Need to diet - where to start

olivetrees

Over the past two years i have put on three stone - gone from 9 to 12.

I feel ugly - never look at myself in the mirror. None of my clothes fit anymore.

I need to diet but i don't really know how. I've looked at a few and they seem very complicated.

My husband was made redundant at the end of May so am not in a good place anyway and can't seem to get motivated at all.

Any advice, hints, tips would be so very welcome

Thank you

trumpton

If you are on a budget, Weight Watchers and Slimming World will be out - I think they are around £6 a week.

Lots of people have success with low-carb diets so that might be the way to go. This is a popular Scandinavian version of low carb:

http://blogg.passagen.se/dahlqvistannika/?anchor=my_lowcarb_dietary_programe_in

I am not saying follow this particular one, just linking to it as it gives a good, quick summary of what you can and can't eat on low-carb diets. It's not as hard-core as Atkins.

I think you also need to address the psychological issues of why you have put on weight - comfort eating, job change, boredom and so on.

geri1965_2

Just eat less. It's cheaper than dieting, and it works.

thehappybutterfly

Honestly it's not hard to lose weight. Cut out the crap (I'm making a few assumptions here) like biscuits/sweets/crisps, cut out processed food (full of hidden unecessary fats and sugar) and cook from scratch. You'd be amazed at how easily you can lose weight without really trying. And don't refer to it as diet - this will likely send you running to the biscuit/crisp/cheese [STRIKE]cupboard[/STRIKE], I'm sorry AISLE as you won't have any of these bad boys in your cupboards!

Meals like cottage pie padded out with lots of veggies and lentils, chicken/sweet potato curry (no naan!), spag bolog, chilli are all filling and budget-friendly. There's loads of low fat cookie and cake recipes out there to satisfy your sweet tooth - I can't help you if your a cheese fan (sorry!). Step away from WW branded sauces. Not only are they mostly revolting but they're quite often actually higher in calories than cheaper varieties and way, way higher than homemade.

Dried pulses and tinned toms are your friends! And lots of careful planning.

jenhug

an easy way if you can't afford a slimming club (although in some areas GP's can prescribe 12 weeks of slimming world for free!) I would try doing 4% fat diet. no more than 4 grammes of fat per 100 grammes of food. However I did do this while I was waiting to have my gall bladder removed!

I am currently doing slimming world myself (after failing miserably on weight watchers) and have lost 19.5 lb in 7 weeks! So amazingly easy!

belfastgirl23

The first thing you need to do is take a long and critical look at your diet and lifestyle. If you're gaining weight, there is a reason and it's normally not too hard to figure out. For some it's alcohol, for others crisps, chocolates, cakes. Sometimes it's something odd like a serious fizzy drink habit or having 8 slices of toast for breakfast. Or simply a total lack of physical activity. Do you have a sense of what it is causing you to gain weight at the minute? Are there any small changes you could make that might have a big impact?

There's no point in trying a diet if you don't first of all figure out what got you to where you are.

Which is not to say that analysis is the whole story, I know exactly why I'm gaining weight but can't stop myself at the minute - but that's a whole other story!

WantToBeSE

belfastgirl23 wrote: »

The first thing you need to do is take a long and critical look at your diet and lifestyle. If you're gaining weight, there is a reason and it's normally not too hard to figure out. For some it's alcohol, for others crisps, chocolates, cakes. Sometimes it's something odd like a serious fizzy drink habit or having 8 slices of toast for breakfast. Or simply a total lack of physical activity. Do you have a sense of what it is causing you to gain weight at the minute? Are there any small changes you could make that might have a big impact?

There's no point in trying a diet if you don't first of all figure out what got you to where you are.

Which is not to say that analysis is the whole story, I know exactly why I'm gaining weight but can't stop myself at the minute - but that's a whole other story!

In my case it's all of the underlined!!


Olivetrees- i am similar to you. 2 years ago i was 9st and reasonably healthy (apart from being a smoker). Then i gave up smoking (which is the BEST thing i have ever done) but now i am 12st!!! So i have gained 3st.
I really want to lose it, but i refuse to go on a 'diet'..i know that diets are temporary. Instead, i am planning on cutting out/down on alcohol and chocolate.
I have a real sweet tooth and chocolate od my majot downfall, and so is sitting down with a glass of red when the kids are in bed!
So, if need a 'healthy lifestyle buddy', i'll happily join you

Pearlstar

Have a look at My Fitness Pal, its free and you can log your food and it tells you the calories, fat, protein and carbs.

daska

I would suggest that you take a long hard look at what you're eating before deciding what might be best thing to try for you. Because if what you're eating is causing you to put on weight you need to be looking at changing what you eat for the rest of your life.

I would recommend watching Christopher Gardner's The Battle of the Diets: Is Anyone Winning (At Losing?), it's a bit long but well worth it for an understanding of what works for different people.

And, very short, The Skinny on Obesity, particularly this video about sugar addiction and overeating.

There_Goes_Trouble

Pearlstar beat me to it!

My Fitness Pal is fab! It's a website and a phone app that synch with each other, You input your details and it works out how many calories you need per day, then you input what you eat and the exercise you do and it keeps a tally for you.

Personally, I have found that by making myself more aware of how many calories are in foods, it really helps me stick to a healthy diet.

E.g. I did a favour for a friend and she bought me a tub of M&S chocolate brownie mini bites. I'd never looked at calories before so was shocked to see they were 50 calories per bite! So I've only eaten them in twos per day as a treat, instead of having 4 or 5 at a time when I'm hungry. Two mini bites equals my lunchtime half hour walk...

I am a very active person so usually my exercise offsets my food quite nicely, but I have days when I need to be careful and choose a lower calorie dinner than I might otherwise have picked, and it makes me more careful during the day so I leave enough calories for a proper dinner without going over my daily quota!

podperson

Start by looking honestly at your current diet - maybe do a food diary for a few days and make sure you put down every single thing. What are the current patterns that have led to you gaining the weight - do you snack a lot, do you have large portions, do you have a lot of alcohol/chocolate/processed food. Do you have trigger points - eg if you're bored or fed up do you reach for the biscuit tin? What do you think you could do to help break these habits - eg could you instead go for a bath, read a book, paint your nails.
At the end of the day the principles of losing weight are extremely simple - healthy, balanced meals (not too large portions), cut down on snacks and add some exercise. Of course the hard part is the motivation to make the changes and to stick with them.
You say your husband was made redundent - do you currently work? If you're both at home all day could you get him involved? It doesn't have to be all weight loss but more 'getting healthy' - so you could both try some new forms of exercise or just go out for brisk walks, try cooking some new low fat recipes etc.
Good luck with it x