Help me shift this weight please

There’s no easy answer. It comes down to willpower I think. Find healthy foods that you really enjoy and look forward to the pleasure of your clothes fitting nicely.
But above all be happy.

I'm sure many might not agree but my advice is "don't go on a diet".

Just start eating three meals a day. No snacks. You know perfectly well what foods are good and bad (fried/chocolate/sugary drinks/excess alcohol etc). If you are unsure there are many good sources of information.

This is a change for the rest of your life, not just for a few months - so following someone else's plan just won't work.

Also, you have to start moving more - using up the calories. You don't have to go to the gym or start weight lifting, just go for a walk, and build up to longer and faster walks.

It takes will-power, and that will come from your desire to be healthier and live longer. Good luck.

Start with a small goal and find a diet that suits you. It needs to be a lifestyle change or it won’t work and won’t last. I used to be a couple of stones overweight and a photo taken on holiday made me decide to tackle it. I hate diets but found a system that suited me - basically cutting out fat and sugar but still being able to eat potatoes, pasta and rice within reasonable limits. I use the My Fitness Pal app - it’s free and you can input your weight and goal weight and enter details of what you eat at every meal. I found that it helps you to realise what you can and can’t eat. For example, mushrooms have no fat and practically no calories but are really filling. It took me over a year to lose the excess weight and even now I am half a stone heavier than I prefer but I weigh myself regularly and know how to cut down to lose the excess before it gets out of hand. It also really helps if you have a friend in a similar situation that you can band together with and support each other. Not least is to tell yourself how much better it would be for your health. Good luck!

Have a look at the ‘I’m a pear ? the sequel!’ thread under Diet and Fitness - lots of discussion, good tips and peer encouragement.

Try and walk for an hour a day if you are physically able. No need for fitbits, gyms or anything expensive. Just walk regularly and as others have said 3 small sensible meals per day. Good luck.

Joined weight watchers about 4 years ago to loose a stone. Best feeling in the world after 4 years still have my target weight. Just take a step at a time diet and exercise go hand in hand. Stop eating when you feel you have had enough and serve food on a side plate. Do not deny yourself treats but keep them in control. The feeling from within when you loose weight will never leave you. Good luck walking is my friend in life for feeling good.

I've put on weight since having to shield. We couldn't drive anywhere to walk on the flat and steep hills are too much for us now. When it got to just over half a stone I thought, right, have to do something because I wanted to lose a stone before this!
It's not so easy when your knees, hips and feet become painful but you know that losing some weight would help with that. Catch 22 situation and I do sympathise.
I rarely snack and eat healthily.

We could take a look at that other thread which Jonezone mentioned, Itsnell.

I do know what to do, it's doing it.

I don’t know if you eat biscuits, cakes, chocolate, all the nice but naughty things.

If so, just don’t buy them. You cannot eat what isn’t there. Try and fill the gap with fruit or suchlike.

I don't.
I have made DH cake but I don't eat them but then put on the weight for him!

I have found that reducing portion size by using a slightly smaller dinner plate really helps. I read this ages ago and thought 'that won't help', but it really does! Obviously don't pile the food on the plate. Doing it little by little is a much better method of losing weight. Don't cut out carbohydrates, just have a little less if everything. Persevere and good luck!

Firstly, well done for opening up and sharing your worry about your weight and health. I've tried Slimming Worldand didn't like it one iota, sitting around telling complete strangers what I've eaten etc just doesn't cut it for me.

However, this does work for me.......... a day at a time setting realistic targets.........don't buy the stuff I'm not supposed to eat so no biscuits or chocolate............drink plenty of water, a glass on waking up and then at breakfast time, lunch time and dinner and finally before bed, plus inbetween, I normally drink around four pints a day. Look at portion sizes and eat slowly, and move more. I don't go to the gym just do plenty of walking and some floor exercises at home.

I accept, this won't work for everyone and it's just a suggestion.

I entirely agree about using a smaller dinner plate and arrange the food on it attractively. There is no need to cut out anything, save for medical reasons, just eat less. Cut out desserts and replace with fruit. Drink as much water as possible, particularly if you feel hungry. If you don’t like drinking water, try using a straw, for some reason you tend to drink it more easily, and no snacks between meals. Add a daily walk, and keep yourself occupied. At the weekend allow yourself a treat. Good luck.

Itsnell I'm the same. What I've started doing is having fruit for breakfast, something on toast for lunch (dry toast), a proper, decent dinner (last night was beef casserole), then counting the calories I've had all day - I include the milk in my coffee - I'm aiming for 1000 a day, but if after dinner I've only had 800, I treat myself to a couple of biscuits, a piece of cake, or a packet of crisps. I think it's all about having the foods you like but cutting down on the sweet or fatty stuff.

