If you have lost a lot of weight please read and advise

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Hello everybody.

I posted on here a few weeks ago about being in a dire state and needing to change. I tipped the scales at 17 stone which makes me obese.

I have been chatting to a family member tonight who is into fitness and nutrition, and they advised me that I should avoid all processed food. They said that I shouldn’t calorie count but rather eat foods that are not processed as I will feel fuller for longer.

I was planning on doing calorie counting because that’s how my brain is wired. I did it in the past and it worked for a bit. I also lost 4+ stone on WW, so mentally for me this is how I lose weight - by doing some form of counting.

I don’t know anything about nutrition, and I find the mass of information out there overwhelming. However, I have just bought the book “ultra processed people”, which I plan on starting tonight.

So my question for you is…. have you lost a lot of weight by not eating processed foods? Are there are any golden resources / cookbooks that I should be following? I want to lose at least 6 stone.

I would really appreciate anyone’s advice / tips / sharing of their experiences.

Well this is now happening with carbs and I can't for ghe love of god understand how people don't see it's the same.
Potato will not kill anyone, nor will rice or good qualitu bread 🤷

I have been following the 16-8 diet for a year now (the odd naughty day). I am in a routine now where I couldn’t go back to my old regime.

I always have porridge for breakfast with nuts, fruit and yogurt, this fills me up for hours. Before the porridge I have a teaspoon of turmeric in hot water with a tiny bit of honey to aid my digestive system.

I have my breakfast around 11am, then my evening meal between 5 and 7. I have a healthy dinner, all from scratch.

I enjoy this regime and have lost weight. I started doing it due to weight gain with the menopause, I’m now back into my old clothes and down to my ideal weight.

Over the years I’ve done weight watchers etc, but find this I’d easier.

Indirectly kills plenty of type two diabetics, actually. Albeit slowly.

Whatever you choose to do about your diet, I highly recommend Atomic Habits by James Clear as a guide to making significant changes in a manageable way. You probably need to work on your mindset as well and this really helps.

was diagnosed with gestational diabetes during my pregnancy & had to follow a strict, low carb, low sugar, high protein diet. It's kind of similar to the Atkins diet.
I couldn't really have any processed foods as they would cause my sugar levels to go through the roof.
It's the best diet I've ever tried & kept my sugar levels in check too.
I hardly gained any weight in my pregnancy & continued to mostly follow it after my baby was born & have lost more weight since.

I know everybody reacts differently to certain diets but I do think clean eating really helps & makes you feel good too.
I didn't calorie count at all.

I think there's a lot of truth in this. I've noticed people who eat a lot of diet foods are permanently starving and not getting the nutrients their bodies need.
If I eat good, nutritious home cooked meals (made from scratch) I just feel satisfied and healthy. I don't feel like binging on rubbish when I'm eating well.

Well so do fats to people with some ilnesses too 🤷
Anything can be harmful to someone with some disease. Green tea, ginger, and so on.

It's the same. It's exactly the same, the anti carb and anti fat mantra.

Even water can make you life threateningly ill if you drink too much of it🤷

My DM has had type two diabetes for 25 years and is 84 now and is pretty well on it. So indeed, it is pretty slow.

While I wouldn't recommend getting diabetes and will try to avoid doing so myself, it's not going to be eating brown rice, wholemeal bread and baked potatoes that kills me.

It's being fat in the middle, unfit and eating a lot of refined sugar that does it.

Most people don't eat enough fibre and while there other ways to get it, puy lentils, pears and chickpeas are lovely but I don't want to base my entire diet around them just to avoid complex starchy carbs.

That's what happened with me (doing weightwatchers). Did you carry on with their maintenance plan or did you just think "I've reached goal so I don't need to bother anymore."?

Think of it as a healthy eating plan rather than a diet. It took my second "go" at weightwatchers to realise this. I still had all my books and notes from the first time round so I just did that again. I've lost 4 stone with another half a stone/stone to go.

Edit: I won't be going back to "my old ways" this time.

eat real food, not too much mostly plants

Wow I haven’t been on this thread since I went to bed last night - thank you so much for all of your replies and advice etc, I need to read everything through and digest it.

People may have already mentioned this but what are some good cookbooks that focus on healthy, nutritious, whole foods?

I have one of the early Joe Wicks one so planning on following that to get me started?

Ultimately, weight loss, regardless of what you eat is about burning more calories than you consume. Even if you eat the cleanest of diets you'll still be overweight if you eat too much (although you might feel better in yourself than if you ate the same calories in junk!).

I think what this thread shows (and lots of others) is how confused we all are about what is a healthy diet and what to eat.

Diet culture has spread disinformation for decades. And none of it works!! We just got fatter and fatter 🤦‍♀️

I lost three stone calorie counting and eating what the hell I liked. It was all too much for me to try to concentrate on not eating this or not eating that and I found that unsustainable. I concentrated only on having 1800 calories a day and if that consisted of eating crisps and chocolate all day so be it. I soon learned that I didn't feel satisfied if I ate crisps and chocolate all day but there were some days that it just worked like that! People are full of good advice and what you should do but this was the only thing that actually worked without me falling off the wagon and I have managed to keep the three stone off for nearly 3 years.

