Help me, I need to lose weight.

[PrincessLayer]

I am 42. 5ft 1inch tall and I weigh 19 stone. I wear a size 24.

I've always been a bit chubby as an adult, got bigger and levelled out at about a 16/18 then suddenly went up to a 24 and have been like this for about 10 years.
I'm not feeling too well lately and it's obviously weight related.

I'm trying to eat better. I'm writing everything down, and counting calories. Loads of salad and fruit, but 2 days in and I'm starving.

I think one problem is that I struggle with exercise. I have a deformity of the spine which means that anything I do soon becomes painful, so I tend to avoid anything strenuous. Even walking to far leaves me in pain (and I've had this problem since since I was a child and skinny so it's not directly related to my weight, although I appreciate the extra bulk doesn't help).

I really struggle in social situations, and would hate to go to weightwatchers or anything involving a group.

I'd appreciate a few pointers or suggestions.

It will take time for your stomach to shrink but you will stop feeling hungry after a few weeks. My tip is to drink a glass of water between meals as it helps, fill you up. Also drinking water with a meal has the same effect. Have you joined any groups such as ww? It can be a bit gimmicky but counting points (or calories which i do on my fitness pal application) helps you become aware of exactly what you are eating and how good for you it is. Both methods are effectively a food diary too which is a useful tool for highlighting bad eating patterns.

Exercise wise, could you try something like swimming which is easy on the joints. Also allot of pools have aqua aerobics etc which are geared towards low impact cardio...

Set yourself small goals and reward yourself with non food based treats (manicure, facial, nice bubble bath, treat to the cinema) every time you reach it. Setting huge goals is unrealistic and demoralising so when i lost 4 stone i did it by 1/2 stones.

Good luck!

Ah i see you said you would hate a group... I would suggest the my fitness pal application in that case :-)

How many calories have you gone from eating? You will find that you're hungry especially if you have dropped a lot of calories in a short amount of time. Try drinking a pint of water in between eating if you get hungry, as sometimes we can confuse between thirst and hunger. If you are still really hungry, then eat something but fat free or very low in calories like a yoghurt is a handful of strawberries or grapes and slowly drop them as time goes on as your stomach gets used to it.

With regards to exercise, are you ok with an exercise bike with it being sitting? Not sure really what else you could do because of your back.

You could probably benefit from support. Have you got friends who want to lose weight too? Or you can use online support on this forum for example.

Yes, swimming! That is a brilliant idea as the PP says, it is easier on the joints.

Princess I've been doing the 5:2 diet since September (not that I'm massively losing weight, been very piggy on my non fast days) and I've totally changed my attitude to hunger. It's odd, when you don't eat for 30+ hours you reassess what hunger is. I'm afraid I don't believe any diet that says you can lose weight without ever feeling hungry. Sadly as someone who's been overweight my whole life you can't avoid it. But you can get used to it. I also chew lots of sugar free gum.

Drinking more can help. Dancinginthemoonlight is right, you need to fill your stomach up with fluids. There was some research done that showed soups fill you up for longer, so you could try a cup of soup before you eat a meal. A cup of low fat vegetable soup before a meal can make you feel fuller for long. Also make sure you have a decent portion of protein with every meal, if you're having salad have some tuna/cold chicken/ham with it.

Good luck, it's very hard staying focussed. Google intermittent fasting/the 5:2 diet if you're interested. It's hard being hungry for one day, but being able to eat normally the next is incredibly motivating. I have never been one for sticking with a diet, but this is the longest I've ever been able to stick to one. Initially I lost about a stone, I've levelled off now at 13st10, I do need to lose another stone, but I've been a bit slack recently.

Ah swimming! No. Don't think the world is ready for me in a swim-suit!

I'm not the sort who eats biscuits and cakes, my sins are more savoury. Toast for breakfast, Cheese or meat sandwich for lunch, usually with a bag of crisps. Usually a cooked dinner, or takeaways at weekends. A few cans of lager 3 or 4 nights a week. Soon mounts up I suppose.

I've had a banana for breakfast, with some shop bought smoothie (100 cals per 250 mls), I've made a huuuge pan of vegetable soup (no oil/fat used just veg and a stock cube), so have had a bowl of that for lunch. (Hopefully when the rest of the family have had some for dinner there will be enough for another couple of meals for me), and I'm planning on half a bag of salad with either a tin of tuna or a steamed chicken breast for my dinner.

