How soon should I start losing weight/getting slimmer if.....

[slightlyonedgemum]

I have a bowl of Fruit and Fibre (basics one so less sugar) for breakfast, a banana mid morning, a sandwich (marmite, sandwich spread, whatever) for lunch, apple mid afternoon and normal dinner (always consisting of rice, pasta or potato and veggie) in the evening.

I'm quite impatient and want to know it'll happen!!

Is it possible to lose weight doing this type of 'diet' as I don't have the time to exercise...

If that's less than you normally eat, then you should lose weight (unless on what you normally eat you are actually getting heavier, in which case it may only slow the weight gain ).

It's certainly possible to lose weight by just having a healthy balanced diet which is a bit less than you normally have, though exercise would speed it up, even if you only did 10 minutes at a time.

If I cut back a bit on what I eat, I see a difference in 2 or 3 days, so hopefully you'll start to see results very soon.

well it depends on the size of your crockery and what you put in your sarnies

I'm trying to have smaller bowls of cereal and only 'healthy' things that aren't fatty in my sandwiches. It's definitely less than I was eating (I suffer from the enjoying baking thing) and I also tend to eat whilst bored at work. I'm now making sure I just eat a banana mid morning and an apple this afternoon and NO BISCUITS!!

I was getting heavier on what I was eating, however it'd started to slow down. I lost loads of weight last year by cutting down on my crap (but still eating a cake a week or whatever) but I was also swimming, walking to work, jogging etc a few times a week. Since getting married last summer, I haven't been swimming (no time when there's a child and you're getting used to 'family life'), can't walk to work as I do the school run and have generally been fat and lazy!

I've only really decided enough is enough this week and am considering asking for an exercise video for my birthday....

I think you should see results if you cut down on the "extras" and make sure you're eating healthy meals which aren't full of rich stodge - I'm doing pretty well by doing that at the moment! It's really a case of readjusting to a better diet all round and avoiding the eating-when-bored. An exercise video is a good plan - I've got one which has 20 minute chunks, which are easier to fit in (and harder to find an excuse not to) than one which is an hour or whatever.

If it helps you feel motivated, I've lost 6 pounds since New Year by doing something very similar, and haven't had to feel that I'm "on a diet" or missing out on nice meals, or doing very much extra exercise TBH though I'm trying to make sure I do a bt more for general fitness.

I'm only having pudding on Sunday now and (apart from risotto later...) I don't tend to eat rich or stodgy food (I'm a veggie who doesn't like greasy or creamy food). I'm also making sure I eat nothing during the week that I haven't allowed for!

Which exercise dvd do you have? I'm trying to find a good one as often I find them annoying or too easy/difficult. I also thought that if it has 10/20 min sections I can do them when I'm waiting for something decent to come on tv or after the washing up!

The good news is I weighed myself last night (the first time since September) and I've only put on half a stone. The bad news is that since I'm quite obviously fatter, it probably means my muscle has turned to fat.

Just off for a walk in my lunch hour!

I've got Davina McCall High Energy 5 There are easier and harder versions of lots of the exercises, so you can decide which one's for you. It's not perfect though - sometimes they don't give you very much instructions of what to do, and the camera isn't pointing where you need, so you have to work out what you're meant to be doing. On the plus side, I do feel it's a good level for me since I've not been getting much exercise for a while, and the short sections are definitely more do-able.