Losing weight without injections - what really worked for you?

[30GrandLessStress]

I’ve gained about 4 stone since Covid for a variety of reasons (mainly eating too much shite) and I’m desperate to shift it.

The last 2 years has been a merry go round of different diets and subsequent failures. The only one that has really worked in any sense is Keto, but I found it so restrictive and incompatible with family meals, which is a significant factor as Dh and I are hugely time strapped.

I’ve started exercising consistently 5-6 days a week, and through that I’ve been very slowly losing (1-2lb a month) but it’s not enough.

As it stands currently, I eat very little through the day - first food is lunch at 2pm which is normally a salad with chicken, eggs or tuna. Sometimes I even skip this depending on how busy I am.

We eat dinner at 7pm, usually something home cooked - spag bol, curry and rice, chicken and veg, soup etc.

I do have a downfall of snacking in bed while I watch tv, normally a chocolate bar or pack of crisps.

Have tried calorie counting, slimming world and all other manners of diet but nothing sticks. Time is my main challenge, if I had a very defined set menu to follow I think I would find it so much easier!

I dropped 2 dress sizes about 15 years ago and have pretty much kept my weight the same since then. There was no magic secret - I had a big lifestyle overhaul and stuck to it.

For me, that means:
Using an 80/20 approach - eating and drinking with a focus on nutrition 80% of the time, with some indulgence 20% of the time
Eat 3 nutritious meals a day, with a focus on plants, protein and fibre
Afternoon snack of 2 pieces of fruit, or fruit and nuts combo
Never skip meals ever - your body needs fuel
About 2 litres of water a day
Aim for 8 hours of sleep every night
Move my body every day - weights, walking, yoga or some combo of these
Strength train with heavy (for me) weights 3 times a week
Being consistent with all of the above

The 20% indulgence for me means 2-3 alcoholic drinks and some cake or chocolate at the weekend. High days and holidays I eat and drink what I want, then get straight back to normal business immediately after

From your OP, it sounds like you're not eating enough actual food. Ideally you would eat a nutritious breakfast and cut out the bedtime snacking

Calorie counting and not having any foods forbidden. I've lost 3 stone since August last year, I had a break where I maintained from August this year and am back on it as of today.

I eat mostly wholefoods and cook from scratch (always have done, just ate too much!)

I go to the gym 3x a week. It’s not my favourite but I had to something. I choose better and unless it’s cake I’ll stop eating when I’m full

Keto/low carb.

Not quite keto because it's too restrictive but keeping carbs to below 50g a day and upping healthy fats so no calorie deficit (I have around 1500-1600 a day).

Improved sleep, skin and overall health too.

I've been following the Zoe programme since October and have lost 5 stones.

They emphasise increasing veg, pulses, fibre , nuts, olive oil, lean proteins and avoiding UPFs and sugar. They suggest aiming for at least 30 different fruits and vegetables over the course of a week. They also put a lot of emphasis on fermented foods such as kefir, kimchi and sauerkraut because they are very good for your gut health and various other types of health.

I was already eating a lot of veg and quite significant amounts of pulses but I have even more now. I have also greatly reduced chocolate, cake, and carbs because I am very inactive due to disability.

I’ve lost 1.5 stone this year by increasing protein and reducing carbs, healthy eating and gym 3x a week. I’ve been doing couch to 5k on the treadmill which is about 30 mins and then weights. I also follow 80/20 rule so do allow some treats on the weekend. I do have more to lose and it’s taken a while by my body looks much more toned due to the exercise so I look slimmer than I weigh.

Genuinely, slimming world works for me.
I’ve lost 2 and a half stone since Easter while still having some treats and meals out, cooking one evening meal for all the family and eating 3 meals a day, and not having to count the calories in everything.
I know it gets a bad rep but I really can’t see why. In a nutshell it means eating a lot of fruit and veg and home cooking, while limiting sugar and processed food.
I’m almost at my target now, just 6lb to go. Weight loss has been around 2lb a week on average.

