overweight and need to lose weight. dont like clubs- dont like diets

[yehudiwho]

i've been doing the Couch to 5 k and can run for 30 minutes but havent lost anything because I eat too much. I'm relatively active - runnning a couple of times a week (sometimes only one) and cycle to work every week day. And I stuff my face

dont like clubs so wouldnt do weight watchers or slimming world just need to lose a couple of stone ---come on laydees what should I do?

It is basic maths, so you either need to eat less or move more (or a bit of both). I have absolutely no self control with food, so I am pretty disciplined about exercise. At a size 12/14 I am by no means skinny, but would be the size of a house otherwise!

but I thought the running would help me lose and it hasnt seemed to have shifted an ounce - I didnt think I was eating much more - bit disheartening really

Maybe you're toning up and losing inches but not weight? Maybe you are eating more to compensate? Have you tried eating the same foods as you would normally, but only eating 3/4 of what's on your plate?

Intervals. I think it's part of the couch to 5 k anyway, but you need to combine some really high intensity minutes with your basic run / ride. Your body is at a happy equilibrium - you need to shake it up a bit.

And give it a bit of time. My DH (who would only ever exercise, never diet) reckons it's about 8 weeks between initiating a new regime and seeing results.

I realise I need to eat less - its just hard - sometimes as I am thinking I must eat less I'm actually standing at the fridge eating

I think i need to stock up on healthy food- fruit and healthy snacks - try and eat more regularly -my worst time is when i get home from work and am ravenous- then I just crave carbs and chow down

I also intend to get one of those dvd's for 10 minutes to blast belly fat where all my weight (and my neighbours) seems to sit
maybe go back to 3 times a week for running too

I would look at what you are actually eating?

80% of weight is due to diet only 20% exercise so make sure you are not overcompensating... Fill up on protein w every meal- will keep u fuller for much longer than carbs. As u don't like diets(don't blame u!), highly recommend Escape the Diet Trap by John Briffa, lots of sensible, practical eating/exercise/lifestyle advice from aedical doc not a quack peddling the latest gimmicky diet

I sympathise - I have exactly the same problem, and it's hard not to 'reward' myself if I exercise.

The only thing that gets the weight off for me is writing down every single thing I eat; and cutting out carbs as much as possible.

I don't do clubs either - the thought of having to be sociable, and having to get weighed in public is horrifying.

BUT - Weightwatchers can be done online, no clubs, just the diet. I don't do diets. But after being persuaded by a friend I signed up for the online thingy, and it works. And you can eat chocolate (occasionally) Give it a try for a month or two? its the recording of what you eat, and the spending of points that make it doable I think.

Right will start writing it all down . Any good food apps.?

I don't do diets at all. I love food too much, and I find if anything is suddenly banned then my rebellious streak shouts up and mean I crave it more!

So when I need to lose a bit; I use a smaller plate, and try and eat eggs a few times a week (very very filling).

I posted a few more tips on my blog Yummy Mummy? Really? last week; but I am always unsure whether it's good form to post the link here or not? I am a mumsnet blogger here though, so fairly easy to find. Might be worth checking out.

I agree with everyone above though. It's all about the Maths. I often struggle to start with as my weight is constantly changing. If it's going up I need to do a bit just to stop it going up. And then more to bring it back down.

For me it's all about the wine and chocolate. Unfortunately both don't help!

My Fitness Pal app is really good. I've been using it for 3 weeks now and I've lost 6lbs. You just enter your current weight, what weight you'd like to be and it then works out a daily allowance for you. List everything you eat (the calorie/fat etc values are already stored) and it adds it all up. It will also work out how much you e burned off through exercise too. It's free on iPhone/iPad :)

I've always done weightwatchers and didn't mind the weigh ins, I could never face staying on for the meetings, but find this app just as motivational tbh.

I have lost 2stone 9lbs on my fitness pal since November, I am back in my size 12s but going to get right back on it and see if I can be a 10 for the first time since I was 13. It is the only thing I have ever been able to stick to. It has helped me sort my portion sizes out and encourages me to do more exercise as I find it hard to stick to my basic calorie allowance (1200 per day) Good luck!

Right - downloaded myfitnesspal and am off with the whole eating less thing- and intend to do it and lose 2 stone!

5km twice a week really isn't very much exercise at all I'm afraid. Try increasing to 10km (there is a 5km to 10km app) and do some tabata interval training (google 'tabata interval') on the days you aren't running. There is an app ('tabata timer') for helping you with tabatas,

Exercise alone isn't going to lose you weight - you do need to look at your diet, however hateful that might sound. Cutting down on refined starch (bread, pasta, rice, potatoes) is a good start. You can compensate by increasing non-starchy veg and protein - eggs, cheese and pulses are very good at making you feel full. Google 'insulin resistance' if you need more convincing.

Unfortunately you can't 'blast belly fat'. There is no way to specifically burn off fat in one particular body area. You can certainly reduce your overall fat body percentage by diet and exercise, and you can increase the size ('tone') of your abdominal muscles with the correct exercises. Make sure you do a full core workout so that your muscles are balanced, rather than just concentrating on abs - you need to do back, obliques etc at the same time.

