If you have lost five plus stone and have kept it off for two years plus how do you start accepting yourself and letting your weight loss define you?

[Downsizeddumpling]

I have managed to keep more than five stone off for nearly two years with ups and downs along the way and for around the same time I have let it define me in many ways. I still weight myself and follow an eating plan but wanted any advice from anyone who’d gone through the same thing.

[Summerishereagain]

I just wanted to say well done. I want to be be where you are.

In what way do you think it defines you?

[Vallmo47]

Fantastic weight loss OP. I have managed to lose 4 stone through changing the way I behave around food, restricting but not completely limiting treats and doing regular exercise. So my life has changed for the better and I feel better for it. For a while I guess it did define me because I had to be extremely careful about what I ate but now I’m used to my new habits and it’s become normal. Is that what you mean Op?

[Thehonestbadger]

I lost 7 stone.

I lost the first 5 stone over the space of 2 years between the ages of 19-20 (a decade ago) it took around two years before my mind caught up with the change. I would often find myself unsure if I’d fit between cars in car parks or through spaces. It took about 2 years for me to feel fully at ease in my new body but it built slowly throughout that time getting increasingly easier.

What doesn’t go away if the background fear you will regain it or the mild panic/anxiety you feel when you gain some weight, that it’s a ‘slippery slope’ I think because you’ve lost control once you know you could again.
I had two children within the last few years and worried a lot that I would spiral but I actually got HG in both pregnancies and ended up losing a further 2 stone whilst I’ve maintained for 2 years now. Although pregnancy was hard for my body changing in other ways.

There are very few people in my life now who knew me when I was very big, there’s no photos on SM nobody really knows other than my parents and close family and they certainly don’t mention it. Everyone very much has the perception of me that I’m ‘super slim and in shape’ especially for having such small kids and I think that being how others see me has helped me see myself that way.

Every so often though someone makes a comment about weight to me and I tell them, I have a picture on my phone I’ll sometimes show people when they say stuff like ‘well it’s easy for people like you who are naturally so slim’ and I’m like….. hahahahaha NO

[Downsizeddumpling]

I think it’s the fear of weight gain, which I have done, but accept it as part of the ‘journey’ and a few days off will not result in me putting it on all again and looking back at how far I have come. I think the pp hit the nail on the head in terms of the brain catching up. I’m fitter than I have ever been, more confident most days than I have ever been and it’s nice to be able to have more choice in terms of the shops I can buy from and the styles that I am willing to try. I still find it difficult to look at say the waist on a skirt or pair of jeans and know that I will be able to fit in to them.