When I was about 20 I could wear women's clothes and look very good. I'm 5'9 so I could carry off heels and a nice black pencil skirt and white blouse. I had this fantasy I was a woman working in an office. I'd put on the make up and dark rimmed glasses and it felt really good.

BUT alas over the last ten years I have got fat. Yeah, I'd say about 4 stone overweight. Wearing women's clothes doesn't look good any more so I have decided to go on a diet.  For years I struggled with dieting but now I'm just gonna eat less. So far the bloated feeling has gone but I need to shed the weight.

20 years ago I could get into a size 12. I don't expect that now, but a size 14 would be good. Wish me luck.

Good luck Kitty - with dedication and hard work it can be done, I know I was a size 22 (UK) and slimmed down to a size 8 (UK) (265lbs down to 128lbs) in 10 months a few years ago.  However I was too thin at that size,  was on the point of turning anorexic, a danger when you have lost a lot of weight, so with the help of close friends put on 12 lbs and looked a lot better for it.

No starving myself, just lots of homemade foods, a balanced diet, plenty of salads - cut out the sugary stuff, cakes, chocolate, biscuits, switched to diet colas etc - and the main key point - exercise.  I joined a gym and worked hard and with the above, the fat dropped off at an amazing rate.

Enjoy the new slim you when you get there

So heres me with the doctors saying I need to put on 14 to 20 pounds because I am underweight and I cannot do it . I can only eat if I feel the need to it is driving me mad . So how do I put on weight?.

Julia x

Thanks for the replies Carol, Julia.

First, Julia, I guess you put on weight like I did eating chocolates, pies and fries all day. lol. Yeah, I had a nasty habit of eating and eating. mainly eating more to comfort myself I was too fat which is really stupid.

Carol, you look great. You're right, the slimmer someone is the more convincing they are as a woman. As I said, when I was slimmer, I could get away with wearing some really nice smart clothes and if I say so myself I looked great. Alas, not so in recent years.  I hated being fat which I still am. I cannot look like the woman I want to be. Quite simply being fat makes me look like a man in a dress. And that won't do.

By the way, I've already lost 5 pounds. But there are a few stones to go. Thanks for your encouragement.

Hi Kitty there is a reason I have lost so much weight it goes back a long way and is not anorexia if anyone is thinking that. I used to weigh 16.5 stone and am now classed as malnourished at under 10 stone , I do eat but only when I can and feel like it . I hate chocolate but like the flavour of it , it is just the glunk in my mouth I don't like , a 1 kilo bag of Sugar lasts me about 4 months as I have no sweet tooth , I have actually said I would put on more weight eating the packaging.

I had a 40 inch waist and now down to under 28 inches a UK size 10 but now have to wear a belt to hold my jeans up.

My past I just ate anything not even thinking of the fat content but being on hormones I do keep my Cholesterol low it is 4.2

I wish you luck in your fight to lose yours Kitty I just want a bit of mine back . Last week in town it was really warm and I was wearing a Summer top and jeans an so many people commented on my figure like , I would give anything to have a figure like yours and look at your legs ect , they could not see my legs they were under jeans a bit like they cannot see my ribs. I suppose it will sort itself out and if not I will be able to hide behind lamposts soon.

Take care .

Julia x 

Julia Ford said:

Hi Kitty there is a reason I have lost so much weight it goes back a long way and is not anorexia if anyone is thinking that. I used to weigh 16.5 stone and am now classed as malnourished at under 10 stone , I do eat but only when I can and feel like it . I hate chocolate but like the flavour of it , it is just the glunk in my mouth I don't like , a 1 kilo bag of Sugar lasts me about 4 months as I have no sweet tooth , I have actually said I would put on more weight eating the packaging.

I had a 40 inch waist and now down to under 28 inches a UK size 10 but now have to wear a belt to hold my jeans up.

 

My past I just ate anything not even thinking of the fat content but being on hormones I do keep my Cholesterol low it is 4.2

 

I wish you luck in your fight to lose yours Kitty I just want a bit of mine back . Last week in town it was really warm and I was wearing a Summer top and jeans an so many people commented on my figure like , I would give anything to have a figure like yours and look at your legs ect , they could not see my legs they were under jeans a bit like they cannot see my ribs. I suppose it will sort itself out and if not I will be able to hide behind lamposts soon.

 

Take care .

 

Julia x 

Hi again.

Well I understand that but I think the key to putting on weight is to eat high calorie food. Try and develop a 'love' of chips, burgers, etc. I put stones on throough eating stuff like that.

Not recommended though. That said, it's no fun being fat. I hate it.

All the best.

Good luck, Kitty! for what it's worth, I only eat cereal and jam/jelly sandwiches, plus fruit, carbonated water with cranberry juice pour boisson. Oh, and it helps if you are "unipolar" -  self denial is great. This may not be ideal for you, so I would recommend a book by Robert Haas, called "Eat to Win". He was Martina Navritolova's (sp?) diet coach - remember how much weight she lost? The diet kind of assumes you are an athlete, but should work nevertheless; it worked for my ex who never exercised a day in her life. Warning: if you follow this diet, you will feel guilty every time you eat beef!   

5 and 2 seems to be the latest in that long line of diets in which you fast for two out of seven days and try and eat sensibly on the other five i.e. three meals a day and no snacks in between.  As for strange diets I knew a guy who lived on milk and crisps he seemed perfectly healthy.  And being Scottish I've known many people who lived on a diet of alchohol and cigarettes.  But I wouldn't reccomend that to anyone.

Thanks Heather. I'm going to do this diet. I used to fast when I was overseas and had great success with it. I was so thin I couldn't walk up a flight of stairs and used to fall asleep in the afternoons. lol. Well, there's a bit more to it than that, like running for an hour every evening. The difference now is that I am starting 10 kg heavier than I was back then. Anyway, I think Monday and Fridays are the best fast days for me. Right, I'm going to log my personal stats; weight, waist, etc and start first thing tomorrow after tonight's pizza and ice-cream.   

Heather Ann Martin said:

5 and 2 seems to be the latest in that long line of diets in which you fast for two out of seven days and try and eat sensibly on the other five i.e. three meals a day and no snacks in between.  As for strange diets I knew a guy who lived on milk and crisps he seemed perfectly healthy.  And being Scottish I've known many people who lived on a diet of alchohol and cigarettes.  But I wouldn't reccomend that to anyone.

Thanks ladies for all your kind support and advice.

Up until last week I was getting through three bars of chocolate a day and sometimes up to six bags of crips. Yeah, disgusting I know, but I was trying to offer 'comfort' to myself. Never a good thing because it only leads to me becoming fatter.

Chocolate  is out, and I have drastically cut down on my bread intake. Now just down to two slices a day, the rest low calorie crisp bread. I'm lucky in that I do not drink alcohol, and only have the occasonal soft drink. But sweets or candy were always my downfall. As were trying to pile everything up on a big plate.