I have stopped drinking alcohol though (wasn’t a big drinker, maybe 2 or 3 glasses of wine over a weekend) and we no longer have the TV snacks of chocolate and crisps in the evening. I think that is where you’re going wrong by the sounds of it.

Try calorie counting again and do it consistently and forensically. Choose a sensible target and stick to it. You are probably snacking in the evening because you are being too restrictive during the day. Protein and fibre are your friends.

I count calories and exercise 6 days a week. I do a mix of home workouts on fiton and running and have lost over 3 and a half stone since February. I tend to only find calorie counting sustainable if I don’t start with too strict a deficit. I use myfitnesspal but there’s loads of calorie counting apps. But the biggest mistake people make is setting a goal of 2lbs a week on the apps and it gives you an unrealistic calorie goal to stick to. I set mine at 1lb a week goal and find it a lot more realistic to stick to and, with exercise, have been losing around 1.5lbs a week anyway on average (and that’s with holidays, birthdays, the odd treat takeaway etc). The biggest advice I’d give is if you have one day of going over calories don’t let it deflate you, just carry on the next day and you will see progress over time.

I’ve lost 12lb in 12 weeks this year. Expensive, but I got a personal trainer who worked out what my calories and macro intake should be based on how much I wanted to lose, and how much exercise I was doing. I do 2 one hour sessions with him a week, mainly weight training, and then I do 3 20min HIIT sessions at home, I just get something off YouTube. The calories was hard at first but I did get used to it within a few weeks, and found recipes that were easy enough to do and still suitable for the whole family, things like swapping out the rice or pasta for a bag of cauliflower rice for myself. Breakfast is important as if you are starving yourself for that many hours, when you do eat your body is going to want to hold on to whatever you put in it, it won’t be helping.

In terms of actual weight loss, slimming world gave me the best results when I was 100% dedicated.
I haven’t had the willpower to stick to it though and have ended up putting a lot of the weight back on. I’m have problems with emotional binge eating though, so I don’t think I’ll be able to maintain any plan until I sort my head out.

I do have a downfall of snacking in bed while I watch tv, normally a chocolate bar or pack of crisps.

If I were working with you I'd talk to that part of your subconscious which believes that this habit is good for you/enjoyable and ask it stop.

I gained some weight during the covid lockdown.

I've since lost it.

I did 1200 calories a day and kept very strictly to it.
I had three meals a day plus one snack.

Don't skip breakfast. Stop snacking in bed. Eat dinner a bit earlier.

Watch the carbs you're eating along with your home made bolognese and curries - brown rice and whole grain pasta are far more filling and you'll need far less than white rice and pasta.

Have a whole grain breakfast - porridge with flaked or ground almonds mixed in, or a small whole grain bagel with non-shelf-stable peanut butter (just peanuts and salt, no oils) or cheese and a big handful of spinach leaves, or plain Greek yogurt with berries or a teaspoon of honey mixed in, for instance.

Drink water, and walk as much as possible.

No carbs ( stops tje cravings after a few days), no snacks.

Really you don’t actually need a lot of food. We are always told we are at risk of a eating disorder but we seem to have lost sight of what’s enough and what’s more than enough.

Calorie counting was the only thing that saved me. I count and track everything, every single bite that comes to my mouth.
I eat everything, haven’t excluded any food groups, that’s just a way to a very toxic relationship with food in my opinion. I focus on wholefoods, protein, fruit and veg but I eat some chocolate/sweets/crisps almost every day but just make sure they fit inside my daily calorie allowance.
I don’t go to gym, my main activity is walking, I’m doing 12-15k steps a day.
So far I’ve lost 17kg. So safe to say it’s working.

Calorie counting has always worked for me. I include EVERYTHING, though, which is where I think people slip up. I'm also not crazy restrictive about it, so I’ll eat three meals and have the odd treat, but I stay in a calorie deficit.

If I’m going to be time strapped on X day, then I decide beforehand what I’m going to eat - breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks/wine (one or the other, never both) - and that’s it. Not a morsel else do I eat.

