[Anonymous]

i've been overweight for many years

i need to lose this weight in the next 6 months

i have no mental power to do it, i've tried and failed for the past year and nothing has worked

i start a day or two with not eating, say, chocolates, and then the next day i eat them...

i dont know how to motivate myself, i've tried everything, i've made threads about this on here plenty of times, none of the general solutions work for me

are there weight loss/ apetite lessening pills that can be bought/ prescribed by the doctor? because i want to start on something like that, rather than think about things like surgery

thanks

[martin101]

Firstly, youre not alone in this. Many people feel they are unable to motivate themselves to stay on a strict diet. Just as many think because of this, a magic pill is the only way forward. Yes there are pills and there are surgeries and there are therapies, however you still need to change the way you think if its going to take. You have to make a conscious lifestyle change otherwise once you stop the pills youre going to go right back. Denying yourself things entirely is not the way forward - think about smokers for example - just willpower alone is often not enough and they revert to old ways. In your case you need to cut down, not cut out - have fewer chocolates, often not having them around in the house is enough to stop you eating them too (I know in my case if there aint any around I just dont eat them no matter how much I want to!). Try to incorporate more exercise into your lifestyle - it might seem tedious, but it really is good fun once you get into it (I used to hate sports, now I am told to cut down because its taking over my life!)

Pills might seem like the easy option out, but its no solution.

[Teaddict]

Do you know the best way?

Get someone else to get all your food/make your dinners.
That way you either eat the healthy food or you starve

Good method I think.

[lucyhol1012]

Do you live at home or on your own?

If I were you I'd get rid of all the chocolate and tempting things in your house. If they're gone then you won't be tempted to eat them whilst you're in the house.
Also, when going out only take the money you need to stop you from buying chocolates and other bad things you don't need when you're out.

Have you made yourself an exercise plan? I think that is very important. Designate a time every day that you will exercise and make all your other plans around it.

I don't think pills are the best thing. Teaddict is right with her idea of getting other people to make you some healthy meals.

[Anonymous]

Originally Posted by martin101

Firstly, youre not alone in this. Many people feel they are unable to motivate themselves to stay on a strict diet. Just as many think because of this, a magic pill is the only way forward. Yes there are pills and there are surgeries and there are therapies, however you still need to change the way you think if its going to take. You have to make a conscious lifestyle change otherwise once you stop the pills youre going to go right back. Denying yourself things entirely is not the way forward - think about smokers for example - just willpower alone is often not enough and they revert to old ways. In your case you need to cut down, not cut out - have fewer chocolates, often not having them around in the house is enough to stop you eating them too (I know in my case if there aint any around I just dont eat them no matter how much I want to!). Try to incorporate more exercise into your lifestyle - it might seem tedious, but it really is good fun once you get into it (I used to hate sports, now I am told to cut down because its taking over my life!)

Pills might seem like the easy option out, but its no solution.

Thanks this is great advice!
but how long this will last for someone like me is unknown
if i dont get my daily fix of chocolate/sugar i find other things like carbohydrate filled food like bread, chips etc. even though i have a cooked healthy meal ready at home...

i do go to the gym at school twice a week, but read reply below about time:

Originally Posted by Teaddict

Do you know the best way?

Get someone else to get all your food/make your dinners.
That way you either eat the healthy food or you starve

Good method I think.

i live at home and so i dont cook, my parents do!
meals are not a problem
its stopping myself eating crap either inbetween meals or after
i dont know how to stop myself

i like exercising, i just dont have time, im worrying about school work a lot and the opportunity cost of taking time to exercise and not do work, education is very important because im not a top student but im aiming high and so it takes more importance
but then i dont want to look like an inflated peice of crap at uni and feel like crap there aswell!!

[Anonymous]

Are there pills out there which have low side effects and just lessen my appetite, so i eat less overall?/get filled up quicker?

[Loz17]

Healthy Balanced diet and exercise (4 times a week+) is the best way. There are so many benefits: Increased helth benifits, skin/hair, fitness, energy increase, and the weight is easier to keep off as its turned into muscle, not just lost fat.

If you are desperate though, and your BMI is over 28. There are pills availble from pharmacies called Alli. However, it is expensive really, and if you eat too much fat, the side effects aren't nice at all. So I would recommend the former.

Remember, you are not alone and you can do it if you put your mind to it! There is a lot of support available out there, you just need to go and find it.

