Tips would be fantastic.

I have never been on a diet before and am really not looking forward to it.

I've decided that as my new pup weighs about 5 stone at the moment I could treat myself to another once I loose the weight. I figure we'd cancel each other out so hubby would never notice the new addition. :-)

> I've decided that as my new pup weighs about 5 stone at the moment I could treat myself to another once I loose the weight. I figure we'd cancel each other out so hubby would never notice the new addition. :-)

lol, cunning ;)

well, i'm no expert but i found that once you get used to lower fat alternatives for some stuff it gets easier- for example, start using skimmed milk, low fat butter/spread, spray oil, and danish bread instead of normal bread. a slice of normal bread is a huge 2 points! where as a danish slice is .5 so big difference.

points free soup is a good filler. i like tomato and basil- tomatos are free, basil is free, stock is free, salt and pepper are free and it fills a hole.

tesco's healthy living range (well most of it) carry weight watchers points scores which means you don't just have to buy expensive weight watchers stuff if you want cake etc.

you can get the calculator online to work out the points of things that are not listed.

pitta bread is nice, crumpets are filling and low points. roasted morrocan vege is nice- just buy a pack of spice lol.

should you want a take out your best bet for points is a chicken kebab (no really!), chicken breast 2.5, pitta 1.5, salad free and i usually go without the sauce.

the key i've found is to plan ahead and know what your eating for the day.

don't deny yourself sweets/cake, use lower points alternatives- weight watchers do cookies and cake, tesco do lovely mini victoria sponges, asda do terrific bakewell slices.

i've cut fruit juice out as its lots of points for a little drink. instead i use diet squash and fizzy water, yum :)

can't think of much else...

except i have found it much easier with someone to do it with (bf is doing it to). so if you can convince your other half to help it might help you, alternatively you've got me here, i'm happy to report progress :)

hth :)

Thanks Astarte thats brilliant.

It doesn't look like it's going to be as bad as I feared. I think I mainly need to adjust my idea of a portion is. The one time I think i will find it hard is when my youngest is ill as I have little time to cook and we live on takeaways. I guess i'll deal with that next time it occurs, maybe I could cook some meals in advanced for the frezzer. :-)

Unfortunately Hubby doesn't need to lose any weight (not fair really as he eats like a horse) but he has said if I can loose 3 stone he will give up smoking, so thats an excellent incentive.

I'll report in once i've been to my first meeting.

> It doesn't look like it's going to be as bad as I feared

honestly its not! given that i'm pretty big though i get more to eat. its something like certain points for your age, weight, activity level etc. the dogs are good to as you get points for doing excersise, so a brisk hours walk is an extra snack :)

> The one time I think i will find it hard is when my youngest is ill as I have little time to cook and we live on takeaways

well as i say a small sauceless kebab is not much more than a normal meal. you can do stuff pretty quickly to. one of my favorites is a chicken breast in cajun seasoning simmered in stock (so its nice and moist) till the stock boils off and you brown that chicken, that with a baked potato is dead quick and really good. with of course as much salad as you can get on the place. stir fry is quick and good to.

i think you'll find its easy to feed the whole family on it without then noticing :)

I must admit that I have been a bit nervous at the thought, I didn't really know what to expect and had visions of living on cucumber and celery but I'm quite looking forward it now.

> had visions of living on cucumber and celery

well, i lost a stone and a bit before my op, and before my op i could not eat celery without curling up in an agonised ball and wishing to die. so no, celery is not compulsory :)

cucumber is nice though with a dip :) (greek yoghurt with some mint?)

honestly, its fine. i get at the mo 21 points a day. so i yesterday i had 4 rye cracker things with smoked salmon for breakfast (2 points total), a bakewell slice (1.5 points), a packet of healthy living pretzel things (1.5), cous cous (1.5 i think?) a chicken breast with spices (2.5), salad with dressing (1), another bakewell slice lol (1.5), a couple of apples

and then i had some jelly beans at the cinema lol.

put it this way- chips are 4 points. i found its all about earning the naughty stuff, since i wanted jelly beans i couldn't have a big breakfast, or if i wanted both i needed to do a couple of hours swim etc.

