18st 3lbs and Getting Married in 18 Months Time.. Help Me.

[SlimbobJones]

I've NC'd for this, new start and all that.

This is a massive cry for help, I'm completely broken and I'm not sure what I need from you, but help me :(

Last Christmas I weighed 19st 1lb, the heaviest I've ever been although I've never been under 15st. I'm 5ft 5. I'm 25 years old and have no children.

The photo is me at 19st vs me at my current weight, 18st 3lbs and I managed to shift that with weight watchers and keep it off mostly, although that was nearly a year ago now. The photo is just to illustrate how much of a problem I have on my hands more than anything.. I'm not shy about it, it's a body I feel completely disconnected from at this point.

I weight 18st 3lbs at the age of 25 and I'm getting married in 18 months time. I don't want to be uncomfortable on my Wedding day with everyone looking at me thinking "oh god isn't it a shame she's so fat"... the thought of that makes me feel physically sick.

SO I figure I've got 18 months now to turn my huge backside around.

Right now, my body fat percentage is 52.7%. I'm currently more fat than human.

I've re-signed up for weight watchers so I'm tracking my food, but my problem has and will always be binge eating. I can happily put away a tube of Pringles and half a pack of biscuits in 1 sitting.

How on earth am I going to do this?? When should I eat and what? There's just so much to get my head around I guess I just need some hand holding :(

If you're still with me after all that rambling, thank you. Sorry, and help :(

[SadSock]

Swimming would be good slimbob. That wouldn't put strain on your joints. Also oatcakes are a good snack because they are boring, filling and take ages to eat

[Loubilou09]

I know you don't want to hear it and I have sat on my hands for a couple of days but I will say it anyway and if it's just a waste of energy on my part so be it hey I might even burn a few more calories!!

Low carb (not NO carb but LOW carb) really helps with the cravings. Your habits scream of low blood sugar, sugar crashes etc. I have tried all the diets under the sun and all of them apart from low carbing have me thinking of food all day, planning what I can have, having a little bit of this and that but the diet and what I am eating/not eating is constantly on my mind, it is tiring and stressful. Low carbing completely changes that for me and within a few days it all just falls into place and you just don't have the cravings that sugar (carbs) gives you.

Whilst you say you "don't believe" in dropping a food group (which you don't actually do when you LOW carb) you haven't given any reasons why? Maybe you should at least open your mind to researching low carb, it could turn out to be the making of you.

[BendydickCuminsnatch]

Yes, I agree, definitely explore low carbing. I generally have 1 meal with carbs and 2 without, without even trying to do that it's just what happens. But by that I mean no carb portion eg pasta, potatoes, I don't count the carbs in fruit etc. Smoothie for breakfast, salad for lunch. Sorry but it works!

[Cguk81]

I agree with what the 2 previous posters have said...low carbing isn't dropping a food group, it's just adjusting the balance of the food groups. Example for me is one slice of toast with egg for breakfast (egg cooked in the 1 cal spray) the baked potato wirh cottage cheese and pineapple for lunch and salad for dinner with lots of grilled chicken and a little bit of grated low fat cheese. That sees me through until bedtime and my sugar Cravings have been very manageable (coming from someone who would easily eat a share size bag of peanut m&ms in one evening). It's not a fad, it's just a different balance of carbs fat and protein done in a healthy sustainable work that I have found to work a treat.

[Cguk81]

Sorry for the typos...battery about to die so trying to type too fast!

[SlimbobJones]

Hey guys :)

Aaaah ok I understand, you mean less carb rather than no carb :)

In that case I'm kind of already doing this, I've swapped fruit as a snack for peanut butter on celery sticks, sandwiches at lunch for high protein, lower carb ready meals and breakfast is porridge rather than sugary cereals :)

I'm also bulking out meals with veggies rather than pasta and rice and I'm finding it's no less filling at the moment.

The weekends are my Waterloo, I struggle massively because I'm home alone and will 'treat myself' to a takeaway or crisps and chocolate or both

So far today so good though. I've been to the gym this morning and did 2 sets of 15 reps on everything when on Thursday I only did 1 set of 15 and only 10 squats. I didn't manage 2 sets of 15 squats but I did do the full 15 and that was with the aches and pains from Thursday still there :)

On Thursdays warm up During my 10 min walk on the treadmill I managed 90 secs of running on a 1.5 incline at speed 4.5, today I did 100 secs at a 2 incline at speed 4.5.

I feel proud of myself for that considering I'm currently on the ugly side of 18 stone, it's not easy to carry this amount of weight let alone run with it.

I'm hoping the pride carries me through the weekend, if I get through it it will be the first weren't in 6 years I haven't binged...

Argh

[Frestelli]

We're all rooting for you! Just one day at a time, you can do it! Get through today and you are half way there, the satisfaction when you slip into bed tonight knowing you've got through it will be so worth it!

and

[Eolian]

Cutting down a bit on both carbs and fat works imo. Just having more lean protein and fruit and veg and smaller portions of fatty and carby (especially sugary ) stuff. I did low carb and it was astonishing. I lost loads of weight very quickly, did not crave food and really changed my body shape. But I absolutely hated it and could not stick to it long term. Having to think about what I could and couldn't eat all the time was unbelievably tedious and annoying.Think how much you could lose weight just by halving all the fat and carbs you eat - not by actually banning any foods, just halving the quantities. It sounds like you're already doing this, which is great!

