I've lost 16 stone, AMA

[EinyLinky]

Not sure if anyone cares! But yeah, I've lost 16 stone... AMA

I have only evern lost a stone or so, mostly post natally, but your attitude to it in your head is the key isnt it?

I always think ' will this really make me happy'. Will MORE of it make me happier/taste better

And is this once in a lifetime food?

Expect these questions have been asked - ignore if so - but are you eating any differently now compared to the start of your weight loss journey?

And are you wearing smaller versions of the same thing, or has your dress sense / attitude to clothes changed?

And well done!

did you realise you were fat?
My sister has lost 8 stone and she is shocked at how she used to look .

Well done!

Definitely knew I was fat! I think the most shocking for me is looking at pictures from half way through my journey, because at the time I was feeling amazing and so much smaller, but compared to now, was still seriously obese 😂

A couple of questions where are you going for your 360 body lift and is that thighs, breasts, arms as well? How did you research where to go for this?

Also, did the GP never refer you for weight loss surgery or was it something you didnt want?

I think I'm genuinely eating the same, I want to still improve at having a balanced diet as it isn't something I really have! I think I still eat too much fat and carbs and I'd like that to change

My style has definitely changed, I can finally wear clothes I like vs what just covers my fat up the best?

Could easily have been about 5k calories

It's just 360 incision around my body (above bum, pubic area) and from pubic area to under breasts (FDL). I need 2 more surgeries after to correct the rest of the skin, excluding thighs as the surgeon will only assess them after I've had the rest done to see how bad the skin still is as the body lift can lift them a bit.

I'm going to Lithuania, I researched a specific clinic there first and was pretty happy with the surgeon but found some info that the surgeon isn't always the one that stitches you up so I was put off, but found another one and I'm super happy with the surgeon. I personally wanted to go there because of the results, I don't actually like any of the results in the UK... especially on extreme weight loss patients, I find most do mummy makeovers after pregnancy, so don't have the experience on extreme weight loss like they do in Lithuania. Obviously cost is cheaper too, but definitely isn't super cheap.

I was 19 when they said I would be eligible for weight loss surgery and i absolutely didn't want it, I actually didn't think I was big enough at the time (I obviously was) and thought it was only something you do when you're unable to move type thing (as you see on TV shows like my 600 lb life) so I was honestly just offended and said no (I am aware it's stupid 😂) and then tbh, I didn't see the GP at al after that anyway as they suggested that after a separate issue

This is amazing. Well done! You must be so proud of yourself!!!

Well done you! That is a seriously amazing achievement!

I’m currently at Weightwatchers at 5ft5 and just unde 11 stone but went originally to support much larger friends in January this year. I’ve always been that annoying person who could eat anything and barely exercise at least up to age 30, at 11 I was the skinniest girl in my year with 2 others but never dieted.

My younger half sister when she went to uni at 18 and lived away ballooned from a size 10-12 to a size 18-20 and it really upset her so she dieted back to a size 10 and then was a permanent David Lloyd gym bunny and SAHM/W when she got married.

At WW we have at least 2 members who’ve lost over half their body weight.

It really is about your mindset and changing this. The other week one of our lessons was on how sheep, how you sleep and lack of it affects appetite etc. I overeat when I do due to boredom, depression (not often!), something to do etc. but I do disagree that exercise has little to do with it as on 2 occasions when I’ve lost over a stone it’s been a combo of dieting plus cardio (fast walking so you’re slightly out of breath).

Can I be cheeky and ask you what new clothes you’ve treated yourself to are OP? Must be so exciting now you can wear what you want.

Hi OP, I'm overweight and have been since I was a teen. What's your view of fat shaming? I've always thought that it was really unhelpful and had the opposite effect but some people say that it motivated them into taking action.
Massive congratulations and you've inspired me to keep going with trying to shift my remaining three stone.

Wow what an amazing achievement, you really are inspiring!

I am currently calorie counting too, I seem to fall off the wagon when it comes to things I can't track. Today for instance we had a Toby Carvery breakfast, I didn't track my calories because I know it would have been my entire daily balance most likely. Then I went to a party with a buffet, didn't go crazy but obviously couldn't track, I normally then have the mindset of "oh well, I can't track it/I've obviously gone over so may as well eat what I want!" so this begins however many days/weeks of binging.

So my question is, how did you deal with the days where you couldn't track your intake or you knew you were going to go over?

This is the reason I started the "set meal" days. I would have days where I tell myself I can have 3 meals and 2 snacks, no calorie tracking. Would obviously try and make good choices and did this on days I would have good meals too just to give me a breather on all the tracking. Did it for my more "cheaty" days as well. Always meant I was a bit mindful but never felt I went off track as was still on plan for my set meals. I went into a bit more detail about this in my first reply I think so it might be helpful! This really helped me not give up. As I say, I'd sometimes have these days as my most "healthy" as I'd plan really healthy things (I'd try and always plan the night before so I wasn't tempted to change the item to suit or add to the meals to make it more) but they were also there to give me a bit of a break and still enjoy things.

My birthday it would be say a cooked breakfast, followed by lunch out, followed by maybe even a takeaway and my "snacks" would be a slice of cake and the next one some sweets... for example. But even then on my birthday, I'm still following something, of course I went over mt calories but it didn't make me feel like I had messed up. As long as I had some control over something, I felt like I was winning. I suppose it may be temping to then just do that every day? But I didn't think so, it actually made me want to do better on other days to keep this streak of never messing up but really "never messing up" didn't mean me going over my calories! I hope this makes some sense... I really think this system is what made it actually work for me. Think I had 2 days in the whole 2.5 years where I literally didn't consider anything and just ate whatever I wanted all day with absolutely no thought about it and I probably didn't even eat as much as I did on some of the more structured days but I felt pretty bad and lost and just then kept eating on those days... hence I didn't do that often and then felt bad for a while after really and like I needed to "restart" and I didn't want that whole restart mindset

Definitely never been useful 😂 I had that my whole life and I just ended up getting bigger and bigger so clearly did nothing positive for me! Definitely agree with you

Gosh. That sounds like a full time job

Tbh, I wear a lot of dresses because they cover the skin on my stomach really well. I can't wait to be able to wear things that tuck into jeans! I'll feel I've really made it then 🤣

Just to interrupt briefly, you certainly can track things like a buffet, things like mini quiches, mini pizzas, handful of crisps, spoonfulls of pasta and rice salad, chicken wings etc

You take the best approximation of weight (and if you are weighing out all of your food you should have become good at this), and I tend to use M+S or Waitrose to assume the most calories/luxury

And still track if its over your calorie allowance for the day, a day is neither here nor there, its your week on week, intake that will count over time.

How many calories do you now eat to maintain your weight loss?

Ofc you can just do what "@bellac11 suggests too! I just did what I preferred and it meant I had "different" types of days and they are just all things that helped me succeed this time vs what I failed with the times before

Set calorie days I have 1,800 but I do sometimes go over on my set meal days! But couldn't say 100% as those days I don't track calories

1800 is still a decent maintenance figure so well done. You can live comfortably off that. I would recommend doing some weight training though so things don’t get sluggish metabolically.

This has been such and interesting thread to read and so inspiring @EinyLinky

Regarding tracking your weight loss, did you weight every day, week, month or what?

Your three meals and two snacks is such a great idea! I totally fall of the plan if I can't count so this approach is definitely one I'm going to try out.