I am so badly off the wagon.....please keep talking folk, I so need all the inspiration going, it's so bad I haven't been near the scales for weeks as they will upset me.
My clothes are all tight, and some have been moved out of the way as too uncomfortable :(
I am going on a dream holiday at easter and need to get into some kind of shape, some kind that isn't just round......
Karen

gently change your diet, you can do it so you barely notice and it still makes all the difference :)

think i will get this dvd jg has suggested on my thread, looks interesting (and i do so hope it works as well as it claims)

Is anyone watching "Paul McKenna: I Can Make You Thin" ??- I think it's in the Living channel. I watched a few minutes of it last night, very repetitive but some interesting concepts. Might be worth a look for any of you who are overcome by cravings for a certain food. 

Is anyone watching "Paul McKenna: I Can Make You Thin" ??- We have been watching it. There are 5 instalments. No 5 is tonight.

I think the tapping works, a bit daft when you first do it but it works :-)

> I am so badly off the wagon.....please keep talking folk, I so need all the inspiration going, it's so bad I haven't been near the scales for weeks as they will upset me.
> My clothes are all tight, and some have been moved out of the way as too uncomfortable :-(

I know how you feel, I had all best intenstions of quitting smoking & starting a diet on Monday - I ended up doing neither :( I am, yet again wearing my big baggy, scruffy jogging bottoms, because all my other jeans/trousers are too tight

Today is the day!!!! I braved the scales to find I am now 152lb , my goal is 140lb but in the mean time I will be happy with 145lb. My diet has started TODAY. For some reason I have no motivation or mental stamina at the moment, so I will ease myself into a diet.
I have eaten whatever I liked over christams in disgusting quanities - so i feel I need to gradually introduce my stomach to smaller portions so as not to feel hungry all the time. I know what would happen if I started out very strict, I would last 2 days then give in to the hunger pangs, then stuff my face gaining even more weight.

So for me, over the next few days is will be 'slowly, slowly'. Once eating a little moore restrained I will then step it up a notch - thats the new plan anyway :)
I have started well , instead of grabbing a pack of crisps/left over festive snacks I have just snacked on a juicy, crisp apple - yum! :)

Well I have been so good this week -no crisps no chocolate - fruit and yoghurts replacing them (which I am not a great lover of!) but got on the scales today and nothing! 

Need to lose at least 1stone if not 1 1/2 and tone up - got a Wii Fit so will be using that as well as daily walks with the dogs - might even start jogging with them (eek).

My OH needs to lose alot more than me so we are thinking Slimming World or Weight Watchers - any recommendations we did Slimming World before and did lose the weight but I don't want to have to start cooking majorly different meals for the kids so I am leaning to WW?

Well done all you good girls who have started off well!

> fruit and yoghurts replacing them (which I am not a great lover of!) but got on the scales today and nothing! 
>

you might be surprised how fattening some yoghurts are so i'd watch that one.

ww is really good, your kids won't notice they are eating anything different except maybe more veg. we've a cook book with curries and everything. salad is not essential (but good!)

thanks - I am leaning towards ww tbh anyway just need to pursaude the OH!

it was muller light yoghurts and ww too!  So thought I was being careful! :)

Thanks - guess its off to first meeting next week :)

weighed in last night...............somehow, I've lost 3lbs?

Same here lost 1lb of the 9 I gained on the run up to and over Christmas.

Weight Watchers is the biz as far as I'm concerned ;-) .......I lost 4 stone with them last year

SW, IMO, just doesn't teach portion control, it made me more greedy than normal :-O

WW's is just normal, healthy eating where nothing is banned, they just teach to eat with control

Well done Barbara :-)

I don't want to be losing though, it's so hard to maintain :-(

Well done Jolene & Brianless :)

I was 152lb last week, 153lb over the weekend and am back to 152lb today. No overall loss for me - back to where I started. I must try harder (LOL sounds like my school reports!!!).

That is what I found I only wanted to loose another half a stone or so, even though officially I ahd a stone to go to my top BMI.  Now I need to loose over a stone to a stone and a half.

Be nice to get there before June, hoping to go away with OH.

Doh.....still haven't dared to weigh.....:(

You are all doing great!

Well I was feeling very despondent Friday as seemed to have gained a pound but today had lost 2lb!  I would like to lose another stone ideally.

