28st 28yo Man Finally Taking A Stand

[sieben]

Hi everyone, my name is Matt and I recently turned 28, in both age and weight. I've struggled with my weight for as long as I can remember. I have tried to lose weight before, and had some success, losing 6st in 6 months a couple of years ago by limiting myself to 1200 calories a day. That however, was not sustainable and when I was promoted to a new, higher-stress job I completely lost it (both my mental health and control over my weight).

I had a breakdown in June which has caused be to re-evaluate my life somewhat and the first thing I need to change is my weight. I have discovered that it is the main cause of my anxiety and depression, and is the reason why I have low self-confidence and am unconfortable being around people that I don't know.

I have heard so many people talking about how much they enjoy going to SW so I thought I'd bite the bullet and join up. I was blown away by how friendly the consultant was and how welcoming the group were in general. I actually felt a bit teary-eyed because of the welcome I received.

I look forward to talking about my weight loss with anyone interested, and I would love it if you could give me any hints that you've picked up along your SW journeys. (I already know I'm going to struggle with fitting in a lot of speed veg).

First weigh-in comes this Thursday! (fingers crossed)

Matt x

 

[Wheekers]

Hi Matt, welcome to the forum.

I have found bulking out sauces with speed veg (e.g. extra pepper or tomatoes) is a good way to get extra speed foods in, we always put peppers and fresh as well as tinned tomatos in our chilli and spag bol now - more speed food in the sauce means less salad having to go down with it! What sort of things do you like eating?

 

[xxlauraxx15]

Hi Matt welcome to the group. Wishing you well in your first week. Il be honest i reckon you will still loose a lot anyway without the speed. This is how I start off and when weight loss slows down I introduce speed. I agree with what has been said above most meals have speed in anyway.

The Iceland meal are good they are £3 each but are full of speed food

 

[sieben]

Hi both, thanks for the welcome.

What sort of things do you like eating?

I like pasta dishes, so I guess just adding more chopped up veg like you say would be a winner. I've always been more of a fruit guy than a veg guy so I'm planning on just gorging on fruit to make up for my hatred of lettuce!

 

[xxlauraxx15]

I'm not keen on lettuce will only eat iceberg. If you do iceburg, cucumber, tomato, sweetcorn and beetroot it's actually not that bad. I find the beetroot hides the taste and it's a winner for me

 

[Wheekers]

Hi both, thanks for the welcome.


I like pasta dishes, so I guess just adding more chopped up veg like you say would be a winner. I've always been more of a fruit guy than a veg guy so I'm planning on just gorging on fruit to make up for my hatred of lettuce!

I don't mind a nice salad but am starting to get a bit bored of it now so am also trying new ways to get the speed foods in without having to look at another lettuce leaf! I also love pasta so adding extra veg to sauces has been the easiest I've tried (I've been roasting lots of pepper, onion and courgette to mix in with my pasta sauces and to make pasta bake with), but also things like roasting loads of peppers and tomatoes with some new potatoes and sausages, fajitas, again with huge amounts of the peppers and onions and putting grilled tomatoes with syn free chips and egg or sausage.

I would second the use of beetroot to help mask the taste of lettuce

 

[Jenny_b]

Hey,

best of luck on your weight loss journey.

subscribing

 

[Wolf]

Hi Matt, welcome in!

I also struggle to get my speed veg in. A couple of my tricks are, with mince pasta dishes like Bolognese and Pasticcio, is to add finely grated carrots (roughly one per person/portion) in addition to the tinned tomato/passata. The carrot has the effect of sweetening it slightly (tomato can be overly acidic sometimes) and it's barely noticeable. Mushrooms are another good one to add to most pasta dishes. Sauces are also a great go-trick as I find I can eat most veg a lot easier if there is a sauce of some kind over it. Gravy is relatively low syn and it's possible to make a low syn white sauce to have with any fish meals.

 

[buffy3256]

Hi Matt,

Welcome to the site. I'm not doing SW but wanted to say hi as I have a lot to lose too.

The upside of being big, is that small changes can have a big impact. So I agree with Laura - don't force veg. Start with stuff you do like, and as you get used to what you are doing try adding in more speed stuff.

Also - eat syns. Don't cut everything out that you like. Just have a little of it everyday e.g. 1 slice of cake rather than the whole, or 2 biscuits rather than the packet

Good luck - looking forward to watching your journey

 

[sieben]

Hello back, thanks for the welcomes.

Good news! Had my first weigh - lost half a stone! I was expecting a decent loss, because I know that it comes off nice and fast at the start, but I wasn't expecting quite that much!
Absolutely chuffed!

Also - eat syns. Don't cut everything out that you like. Just have a little of it everyday

I am already behind this one. With it being my birthday before I joined SW, I had been given a mountain of chocolate. I'm treating myself to 5 syns worth every night to start getting rid of it. I probably would have scoffed the lot before.

 

[Jenny_b]

well done on your loss

 

[Wheekers]

Well done on such a fabulous loss

 

[xxlauraxx15]

Brill loss well done

 

[HarrysGlasses]

Aw fantastic. I find making soup with the veg and teaming it with a good ham sandwich using my HEB and some quark is really filling and a great way to squeeze extra veg in. Also coleslaw made with carrot, red onion and red cabbage, quark, fat free yogurt and a little lemon juice. Good luck, I'm rooting for you.x

 

[Passion fruit]

Well done on your first weeks loss, best of luck

 

[sieben]

Thanks all. I went out to a nice steak restaraunt on Sunday - lots of opportunity to be naughty, but I think I did pretty well. Asked for the steak to be dry fried, removed all the fat, jacket instead of chips. The only thing I couldn't say no to was the mushroom and garlic sauce!

Today's question is - what do you normally find yourself choosing when you go out for food while on SW?

 

[xxlauraxx15]

Exactly the same as you chose haha.

Either :
steak and jacket
Gammon and jacket
Mixed grill jacket but give the sausage to hubby.
Chicken and jacket.
If I'm out in the day I will choose a jacket with beans

 

[sieben]

Week 2 done - 4lbs lost this week, and slimmer of the week! Hopefully going to smash through that 1 stone mark next week.

Today's question - What do you take into work for lunch?

 

[Losing_Claire]

Well done on those amazing losses! You're really smashing it already

I meal prep hot meals as I work long hours, something filled with protein to stop snacking. My thing at the moment is bolognese, might try burger in a bowl too as it is similar

 

[Doctor Cox]

Hey bud, welcome to the journey! and a huge congrats on the 2 great weeks so far!

Personally, i can't be bothered with veg. I love mushrooms, onions and peppers but apart from that i get most of my speed from apples and mandarin oranges.

I get a 15 min and a 30 min lunch break at work. For my 15 min one i usually bring in a muller light and break up a hifi bar into it (half of my HEXB) and maybe a banana. On the 30 minute one i usually have something like a naked noodle (singapore curry is syn free, the rest average between 1 - 2 syns) and have 2 mandarins or an apple or something with it. Something nice and easy, simply grab it on your way out the door and add water.