Thank god I wasn't next to colleagues...

[WellThatsJustFuckingGreat]

I flew on easyjet this week. Couldn't do the seatbelt up - there was a good 2" gap between the ends and I had to ask for the extension belt.

I have flown BA, KLM and other long haul airlines in the recent past and not one has been this bad. I have always fitted in, even if snugly. The cabin crew who fetched me the belt, and the very slim lady next to me were both very kind/discreet about it.

I had (honestly) been planning to use the return flight to draw up an updated workout plan anyway, but I am almost too embarrassed to open the relevant document as it clearly shows exercise and then there'll be me with the fattybelt over her gut.

Shame on me

(Have NCd for this, feel awful . Was gonna post in 30 days only but am hoping that people here might be a smidge more empathetic about this - I dont need even more of a kicking than I am already giving myself)

I appreciate you telling this story because I'll be on a cheap airline soon too and the same could happen to me. Sorryit happened to you though.

Maybe do a food plan before a workout plan. Don't they say 90% food and 10% exercise nowadays, for weight loss?

Please don't think shame! Do make your plan. Look forward to nice things, lower sizes, shopping for a pretty dress next summer, that kind of thing. Be kind to yourself. Make a list of foods you like that are healthy and conducive to weight loss and you have your first shopping list. Good luck.

Just because you needed the extension in one seat doesn't necessarily mean you'll need it on your return flight. My sister flew BA with me a few years back and was fine on the outbound leg but needed an extension on the way back.

Please don't feel embarrassed about planning your workout schedule on the return leg - I doubt that anyone will pay attention to the document you're working on for one thing, if they do the probably won't care, and if they do care they'll probably feel slightly patronisingly good for her for addressing things.

No shame in it at all OP! Everyone has to start somewhere. And hating yourself for where you are now is completely unhelpful.

Exercise is a great start, and as PPs say, eating well will also help. Hope you're getting some real life support too. What kind of workouts do you enjoy?

Ok turns out I also needed the extension on the way back

@PenelopeFlintstone and anyone else wondering about how it is handled...on both flights, I caught cabin crew as they were passing and basically did a sort of embarrassed charade showing them the gap between the belt. Both times, they were 100% professional and said variants of "No problem madam" and came back with the belt rolled up discreetly in their palm and just handed it over without a word, then went about their duties.

Both times I simply said to the passengers next to me that I was too fat for the belts and made light of it, even though I was dying inside. I will warn you though, that on easyjet the extensions are bright red vs the normal belts being grey, so they are easily visible

All that said, when I did meet up with my colleagues afterwards, both of them (slim women) commented that the seats were smaller than they had had on other airlines too.

And it turns out that I couldn't have done my plan anyway, as the tray table wouldn't sit flat cos of my tummy. This just gets worse...!

As regards the plan itself, my main issues are

• I have an extremely sedentary desk job which is long hours and little opportunity for exercise before; and I can't stand working out late in the day. But I may have a plan for that (watch this space)

• my eating is just weird. I can/usually do go all day long with nothing but a couple of cups of tea and I am fine. Which is actually more like 24hrs as it includes the time after last night's dinner + sleep + all next day till dinner). This is not an eating disorder, it's more "ugh, too early to eat anything" when I get up, followed by "too late to eat lunch now, may as well just wait for dinner" thing.

But if I do eat anything early in the day, I am ravenous at lunchtime and again at dinner time. And eating 3 meals a day blows my mind as I feel so stuffed. Which I think is part of the problem -
I can't get over the concept of eating more to lose weight! What we actually eat is pretty decent normal food in normal quantities.

I need to do the exercise (I am a HIIT type fan @NamedyChangedy, and I have a whole set of relevant equipment at home to enable this) as I find it gives me energy and makes me motivated to do more. I have successfully lost a lot of weight some years ago on a similar schedule, so am hoping to revive that. Although that loss in itself was a bit of a mindfuck for various other reason I won't go into here.

I really am a bit of a mess! But don't they say acknowledging you have a problem is step 1 to changing it?

Hiya I don't think you need to eat more to lose weight BUT you are obviously eating a lot more than you think you are otherwise you wouldn't be overweight. Which I am too by the way and I also very nearly needed a seat belt extender on one flight once so understand how that feels!

It sounds like the 16:8 type of approach might suit you? Means you only eat for a 8 hour period in the day. I lost 37 lbs using my fitness pal and it still log every day irrespective of dieting and I COMPLETELY honest - even on the days I have had 3,500 calories I put them in the tracker! I have put on about 11 of those 37lbs since losing the plot over the summer but I know exactly how I have done it, how many extras I have had over and above what I "need" for daily fuel and it has really taught me something!

So why not log what you are really having daily - nor what you think you are having but count all the calories and see where you are currently. Are you at an average of 2,000 calories a day or 2,500?? Once you have done that work out you'd TDEE (mine is 1719 calories) and try to reduce that by 500 a day to start with - this should give you a good starting point to lose 1lb per week.

I never track or count exercise calories if I really want to lose weight as well think all the trackers are so inaccurate and tend to really overestimate what you have done.