Am in work all day today and big problem is I am desparately craving a packet of crisps - have eaten my fruit my yoghurt etc. nothing left to eat but really want crisps!  And the vending machine is cruelly next to the coffee machine!  So I daren't go and get a coffee for fear of giving in!

> Am in work all day today and big problem is I am desparately craving a packet of crisps - have eaten my fruit my yoghurt etc. nothing left to eat but really want crisps! 

What's helping me with my junk-food craving is chewing gum, may be worth a try :)

Thanks - sorry but hate gum chewing drives me mad!!! and don't you find it makes you hungrier?  It does me!

Would mints be an option - do they have calories?

>sorry but hate gum chewing drives me mad!!!

LOL, I can't stand people chewing with thier mouth open - it drives me nuts, but I don't mind actually chewing it (but I keep my mouth shut :) ). I do find it gives me wind though.

> Would mints be an option - do they have calories?

They do have calories, but a polo is only 16 calories, if sucking a polo for half an hour will help keep the crisp craving at bay it's definately a better option :) Ohh, TicTacs - I used to use them too - I think they only have either 1 or 2 calories each :)

Rachel just have a packet of walkers lites or something they arent that fattening and will settle your craving - there is no point dieting if it makes you miserable, you are more likely to fail.

Guess the mints are a no no then as one is never enough is it!  LOL at the wind through chewing gum!

Made it without getting any though!

Oh bless you think I have to just get some lites as you say - the blinking vending machine doesn't have the lites - I did wonder if I just have some and be done with it!

Thanks ladies!

I lost 1.1/2 pounds this week at ww, determined to get back to my goal weight this year.  Cause I dont have much to lose its harder getting those extra pounds off, but, the new ww diet is better and I am tracking starting at 4pm instead of the morning as I am a night eater. this was suggested by my leader, so first week has worked.

i started SW a week yesterday and had my first weigh in yesterday and ive lost 6.6 lbs! :-):-):-)
i have got quite alot to lose and im hopeing to lose 5 stone before i go to south africa at the end of october,that means losing average 2lb a week :-)

> i started SW a week yesterday and had my first weigh in yesterday and ive lost 6.6 lbs!

What fantastic first week. I hope I can do as well. I joined WW on monday so will find out next week. :-)
I was a little horrified at my actual weight and now need to lose 5 1/2 stone.

well odne you! thats great!

my scales ae seriously iffy- they claimed i weighed a stone and a half more than i do (checked on multiple other scales! lol) and it looks like i lost 2 pounds last week, which for a loose begining i'm pleased with.

so i've started doing my new latin dance and pilates dvd's- i am in agony!! the dance one is great (except i might be annoying my downstairs neighbours)but i did 3 of the pilates workouts yesterday and oh my!! i have no core muscle strength at all (which is not that surprising since i've spent the last 4 months recoving from stomach surgery and my muscles all got sliced) but i did not think it would be that bad. i'm so very sore today

thanks :-)

yeah my scales arnt working right either! i thought they were so when i went to join up at slimming world i find out im a stone more than i thought i was!!!

ooo which latin dvd have you got? ive got a tae bo thats really good,i love it :-)

its called 10 minute latin dance or something like that. its got 5 different 10 minute work outs on it that you can mix and match. you get it on amazon. its good fun and you do feel it. i'm so sore after the pilates though! i never realised my already poor fitness had fallen so much after the op

Don't worry that is where I was last year, and I got rid of most of it.

thats sound good,il have a look in a sec.
i had a big op on my shoulder last year and wasnt able to move my arm properly for about 6months,they had tightened my ligaments too tight! so only now nearly a year on from the op is the use of my shoulder getting to how it should of been 8weeks after the op!

> I was a little horrified at my actual weight and now need to lose 5 1/2 stone. <IMG alt=eek src="/images/eek.gif">

hows it going for you?

> Don't worry that is where I was last year, and I got rid of most of it.

Thanks. I hope I can say the same this time next year.

Fell off the diet wagon last night, went to dog club and they had fish and chips there...... They do this every so often and I forgot, so was not prepared and they had bought some for me! :-( Anyway back to it today...... fingers crossed all will go well.

