Need to loose a couple of extra pounds!

Hey guys, I want to loose a couple of extra flabby bits, I have got an extra tyre possibly 2! In all honesty I can't stick to a diet, temptaion creeps in and I always give in! Has any1 found any sort of way to loose that extra couple of pounds yet still treat yourself every now and then! I wouldn't say my diet is that bad at the moment and yes I do need to do a bit more excersize and hopefully with my Mum moving closer I will get off me butt and walk a bit more. I do have a bike but due to not riding 1 for soooooo long I can't ride for that long before getting puffed out! I smoke ciggy's and the odd bit of green (although the green is in rare cases!)

Can anyone help?

Well ride your bike everyday to the nearest shop and gradually make the distance longer. I don't do diets, I've just cut most the crap out of mine, I used to love take aways but don't have them that much now. I don't exercise, I do alot of walking where I work and since being there and changing what I eat I've lost 2st. I still eat loads as I work in a kitchen.

You tried a gym? Or invest in some home gym stuff.

Ok Richie, if I can do it so can you. This time last year I was 16stone 5lbs, I am now 15stone 4lbs.

Don't be scared of the bike, and the ciggeys won't help with the out of breath thing, but hey thats your choice. I used to cycle a lot, but then didn't really ride for about 6-8 years. I got on a bike in March and have just come back from riding from Lands End to John O'Groats. 1026 miles in 12 days.

I am single and see my kids roughly every other weekend which along with a hectic IT job which causes me to work long and unpredictable hours it was difficult to find time to fit in the training.

I joined a gym last August and was only able to manage 5 minutes on the cross trainer and now I can do 25 easily working faster and harder. Lots of CV (i.e. your bike) is the way to go if you want to shed the pounds, as half of what I lost in weight dropped off during the 12 days of cycling.

With regards to diet, I'm not as such on a diet and just watch what I eat. I still have the occasional KFC or Pizza Hut, and still enjoy desserts now and again. I think without these I would have lost more weight but they are hard to cut out completely. I generally eat healthier different cooking oils, different margarine, pick healthier leaner cuts of meat. I also decreased the size of my meals but added snacks during the day such as raw carrot with some homous. Always have breakfast. And most importantly I think, cut back on my alcohol intake and consumption of fizzy drinks.

You're not too far away from me (40mins in the car) so get some miles under your wheels and then you may have a training partner.

Hey guys, cheers for the reply. orc... my partner was reading your journey to me every day (eamesy88) and congratulations on that! I used to ride my bike everywhere whether it was going to the shop (5 minute walk) which only took about 5 minutes to do the whole journey. I do want to quit the smoking and have done for a long time but as all smokers will say it's very hard to do, I wish I had the will power to finish my poouch of baccy and leave it as that but I don't and with everything else going on at the moment it doesn't help! I may well take you up on that offer aswell orc (do you mind me calling you Owen? Easier for me lol) once I get a few mileage under my belt on the bike again

I don't think giving up the baccy will be easy and you need to do it at the right time for you or it just won't stick. However the exercise and healthier eating can be started anytime and will make a difference quickly.
The biggest issue I have is trying to use fresh things and cooking for one. I do it because I have to but it would be so easy to slip into the habit of ready meals which even the healthy living type ones are packed full of salt. With my unpredictable work hours I find myseld throwing stuff away on a frequent basis which I hate, but it is possibly the lesser of two evils.

orc30 said:
I don't think giving up the baccy will be easy and you need to do it at the right time for you or it just won't stick. However the exercise and healthier eating can be started anytime and will make a difference quickly.
The biggest issue I have is trying to use fresh things and cooking for one. I do it because I have to but it would be so easy to slip into the habit of ready meals which even the healthy living type ones are packed full of salt. With my unpredictable work hours I find myseld throwing stuff away on a frequent basis which I hate, but it is possibly the lesser of two evils.

Owen, you can get the little freeze pack containers and freeze your left over for future meals!!

hapydazy said:
Owen, you can get the little freeze pack containers and freeze your left over for future meals!!

