Turns out I'm a heifer.

[helloella]

I had a smear test today and the nurse weighed me. I tried not to look but I caught sight of 127kg. 127KG. ALMOST TWENTY STONE.

I've come home and cried. I'm 5ft10 and carry it quite well fitting well into a size 20-22 so I didn't realise it was so bad. I'm just kind of big all over but with defined curves at the waist and hips. I was kidding myself that it was still fine. It's not fine. I'm not fine.

I know I need to lose weight. Due to mobility issues I am quite sedentary so I need to think wholly in terms of diet right now. I need at least five stone of this off. After that I can work towards a larger goal.

There's no Slimming World or Weight Watchers meetings near me, I don't drive and I'm on about a £30 budget a week for food for me and DH. I'm going to have to drastically alter my portion sizes and low carb it as I know it's the carbs doing it to me. I don't drink at home, I go out maybe once every three months drinking and I'm not one to binge on crisps/chocolate/cakes. My thyroid is fine (had a full blood work up at the end of last year) so it's got to be carbs like pasta and bread plus portion sizes.

Please give me hope. Success stories, diets that have worked that can be cheap, stories of weight loss without a lot of exercise - anything really just so I know I can do this.

I lost 5 stone a few years ago by low carbing. its the biwi bootcamp threads here where I learned it all

personally I do believe sugar is the culprit,and its everywhere.fruit and some veg are high carb/sugar,so we can be doing more harm than good by overeating on those

I lost the weight quickly and consistently,was never hungry and kept the weight off. I took up running and exercise too.

now i'm tackling the couple of stone I have left to shift.7 pounds gone 2 weeks so far.

Another one that loves my fitness pal.

I log everything I eat. It is without doubt educating me on my eating habits and portion size. I am often amazed by just how much I can eat even on a very low calorie diet. I bulk out a lot with veg esp. hairy bikers style cabbage for pasta. Loving 100 cal leek and potato soup.

For me it works because there is no need to meal plan, having said that it is really easy to try out different combination of foods and plan ahead if I want to.

I started out with slimfast as I felt it was a fool proof, however slowly I am dropping the slimfast.

You need a decent set of electronic kitchen scales with a tare function so you can measure straight into a container eg saucepan.

On the water front I too hate drinking water. I have a 2l bottle of water in the fridge that I refill everyday. When that's empty I know I'm done. I use pint glasses not small glasses and I do add a little bit of squash

The trick is to have 3 meals a day, no snacking unless its vegetables/ small portion of fruit. Watch what you drink as well- the aim is to consume no or very few calories through drink. So lots of water, if you must have fizzy drinks (and I do) have diet versions, tea or coffee is fine in moderation but no sugar and use skimmed milk. No fruit juice, its very high in calories, lots of water or squash with no added sugar.

Then for your 3 meals- I have cereal (fruit and fibre) with skimmed milk for breakfast. Low cost. But portion size is important- I use a small bowl and only half full. Its easy to eat way more than you should.

Lunch- the trick here is to fill yourself up on loads of vegetables. If you don't, or skip them you'll get really hungry and eat way more of the other stuff, or cave and snack loads later. You can have salad, my favourite is roasted veggies (no oil), you can use any veggies you want. There are lots of cheap veggies in tye supermarket. Don't go for baked beans as they're really high in calories. This really needs to be the bulk of your meal, ideally should take up at least a third of your plate, preferably more. Then you can have some other bits with it. Whatever you fancy- bear in mind peanut butter is super high in calories. I generally look for about 300 calories more. Eg. 2 eggs and 1 thin slice of bread. Or a ham sandwich made from 2 slices of bread (use low cal margarine). Some people love soup, often I choose croutons and a small amount goats cheese to have with my salad. But watch your portion sizes! Strictly choose the extras then if you are hungry have more veg or fruit. (Bananas are high calorie, apples fine)

Dinner- Same as lunch.A third to a half veg, then whatever else you choose. Use low fat versions of milk, cheese, butter etc. In cooking, minimise oil. You want a small portion of protein, a small portion of carbs, loads of veggies.

I've been doing this since Jan 1st, was originally 14st8, but have lost 11lb doing this so far in the past nearly 4 weeks. It does work but you do need to be strict, when you really want chocolate- reach for veg or fruit, or a massive cup of tea. And it doesn't cost too much. Yes you'll buy loads of veggies and some fruit, but a lot less of other stuff which costs lots. Your dh can have the same as you or carry on as before. Pasta is fine- you just need to eat less of it.

