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.

June - she’s a very private dog

Greasy - setting your macros is just a goal for how many grams of fat, carbs and protein you get in a day. I use my body weight and extrapolate my end goal from there (bw in lbs x 10-12). From there I set my protein using bw in lbs x 1g (I use my desired lean body mass, so aim for 150g protein per day). The rest is divided up between carbs and fats taking account of hormonal health for women, which means fats should not be too low, and performance in the gym, which wants higher carbs.
There are lots of guides and calculators online, I just learned enough to do it myself.

Ragged - yep, all these anxieties are addressed! In fact the whole point of lean habits os to tune in to your body.

Former babe - I’m taller than average and build like a bloody wall, honestly, it’s genetic!

Is it very similar to Team RH on Facebook? I did that for a few months last year and it does work. It is calories/macros (lots of protein), 15,000 steps plus strength training. Does your plan include steps? That’s what I struggled with the most - the sheer amount of time it took to walk that much around a sedentary job! I’m interested in your version.

I don’t worry about steps - keeping nutrition in check is more important than calories burned. Walking is always good low intensity activity though.
I have seen RH, the high steps put me off!

Sometimes I’ll add low intensity walking to the end of a shorter strength session if I’ve got something lined up on Netflix and also time...but I really have to feel like it.
I used to do spinning, and would do it again for cardio fitness rather than perceived weight loss value. Such calorie burns are often overestimated.

I will be honest in saying that I would have concerns about taking advice from someone who states that their eating restrictions led to hair thinning and other side effects. Sorry op.

Fair enough. I went through that stage, learned a great deal, and came out a lot more knowledgeable. My own implementation of good practice was flawed, but that doesn’t mean my advice is. In fact, knowing what I know, I’d never recommend anything likely to be harmful. But everyone has their own mental filter, and can obviously act in healthy or unhealthy ways with information given.

This fair enough, am not having a go it's just probable that there are posters on here that may be vulnerable to that kind of thing.

I definitely shouldn't give advice on spelling or grammar

Amazing work OP. I’m

I’m in a very similar situation and would appreciate any extra advice about how you reset the disordered eating. I’ll look at those programmes you mentioned - was that the main thing you did for the eating specifically? Did it just improve as you went along?

Lang
Yes, extreme advice is everywhere. Hopefully not in anything I’ve said. Brain running out of power, so I may not be expressing this very well now.

Nathan
I can only speak from my own experience, and it depends how your disordered eating is manifesting itself. I’ll say yes, the program I’ve mentioned can be incredibly useful, but obviously if your eating is troubling you a lot, you’d need a specialist.
My relationship to food improved as I learned more, and thus became less susceptible to snake oil in various forms. Now I can eat in a balanced way without dealing in absolutes (cutting out food groups or treats). I can lose weight when I want to because I know how the process actually works, and the behaviour modifications to make to get those results. It’s a skillset that takes a while.

Do you do weights at home or the gym? Am thinking about investing in some kit I can use at home so wondered if you do the same.

I go to the gym, but you can do effective resistance training at home with bands and a suspension trainer.