Podgy and poor

Crisp_£_note

Hi I was hoping for some help please. I have been struggling with my weight for a very long time it just wants to go on not come off. I watch my portion sizes, what I eat and drink as much as I can.

I know one of the problems is my lack of motivation to exercise, I really dont have anyone to do it with. I try and do all the free things like going for a walk, riding my exercise bike, bouncing on the trampette, jumping round to a fitness DVD and going on the Wii fit. But I find it so boring to do it by myeslf.
I would like to go swimming, have a long walk with friends, go for a bike ride with hubby but everyone else is so busy they just want to relax in their time off (understandable). Plus I cant drive and the local leisure centres are too far to walk or ride to plus the bus is so expensive. All the local keep fit classes seem to be for over 50's.

Having health problems isnt helping make me want to exercise, nor is it helping with my constant worry that its getting worse and I cant stop putting on the pounds and this is going to lead to worse health.

Ive looked around at all the 'weight loss clubs' available and their really expensive, no matter how much I want to lose weight I just cant justify the costs.
In the past I have tried Tesco ediets, and Rosemary Conley the RC was quite successful but became expensive to maintain. Over Christmas I put myself on a low carb eating plan which worked quite well but got boring. I mean baked beans on toast without the toast, jacket spud without the spud, soup without the roll, sausage and mash without the mash .... Christmas dinner without the rosties or parsnips or stuffing balls, christmas pud with creme fresh, cold turkey and salad without the chips

Hubby tries to support me but its not the right kind. He wont eat veg or fruit (although I have hidden it in bolognaise sauces before now he found out and stopped eating it even though at first he said it was yummy). He is overweight as well but has an active job and life so it kind of ballances out, although he does smoke. When I suggest we go for a walk he says he has something to do or is too tired or maybe later on Sunday when its his day off (yeah rite he always busy with other stuff).

Were on a very tight budget for food as well which isnt helped by the fact that there are 2 lots of shopping to get as hubby wont eat a lot of what I need. Therefore the fruit and salad ends up getting chucked away as I cant eat it quick enough and theres nobody to share it with. Money wasted. So its eay to sneak into the bad habbit again of just having what hubby shoves in the oven with a tin of beans or veg. Usualy his tollerance to veg includs potatoes (mash, chips, and other oven cook varieties) and a tea-spoonful of peas and carrots.

Re reading over this post looks like I dont try so its no wonder my Dr wont help and I feel nobody cares or beleives me when I say how hard I am trying yet my body is putting it on not taking it off.

It doesnt help that fruit and veg is often costing more than a ready meal. My freezer can only take so much frozen veg (mixed or individual) and my cupboards can only take so many tins.

So I am hoping someone out there can tell me how I can try and lose weight on a very tight budget (talk about tightening the belt :rotfl:). I dont mind cooking from scratch so long as theres not many ingredients, and I dont mind freezing some either. I dont mind conveinience meals so long as their portioned for 1 (or can be divided up and frozen). I dont mind tins.

Sorry if this sounds like a sob story its not meant to I just want help !

Thanks in advance.

jamsandwhich

I can't offer a lot of advice on the motivation and weight loss issues - I am a bit overweight myself (too many bank holiday takeaways, crisps and white wine over the past few months:o) but have always had gym memberships as does OH and tbh he is highly motivated which keeps me on track:) I think the biggest hurdle you have is lack of interest from your OH - tbh if my OH wasn't so motivated I don't think I would be but he is a gym freak anyway ;-)

My membership is at a local hotel and has full fitness facilities (good sized too and not just a token gesture of cruddy machines), swimming pool, sauna, steamroom etc and only costs me £29 per month - I know it is a lot but of you break it down it is only £7.25 per week which is a lot less than a load of salad you're not eating! I was going to spinning classes at a local leisure centre and it was costing me more than this for two classes a week. Have you had a good look around your area for similar?

Do you have a garden and if so, why not try growing fruit and veg? A couple of metre squared raised beds will provide more than enough volume and variety for one person and after the initial outlay doesn't have to cost much to produce by saving seeds for the next year and, you have the bonus of exercising too whilst maintaining it.

flissh

Awww, doesn't sound like a sob story to me. How do you think we all got into this mess in the first place;)

Getting fit and losing weight is hard work, REALLY hard work. Even harder if you can't get your other half to help motivate you.

There are no easy answers. But if you don't try to stick to healthy eating the problem will just get bigger (if you see what I mean)

Are there really no friends who would do something with you once a week? How about advertising in the local shop (the old card in the window trick) for a walking buddy, carefully vetted though, don't want you hiking with the local axe murderer!!

