gained 42 pounds in 6 months HELP

I've gained 42 pounds in 6 months, I am 18 and 5ft 1, which means I am overweight! I don't know how to lose it, I manage to lose about 7 pounds but then gain it again. how many calories so I need to be eating and burning in order to lose around 1-2 pounds a week? Have you got any tips on how I can do it? Also do you have any recommendations for shakes? So maybe I could replace lunch with a shake?

Go to your doctor and do it properly by being referred to people who can help you lose weight in a constructive manner. Meal replacement diets and shakes will see you lose a stone or so, but as you have noticed you will eventually put it back on again. Losing weight permanently, requires a holistic approach with a healthy mental attitude to your own well being and eating, eating healthily and exercise. Most diets simply focus on calories which is why they don't work in the long term despite what you might be told.

Good luck!

A Dr would most likely give you the same advice as you can find online. They have very little budget for weight loss issues.
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In my experience they don't bother. I was just given a printout which was the same stuff that is available on sites like change for life etc.


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They don't bother because unless the person has an eating disorder, is seriously overweight and would benefit from surgery or has a medical condition causing weight gain. The only person who can change their weight is the patient themselves.

They can tell the patient till the cows come home all about eating at a calorific deficit to lose weight, and then not eating more than your maintenance calories once you've gotten to your goal weight to prevent gaining weight back. But unless the patient listens and follows the advice (properly) there is nothing they can do.

OP, you need to work out your TDEE and then eat at a calorific deficit to that, as someone mentioned above. Losing weight is really simple, people just find it hard because it is a lifestyle change. Once you lose weight don't eat more than your (re-calculated) TDEE and you won't gain weight back.

They used to offer such things as a weekly weigh in clinic with a nurse and other support. This has all gone. I agree that the person has to take responsibility but I feel it is a shame that lots of the support has gone due to a lack of funding.


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There are often a lot of stuff like that in the local community centres. My mum used to go to one of those at the local British legion, and because she is on benefits/low income it was free.

I guess like a lot of things it depends where you live. Glad to hear that some places are doing something. I just feel that the NHS should be able to do more, especially with all the scary stories you hear about childhood obesity etc.


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It does suck, I'm assuming the costs of it just weren't yielding results that were much worth it. With weight, it just comes down to the individual. They're either dedicated or they're not.

True, but arguably you could say the same with smoking.


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True, but then again there are drugs that are very effective for stopping smoking (champix) which have proven to help with the root cause of the addiction. No such drugs really exist for weightloss, there are weightloss aids (which usually just give you oily poo) but they don't solve the root cause; the eating habits.

I've gained 42 pounds in 6 months, I am 18 and 5ft 1, which means I am overweight! I don't know how to lose it, I manage to lose about 7 pounds but then gain it again. how many calories so I need to be eating and burning in order to lose around 1-2 pounds a week? Have you got any tips on how I can do it? Also do you have any recommendations for shakes? So maybe I could replace lunch with a shake?

Can you give a bit more information about what your current diet is like? What's a typical day like for you?

As others have said, it might be worth having a chat with your GP and seeing if they can offer you some advice to stop the weight gain and get your onto a healthy eating path - whether that's just through dietary advice, referrals to an exercise scheme or someone more specialised, or if you need it, some help to work out what's going on for you.

It's worth having a look at this to work out what your current BMR is. From that you can get a rough guideline on how many calories you need to maintain your current weight, and the common recommendation is to take around 500kcal off that in order to lose weight.

Personally I would really, really not recommend using shakes as a meal replacement. They're not a good strategy in the long-term (especially since many people use them as a 'quick fix', but then return back to eating in the old way so regain that weight), and in general you can make lunches which are far healthier and more nutritious and will still allow you to lose weight.

A healthy lunch could include e.g. a wholegrain pitta/wrap/sandwich with something like chicken, salad, peppers, whatever you like in it, or maybe soup and salad with a bread roll. A good basic starting guideline is a third/a third/a third (one third carbohydrate, one third protein/fat portion, one third fruits/vegetables), although it is just a basic guideline. You could prepare some salads in advance with things like salmon, avocado, rhubarb, seeds, peppers, all sorts. Anything like that is likely to satisfy you far more than shakes are (without meaning to sound patronising).