It’s cheap to join Slimming World. You don’t have to go to meetings at present but they do Zoom. It’s your choice if you join in or not. I wanted to lose a stone. SW was recommended to me so I gave it a go. You get lots of reading material sent through and have access to 100’s of recipes online. To be honest I couldn’t believe how much I was allowed to eat. Their method seems to cut out all fat.

Also I cycle when I can and try and walk 10000 a day. Weight’s dropped off and it wasn’t difficult.

Thank you for your replies. I really appreciate you all taking the time to offer me help and advice.
Wildswan16 I agree about not following a diet - I’ve done them, lost weight then put iit all on again and more. So it has to be a lifestyle change as you say.
Jonezone And Callistemon I will look at I'm a pear thread.

I have just dropped off a sackful of almost new diet book at Our local hospice shop which has just opened its doors to donations todays that I’m embarrassed to say I buy, read a bit of it, decide I can’t or won’t follow it then stick in a pile for the charity shop.

I often think I’ll do a diet, and I did lose weight with Weightwatchers once or twice, but I know I’ll only stick it for a few days. It’s the same with cutting out food groups or eating low fat no fat foods - I’d rather have good quality proper food than pretend foods

So I need to work out a plan for myself and find ways of keeping to it. Easier said than done, isn’t it?

itsnell You have answered your own question in the 13:41 post above. I am like you in having personal preferences and still eat them - only much smaller portions. I tell myself that splitting one meal into two means that I can enjoy it 2 days in a row. I have learnt to enjoy home made soup without having a big chunk of bread on the side, Puddings now are freshly picked fruit with one squirt of low fat cream and salads may or may not get a squirt of lemon juice but definitely no salad cream or mayo........ and so on. Now I am on my own, I never eat anything that is not on my favourites list. Backed up by loads of extra exercise, walking, gardening, sawing wood,I have only lost half a stone but gone down 2 dress sizes - they say that muscle weighs more than flab!

I've just made DH a summer pudding with fruit compote from the garden - no added sugar but decided to make a small one and keep some fruit aside for myself.

We were on holiday for 2 months visiting DD in Australia. We came back to lockdown. AKA baking for the U.K.

We are doing the 5:2 , in fact we are doing the 5:3! I’m finding it amazingly easy. So far I have had an orange today, lots of tea and coffee, luckily I drink it black. Tomorrow I can eat what I like. Hunger comes and goes but I think it helps that we are both doing it.

I’m 5ft 5 and I read an article in the Times that informed me that if you are 5ft 4 and 10 stone then you are overweight.
That has spurred me on , I’ve got about 5lbs to go.

Just went on the NHS site I am actual just on the line but better have a few pounds in hand!

I agree with you wildswan about cutting out snacks & sticking to 3 meals a day.
itsnell here’s a link to an article explaining how ultra-processed foods contribute to weight gain which you may find interesting
www.theguardian.com/food/2020/feb/13/how-ultra-processed-food-took-over-your-shopping-basket-brazil-carlos-monteiro

I am surprised that no-one has mentioned the five two fast diet by Dr Moseley. Do buy the paperback that explains it, as it is so different from any other approach, well researched, easy to follow, and highly effective.
Many of my friends love this approach, as you only need to do it on two days a week, when you miss a meal, giving your digestive system a rest, then eat two more meals within the calorie boundaries he describes.
It is the only one I use. Do try it, reading the introduction alone is very motivating. I highly recommend it for ease of use and good results.

Try intermittent fasting. Basically you just eat within eight hours which means you skip a meal. Keep lots of fruit around, don’t keep any biscuits or snacks in and try hard to walk half an hour as fast as you can each day. Oh and cut alcohol as low as you can without getting miserable! Glass of water before each meal, fills you up too.
This all works for me when I need to lose a few pounds but ai don’t believe in diets as such!

Good luck x

Oh forgot to add, only do all that five days a week! The other two days you can eat what you like when you like or you start to feel fed up!

Like cjack I find Weightwatchers works for me. I did do Slimming World in about 2006 and lost my first 3 stones there. Then thought I could lose the rest of the total of 8 stones I lost alone, but began to gain and tried WW. I have been at goal, around 8 stones less, since 2009.

I do find the weekly weigh in keeps me 'honest'. The NHS actually pays for you to go in some circumstances, if your GP prescribes it, as it is the one method that works for more than the others do. It is not just one way, it gives choices of how to do it.

I go to zoom meetings at present and can do as many as I want to! I just do one every 10 days or so. My group leader has a facebook group too. If you would like to come to our zoom meetings or fb you could message me.I need to stay down for health reasons and find this does it.

I do need to exercise too. Normally I swim but currently just walk and tai chi, some of that on zoom .

The WW are currently doing online exercise groups on zoom and quiz sessions too.