I've been "starting again, again" for more than half my life...

[mybabyweightiseightyearsold]

I turn 40 in 4 months.

I started dieting when I was 14.

I'm the same weight now as I was when I was married, so that's an accomplishment, right? I was an inordinately fat bride though.

So, reasons for losing weight:

1. being a better example to my kids
2. health
3. vanity - fat and forty? Sheesh.

reasons for not losing weight:

1. sitting down, eating biscuits is my default position.

I can't count points/calories/whatever - it makes me go all obsessional and squiffy.

I like exercise, but have never learned how to put myself first - blokie's job has unpredictable hours so I use that as an excuse to not sign up for classes.

I am 14 stones and 5'4" So, I have four glorious stones to lose to get to a normal weight.

It's just so pointless. I'll do well for 3 weeks, feel fab, eat a biscuit, think I've ruined the whole thing and go on a massive binge for a month to console myself....

....anyone identify with this?

What to do to change the habits of most of a lifetime?

I can identify. I'm the lowest weight I've been in two years but it's still pretty big.

You need to identify what it is you need to do more of. Is it your food that's equating to more than you need or if you need to exercise to burn off a normal amount of calories. If you're eating a lot of biscuits and not putting on weight then it's fair to say that they're included in your 2000 calorie daily allowance. It's not healthy but it won't put weight on you.

I suggest you buy a second hand treadmill, stationary bike or my personal favourite, the elliptical. Do it during a half an hour TV show or while waiting for dinner to cook. 5 minutes is better than 0 minutes.

When you overeat, don't panic. Start again the next day. One lapse will not put on a 1lb that week. Overeating for 2 or 3 days might but it's a rlb that you can lose again.

This isn't about a diet for you but a lifestyle change. Build muscle so you can burn more calories even when resting ergo contributing to weight loss. Incorporate a machine work out or walking daily even if you have to get the minutes up gradually. Swap chips for a salad or have a cheeseburger without the bun. Eat fresh or frozen vegetables and eat fish inszead of red meat etc.

Thanks, revolution.

I've been keeping food diary, and am surprised at how chaotic my eating is. Whilst "we" have a good diet, I actually don't sit donw to eat. I nibble whilst making the kids' tea, and then panic sort out the kitchen whilst they eat so there's some semblence of order before DH comes home (1950's, much?) He's often late, so if I wait for him then I just eat two dinners...

So, small baby steps...will get DH to get home sharp (I do have a sneaking suspicion he maybe stays on an extra hour so he's back after Bedtime...) once a week. I'll make a menu plan for the week and attempt to be just more organised.,

There is plenty of time in my week, I'm at home with 3 kids, two of whom are at school. It's just that Id on't feel in control of my time - I spend it running around like a loony and then flop in a heap inamongst unfinished tasks...

Which nakes me feel frustraated, which makes me low, which makes me eat,
doh.

Right, so, make menus, join the gym and do a class once a week, swim once a week and spend less time moping and fretting and more time actually doing..

What do you do in the way of exercise, and well done for being successful!

I have an elliptical at home that I use for 15-20 minutes a day. In the gym I do 20 minutes of cycling, 15 minutes on the elliptical, 15 minutes power walking on the treadmill, 5 minutes rowing and 15-20 minutes of various weights usually just focusing on reps rather than time. I use the gym 3 times a week. I have the 30 Day Shred on the laptop that I use from time to time too but I don't do it nearly as much as recommended to see big results.

I eat (relatively) healthily. I just try to do enough exercise to lose 1lb a week or stay at the same weight without adjusting my diet although when I do want to lose weight I drop my calorie intake by 400 calories and the weight falls off at around 2-3lb a week because the exercise is already in place.

If you snack a lot I'd suggest filling little tupperware boxes with homemade flapjacks, pieces of cold raisin pancakes, nuts, seeds, fruit etc. Keep the bites small so you feel like you're eating more than you are and add a little chocolate or syrup drizzle for that sweetness without overeating with an entire bar.

I used to eat pancakes with grilled bacon and maple syrup for breakfast. Two pancakes (crepes, not American style), a drizzle of maple syrup and two rashers of smoked grilled bacon came to 340 calories. That's what most breakfasts consist of! If you calorie count you can eat anything as long as it's within your allowance and you exercise the excess. www.myfitnesspal.com is great to track exercise and calories. Their library of food for searching is huge and they have most big supermarket names as well as supermarket own brands with their weights and calories.

Fruit contains more calories than you think. A medium/large banana comes in at around 110 calories which is the same as a mini chocolate bar. It will fill you up for longer :o.

If you have a blip by eating a biscuit, so what? Just start again tomorrow - it's a new day!! I have the odd treat here and there but still keep exercising (walking - it's something I can stick to long term because it's easy to do and it's free).

You have to mentally get 'in the zone'. You can do it, you can lose the weight but expect it to not be easy. It will take time. Good luck!

Well, the plan is:

1. buy new trainers.
2. read myfitnesspal.com
3. sign up for couch to five k and not get too upset that my buttocks have an entirely different rythmn to the rest of me.
4. a month. give it a month. I can do a month.

