Newbie, Struggling to lose weight.😟

[Plug1]

Hi All, I've recently turned 50 and have been stuck at between 105kg - 109kg for the last 5 years. I'm 6ft and would describe myself as moderate exerciser. I mostly ride a road bike and will ride between 50 to 100 miles a week. I find it very difficult to reduce my calories. I do eat large portions, lots of rice, pasta and meat. My target weight is 90kg. I enjoy exercise. However, it seems almost impossible to obtain my desired weight.

Anybody out there have any 'top tips' that might help me along?

[moreless Administrator 7 stone]

Hi and welcome Plug1

Have a look at the Pinned Posts section, to the right of your screen, (bottom if you're on a mobile) and read our Welcome Newbie post. It has a link to the NHS 12 week plan, which is a great place to start. It doesn't give a specific diet plan, but gives guidelines for healthy eating.

Consider signing up for any, or all of our challenges, as they're fun and motivating.

We also have a monday group weigh-in and if you click follow on my profile, you'll get a notification when I post it on monday. You can have a look at the latest thread in the events section, to the right of the home page.

Be active on the forum, as that's where we meet to exchange ideas and get our daily fix of inspiration and motivation

Wishing you all the very best

[VickyDLM 2 stone]

I would suggest getting a kitchen scale. I was amazed at the difference between what a portion really is and what I was cooking and eating. The other tricks I would suggest are to bulk up with vegetables and getting smaller plates. Yes, I know it sounds odd, but it's amazing how much the sight of food on the plate has to do with whether or not I think I've eaten enough!

Good luck!

[tidirhin2548 10 kg]

Possibly reducing 2/3 of pasta and rice from the plate, leaving only 1/3. Filling the empty spot on the plate with cooked vegetables.

[muffintop67]

Hi Plug1. I really think that the best way is to stay within the calorie allowance you need for each day. Weigh out your portions and if it looks too little then try to pack as much vegetables into dinner as possible. I have been cooking the 'boodles' you can buy in the supermarket instead of spaghetti - they are made out of butternut squash. You could mix that in with the pasta and it would give you a huge portion with adding hardly any more calories. They also do courgette spaghetti too but I am not so keen on that as it goes a bit watery I think

[Hidden in reply to muffintop67]

Wow thanks for that. Never heard of Boodles - will look it up now!

[muffintop67 in reply to Hidden]

They are in the prepared vegetables section. Come in bags with about 2 portions in each bag. I have been having them as a substitute to spaghetti but have mixed them with regular pasta too. Hope you can try them

[Hidden]

Hi, I don;t know if it counts as a "top tip" but I found this very useful as a weight loss aid when getting my weight down from 11 stones 3lbs to 8 stones 11lbs.

Make sure you eat at least 2 portions of veg (make it cooked veg if it means you can eat a larger portion) at lunch time and 3 portions with your dinner. They will take up a lot of space on your plate and fill you up. This will help you cut back on your starches and not feel so deprived.

With pasta, rice, etc. my opninion is that you should eat 2oz max for a main meal and 1-1.5oz for a light meal (sorry, I don;t do metric so easily - 1oz = 25g I think). The equivalent for potatoes is 6oz or 4oz raw weight.

I think it is worth trying to control your starch portion sizes as they are easy to over-eat. Starches are lovely and tasty, in my opinion, and are a good part of the diet, but they are the items many of us find hardest to control, so having a limit on weight of portion is a good guide. When I was losing weight I found that, while 2oz of pasta looked a bit sad on its own, by the time I'd added a big portion of cooked broccoli, carrots and tomatoes, it looked much more the business!

I hope that helps.