Just turned 50, weighing in at 17st8lbs. wow do i need some help to lose at least 4 stone. any ideas

[dm2063]

[talktohelen]

I think the key to losing/maintaining a healthy weight is routine. 3 healthy meals a day, keeping busy to avoid the temptation to snack and not buying the bad stuff at all really helps too!! Depriving yourself completely makes it difficult so only treat yourself when you're out, that way the treats aren't in the house!! Walking is great exercise but also find something that you love to do, I go to zumba twice a week, it's like going to a party in your trainers!!! Wishing you all the best!

[Laila_]

if you haven't already, have a look at the 12 week plan on this site, it's a great support for healthy weight loss

[ShabbyRefurb]

An NHS Health Trainer could help you set smart goals and make small changes that in the long run could make a big difference

[englishtutor]

Just before my 51st birthday last year I decided to get fit and unflabby - I was 11 stone. I stopped eating crisps and drinking coke - I had 1 of each a day while cooking tea! I tried to add more vegetables and fruit and cut out cakes and biscuits except for the odd one when I felt like it. I also started to jog - with my dog, mostly walking to start with and jogging slowly until slightly out of breath. II jogged every other day for about 30 minutes. After a couple of months I had lost 1 stone and a couple of months later was down to 9 stone 2 where my weight has stayed. I can now run 5k easily and can run most of the time for 10k. It's a long process, there are no quick results and the changes have to be permanent.

I eat cake,biscuits and chocolate in moderation now, I don't believe in no treats but I can't stand the taste of Coke any more and I don't miss crisps.

Good luck.

[Tossed]

Hi, congratulations on your weight loss. I'm 44 , 10st 3 and want to be around 9st 7. I am consuming 1400 calories a day and burning over 300 on xtrainer and going for walks but weigh loss is very slow. Any advice how I can speed it up a little. Thanks in advance.

[Windswept1 in reply to Tossed]

How slow is slow? The recommended rate to lose is between 1-2 lb a week. That way it is more likely to stay off.

[Tossed]

Hi, I lost a pound the first week but just under a pound last week. To be honest I Was gutted cos of how hard I have worked at it. I do have an underactive thyroid so I don't think that is helping. I wondered if I'm consuming too many calories?

[Windswept1 in reply to Tossed]

Have you done the BMI calculation on the NHS website? That gives you a calorie target. There is advice as well that if your calorie consumption is too low the body goes into 'starvation mode' and hangs onto fat. Are you on medication for your thyroid, I am and as its controlled don't think it should affect weight loss.

[Tossed]

Hi yes I have done that and it recommends just under 1500 calories but not sure if I should consume more because of the calories I am burning. Yes I'm on medication for my thyroid and I have successfully lost weight before but it's s much harder this time. Maybe it's cos I'm getting older. Would be so happy if I could just lose 2 lbs a week. My diet is also very healthy fresh fruit and veg. Protein and fibre.

[Hidden]

Hi. Yes, I have an idea. It will mean a bit of a lifestyle change. Read The China Study by T Colin Campbell or watch Forks over Knives. It will tell you why a wholefood plant-based diet is the best diet for our overall health. The people in this world who have lived without chronic disease or obesity have eaten this way. You can too. I read this after my daughter got cancer a year ago- I started reading about foods to fight cancer then got to this - it blew my mind. I now eat a wholefood plant-based diet as recommended by Campbell and many others. I lost 3 stone over the last year and moved from obese to overweight and I'm on my way to being not overweight. I suspect I was also on my way to diabetes. I recently had a healthcheck - wouldn't have dared a year ago - and my numbers are all good. My nurse is going to read the book. I lost the weight easily and I eat plenty. I also enjoy the food much to my own surprise. This is not a fad diet. It is the diet we should all be eating.

Reserve your scepticism, read the book, change your life. Join Bill Clinton, Russell Brand, Samuel L Jackson. Sorry, this sounds like an advertisement and in a way it is. Incidentally, my daughter is in remission. The chemo did it, not the diet but the diet will hopefully help her live a long healthy life.

[Hidden]

To quote from John Robbins' book, Healthy at 100, 'Okinawa is home to the world's healthiest documented elders, to the world's longest recorded life expectancies, and to the highest concentrations of verified centenarians in the world'. Like other groups who have lived to very old ages, their diet was mostly plant-based although I understand that they ate a small amount of fish and some pork, but only at festivals. So they were omnivores in the way that all humans are omnivores, capable of eating meat, but they did so at such low levels that it did not affect their health. Not only did they live to a very old age but they did so in good health, free from cancer, heart disease, osteoporosis, obesity, etc. Unfortunately the younger generation there have found the western diet with sugar, processed food and much animal protein and their health is suffering as a result. And they are all getting fat.

[dm2063]

Thanks guys for all your advice, my start is this Monday..... May is going to be getting myself back in line and eating healthy again, thanks for your support. I'll post to let you know how i'm doing