One step ahead of you there. I make a good turkey chilli con carne. I make it big enough for 4 servings and freeze down 3 for later consumption when I can't be bothered. I do the same with bolognese as well. Its the fresh veg and salad stuff that ends up getting binned because it goes off before I can use it. I am getting better at managing this, but usually involves more late night trips to the grocery store.

We do that too, Mike makes really good stew and chilli, we have a bunch of venison that one of his hunting friends gives him every year and he makes it with that!

We tend to throw away the fresh stuff too... we have had an over abundance of tomatoes that some of have perished from our garden, even giving them away! I know there are tricks to preserving that kind of stuff, will just have to google it one of these times!

You're doing great Owen keep up the good work and Richie, Owen is a great influence and I bet can be a good support to you in you mission to lose those extra pounds! (I should too!)

Well for dinner today we had Sausage, Chips and Spagetti (the sort that is a bit like the beans) normally I would have 4 or 5 sausages but today I only had 3, normally I would NEVER let anything go to waste but some chips got wasted as I only had 3 spatula full's instead of however many it would normally be and some spagetti, I was a little naughty then as I did tell Laura to put the last few bits on my plate but I think they are a little healthier than the sausages and chips. Normally I feel full and bloated after my meals but today I didn't even think I had eaten which I spose in a way is good but all night I have been wanting more food and so far have done a good job in keeping my cravings under control (mainly due to the fact we havn't got any cheese for a cheese and onion toastie!

I have still had a packet of crisp or 2 today but overall I have eaten less than normal, my biggest problem will be breakfast as for the past 5 or 6 years I have very rarely eaten breakfast, if I had to guess I would probably say no more than 15 times. I can't eat for an hour or 2 after waking up cos I tend to feel a little ill for the rest of they day if I do so I'd rather not feel that way. Lunch I might have a sandwich if I'm lucky so it's really only dinner I have as my meal and if I can cut down on my portions on that then I will be happy! Gonna be hard when I do my tuna/chicken pasta meal, roast dinner or chilli cos they are 3 of my favourite meals!

Just enjoy what you do but in moderation and smaller portions, and healthy foods more frequently, non healthy ones less.... ok, gonna copy and paste this and print it out for my fridge LOL

I do ok, but could do a little better with my diet

My diet itself could be better but it's not that bad. The worst bit will be when I do my roast potatoes cos I use ALOT of salt in them to make them that little bit crispier but lovely and melt in your mouth soft in the middle. B-E-A-UTIFUL!!!!!

Richie, from a man who has done similar things take my advice. Breakfast is important as it gets your metabolism going, even if it is just a slice of toast. You shouldn't skip meals as then when you do eat your body stores it away as fat instead of using it to create energy, so then you get tired and lethargic as well.

Snacking is not a huge problem as long as the snacks are healthy. I have a snack in the morning and one in the afternoon. I try to have some fruit as one, and carrots with homous dip usually makes up the other. If you can't be bothered with chopping the carrots you can buy them bagged and chopped into sticks already for you, healthy and easy.

My biggest problem with sticking to my healthy eating is travelling for my job. When I'm out and about we always end up looking for something quick and easy. Usually ends up in one of the multitude of fast food places that dotted around. When are they going to start putting healthy eating places out in these sorts of areas. At least when I go into London I get a bit of choice.

I won't preach anymore, but I bought a book called the Abs Diet off Amazon and that offered some straight talking advice including things to avoid and also the best options to have when you go to places like McDonalds.

I may well try and get into the habit of doing just a slice of bread and butter for breakfast. I know breakfast is the most important meal of the day as we always hear on adverts on TV and whatever but I do tend to feel ill for most of the day if not all of the day when I've had something so soon after waking up

Both of you aren't to far from me..!Weird to see people in the same area everyone is normally up north!!!!I keep skipping meals atm, not that I want to just feeling sick when I do eat dunno why.