I've seen a bit about the 5:2 diet. I think I might try it, but wait until I've lost a bit and am used to smaller portions/less crap.

I'm just annoyed and ashamed that I've got this big, and my life has got into this much of a mess.

Thanks for being so nice.

I'm the same, I'm very much a lover of savoury things.. so for me the key seems to be packing flavour in to smaller portions. My problem has always been with portion sizes. Like you I'm not really a sweet tooth, I don't really eat biscuits or chocolate that often. I read somewhere that if you're having a piece of meat with some salad for example, you should try to keep that piece of meat, be it some chicken or a steak, should be no bigger than your fist. I try and stick to that. I think the same article said piece of cheese should be the size of a match box (the tiny ones, not the big box of kitchen matches :o)

Steamed chicken sounds a bit tasteless (unless you love it) why not grill it with some herbs, or cajun spices or similar? I personally hate having very plain bland food when I'm trying to lose weight. Somehow it makes it feel even worse.

If you're making a batch of soup and you're feeling really hungry, you could have a small cup full to keep you going, but I have found from doing the 5:2 diet that hunger isn't a constant thing. You can feel ravenous one minute and then something comes up, you get busy doing something and before you know it it's gone. It comes and goes in waves so if you can ride out a hunger pang and find something else to do you will find it passes. Today so far I've had 2 cups of tea, a carrot and a tablespoon of houmous.. I felt really hungry before lunch but I went out to the shopping centre across the road (I'm at work) and I'm not feeling too bad now at all. I'll definitely last until 7pm when I've got an M&S Fuller For Longer meal (310 cals) and some grapes for my supper.

It doesn't help that I'm so bloody fussy! I can't stand pasta or rice, and I'd rather starve than be in the same room as a cucumber or celery. I've also discovered that rocket salad is awful unless it's drenched in coleslaw or mayo. I'm not fond of carrots either, but I can cope if they're in soup or stew.

Steamed chicken is a bit dull, but I've got some low cal caesar dressing which I can have with it so it's not too bad.

I've downloaded the my fitness pal app which looks quite helpful, and I'm trying to drink more water.

Do you like spicy food? I find that if I stick a load of chillies in a soup it fills me up longer. Strange but true!

I always have porridge with milk for breakfast. A fair amount of calories but very filling.

And Warburtons sandwich thins (panini style breads) are only 100 calories and very yummy. My evening meal is often sandwich thins with tuna, a small amount of cheese, a ramekin size portion of chips and salad.

Try to limit the lager to the weekends and swap the cans for French bottled lager from Tesco. They are called something like Biere d'alsace and are 105 calories each. Quite cheap too, 10 bottles for approx £3.70.

You can do Weight Watchers online only. It was really good for me (I didn't fancy joining a group either) but I decided to go it alone after the first 3 months (not doing quite so well with that though!). It would probably suit you if you're not keen on pasta/rice and cake.

I found it basically meant the following:
Cereal & skimmed milk for breakfast
Veg soup with 2 slices wholemeal bread for lunch
Smaller than usual bit of meat with as much veg as you want for tea (plus either 4 v small new potatoes or half a 'usual' portion of rice or pasta)

Then on top of that as much fruit/veg as you want to snack on plus either a yogurt or a couple of (dry) ryvitas or a packet of crisps or two biscuits.

Along with drinking water and tea only (or coffee with skimmed milk but not latte/cappucino type of coffee iykwim)

I'm quite similar to you, and I've had knee replacements and don't have much bend in my knees so I find exercising hard too, and a couple of weeks ago I joined the Chiefs thread on here and added mumsnet people onto my new My Fitness Pal account. It has really helped to have the encouragement of a group of people. Why not pop onto that thread or the MFP thread and add some of the names to an MFP account to help encourage you.

Hi princess - I would low carb and eat plenty of protein. Also ditch the beer for a while. Walking is better exercise than you realise as well.
Gosh it's so hard but you will see the benefits and that will motivate you. Good luck

I'm trying to avoid the bread, but would quite possibly kill or sell a child for a cheese sandwich at the moment!

I've kept under my calorie limit for the last 2 days I've been using my fitness pal, and yesterday wasn't too bad hunger wise.

Hopefully the weather will perk up a bit soon and I can get out for a bit of a walk occasionally. I've got a 1 year old, (and no-one to help me during the day) so I don't really like dragging him out in the ice and cold.

Thanks DoubleMum, I'm going to have a look for those threads later.