How to lose weight - morbidly obese

[Questionwork]

Morbidly obese. Can't seem to shift the weight. Tried various diets. Exercise. Getting older and concerned for my health. What do I need to do? Gastric band?

saxenda

Water and Walking.
Increase both gradually each day. You’ll eat less and burn more.

I lost 5 stone last year.

I ate less and moved more, it sounds ridiculous but it’s true. Ok so say you get a gastric band… you are forced to eat tiny portions. But with the band you can never eat normally again. Just making healthy choices means you will actually eat the same foods as you would with a gastric band but it means if you want to have a treat here and there, you still can.

I’d never pick a gastric band tbh. You can’t ever go back.

Two years ago I had a BMI of 54. I thought about a gastric band, even got referred by mu GP and went to the initial appointment. But ultimately I decided that I didn't want to be that restricted over how much I could eat for the rest of my life and that it would be better in the long run to re-educate myself about how to be healthy. I went back to Slimming World, reluctantly at first, but now I'm really glad I did. I have a much more positive attitude towards healthy eating and although I still have weight to lose, I am confident that I will get there. More importantly I will be able to sustain this way of eating, I don't feel restricted in anyway, and I am no longer morbidly obese (BMI 34). But although SW has given me the framework for eating healthily, ultimately it is about mindset, if your head isn't in the right place it is almost impossible. Try and make this a positive choice to eat healthily and lose weight gradually, not a negative one of heavily restricting yourself and ending up yo-young.

read "why we eat too much"

I also meant to say, I am not saying SW is the be all and end all. It works for me, but you need to find what works for you, what will make you feel happy and healthy.

Fast 800, look it up online. You get quick results, especially at the start which helps you stay motivated. And it works. Good luck!

Do you have therapy OP? It might be worth getting some counselling while you lose weight, so you can challenge some of the reasons why things got so bad and so you can have supper for your successes. Good luck

Hi OP, I was in a similar position as you, until I made significant changes in February. To date, I have lost 35 kilos.

90% of my loss has been food - what I'm eating and how much I'm eating. I now follow intermittent fasting where I don't eat from 7.30pm until 12.30pm the next day. I also am eating low carb with limited high GI foods like bread, pasta, rice, potatoes, etc. I also drink 3 litres of water a day. And NO snacking.

An example of a day of eating now for me is:

12.30pm - break the fast with a protein smoothie
2.00/2.30pm - lunch including tuna salad (unlimited greens), or cauliflower and leak soup (no potato), or scrambled eggs with pan fried mushrooms in butter
7.00pm - dinner, tonight having Thai Asian chicken mince lettuce cups (lots of chilli, lime juice, fish sauce, soy sauce, red onion, grated carrot, grated cucumber, red capsicum)

My weight loss has been very consistent, I've (finally) realised to lose the weight I need to eat significantly less than I was which IF is a gd send for.

I have just lost 3 st using MyFitnessPal. The only thing I find works for me is plain old boring calorie counting. I found lower calorie alternatives to my usual foods, and treats (if I want crisps I still have them, just french fries instead of Doritos). Probably not the healthiest way to do it but it works for me.

Just to add, I've never felt so well being off carbs for the most part. Last week I did enjoy the most beautiful pasta out for dinner, but I felt pretty bad for 3 days after. And I was incredibly bloated for about 5 days. My skin is also glowing.

There’s a reason you’re not shifting the weight, you’re just eating too much. I agree with seeking therapy to understand why you over-eat. But it is hard, I sympathise.
Give yourself a 12 week low carb challenge and see how much you can lose. I also agree that intermittent fasting does tend to help

If you get 200 posts here you'll 200 different answers about the method of doing it so you need to work out which appeals to you and is sustainable alongside whatever your normal routine is. Are you cooking for kids, another adult, can you afford to get totally different food for you or does it need to be healthy versions of family food. Are you working or at home, do you commute? All these things make a difference. Good luck but you must find what works for you

I’m in the same boat. I stood on the scales earlier this week and i now weigh 20st. I’m shocked and devastated, I knew I had gained weight this year but had no idea just how much.

What prompted me to stand in the scales in the first place was a podcast by Dr Chris & Dr Xand, A Thorough Examination, about Xand’s weight gain. So much of what Xand is saying makes sense to me and it’s really made me think about what I’m eating and why and when I’m eating it.

