As I am beyond help in S&B, can anyone help me here?

[elderlyhippo]

I posted in S&B asking for advice in what to wear for some events this autumn - I was clueless as I don't usually dress up. And I had only one suggestion, I suspect because I also described my figure frankly.

I am feeling pretty down, as the one dated navy suit may have to be used for all the occasions I was hoping to have more fun dressing for. Sorry if I'm sounding self-pitying. Right now I am feeling disappointed, sensitive and just so cross with myself.

What I am after is advice on how to loose weight rapidly - so perhaps I can have a figure worth dressing at some point in the autumn.

Say over 6 weeks? How much can I aim for? I really want to loose a lot in a short time, and then woul be happy to put time/effort into stabilising on a more thought-out longer term way of eating.

Over 6 weeks I don't know how much weight you'd be able to lose to make a really massive difference to your figure. Howeve I do recommend the personal shopper experiences in debenhams. They are free and fantastic! They chose things for me I'd have never chose myself and I feel slimmer in them. It's well worth a try as I don't know what suits me at all!

If you are quite overweight, I'd guess you could lose about 3lbs a week- 18lbs would probably make a good bit of difference, and just doing it will give you confidence. I know what you mean- I am a stone overweight at the moment, and it's really getting me down. I see clothes I like in the shops then put them on hold until I've "lost the weight" Going to start today!

Have a look at Jason vale's books. You can lose a decent amount of weight by having juices instead of meals.

You need to change your mindset towards food if you want to lose weight and for it to stay off. Jason's books have helped me.

What dress size are you, height etc?

The good news is that whatever diet you start, you will initially lose a fair bit of weight before the plateau sets in.

I am doing calorie controlled at the moment, with 1200 calories per day and logging everything on myfitnesspal. Have stalled at the moment, but did lose 20lbs before stalling.

My suggestion wrt clothes, is to invest in really good underwear. It makes everything else look better. And high heeled shoes, to elongate your legs. Beyond that, I am not so good at the style and beauty stuff.

Good luck. Hope you find something that works for you

Thank you - I was feeling quite down yesterday and what you have posted has really helped.

3lbs a week is more than is usually recommended as sustainable, but I'll have a look at recommendations, and see what can be achieved over 6 weeks, because that would make a huge difference.

DCs so back to school next week, which should make it all easier. Also, there's been some new posts on my S&B thread, so perhaps it was just temporarily buried, rather than hopeless case!

I am now really worried that I am just asking too much.

So my apologies in advance.

I have been looking on-line, and am really, really not expecting people to do all the work for me, and hope I won't just be seen as lazy in this forum.

But does anyone know if there is something similar to the Jason Vale juicing stuff but based on soup (which is something I love to make, and think would be less of an abrupt change than trying juice).

Also does anyone have any experience of his "Slim for Life" book? I found a sample extract on line, and am happy to pay for a copy (will be able to hunt in a bookshop later this week), but just interested in views from her first. And are any other authors/approaches particularly good to look at.

Again, I am really sorry to be asking, but I really don't even know enough to know where my start point is.

Which is your S&B thread, can you link?

Also get the hairy dieters book, it's great.

Thanks - I'll look out for Hairy Dieters. I am reading the Jason Vale "Slim for Life" - he says not to try to change habits until you've finished the book, and that should nicely fit in with when the DCs go back to school later this week.

I don't want to even think about that S&B thread again (despite it being in this thread title, so not exactly get-away-from-able). I've seen another thread in which S&B is described as a lovely, friendly, helpful place; so what I was told there about being lazy with unrealistic expectations shows how very, very below even the basic minimum standard I must be - both in shape/size and as a an acceptable user of MN.