Feeling rubbish and scared

[Pedestriancrossing]

I have always had a poor relationship with food, and knew my weight has been creeping up over last few years but head in sand. Anyway, I agreed to be part of a research study and had weight, blood pressure, cholesterol etc taken. Oh my God. I am 2 and a half stone overweight, high bp and high cholesterol. I have been so stupid letting myself get this way. Am starting on calorie counting but feel so down. Any support or advice or friendly threads?

Hi there,

Didn't want to read and run. I think the key thing to take away is that you now know there's a problem and have taken the decision to fix it.

My weight fluctuates and whilst I've never actually been clinically overweight (by the BMI scale) I have sometimes found myself a stone or more over my 'happy' weight and had to diet a bit to get down to a weight where I feel happy, healthy and fit comfortably in all my clothes again.

So, the things I would recommend are as follows:

1. Count calories. Get an app to help you do this 'My Fitness Pal' is free and a lot of people like it. I personally used a paid for site 'Weigh Loss Resources' and there are others like Nutracheck. Most allow a free trial so try a few and find one you like. Record everything religiously - if you cheat you're only cheating yourself.
2. Add a little bit of exercise in each day if you can. I start my day with a workout almost everyday and find that if I start the day making a healthy choice to exercise then making healthy food choices is easier later in the day as I don't want to waste the effort I made working out if you see what I mean. I don't have a gym membership I just walk or do home workouts on YouTube. Weight loss is mainly food however, not exercise, so don't rely on this as weight loss tool on its own.
3. If you drink alcohol cut right back - it's not so much the calories in the alcohol that's a problem for me but the lack of discipline and willpower that I struggle to manage after a few drinks which ultimately means I eat crisps and sweet treats when I wouldn't have done otherwise.
4. Join in with one of the weightloss threads on here - the support is amazing. Have a read of a few and pick one you like the sound of. I'm on one currently as I had a really bad year last year and began January with around a stone and a half to lose.
5. Keep an eye on portion sizes - I find I can usually eat more or less the same food as my family but just smaller portions. If you don't have any get some digital scales for your kitchen.
6. I am not a proponent of cutting out any food groups but I do try to reduce the amount of carbs I eat, particularly later in the day and substitute with more veg/salad.
7. Slow and steady wins the race - set a reasonable target such as 1lb a week and you're more likely to stick at it than if you go all out and starve yourself and then find you can't keep it up.

If you have a difficult relationship with food it would be worth exploring why that is and if there is anything you can do to change that as ultimately you might find you lose some weight but then put it back on again if you don't address the underlying cause.

Phew - sorry to go on - hope that helps a bit and feel free to come back with any questions. Good luck with it all - you've made the first step and you can do this!

You're aware, so now you're going the right way. This is a good thing. Millions of people have done exactly the same thing as you, but never done anything about it. You are in a strong position!

Give this a little watch before you start the nonsense calorie counting that everybody is about to recommend to you. It might make you feel a little differently about how to deal with things.

Thanks for replying, I will take a look at the threads and see if I can join a friendly one. x