on here as being bad too.

Not sure whether I should keep doing it. Any thoughts? I am just not sure I can lose the weight without a proper diet somehow, but I miss my homemade bread, easy lunches etc. I know my weight doesn't come from there but take outs, candy and other bad stuff, so I don't like cutting it out

GravityDefier I'd agree with you that homemade bread is definitely a healthier option, but obviously doesn't fit in with the SW scheme as far as the leader is concerned

I'm starting a healthy eating plan from tomorrow (although have already been making some changes in advance) where I'll be aiming to cut out (or severely reduce) alcohol, sugar, caffeine, artificial sweeteners, red meat and dairy. I'll also be upping my intake of fresh fruit and veg, and trying out some healthy vegetarian recipes for evening meals...so I'll let you know how it goes. It will be quite a drastic change for me as although I don't have masses to lose I do eat quite unhealthily and rely on quick fixes like biscuits, toast and chocolate quite a lot. Will also really miss my daily glass of Pepsi Max, but I know it's no good for me.

Could you maybe use some of the SW ideas to create your own eating plan but take out the unhealthy aspects and add some of your own? Or do you like the group meeting aspect?

GravityDefier I asked the same questions at WW - I don't want to replace stuff in my diet with low fat options if all that means is that they're full of sweeteners and other chemicals. My leader was a bit irritated that I pointed it out I think!? Anyway, I have been looking for better alternatives - so I used to have Rachel's Organic yoghurt which is gorgeous but full fat, leader suggested Muller Lights and I've gone for 0% fat plain Greek yoghurt with a teaspoon of honey instead - much much nicer than Muller Lights! My leader is also insistent it's better to use a low fat spread than butter, even if the amount of butter is kept small, but I am ignoring her. I'd rather use it more sparingly but still have the good quality stuff than use some horrible extra light 'spread' that tastes of nothing.

I agree, those low fat alternatives are shite and full of garbage chemicals. You're MUCH better off eating food as close to natural as possible. I always eat butter, never filthy chemical stew margerine. It tastes so much better and I only ever have a scrape.

PinkCustard, I cut out all caffeine last week so for a week now I have had no tea (eek) only 2 decaff coffees, and for the first two days I had the worlds worst headache, so be careful if you go cold turkey, or at least don't be surprised if you feel terrible for two days.

I had a bit of an off day yesterday, we had some family over for a bbq and I ate a vast amount of crisps and dip, but then only one sausage and bread, lots of salad and no dinner.

Today it's porridge and mango for brekky, then tuna sandwich for lunch (and fruit) then dunno what for dinner yet (it's only 7.15am here).

Weigh in day tomorrow for me. Hope it's good news.

so another 2lb gone! This was quite good news given had a meal out on Friday - well actually 2 ... and even had a glass of wine - was interesting how much carb I craved on Saturday so learnt lesson there and stopping wine again until I have made a better inroad into target..

agree re the not using chemical foods ... I would prefer some low fat yog and fresh fruit than a muller crap one - taste is 100% better and so much more healthy ..

Hope everyone else is doing well :)

Sorry haven't had a chance to read thread since last week ! Will do later today!

Weigh-in day for me, lost 1lb this week so now 9st 12lb ...it's coming off slowly...

A bit suprised that I actually lost weight as we went away for the weekend, although homecooked all food and did a lot of walking, so that obvioulsy counter balanced all of the

Still haven't started any 30DS etc, will tryto today !

I've been rubbish! I ate loads over the weekend. It's gone mad at work with tins of chocolates and fresh cream cakes everywhere! How will I ever lose weight when my colleagues are obsessed with food. I can't just blame colleagues, I also drank at least 1 and half bottles of wine over the weekend. Anyway, I weighed myself last week and appear to have lost 9 pounds in total, but haven't weighed myself this week because I think I've probably put weight on and can't cope with it. Today I had a bowl of all bran for breakfast, fresh soup for lunch and a low fat yogurt. Snacks a tangerine and at least 5 quality street (all the fun of the fair ) Oh and forgot a small slither of apple sponge and it really was just a couple of mouthfuls. I'm away on business for a few days and will be eating out - I'll try to opt for the healthy options but likely there'll be wine on offer!

