where do i start

[nickyniks]

hi, i've never done this before but i feel like i need some help.

Until i had my daughter 6 years ago i was always 10 stone no matter what i ate(and i never exercised lol) and then when i was pregnant with her i put on almost 6 stone because i became really ill and was in hospital for 6 months. During that time i literally became like a vegetable in a hospital bed because everyone would bring me fast food and i never moved out the hospital bed except to go the toilet.

Once i had her it took years before i started losing baby weight and in 2013 i got back down to 12 and a half stone. The thing is i had to go to the gym 5 days a week and become obsessed with calorie content to get there,

Since then ive crept back up to 14 stone because i changed jobs which means i now work from 8am until 6pm. this means that i have nowhere near as much time on my hands and by the time i get home from work i always cook a quick family meal like pasta, fajitas etc. im also always really tired after work because its a really high stress job and all i want to do is spend time with my family when i get home so i hardly every make it to the gym anymore.

I keep trying to be healthier but then i just get back into bad habits after like a week because i snack and never seem to feel full.

I was wondering if anyone knows the best way to really kick start the weight loss because i know that after i start seeing a change i try harder to stick to it. But if i don't see anything after 2 weeks i become disheartened and go back to my old snacking, high carb, high fat ways.

everyone keeps telling me to do Cambridge weight plan or juice cleanse but after a day i get bored of shakes and go back to real food.

help please anyone.

[Anna999]

Hi nickyniks, welcome to the forum, lots of supportive people here! Obviously it's your choice what to do, but I turned to the drastic Cambridge diet last year, did it for 4months,no food, lost loads of weight but over the last year have put it all back on plus another stone, I know this is down to eating the wrong things in part, but I feel it completely messed up my metabolism! I just wanted you to be aware that it's not always as successful as the propaganda suggests... In my opinion you need to find a way of making healthy changes that fit in with your hectic lifestyle. I'm calorie counting and cutting carbs at the moment. Have you looked at low carb high fat diets? Or the 5:2? I know there are lots of people on here that have had success with both of these☺ best of luck with whatever you choose to do 🌸

[hannah4365]

I'd really recommend slimming world. You can eat properly family meals, pasta, shepherds pie, steak, sausages ect. You have one healthy extra A and one healthy extra B each day. So either a glass of milk or cheese and bread or cereal (there are lots of other options. These are the only two things you need to weigh. Then for the rest of your meals you can have unlimited free food, this being, potatoes, pasta, fruit, veg, 5% fat meat, rice. You are also allowed between 5-15 syns per day. They recommend you use these so you don't slip up along the way. So for example you could have a packet of Pom bear crisps at 5 syns and a small packet of chocolate buttons at 4 syns, or you could have mayonnaise with your home made chips and that'd be 1 syn for the extra light stuff. I'd really recommend it, it's very easy once you get your head around it and it really does work. You can join online or at a group. I'd say group is better! Good luck

[HRHGaby]

Welcome, I hope you find what you need in this community. Start by dowloading an app on your phone to keep track of calories (Fat Secret, My Fitness Pal...), it's a great aid! Good luck!

[Salaisa]

Hello nickynicks, good luck with whatever you choose, browse the posts here, there is lots of inspiration here for different approaches. I am not at the end of my journey, but this forum (and the 12 week NHS plan) helped me tremendously with attitude. Very specifically, I stopped looking for a diet and instead started looking for a lifestyle that will give me what I want and that I can have for a lifetime, rather than going back to my old ways once the "diet" is over. I think I have found it now and am working on putting it into practice. So I would say maybe don't focus so much on weight loss immediately but spend a few weeks experimenting with different approaches and see what fits with your and your family's life and budget, what's right for your body, what is sustainable long-term.

*If your trouble is cooking after work, have you considered something along the lines of once-a-month cook? (just google it). Basically, you create a menu for a month (or a week), spend the whole day cooking, divide into portions, freeze and then just take out as needed.

*I have discovered 3 days ago that my oven has a timer function - set it to start cooking at 5 and go on for an hour, then it stops, so when I think I will get home at 6, there's dinner waiting. (I also don't cook on long work days, but the combo freezer + 1 hour in the oven might be the ticket for me.) Ehm, some may be laughing, but I never had one of those smart thingies, so was surprised. Time to read the manuals! Who knows what other fantastic functions my appliances have. Slow cooker may be a similar option.