HELP! I eat well but I am now too fat to go on a riding school pony.

[BoffinMum]

I need everyone's support and advice. I am four stone overweight. There are a number of perfectly understandable reasons for this, to do with pregnancy, disability, work and so on, and I still look quite nice, but things have to change.

I rang a riding school this morning to book a lesson but when I told them my weight they said they didn't have a pony big enough for me. This is officially a turning point for me.

Now I eat well and sensibly, I can cook well, and I take a little bit of exercise (I can do much aerobic stuff as it sets off my osteoarthritis). But I need to do more to help myself so I get back into a normal weight range and start to try to have a life again.

Please help me everyone. I really need to do this.

You say that you cycle- would your osteo allow you to increase the amount you do? It is a relatively low impact way of doing some high cardio exercise. I have lost half a stone since about June through cycling, without having altered my diet or cut out any foods.

Congratulations Boffin you are now going to loose and keep the weight off BTW with Paul Mckenna, will we see you on our very supportive and helpful thread?

I have just cycled about four miles - two miles each way to the supermarket. It was invigorating and I am slightly sweaty but I don't feel I am about to die!

I bought various core foods whilst up there, including the makings of no points soup. (Good idea that, dinkystinky).

I have been doing my squeezy finger Paul Mckenna anchoring thing and it seems to help keep a positive frame of mind. I think that's what I have been lacking, so ppeatfruit, many thanks for that suggestion.

I haven't been this motivated for a long time. Thank you so much, everyone. I am still interested in further advice.

That's a good start. Anything up to a five mile radius away should be achievable by bike to start with, and building it up to 10 miles within 3-4 months would make a significant difference and is very do-able.

It is not always easy to assess portion size correctly. I go with weight: for a normal adult, one portion of meat is about 100g and one portion of fish is about 150g.

I often find that the portions in the shops exceed these target weights: e.g. at my butcher's, a single chicken breast fillet is often 200+g; I then cook the fillet but share it with another person or only eat half.

Good luck!

Forgot to tell you what DS1 said when I told him of my horse problem.

"It's simple. Take up gaming like me and then you don't have to leave the house. Simples."

have you any other riding schools nearby? sometimes if you go on their website it will say a weight limit. I have lost a couple of stone (but am still heavy)
I'm 5ft11 and 15 stone and ride 3 x a week (a share horse so a bit different). I ride an ID X TB who is 16.2hh. Photo below, I have made it public so link should work

www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10150252379001086&set=t.711416085&type=3&theater

If your diet is healthy then it must be down to portion size.

I agree myfitnesspal and Paul Mckenna.

Drink lots of water.

Also I think that low carb or at least low GI is better than a WW type approach. I lots 4 stone earlier in the year - low carb, healthy eating (ie nothing processed, nothing "white", limited fruit (south beach) and by logging and weighing everything I ate on myfitnesspal.

Exercise is good, whatever you can manage is a bonus.

I would cut out the WW ready meals right now. Just because they are braded Weight Watchers does not mean they are good for you, and lasagne and crumble is a very heavy meal imo. If i were you I'd do low carb. It works, you won;t feel hungry and you won;t have to worry about counting points. Lots of things we are led to believe are good for us are actually no good if you;re trying to lose weight. Too much fruit is actually packed with sugar, and won't fill you up for very long.

Don't worry about the horse people. They're often inherently rude, and they have no idea of how to squash a pony anyway. Well done you for getting on your bike!

No, they were WW recipes, not ready meals. I can't stand ready meals. They were low carb, high fibre, nowt wrong with the recipes.

I like your photo, Brighthair. I aspire to that.

thank you - I am certainly not slim, and she carries me (as you can tell!) no issues at all
Show jackets are a nightmare though - size 14 waist and J boobs!

I ride horses which are half-Shire or half-Clydesdale. They are not so utterly gorgeous as Brighthair's - some horse, there! Aspirational indeed.

If you go to stables which cater for adult men, they should have plenty of hefty horses. One of the ones I ride is so massive she looks like she escaped from the pages of Gulliver's Travels; I keep expecting her to start talking at any moment. Plenty of well-fed male lawyers ride, for example, and some keep their horses in working livery, so I'd say it's a question of finding the right stables.

Personally I enjoy riding so much that it doesn't seem like exercise. OTOH it is quite time-consuming because of donning all the kit, un-donning it afterwards, travelling to the stables, lying in the bath wondering if you'll ever recover, etc, etc.

The Tack Room is a great place to talk horses on MN as well, once you do get back into it.

That's interesting - I was wondering what on earth blokes do, but I imagine most riding schools cater to children and teenagers, and want beasts who consume as little hay as possible.

I want to look as glam as brighthair. I have been looking at posh little hairnets and stock pins on equestrian supplier websites. I think I actually have a bit of a girl crush on her now actually.

No carbs after 12. Portion size. I also don't eat fruit after 2pm but do eat vegetables. It works.

Might be controversial, but perhaps try to train yourself not to have a pudding at lunchtime?

And, contrary to a lot of lore, a very small breakfast (of 2 butters jacobs cream crackers) works for me.

Good luck!

Glam?! Hahahaha
I am currently covered in mud, horse has clay mud actually welded on to her
Someone else plaited her for that comp, and did my stock
Left to my own devices we look like we've been dragged through a hedge backwards

Stop press ... I have followed all the advice over the last week and lost 2lbs!

Fantastic BoffinMum, keep up the good work.

Well done Boffinmum - keep going!

Lost another pound but by god this is hard.

It is very hard. You have to carve off every pound. And yet...it's so easy to put them on...

You're doing very well, Boffin. What are your plans for Christmas eating?

Hide in bed?

I've already had norovirus so that won't work as a plan like it did a few years ago.

Another possibility might be to eat turkey and cold meats and veg and salad a lot, and treat myself to an Abel and Cole Christmas Pudding yoghurt on the big day. I am not a big mince pie/chocolate/cake fan really so that helps.

But I am a teensy bit scared of Christmas inactivity.

Maybe Santa will bring me a shire (have just been looking at houses with stables for fantasy house move).