Sometimes, I think I just habitually put myself last. Thin and fit people prioritise their exercise and appearance. I never have, not since the kids came along.

Oh bugger. I'm a drudge!

Correction - in a month, I'll be an ex-drudge...

Babyweight can I suggest that for your month you try and fit in at least half an hour of exercise every day (aiming for every day I reckon should result in maybe 5 days of actually doing it ). Also if you mostly stick to that it should have much more dramatic results and be much more habit forming or even addictive than just 2/3 times a week. It could be anything, an exercise DVD at home (Jillian Michaels Shred is excellent and less than 30 mins), a jog, a swim, some weight training and ten mins interval training at the gym. Just figure out where/when you will fit it in each day and definitely include some resistance training at least twice a week - more muscle means more calories burned and looks much better than simply being thinner!

Re diet, try and include protein in every meal or snack, avoid sugar, processed food and starchy carbs as much as possible and allow yourself a daily treat, probably at kids teatime, definitely the hardest point in the day to maintain willpower IMO...so tea and a biscuit or a sugary coffee and couple of squares of dark choc if that is what you crave, or maybe a glass of wine once dc's are in bed - hopefully this will all stop you feeling too deprived. Remember that this is also just the way you live now..not a temporary fix...and the occasional "lapse" is not a disaster because 90% of the time you make the healthier choice of what to eat and lots of exercise means you can afford it.

Good luck

mybabyweight Yes, that is all very familiar to me. I have dieted off the same two stones about five times over my lifetime!
At the moment I am just on week 4 of couch25k. I have had to repeat week 3 once because I was just not quite ready to move on.
I have dieted off 2stones with WW since October and it's been hard going. I now feel confident enough to join an exercise class! Hope to enrol as soon as the DCs go back to school. Have you got a Wii Fit or an exercise video? Anything quick and easy to use is best. (With skimmed milk of course)

Oh, thanks, ladies! Am feeling more positive - in that instead of thinking, "oh bugger, it's all too hard. Maybe I should accept that I'm headed for a stroke and being hoisted because I'm too fat for anyone to budge" I am now thinking - "any change is a start"

Blokie has started running again - he was very fit when we first got together. Contentment changed his body shape (ha, ha, ha, content! ha ha ha) and now he's dropped two stones and looks, well, amazing.

So, I finally plucked up the courage to ask him about it - today we are off to buy me trainers and Im going to download the C25K.

deep breath.
x

mybabyweight Well done you! I do c25k and I am on Week 4. It is doable but quite hard work tbh. I have repeated Week 3 before moving on to Week 4. My legs still hurt quite a bit.

Right.

Bra? Check.
Fitness pal? Check
Trainers? Check (ooyah, HOW MUCH? Previously, I like TKMax's whatever'scheapest)
Ipod? Check. Borrowing blokies.

Download c25K? Ach. There's eleventy billion of them!

I want the one where the music is fast for running, slower for walking and the man tells you what to do. Which one IS that? And, is that the one you use or is there a better one?

Have to say, I'm not looking forward to this. AM out of my comfort zone.
x

Ah, think I've found it. Robert Ullirichsomethingoranother's one - found an MP3 podcast.

Am not enjoying learning about downoads and itunes. I liked my walkman. I really, really liked it - I am a dinosaur, hear me roar...

I don't use an MP3 player so I must be pre-dinosaurs. I just count in my head, one two three four five six seven eight nine TWENTY (or whatever) until I get to 180. Not very scientific but it seems to be working for me.

Am in exactly same position. Sleepwhenidie is making sense to me, so thanks for that. I used the Nhs choices couch to5k, but have dwindled of late due to school holidays and tonsillitis. Healthy eating goes out the window when I'm below par. But this thread has spurred me on again xx

Ehm, still not gone.

Procrastinated by changing sheets, hoovering and dusting, cleaning the fish tank, building a solar system with the kids, spent time doing an individual something with each of the treasures and then went on the computer to find something for us all to do together tomorrow...

Have officially run out of things to do. tHat's more nurturing and housework than I do in a week.

Feed kids, and go?

Run, babyweight, run...

I feel sick. Already. Don't even have on my trainers.

Get on with it woman . the anticipation is always worse than actually doing it (even sometimes when you do it all the time). I promise you will feel better afterwards - also true when you do it all the time !

I DID IT!

And, it was great. Not just saying that, it actually was really, really great. Not too puffed, not feeling like I looked like an idiot. The music on the podcast is blooming awful - but I liked his promptings.

So, now feeling Much More Positive.

am using my fitness pal - which is also brilliant. Who'd have known a banana has 100cal? Really? I can eat five or six a day when trying to lose weight - NO WONDER it doesn't work!

Anyhoo, am feeling smug and happy and positive.

Thanks for the encouragement - it did the trick.

Now, usually I keep going for three weeks and then hit a minor hiccup and give up. Will attempt to keep my mojo going...

Well done! And I didn't know a banana had a hundred cals in it. Was going to have one for supper but have changed my mind now. Cheers

Yay! Well done (soon to be gone) baby weight