Or how about walking a neighbours dog?

As for healthy food going off in the fridge, you will have to buy more often if it's salad, or if that is not possible how about healthy meat and veg type meals prepared on you day off and frozen.

As for the unsuportive other half, I spent too many years with someone like that. I say find a way to make him understand how important this is to you and you need his support, or you may start to question why the person who loves you does not want to help you get healthy. (Cos he should, shouldn't he??)

Crisp_£_note

Thanks Jams for the advice I hadnt thought of the local hotels, but again they seem quite expensive especialy when theres travel on top and no one to go with. I know I might make new friends whilst there but thats not the problem just another benefit. I have 2 dogs of our own but they are too big and pull too much for me to walk, I do go with hubby sometimes when he takes them out but I find that he plods along and which winds me and the dogs up making it not so enjoyable. I could find someone who has a smaller dog though good idea!

I try and fins an excuse to go out at least once or twice a week to make me go, like a trip to the local library to borrow a book or take it back (reguardless of reading it or not), or a trip to the local shop for the weekly newspaper. It all helps.

Thanks Fissh you have reminded me of some good pointers there like pre cooking some healthy meals and freezing them. With reguards to the salad I could buy the individual portions at £1 a tub which come in a couple of mixed varieties so may be cheaper? I suppose I could do the same for myself and divide thesalady stuff up into tubs so its all ready to pull out the fridge and even to pick at, also good food on the go.

I buy lots of food when their on offer or I have a coupon, including the Quorn stuff which I have as a substitute to hubbys full fat brands (some though are quite bland or too spicy).

I recently noticed that Asda stock a lot of Quorn and even Weight Watcher stuff. I dont have a local Asda its Tesco or Sainsbury for us (Lidle as well but I find their food isnt very slimming friendly even thought its cheap). But I can order on line from Asda or maybe persuade Hubby to take us once a month (leave him in a pub nearby) and stock up that way perhaps? Got me thinking at least.

Thanks

Rowan9

Sorry you are feeling down. I agree with the poster who said you need to buy salad stuff more often, a little at a time, to stop it going off. Lidl have their fab vine tomatoes on offer at the moment - or they do here. I walked down to the shop twice to get some rather than get a big lot at once. I walk quite a lot and also have 2 dogs but they are ok and don't pull. I lost a stone last summer by just doing the things I couldn't be bothered doing - mostly walking (as quickly as i could) and by following the Slimming World thread on here so i could work out the eating plan. It doesn't have to be expensive if you choose cheaper fruit and veg eg I eat loads of the cheapest apples on offer and also lots of raw carrots. I buy Sainsb Basics and they are fine. Exercise is tough. That's it! It's tougher when you are carrying extra weight but it really helps to get it off. once it starts coming off, you can walk further/ faster.
I think you have to do this for YOU. If your DH doesn't want to eat healthily or go for a walk, you can still do it - do it for yourself because you are worth looking after.
Hope you feel better about it. Just take one little step - maybe a walk round the block or an apple instead of a cake.
W

ps just noticed your last post mentions Lidl not having healthy food - try their fruit and veg section. It's great and they often have good offers. Also the 2 wild salmon fillets for £1.99 is really good

Burtie_2

I'm also sorry you're feeling down but you seem to have a reason/excuse for everything which tends to go against everything you have written in your signature about being positive and strong.

I have to disagree with your Lidl comment/reason/excuse about not being "slimming friendly" and I'm sure I've seen Weight Watcher processed meals etc in Tesco.

Personally I don't eat much processed food and I don't spend much on my shopping.

Some items you may like to consider for a healthy/cheap diet include

Oats (35p 500g) for Porridge
Eggs (10p each)
Low Fat Natural Yogurt (49p 500ml)
Frozen veg (if you can fit it in your freezer)
Fresh meat (Lidl often have at least 1 item half price every weekend - but get there early).
Museli (£1 kg)
Bananas (currently only 68p kg)
Quark (70p pot) High protein, low fat/carbs

Losing weight is mainly all about calories in/out. I tend to replace high carb food (potatoes, rice, pasta) in my evening meal with fibrous veg (cauliflower, broccoli, sprouts) allowing me to eat more meat (protein) which is slower digesting and more satiating.