Good luck!!

[mcp2]

To tell the truth, exercising will benefit your education. It will stimulate the brain and you will feel much better revising after a good workout, you won't feel tired at all. Moreover, the self control and dedication of adhering to a strict diet and workout plan will also mean that you have greater mental strength overall meaning that you will revise better and have be much more concentrated. Last year I was doing my GCSEs and going to the gym regularly, trust me it helped and didn't affect my grades at all (I got good grades, partly thanks to gym I believe).

With the self motivation, don't compare yourself to anyone else. Take pictures and weigh yourself weekly, if you're exercising and dieting properly then you WILL lose a kg or 2 a week. Just seeing your weight dropping down is motivation enough!

I would also suggest joining some bodybuilding/general exercise forums as the people there know what they're talking about, I suggest John Stone Fitness, check out their forums.

[kultist]

Originally Posted by Anonymous

Are there pills out there which have low side effects and just lessen my appetite, so i eat less overall?/get filled up quicker?

Amphetamine works pretty well I've heard.

[alexterry]

Pills are for fools. Take temptation out of the house. Do not buy crap whilst you're out and about. Do sit ups and pressups before you go to bed if you can't afford or can't access a gym. There is really no need for medications, it's a psychological issue that you need to and can over come if you want to lose weight.
It sounds to me as if your problem is justifying WHY you want to be thinner.
If you really want to be thinner/weigh less etc for reasons other than to fit into a social clique (I.e. for your own health and well being) then you will probably find the motivation do it.
Obviously I'm generalising but you need to think about why you have gone to effort of making threads and stressing about it and find the motivation within that reason.
Good luck.

[ChaoticMaster]

If you have no mental strength you are screwed. Nothing else will work long term. You have to change your way of thinking. Eat a lot but eat the right foods and you'll feel full. Start exercising as well. Its as important as the diet for long term continuous weight loss.

[yesioo]

The problem with medication for weight loss is that, once you stop taking it, you're likely to put it all back on again. You need to change your lifestyle. Saying your going to cut out certain foods just won't work. You need to do it gradually. First cut your portion sizes. Then add a new veg to the plate. Then cut out something on it you don't need i.e chips.

[friendly_fiend2]

Go on a super model diet: heroin and ryvita biscuits

I reckon what loz says about the benefits of excercise is true. Really good for the mind and body.

Read up a bit into healthy filling low calorie foods. Drink plenty of water and keep yourself occupied.

[Bekaboo]

I recently had a seminar on goal setting and personal development, and one of the most important things I took away from it was this:

If you set yourself a negative goal, you just keep circling the thing you are trying to avoid.
So say I say "I want to give up smoking". Every day I congratulate myself on not smoking, so every day I'm thinking about smoking, and eventually (to use the AA acronym) one day I'm too hungry, too angry, too lonely or too tired and I just go running back.
Instead I need to set myself a goal like "I want to be fitter" or "I want to save money" or "I want to set my kids a good example". Because you're couching it in positive terms it gets easier.
You also need to set yourself targets - milestones if you like.
And it can be really affective to force yourself to take responsibility for it, not just by making a thread on here but by actually telling people in real life - ask them to go through it with you maybe? And write it down, make yourself a contract, sign it and pin it to the wall. Stop telling yourself you don't have the willpower and actually make a change.

The key thing here is that you're not STOPPING yourself from eating chocolate. You're MAKING yourself eat healthily. I would hazard a guess that you don't just eat when you're hungry - otherwise you wouldn't be overweight unless you had some serious medical problem. You're probably overweight because you eat when you're bored, or when you're upset or when you just have an urge. So a pill that stops you from feeling hunger isn't going to help - it's just going to disrupt your normal feelings of when to eat regular meals so you snack constantly.

So:
- Make yourself a contract
- Tell a friend
- Make a plan. Perhaps plan your meals for a week. All sensible, all nutritious. No buying sandwiches from the shops or fast food - if you can't find out exactly what's in it then you're not allowed to eat it.
- Only by 'nice' things in small amounts. E.g. for your weekend treat buy yourself a desert - but by an individual one, not a multipack that you can binge on.
- Work on positive goals. Like "this week I will learn to cook four new healthy meals" or "this week I will go running three times".

It's a massive tragedy of our society that the media and celebrities have convinced everyone you can use a pill to solve a complex problem. You can't.