> hows it going for you?

I finding it quite easy so far, but it early days yet. I guess my weigh in on Monday will show if I'm doing it correctly or not.
I am hoping to lose 2lb and anything extra will be a bonus.

Jacket potato, beans and salad for dinner (only 6 points) :-)

cut down for the rest of the week, you can make it up. or see it as a glitch and move on :)

well done you! its not so bad is it?

Not read all responses but i would never work towards a BMI. It works on total weight only, no consideration taken for muscle mass or water in the body. Muscle weighs more that fat and i know many people who train hard and are very fit, yet under the BMI it states they are overweight which is further from the truth.

Just thought i would add this as its something to bear in mind that BMI imo is a load of tosh!!!
When i used to train a lot a few years back there is no way you would say i was overweight but under the BMI system it said i was and i had to loose weight, if i listened to this i would of looked very ill indeed..

We all need to work towards being fit and healthy, which can be hard at times.

Maybe walking our dogs in an area which has more hills can assist in the cardio side of things

Good luck guys and keep the motivation going, seems like you are all doing a good job...!!!!

Well I weighed myself on Monday and I had lost 5lb on the slimming world diet. So I am very pleased, I'm just following it myself by using all the leaflets I had from a few years ago. But I think I might have to join a class as I know a lot of the things you can have are changed. Anyway for now I am delighted and all being well I will keep it up.
Donna x

I pleased to hear your shoulder is finally on the mend. :-)

I too have a problem shoulder and know how debilitating it can be.
I've had two previous surgeries and am now under the Royal National Orthopedic Hospital and awaiting a 3rd

I hope you make a complete recovery soon.

> Not read all responses but i would never work towards a BMI. It works on total weight only, no consideration taken for muscle mass or water in the body. Muscle weighs more that fat and i know many people who train hard and are very fit, yet under the BMI it states they are overweight which is further from the truth.
>
> Just thought i would add this as its something to bear in mind that BMI imo is a load of tosh!!!
>

couldn't agree more. its very much a guideline. i simply could not accheive my bmi unless i had a serious eating disorder, in fact i know people who have had eating disorders and still didn't make theirs!

i think its all individual, just as it would be with our dogs- do any of us go strictly by scale weight or by look and feel?

> I pleased to hear your shoulder is finally on the mend. :-)
>
> I too have a problem shoulder and know how debilitating it can be.
> I've had two previous surgeries and am now under the Royal National Orthopedic Hospital and awaiting a 3rd
>
> I hope you make a complete recovery soon.

oh no,thats awful you having to have another op! for a while the doctors were saying that i would have to have another! but thankfully i dont now.
its not like its just your shoulder it affects your whole upper body,so its really hard to just get on with things.
i hope your next op goes well and sorts your shoulder out for you :-)

Well...Ive been really ill with the flu for a week and haven't felt like eating, so I have lost weight :-) My Mum came round yesterday and the first thing she said was "You've lost weight on your face" - yay!! My appetite is back now though and I have been really good so far, I'm keeping up with the healthy eating. Getting back into the exercise gradually as I dont want to make myself ill again, but I think I am going to buy one of the exercise DVDs. Im actually enjoying the healthy eating!

I dont go by scales (ours are broken anyway - they are rubbish scales!), I just go by clothes - my work trousers felt less tight today so I can tell I have definitely lost weight.

fruit and yoghurts replacing them (which I am not a great lover of!) but got on the scales today and nothing! 


Also agree that yoghurts and funnily enough many fruits have so much sugar in them.

Best to stick to fruits that contain a lot of water, like Strawberrys and melons to replace as snack foods. :-)

I agree with you Jolene, I have done SW so many times, lost 4 stone 2 years ago and put it back on. I am my 3rd week into WWs and doing well.

I am a terrible starver and the binge eater. Two hands in the air confession.  I have been trying to eat more often but little to try and break the really bad habit.

Oh Blue - I am the opposite would happily eat all day if I could!!!

Oh yikes there's me thinking being healthy with the yoghuts and fruit but guess better than crisps!

Did have a bag yesterday and enjoyed them but happy not to have them every day now - just had to get them out my system!

Have found a WW class not far so next week should be our first week with them!