Dear Fatbutgettingthinner,

I have a problem . I'm doing lots of exercise at the moment - two spin classes, two 35 minute running sessions, two personal training sessions and a body combat class. However, all this exercise is making me ravenously hungry and so I'm eating everything in sight and ruining my hard work .

How can I stop eating so much and start sticking to my diet?

I'm also thinking that I need to add some more weight training into my program as it's three quarters cardio right now, with the only resistance exercise being when I have my personal training sessions. What do you think?

Thanks for your advice,

thin-but-trying-to-get-a-bit-thinner

Hi thinbuttryingtogetthinner,

Firstly let me tell you that if you are following me then you will know that I'm not the best person to give advice. I weigh 24 stone and you probably don'y weigh anymore than half what I do if you can do all that exercise in a week.

I would need more information to really help you out here but I could give you some very general advice for now.

Please post or email me your stats, weight, bodyfat percentage, goals etc... these are the things i need to know.

My advice should never NEVER be followed o the letter if you feel its not working. Its your body and you must listen to it and do whats best for you. If you feel unwell or put on weight then go bacn to what was working for you.

1. You work out quite a bit, so eating a lot isnt the end of the world but I'm guessing that you want to reduce your bodyfat rather than your weight. If you weigh 10 stone but have 50% or 15 stone with 10% bodyfat then its the bodyfat that does it. What you eat is important. When you eat is just as important too. Do you eat before you work out? Eating something with a fairly high carb intake and some protein about 1 hour before you workout will keep you going through the workout and not hungry after.

2. Add more weight training. Muscle weighs more than fat and increasing muscle mass will help you decrease bodyfat. YOU WILL NOT BECOME A BODYBUILDER OVERNIGHT, don't worry about looking too toned or big, you won't get like that unless you want to but you need to add some muscle and a little fat by eating MORE than you burn daily (upto 3000kcals) and train with weights to up your weight and muscle. Speak to your personal trainer, if he/she is any good they will point you in the right direction.

email me with more info if you want more specific advice and dont want to post here. send me your daily intake for food and i'll cast my appraising eye over it and try and help.

thanks for being the first poster!!

Hi Fatbutgettingthinner,

Firstly, well done for losing a pound this week. One pound is better than none and at least you are going in the right direction. Just a few more pounds to go.

Well done also for fitting in some exercise. Beat your useless friend round the head and tell him to remember his swimming kit in future

I am female, aged 30, 5ft 6 tall, weighing 10stone and a size 10-12 (top half is a 10, bottom half is a 12). I have lost 17 pounds, although it's taken me the whole of last year to do it. I have also reduced my body fat from 36% to 27%, but I want to reduce this to somewhere in the region of 20% (ideally I'd like it to be lower than that but everyone keeps telling me that's nearly impossible for a woman). My target weight is 9st 7lbs, but I would love to be closer 9st. I have been over 10 stone for the last twelve years since starting work, and I had given up hope of ever seeing 9st anything ever again, but with a lot of hard work this year, my target seems more achieveable. I know it seems like I don't have far to go, but the problem is keeping up the motivation. I have no trouble finding the motivation to work out because after a year of training, it's such a habit now that I miss it if I don't do it. The problem is finding the motivation to stick to a healthy eating plan all the time. I know I should see it as a lifestyle, and I do, but sometimes it's difficult to be good all the time - especially when going out for dinner with my boyfriend.

I've been much better in the last four days, and have been sticking to my diet plan. I'm following the Simming World plan. I do eat before I workout. I eat so much, it's almost embarrassing. My work colleagues call my desk a kitchen because there's always food on it. I usually eat cereal and fruit for breakfast, then more fruit and yoghurt mid morning. Lunch is usually a jacket potato or pasta, followed by more fruit. Mid afternoon I might have guess what, more fruit. I have to resist going to the vending machine when I hit that mid afternoon slump. Dinner is something vegetarian like chilli and rice, or fish and vegetables, and guess what? Yes, more fruit and/or yoghurt. I am currently getting through 5-7 pieces of fruit and sometimes 3 yoghurts a day.

I find eating enough protein hard being mainly vegetarian. I eat fish, but not as much as I should. I am going to try adding more tuna into my diet. I try and eat quite a lot of eggs, and sometimes I have a protein shake.

I have worked out a new workout schedule and I am going to add more weights in to my plan. My gym are starting the Body for Life program in two weeks and have asked me if I want to sign up. I'm not sure if I will, but I could benefit from some of the advice, I am sure.

Anyway, that's all for now.

Yours supportively,

thin-but-trying-to-get-a-bit-thinner.