Chubby with a bmi of 30.5

Hi

I need kicking into action. Any ideas welcomed. I have IBS and I have never been able to stick to a diet in my life. I comfort eat and I have no energy at all. I get home from work and I am drawn to my sofa. I have 3 hours a night to myself and seriously need to loose weight. I have already lost sight of my feet and I dont fancy being chubby or being described as plump, cuddly or chubby any more.

Many thanks

Cath

Hi i was looking on the internet for articles on dieting.  I must have joined every slimming club over the past years.  I used to be 8 stone in my twenties and then something went wrong overnight it seemed i became 15 stone and every year i felt down not being able to dress in lovely christmas dresses and then summer came and went and i couldnt find anything to fit me properly being a size 20.  I wanted to hide.  I have recently found a web site which works out how many calories i am eating for my size and weight and i really had such a shock.  I have been eating a 1000 calories extra per day.  So just before Christmas i cut my intake from 1949 cals to just 900 per day.  Some how at the moment i have the motivation to do it and really look forward to planning my meals from scratch.  I seem to be in conrol of what i am eating and from this week i will go back to exercising five days a week.  Watch this space.  I forgot to mention i am 53 years old and hopefully  by my birthday this August i want to be my ideal weight.  Dianne

Dianne, I certainly don't want to discourage you or criticize you but 900 calories a day is not a reasonably attainable caloric intake.

It's possible that what you've calculated is your basal caloric rate which assumes you just lay on your back all day. Mine for example would be around 2000 calories and if I looked at what I was consuming, I'd assume I'm 1000 calories over.

But, when you take into account what you're doing daily, you aren't that much over.

What you need to do from a diet perspective is this:

1. Determine your basal metabolic rate. You'll be able to find formulas on the internet to help you do this.
2. Use the information (from likely the same site), to calculate daily caloric need based on daily exercise and job type.
3. Take 20% off your daily caloric need and that should be your daily intake target. Reducing it below that will trigger starvation responses in your body and you won't lose weight.
4. Add some mild muscle building exercise on a daily basis. Muscle burns calories and will help you lose more weight. Cardio will burn the fat that day, muscle built will burn the fat every day.

I find keeping a workout diary with goals helps me to keep on track and motivated, I can see my progress every day. I too wear a pedometer so that I know I've walked 10,000 steps per day. And with food I've just joined a home delivery food program but it's expensive so I think I will only use it for a few weeks to get started then go back to counting calories on my own again a calorie fat and carbohydrate book is inexpensive. It takes a little effort to work out a menu each week, but it becomes habit after awhile, I did this before Christmas, but I've struggled since then hence the delivered meals to get me back on track. 

Excuse my language but fuck diets. If you are not happy with the way things are then change your entire lifestyle. A short diet will only cut weight for a short time and when you go back to your normal diet  you'll gain twice the weight you lost. Follow the basics, eat according to the plate-model it has allways been sucessfull.

I wish you all the best!

I'm going to stick with what Uddis said. That's good. You HAVE to eat, but mind what you eat. Bin anything that has prefab on it! And move your body, use it. If you change channels on the telly - walk once around the room before you do it. If there are stairs instead of escalators - use them. When the going gets tough, go rough. It will be tough, but if you want to you will make it. Write down your goals (no more than 2 or 3) and keep them close at hand for the tough times. And keep them real, no 50lbs a month drops, that's simply unfair on yourself.

Just being here is a step in the right direction:) Best of luck!

MY ONE SUGGESTION THAT HELPS ME OUT AND MOTIVATES ME TO WORKOUT IS TO TAKE TIME OUT OF YOUR WEEK, MAYBE ON SATURDAY AND GO TRY ON CLOTHES AT A DEPARTMENT STORE.  TRY ON CLOTHES WHICH YOU THINK YOU SHOULD FIT INTO AND THEN WHEN YOU GET INTO THE DRESSING ROOM AND THE BIG MIRRORS AND AWEFUL LIGHTS ARE THERE AND THE OUTFITS DON'T FIT THE WAY YOU THOUGHT THEY WOULD  YOU WILL BE TOTALLY MOTIVATED TO EAT RIGHT AND WORK OUT AS HARD AS YOU CAN.

WHEN YOU FIND YOURSELF SLIPPING BACK INTO NOT WANTING TO WORKOUT, GO BACK AND TRY ON CLOTHES AGAIN.  THIS MOTIVATION IS FREE AND IT REALLY WORKS FOR ME.

HOPE THIS HELPS

Hi Cath!

For me the best way to do anyting is to slowly shift my thoughts around the subject first, until I get really inspired! Not motivated, like "I really have to do this" but inspired like "oohh, this is gonna be soo much fun, I would love to do this!!". Then I'm so much more likely to succeed, and I'll have fun on the way too.. :)

I've learned that the emotions sort of follows a scale that is something like this: powerless/depression - revenge - anger - blame -worry - doubt - frustration/impatience - boredom - contentment - hopefulness - positive expectation/belief - enthusiasm/passion/joy. And your thoughts on each subject tends to hover around some point the scale.. The thoughts come first, and the feeling is a response to the thought! So, if you identify where you are, then try to find some thoughts on the same subject that feels like one point closer to enthusiasm, and try to hold those thoughts for about a day or so, then one more point closer and so on..pretty soon you'll find yourself much more energetic and you're likely to accomplish whatever it is that you are wanting much easier!!

An example of finding thoughts that feel better and better:
Your starting statements: "I have never been able to stick to a diet in my life. I comfort eat and I have no energy at all. I get home from work and I am drawn to my sofa. I have 3 hours a night to myself and seriously need to loose weight. I have already lost sight of my feet and I dont fancy being chubby or being described as plump, cuddly or chubby any more."

finding better feeling statements:
I know that there are people out there who have lost weight, and been able to comfortably hold their new weight. I can do it too!!! I can find a way that works for ME. I'm no looser!! I'm gonna show those people that I can do it! I'm gonna loose weight, and then I'll call THEM chubby!! (it always feels better with a little revenge, he he.. :D )

I don't have to do it all this week. Even if it takes 6 months it won't really matter - what if I can keep my new fabulous body for many years after that! I can start small, with something easy. Something that is easy to stick to. Maybe I can take a short walk everyday or excange just some of my food for something that feels healthier. I can figure this out as I go, I can just start anywhere and see how it feels.

Oh, what if I really can do this? What if I really could loose that weight and feel good in my body again?
Wouldn't it be nice if I found some method that really feels good to me, fun and inspiring?
I'm starting to think I really can do this! Maybe by new years eve I'll have the best looking and feeling body I have ever had! Oh, this might be really fun!

With some self talk like that anytime you feel discouraged, you'll find relief and the energy to make the changes you want will come back to you! And it doesn't take a lot of time! You don't even have to be realistic, feeling better and finding more energy is the only objective with this! If you get to enthusiasm, any effort won't feel like effort, it will feel like fun!!

Best wishes,
Linn

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