Also lots of tabata and HIIT + yoga. It’s about being consistent.

I’m on WLM and what’s different in terms of how I eat is there are practically zero treats, portion sizes are a lot smaller, much more water.

allowing time for body to digest so load on early in the day, good breakfast, focus on protein and quality food, not junk. Then a very light dinner.

again NO snacks in bed. Drink water instead

when I started on this, it was so clear to me that while I wasn’t eating ridiculously unhealthily- don’t do takeaways at all etc, I was eating way too much in terms of quantity.

work out your TDEE and stay in the deficit. Look at reducing foods that spike your blood sugar, eat veg and protein before carbs, leave them til last.

WLM isn’t a magic bullet, it makes you feel full so you don’t over eat, but all the food consumption stuff is what makes the difference.

Keto and intermittent fasting. It’s hard at first but you do lose weight quickly which helps with motivation.

Calorie deficit. I weigh everything and log it into My Fitness Pal.
Your issue is you stop. You can’t. You have to keep going until you reach your goal then go into maintenance. So you have to figure out why you stop. Is it a big meal for some occasion or other then you don’t get back in track? Is it you diet til an event happens then stop after? Is it you’re bored with what you eat, or have a bad day and ‘deserve’ a big meal? Get to why you quit and work to overcome that. Then try again.

Intermittent fasting (16:8), no/low sugar & UPFs and drastically cutting down on alcohol

Lost 2.5 stone recently. You have to track the calories and stay in a calorie deficit. Use an app. I use My fitness pal (although ignore the exercise bit as that seems to overestimate, you may want to calc that manually). Aim for 1-2 lbs a week only, don’t go mad or you’ll get hungry and break it. Eat lots of lean protein and veg, try and find foods you can eat a lot of but have low calories. I had high protein Skyr yoghurt with blueberries and some seeds in the morning, with some watered down juice. Mid morning apple. Lunch was 1 cooked chicken breast with a mix of raw veg - peppers, cucumber, cherry tomatoes, celery. Dinner was a standard dinner eg spaghetti bolognaise or prawn tagliatelle, but keep the pasta portion small, have more of the protein. Sometimes some salmon and veg. A baked potato with baked beans or cottage cheese or tuna is pretty low cal (avoid the butter and standard cheese) but fills you up. No snacking! You’d be amazed how many calories you add with those snacks.

Do not be disheartened by the scales going up when you think you’ve been good. Sometimes just eating a bit of pasta for example might cause your body to hold onto water that makes you seem heavier, but the fat loss will still happen and the water will come out. Similarly when you eat too little your body may get stressed and hold onto waste and water, just keep going and the fat loss will keep going. One larger meal might then cause your body to expel waste. I think once I got my head round this then mentally it was easier because it is demoralising when the scales go up. As you’re exercising more you may also be building muscle, so you may be losing more fat than you think.

The mental part is the hardest, don’t give up!

Working out my TDEE, reducing that by 20% to get a weight loss calorie target.
My Fitness Pal. Changed my life, wish I’d know about it sooner. It has helped me shed just over 4 stone and keep it off for 6 years. It helped me see where hidden calories were and helped me make better food choices. I don’t deny myself anything but, if I choose to have a chocolate bar for 280 calories, I know I need to have less calories elsewhere (or a little lower over the next couple of days to even it all out) and MFP helps keep me on track.

You're probably underestimating calories in and over estimating calories out.

Get a decent calorie counting app (noom is good and will count your exercise calories too).

If snacking is the issue then swap all snacks to fruit or veg. You'll probably find you stop snacking pretty quickly after the swap

What worked for me is becoming a dog-walker and working over lunch.

I have breakfast at 7, walk 18-20k steps a day, outdoors in all weathers, come home, eat lunch (late) and dinner as usual.

I haven't changed my diet, but the exercise and changing times has made a huge difference to me.

Good quality tasty protein

Masses of fruit and veg

Very little carby food

Ditched fizzy drinks, crisps and chocolate (my weakness)

I hardly drink alcohol so didn’t change that.