Hi there

I suppose this depends on what you think would work best for you. Most of us that weigh more than we want to (and I count myself in that as I always weigh a couple of stone more than I should) have to find the right ways of getting the result that we want - do we want to just do it ourselves, or do we want support from other people?

There are lots of ways out there, so it depends on what you think will fit it with what you know about yourself. But the big issue is, you have to REALLY WANT to do something about it, and be prepared to change things. What happens to a lot of people who lose weight is that they can do it for a while, then they either get bored or don't really want to keep up with healthy eating, and of course they put the weight back on.

First of all, if your GP hasn't been any help, have you thought about signing up with another one? If you find someone a bit more sympathetic, that could help a lot, as he/she could refer you to a specialist.

If you don't mind joining in with a group, there are organisations like Weight Watchers and Slimming World, but I'm quite introverted and I never fancied this approach. Also if you're agoraphobic you might find this difficult.

You could get a book about healthy eating (there are loads and loads on Amazon, and you could even pick up a cheap second hand copy if you haven't got much money) and use one of the really simple methods like calorie counting. Calorie counting works for lots of people as long as you're really honest about what you're eating, as if you take in less than you need, you'll lose weight.

Put simply, healthy eating is about eating a good variety of foods with the emphasis on not taking in too much fat or sugar - or "empty" calories like alcohol. The big problem with healthy eating though, is that for most of us it mean depriving ourselves of something or other that we really like. This is a bummer and there doesn't seem to be any easy way around it, I'm afraid.

Getting out for walks is a brilliant start; try going a bit further every day and it will help the agoraphobia and your weight at the same time.