I lost 5 stone a few years ago. Here’s what I did/do.

[Aisforharlot]

5 years ago I got sick of myself and started losing weight/ getting into shape. I’ve mostly kept it off with some ups and downs, but most importantly feel in control of my body.

Here what I did:
Started strength training
Religiously followed the habits in ‘lean habits’ by Georgie Fear.
Because I have a history of disordered eating, the way I followed the habits was too stringent; I lost weight too quickly and got some negative effects like hair thinning and feeling like deathwarmed up a lot of the time.

Along the way I’ve done macro counting and developed my knowledge of nutrition and training.

Here’s my advice:

Strength train.
Nothing has proved my relationship with my body like this. It’s absolutely incredible. I now value my body for what I can do- I love feeling strong, I love getting stronger and gradually gaining muscle and definition.

Macro/calorie count, at least for a bit.
Healing your behaviour around food can take a LONG time. Whilst you’re learning that, inputting your data at least gives you an idea of what you’re actually doing.

Right now I’m trying to lose some new relationship weight I gained from relaxing and drinking too much.

My go tos are:
Green soup - blend any frozen or fresh green/ white veg with chicken stock. Incredibly low cal, filling and nutritious.

Frozen berries. As above.

Protein. Protein. Protein. Lean protein will help grow you muscle and retain your muscle whilst you lose weight. Chicken, fish and fat free dairy are brilliant.

Treats - I never cut them out, I have chocolate every day, I just count it in my cals. The new fibre one choc Brownies are bloody lovely, as is halo top ice cream and hartleys 10 cal jelly.

Keto - there is really no need to slash your carbs drastically unless you have a medical reason to do so. Plus you will feel like crap, avoid if possible. All successful diets rely on calorie restriction, there is no magic wand that keto waves that suddenly makes fat unfattening.

Happy to help anyone if I can with any answers.

From what weight to what weight?
How old were you?

I’m 36 now. Was about 16 stone.

I was just under 10stone at my most dysfunctional, but I wasn’t healthy. I’m 5”8

Before and after

Well done!

What do you have for breakfast? I really struggle with breakfast as don't feel like eating at first but then feel really hungry all of a sudden so eat what's convenient and not usually healthy. I feel that then starts me off on.the wrong foot and I struggle all day.

How often do you strength train? I do it but too sporadically I think!

You're hiding 16 stone well on your before pic!

Your after pic looks very thin though unless your clothes are baggy.

Hurry - oh god, so much! For any meal I follow the template of decent carb, protein, veg, healthy fat.
Usually I’ll have a chicken breast, 5 rice cakes/ a sweet potato/ a slice of thick brown toast with 10g butter + sugar snaps (so convenient as veg, I recommend them with salt) and 2 sq dark chocolate. Today I fell short and had a fibre one brownie, an apple and a protein yoghurt. Yes I was hungry soon after.

BBB - I’ve really varied from crazy often (6x per week - unsustainable and daft) to 3 or 4 x per week at the moment, which gives me time to recover properly and put in full effort the next time.

Herc - I’m tall and broad!

And yes, that was too thin, at least for me. I prefer myself much more muscular and am currently a fair bit up from that point.

Thanks op. Although I'm not really too overweight (10st at 5ft 3in) I have a very very disordered way of eating. Getting married next week and it's really exacerbated it as I've tried (and failed) to lose any weight. I love exercise but I struggle so much with food. For me it's the dieting it's just bullshit. I know they don't work but my brain says good or bad. On honeymoon I've promised myself I'm going to read a few books to try and help me.

How do you change your mindset? Is it really just practice until it becomes habitual? Exercise for me is a habit I've picked up over the past 13 years, will diet follow too?

Bored
Believe me, I get it. I’m still not there yet exactly, but learning and reading helped a great deal in stopping seeing things in black and white.
I hugely recommend Georgie Fear’s work - she’s an amazing person, I was not in the right place when I started her habits, but I’d give them to anyone. Yes, those habits became second nature to me before I had enough knowledge to go off piste, so it definitely works.
Josh Hillis is also great, and I’ve a book called ‘Lean Minded’ that’s next on the list.
Good luck for your wedding!

Like, in 2016 I was genuinely scared to eat processed carbs. I now see how ridiculous that was, my mindset was so rigid.

What were the 'lean habits' that you found to be the biggest change, OP?

Thank you op I'll download them on my kindle. I loathe my relationship with food yet always feel this gravitation towards the abuse of it. Yet I'll run 20 miles a week...!makes no sense...btw well done you 👍🏻

the Habit that is my continual struggle is eat 3/4x per day. I’m a grazer, and that was a huge change.
The whole system is available for free if you google nutrition loft. The book/audiobook is also gold.

Bored - yep, the mental side is SO much harder than the physical.

What strength training ? How do you start I get so confused ! I have disordered eating I am currently doing 800 cals 5 days weekends off which is working but id like to know more about Georgie fear

You don't look 16 stone in your before pic...I'd look far bigger but I'm five inches shorter than you!

I agree you look a little too thin in the after pic...but well done, great achievement.

I lost three and a half stone in my late teens.

Can you explain more about strength training please?

I'm interested too, is it lifting weights?

Very interesting to read. Could you provide more information on strength training and macro counting ie how do you set macros and monitor?

No questions but it tickled me that you scribbled over your dog’s face as well to avoid any identifying features 😄

Oh that's interesting. I would get way overweight if I was forced to only eat a limited number of times per day. I'd stop listening to my body & start overeating to avoid feeling too tired or hungry at the "wrong" time later. Restrictions tend to lead me to anxious eating habits. I'd rather fail early than worry about failing, iyswim.

Parsley - definitely google Nutrition Loft - the whole system I used is free there.

Parsley and Notso - strength training is using body weight and/or weights (barbells, dumbbells) to get stronger, grow muscles and ultimately improve body composition (less fat, more muscle).

Good places to start are to google Girls Gone Strong, or strength training for beginners.
I really recommend GGS as above, Bret Contreras, Nia Shanks and Meghan Callaway.
The key for women is to not shy away from heavy weights (or building up to them from wherever your starting point is) and techniques traditionally seen as ‘for guys ‘. Heavy weight lifting will set you on the way to getting the physique results you want.
When people talk about ‘toning’ they actually need to use weights. Toning just means the developed muscle is visible.

Plus it’s so much more fun than cardio, and you can listen to podcasts while doing it