Weight loss questions - please help me overhaul my life!

[kelicandothis]

My name is Keli and I am not overweight, I am obese.

Ouch that is quite painful to write. I am 5ft 5 and weigh 14st 13lbs. That is nearly 15 stone. I am scared. I am the heaviest I've ever been and I suffer a lot of joint pain. I need to lose weight and I know it.

I am thinking about doing the 5:2 diet but am also interested in clean eating. I don't fully understand what that means to be honest. I know it's close to its natural source so does that mean you can't have things like cheese or gravy? What would a typical menu look like or is there a good website to help?

I would also like to do more exercise. I am interested in pilates, swimming and the gym. I went to a body combat class once. Nearly died but loved it and stupidly never went back.

I would really appreciate any advice/tips/support please! As much as I want to do this to buy nice clothes etc, I just really want to feel better and reduce the joint pain. I want my life back! I'm not interested in any fad diets or anything unrealistic.

Thanks for reading!

Anyone?

Hi keli ,
Why not join us on the I want to be a size 12 next summer thread. I am following slimming world. It's kind of a low carb / healthy eating plan. Plenty of veg and fruit and protein. I have a good couple of stone to lose , it's not easy but I'm determined to do it for next summer. I have been miserable in myself but feel happier now I have made up my mind to do it.

I'm doing slimming world too. I did low carb a few years ago and lost about 1.5 stone but needed to lose another 4 or 5 to be a 22BMI. I can't remember my exact stats at that point. I found it quite hard eating out but did feel I learnt quite a bit about my eating patterns.

Earlier this year I'd got into some bad habits, missing breakfast and lunch most days then overeating in the evening, feeling remorseful and cyclically under/ over indulging. My sister joined and said come along. I've never thought I'd go to a fat club (my sister goes mad when I call it that) but everyone is in the same boat. We're all food lovers who've over indulged. Its great to hear people talk about their weight loss and good/ bad experiences. You look at some people and think they don't need to be here, and then find out they've lost 8 stone and are a maintaining member. Its also good to not feel alone, which I didn't expect. I always pick up a few tips and tricks. The best thing is I'm the lightest I've been in many years - yet I feel I'm eating the most, still loosing and didn't feel guilty enjoying a week away on holiday then found it easy getting back on plan when I got home. At my heaviest I was near 17st, I'm now weighing in at 13st 7, i'm 5ft 6, so a way to go to reach my 9st something target but i'm confident it will happen at some point next year.

The biggest thing with the slimming world groups is the draw a line under it mentality. So if you have a day where you don't eat to plan, have an extra glass or three of wine etc thats not a fail. You've just got to say that was then, today I start afresh and move on. If you beat yourself up its easy to get into emotional eating.

Hello! Have you had your lightbulb moment?

My name's dun1urkin and I used to be obese.

I am 5ft 5 (and a half) and I used to weigh 15.10

I now weigh 10.12

I didn't go to weight watchers, slimming world, eat clean, low carb, paeleo (sp?) 5:2 or anything like that.

I initially kept a food diary, being mindful of calories, but not counting per se, and subsequently used MyFitnessPal.

I also started swimming and Pilates, and then added step and (fair weather!) cycling.

If you're interested in doing it a similar way, I'd recommend working out your TDEE, and eating between 20-25% fewer calories than that. You can work it out here

Don't 'eat your exercise calories back' or 'reward' a trip to the pool/gym with food. And don't believe the 'calories burned' on MyFitnessPal or gym equipment or anything, they tend to woefully overestimate calories burned.

I've just seen what MisFor said about not beating yourself up/giving up if you slip. Just start again the next day.

I would like to lose maybe another 7 lbs to be a few pounds under BMI 25, but am not stressing about it.

Good luck

Just seen Boleh's post on the thread here in weightloss chat called Advice needed for clueless overwieghter

It's really good advice, have a read.

Hi Keli.

I was almost 15 stone in 2005 and I'm 5ft 4. My weight fluctuated with pregnancies etc so I was 13st 9 in 2012 I went on a diet almost 2 years ago (I started by posting on a mumsnet support thread) and am now about 9st 4.

I spent years trying to cut down and diet but it wasn't until I started to weigh and track what I ate (using the my fitness pal app) that I could really see where I was going wrong.

Mumsnet is brilliant and I have 'met' so many helpful people who all lost weight in different ways. So I'd suggest you lurk on a few threads or join some and ask questions and really think about the best way for you to lose weight permanently. I lost it through cutting calories because it fitted in with my family circumstances (I didn't want my daughters to know I was on a diet or fasting) but there are threads for fasters and clean eaters who can give you a bit more help and identify recipes. I'm not too sure what clean eating is so I'm afraid I can't help on that.

There is a thread somewhere with low calorie recipes to help if you want to do 5:2. When dd2 goes to school full-time I might fast once a week to maintain. The thing about 5:2 is that just because you have two 500 cal days you can't go over the top on the other 5 days. There are website tools that will tell you how many calories you need just to maintain your weight so you might need to track your other 5 days, at first, just to make sure you're not overeating on those days. I had forgotten what a 'normal' diet/ portion should look like and I'm assuming you're like me.

I agree with Misformum that when you have a bad day you need to start the next day afresh. It took me about a year to lose 50lbs and I had several binges in that time, sometimes I'd overeat for several days. That's why is great to have support from people who understand you. I have a lovely marriage but could never admit to dh how I felt about my weight or my diet. I found it helpful to remember that I'd had nearly 40 years of bad habits (like eating everything on my plate) and so I wouldn't change overnight.

Anyway hope this helps.

Thanks for the replies, will check out the other threads too. I feel like getting on the scales and being 0.8lbs away from 15st was my light bulb moment. If I enter another stone then if feels like I have truly failed myself. I suffer so much joint pain that I nearly phoned the gp for an appointment. I stopped myself and thought that they are only going to send me away to go and lose weight so I've decided to lose some weight first and if I am still suffering then I will go.

I went to the gym today which felt like a huge first step. Will also try and make sure I'm drinking more water. I don't want to try and do too much too soon but I have to start somewhere!

This time last year I could have been you - 5ft 4 and 214lb / 14s 4lb. Congratulations on the lightbulb moment.

Through a combination of SW and the Harcombe diet - essentially both were low carbing, but Harcombe is low carb high fat no sugar whereas SW was low carb low fat some sugar - I have lost nearly 5 stone.

I'd advise concentrating on diet before exercise except maybe walking - apparently you're likely to overeat after exercise by more than calories burned.

All my joint pain is gone :) I've lost more than my 8 year old - no wonder I ached!

If you're interested in SW see if your GP does a free 12 week Slimming World referral - I had one and a friend had 2 as they worked so well and she still had a way to go.

Good luck!