To wonder if I actually can lose four stone

I lost 4 stone through Slimming World. 15 stone down to 11 now. Took 2 years and a bit of yo yoing. Was great to have the support of the group and endless recipies and a firm plan of action.

@soupfiend when I referred to 'only' losing 1lb a week, I meant in compassion to those who attend well know slimming groups, have weight loss injections or extreme diets. They often lose considerably more than this. Also, when you have several stone to lose, 1lb per week can seem very slow. I was just making the point that whilst being in a mild deficit may lead to lower losses, it's more sustainable long term.

I lost six stone, and have stayed at my target weight long term. Here’s what worked for me.

• fear as a motivation: a doctor in A&E for something completely unrelated asked me how long I’d been diabetic. I’m not, but was close. I was afraid of all the issues in my life if I were to become diabetic.
• I changed my attitude to food. It’s not a treat, or a comfort, or something naughty. Food is fuel. It can be enjoyable, but too much or the wrong food is basically poisoning me slowly. I’ve continued to evolve what I eat because I now crave healthier options. This year I’m trying to ensure 30 plant-based foods a week, and it’s really easy.
• I changed my attitude to exercise. It isn’t something mean PE teachers force you to do, and it isn’t a chore. My body is made to move, and moving it more feels good. Over time, sessions in the gym started to feel like a treat to myself (good audio book while I use rowing machine, elliptical or treadmill).
• Going out for a meal or sharing a takeaway is about the company and having fun, not about what I eat. I can have a salad or moderately low cal dish when I’m out.
• If I over-indulge occasionally, I haven’t failed, I just need to be careful the next day. It balances out over time.
• Every couple of weeks after I’d lost some weight, I’d go to a supermarket and pick up something that was the same as a the weight I’d lost since I started to help give me a sense of achievement. So after 1kg, it was a bag of flour; after a stone, I think it was a sack of potatoes. Once it got to much more than that, I’d fill a case with books. Realising that I’d been carrying that much weight under my skin helped to keep me motivated.
• My doctor was really encouraging. My six monthly blood sugar, blood pressure and cholesterol dropped to normal levels over the course of 18 months, and I had to drop blood pressure medication because it was going too low.
• I now have a fabulous figure, good health and feel amazing. It was SO worth it.

I did it years ago by eating lower carb. Not in a particularly scientific way, but just because I noticed bread, potatoes, pasta etc. were the sort of things I would mindlessly eat too much of. I decreased portions of those and increased my protein and fat intake to compensate. One of the main things that helped was planning the meal around elements that weren't starchy, i.e. rather than 'what shall I have with pasta?' I'd think 'I'll have steak' and then make a lovely salad to have with it. I ate full fat greek yoghurt for breakfast with fruit instead of cereal or toast which I realised I didn't even like that much, I was just eating them because they were default 'breakfast' foods. And I ate crackers or oatcakes instead of bread if I just wanted a vehicle for cheese, or something to go with a salad - still carbs, but less bulky and harder to accidentally eat too much of. It's harder to do when feeding a toddler as well, but some aspects - e.g. full fat dairy - are totally compatible with toddler diets.

It's because on the VLCDs you lose at least 7lb in the first week (but it's mostly water weight). And you have to keep restricting to keep it off, except you can't because they literally limit the time you can do it because it's so dangerous for you.

I did one once, I'd never do it again.

Well that's because what you're saying doesn't work. I've done the meal replacement thing myself, yes you lose a lot but you just end up putting it all back on and more as soon as you stop, and it's exactly for the reason you say - it's down to mindset not dieting.

Any extreme is bad.

Remember the diet companies and meal replacement companies want you to put weight back on or they'd be out of business.

Yep and that’s just under 4s in a year

Because slow and normal can both apply? I have 148lbs to lose and, yes, 1lb a week is pretty annoying to be honest, even if it is a normal amount.

OP you can do it!

I did it last year (16st to 12st) and I have just one more go to. It took the whole year but I split it into chunks, it came off quicker first but I'm still feeling good even if it's just 1lb a fortnight as it's still going down. It took the whole year as I didn't want to go too hard at it.

Everyone is different - I'm 40 so I know myself now. What worked for me was regular weighing, having a couple of 'hard targets' along with more flexible ones (my scales have an app and I'd set myself a two weekly goal and weigh daily / every other day). I had some meaningful milestones along the way, like, I wanted to have lost 2 stone by my bday in May. Then another by a wedding in October, and another by xmas. But if I didn't make the two weekly target, as long as it was stable or going down, it was fine.

I 'fell off' a few times but never more than a couple of weeks and it actually helped my metabolism a bit once I went back on health mode.

My secret, not medically advised top tip: find a low calorie drink that really fills you up. I found diet coke basically felt the same as a big afternoon snack, so I had one most days. I'm not doing that now as they are so unhealthy, but if it was weight loss over temporary unhealthiness, well, that's what worked for me!!

You can do it! :)

I lost four stone in three months for IVF on Cambridge diet. I found it really easy. Thing is once that's done I couldn't keep it going and I gained 10 back with COVID WFH etc. you need to hold on to the motivation

I'm very similar - 14stoneish at the start of this year want to get to 11stone ish. Maybe 10stone ish if I can get there. My DD is 3 this week.

Personally, forget what worked before you had a child. I found focusing on what worked before and how it worked just makes it harder to stick to something now. I did SW in the past (10 years ago and again 6 years ago) and lost 4 stone quite quickly and easily. This time I've faffed around with SW for about 2 years now and it just doesn't work this time. It was depressing and counter productive in the end.

