Help

[greekonabike]

Slowly but surely does it. If you don't fancy getting on the bike just yet, why not try walking instead? It'll at least get you started in the exercise department. Then progress to the bike when you're feeling more confident. It's the first step that's the hardest.

Eating healthily really does help as @greekonabike says. Trouble is, it's not always the cheapest option if funds are tight, but a little tip: Yellow Sticker i.e. the clearance cabinets in the supermarket. It's a brilliant way of making fresh fruit & veg, lean meat and fish much more affordable.

I'm not sure how much more I spend/have spent on healthier food options in the past but I know I have definitely spent more on fresher/healthier food than I have on cardboard/processed food. I have a major issue with the pricing of healthier food, I understand that sometimes the price is warranted but if someone like Iceland can sell a bag of 20 chicken nuggets for a quid and a chicken tikka lasagna for 89p somethings gone wrong.

I don't exactly have money falling out of my pockets. Checking the discount and clearance section of the supermarket is a good idea as is using and then tarting up cheaper cuts of meat. Rather than buying chicken breasts get some chicken thighs
(bone in or boneless). Once you've smothered them in some jerk marinade you won't tell the difference. Getting cheap frozen vegetables is also a good call. Iceland is normally the best for this. I normally buy frozen mixed veg, sliced peppers, diced onions etc. They're only about £1 a bag and because I only cook for myself I tend not to buy fresh as it tends to go bad before I can use it.

I don't deprive myself of anything. I had some southern fried chicken, chips and a salad earlier..followed by a frozen eccles cake that I left in my panniers. Once you've started changing stuff you'll find that you level out (at least I did) and it will become easier to eat healthily and exercise consistently. There's been a couple of weeks where I've put on a few pounds but the rest of them I've consistently lost about 2/3lbs. I don't exactly exercise a great deal either. This week I've probably cycled about 60 miles, the week before maybe 80. Find out what you're comfortable with and work from there...and never buy chicken tikka lasagna from Iceland, it's jank.

GOAB

 

[vickster]

Thanks for all your advice yes i was here in july and yes i havent moved since then! Yes i need a kick! Does cycling work for serious weight loss aswell as a good diet

It can help but realistically you will need to ride a fair amount, maybe assume 40cals burnt per mile of moderate cycling, but as the saying goes, unfortunately you can't outrun a bad diet, so look at that first and use the cycling for fitness and wellbeing rather than weight loss

If you need some sort of help with cutting back the calories, use something like myfitnesspal to log everything you eat and the calories, or give slimming world a go. Maybe see your GP first for a check over before ramping up the exercise

 

[greekonabike]

+1 for myfitnesspal. I've used it in the past and found it really helped.

GOAB

 

[Dayvo]

Thanks for all your advice yes i was here in july and yes i havent moved since then! Yes i need a kick! Does cycling work for serious weight loss aswell as a good diet

I'll have a look, but there was a thread by one of ours who lost a massive amount of weight.

Does anyone know where that link is?

 

[Dayvo]

Found it.

https://www.cyclechat.net/threads/an-updated-video-on-what-cycling-has-done-for-me.40775/

The biggest requirement to undergo a major weight loss, IMO, is motivation. But if you're realistic and sensible, and quite strict with yourself, there's absolutely no reason to believe that you shouldn't achieve your goal.

Don't do too much in the beginning as this is all alien to you. If you try too much you will experience discomfort and poor results. See what advice Gary offers and take it from there.

Set a target for, I don't know, say four stone less by mid-summer, then another four by the end of next year, for example.

And there are over 38,000 members here who will help and encourage you on your way.

Good luck!

 

[Reynard]

I'm not sure how much more I spend/have spent on healthier food options in the past but I know I have definitely spent more on fresher/healthier food than I have on cardboard/processed food. I have a major issue with the pricing of healthier food, I understand that sometimes the price is warranted but if someone like Iceland can sell a bag of 20 chicken nuggets for a quid and a chicken tikka lasagna for 89p somethings gone wrong.

Yeah, that's exactly it when it comes to the really cheap stuff. I mean by the time you've paid for packaging, processing, transport plus the retail mark-up, there's not much left for actual ingredients. The healthy options are more expensive, which is one of my major bugbears.

I don't exactly have money falling out of my pockets. Checking the discount and clearance section of the supermarket is a good idea as is using and then tarting up cheaper cuts of meat. Rather than buying chicken breasts get some chicken thighs (bone in or boneless). Once you've smothered them in some jerk marinade you won't tell the difference. Getting cheap frozen vegetables is also a good call. Iceland is normally the best for this. I normally buy frozen mixed veg, sliced peppers, diced onions etc. They're only about £1 a bag and because I only cook for myself I tend not to buy fresh as it tends to go bad before I can use it.

Neither me - or rather, I'm careful with what money I've got, which is *why* I go yellow sticker-ing. And I cook from scratch, as pre-prepared stuff is also expensive. The one thing I don't do are frozen veg as I simply don't have the freezer space. But if stored correctly, fresh (whole) veg will keep a while in the fridge. It's the pre-cut stuff that goes manky really quickly. As for the standard (non free range / organic) chicken breasts, I don't buy them no matter how much they're marked down by; the cats refuse to eat them, and they shrink by half when you cook them Besides, the thighs have so much more flavour anyway.