I think you need to choose OP whether you are going for low fat/low cal OR low carb.

Low carb low fat low cal would make you miserable and be difficult to stick to.

Or 5-2.

You need to pick whichever one you think you can actually manage.

Research suggests that low carb does slightly better than low fat over 6 months but it all evens out over a year. So it really is whichever fits your lifestyle.

Low fat makes me hungry.
Low carb high fat/protein makes me feel less full but for me personally weightloss is very gradual. So it only works if I stick it.

Sorry ^ makes me feel more full

If you have a spiraliser try butternut squash as it tastes more pasta like than courgette. I love courgette pasta with pesto but not so keen with bolgnese. Also try doing a small amount of pasta with some of the noodles to bulk it up then add mushrooms, broccoli etc with your sauce on top.

I would just stick to counting calories. Easiest option.

I've got MyFitnessPal but I see what you mean about the scales - for non-packaged meals you really do have to weigh things. Also, what's a cup/half a cup? What size cup?

I'm going to stick with counting calories for now as I can eat anything I want while remaining in the allowance. I'd like to try other forms of eating but right now I just want to make a dent in the most simple way possible.

Regarding portion sizes, what's the correct portion? Are there guidelines online? I've always been used to large portions and while I don't do piling up the plate/seconds/desserts often our average meal size would probably horrify those of you who eat properly.

Sorry for all the questions but you seem really knowledgable and it's like I'm learning everything I know about something as simple as eating all over again.

Cups are measuring cups. Not drinking cups.

You can buy sets fr om any cookware department/shop. I got some from Sainsburys.

You could probably convert 'cups' to grams either. Cups are an American way of measuring out.

Something like this might be useful measuring cups

DP and I managed to low carb on about £30 a week. I used MFP to track carb content and kept to below 20g of carbs, which gets you into ketosis and kills all of your cravings.

Bulk buy eggs, get a bottle of cheap full fat mayo and a pack of butter. Cheap green veg like spinach, broccoli (buy a whole head, much cheaper than the little bags) and cucumber. A gammon joint boiled up and cut into chunks did me three or four lunches with veggie sticks, a couple of boiled eggs and a wedge of cheese. A whole chicken can be roasted and picked apart - we got two large tupperwares full of shredded chicken out of a £4 chicken from Iceland.

You can probably buy measuring cups from a £ shop too. That's where I got mine from.

There are usually recommended portion sizes on backs of packs like rice and pasta. I think it's usually 70g

Measuring cups are still a really inaccurate way of doing it. Better to change the quantity to grams (or 100g) on mfp and enter the corresponding portion size after weighing on scales.

I know people say don't snack etc. But that really doesn't work for me. Sometimes I eat little and often, sometimes I save my calorie allowance for a big meal it all depends how I'm feeling and what I'm doing that day.

That's what I've learnt from mfp. I can eat how I want when I want aslong as I have the calories left.

Re portion sizes it really doesn't matter if you are within your calorie allowance. However as a rule of thumb for a roughly 600kcal meal I work to 100-140g protein (chicken or salmon usually) 50g pasta 50g cabbage "pasta" or sometimes rocket and whatever calorie allowance left for other veg (tomato sweetcorn leek etc)

You're not a heifer, OP. Cut yourself some slack!

Here's what I'd do:

Now, 30 quid a week isn't much, but it's enough, you will have to get creative with your cooking ideas.

Definitely lower carb. Cut out bread and pasta. After a week you will not miss it.

I'd eat:

B: Porridge with full fat milk, hard boiled egg for brekkie. Carrot sticks as a snack mid morning if you need it. Water and coffee with a small splash milk (if you like it, obv)

L: Home made lentil and veg soup for lunch. Could be : carrot, onion, swede, potato, squash, lentils and or chickpeas, veg or chicken stock. Make sure you add pulses for protein. I'd probably also have some cottage cheese/eggs/tuna with that too, with some Ryvita if you are feeling wild.

D: Chicken/pork/fish roasted with veg. And a sweet potato or some roast squash. Check out the Lowcarb recipe thread, its awesome.

Or you could have a massive stew, lots of veg and loads of chickpeas. You don't need much meat in a massive stew either.

Snacks:

Cottage cheese
Apple sauce
Veg sticks
Peanut butter and apple
Hard boiled eggs
Soup

Is it possible to lose 6lb of water weight in three days?

Yep. I lost 4lb by doing a poo.

I can lose half a stone of water weight in three days when low carbing, perfectly possible.