Newbie

[Muto_Bear]

Hi everyone, I'm 26 and weight 162.2 kg.

I'm ready to lose weight more than ever before. I have been a yo-yo dieter all my life. But I think now I am starting to 'crack' the cycle *fingers crossed*.

I love food, it is my friend and my companion. It has been my crutch and my comfort throughout life. It has been my reward. I am struggling to get over the emotional attachment to food. So any advice will be much appreciated.

I have started going to the gym (it's very cheap around £25 a month) so I'm happy with that.

It's nice to work up a sweat, and in just under a week I feel a little better although I've not lose much (if anything!).

I am inspired to do this now. After a recent trip to both hospital and primark. I am getting sick and tired of having to buy my clothes online or going to outlet stores :(.

Anyways, I am going very slowly this time. I have given up sugary fizzy drinks (coca cola, dr pepper etc) since January - and haven't touched one since. I genuinely don't crave them, and I was getting through litres etc.

I hope to meet some cool peeps here, and am willing to give/receive any support I can.

[Blanket]

Welcome to the forum muto_bear. You sound like you're being very sensible and realistic by making small changes that you can get used to. And well done for joining the gym!

I too use food for all the wrong reasons and it's my biggest reward for anything/everything so I know how hard it can be as you feel like you 'deserve' it. It's not been easy to change my thought process about food. I guess one thing I've tried to do is find other rewards for times when I would have reached for food; a hot bath, a CD, a beauty treatment etc. I know these can be more expensive than a chocolate bar but you can buy them when you really feel like you deserve a treat.

It sounds like you're already being kind about yourself and you feel better from having been to the gym so hopefully that will keep you spurred on. One of the useful things I did was join myfitnesspal. Someone on here mentioned it and it helps you work out how much you should eat to lose weight, you log your food and exercise diaries and then it calculates everyday what you would weigh in 5 weeks time if you ate that food/calorie intake everyday. I've found this has given me the motivation to go for a walk to burn off an extra 100 calories or say no to the snack I'm not really bothered about. I think I needed to learn a bit more about calories in food and how quickly I could overeat on food that I wasn't even bothered about. It's helped me feel like I can eat well but by cutting out some of the rubbish (that was simply because I was in the habit of eating) I could reduce quite a lot of calorie intake. I therefore don't really feel deprived.

I'm not suggesting I'm completely mastered this, but having a guide to what you're eating certainly helps.

The other thing I've done is the couch to 5k NHS plan. You'll see a lot of people on here talk about it. It's really helped me to start running (I was NEVER a runner). I managed 30 minutes the other day; which for me was amazing! I was always too embarrassed to go outside and exercise but I just bit the bullet and realised it wasn't that bad. Now I really enjoy getting out the house and having some time to myself to feel like I'm investing in my health. If you don't fancy a run then maybe a walk - it all helps. I walk my dog regularly but by going out alone I find I'm more focussed and enjoy my surroundings much more.Actually, that time out has become one of my treats - instead of chocolate!

Anyway, hope some of what I've said makes sense and is helpful. It sounds like you're doing all the right things to make a good start so keep going. And people on here seem really friendly and helpful so use the forum as often as you can to ask questions/moan/share your successes! Good luck!

[Muto_Bear in reply to Blanket]

Thank you so much Blanket! That's really kind of you - and well done to you too

[Hidden]

Hi Muto_Bear,

I'd encourage you to have a good read around the NHS live well lose weight web pages which has a lot of good and free advice and a free 12 week plan.

Lots of good advice on these blogs too - so it's worth having a read around these too. (We had a bit of an outbreak of spam rubbish a little while back, but I think most of it's gone now).

I'd encourage you to try to see the process as a change of habits. Leaving behind 'bad' unhealthy unhelpful eating and exercise/activity habits and swapping them for new, "good", healthier ones.

As you've already noticed it's amazing how quickly your tastes change and those calorie laden things you thought you would just never last a single day without, suddenly have become things you haven't bothered with for 9 or 10 weeks now. (Coca-Who? - nah don't do all that rubbish any more!).

So don't think of it as a 'diet' - it's a journey to a lighter slimmer you that eats much better than you have done in the best and is, probably, a bit more active than you used to be too. And no more 'yo-yo' either, this time get into the habits that maintain a healthy sensible body weight.

Good luck with your weight loss efforts.

BTW, I so agree with Blanket's "head-off-comfort-eating-by-finding-other-comforts" strategy

[Muto_Bear in reply to Hidden]

Thank you!!

[behappynow]

Well done going to the gym, that takes courage...have a good week..my weight has always been yo yo too...but last year I hid my highest weight...and finding walking up stairs a struggle...so needed to lose weight...