I don't deprive myself of anything. I had some southern fried chicken, chips and a salad earlier..followed by a frozen eccles cake that I left in my panniers. Once you've started changing stuff you'll find that you level out (at least I did) and it will become easier to eat healthily and exercise consistently.
GOAB

Indeed - otherwise one ends up bingeing which isn't good. I have a portion of Christmas pudding with my name on it in the fridge for later. And I had roast duck, goose fat roasties and a medley of steamed veg (carrots, broccoli, asparagus) for supper. I bought the duck for £1 on Boxing day

 

[greekonabike]

Neither me - or rather, I'm careful with what money I've got, which is *why* I go yellow sticker-ing. And I cook from scratch, as pre-prepared stuff is also expensive. The one thing I don't do are frozen veg as I simply don't have the freezer space. But if stored correctly, fresh (whole) veg will keep a while in the fridge. It's the pre-cut stuff that goes manky really quickly. As for the standard (non free range / organic) chicken breasts, I don't buy them no matter how much they're marked down by; the cats refuse to eat them, and they shrink by half when you cook them Besides, the thighs have so much more flavour anyway.

I don't mind buying prepared stuff if it's frozen - diced onions, sliced peppers etc but I draw the line at bagged salads and fresh chopped carrots etc. You're paying for the convenience. If a bag of fresh diced carrots costs a quid there's probably about 9p of carrot, 50p of convenience and 41p for packaging and logistics.

I'm waiting for the day when we just take three pills a day for all our sustenance.

GOAB

 

[Reynard]

I don't mind buying prepared stuff if it's frozen - diced onions, sliced peppers etc but I draw the line at bagged salads and fresh chopped carrots etc. You're paying for the convenience. If a bag of fresh diced carrots costs a quid there's probably about 9p of carrot, 50p of convenience and 41p for packaging and logistics.

I'm waiting for the day when we just take three pills a day for all our sustenance.

GOAB

Ah, well now, I won't pay the full whack for the prepared stuff. Sometimes it's not even worth buying it when it's in the reductions. I prefer whole (unprepared) veg as it keeps better, and it doesn't take long to peel, top & tail etc...

 

[greekonabike]

I cook from scratch as well as I cant stand ready meals or eating out as I think the qualitity is too poor.
The reason why you can get cheap chicken nuggets from places like Iceland for a quid is because they will have come from Thailand and been sat in a freezer for the past 2 years before you eat them. The animal welfare standards abroad are not like here.I personally am not struck on Iceland as I think a lot of the food is rubbish.Its o.k for milk or coffee but the vegetables are always fit for the bin I think.
For cheap fruit/veg the best places are markets and Aldis I've found, that supersix offer Aldi do is good.
Also things like lentils and chickpeas etc are very reasonable and really cheap if you get them at continental supermarkets, but you really have to know how to cook as they can be rather bland if you dont know what you are doing.
OP if you drink alcohol and fizzy pop you need to knock both on the head as well.

I do use Lidl and Aldi for most things but I no longer buy veg or fruit from either of them as I just don't think it keeps that well, family and friends think the same. I'll use a greengrocer and a butcher and then get any other bits from the supermarkets.

I think basically provided you don't eat deep fried dairy milks you'll be alright.

GOAB

 

[greekonabike]

I was in Tesco on Christmas eve. The bakery department were reducing a lot of items and getting them ready to put out on the shopfloor whilst customers were waiting like ravenous hyenas. I saw 10 people all go for a trolley of bread like it was a food shipment from the Red Cross.

In an effort to get this thread back on topic....limit carbs like bread, when I cut them out it really helped.

GOAB

 

[Reynard]

The one thing that really worked for me (other than figuring out what my weaknesses were - avocados & crisps) was ditching the sugar in my tea. At the rate at which I drink tea, that was perhaps 150 additional calories I could do without. When it comes to carbs, I switched from white to wholegrain and that helps loads too.

I will admit that when yellow sticker-ing, you do need to leave your dignity at the door. It can be a real bun fight at times.

 

[greekonabike]

The one thing that really worked for me (other than figuring out what my weaknesses were - avocados & crisps) was ditching the sugar in my tea. At the rate at which I drink tea, that was perhaps 150 additional calories I could do without. When it comes to carbs, I switched from white to wholegrain and that helps loads too.

I will admit that when yellow sticker-ing, you do need to leave your dignity at the door. It can be a real bun fight at times.

I eat avocados on an almost daily basis either raw or in guacamole. I also cut out the majority of sugar from my diet. I had two spoons in a coffee and always had a cup on the go. I changed to a natural sweetener and that helped although I am partial to an energy drink and although I try to go for sugar free I do sometimes feel the urge to put that crap in my body.

My diet was that bad (I skipped breakfast and lunch most days and binged on unhealthy snack items in the evening) that when I started eating three meals with the occasional snack my body pretty much went into a shock and I lost a stone in about 10 days. If I do have something unhealthy now like chocolate, cake or biscuits I tend to eat a normal portion rather than gorging on an entire box. The bulk of this is all psychological. I got so disappointed in what I weighed and looked like that I knew I had to change and if it meant having chocolate and other unhealthy items as treats then I was willing to do it. I've lost half the amount I need to lose and experienced a plateau at 17st. I'm sure it's the first of many though. Just gotta go harder, faster and stronger to power through it.

GOAB

 

[Reynard]

I now work avocados into meals rather than having them as a snack as I used to. And I'll only have half, not a whole one... I love chicken and avocado sandwiches, or sliced avocado on buttered toast topped with salt and pepper, Both are absolutely lush and make a fabby lunch

My diet wasn't all that bad tbh as I've always cooked from scratch and eaten reasonably sensibly. My problem is that I was eating more than I was doing, and when you're my height (4ft 11) it's not so good to be as wide as one is tall... I've gone down from a size 16 to a size 10 in jeans in the last 18 months simply by sticking to the recommended 2000 calories a day, avoiding "empty" calories and being more active.