I have decided to make a big list of things i need to change if i am ever gonna crack this weight loss lark. If you can help with any i would appreciate it very much?

1. Sleeping pattern - I'm on student hours, i go to bed at 2am get up and 12pm. I dunno how to sort out my body clock. Especially with all-nighters once in while for essays.
2. Breakfast - I haven't eaten breakfast for as long as i can remember. You have no idea how many times i had had rants from my mum, my boyfriend, my mates, even my brother about how important it is but because of my fussy eating and my rushing when i do manage to get up before lunchtime for my lectures i just don't find time.
3. My repertoire of food - I can only cook two meals spaghetti bolognaise and pasta bake. I am a very fussy eater plus being lactose intolerant. As i have uni work and lectures i find myslef grabbing something small and quick between lectures and then getting takewaway in the evening.
4. I have NO will power - Seriously i have given up on so many diets, I couldn't even stick to Weight Watchers! My boyfriend is currently on the Atkins and i can't even be bothered to try that, cos as i said my repertorie consists of pasta, pasta or pasta.
5. I eat out far too much - I just can't help eating out whether it is McDonalds, Sainsbury's or a proper restaurant. I do it all the time and it is not good for my bank balance or my waistline. It saves me cooking and gets me out of the house.
6. Exercise - I live right opposite a lovely park, but finding time to walk in there what with uni is a chore. I hate gyms, i have a membership to the uni gym and pool but the gym is tiny and awkward times cos it opens to the public and the pool is hot! I avoid walking to town cos i know if i go to town i will spend money unneccessarily.
7. Drinking - I always drink fizzy drinks. I have managed to give up Coca Cola but in that i have just moved on to Fanta, Tango and Lemonade, i rarely drink water unless i'm ill or run out of fizz and i don't like fruit juice. I don't drink alcohol so thats not a problem.
8. Snacking - I snack on crisps and chocolate, mainly not cos i'm hungry but through boredom. Really bad excuse but its the truth.
9. Eating times - I often eat late either cos i forget or cos i don't have time earlier or cos i get hungry later on in the night.

If anyone has any ideas to help with these i will be so grateful.

My first suggestion would be that it is overwhelming to try and tackle EVERYTHING you would like to change all at ONCE. Maybe you could isolate a couple of the key issues and tackle them first.

1. This isn't necessarily going to make a difference for weight loss. As long as you get yourself on some sort of eating schedule, whether it matches the schedule of the person next door is irrelevant. Even all-nighters can be accomplished with planning.

2. Start small - eat a piece of fruit. Or go for "non-breakfast" items - no reason breakfast has to be a sort of food you don't like. It's important, but after a couple weeks, you'll have a habit of it. Just start small and don't give up. I guarantee you'll feel better if you do.

3. Lots of healthy options don't require complicated cooking. You can look here for easy, low calorie recipes, or invest in some healthy, quick cooking cookbooks. You'll learn new recipes and maybe get excited about cooking. And even your pasta dishes can be made much healthier...just use lean proteins (4% fat ground beef or ground turkey breast, for example), reduced fat cheeses, 1 portion of pasta per serving, and a ton of sliced cooked veggies. I make my pastas with 1 serving of pasta and 2 cups veggies per portion, then bathe it all in the sauce. Yummy, and low-cal!

4. I don't believe in will power. You either decide that you are going to do this, or you decide not to, but it isn't about "will power"...it is about commitment. Every single successful maintainer on here will talk about the time they just decided it was time to do this. That time FEELS different, and it isn't because willpower magically appeared. It's because you've COMMITTED to making change, and follow through on that commitment.

5. Sounds like you're in need of some planning. Can you take one day a week and prep/assemble/cook meals for the rest of the busy evenings? Can you stock your freezer with lean cuisines or other entrees that'll be healthier without taking extra time? A can of tuna, a whole wheat pita, and some veggies can be a meal, in less than 10 minutes. Eating out too often makes it very hard to stay on any kind of plan, and things you can make at home taste better and are healthier. What about making a big batch of something (like bolognese sauce, with extra veggies) and keeping it on hand, even in the freezer? That way, you can cook pasta and you've got dinner together in minutes. It's faster and healthier, and cheaper too!

