Hi all, I am needing a little help to lose weight, and I hope this is the place to find that help and support and maybe make some friends on the journey.
for transparency purposes I shall give a little background:-
I am a recovering alcoholic (at time of writing; 6 months, 0 days, 22 hours, 24 mins). I am not really counting the days 
but I just checked my sober app, for the first time in a couple of months and was quite pleasantly surprised. Unfortunately before I quit, I had found a very strong and sugar loaded cider and that made my weight balloon.
Before I quit the booze, I also quit smoking. I stopped the occasional cigarette and I also quit my pipe (and that was a big wrench). I then had to quit vaping, I had a beautiful hand made pipe mod I got to try and fill the void left by my real pipe. For those interested, it was a Limelight mechanical mod, and that was nearly as big a wrench as losing the real thing. I stayed away from the tobacco flavoured e-liquids and went with vanilla custard. Maybe that is why I developed a sweet tooth…
I then quit the happy tobacco as well, and as a result of all this quitting, I started eating and getting my fixes from a certain fizzy drink that I believe is the ‘real thing’ (not mentioning names in case there is an advertising rule on the forum, but the label is white and red and their Christmas adverts include Santa and a bloody big truck 
.
I am a reclusive workaholic, and I used to rely on my best friend for exercise but unfortunately he had cancer and so the last few months we only walked long enough for him to do what was necessary. And so my exercise levels had dropped to virtually zero, and my weight increased again.
But on a more positive note, I now have a new friend; he is only 4 months old and so our walks are increasing in length. But now my weight gain is proving to be a problem. I am around 17 stone and only 5’7" tall. I need to lose weight so myself and Winston (new Friend) can walk, run, frolic and gambol across fields and green lanes. I seem to be able to get down to 16 1/2 stone then it bounces up to 17 1/2 and the cycle begins again.
I try to limit my food intake, but then I am always hungry and not effective at work or anything else for that matter. So, if anyone can offer any advice, I am all ears. I really want to add one more thing to my quit list, I want to quit being overweight