Sorry if you think I've been hard, it not intentional, but only you can make the change.

irstaroo22

Hi, do you use my fitness pal? if not I would defo recommend it, its like a food diary, you put in exactly what you are eating and what exercise you are doing and it will tell you exactly how many calories, how much fat etc you have left for the day. Its a good way of finding healthy foods and making sure you dont over eat and snack on things you shouldnt. It helps motivate me, hopefully if could help you too and whats more its completely free
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/

Hax

Don't know if this will be of any help to you - but I have a similar situation in that my OH has health issues which means that she is generally unable to do much - so long country walks are pretty much out - unless I fancy going for a wander on my own.

Anyway, over the last year and a half (or so), I have slowly, but surely, lost almost three stones - I was 18 stone 10lb, now down to 15 stone 12lb (at which I seem to have plateaued - my fault and I can fix it!)

Anyway, the main reason for my original weight gain is my lack of exercise as I have a desk job. That hasn't changed - but I know I need to increase my exercise to be "healthy".

I attribute my weight loss to the following slight changes I have made:

• I now ensure that I ALWAYS have breakfast in the morning - just a handful (or two) of muesli.
• I've reduced my lunchtime sandwiches by half - now have just two slices making up the sandwich.
• I've eliminated butter from my sandwiches.
• I don't have as much cheese as I used to (that was a big downfall of mine!).
• I eat a LOT more fruit - I hardly used to eat any. Now, I have at least the following: banana, apple, pear clemetine (or whatever is on offer!)
• I don't have cake in my lunchbox now (I used to have a slice of homemade cake almost every day! )
• I do try and ensure I get and walk about for an hour or so at least once a week - I need to increase this to once a day
• In the evenings, I try and ensure I keep a little more "active" at home - instead of just lazing on the sofa and occasionally nodding off!

On the flip side, I still have crisps, biscuits, takeaways and all the bad stuff - not every day, but I haven't stopped having them - weekends tends to be the main time for them!

I can't say for sure what my weight loss is attributed to - but these are the main changes that I've made - none were for the explicit purpose of losing weight - they just "happened" as did the weight loss!

So, not huge changes to my lifestyle or my diet - but quite a noticeable difference in my weight and size - trousers are down to a 38inch waist (from 44 inches!) and I'm back down to just a single 'XL' on my tops (instead of XXL) now - I think just an 'L' would be pushing it a little! Still not a modelling figure I know - but it's better than it was! :P

As I say, my weight has plateaued for the last month or so - which doesn't bother me particularly as I can happily blame it on eating cheese and too many takeaways this year - oh yeah - and my current addiction to Mochas... That's about to change

Gloomendoom

Hax wrote: »

I can't say for sure what my weight loss is attributed to - but these are the main changes that I've made - none were for the explicit purpose of losing weight - they just "happened" as did the weight loss!

I'd hazard a guess that it has something to do with consuming less calories.

That's the most effective and cheapest way to lose weight.

murphydog999

Contact the person/people doing the over 50's classes and see if there is a chance of her/him introducing other classes that would suit, if they know there is interest I'm sure they would help. You could pre-empt this and (as another poster said) put a card in the local shop window (or similar, bus stop maybe?) to see if anyone else is interested, or get the instructors number and ask them to contact her direct.

Or if there is a venue near-by that would be suitable for a class, there's another option. If one instructor is busy, there are plenty more. It means you doing a bit of leg-work but it might pay off? Plus, you get to meet other like-minded people.

However, if the class-thing doesn't come off and you get people that are interested, you could set up a walking/exercise club, then YOU could motivate others into doing something.

belfastgirl23

OK I'm going to be harsh here, but believe me I'm talking to myself as much as you, having put on almost a stone in the last year

Bottom line is either you want to do it or you don't. You're absolutely right, this is a list of excuses above. If you want to swim properly you don't go with friends because you don't have time to talk, you're swimming. Walking to the leisure centre could be part of your exercise regime. And you can exercise almost for free - walking, running etc.

So you have to figure out, do you really want to do it? Because there are no quick fixes. No one can wave a magic wand and make it easy for you. It's not easy.

On the exercise front, all I can say is that once you start doing it, doing it motivates you to do it some more.

My advice would be make a commitment to yourself for the next month to do ONE thing right. Whether it's giving up your biggest food weakness, taking up a 15 min walk every day, whatever. And allow NO excuses. My suggestion would be to make it an exercise thing because in a 15 min walk you can reinforce to yourself all the reasons you want to lose weight.

My other suggestion would be not to allow any negative rhetoric to enter your mind about it. Once you start making excuses for yourself you're sunk. So don't do it. Switch it off. Visualise a big lightswitch and actually turn it off in your mind.

And remember, it's easier to start today than tomorrow! by then you'll be a day older and a few grams heavier!!

Good luck.