Hope you are getting to enjoy some of the beautiful sunshine.
I've avoided weight loss or diets before & even weighing myself. I've just found out what a calorie is..
I'm now on day 3 of the NHS programme. I'm 2 stone overweight and keen to lose it in a manageble way and most importantly sustain the loss.
I'm a mum of 2, with a full time job (as well as the work of looking after girls). My husband is doing this programme too now and as a family the kids want to do a 'fun family healthy time'.. (they aren't doing weight loss but will be eating a bit more healthier& continuing to be active) ..
My weight gain started about 8 years ago - possibly triggered by pregnancies¬ shifting weight to get back to original size.. I'm active&enjoy exercise.. I also love sweet treats and wine. I have a tendency to treat myself with food when happy or stressed. Also have to watch myself not nibbling on kids food.
Does anyone have tips for sticking at weight loss and sustaining it?
My tip would be to lose weight by eating in a way you can sustain i.e. not with a 'diet' that has a start and end. Enjoy your food, use fresh ingredients, home cooked, steer clear of processed stuff (which includes anything labelled low fat or diet or light).
The forum is a great place for information and support. You'll find everything you need in our Pinned Posts by following this link healthunlocked.com/nhsweigh... A good starting point is joining a weekly weigh in on the day of your choice (why not today?) and using the Daily Diary, where members share their meal plans.
You'll also find the DrinkLess Club, for members who want to manage their drinking, for weight and health reasons: they'll make you very welcome.
Active participation can give a great boost to your own efforts so I hope we'll see you joining in with forum activities
To be honest, the first thing I'd suggest is to forget about "calories". 99% of what you'll have read on the subject is wrong. Even physicists have trouble describing what energy actually is, so you'll get no sense at all from dieticians and bloggers. Focus on the actual food on your plate, rather than pseudoscientific theories about it.
If you're a bit of a nibbler, it's really important to (a) fill up at mealtimes so that you're less tempted to raid the fridge and (b) don't keep rubbish in the house; if it's not there you can't pick at it!
Regarding (a) : fill up on vegetables, meat, eggs and dairy according to your preference; go easy on things like potatoes, rice, pasta and bread. In fact I'd suggest dumping bread entirely, because there isn't even any such thing as bread on sale these days, unless you go to a specialist baker. The squishy stuff you buy in the supermarket is an engineered product designed to look like bread, but metabolically speaking it's closer to cake. It will make you fat and ill.
Since so many of the products on the supermarket shelves are rubbish, you're going to have to make a fairly radical change in mindset. If it comes in a packet or a jar, it's probably junk. Even the NHS 12-week plan includes several such items as virtuous. Porridge (ie., precooked oats), Weetabix, margarine, baked beans, and low-fat-anything spring to mind. Do not eat these things. They are all highly processed and often contain chemicals or sugar to make them palatable.
Regarding (b) : it's become part of the culture to keep our cupboards stocked up with crisps, biscuits, sugary drinks, jam, etc., and this is tacitly encouraged by both the food industry and dieticians (yes, they put out advice sheets suggesting that children "need" sweet snacks - check the BDA website). If you wanted to do one single thing to improve your health and weight: dump those. The kids might whine for a bit, but they'll thank you for it when they hit their teens!
If you don't already cook everything from scratch, from fresh ingredients, now's the time to start! Yes, it's time-consuming and you may not always feel like it. But the question you have to ask yourself is: how badly do I want to get slim and healthy?
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