Just do whatever you feel is achievable FOR YOU

I got diagnosed with diabetes and high blood pressure, reading the fast 800 book gave me a swift kick up the backside to sort it out. I thought it would be a massive struggle but it really wasn't, i lost 3 stone 3 to go but my bloods are normal now as is my blood pressure with no medication. The cook books have great recipes, after completing the initial 12 weeks fasting i now do 3 days fasting and 4 days eating sensibly using the books as a guide. I feel so much better and I'm hardly ever hungry, it worked really well for me.

People may have already mentioned this but what are some good cookbooks that focus on healthy, nutritious, whole foods?

Really anything that you actually cook from scratch will be healthier than convenience food. If you are not a confident cook go for a basic book by someone like Delia or Mary Berry.

Slimming world and exercise is the only thing that's worked for me

The best bread in terms of UPF free is sourdough. We bought a secondhand bread maker, it takes 3 mins to put the ingredients in and 4 hours later we have a fresh loaf of bread!

I lost four and a half stone, after years of trying unsuccessfully, when I added a decent walk into my day. Previously I'd just calorie counted and hadn't exercised (or else I'd tried things like jogging but had never stuck to them). Walking I could deal with!
I did eat a lot less too, but lost weight very quickly.
Personally, now, I would approach it by coming up with sensible meals (I think it does help if they're cooked from scratch if you have the time), limit (or pretty much ban) snacking but still allow something you like each day, such as a bit of chocolate/ice cream/ glass of wine etc. (evening if possible so that you can look forward to it) and bulk up meals with lots of veggies and some fruit.

With sourdough? How does that work? I didn’t think you could do sourdough in a bread machine.

Diets definitely don't work. You can kid yourself that they do but if they did then everyone who ever went on one would stay slim.

Trying to think of when I've seen a diet blurb that said "this diet will make you slim and keep you that way, even into the future when you're not doing it any more".

I agree that you need to find something which works for, and satisfies, you, rather than blindly follow other people's suggestions.

Whenever I have lost weight in the past it is simply from cutting down, especially on in-between snacks, which are my particular downfall, and make sure I walk a lot.

Btw - I could eat three massive salads a day and still be ravenous, I would have to up the veg and ditch the salads. 🙃

Sorry for my confusing post. I meant the best shop bought bread is sourdough.

But it's easy to make your own regular loaf using a breadmaker which saves you money and means you can continue to enjoy bread without ultra processed additives.

Note OP though, that if your sole objective is to lose weight, you'll likely need to cut down on bread and start eating it as a luxury rather than a staple.

Well maybe, if you are eating it for every meal. Though my dad was never overweight and eat an absolute ton of bread a day - overall calorie intake is also important.

I eat two slices of high fibre low(er) carb wholemeal a day. 6.3g of fibre, 212 calories, 26g carbs, 10g protein is not going to make me overweight, and it's also a very convenient and tasty platform for things like scrambled egg or mashed avocado! Helps me get 30g protein for breakfast.

Hi OP, I want to say congratulations on making the decision to tackle this, it's hard, and you're doing it, and that's brilliant.

I've had my head in the sand a lot about my weight since I had kids. I was told by a dr to lose weight if I wanted to get my prolapse issues sorted, so that's been the catalyst for me. I've been told losing 1-2 pounds a week is a healthy way to go, so I had to get my head around the fact this is an ongoing change, and will take some time. But when you start to see results it's incredibly motivating.

What has been working for me (and I've lost just over a stone in the last 8 weeks) is small sustainable changes to my lifestyle, one at a time.

So I used to eat a lot of pasta, white rice, potatoes, bread, and chips. I've slowly cut those right down, but not eliminated them completely. I don't feel I'm missing out, because I do have them occasionally, but a lot lot less than I was, and in smaller portions too.

I now eat a lot more veg, instead of the pasta and potatoes. Previously, my plate would be 30% protein, 50% carbs/starches and 20% veg. Now it's more like 50/50 or 40% protein, the rest veg. I've added more beans into my diet too.

I've stopped buying crisps, biscuits and chocolate. I still have treats, but I don't keep them in the house. I was eating a share bag of crisps in one sitting. I don't do that any more.

I now eat more fruit, and yogurt. My go to snack or breakfast at the moment is tinned fruit with greek yogurt, granola and a bit of honey, with some mixed seeds sprinkled on top. I also like really green apple slices with soft goats cheese on them.

I have also cut down on the amount of wine and beer I drink, but again not eliminated these. I still have a glass or two over the weekend, but a lot less than I was drinking. I try and drink more water, but that's something I still find challenging for some reason!

We plan our meals over the weekend, for the week ahead. We write on a board what they will be, and do the supermarket shop to fit the plan. This has also saved us money and cut down our food waste. We're cooking more from scratch and using less UPF stuff, because we don't want to feed it to our kids. We still have the odd pizza, but when the kids have oven chips, I have roasted butternut squash and beetroot, or some steamed brocolli. We bought an air fryer which makes quick roasted veg, which is really tasty.

It's working for me, slowly and steadily. I'm losing weight, my shape is changing, and I feel fitter, and healthier, physically and mentally. Most importantly I don't feel deprived, or like I am going to crack and binge eat to fill in what I'm missing. I haven't eliminated anything, just rebalanced how I eat those things which, for me, cause me to gain weight.

I have another 2 stone to go, and I have no concerns about sticking with how I eat now. If I feel like I'm plateauing in my weight loss, then I can make further tweaks, cut out alcohol completely for example. I'm not doing enough exercise at the moment, so there's more I can do there. But what I've changed is a long term change and that is what will make the difference I think.