Hit 40 and I need to lose about 3 stone - help!

[RalphLaurenG]

I used to be super slim throughout my 20s and 30s but then had to start a medicine which basically stops you feeling full and makes you crave food. Hence weight gain. I've pretty much got to grips with it now but I need an exercise plan for weight loss - any tips for where I can get a good one?

I have a good gym membership and I used to be a regular but this diagnosis really fucked things up. So I know my way around a gym, basically.

I love cardio and hate swimming. I also have some mobility issues which means that classes are often not an option for me. I like to push myself hard and fast - interval training works well. I just feel a bit lost with where to get started?!

I quite like spinning, might be good depending on exactly what your mobility issues are? My gym does some 30 min sessions which are essentially HIIT but on the exercise bike.

I would say though that exercise alone is unlikely to do it. I've lost 2st in 6 months and that was pretty much all diet rather than exercise.

According to an online calculator I needed (I'm 45, 5ft 8 and was 13st 5 at heaviest) to average about 1750 kcal a day to lose 1lb a week - a daily calorie deficit of about 450. A pretty full on 45 min spin session might burn that but not v sustainable to do it every day! So eating smaller portions, one modest (c.150kcal) snack a day, extra alcohol- free day a week etc.

It's not been the most interesting 6 months I admit, but over 2 st gone and a clothes size lost.

It's very hard to lose weight with exercise, its a great tool to help but it really is mostly about diet. Running a marathon burns approx 2600 calories, a pound of fat has 3500 stored calories....3 stone is an awful lot of marathons.

I'd try eating 1400 kcals a day for a couple of weeks and see if that is enough of a deficit.

I also think doing some weight training is really important in your 40s, to retain muscle. I'd get a trainer at your gym to write you a weights programme, and maybe give you a session or two to make sure your form is OK, and then do weights 3 or 4 times a week.

Then for cardio its good you like hiit, as its good for weight loss. If you feel some classes wouldn't be right, maybe the cycling ones would work , they often have a hiit element. I'd try and do some cardio 3 or 4 days a week, and have at least one full day off weights and cardio as a rest day a week.

I've started keto diet and seems easy to stay on so far...weights and workout 3 times a week...skipping..hoping to be ready for summer. Loads of online cardio workouts and diet plans out there. Take a photo in undies to motivate you and check for progress plus a pictures of how you will reward yourself, e.g. Holiday, new fab clothes in target size. Out gym kit on when you get home, more likely to do some exercise..aim for ten minutes and you might surprise yourself and do much more when you get into it. Good luck x

If you really want to lose the weight, then hypnotherapy to help with your diet plus any exercise as long as you enjoy it and you should get great results.

It's the cutting down on food that will make you lose weight; the exercise will help you tone up as you go along and keep you in a good mood from the endorphins.
The hypnotherapy can really help with the food side of things. Seeing a hypnotherapist for some 1-2-1 sessions if you can afford it and on-line recorded sessions / apps if money is tight.

Good luck.