Harry's Diary

[Harry_C]

Hi everyone,

I'm keeping this diary to track my progress over the coming year's. I need to loose weight. I'm 5 ft 10, 19 years old and I weigh around 22 stone. I don't like the way I look, and when I see people who are skinnier then me, it gets me down. It's time to change that now, I want to try my best to get down to a weight that makes me happy.

Over the years I have created some really bad habits that I need to try and break. My main one is buying takeaways. In the UK we have an app called Just eat that allows us to order food to our door. I have 2 just eat accounts with over 75 orders on each account. That's over 150 takeaways I have brought for myself. It's become an addiction and I want to stop this. Steps taken to reduce the amount of take away I eat: I have removed the app from my phone and have deleted all my accounts on Just eat.

This is going to be the start of a really hard journey for me and would love any advice and support anyone ca give to help me along the way.

Current weight: 22 Stone
Weight goal: 14 Stone

 

[Cate]

Hi, Harry & welcome to the diary section of the WLF forum

There are various useful sites online for dietary guidelines. Some of these are-
https://www.eatforhealth.gov.au/guidelines/australian-guide-healthy-eating
https://www.choosemyplate.gov/
https://www.nutrition.org.uk/healthyliving/healthydiet/eatwell.html

Many of us use an app to track what we eat & to guide you in how many calories you should be consuming per day. I use My Fitness Pal, others use Chronometer. Don't try to lose too much too fast. Perhaps at the start just concentrating on eating as healthy as you can & moving more will be enough to get your weight moving down nicely. Losing weight too fast is not good in the long-term. I think learning healthy habits that you can sustain for the rest of your life would be the best bet.
If you are able to have professional guidance that would be even better. Are you able to see a qualified Nutritionist and/or an Exercise Physiologist? Strength training would really help you to not only retain your muscle as you lose weight but also build muscle to help raise your metabolism. Once again, seeing someone who will provide professional guidance is the best way to go.
Not eating takeaways & eating healthy food should make so much difference. Learning to cook would be a great thing at your age. I just looked up UK healthy & simple recipes & found this book, from the British Heart Foundation - https://giftshop.bhf.org.uk/quick-healthy-recipe-book It would be a good start.
I think that taking it slowly but learning good healthy & long-term sustainable habits is the best way to go. You can do this

 

[Northern_Dreamer]

I would recommend starting with only 1 of the following for 1 month:

1) go for a 2K walk once a day or a 4K bike ride
2) eat a healthy supper (start with 500 calories) & do not eat between 8pm and 6am
3) ensure you get 8 hours of bed rest a night & spend at least 1 hours outdoors doing something that does not include eating
4) drink only water and often (eliminate all pop and sugar-added juice)

Too often people try to go all-out too soon and its too much. A healthy lifestyle change works better when done gradually. After 1 month of doing 1 of the above, add a second thing to it. If you have a setback 1 day don't let it discourage you. Give yourself another chance. By the end of 4 months, with all of those 4 incorporated into your life, slowly incorporate more changes, adding 1 of the below changes each month:

1) Do 15 minutes of weight-bearing exercises every second day (look for youtube videos for tutorials)
2) Eat a wholesome breakfast of 500 calories with a healthy 200 calorie snack a couple hours later, make sure there is a good amount of protein
3) Do 15 minutes of cardio exercises every second day (look for youtube videos for tutorials)
4) Eat a healthy lunch of 500 calories with a 200 calorie healthy snack a couple of hours later
5) Do 15 minutes of yoga or stretching or breathing exercises every second day (look for youtube videos for tutorials)
6) Join a physical recreational activity (ie. boxing, soccer) or take an exercise class

A 1900 calories per day healthy eating lifestyle is a big step when you are eating poorly and likely in the 3000+ range each day. The weight will come off with gradual changes in exercise and nutrition. Eventually you will get to a weightloss plateau and then you can lower the calorie count. Lowering your calorie count too fast will cause your body's metabolism to slow which is what you don't want. The above is just a guideline. There are plenty of different ways to lose weight but gradual healthy change is a good way to go. And take the above poster's recomendation to go see a nutritionist.