Tips on losing weight

Cutting out alcohol helped me to drop a couple of kilos when my bad knee stopped me from running. Good for overall health as well.

I've lost 7kg over the last two months or so by cutting down portion sizes, eating lighter lunches, watching my snacking and walking for an hour or so on an evening where possible. I don't eat breads, pasta or spuds much any more. In fact I've dropped bread almost entirely and switched to rice and sweet potatoes in the most part for carbs.

I'm just starting running again now for the first time in about two years after a year of injury and about 9 months celebrating not being in the RAF anymore.

I would agree with M93 regards the bleep test. At my physical peak after nine weeks basic training at RAF Halton I was doing a mile and a half in about 10'30" but scraping a pass (9.10 for RAF) on the bleep test. I couldn't deal with the turns as easy as some could. It's not as easy to run in a sports hall with 20-200 people either.

Good luck with it all.

This might be worth a try? [url=http://www.nhs.uk/Livewell/c25k/Pages/couch-to-5k.aspx]http://www.nhs.uk/Livewell/c25k/Pages/couch-to-5k.aspx[/url]

Also don't know what area you're in but I recently got 6 months free gym membership with our local council through the "Active Together" scheme.

Came across this a while back (image below) which I thought was spot on.Hence like others have said on here loosing weight too quick will probably cause more harm than good.Do it over a longer period of time and try to stick to a healthy lifestyle .Other thing I would add from my own experience is plenty of water (2 litres a day) and dont overdo the alcohol eg everything in moderation.Likewise find a exercise you enjoy  and chances are you will stick to it.Eg you only have one body look after it.Other thing of note is the emotional is key is as well.Try to be relaxed about life (its hard sometimes I know) as the mind does govern the body [img]http://artofhealthyliving.com/site/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/the-best-6-doctors-anywhere-690x545.jpg[/img]

Thanks for all the comments, everyone! I wasn't expecting so many!  

It's cause we're all fat illegitimates on here. Too many chippys!

I found exercising more just meant I ate more. You have to do a lot of exercise to use up significant amounts of calories. If you look up how much you use from say running 5 miles, you'd be surprised how little that equates to.

Eat less.

I found that drinking less (alcohol) helps. In fact I shed loads when I cut drinking fully. As well as the calories in the drink itself, I found I wanted to eat less. Once you get used to that, cut out seconds. And snacks (hungry between meals? Drink a cup of coffee). Then reduce portion size. Then cut out puddings. I lost 15 kilos in about 3 months and I wasn't exactly Billy Bunter.

Number 1 tip? Self-discipline.

Problem is keeping it off.  

Resistance work is always good aswell even if your hitting cardio mostly . Will help you tone up along the way even if it's just a couple of times a week - body weight exercises or weight training ...... Not that I've done any exercise for about 5 years and now I'me overweight also - too many kebabs and chippys + beer is a bad combination when it's more than just a treat ! Fox .

Quoted from KingstonMariner

I found exercising more just meant I ate more. You have to do a lot of exercise to use up significant amounts of calories. If you look up how much you use from say running 5 miles, you'd be surprised how little that equates to.

Eat less.

I found that drinking less (alcohol) helps. In fact I shed loads when I cut drinking fully. As well as the calories in the drink itself, I found I wanted to eat less. Once you get used to that, cut out seconds. And snacks (hungry between meals? Drink a cup of coffee). Then reduce portion size. Then cut out puddings. I lost 15 kilos in about 3 months and I wasn't exactly Billy Bunter.

Number 1 tip? Self-discipline.

Problem is keeping it off.  

1lb of body fat is allegedly equal to 3,500 calories.

Many good tips but just to add cut out all sugary drinks as well as alcohol,  including fresh and concentrated fruit juice which are very high in sugar, used skimmed milk in hot drinks and no sugar. Drink a large glass of water before meals and if it seems a bit tasteless add a squeeze of fresh lemon/lime or leave a jug in the fridge with fresh mint rather than concentrated fruit juice.
Also try and keep a honest food diary, doesn't take long and you can see stuff you knew you shouldn't have had written down in black and white