Hope that all of your weight loss journeys are going well. I am 5' 5" and weighed 168 pounds, I have lost 4 pounds in the past two weeks and am pretty proud of that. Although I am really beginning to struggle as lots of people's birthdays are coming up, which means meals and nights out! I am worried that in the space of a few days I might undo all my hard work!
I think I put on weight in the first weight due to a combination of becoming 'too comfortable' in my relationship and overindulging far too frequently...pints being a major downfall of mine! Luckily my boyfriend is very supportive and although he thinks I'm perfect as I am, I am not comfortable with my own weight at the moment and are determined to get back to my healthy weight range. I want to lose 2 stone to begin with, which will put me at the top of this range & then see how I feel!
Hoping to stick to lighter options on menus when we go out for birthday meals and try and drink something like a vodka and tonic instead of drinking pints!
Written by
Schwem7
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One aspect that not many people want to be honest about is that if we are significantly overweight (as I currently am) then it's because we've trained / taught ourselves to maintain an overweight (and usually underactive) body.
Habits, as we all know, can be hard to kick.
But the thing with an overweight body is that it changes the whole ballgame. An overweight body needs more calories each day to maintain it. The old joke of the fat man justifying eating a huge portion of something by the line 'there's more of me for it to go around', is true to some extent.
But also, your body will change the amounts of some hormones it produces in ways to try to maintain the overweight state and, even worse, to encourage you to carry on getting weightier. So overweight people usually find it harder to lose weight than their lighter friends and often perceive themselves to be much hungrier after a relatively short period without food.
So, getting back to a normal body takes some re-training. After a while the new food and activity regime becomes the norm and your body gradually adapts accordingly and the weight reduces.
If you're going to be in difficult situations, then my tips would be:-
If you feel socially obliged to eat high-calorie food than eat very small amounts of it,
Don't feel guilty about leaving some on your plate and don't allow yourself to be press-ganged into eating more than you really want.
Try to avoid a sugar spike, so if possible mix sweet sugary things with more neutral stuff. It's not easy as most 'party' food is full of sugar and fat, but try to select the lower fat options as much as your can and if you can't then, again, keep the portions really small.
Drink water, or watered down fresh fruit juice if possible, but avoid sugary drinks a) because of the calories and b) to avoid a sugar spike.
Try to avoid the alcohol as much as possible. Your vodka is probably about 90 kcal a go and if your tonic water isn't 'diet' - then there's more in that.
If you overdo it, then you need to pay back the account as soon as you can, but don't let that trick you into having long periods without food. Keep up the snacking, just make them lighter/smaller snacks and meals.
Good luck with the parties!
Oh and the alcohol page on the NHS live well site has a calorie counter for alcohol. (Prepare to be upset!)
Thanks for the advice. I fully understand what you are saying about the retraining. Thanks for the advice on alcohol, I will try and steer clear and drink water or watered down juice instead. Going to try and fill my plate with salad to avoid eating lots of high fat foods or order healthier options where possible
The 'fill it out with salad trick' works - but watch the dressings! Or filling it out with veg (especially green) is a similar trick with other types of meal.
I must admit that I keep a food diary, but very rarely keep track of what I drink. Thank you for the link, I will certainly try this, although I am slightly dreading what the results might show!
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I'm really struggling to loose weight!
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