I’m taking baby steps, I’ve joined weight watchers to track what I eat and today I’m doing a workout. I used an app last year called Aaptive and loved it. Fell out of the habit towards the end of the year but still have a membership so going to try and ease myself back into exercise.

Starting with a small goal, I don’t want to lose 8 stone, I want to lose 1.

You aren’t alone in this OP.

Have you spoken to the dr about it?

See if your GP can refer you to a weight loss clinic. Otherwise Fast 800 is great for many people (DH used it).

I found reading Jason Fung’s books (controlled fasting) changed my life. I was obese and couldn’t shift weight even on 800 calories a day and was considering a gastric band.

Changing my routine made me lose weight. Due to other circumstances I started showering, washing hair and sorting myself out of an evening (instead of morning) which meant I wasn’t sat in front of tv with crisps/biscuits/chocolate.

I drink a glass of water first thing of a morning which means I now only have one cup of coffee with milk and sugar in instead of two. I’ve stopped taking sugar in my cups of tea and reduced the amount of tea I’m drinking (therefore reducing the amount of milk). I’ve increased the amount of protein, fruit, veg and salad I eat.

Finally, when exercising I don’t overdo it. I swim 40 lengths a week but I split it into two sessions of 20. When I swim 40 in one go I feel ravenous afterwards and start eating shit, whereas the two 20s leave me feeling fine. DD’s school is at the bottom of a hill, so I have a steady 15 minute walk back up the hill 5 mornings a week and that is fine for me.

It’s been a slow and steady weight loss which I’m happy with.

Intermittent fasting and low carb, check out Dr Berg, Dr Jason Fung and Dr Cywes on you tube, good luck🍀

I also recommend 'Why we eat too much'. I've slowly (since last January) lost 3 stone following these principles, BMI down from 33 to 25.4 so almost in the healthy zone now. It's not a diet in the sense of there being any quantity restriction - it's based on avoiding processed food. I won't lie that I sometimes miss unhealthy food, and I have had lapses along the way, but it's the sort of diet that if you follow it most of the time, the weight will come off gradually.

As a pp mentioned above Jason Fung (the Obesity Code) is a game changer. Also would recommend "why we eat too much" by Andrew Jenkinson as per another pp. I should be getting commission the amount I recommend these, but seriously it's been life-changing for me in losing the guilt and dropping from BMI 45ish to BMI 30ish in the last 18 months. No calorie counting misery here. Take a look at this

I know other posters mean we'll, and MyFitnessPal, low carb, 800 diet etc are all ways to achieve a calorie deficit, but before embarking onto any of that it would be really useful to seek some support to understand why you overeat, and also some deep introspection about why you want to lose the weight (we all know being obese is unhealthy, but what does losing weight mean to YOU?)

Once you have a bit of clarity on these questions, you will be able to keep going with a diet when the going gets tough.

In terms of how to eat, there are hundreds of ways to limit your calories, none is inherently superior to others, but some can be dangerous (please do not start a super low calorie diet or cut out whole food groups without medical supervision). What matters is that it is sustainable for you (so for example if you love pasta, going low carb is probably not going to be the way for you)

I would encourage you to speak to your GP and ask for a referral for a dietitian.

Good luck OP

It's true that the individual approach will vary person to person but it can be difficult to work out what that approach should be in an society full fat shaming and blame (from ourselves as well as others). The idea that it's as simple as "eat less move more" is very misleading as calories in and calories out are not independent of each other. Again, I can only speak for myself but learning about what causes weight gain and freeing myself of the burden of blame for that was an essential step one, irrespective of what I did next.

I started this year at 15st 7. I'm now 13st 9.
I'm walking.
I started a virtual lands End to John o groats challenge, finished it in Aug and am nearly 250 miles in on my way back.
Started doing 3 miles a day now I do 5. My arthritic knees haven't bothered me in months and I have more puff. I haven't weighed 13st anything in about 25 years, if not longer.
Don't get me wrong, I've not altered my diet. I'm greedy and like my food. I don't eat as healthy as I could and left to wallow on the sofa I could quite easily empty the fridge in 10 minutes flat.
But whatever I'm doing is working.

Research insulin resistance.

Low carb and intermittent fasting changed my life.