Thanks for the tip Claudia I actually caved in this aft and had a crafty Pepsi Max to perk me up, BUT that's the only unhealthy thing I've consumed all day (honest!). Although I must confess that the final portion of (homemade) apple crumble is calling to me from the fridge - but I will resist..!

I did a mega healthy Tesco shop this morning - I've never bought so much healthy stuff all in one go, I felt very virtuous at the check out

I only lost half a pound. DOn't really understand. Fed up.

ZZmum and mamasunshine - well done!

Hi, I'm a couple of weeks behind but can I join too please.

Firstly well done everyone on your weight losses so far, and for those who've been a bit disappointed don't give up, you'll get there.

As for me, I knew I've been puttting on weight for a few weeks, months really but I've been too chicken to weigh myself but I got up the courage tonight and I've put on a stone. So that is now my goal - lose a stone by Christmas. Or maybe thats being a bit optomistic, how many weeks till Christmas again?

Princessglitter, I too suffer from bulimia and have done for about 6 years now, with better and worse times. Ironically it was triggered by a VLC which just gave me such an unhealthy relationship with food which I am still battling to repair. So pleased to hear everyone is going down a much healthier route of balanced eating and exercise rather than trying to take extreme measures which are no good in the long run.

Well, clever me managed to refuse CHOCOLATE CAKE at work today. I stuck with my boring delicious cheese sandwich instead. I didn't feel like I missed out AT ALL. Oh no.

Welcome wherearemysocks. You'll lose a stone easy. No probs. Stick with us girl, we'll see you right. BTW what's a VLC? I am stumped by your acronym. As we all know DIETS DON"T WORK so it really is best to stick with a no diet healthy eating schtick really.

RattusRattus, don't be downheartened, you're heading in the right direction and it all counts. Perhaps next week you'll be a couple of llbs down. Sometimes it can be a bit of a bumpy ride.

Well done to everyone else. Stick with it. You've nothing to lose (apart from a whopping amount of lard).

BucketBetty, I went hellforleather on the wine at the weekend too. Had a fucking brilliant time so I'm not feeling too guilty - just steering clear of snacks - see above post .

Morning all, well done to those who lost weight.
Rattus - sorry you're discouraged. Perhaps it was just a bit more of a bloated day ? am not sure how the whole weight fluctuating thing works, but hopefully you'll feel the clothes are starting to fit a bit better.

I'm only on day 6 but am not finding it as hard as I thought I would - perhaps it's always easier in the beginning, and it's not as though I'm restricting what I eat too much, just the snacking in between.

LOL @ pinkcustard - gorging on one pepsi max. Maybe you should give yourself an allowance each week.

Welcome wheremysocks x

rattus - worry not - it is a run not a sprint to get there - take each day at a time and remember weight fluctuates every day even when trying to lose weight.. I find that I can be good for a couple of weeks and lose little, have an average week and lose 4lb... am convinced weight loss is not linear... and you have to look at the overall trend..

Thanks Pippa for the fish suggestion - I forced myself to have a salmon fillet and veg for my main meal yesterday, and actually found it quite tasty. I'm not the biggest fish fan but can sometimes face it. Have got loads of fresh veg in (and some lentils and various types of beans) but I'm now not sure how to combine them into a tasty meal...I've been looking up recipes in the Food Dr book but they all seem to be a bit too virtuous and don't look all that appealing. Any suggestions anyone? I really need to get more organised and plan evening meals for the following week at the weekend, then do my food shopping on the Monday. Have gone about it all wrong this week!

Well done Claudia on resisting the chocolate cake! I managed to avoid the apple crumble last night too. (But someone gave me a belated birthday box of chocs today Aaarrggghhhh!).

Having mushroom stroganof and brown rice for tea tonight - can't say I'm overly looking forward to it, but it might surprise me and be nice . Still sticking to no booze though, and have even offered to drive for a night out on Saturday (which is totally unheard of for me!).

Ooh have just had a quick look at the recipe section of the Slimming World website and there's lots of good (and presumably healthy?!) dinner recipes. Will definitely be trying some out. The pastry-less vegetable quiche looks tasty and would be good for taking to work for lunch the next day. Will give it a try tomorrow and report back