Don't even know where to start

[LittleBearinaBigWorld]

I weighed myself today for the first time in a long time. I was rather disgusted at how much weight I have managed to put on without even really noticing - I have gone up a size in jeans but I wear stretchy, clingy clothes so they still fit.

I am very tall for a woman (6ft1) so I carry the extra weight okay, but I'm ridiculously uncomfortable in myself, and really I would like to lose anywhere between 6 and 8 stone.

I'm terrified to be honest, the prospect of losing that amount of weight is incredibly daunting. My mum has recommended Slimming World to me, but there are no groups near me. I thought about joining online or getting the books off eBay or something.

I'd really like to start doing more exercise. I have a few weights, and I'd love to tone up. I'm only young and I'm hoping my skin won't become loose when I lose weight, but I do have really really bad underarm flab.

I don't have a lot of money because I'm between jobs and I'm getting way more stressed than I need to over this. I do comfort eat, and have done for a long time (since about age 12 when my parents split).

I would really appreciate any motivation or guidance - perhaps an example of a meal plan or links to some exercise routines or challenges? I like the idea of 30 day challenges that target different muscle groups, and also I'd love to get involved with something like Zumba, but with not being able to drive it's too difficult to get to a class.

I’ve got a similar amount to lose so depressing isn’t :-( I’ve downloaded my fitness pal which is free and set my daily calories at 2000 which seems loads but compared to what I normally eat! Also been doing couch to 5k which is brilliant! Can’t believe how I’ve gone from walking to jogging (slowly) 30 minutes in 9 weeks! Also doing the 100 squats a day challenge in March. Shall we motivate each other?

Start with the 30 day shred, it’s a couple of quid on amazon, it’s as hard as you make it but is only 18 mins of actual exercise. I promise after 8-10 days you will notice a small difference and if you are also changing your diet you may well notice a big difference. Don’t be disheartened by the amount of weight to lose, usually when it’s that amount you’ll notice a drastic loss quickly which will spur you on. Go for it!!!

I would start with cutting back or reducing your worst foods!

No full fat fizzy stuff - drink water/flavoured tea

Snacks - try to reduce

Or pop over to the low carb section on here

Or just try to eat food that as natural and not too processed

Myusername2015 it would be lovely to have a buddy as such!

I already cook dinner from scratch so I know exactly what I'm eating on an evening, and I honestly can't see any problems there. I always use lean meat (5% mince etc) and have things like bolognese, chilli con carne, chicken curry, all that sort of stuff.

I think with eating it really is the middle of the day that I struggle with. I do try to meal plan and sort out snacks but I never can really stick to it. I've ordered apples, a melon and kiwis with the next shop, all of which I love, so I'm hoping that will encourage me to make better choices.

I get really embarassed exercising at home (no idea why!) but something like the 30 day shred looks good. I need to start make changes and soon, because it's getting me so so down and I want to feel confident again.

I have a very supportive DP but he doesn't know how to help me, and I fear it's causing tension because neither of us wants to upset the other - him by suggesting things I could do or me by making changes to our diet because I don't want to cook two seperate things.

I already cook dinner from scratch so I know exactly what I'm eating on an evening, and I honestly can't see any problems there. I always use lean meat (5% mince etc) and have things like bolognese, chilli con carne, chicken curry, all that sort of stuff.

^

You need to weigh out and log your food on MFP. It'll be a revelation. Are you eating pasta /rice with these meals? It soon adds up.

This was definitely a wake up call for me when I put my meals into MyFitnessPal; healthy home cooked meals that I was estimating at around 400 calories where often closer to 1000! I couldn’t believe even a teaspoon of oil was adding 100kcals; a normal (to me anyway) bowl of pasta could be 500 calories! Honestly get some weighing scales and for a week weigh and measure everything you eat normally and track it to see.

Yay let’s do this!

I'm going to download the app and have a go.

When I have used it in the past it has been really difficult to use if cooking from scratch because you have to add alllll the ingredients in one by one!

Can you for instance save meals to have the same thing again?

I am a total fizzy drink addict, but I’ve found that if I drink a full water bottle (750ml) after I exercise in the morning and another straight after lunch I don’t crave them anymore, can’t even remember the last time I had one. However I notice if I don’t drink that second bottle of water I start to get the craving for a fizzy drink again. Definitely drink as much water as you can and ‘breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dine like a pauper’ is a good way to size your meals.

If you use my fitness pal it will save any meals that you put in for later use

Another vote for the MFP app that can really help show up where the extra calories are coming from.

We're on a health kick here and have been using Tom Kerridge's new book as meal inspiration. Some are a bit of a faff but all have been super tasty and decent portions. Great variety for feeding families so that even the non dieters among us are happy eating what's cooked.

I have also used wii fit in the past when exercising outside the home seemed tricky. I found it a great motivator - like gaming but with movement - and the yoga app really did improve my core strength, posture and balance. I see on ebay you can pick the console, balance board and games for about £70. Even without that, there are loads of yoga videos on youtube that can be followed for free.

I lost 6 stone last year and only needed to buy new clothes after about 3 stone as I’d been squeezing into the wrong size clothes for so long!

I didn’t follow any diet plans like WW or Slimming World, just ate less and moved more, cut down on alcohol and stopped snacking completely. Once you get started the motivation to keep going comes from feeling the health benefits I think along with seeing the weight come off!

Thank you for all of the advice! It's so daunting, the prospect of it, but I'm sure I can do it! I like to concept of 'eat less, move more', I just get hangry so badly and scare people!!

How are you getting on?

I've signed up to MyFitnessPal and started putting in my calories - nothing off yet :(

Update!!

I lost 3 pounds!!!

Glad to see you're off to a good start!

However, as the saying goes, you can't outrun a bad diet.

Exercise is much less important in terms of losing weight than diet. So although you may think you're eating healthily, it might not necessarily be so.