Often when people defend low carb diets as not being extreme, they point out that there are sufficient carbs in veg etc to make it a low-carb and not no-carb diet. The fact remains that a couple of carrots and an apple (which are still far too carby to feature in many low-carb diets) are not what most people consider carbs, and that avoiding pasta, rice, bread, potatoes etc is restrictive from a social and practical point of view as well as being a bit miserable.

While I had gallstones I couldn't eat more than 10g of fat per meal without excruciating pain. I had to eat that way for 9 months until my op. I was eating a fair bit of sugary stuff and carbs to cheer myself up but even so I lost weight dramatically. After the initial "Wahey! I can eat what I like!" since the op I have upped the fat (but not to my previous levels) and cut back the sugar.

Apologies for the epic post, but I just think low-carbing is often (but not always) another weightloss dead-end. It works, until you almost inevitably fail at it. Even the highly successful Boot Camp threads seem to be full of people on their second, third etc attempt to start again.

[BendydickCuminsnatch]

EOLIAN!!!! Get off this thread you CHEAT! MN ban ring a bell??

[Eolian]

Ha ha! I was going to say the same to you!

[SadSock]

You can do it slimbob! Think of the weigh in and then posting on this thread how many lbs you've lost!

[SlimbobJones]

Well...

This morning I went to Tesco to weigh in...

-4.6lbs!!!!!

AAAAAAARGH!!!!!!

I'M SO HAPPY!!!

I now weigh 17st 13.5lbs and I'm no longer on the wrong side of 18st!

Yay!

[SadSock]

Brilliant news! Congrats

[Frestelli]

😀😀😀😀😀
fantastic news! What a great start to the week. We can do it!

[Eolian]

Fab!!!

[QuimReaper]

Wow Slimbob you hero! What an achievement!

[Loubilou09]

Fab news! Well done!!

[SlimbobJones]

Morning!

I'm still plodding along, yesterday was weird. I wasn't hungry in the afternoon so I skipped my snack, then I was starving by the time I got to the gym and it was a real struggle to get through my routine. I did it though and I ran for 1min 50 secs. Considering I started at 1min 30 secs on Wednesday that's not a bad progression! I'm still finding squats on the TRX really really difficult but then I thought actually, I'm just shy of 18st so it's never going to be easy to heft up this amount of weight from the floor is it?? I managed a single set of 15 reps of both squats and lunges but it bloody hurt!

Tracking my food and sticking within my tracking zone is starting to become routine now, I'm finding it easier to remember to pick up my phone and track my food before I eat it and I'm planning my days in the morning over breakfast most days. This is helping because it means I know what food is "sanctioned" for the day and I don't have to think about it again.

I was in the bath last night having a think (as you do) and I've come to the conclusion that obesity is a mental health issue, not a physical one. No one, absolutely no one chooses to be fat. No matter how many overweight people claim to love their bodies, if they were skinny there's no way they'd deliberately gain weight, they're just making what they have right now work for them. There's nothing wrong with that and I'm a massive advocate of loving the body you're in, but I think it's naive to believe people are fat from choice. If that's the case though, why on earth do people eat themselves into obesity? They know it causes health issues and will eventually kill them. They know it impacts quality of life and yet they we still eat. The term "food addiction" is thrown around quite freely in online blogs and the like, but I think when you forget the physical symptoms of obesity and look at what personality and mental health traits the long term obese have in common, you start to see that the causes of obesity are less outward and more inward. The more I look at my own reasons for my obesity the more I think it's less about what I eat and more about what I've thought and felt about food my entire life.

Bah.

[sleepwhenidie]

Hi Slimbob, you sound like you are doing great. Also you seem really interested in exploring the reasons behind overeating . Some resources you might find useful...

Institute for the Psychology of Eating (in the interests of disclosure I am an IPE coach).

[[http://isabelfoxenduke.com Isabel Foxen Duke, 'stop fighting food'.

Beyond Chocolate

There are lots of free resources and reading recommendations in all of the above.

You may also want to look at the BED support thread here, which has been running since 2014 and see if you find it helpful .

Good luck

[sleepwhenidie]

Apologies, for some reason two links glued together there...

Beyond Chocolate this one needed fixing

And so did the last one www.mumsnet.com/Talk/new_blog_posts/2029166-Eating-Disorder-Recovery

[Frestelli]

Hey Slim how has your week been? Just checking in x

[SlimbobJones]

Hey :)

Thanks for checking in, that's lovely :)

I'm ok, had a couple of wobbles this week but I'm off on holiday to wales next week and will be walking 4 miles minimum every day, so I thinknit can pull it back before I weigh in next Monday :)

[MrsWooster]

Q just saying hello and also that 'talking' to you made a real difference to the way I see my own weight, as did your recent post about over weight being more about mind than mouth.. keep going and, whatever happens, be happy; we only get one run at this apologies to any reincarnationists

[SlimbobJones]

Morning!

Apologies for the radio silence, I've been off in West Wales on holibobs all week. I did lots of eating and drinking but also lots of walking and it was exactly what myself and DP needed.

Unfortunately, I weighed in this morning and I've gained 4.5lbs :( HOWEVER, I lost that in a week the week before I went so I'm sure I can get it off again sharpish.

I'm absolutely determined now and have a clear run until 20th Nov (my Birthday) in which I'd like to lose a full stone. It's basically 5 weeks away and there's nothing between now and then to distract me :)

Last time I went on holiday I gained 9.5lbs in 6 days so I did much better than I thought I would...

ONWARDS!