I normally have porridge, I eat alot as I got the implant. So I run outta gas really easy. Porridge is really filling and good for you. I'm naughty and have it with sugar tho lol.

I can't stand porridge, it looks and tastes like bitty wallpaper paste personally lol

I did have a slice of bread and butter for breakfast this morning and feel really rough, left it about half hour after I woke up so will leave it an hour or so tomorrow.

On an upside.... with the price of bus fares going up it looks like I may well be walking alot more than I'm used to which will help, I don't fancy a bike ride into town for 2 main reasons, that blasted bridge going into town (kills me enough when I walk it) and the thought of leaving my heap of trash bike in town aint good cos it'll probably get nicked!

Richie said:
I can't stand porridge, it looks and tastes like bitty wallpaper paste personally lol

I did have a slice of bread and butter for breakfast this morning and feel really rough, left it about half hour after I woke up so will leave it an hour or so tomorrow.

On an upside.... with the price of bus fares going up it looks like I may well be walking alot more than I'm used to which will help, I don't fancy a bike ride into town for 2 main reasons, that blasted bridge going into town (kills me enough when I walk it) and the thought of leaving my heap of trash bike in town aint good cos it'll probably get nicked!

im sure its not a heap of trash, it served you well for the big cycle

Richie said:
My diet itself could be better but it's not that bad. The worst bit will be when I do my roast potatoes cos I use ALOT of salt in them to make them that little bit crispier but lovely and melt in your mouth soft in the middle. B-E-A-UTIFUL!!!!!

this just means i wil have to eat them all mhahahaha wel and crystal but she only has a couple lol

eamesy88 said:

Richie said:
I can't stand porridge, it looks and tastes like bitty wallpaper paste personally lol

I did have a slice of bread and butter for breakfast this morning and feel really rough, left it about half hour after I woke up so will leave it an hour or so tomorrow.

On an upside.... with the price of bus fares going up it looks like I may well be walking alot more than I'm used to which will help, I don't fancy a bike ride into town for 2 main reasons, that blasted bridge going into town (kills me enough when I walk it) and the thought of leaving my heap of trash bike in town aint good cos it'll probably get nicked!

im sure its not a heap of trash, it served you well for the big cycle

Porridge is great with golden syrup. So Richie you'll be in the Weston (ish) area of Soton then. I agree that the bridge there is not really that inviting to cycle over.

Eamesy I did the big cycle. Think you got me and Richie mixed up. I'm sure if you ask at work they might have somewhere to lock up your bike. If it looks like a heap of trash then it is less likely to get the attention from thieves. I certainly wouldn't leave my mountain bike anywhere without a lot of locks.

orc30 said:

eamesy88 said:

Richie said:
I can't stand porridge, it looks and tastes like bitty wallpaper paste personally lol

I did have a slice of bread and butter for breakfast this morning and feel really rough, left it about half hour after I woke up so will leave it an hour or so tomorrow.

On an upside.... with the price of bus fares going up it looks like I may well be walking alot more than I'm used to which will help, I don't fancy a bike ride into town for 2 main reasons, that blasted bridge going into town (kills me enough when I walk it) and the thought of leaving my heap of trash bike in town aint good cos it'll probably get nicked!

im sure its not a heap of trash, it served you well for the big cycle

Porridge is great with golden syrup. So Richie you'll be in the Weston (ish) area of Soton then. I agree that the bridge there is not really that inviting to cycle over.

Eamesy I did the big cycle. Think you got me and Richie mixed up. I'm sure if you ask at work they might have somewhere to lock up your bike. If it looks like a heap of trash then it is less likely to get the attention from thieves. I certainly wouldn't leave my mountain bike anywhere without a lot of locks.

so i did haha think i read posts but not names there haha, and you say the weston ish side of soton spot on, we on the water front lol, (the horrible joys of weston shore) LMAO

How is it since VT Shipbuilders closed? The ex's dad used to work there and now travels down to Portsmouth. I thought that they were doing the place up a bit. That said those tower blocks are just horrid. Ex's mum used to live there until she moved to Rochdale.