I've opted not to use weight loss injections from a personal point of view and because it is too expensive.

I know you said you don't get on with calorie counting but the basic principle to lose weight is less calories in than you expend. There are a variety of ways you can do that. Even with the meal replacement diets you need to be checking your one meal/snacks for the day (depending on your plan etc) for what the calories are so you don't blow all the hard work in one go.
SW or WW are good if you like being told what you do. I found them great as I like to follow a set plan (SW personally was better).
Exercise but be careful not to eat too much more than you burn (this was my issue!)

I now calorie count and use an app to keep track of what I eat. Its alot of faff to begin with and measuring all the time is annoying. But you get use to it. I preplan everything when the kids are asleep.
I'm 2.5kg down in 3 weeks. Slower than pre children but its the right direction at least. I also do one gym session a week.

I'm 57 but had no problem getting to my goal as I was led to believe it would be difficult being menopausal.

The motivation I had was a ultrasound scan showing I had gall stones (no symptoms) a liver cyst and a fatty liver. Fatty! Me?

A friend introduced me to Nutracheck, free for a week and then £25 for 12 months. I love it. I weigh my food, still eat pizza, ice cream and biscuits but it's portion control at the end of the day.

I have lost just over 2 stone since last May. No gym membership, no running, no zumba (no coordination) no hiking. I still weigh some of my food but not religiously, a smaller plate helps.

I'm now in a healthy bmi and have a blood test next week to see what my liver function is. Crossing my fingers.

That was my point, people are talking about having 'tapered down' to 1lb a week or so as if that is fairly slow and saying 'only lost 1lb a week'. Its not slow

Thats sort of expected loss isnt it?

Yes, but you need to be realistic - setting a small target and then exceeding it is more likely to keep you focused.

If you aim more than 1lb you could be disappointed and give up.

Im not sure why people are citing 1lb a week as slow loss?

Thats sort of expected loss isnt it?

OP why don’t you write down your plan - it doesn’t need to be ambitious -

Walk 10 minutes today
Eat healthier dinner tonight

keep this up for 5 days

Day 6 walk 15 minutes a day for the next 3 days

Build it up slowly -

Maybe listen to a pod cast for those 10 mins and only when walking - build it up to a chapter a day.

The people I know who keep the weight off walked

I lost 4 stone in 6 months by calorie deficit. I only went walking as exercise. Look up Sean Casey and James Smith.

@GameOn2025 I'm exactly the same. Only lost 1lb for weeks and weeks sometimes but it all adds up and it's the only way I can do it. At the start, I bought things a size or two smaller for inspiration and now it's too big. So I've had a big clear out on vinted.

This is what I'm doing. When I looked into calorie counting properly, I couldn't believe I could lose weight on 1800 cals, even started a thread on here to ask if it was right! 😆

I'm tapering off at about 1lb a week now (2 if I'm lucky) and I've accepted that it will take longer but a slow and steady maeathon is far better than an unstainable sprint.

I've lost 5 stone since last February. No exercise due to osteoarthritis. I've fasted mostly, strictly to begin with. Weetabix for breakfast, chicken & salad or meat & veg tray bakes (seasoned with Cajun or other string spices for flavour) for evening meal. Sometimes fruit in between if really hungry I'm down from size 22 to 14-16 and am much less strict these days, winter is much harder to stick to low cal x

I've always tried to calorie count to lose weight and always failed miserably. This time, instead of trying to stick to 1200 per day, I used a calorie calculator which gave me 1900 calories per day. In the past, I would have always thought that was too many calories and would have lowered it but it always ended in me giving up. This time I stuck to 1900, then lowered to 1800 once I didn't lose for 2 weeks. Then 1700, then 1600 and now I'm at 1500. I've lost a total of 43 lbs in 12 months. Slower than some but it's working so well for me. I'm hardly ever hungry now and feel like I've learnt how to eat in a healthy way. I focused on eating 80 percent nutritious food and 20 percent things I love, crisps, chocolate and sweets but always stayed within my calories. I also upped my protein and veg. More recently joined a gym. Calorie counting can be really boring but it definitely works. My motivation was being able to wear the clothes I wanted and not what hid my fat. I felt so much better in holiday this year.

I hear you. I really do understand. I have been trying to lose weight for years too.

But there's also no point working your ass off for months/years, chipping away at your weight, grinding at the gym, fighting through binges and food noise etc, for it all to go back on either though 😅

However, different things work for different people. I told myself in November that I really have to invest in myself this time and learn how to do it properly, no more unsustainable methods, no more short cuts, I'm making weight loss my number one priority above anything.

For me, that means researching my TDEE and a safe calorie deficit, losing it slowly and learning how to make better decisions regarding food and exercise, developing the discipline to not indulge in binges. Things I will have to do for the rest of my life, basically. And above all, accepting that it will take me 2-3 years to lose the weight (I have over 10 stone to lose. Well, 9 now 🙌)

And there's no fucking way I'm prepared to go through all this shit again so I'm making damn sure I learn how to do it now. I'm so sick of being obese, I'm never going back to it.

Op, I feel we have reached an impasse and can respectfully disagree 😃 I truly hope you are able to reach your weight loss goals this year. And to answer your original question, yes of course you can do it 😊

It is possible OP, it's just a long slog and you need to stay motivated. Intermittent fasting worked for me. I dont have much self control but I found i wasn't as hungry and that eating nothing was easier than restricting the amount I ate.