I have cleaned up.my diet and am losing weight at a startling rate

[Waterbortle]

Which was initially good, but now I'm starting to worry.

I was 10st9 and 5'7, so never fat but a bit heavier than I'd like, between 10st and 10st4 is, I think, my ideal weight. Mostly I wanted to be feel better, my diet was never dreadful, but I knew the junkand the booze had crept in.

So since the beginning of June I have:

-Drunk moderately and only once over a weekend. I never drank during the week, but I'd have "a few" at least 2 nights pw. Now I have a couple, once.

• Cut out snacking - here I was probably worse than I realised, and saying no snacks at all makes it easier for me to stick to.
• No takeaways, but they were never that frequent.
• Made an effort to choose healthier options when faced with a menu
• Desserts only at weekends.
• Stopped using the car all the time and walk as much as possible.

I'm 55, an age when weight is supposed to be difficult to shift. I've never been hungry or felt deprived. I've lost a stone in 2 months.

Does this sound right with the changes I've made or is it too much?

How? Where?

You've lost about 1.5lbs a week. That's normal if you reduce your food and exercise as much as you are.

I’m 5’7 and currently around 8st10. I used to be 13 stone. When I first started dieting, the weight came off rapidly. A lot of it may be water weight.

I am one of them people who will easily fluctuate around 10lbs. If I’m on my period I can gain 7lbs. In previous times where I have been stressed, I won’t eat much for a few days and go down 7lb.

What's funny? It does. I walk to work, 6 miles there and back, to the supermarket 3miles, to the gym 3 miles, to my Mum's 2 miles, to see a friend for coffee 3 miles, round the shops at lunch time. Etc etc. It does add up.

Okay bit you don't do all of those in 1 day!

Your example of a daily diet is fine.

I'm smaller than you (much shorter) , weigh far less, but normal BMI and my daily food is similar (not on a diet) but I'd not have the sandwich for lunch, mine would be a salad.

2000-2500 is far too much for a lot of women, particularly those who are perimenopausal/menopausal. No wonder people complain that they can't lose weight.....

People burn off calories in different ways. One person's version of "sedentary" is literally sitting at a computer all day, driving home again and sitting on the sofa all evening, only to get up to take in their supermarket shop while another person would be running the hoover round before work, walking to and from the bus stop, round their office block all day, walking round the supermarket carrying their shopping home, running round after kids in the evening as well as sitting on the sofa and still see themselves as sedentary because they don't have a massive walk to the bus stop to work and they haven't done any gym or other exercise as such.

Sorry to hear of your DH 💗

This has probably made you anxious in ways that you needn't be.

The calculations add up, based on what you're eating and what you're doing. You have inspired me to try harder!

Most women dont need anywhere near 2-2.5k calories a day, dont be ridiculous

Op is losing about 1.5lb a week which she can easily halt or lower by eating a couple of extra snacks a day/milky drinks etc

I'm not sure why you would bother. You had a perfect BMI before you started.

Thank you. I was so amazed at that amount of walking. 🙂

Uh - to see if it's a health issue or just because you're doing loads of exercise?

It all seems like a pointless boasty thread to me. You cut back slightly and lost 5lbs, um, well done I guess.

I'm just going off common Internet numbers, including from the NHS. Obviously everyone should do their own reckoning but op clearly needs to eat more if she wants to maintain and stop losing weight.

You walk three hours a day, go to the gym and and hardly eat anything, no wonder you are loosing weight.

Well she is on another thread about weight loss commenting on how well its worked for her to do all the walking and how it all adds up, so probably not that worried.

2 months is 8 weeks.. 14 pounds in a stone?

It is so much harder when you work from home. I did for a while and put on so much weight without noticing. Back to walking to work now but still trying to lose what I gained 😩

I’m 5ft 8, if I were doing moderate exercise my maintenance calories would be over 2000 calories. I currently losing on 1400-1600 a day so believe that 2000 would be about right to stay the same weight.

Walking is one of the best exercises and practical too if you are doing it to get back & from work.

10 miles (sounds exhausting, I do 5 miles a day) would give you a calorie deficit of around 1000 calories.

I think losing 2lbs a week sounds like a healthy weight loss.

Well done!

It’s the walking 10 miles a day. Your food sounds normal , not diet food but because of the walking you’re still losing so if not happy, walk less or eat more.

Well its 9-10 weeks depending on what one calls a month and how it falls, but around 1.5lbs a week or so

You're tall and you've added in your exercise. The poster I was responding to said most women and said 'as a base'.

That is simply not the case and as other posters have said, is one of the reasons why we are overweight, people think they need much more than they do (as I also used to).

A game changer for getting steps in when time is in short supply is a walking pad. Mine is in the kitchen (although I could technically pick it up and put it anywhere) and I get on it when I'm doing any kind of stationary food prep. I put my laptop on an upturned box on the counter and work in the evenings while I'm walking on the pad, and come down early most mornings and do 30 minutes (or last thing at night). I've got dumbbells and a resistance band in the kitchen cupboard for when I'm 'just' walking (eg not working with my hands) and that's a nice way to tone the upper body at the same time. This keeps me in the 10,000-17,000 range (coupled with general business) most days.

OP, it sounds as if you're doing so well. I found that cutting out snacks and really thinking about if and when I wanted to incorporate sugar in my diet really made a difference. As it happens, most of my carbs and sugars came through snacks, so it wasn't that hard to eliminate them.

I got a dog. Walked 2-3 hours a day. Lost nothing.

Most people your (our) age really struggle to lose weight due to metabolism slowing and menopause.

I would be concerned if the weight fell off that quickly.

I used to walk 10 miles a day aged 45. School run, to work, walk back from work, school pick up, back home.

I didn't lose weight I lost inches.

I probably didn't lose weight as gained muscle, I was very fit.

Congratulations if that's what you want to hear, but it's a worry.

I did the same, running rather than gym, ate one meal a day. Lost nothing.