Newbie :)

[Dream2BeSlim]

Hi everyone I'm new here, not sure how all this works completely yet but gonna give it a go as I'm also part of a support group on Facebook and everyone is super supportive which helps so much I think when you can talk to people on their journey similar to your own! I'm 5"4, 25 and need to lose around 3 stone...hoping to finally do it this year after my weight going up and down as per every year! If you want to contact me or your same height, age, goal weight feel free

[Minniewinny 5 stone Maintainer]

Great to have you join us Dream2BeSlim

Welcome and enjoy the forum...

Please check with your health professional regarding your actions to lose weight and get their support locally to compliment this wonderful forum...

I'd like to invite you to read our Newbie Pack - which is what I call the sat-nav to the benefits of the forum, here's the link:

healthunlocked.com/nhsweigh...

Please also read this about the importance of locking your posts:

healthunlocked.com/nhsweigh...

Cheering you on to reach your goals 🎉🎉🎉

[Dream2BeSlim in reply to Minniewinny]

Thank you very much for your warm welcome, will go check out the links now! Thank you very much!

[Pineapple27]

Hi Dream2BeSlim and welcome.

You can do this! The thing that you have to your advantage is youth! (I'm 55 years old). And you haven't mentioned that you have any long term health issues or disabilities that might make your weight loss more of a challenge. What's more, by losing weight, you will be avoiding the chances of developing a long term illness or weight related illness (high blood pressure, diabetes, heart disease).

The hardest part is taking the first step, and you've done that by joining some sort of support group (Weight Loss NHS!).

Sometimes….. our biggest barriers to doing something we really need to do (but perhaps aren’t keen to do) are the excuses we find as to why we can’t do them, rather than finding the solutions to overcoming those barriers so that we can succeed.

Because of my disability, this is something I’ve had to do all my life – attending mainstream school, training as a secretary, working, getting married, living on my own, having a baby, etc, etc. So you would have thought that I would have this skill mastered by now!!

But on this particular issue (reducing the amount I ate and increasing my exercise) the barrier was somehow bigger than anything else I had had to deal with before. It had developed over many, many years to become the size of a small skyscraper.

As determined as I am to achieve things in life, I can also be as determined to IGNORE things that I don’t want to do or tackle…. or face. Fear of the unknown perhaps, and a real belief that I might fail.

You have to know from those of us who have lost weight successfully that it works. It really does. But you have to want it to work and you have to make it work. For this journey to succeed, you have to give it your all. Give it your all and you will be rewarded.

My weight loss journey has so far lasted six years (as of 24th February 2018). I started by logging and weighing food religiously. Just as the site prescribes. Slowly and surely I realised that I had been eating way too many calories and that my portion sizes were far too large for a small person of 4ft 9 inches who doesn’t move much at all.

Once this realisation had dawned on me and the weight started to drop, I was determined to complete this journey.

I lost 2 stone in a year. I then started (slowly and begrudgingly) to exercise. First swimming for an hour a week, and then kitting out my garage with some cheap bits of equipment and using them.

When I was interviewed for a Podcast on weight loss / exercise and disability I was describing my journey and the various tools I have used to make it a successful journey (logging food, portion control, calorie counting, 5:2 fasting, exercising, support from other people, recipe database, forum). These tools combine to help me along the way. But it is only myself who can make them work for me and there is a little more to add into the mix.

But I realised that my best tool by far has been commitment and modifying how I behave around food. I stopped finding excuses as to why I was overweight and why I couldn’t lose weight. I’m disabled aren’t I? I can’t exercise can I? I’m in too much pain, I haven’t the time, getting washed and dressed is exhausting enough (etc!)

ENOUGH!!! Enough of those excuses, enough of the pain. I have broken through the barrier of allowing these excuses from stopping me. Because they were just that. They were excuses.

It is harder for some of us for whatever reason. We’re busy, old, in pain, unable to exercise, have children, too short, have an illness, work too many hours……. BUT in fact if we have additional barriers, we just have to work at it harder than most.

It’s not impossible. I have proved that to myself. People who have known me for years have no choice but to believe it too. They’ve seen me go from 14 stone to under 10 stone. Reduce from a size 24 to a size 16.

It works.

BUT you have to work too. You just have to keep on working, keep on plodding along, not let one bad day, one calorific meal - one piece of crackling..... stop you in your tracks. Pick yourself up and just keep on plodding along.

You will get there. It will take months, it may take years. You may fall off the wagon completely for a time. And you will realise one day that this is a never ending journey. You will need to do what you learn to do on here FOREVER.

It will get easier. You will experience changes in the way you think about food, the way you deal with food. Food is a temptation and it will always be EVERYWHERE. You will need to learn a different way to act around food and a different way to think about the food you eat. You will learn to respect the food and make better and healthier choices. You need to learn about mindful eating and modify how you behave around food.

You can do it if you really want to. But you need to overcome those barriers that are inside your head.