Even better, do whole body exercises. If you have access to some weights (DH?) then learn how to do squats, deadlifts and cleans which are the best whole body exercises there are for burning energy and building muscle.

If you are thinking of joining a gym, find one that offers Body Combat, Body Pump and Spinning. Those 3 classes together cover all the bases for cardio, flexibility/agility and strength and I can guarantee that the weight will fall off you like melting snow :)

Cut down on (or cut out completely) nutritionally empty stuff like bread, pasta, cereals, beans. Don't listen to all those adverts that tell you about healthy wholegrains, it's all hype designed to make a huge profit out of selling cheap sugar-packed stuff that would otherwise be used to fatten cows with.

Eat more 'real' traditional foods - vegetables, meats, fish, eggs, nuts, seeds, fruit. Try lots of new stuff all the time to get a good variety and keep the novelty element going. The closer a food is to it's natural state, the better. Use 'whole' foods, such as butter, full-fat milk and yoghurt, unprocessed meat with the fat still on. 'Low fat' processed foods are also hype, that stuff is full of sugar and additives. Fat is an essential nutrient.

Th running will make you feel great, sleep well, and slightly increase your metabolism, but the calories you burn doing it will be insignificant. The food is the major factor.

And please don't do Weight Watchers. Everyone I know that plugs it seems to have stayed fat or gotten fatter over several years...

Running only uses around 100 calories a mile so 5km x 2 times a week = 6 miles so around 600 calories. Even if you didn't eat anything extra at all (unlikely) it would take 5 weeks to lose 1 pound.

As the others have said, if you want to weigh less you need to eat less.

As others have said, try cutting out carbs. Bread, pasta, potatoes, rice and sugar.

I've recently started doing this and it's amazing. I've been eating loads of things I normally don't eat (due to them being high in calories) like avacadoes, olives, nuts and seeds (especially toasted pumpkin seeds - taste like toffee popcorn!) to fill me up and have lost 4lbs in a week. Plus I feel much less sluggish.

I also did the c25k thing combined with a low cal diet and managed to lose about 1lb a week, but stopped losing after about 12 weeks.

Good luck with whatever you do.

come and join the Paulettes!

Sorry, but are rice, potatoes, bread, grains, not 'real' traditional foods? Most of the world lives on a combination of vegetables and a staple carb, and most of them aren't fat.

I second those suggesting low carb. Cut out grains and starchy carbs aswell as processed crap and artificial sweetners. Eat protein, fat and vegetables (non starchy). It is all to do with insulin. Carbs control insulin and insulin controls fat storage. When you eat carbs your body sends out lots of insulin to remove the glucose from your blood. This glucose has top be stored somewhere so it is converted into fat. Any fat that is eaten with the carbs also is stored straightaway because glucose is easier for your body to use as an energy source. By lowering the carb intake, you lower the insulin response. No more excess glucose or fat stored as body fat and your metabolism changes from carb burning to fat burning. That is why when you cut carbs you need to increase fat for energy and will also start to burn your own body fat. Our bodies are genetically designed to not eat grains and sugars. Google low carb or paleo/primal. once you have got past the first few days of carb withdrawal your cravings disappear. When you eat carbs the blood sugar high then low after insulin has moved it out of the blood makes you feel hungry again, you eat more carbs and the cycle continues

singers they are real foods, but refined carbs (white flour, white pasta, white rice) are all too easily digested and converted into glucose (see what vnumum said). If you want to eat those carbs, eat the slow release versions (brown/wholemeal) so that there is no big insulin hit.

I second MardyBra's suggestion. I'm a relative newbie, but I've lost 3lbs in the 10 days since starting the Paul McKenna method.

Others on the thread can tell you more about it, but for me it's turned me back into the 'normal' eater I was before peri-menopause/stress/life situations left me suddenly 21/2 st heavier four years ago.

It's a very effective way of taking the battle out of losing weight; it just feels like it's happening naturally with minimal effort and no suffering necessary.

Even though I am calorie counting, I am sort of low carbing lite along side and feel much better for it. I have no pasta or rice and nothing low fat either & only use proper butter. I aim for no bread, but if I am out or at someone's house and there is no choice I have a sandwich. I have a banana with berries and Greek yoghurt for breakfast, a huge pot of soup for lunch or a salad with nice bits and pieces in, or sometimes grilled bacon, scrambled eggs and mushrooms and for dinner I have whatever the family ate having, but substitute the carbs for salad ( they laugh, but am now quite partial to sausage a s sweet potato salad!) I did end up having a jacket potato last night, but that was disorganisation more than anything else. If I am hungry I have a piece of cheese, whereas before it would have been a slice of toast

Oh I see Mardy and Shotgun are here before me! I was about to recommend Paul McKenna. Today I am on the last notch of my belt, and about to go and buy a smaller one

WannabeEarthMother - beans are not nutritionally empty...