How do I go about losing the weight?

[susurration]

Basically I'm 5'4" and weigh about 19st. My ideal weight really is about 10st and I want to kick start my health and go for losing weight finally. I have PCOS and the weight doesn't seem to budge much but we are TTC. I'm not uncomfortable in my body as such, but just a bit fed up really of never feeling like I have much energy and seeing photos of myself looking huge compared to my sisters and friends. I'd like to see long term lifestyle change rather than just losing a bit and then not doing anything else about it.

I've put effort into doing a lot more walking since last October and was really starting to feel a bit fitter over the winter. For a few weeks though I haven't really had time to keep up with it and i'm noticing the difference. I don't enjoy the gym and don't particularly want to fork out for it either.

Diet wise, I don't eat badly, but its definitely not as good as it could be. I don't want to yoyo diet. I eat a LOT of fruit and veg, but also am tempted easily by carb heavy food like bread, pasta and rice.

I don't feel like i'm an emotional or bored eater, I definitely feel the PCOS has something to do with it and just not keeping up with healthy choices. I don't like feeling like i'm on a 'diet'.

So can anyone recommend some options? I feel like i'm leaning towards some sort of fasting diet maybe, but i don't know how quickly it would make changes for me?

Thanks in advance, and sorry for the long post!

I can only suggest what has worked for me (5 stone loss) and that's basically calorie counting, with a 'layer' of not exactly low carbs, but choosing fat and protein to fill up on (within my calorie limits) rather than pasta!!
I lost about half this weight using a food diary, but latterly MyFitnessPal.
I know what a 'portion' looks like now, and how many calories to eat to maintain or lose weight.
If you're going to to this approach, or 5:2, it's useful to know your TDEE, as MFP seems to default to giving everyone 1200 calories a day, which is too few for me anyway
There are lots of TDEE calculators online - making an assumption about your age, and that you're 'lightly active' yours comes out at around 2600 calories a day to stay at your current weight, so maybe aim for 2000?
I'd suggest logging on MFP for 2/3 weeks without 'dieting' or lying to get a true picture of what you're eating now, it'll help make it clearer where you might want to make changes.
Good luck

thanks dan for replying.

I've been keeping a diary on my fitbit app, and I think you're right about the daily calories of about 2000 to aim for at the moment. Some days i'm about 1700 and other days i'm about 2500 but its not consistent so I think something like the 5:2 might help me balance it out a bit better by sticking to 2000 on my normal days and 500 on my fasting days.

I think my main area I really need to cut back is carb content with bread being the biggest culprit!

Thanks again. Food for thought (if you'll excuse the pun )

5:2 is good for PCOS as there is mounting evidence that the long gaps between food alleviate the symptoms.

THen again we did lose a couple of PCOS posters from the 5:2 threads because they are now pregnant

you might like slimming world - pasta and rice can be eaten freely but you have to limit bread, cereals and certain dairy products. Fruit, veg, lean meat and fat free yogurt are all free so there is always something you can eat. You also get an allowance for treats such as alcohol and chocolate. I have lost nearly 5 stone in just over a year and am now at my target weight

I would recommend Rosemary Conely classes. They motivate and are mainly fun exercise.

I am reading a book called The Hormone Reset Diet by Sarah Gottfried. It's basically a 21 day step by step intervention towards 'clean eating' which I'm sure does help rebalance hormones. I'm seeing it as a health thing, not a diet. It might ring true for you because of the PCOS.

It is worth a read- I am actually quite enjoying going through the process.

talkinpeace and charlesryder very interesting opinions. I thought 5:2 might be helpful for interrupting the insulin resistance problems with PCOS and its also interesting to hear about the hormone diet. I'll definitely look that up. Thank you.

mrmacadoo i've had a look at slimming world and i'm not sure about it. My sister does it I think so might give her a call and see what she says about it. Still not sure its for me though.

I've been keeping an eye on my calorie intake a bit more closely over the last few days and because i've been over tired and not felt much like doing proper cooking my calorie intake has been bloody awful. I'm off work on Tuesday this week so think I might have a go at doing a fast and only eating the recommended 500 calories. I do tend to find that if I don't eat breakfast I don't really get hungry till mid/late afternoon anyway so perhaps it won't be as bad as my husband keeps insisting it will be.

Thanks for some of the pointers. I think i'm going to have a look at the 5:2/fasting board and do a bit more reading about it.