Hi, I'm new. I would like to lose the 4 stones and a bit the NHS suggests, which sounds an enormous amount to me, and I am using the one pound at a time mantra. I am about 5'8" and 211lbs btw, can't bear to put it into stones and pounds as it sounds even worse. I have never been one to get weighed and this weight has gone on gradually, over about 12 years, so maybe I should have used the scales more!!. I have just turned 60 and probably like many people am wondering how I will be when I am 70 if I don't get thinner and fitter. I haven't been on a proper "diet" before, so all of this is very new to me. At the end of the first week I reckon I have lost 4 pounds which I understand will be mostly water? I usually have 3 heaped sugars in my tea so have had to stop drinking tea as it is disgusting without sugar and I drink it by the gallon. I can drink coffee without sugar so that is a plus but mainly I have been drinking much more water. Funnily enough, even though I have only just started, I feel a lot better, no heartburn this first week which is amazing, and my tummy doesn't feel so squashed when I bend to put socks or shoes on, which I guess is maybe something to do with cutting out sugar. Anyway, fingers crossed, the days are getting longer, the garden is coming alive, some blue-tits have been checking out my nest-box and I don't have to go to work tomorrow.
Hi there, I am new to all this dieting... - Weight Loss Support
Hi there, I am new to all this dieting malarkey.
Hi, welcome to the site.
It's great that you are seeing results so quickly - there are a lot of heath benefits besides weight loss to eating healthly.
On the tea with sugar, I grew up taking a spoon per cup but I did stop adding it, it was horrible at first and I recall it took about 2 weeks to get used to the taste but now I love it sugarless.
Hi, thanks for the reply, I have tried cutting down the sugar slowly but it just tastes foul - maybe it's psychological - I am just going to have a cup now and again as a "treat"
When I say "cup" I mean pint mug, so it is quite diluted, not a tea cup!
Hmm, yes I can see if it's diluted you might want some sugar to pep it up a bit 
Saving it a treat is a good idea
Welcome Fantasticflower. Love the name btw.
Hi, thank you, I love growing flowers, I have grown veg in the past but our current garden is not big enough for both - not in my view anyway.
Hi FantasticFlower
Welcome to the weight loss forum. Loving the name and photo. Rather than give up tea altogether why not slowly reduce the amount of sugar say by half teaspoons until your tea is sugar free.
Take a look at the Welcome Newbie post in the Pinned post section at the right hand side of the screen or if your on a mobile at the bottom. Have a look at the nhs 12 week plan, many members have had success following this plan. Use the BMI checker to work out your daily calorie allowance.
Below the Pinned posts are the Topics where members share a range of weight related subjects.
Take your measurements at the start along with a photo so you can see the changes when the scales don't move.
We have weigh-ins every day so why not come and join us. You can find the weigh-in on the Home page in the Events section on the right. Just click on the post and state your start weight and any loss/gain or maintain for the week.
To get the best out of the forum be active, share experiences, tips and recipes. Read some of the posts they can be very inspiring and motivate you along the way.
Have a great first week.
Rose
Hi, thanks, I have tried cutting down on sugar in tea but failed, mainly because of the disgusting taste!!! I would rather not give it up and just have a couple of cups/mugs a week, which I can do and have done over the past week, only 2 cups since Thursday morning.
There is always water of course - I've seen some recipes where you just add some ginger and a bit of fruit and ice - for water drinks on a site called "Lose Weight by Eating" and I might try those as I am already getting bored with plain tap water.
The garden looks lovely.
Have you tried fruit teas? There are so many varieties that you are bound to find some that you like as a change from coffee. Some are naturally sweet (though not as sweet as tea with four sugars!) and I drink them cold in the summer. In fact if you brew the fruit tea until its really strong, leave it to cool and then add fizzy water it makes an ... interesting change.
I tried fruit teas when I was pregnant, many, many moons ago, but left one with bag in and it got too strong, made me sick and I haven't tried one since. I am going to try making a flavoured water from a site called "Lose Weight by Eating", there are some nice recipes on there.
Let us know what you think - it's always nice to find new things to replace tea and coffee.
Ok, I will let you know. Fruit tea sounds nice and lots of my friends drink it, I might give it another go sometime.
Hi FantasticFlower in the past I used to have two sugars in every tea. Someone advised me to swap these for sweeteners as most sweeteners are zero calories so I would be likely to lose weight. I checked the calories on them before I bought them and when I found the right ones I had to put two and a half spoons to start with. Gradually I managed to slightly cut them down and I now have one sweetener in every other cup. When I managed to cut it down to sweeteners I lost 3 stone without doing anything else. Shows how much weight having the sugars causes. By getting used to having the sweeteners which only takes about a week, you can still get the sweet taste you like and lose a fair bit of weight at the same time. It is great. Good luck with your journey on this site.
Hi, do you mean 2 sweeteners and half a spoon of sugar to start with? I don't like sweeteners much, they taste funny.
No, I bought canderel in a pot of sugar type form and did two and a half spoons of this. I didn't like it much either but it only took about a week or so to get used to it. Once u do get used to it you certainly wouldn't like the sugar afterwards which is even better for your weight. You could start yours with around three and a half spoons and just gradually drop it a bit every week until you get to three stay on this for a while then gradually drop it again until you get to two etc. That's how I did it and I have been on one for about a year and was using the little tablet type and I am now trying to drop it out completely so am using the sugar form again. It is always worth having the sugar type form about anyway in case you need sugar in anything as proper sugar gets too sweet and I couldnt use proper sugar in things like cereal so used canderel instead. It really helps.
Hi, try using Stevia (Truvia) which is a plant derived sweetener with no calories. It is very sweet so you would not need so much. As it is in granular/powder form it is good to also use in recipes that call for sugar. So glad that the changes you have made so far have improved the quality of your life. Try not to think of this process as a 'diet' which for many can have negative associations. Think of it as a lifestyle change that will be sustainable and will lead to you feel the best you have ever done. Good luck on the journey which we all share. EJ
Sounds to me like your really getting in to your stride. I have a little more than you to lose and am hoping this will give me the strength to complete it and stay on track. Good luck and stay positive.
Hi good luck calorie counting is weightloss join myfitnesspal it's free and is s great tool
Hi there. You sound like you've made a fantastic start! I'm a newbie too, just joined yesterday. I too have just turned 60 and never paid much attention to scales and calorie counting. But I will have to now. I'm going to find the meal planning difficult to going to read up. Need to sort my portion control I think. I'm 5ft 7 and weigh 12st 3lbs. Would like to lose 2 stone so have started with a healthy day yesterday and a gym session. Hope I can match your 4lbs in the first week! Well done.
I am detoxing, dieting and exercising. why am I spotty and knackered?
Gained weight
Hi all. I'm new to this 
Sugar was my poison 