6. Walk downtown and don't bring your wallet! That'll eliminate the spending money issue. Exercise is a hard habit to get established, but after a few weeks, I guarantee you'll wonder how you did without it. Start out slow, but be consistent, and remember that COMMITMENT thing I was talking about earlier. Even if it never becomes something you LOVE to do, it will become a habit that you find easy to do, more times than not.

7. There are plenty of fizzy drink options that don't have calories. Diet sodas, for instance, or sparkling mineral waters with no sugar. My personal treat is to stock up on sugar free syrups from Da Vinci and Torani...then I mix a few pumps with some plain sparkling mineral water and...instant calorie, caffeine, and sodium-free soda. Delicious, and I get to make up my own flavors (current favorite is pineapple-coconut, but I also love a vanilla soda). Fizzy doesn't have to mean full of calories.

8. If your boyfriend is on Atkins, why are these in the house? Get rid of them! Keeping those things on hand will mean they are easy to grab. If they aren't in the pantry, you're going to have a much easier time of avoiding them, so out they get. If you have to keep them in the house, tell yourself they don't belong to you, so you can't eat them. Again, this is a habit that'll break in time...first few days are the hardest. Just don't have ANY and the habit of eating those things when you're bored will be broken.

9. Eating late doesn't necessarily need to be a problem, though if you let yourself get overhungry, you're more likely to eat more than you'd like when you finally do decide to eat. Again, I think it comes down to planning. Make a plan of what you're going to eat in a day, make sure it is all prepped, then eat those things throughout the day. Carry snacks, or eat them when you're at home, but eat the things on your plan and it won't matter how late you get to them.

So get to it!

That's a long list--I agree with Josephine, start small and build on your successes. My first step was eating breakfast. good luck and check in here often for support.

Heeeey!

You're a LOT like me.


Instead of fizzy drinks I recommend mineral water with lemon juice added to it for flavor.


The rest of it, if you figure it out - let me know!

All your ideas are great, Thankyou very much. On the point in 8 about Atkins, my boyfriend and i don't live together hence why I have such things in the house, (I wouldn't have them if we did cos it would be cruelly tempting for him.)
I love the fizzy water and fruit idea, is it cheaper than buying premixed branded drinks?
Also your point about 'portions' of pasta how do i know what a portion is?

I think it probably ends up cheaper than soda - a bottle of syrup costs about 6 dollars, and will make many, many sodas. The bottled sparkly waters are pretty cheap (I get mine at a local warehouse store).

If it would be too tempting for your boyfriend, why do you keep it around to tempt YOU? So much easier to have it out of the house.

And a portion of pasta is about 2 oz dry. If you don't have a food scale, that is 1/8 of a 1 lb package/box, or roughly a cup cooked, depending on variety. It works out to about 200 calories a serving.

hi!

im also a student in the uk but i manage it. you just have to decide to change, yes im exhausted, i do a full time course and work 24 hours a week as a manager, but learning to cook is so vital.. otherwise you will never survive.

anyone can make cous cous for example, and a salad and grill some chicken..

i use frozen quorn fillets, tasty and easy, bang em in the oven with spices on top and make a salad, add some coleslaw, olive oil for dressing and cous cous on the side and im sorted!

dont buy the crap from uni, why do u think so many students are so fat?

cut out the sugary pop, switch to diet caffeine free coke and limit yourself, im only allowed a glass once ive had 2 litres of water.

Since your a pasta addict - I recommend www.fibergourmet.com - they have great pastas (I love the tomato basil) that are low calorie and high fiber. I haven't found anything quite like them and they are very very similar to what regular pastas taste like....a little bit lighter though...I think a 2oz serving (which if you buy them in the nest form, is 2 nests...no measuring needed!) is about 120 calories and 18 grams of fiber....I keep it in stock always!!!