Just joined

[Joan66]

Hello everyone. Just found you and decided to join as i have 6st to lose. Have been overweight and dieting for many years but the time has come to finally take control of myself due to arthritis etc. Well at least I can try.

[Dipper]

Hi Joan pleased to meet you, you have come to the right place. There is lots of information and support on this forum. An administrator will reply to you shortly. Good luck.

[Ceals]

Welcome Joan66

This is an amazing forum to be part of. Many of people on here have different areas of concern but we are all trying to get to, or maintain, our desired weight. As you get to know us, and share experiences with us, you will find what a super supportive bunch we are, and that we don't pass judgements.

Here are a few suggestions about how to get the most out of the forum.

The first place to look is at the Pinned Posts section to the right of your screen (bottom if you're using a mobile), read the Welcome Newbie thread first and move through to the challenges, where we hope you'll find at least one that will appeal to you.

Move down to the Topics, to find a variety of threads, collated into topics for ease of access and we ask that you also 'file' your own threads, so that others won't miss your important news; and you will have important news to share with us.

Have a look at the NHS 12-week plan; many people have had success with it. Also use the BMI checker to find your target calories, it's important to eat enough. This can be a major turning point, realising you can eat anything as long as the calories are accounted for and are within your personal limit.

Don't forget to take your starting measurements and a 'before' picture, as they can be very motivating on days that the scales refuse to co-operate; that happens to me quite regularly!

The forum also has group weigh-ins every day, just choose which day you wish to weigh, join the post for that day and weigh in once per week. The Daily Diary is a very useful thread where we post our planned menu for the day, including calories if you count them, any exercise you have planned and any tips that you can share. The posts can always be found in the Events section on the 'home' page.

If you just want to chat, to say hello, or share any news or struggles then look out for the What's Happening Today thread. There are many other challenges to get involved with, just choose to do what you are comfortable with and feel free to join as many, or as few as you wish.

The grey box next to people's names are achievement badges, and as a new member of the community you have a 'Newbie' badge. We've found that to get the best out of this community, you need to be active on the forum, as it's where we exchange information, get motivation and inspiration, and make friends. We hope that you'll join us here regularly.

If you are using the new HU App on your mobile phone (helpful for when you are out and about), many of features mentioned are not available; use the full website version to maximise your experience.

If you have any questions please just ask. The more you join in and connect with people the more you get out of the forum.

I wish you well as you get started with a new lifestyle.

Ceals

[Joan66 in reply to Ceals]

Ceals. Many thanks for the info. I am new to Internet forums but will try and join in as much as possible

[Ceals in reply to Joan66]

I had never used one before i joined this one either. Everyone is very friendly and will help you out.

[Pineapple27]

Hi Joan66 and welcome!

We're a friendly bunch! We will support you along the way.... here are some messages which I posted early on when I joined HealthUnlocked which I hope you may find useful:

healthunlocked.com/nhsweigh...

healthunlocked.com/nhsweigh...

healthunlocked.com/nhsweigh...

healthunlocked.com/nhsweigh...

I won't try and tell you that my journey was easy - and you'll see that there were many blips along the way, but 5 years down the line, I feel about 20 years younger than I did when I was lugging around 4 stone more.

Please do pop back to the forums and share your journey with us - we are here for you, day and night and happy to share your success or support you when you need it.

[Joan66 in reply to Pineapple27]

Pineapple27. Thank you very much for these links which are truly inspirational

[Pineapple27 in reply to Joan66]

A pleasure! We are here for you whenever you needs us - just post and you'll get a friendly and helpful reply!

[HubbysMissMouse]

One thing I will advise you with because if you have been having trouble with this for a long time you may be making the same mistake I used to make so it is best for you to be aware so you don't do this in future either. Do make sure you check your calorie amounts you should be taking to be able to lose weight on the NHS bmi calculator as this gives you personal amounts you should have after you have given your details to it. The other sites that help you add your calories tend to only give you just average amounts instead. This is why you are best to use the NHS bmi calculator. One other thing you should do is add up your calories as you go along and not eat any less than somewhere between the two amounts it does advise you to eat between. You are best to eat the higher amount and not the lower amount because it means you have amounts you can drop with if you have any problems but if you are eating the lower amount you will not be able to eat any lower than this, because your body will think that you are starving it and it turns what you do eat into body fat and this weighs more than eating the extra calories does so it stops you from losing weight and sometimes puts weight on instead. Please don't make this same mistake as it turned out I used to only eat around 1000cals a day when I added up how many I used to eat in general. No wonder I couldn't lose weight before. Since I upped my calories to the right amount I have managed to lose 2 1/2st so far. Good luck with your journey.

[Alideer 1 stone in reply to HubbysMissMouse]

This is all such good advice. I made exactly the same mistakes for years. Since starting on this forum I am eating more yet steadily losing weight. I haven't felt so positive for a long time. Good luck for next week.

[Joan66 in reply to Alideer]

Muntjacky

Many thanks

[Joan66 in reply to HubbysMissMouse]

HubbysMissMouse

Thank you very much for your advice i will check out the NHS BMI calculator. I had been using a Rosemary Conley calorie target.